House Conferees for Tax Reconciliation Bill

Feb 21, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Five conferees have been picked from the House for negotiations over the tax reconciliation bill. They are Reps. Dave Camp (R-MI), Pete Stark (D-CA), and Jim McCrery (R-LA), Ways and Means Committee ranking member Charles Rangel (D-NY), and Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA). The House has five conferees to the Senate's three, which could potentially give House members a leg up in these negotiations.

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Budget Gimmicks in Bush's FY07 Proposal

Feb 19, 2006 by Guest Blogger

President Bush's FY 2007 budget includes two proposals that mask the true cost of extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which Bush claims to be one of his najor goals in 2006. As this Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report states,

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Will Earmark Reform Fail Because Members Will Protect Their Money?

Feb 17, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Will earmark reform fail as members try to protect their money? From The Hill: The building momentum for earmark reform could force lawmakers to cut back significantly on their beloved pork projects, and in the process reduce something that is in short supply on Capitol Hill: bipartisanship.

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Religous Groups Push Back on Travel Ban

Feb 17, 2006 by Guest Blogger

From The Hill: A handful of nonprofit groups that sponsor travel for members of Congress are pushing back against recent proposals to ban privately funded trips, arguing that their activities are far different from the golfing and exotic foreign junkets that have been the centerpiece of recent lobbying scandals.

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OMB Watch Files Petition for Electioneering Communication Rulemaking

Feb 17, 2006 by Guest Blogger

On February 16, OMB Watch, along with numerous other groups such as AFL CIO, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) asking the FEC to exempt legitimate grassroots communications from "electioneering communication" prohibitions. Currently, the electioneering communications provision bars any ad that mentions a federal candidate broadcast within 30 days of a primary election or within 60 days of a general election.

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White House Requests $92.2 Billion Supplemental

Feb 17, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The White House submitted a $92.2 billion FY2006 supplemental spending request yesterday, which includes $72.4 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and intelligence activities, and $19.8 billion for Gulf Coast rebuilding costs. The Pentagon, which currently spends about $6.8 billion per month, will receive $65.3 billion to get through the current fiscal year.

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Senate Postpones Action on Bill to Weaken Gov't Accountability

Feb 16, 2006 by Guest Blogger

UPDATE: The Senate Judiciary Committee had on its schedule for today a markup of S. 489, the bill to weaken your rights to hold state and local governments accountable for violations of federal law. The committee ended up postponing work on that bill. Stay tuned for any further alerts.

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House Budget Committee Hearing on PART

Feb 16, 2006 by Matthew Madia

The House Budget Committee held a hearing today on performance evaluations and spending trends. Clay Johnson of the Office of Management and Budget testified, along with Brian Reidl of the Heritage Foundation and Bob Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Johnson spoke of the importance of accountability in government spending as well as OMB's new performance website, but refused to recognize the hypocrisy surrounding some of the budget decisions made after these programs are evaluated by OMB's standards. Testimony and opening remarks are below:

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Roundtable Report: Faith Based Organizations Amount Declined

Feb 15, 2006 by Guest Blogger

A recent study released by the Roundtable on Religion and Philanthropy demonstrated that the amount of direct federal grants to faith-based organizations declined from 2002 to 2004. For a Washington Post article For the report.

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