More on Bush's WSJ Pre-State of the Union Op-Ed

Jan 4, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

Yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, ($) President Bush sketched out some broad themes and a few bold claims for the final two years of his presidency. Many in the media have commented on Bush's call to cut earmarks in half this year, but I wanted to highlight a small part of the op-ed that has been overlooked. Bush wrote: Because revenues have grown and we've done a better job of holding the line on domestic spending, we met our goal of cutting the deficit in half three years ahead of schedule. By continuing these policies, we can balance the federal budget by 2012 while funding our priorities and making the tax cuts permanent. (emphasis added) I'll ignore for the moment Bush's continued misleading claims about cutting the deficit in half and how really insignificant that will be in the long run. I'm more concerned that Bush believes we have funded and will continued to be able to fully fund our most crucial priorities. The president is still under the false impression we can tackle difficult challenges without anyone having to sacrifice.

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War Supplemental: A Pentagon "Feeding Frenzy"

Jan 4, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article ($) detailing the expected supplemental spending request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is a perfect illustration of the problems that emergency funding bills present and why Congressional oversight of such spending is badly needed.

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Congressional Budget Chairs to Bush: Budget War Costs

Jan 3, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Over the holidays, incoming Senate Budget Committee chair Kent Conrad (D-ND), the incoming House Budget Committee chair John Spratt (D-SC), and the Senate Budget Committee chair Judd Gregg (R-NH) sent a letter to President Bush reminding him to include the full costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan military operations in his regular budget submission for FY 2008, expected on or about February 7, 2007. The letter opens:

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An Unimpressive Century of Food Safety

Jan 3, 2007 by Matthew Madia

This week marks the 100th Anniversary of the implementation of the Pure Food and Drug Act, a landmark piece of legislation calling for federal inspection of food products and paving the way for the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. However, as a January 2 New York Times editorial points out, advances in food safety are far from adequate considering how much time has elapsed.

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Humbled Bush Writes in WSJ

Jan 3, 2007 by Matt Lewis

President Bush has fired the opening shot of the 2007 budget battle, writing an op-ed in today's WSJ. The piece is mostly PR, which is an encouraging sign that the President is more interested in repairing his image than pursuing harmful policy. Substance-wise, the President is not asking for much more than the continuation of the status quo. Some notable budgetary policies and goals mentioned in the op-ed:
  • No new taxes: "Now is not the time to raise taxes on the American people."

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GOP Running From Estate Tax?

Jan 3, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

CongressDaily ($) is reporting that House Republicans are drafting their own minimum wage increase legislation that will not include an estate tax provision. Here's the key passage: The decision to pass on the estate tax reflects an effort on the part of Republicans to avoid heated partisan conflicts such as the pitched battle over the so-called trifecta bill last year, according to aides. Looks like the GOP has decided the "trifecta" strategy from last year wasn't such a winner for them.

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GWOB Urges Treasury to Withdraw Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines for Charities

Dec 27, 2006 by Kay Guinane

Grantmakers Without Borders sent a letter to the Treasury Department on Dec. 22 strongly urging withdrawal of the third verson of its voluntary anti-terrorist financing guidelines. In a press release GWOB said:

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Interior Shows Waste in Oil Royalty Program

Dec 22, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The latest in a NYT series on how well the federal government treats the oil and gas industry shows just how wasteful this nice treatment is. The article focuses on an Interior Department study that found almost no benefit to giving energy companies a royalty break for drilling on public property. Over 40 years, these breaks will cost around $48 billion- and probably won't produce a drop of oil that wouldn't have otherwise been pumped. The report estimates that the current incentives would have a tiny impact that is far exceeded by swings in market prices.

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Financial Improprieties at Homeland Security?

Dec 22, 2006 by Dana Chasin

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General released a report Wednesday in which Auditor KPMG warned the Department of multiple potential violations of a fiscal law barring agencies from spending money in excess of appropriations. On top of that, the New York Times reports today that: KPMG LLP said for the third straight year that it could not provide an opinion on the balance sheet of the $40.3 billion department, the second-largest federal agency, because of its lax financial controls and oversight.

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WSJ's Misleading Article on Domestic Spending

Dec 22, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Wall Street Journal writes today that Democrats are going to have a tough time enacting their spending priorities, whatever they may be. True enough. But a key statement in the article is very misleading. But cutting costs isn't easy. Spending on nonsecurity discretionary programs has increased by about 23% since Mr. Bush took office. The White House -- prodded by conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill -- has tried to trim spending and asked Congress to cut some nonsecurity discretionary spending for 2006 and 2007.

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