Opposition to Sunsets: Who's Who

Jul 24, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Who opposes sunset commission legislation? Everybody who's anybody. Check out the latest batch of opposition letters:

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MEDIA ADVISORY: Telephone Briefing on Sunset Commission Bills

WASHINGTON — Former Texas Sunset Commissioner O.H. "Ike" Harris, Barbara Coufal of AFSME, and Gabriela Lemus of LULAC and Robert Shull of OMB Watch will brief journalists on a dangerous proposal to create an unelected, unaccountable commission empowered to target programs for elimination. More than 300 organizations are opposing the creation of a sunset commission. Speakers tomorrow will discuss the legislation, the Texas experience, and the threat that such commissions pose to the most vulnerable members of our society.

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De Facto Estate Tax Repeal for Some

Jul 24, 2006 by Craig Jennings

David Cay Johnston reports in the Sunday New York Times that the IRS has plans to eliminate 157 of the most productive IRS employees. And, those IRS employees are estate tax lawyers and the staff who support their auditing activities. The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others.

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New Opportunity to Support Access to Gov't Information

Jul 21, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Over the past few months, OMB Watch has been working closely with Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL) on a bill to create a free, searchable database available to the public containing information on all federal spending - both grants and contracts. This legislation (S. 2590) continues to move forward in the Senate and OMB Watch remains strongly supportive of it (see the OMB Watch website for more information on the bill and to access previous coverage on this by OMB Watch. You can also read recent media coverage of the effort.) New Effort for Transparency and Disclosure Underway

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Government Spending Transparency Legislation Getting Attention of the Press

Jul 21, 2006 by Matthew Madia

In the considerably divided legislative body that is Congress, it is rare to see a bill gain so much positive attention from both sides of the aisle. It has also gained the support of a whole slew of advocacy groups from all stripes of the ideological spectrum. As a staunch proponent of S.

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Democrats: Responsible for Budget Surplus, Not So Much for Budget Deficits

Jul 20, 2006 by Matthew Madia

In today’s Washington Post, Robert Samuelson chides President Bush for boasting about a $300 billion deficit, but finishes his column by shifting some of the blame for the atrocious fiscal policies of the Republican Congress and President to the Democrats. For fiscal 2006, which ends in September, the administration projects a $296 billion deficit; for fiscal 2007, the estimate is $339 billion. How could anyone boast about that? [...]

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SOS DOA

Jul 20, 2006 by Craig Jennings

CQ Today is reporting that Senate Budget Committee Chair Judd Gregg (R-NH) doesn’t think he has the votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster of his committee-passed Stop Overspending Act 2006. His measure would implement a bevy of spending-control measures - measures which open up a backdoor to cutting Social Security. Also included in his bill is a version of line-item veto. And, not only is SOS not likely to make it to the Senate floor, but prospects for passage of a separate, standalone line-item veto bill look dim. Included in CQ Today’s article is this interesting bit from Gregg:

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Self-Interested Group Attack Limits on Outsourcing Tax Collection

Jul 19, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

In advance of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee markup, opponents of current efforts to prohibit the IRS from outsourcing its collection of outstanding taxes have come out in force. The head of the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals sent a letter to Senate appropriators on July 14 asking them to oppose any amendment that would prohibit the IRS from using any of its fiscal year 2007 funds to hire private debt collectors.

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Ask Your Representative to Vote "No" on Sunsets! Call Today!

Call your representative, and tell him or her to vote ‘No’ on sunset legislation!

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OMB Watch Applauds Federal Spending Transparency Effort, Offers Improvements

WASHINGTON, July 18 - Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, testified today before the financial and information management subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Bass was among a group of witnesses with vastly different views on government that testified in support of a new bill that would shed light on government spending.

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