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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Approps Update

Jun 13, 2008 by Craig Jennings

House Approps Committee Releases 302(b)s; Byrd Announces Markup Schedule The House Appropriations Committee has released its 302(b) allocations. House FY 2009 302(b) Allocations (discretionary budget authority; excluding emergency funding unless otherwise noted; in billions of dollars) FY 2009 Proposed Allocations Defense $487.737 Homeland Security 39.900 Homeland Advance Appropriations: BioShield 2.175 Military Construction & Veterans Affairs 72.729 Subtotal, Security-Related 602.541 State & Foreign Operations 36.620 Agriculture 20.623

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Beleaguered OSC Head Attempted to Mobilize Grass-Roots Support

Jun 13, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The investigation of Office of Special Counsel chief Scott Bloch is turning up some rather comical footnotes to the saga.

On many occasions since 2006, Bloch ordered a subordinate to post comments on blogs and in the "comment" sections of online news stories using a pseudonym, current and former OSC employees told CongressDaily.

[...]

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- Friday the 13th, June 2008

Jun 13, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Unemployment Claims -- June Starts off Much Like May: The number of first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose 25,000 in the week ended June 7 to 384,000 seasonally adjusted, according to the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration data. The rise follows a decline of 16,000 in the week ended May 31. The unemployment extension bill having passed in the House yesterday (see here), these numbers may have some bearing on the Senate's deliberations. Today's ETA Report.

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The PAYGO Pact of 2008

Jun 12, 2008 by Dana Chasin

How Many Pay-Fors Can Dance on the Head of an Extenders Bill? Call it solomonic, metaphysical, ingenious, or disengenuous, but it appears that a great PAYGO Pact of 2008 is in the offing.

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House Passes UI Extension by a Two-Thirds Margin

Jun 12, 2008 by Dana Chasin

What a Difference a Day Makes Yesterday's suspension vote in the House to extend unemployment insurance benefits by at least 13 weeks fell short of the required a two-thirds supermajority by a mere three votes -- perhaps attributable to the eleven members who did not vote. This afternoon, the House voted again on the proposal as a stand-alone bill and, guess what? It passed precisely by a two-thirds, i.e., veto-proof, margin. As Speaker Pelosi mentioned in a statement following today's vote, the bill does not only help the nation's unemployed workers, but the rest of us:

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The Solution to Growing Unemployment: Free Trade Deals?

Jun 11, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Today, the Bush Administration issued a veto threat against H.R. 5794, the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008. Please read the following and see if you can spot the non sequitur:

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Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear ... Market

Jun 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Wuzzy, Willie B. or Izzy a ... Recession? (click to enlarge)

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Flat Tax Advocates Misrepresent (Misunderstand?) Flat Tax

Jun 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

House Republican leadership are attempting to get their caucus to coalesce around a two-tier flat tax. The flat-tax proposal is expected to resemble a measure (HR 3818) sponsored by Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, to allow taxpayers to opt out of the current income tax system and opt into a two-tier flat tax. Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., has said he supports "giving Americans a choice between filing under the current system or using a two-rate flat tax with generous deductions."

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We're Pleased with Pay-Fors in Extender Package

Jun 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Corporate Community Copacetic Congressional Quarterly has obtained a preliminary draft of a letter from 300 Americans companies from Apple to Xerox expressing a support for a package extending expiring tax breaks -- paid for by the curtailing of some big-ticket corporate tax cuts. According to the early draft, the companies indicated that the House bill

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- June 11, 2008

Jun 11, 2008 by Dana Chasin

Unemployment -- What is the Fastest Vehicle?: House and Senate leaders haven't decided yet how best to pass a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the nation's 8.55 million jobless workers. The House is inclining toward a stand-alone extension bill, believing that would quickly secure a veto-proof majority. Senate leaders and some Republicans such as Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) say the "emergency" war supplemental "is the fastest vehicle" available. The House is expected to vote on a stand-alone version of the bill this afternoon or tomorrow. GOP Deserting Bush on UI.

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