The President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform was scheduled to make recommendations to the Treasury Department concerning the tax code on July 31st. The panel announced today that they will be pushing this deadline back to September 30th. Many believe that Congress won't take up reforming the tax code until 2006 (if at all), so the panel feels it has more time to explore specific reforms. Check the panel's website for more information.

The full Senate Appropriations committee is scheduled to mark up the Homeland Security spending bill today. On Tuesday, the Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security reported the bill, and approved $30.8 billion in discretionary funding for FY 06. Excluding emergency funding and the $2.5 billion in advance appropriations for Project BioShield, the Senate's Homeland Security spending bill weighs in at $1.4 billion more than the FY 2005 enacted spending level, and $1.2 billion more than the administration's request. The House finished work on DHS appropriatons in May, increasing spending $1.37 billion above the FY 05 enacted levels (excluding $2.5 billion in advance appropriations for BioShield), and $1.3 billion above the President’s request.

So, the White House politico who was discovered to have doctored a climate change report -- even though he has no scientific training -- and then left (coincidentally, ahem) his job when the news broke has just days later taken a job at ExxonMobil. No wonder he went to ExxonMobil in particular: as the Wall Street Journal points out, "Openly and unapologetically, the world's No. 1 oil company disputes the notion that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming. Along with the Bush administration, Exxon opposes the Kyoto accord and the very idea of capping global-warming emissions....

A number of important hearings have taken place this week. Yesterday, the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security held a hearing examining the impact of the American population’s increasing longevity on Social Security’s finances and exploring ways to encourage work at older ages. Members of the panel heard a range of proposals to address the impact of longer-living individuals on solvency. Witness testimonies can be read here. Also, this morning the Senate Budget committee held a hearing on the solvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which we wrote about in our last issue of the Watcher. The committee heard from Bradley Belt, Director of the PBGC, and CBO head Douglas Holtz-Eakin. The hearing was held because it is clear the defined-pension benefit system needs to be reformed. Rep. Boehner has offered a bill (HR 2830) to overhaul the pension system; however his bill has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats. Boehner's bill raises pension insurance premiums that companies pay from $19 to $30 to ensure that the PBGC does not need a taxpayer bailout.