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Department of Energy: Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Program

Section 136 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) authorized the Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicles...

Taxpayer Supports for Biomass in Federal Farm Bill

For years, proponents of bioenergy and biofuels promised that the industry would help reduce U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, decrease...

Current Agricultural Policy’s Effects on Water Quality

For more than 75 years, market-distorting agricultural subsidies have produced numerous unintended consequences that have degraded water...

Supporting Passenger Mobility and Choice by Breaking Modal Stovepipes: Comparing Amtrak and Motorcoach Service

This analysis compares customer costs (fare, travel time) and societal costs (government subsidies, air emissions) associated with twenty specific trips that can currently be taken between select U.S. city pairs on both an Amtrak train and on a scheduled intercity motorcoach bus....

Small Modular Reactors: Federal Subsidies for Mini Nukes

The Department of Energy (DOE) is asking Congress to provide $452 million in taxpayer subsidies to help license up to two experimental...

Federal Subsidies for the United States Enrichment Corporation

The United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) was established in 1992 as a wholly-owned federal entity until it was privatized in 1998....

DOE Loan Guarantee Program: Vogtle Reactors 3&4

In February 2010, the Department of Energy (DOE) conditionally offered Southern Company and its partners a total of $8.33 billion in...

Golden Fleece: KABATA - Taxpayer Funded Cheerleaders for Alaska’s Knik Arm Bridge

Summary Over the last decade, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA) spent millions of federal taxpayer dollars on a project...

Impact of Ag Subsidies and Record Farm Profits in Farm Country

Despite last year’s drought, the agriculture sector recorded its second highest year of profits in a generation, down just three percent...

Achieving Measurable Outcomes in Agricultural Conservation Programs

All federal agricultural programs – including conservation programs - should prove that they are achieving measurable outcomes that...

Corporate Consolidation in Agriculture Fact Sheet

Despite best intentions, sometimes federal programs do more harm than good and cause unintended consequences that unnecessarily shift...

Income Guarantee for Agribusinesses: Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) Shallow Loss Program

“Shallow loss” programs are a luxury that would be the envy of any other industry. They are market- and trade-distorting entitlement...

Reforming the Farm Safety Net: Principles for Accountability

Every five or so years, Congress has an opportunity to reform agriculture policy in the farm bill, a massive piece of legislation that...

Political Contributions & Conflicts of Interest Taint U.S. Ag Policies

Despite our nation’s $16.8 trillion debt and record deficits, agricultural lobbyists continue to fearlessly campaign for more subsidies...

Biomass Crop Assistance Program Fact Sheet

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), a new program added to the energy title in the 2008 farm bill, was intended to spur...

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Market Access Program

Many examples of corporate welfare can be found in the federal budget, but few are as wasteful as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s...

Biorefinery Assistance Program Fact Sheet

The Biorefinery Assistance Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development office, was intended to...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: Biofuels and Biomass

Created as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program has $34 billion in...

Wanna Giveaway?: Congress Using Budget Gimmicks to Reverse Air Traffic Cuts

Update (12:30pm) - The House passed this bill today 361-41, and it now goes to the President for his signature. Though the bill does...

Bringing Sequester in for a Landing: Congress on Verge of Avoiding FAA Furloughs with Budget Gimmicks

Update (9:03 pm): The Senate has gone with option 1 (see below), allowing for the transfer of $250 million from the Airport Improvement...

Taxpayer Supports for Corn Ethanol in Federal Legislation

Since its creation of the domestic market for corn ethanol after the energy crisis of the 1970s, the federal government has nurtured and...

Repowering Assistance Program Fact Sheet

The Repowering Assistance Program, administered by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development office, reimburses...

Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels Fact Sheet

Established by an Executive Order in 1999, the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels (BPAB) is intended to pay advanced biofuels...

Essential Air Service Dataset

The Essential Air Service (EAS) is a federal subsidy program created in the 1970s as part of airline deregulation. Though the program was...

Rural Energy for America Program Fact Sheet

The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) was created in the 2008 farm bill to provide federal grants and loans to renewable energy...

