Blog Posts and Analysis / Revenue & Spending

Congress Mistakenly Focusing On Katrina Spending As Top Fiscal Danger

Although conservatives in the House and Senate have been squealing over the past few weeks that budget cuts are necessary to offset spending for Gulf Coast reconstruction, in reality Hurricane Katrina will have little effect on long-term deficits.

read in full

Early Reports of FEMA Reimbursement Policy Misleading

Early reports about the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursements to faith-based groups for their hurricane relief services were misleading and lacked essential details. At a press conference last week, FEMA announced that it will reimburse churches and faith-based groups; however, this is simply an extension of its Public Assistance Program that currently provides funding to private nonprofit groups that have provided food, shelter and supplies to victims of Hurricane Katrina at the agency's request. A Sept. 27 Washington Post story gave the impression that only faith-based groups would receive such reimbursements, prompting some protest.

read in full

Scrambling to Offset Katrina Costs, Republicans Continue Dangerous Fiscal Policy

After five years of ill-conceived and reckless tax and budget policies that have led the federal government to be deeply in debt, weak, and vulnerable, Republican congressional leaders and the White House are now talking about fiscal responsibility in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. While nearly all the current proposals emerging from Congress and the administration are cloaked in the rhetoric of balancing the budget, this serves simply to hide their one-sided emphasis on shrinking the role of government through cutting spending rather than increasing revenue.

read in full

Katrina Could Cause a Needed Reevaluation of Priorities in Congress

Hurricane Katrina has shaken up Congress' fall schedule immensely, as its focus has shifted to respond to the immediate needs of the Gulf region utterly devastated by the storm. Congress has passed more than $62 billion in aid, as well as Of the reconciliation measures laid out by Congress in April's budget resolution, some could prove to be extremely harmful. Reconciliation was expected to result in lawmakers:
  • cutting $35 billion from expected mandatory spending over five years ($10 billion was expected to be taken from Medicaid);

read in full

Senate, House Pass First Katrina Tax Cut Package

Last Thursday, the House and Senate quickly passed separate but similar versions of legislation designed to provide targeted and temporary tax cuts to all those directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The two bills, which also provide tax incentives to individuals housing evacuees and for businesses who continue to pay employees or hire displaced workers, each passed unanimously. All signs indicate this bill is not the last tax cut Congress will attempt to pass in order to help Katrina victims as GOP leaders have already eluded to additional "economic stimulus" proposals in the pipeline.

read in full

Despite Recovering Economy, Poverty On the Rise for Fourth Straight Year

This year's Census Bureau report on nation-wide levels of poverty, income, and health insurance made clear that, although the U.S. economy expanded in 2004, the expansion did not extend to all Americans, in particular missing households most in need of a boost. The real income of a typical household has fallen for the past five years, despite steady economic expansion over the last three years. At the same time, the number of Americans living in poverty and lacking health insurance has increased steadily.

read in full

Circumstances Force Frist to Postpone Estate Tax Vote

Late Monday evening, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) felt compelled by circumstances to postpone a vote on repeal of the estate tax, which he had scheduled to be the first item of business when Congress returned to Washington today. That it took Frist so long to postpone the vote typifies the misguided priorities of the entire movement for repeal of the estate tax -- an effort to reward the privileged few at the expense of millions of Americans who struggle to get by from day-to-day.

read in full

Pages

  • ©2025 Project On Government Oversight
  • All Rights Reserved.
  • This an archive site of the materials produced by the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) and is maintained by the Project On Government Oversight.