Ahead This Week Tax/Energy Bill -- PAYGO in Play: This week, the House will take up a package of tax incentives for alternative energy and energy conservation programs omitted from last December's energy bill... The House tax bill would cost about $18.1 billion over 11 years and would comply with PAYGO by denying or reducing tax benefits for big oil and gas companies. Stimulus 2.0 -- Housing Sector: Meanwhile in the Senate, time permitting, the Democratic leadership will seek this week to bring a housing stimulus package of direct aid, tax breaks, and other initiatives to the floor.

On Feb. 13, we noted the launch of a GOP/congressional website entitled "Earmark Reform" -- which we said "purports to promote the bipartisan message 'Stop the Earmarks. Fix Washington,' but appears to be a forum for federalist fury and partisan posturing." It's a weird site -- have a look here. Official congressional websites tend to be party-neutral, or, if they are party-based, their name, domain, and/or location make transparent their partisan identity. Here, the site is housed in a neutral name, domain, and location, but the content and tone are unmistakably apparatchik.

Rankings of Jobless Claims and and Home Foreclosures Joblessness:

• the five states with the largest increases in initial jobless claims for the week ending Feb. 15 were: California, (+7,857), Kentucky (+4,166), Illinois (+1,955), Georgia (+1,009), and Massachusetts (+501)
• the five states wth the largest decreases were: Ohio (-2,752), Wisconsin (-2,232), North Carolina (-1,746), Pennsylvania (-1,608), and Florida (-1,410)

Homelessness:

This morning, the New York Times published a fantastic article by Scott Shane and Ron Nixon about how contractors are taking over huge parts of the federal government. The article, "In Washington, Contractors Take On Biggest Role Ever," is the first in a series of articles by the Times that will investigate government contracting. And rightly so. Outsourcing of government jobs, services, and product development has more than doubled in the last 6 years - a staggering growth rate. The article in today's paper shows, contrary to popular belief, that contractors often end up costing the government more money than it would otherwise spend, with inflated hourly wages ($104 per hour in one example from the article), poor performance and management, and little oversight or accountability from government employees. Scott and Nixon profile problems at the General Services Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies, as case examples of following poor contracting practices and making wasteful decisions that have squandered billions of taxpayer dollars while enriching private companies. In fact, one study cited in the article concluded the explosion of contracting "poses a threat to the government's long-term ability to perform its mission" and could "undermine the integrity of the government's decision making." The entire article is worth reading and does a great job summarizing some major concerns about the current contracting environment. I'm looking forward to the rest of the articles in the series and my only hope at this point is that every member of Congress will read the articles as well.