Biomass Research and Development Initiative Fact Sheet

The Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) provides grants to companies, universities, and government research centers to...

Political Footprint of the Corn Ethanol Lobby

The federal government has in one form or another provided lucrative subsidies to the corn ethanol industry for more than 30 years,...

Analysis of Selected Sections of S. 601, Water Resources Development Act of 2013

The Senate's Environment and Public Works committee is taking up a water project bill that could cost taxpayers billions....

Path to Trillion Dollar Farm Bills

Not only have recent farm bills come in significantly over-budget, but they have also doubled in cost over the past decade. ...

Taxpayer Subsidies for Small Modular Reactors

The Department of Energy (DOE) is asking Congress to provide hundreds of millions in subsidies to commercialize small modular nuclear...

Sandy Supplemental Data

As Washington debates the merits of a supplemental spending bill in response to superstorm Sandy, this database lists of all the spending...

Crop Insurance Administrative Policy Changes

Several administrative changes could be implemented to reduce taxpayer costs and limit the unintended consequences of federal crop insurance. ...

Transportation Tax Provisions within Fiscal Cliff Deal

The final agreement signed by the president to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” contains several items related to transportation that...

Energy Tax Breaks Catch Ride on Fiscal Cliff Train

At the 11th hour lawmakers and the White House agreed to a deal on the fiscal cliff. While the deal was crafted to address urgent tax...

Oil Shale: Failing Taxpayers for Decades

Since the early 20th century, the federal government and private industry have attempted to commercialize oil shale but after years of...

Analysis of Selected Provisions in Hurricane Sandy Emergency Spending Proposals

Update January 10, 2013: We’ve combed through the House Appropriations Chairman Rogers Sandy Supplemental bill (HR 152 and his...

Golden Fleece Awarded to Risk Management Agency for Risking Taxpayer Dollars

Taxpayers for Common Sense awarded the Golden Fleece to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency for wasting taxpayer funds on risk management education for crops ranging from Christmas trees to turf grass....

Fiscal Cliff Fix

Congress and the President do not need to plunge taxpayers off a “Fiscal Cliff”. Common sense solutions can make government work and put the country on sound footing to deal with our deficits and debt....

Subsidizing Oil Shale: Tracing Federal Support for Oil Shale Development in the United States

With fiscal cliff looming, TCS calls for end to government handouts for failed oil shale experiments....

Evolution of Earmarks

Evolution of Earmarks and Earmark Disclosure in Recent Years...

Earmark Data

Even under an existing moratorium, earmarks have received a lot of attention in the media, in Congress, and around the water cooler in...

Past Recipients of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Award

2010: Senator Clare McCaskill (D-MO) and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CA) 2005: Senator John Sununu (R-NH) 2004: Representatives Steve Chabot...

About the “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” Award

Since 1999, Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) has honored lawmakers and citizen activists whose leadership and dedication have made a...

Agency Receives Golden Fleece for Shady Forest Deal in West Virginia

Washington, DC - Citing the illegal use of taxpayer dollars at the Northeastern Research Station's Fernow Experimental Forest, a national...

Political Power of the Agribusiness and Crop Insurance Lobbies

The so-called Farm Bill currently being negotiated in Congress is shaping up to be another taxpayer-funded handout to wealthy landowners,...

Haves and Have-Nots in Federal Crop Insurance

Federally subsidized crop insurance has become the largest taxpayer support for agriculture. But not all parts of the agriculture...

Loan Guarantee Program 101

A basic primer on the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program and answers general questions on the history, administration, and overall effect of the program....

Coal Subsidy Database

Over the years the coal industry has received billions in federal subsidies, in a variety of forms including direct grants, loan...

Farm Bill 101

The Farm Bill is a massive piece of legislation that guides food and farm policy. It covers wide-ranging topics from rural broadband service to farm subsidy payments....

Agricultural Safety Net 101

The agricultural safety net refers to the various federal programs and policies that insulate agricultural producers from the costs of conducting business....

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...

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....

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...

Green Scissors Report 2012

Green Scissors 2012 is produced by Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and R Street to highlight and end wasteful and environmentally harmful federal spending. This diverse coalition of environmental, taxpayer and free-market groups has come together to show how the government can save billions of tax dollars and improve our environment. ...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: $8 Billion Allocated for Fossil Fuel Projects

While the program was intended for emerging energy technologies, mature industries like coal and nuclear are eligible as well. Congress provided the program with funding in several areas including advanced nuclear reactors, renewable and energy efficiency, front-end nuclear fuel cycle technology, and advanced fossil fuels....

With Agriculture Disaster Aid Congress Pays Now, Hopes to Save Later

Citing record drought conditions throughout the country, the House is debating today legislation to retroactively extend four...

Taxpayers Lose with More Unnecessary Farm Subsidy Layers

Federal farm programs are ripe for reform, especially those that lock in record high prices and guarantee farmers’ expected income. As...

Coal Industry Profits

For centuries the federal government has been in the business of providing billions in subsidies to coal companies in order to ensure...

Turning a Drought into a Fiscal Disaster

Politicians on both sides of the aisle are trying to take advantage of the drought crisis to foist a trillion-dollar farm bill on...

Zombie Earmarks in Defense Spending Bill

The Fiscal Year 2013 defense spending bill heading to the House floor Wednesday is a lesson in why it’s so hard to cut defense spending...

House Farm Bill Draft Analysis: Squanders Savings, Recycles Wasteful Ideas, and Creates New Subsidy Entitlement Programs

Yesterday, the House Agriculture Committee released its 2012 Farm Bill draft which eliminates some wasteful commodity programs but...

Senate’s New Way to Lock in Unlimited Farm Subsidies

On June 21, the Senate passed a few long-awaited reforms to the farm subsidy maze. Unfortunately, at the same time, they also increased...

Congress Relies on Billions from Treasury in Transportation Reauthorization

A quick note: This analysis is based upon best available data at the time it was written. As of this posting (6:20pm), the final...

MOX Misses the Mark

Despite the ever-increasing price tag, incessant delays in progress, and known safety risks, the Department of Energy continues to pour federal subsidies into the Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) program year after year. ...

Federal-Free Risk Management in Agriculture

Like all businesses, agricultural producers face a number of risks in maintaining a profitable enterprise. Successful management of these...

Senate Ag Committee: More is Less

(Originally published June 8, 2012) With debate on the 2012 Farm Bill underway on the Senate Floor, proponents of this nearly trillion...

Why Transportation Reauthorization Negotiations Are Failing: The Pay-fors Just Don’t Add Up

Congress continues to meet behind closed doors in a Conference Committee to hash out the details of a transportation bill...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: Uranium Enrichment

The Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program was created in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to provide Treasury backed loan...

Spending Even Less, Spending Even Smarter

A report from the Project on Government Oversight and Taxpayers for Common Sense published May 8, 2012 including recommendations for National Security Savings FY 2013 to FY 2022 Deficit Reduction $688 Billion....

Farm Safety Net Proposals that Fail to Save

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released a report that will help you study up for this Wednesday’s Senate Farm Bill mark-up...

Government Report Reinforces Need to Harvest Savings in Crop Insurance

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released a report detailing the potential to save more than a billion dollars a year...

California HSR Project Cuts Costs but Federal Taxpayer Still on the Hook

In response to growing public opposition, questionable project merit, and an increasingly bloated cost, the California High Speed Rail...

House to seek another extension for transportation program

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Mica (R-FL) introduced H.R. 4239 yesterday; a “clean” extension to the...

Big Oil Tops $150 Billion in Profits in 2011

With annual financial reports being released this time of year, the oil and gas industry is looking to continue its decade long trend of...

Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Data

The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) is a compendium of more than two thousand tariff waivers which reduce the fees importers pay for a...

Defense Assets Data

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is the largest federal agency in the United States, consuming more than half of discretionary...

Crop Insurance: A Federal Cash Assurance Program

Federal crop insurance is a highly taxpayer subsidized program that allows agricultural producers to shift their business risk onto...

Backdoor Earmarks? Slush-y Funds in the Corps of Engineers Budget

(February 8, 2012 | 3:00 p.m.) