Green Scissors Campaign 101

A basic primer on the Green Scissors campaign and answers general questions about the history and goals of the coalition....

Sliding Past Sequestration: $2 Trillion in Common Sense Cuts to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff

In the summer of 2011, Congress sent the President a bill that acknowledged failure. Instead of swallowing hard and coming up with...

Not So “Supercritical” Spending

Coal-fired energy production is one of the oldest and most profitable industries in the world. Yet despite decades of success, the well-established coal industry remains on the federal dole. ...

Congress’ Tortured Math in MAP-21 (Trans. Reauthorization)

The just-passed MAP-21 (transportation omnibus) is paid for! It reduces the debt over 10 years! By $16.3 billion,if CBO is to be...

Taxpayer-Backed Loan Guarantees for Liquid Coal: Medicine Bow, Wyoming

(Originally Posted December 2011, Most Recent Update: September 2012) In 2008, Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC applied for a $1.7 billion...

Analysis of FY13 Continuing Resolution: Special Carve-outs

H.J. Res. 117 — Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013 was released this morning (9/11/2012). TCS staff will be posting relevant documents and analysis as we digest this proposal over the coming days....

DOE Loan Guarantees: Overview, Risks, and More

Created in Title 17 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program has received increased scrutiny with the default of a loan guarantee to the solar start-up company, Solyndra....

Record Drought Results in Record Profit

Special interests are always looking for a silver lining. This year, it’s the farm lobby and sympathetic politicians shamelessly taking...

Golden Fleece Awarded to Riverboat Ripoff

Taxpayers for Common Sense awarded the Golden Fleece to Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) for introducing H.R. 4342, the WAVE4 Act. This legislation would codify recommendations made by barge operators to increase the federal subsidy for inland waterway construction projects on the nation's rivers....

Big Oil Makes Top Dollar

The first half of 2012 has brought more multi-billion dollar profits for major oil companies. So far, these companies have raked in more...

Engineering Boondoggles

While Washington is wringing its hands about the automatic across-the-board budget cuts known as...