DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 27, 2008
by Dana Chasin, 5/27/2008
Housing -- Market Collapse Accelerates: Prices of single-family homes declined a record 14.1 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. Year-to-year prices fell less than three percent during the worst drop in the last housing recession, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller national home price index, released this morning.
War Supplemental -- House to Take Bill Up Again After Break: One casualty of the congressional congestion in the weeks prior to the Memorial Day recess was the war supplemental, which will be taken up by the House once again when Congress returns. The House bid to fund the war through much of FY09 failed; the Senate adopted the largest appropriations bill in history, which included that funding, on May 22.
Defense Bill -- Nussle Calls Earmarks Item "Veto Bait": OMB Director Jim Nussle called an earmarks provision included in the House defense authorization bill "veto bait" last week. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the administration's concerns would be noted, but pointed out the provision "had unanimous, bipartisan support in the Armed Services Committee." Story.
