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

GovExec Exposes Deeper Problems at DCAA

Aug 8, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The problems at the Defense Contract Audit Agency exposed in a GAO report last week that investigated various whistleblower complaints are apparently just the tip of the iceberg at the audit agency. Writing in Government Executive, Robert Brodsky and Elizabeth Newell find that quality problems at DCAA are widespread and that DCAA is a "broken" agency.

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Notes from the Economy: Jobless Claims

Aug 7, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Labor Department released its weekly unemployment insurance (UI) claims data this morning.

455,000 workers filed first-time UI claims last week, a jump of 7,000 from the previous week. The number of claims last week had not been seen since March 2002.
The four-week average for new UI claims moved up to 419,500, a five-year high
The number of continuing claims rose to 3,311,000, also a five-year high

AP: Jobless claims hit highest point since March 2002

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CBO Releases Monthly Budget Review

Aug 7, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their monthly budget review this morning. CBO Director Peter Orszag blogged on the release of the review on the CBO Director's Blog:

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Is Less Really More in Congress?

Aug 6, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Most of the popular/mainstream commentaries about Congress is that they don't their jobs - that they need to do more for the American people. We certainly have been highly critical of Congress for repeatedly not getting enough work done during the year by repeatedly failing to pass the most basic legislation that is required of them - the annual budget resolution and appropriations bills (see here, here, and here).

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Senators Suggest Making Tax Code Less Offensive

Aug 6, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Writing in the New York Times, Stephanie Strom brings yet another instance of how corporations and their enabling political benefactors have clearly had their way with the tax code.

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Lurita Doan is Back!

Aug 6, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Lurita Doan is back in the news. I know, I can't believe it either. But wait until you hear why and what she is saying now. It seems she is headlining a 15-minute segment on Federal News Radio (1050 AM in DC) where she will share her views on, get this, government leadership. I'm not making this up. That's like having Jack Abramoff lecture on ethical/legal congressional fundraising tactics. The segment, entitled "Leadership Matters," will run at 7:28 am on Tuesday mornings, according to this Federal Times article from last week.

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State Budget Woes Continue

Aug 5, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The fiscal health of states around the country is continuing to deteriorate, according to an updated report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. CBPP has issued updates to this report, initially released on January 15 this year, as state legislatures have attempted to deal with their budget shortfalls during the FY 2009 state budget process. This will be the last update of this report as only two states are left without an enacted FY 2009 budget.

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Notes from the Economy: There's a Deeper Problem than Housing

Aug 5, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Former Clinton Labor Secretary and current UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich really nails it on his blog today:

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Contracting Reform Agenda Makes Gains

When President Bush signed the FY 2008-2009 war supplemental bill into law on June 30, he approved a pair of contracting reforms that had long been stalled in Congress. The enactment of these provisions has validated the legislative strategy of reform-minded legislators to pass federal contracting measures.

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Senate Approves GAO Pay Raise, IG Legislation

Aug 5, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Just before slipping out the door for summer recess, the Senate passed by unanimous consent an amended version of the Government Accountability Act of 2008 (HR 5683) on Aug. 1. The bill, approved by the House on June 9, would enact a retroactive pay raise for employees affected by a pay structure change implemented in 2006; establish an inspector general's office in the GAO; and require the GAO to report to Congress on how cooperative the Executive branch with GAO investigators and auditors.

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