OMB Watch’s budget group is pleased to announce the launch of a new federal budget blog.

Click here to go directly to the Budget Blog.

The Internal Revenue Service is planning a "pilot" project beginning in August to require "pre-certification" of 45,000 Earned Income Tax Credit recipients. This effort is targeted to filers who are claiming children of whom they are not the parents. OMB Watch commented on the process and the form, which requires documentation or an affidavit to show that the children and caretakers have lived in the same household for six months of the taxpaying year. Comments on the form were due on July 14, 2003, but comments about the process may be submitted through December 31, 2003. See the IRS announcement for more details.

Unemployment Up

The first week in July brought more bad news about the weak labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the unemployment rate for June rose by 0.3 percentage points to 6.4 percent - a nine year high. Total employment declined this last month for the fifth straight month, with 30,000 lost jobs. Since the start of the recession, total employment has declined by 2.6 million and the private sector has lost 3.1 million jobs. This may be the first administration since Hoover’s where total employment has dropped.

The Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education appropriation bill passed by the House reveals a lack of commitment to education, providing everyone the tools to succeed, keeping low-income families warm, and preparing for bio-terrorism. Talk is cheap without the resources to make it real.