There are plenty of signs that the Bush administration failed to invest in projects that could have prevented the devastation in New Orleans — see this recap from the Center for American Progress for more. For another way in, be sure to look at the White House’s assessment of Army Corps of Engineers programs, using OMB’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).

Congress is more likely to act on pension reform than social security reform this year, according to today's BNA: "Congress ultimately may fail to find accord on Social Security reforms and instead pass more targeted pension reform legislation when it returns from its summer recess, sources who follow the issue told BNA Aug. 31." Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Choice, told BNA Aug. 31 that Congress is likely to pass a pension bill, even if it fails to muster support for Social Security changes. "You could get a decent pension bill regardless of what happens with Social Security," Tanner said. Jason Furman, a senior fellow with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, rarely agrees with Tanner, a proponent of Social Security payroll tax-financed individual investment accounts. But Furman also said he expected Congress to act on pensions. "Something on the defined benefit [pension plan] side has to happen," Furman told BNA Aug. 31. Furman said he anticipated that Congress would feel compelled to pass provisions aimed at strengthening the funding of defined benefit pension plans and measures aimed at bolstering the federal pension insurer, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. "On Social Security, it is extremely unlikely that anything will be enacted by Congress. What the Republicans are trying to do is retreat from this issue," Furman said.

The Internal Revenue Service Aug. 31 updated its electronic filing Web page for corporations and exempt organizations that must e-file in 2006. The long-awaited Web site updates will help the organizations comply with proposed and temporary regulations (REG-130671-04, T.D. 9175) on electronic filing and, according to practitioners, make the site more user-friendly. IRS in January issued the temporary and proposed regulations on requirements for e-filing of income tax returns by large corporations and annual information returns by certain tax-exempt organizations (8