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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Republican Study Committee's Budget Proposal

Mar 8, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The right-wing House Republican Study Committee has put together their budget alternative, called "Contact for America: Renewed." It calls for a budget even more drastic (and frightening) then the one proposed by the President himself. Their process reform recommendations towards the end of the document however, are particularly interesting, especially in regards to areas such as earmark reform.

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Senate Approves Amendment for LIHEAP Funding

Mar 8, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Senate approved funding yesterday for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program in a 68-31 vote to accept a second-degree amendment offered by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The amendment provides an additional $1 billion for LIHEAP for this fiscal year, disbursing half of it through both LIHEAP's traditional funding formula and a contingency fund to be released at the discretion of the White House. The focus is now on the House, where a number of conservative members have argued that the added LIHEAP funding this year is not paid for.

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Watcher: March 8, 2006

Mar 8, 2006 by Guest Blogger

New PART Scores Showcase More Contradictions of Program President Restarts Push for Line-Item Veto Senate Rules Committee Passes Process Reforms

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New PART Scores Showcase More Contradictions of Program

The president's recent budget, released in early February, contained another round of federal program assessments produced by the Office of Management and Budget using the administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). As in past years, this new round of PART scores and associated budget requests call into question the value and purpose of PART ratings, which appear to have little logical and no discernable link to budget requests.

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Senate Rules Committee Passes Process Reforms

Last week, the Senate Rules Committee and the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee marked up separate versions of lobbying and congressional ethics reform bills, starting the ball rolling in the Senate on reform after the scandals surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA). The two bills are expected to be combined.

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Time Running Out to Raise Debt Limit

Mar 7, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Secretary of the Treasury John Snow sent a letter to Congress Monday saying he has taken "all prudent and legal actions” to stay under the $8.184 trillion debt limit and again strongly urged passage of an increase “immediately." Congress, which must act or else they could default on payments to bond holders or fail to make other scheduled government payments, will most likely pass a debt limit increase. This will mark the fourth time the debt limit has needed to be increased under President Bush. If this new hike is approved, the limit will have jumped by $3 trillion since he took office.

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Monthly Budget Review Released

Mar 7, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The Congressional Budget Office released the Monthly Budget Review yesterday, reporting that the government incurred a $219 billion deficit in the first five months of FY 2006. The CBO is estimating a total deficit for FY2006 to be $371 billion. The deficit in February was $121 billion, which is $7 billion more than the deficit recorded in February 2005.

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President Restarts Push for Line-Item Veto

In his State of the Union address, President Bush once again proposed the line-item veto to Congress as a way to reduce deficit spending. While Bush is touting this "tool of fiscal discipline," in reality unchecked use of the line-item veto by the president would transfer significant power and control from the legislative to the executive branch and effectively allow the president to substitute his spending priorities directly for that of Congress.

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Thomas of Ways and Means to Retire

Mar 6, 2006 by Guest Blogger

It was reported today the Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA), Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, will retire as opposed to seeking reelection in November. This makes him the 24th member of the House who is retiring or seeking higher office instead of running for reelection. His resignation is not a big surprise because under House Republicans' self-imposed term limits for committee chairmen, Thomas can no longer serve as Ways and Means Chair after this year.Thomas, who has held the powerful position since 2001, was a key figure in helping to pass the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

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CBO's Analysis of the President's Budget

Mar 6, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The Congressional Budget Office has completed a preliminary analysis of the President's FY07 Budget.

Analysis
Supplemental Data

The report found that the President's proposal will:

Spend about $925 billion on discretionary programs in FY07;
Add $35 billion to the CBO's current deficit projections, putting the deficit projection at $371 billion;
Reduce revenues by nearly $9 billion for FY07;
Reduce revenues by $282 billion from 2007-2011 if some of the President's expiring 2001 and 2003 tax provisions are extended;

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