CQ reports ($$) that the House Appropriations Committee Chairman -Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)- did not renew the contracts of 60 investigators who examined federal spending. About 16 investigators remain on staff, but given the contractor reduction, no investigations will be going forward any time soon. Committee spokesman John Scofield said Thursday that the contracts were not renewed because the panel is conducting a “bipartisan review” of the unit’s staff. “Frankly, the work we’ve been getting as of late has not been that good,” Scofield said. “There is nothing sinister going on.”

Our Matt Lewis referred target="_blank">below to a target="_blank">Washington Post article this week speculating about whether Administration tax policy can be credited with lowering the budget deficit. Midstream, that article also offhandedly mentions that “subtleties of that argument have been lost on the campaign trail.” So, what economic issues are voters thinking about? No idle question, 19 days before the midterm elections.

Budget pressures may lead to the elimination of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program for low-income people and minorities. From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: A federal program to safeguard poor and racially diverse communities from pollution and other environmental harm is at risk of being dissolved, activists say. The Environmental Protection Agency's Northwest regional office has proposed reassigning members of its environmental-justice program to new divisions and eliminating its director's position, according to government officials.

Citizen's for Tax Justice has recently released a report card reviewing Congress' voting record on tax policy over the last six years. From the CTJ release: [The CTJ] Congressional Tax Report Card looks at the five key tax votes in the House and Senate that have produced major changes to the federal tax system, dramatically affecting tax fairness, revenues and budget deficits, plus one additional vote on an important recent tax bill that Congress narrowly rejected.