Revenue & Spending

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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more news

What a Government Shutdown Could Look Like

Sep 24, 2013 by Nick Schwellenbach

It could be said that in this last week of the government’s fiscal year, the unstoppable force of House Republicans is meeting the immovable object of Senate Democrats. Although it may not be quite a fait accompli yet, the likelihood of a government shutdown seems be getting higher each day with no annual spending bills yet passed by Congress and enacted. If a shutdown does occur on Oct. 1 (or at some later point due to a mini-interim spending bill postponing it), what would it look like and how would it affect Americans?

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Levin Bill Would Shutter Corporate Tax Loopholes

Last week, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) introduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which would restrict the use of offshore tax havens by corporations. At a time when corporate profits are high by historic standards, the bill could raise money for vital government programs and reduce the deficit. The legislation is a slimmed down version of the Cut Unjustified Tax (CUT) Loopholes Act of 2013 (S. 268), introduced earlier this year.

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House Slashes Food Assistance

Sep 23, 2013 by Jessica Schieder

On Thursday, the House Republicans passed the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act (H.R. 3102) to cut approximately $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next decade. If enacted, these cuts would eliminate food assistance to 3.8 million low-income Americans.

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How to Fix a Recession: Public Works Work

Sep 23, 2013 by Nicholas Anway

We’ve seen modest improvements in employment since the infamous Great Recession began in 2007, but the recovery has been very slow. We see the evidence all around us – from the 11.3 million Americans who remain unemployed (37.9 percent whom have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more); to the anemic 169,000 jobs created in August; to the 1.8 million home foreclosures reported in 2012.

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Leading Senator Calls for End of Fiscal Brinksmanship

Sep 19, 2013 by Nick Schwellenbach

On Sept. 17, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, spoke on the floor of the Senate and said congressional Republicans need to come to the negotiating table and end the looming fiscal standoffs that are less than two weeks away.

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CBO Says We Have a Tax Problem, Not a Spending Problem

Sep 18, 2013 by Guest Blogger

On Sept. 17, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook, and it has some great news. Specifically, CBO is predicting substantially lower health care spending this year and 25 years into the future.

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Watchdog’s Recommendation Boosts DATA Act

Sep 18, 2013 by Nick Schwellenbach

Congress's watchdog office recommended that Congress pass legislation to advance federal spending transparency efforts across the government in a report released late last week. This is a major boon to advocates of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) of 2013 – legislation being considered by the House and the Senate.

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Over $1 Trillion in Tax Breaks Are Detailed in New Report

Sep 17, 2013 by Jessica Schieder

Tax breaks cost the federal government approximately $1.13 trillion in fiscal year 2013, according to a new report by the National Priorities Project (NPP). That is just slightly less than all federal discretionary spending in FY 2013 combined.

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What's At Stake: House Transportation and Housing Spending Bill Would Cut Rail Investments and Rental Assistance

Attempts by House Republicans to cut domestic programs below this year’s already-low post-sequestration spending levels ran into trouble in late July when the House Republican leadership pulled legislation from the House floor (H.R. 2610) that would have funded the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). According to reports, the bill was pulled because it lacked sufficient support to pass.

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What's At Stake

Vital services and protections are at stake in the ongoing budget battles in Congress. Sequestration cuts and proposals for further spending reductions threaten worker health and safety, transportation system upgrades, affordable housing, food security for the elderly, and more. In the end, short-sighted funding cuts now will cost America more in the long-run.

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