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

Pacing the Recovery Act Spending: Why the States Matter

Jun 17, 2009 by Sam Rosen-Amy

Despite Obama's recent push to accelerate Recovery spending from the federal level, it's important to remember that much of the Recovery is going to be driven by the states. A lot of the first wave of spending is dependent on states simply requesting their allotted Recovery funds.

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When We Shouldn't Worry About the Deficit

Jun 17, 2009 by Craig Jennings

As usual, Stan Collender makes much sense.

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Congress Moving in the Right Direction with Afghanistan Oversight

Jun 16, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Congressional Quarterly (subscription required) reported this morning that the House passed by a voice vote yesterday a measure to speed the hiring of new investigators in Afghanistan.

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Senate Likely to Confirm First-Ever Chief Performance Officer

On June 16, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) voted to approve the nomination of Jeffrey Zients to serve as the nation's first Chief Performance Officer (CPO), moving the issue to the full Senate.

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Congress Inches Closer to Final War Supplemental Vote

Legislation appropriating over $100 billion for continued war funding (H.R. 2346) is moving closer to a final vote in Congress, despite significant delays and recent disagreements during conference committee negotiations. The main issues of contention include the release of detainee photos, a funding provision for the International Monetary Fund, and overall concerns related to the bloated cost of the bill. President Obama originally requested $90 billion for the legislation, but that figure has grown to $106 billion.

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Commentary: Defense Acquisition Reform -- Where Do We Stand?

Recent events are pointing to a shift in the way the Department of Defense (DOD) will implement future government contracts. The passage of a new law, the planned addition of much-needed acquisition personnel at DOD – by far the government's largest contracting agency – and an intended top-to-bottom overhaul of the Air Force's procurement process are all geared toward reforming a system ripe with waste, fraud, and abuse. Despite significant progress, these reforms face critical challenges ahead.

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Not All Economic Data are Created Equal

Jun 12, 2009 by Jocelyn Yin*

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released an issue brief that outlined some of the data it used to estimate the effect of the 2008 tax rebates. Given the debate over the true effect of these rebates, the CBO clearly felt that it needed to provide some detail about its methodology.

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South Carolina Recovery Act Showdown: The Conclusion

Jun 11, 2009 by Sam Rosen-Amy

In a decidedly anti-climatic ending to a tense standoff, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford finally requested his state's share of Recovery Act funding this past Monday, June 8th. The action, prompted by the State Supreme Court, ended a months-long battle that mixed state and national politics, federalism, and presidential intrigue.

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Acquisition Experts of Little Help to Congress on Defense Reform

Jun 8, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Last Wednesday morning, I attended a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing convened by the recently formed Defense Acquisition Reform Panel. The three witnesses – Gordon R. England, a two-time Secretary of the Navy and former Deputy Secretary of Defense, Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr., a retired Navy admiral and former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ronald T. Kadish, a retired Air Force Lieutenant General – all emphasized the same abstract fix and provided little, if any, concrete guidance.

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Talk of Fiscal Responsibility Returns to Capitol Hill

Jun 4, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

Talk of fiscal responsibility returned to Capitol Hill yesterday when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified at a hearing of the House Budget Committee. Bernanke tried to push Congress and the Obama administration to start planning now to tackle the monumental deficits expected over the next few years.

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