Budget Resolution -- Blue Dogs Say PAYGO or No-Go: In an April 4 letter to the House and Senate Budget Committee Chairs and ranking members, 26 deficit-hawk Blue Dog Democrats said that a budget resolution must "include deficit-neutral AMT relief through reconciliation language and any stimulus package be fully offset [or it] will meet our firm opposition on the House Floor." Given the five-vote margin of victory for the House resolution last month, a defection by 26 Democrats would almost certainly doom the prospects for an FY 2009 budget resolution. Taxes/Ways & Means -- End of Private Tax Collection?: The House Ways & Means Committee will consider legislation - the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act - that would end the private tax collection program. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson estimates that the program not only lacks transparency, but instead of raising revenue, actually costs the Treasury $81 million annually. Federal Contracting -- Oversight Loophole Wastes Billions: The Bush administration has delayed delivering documents to Congress explaining how a multibillion-dollar loophole exempting overseas work from scrutiny was slipped into a rule intended to crack down on fraud in government contracts. A House panel will hear April 15 from administration officials about the loophole, which drew protests from Democrats and Republican lawmakers alike and been disavowed by Attorney General Mukasey. Story.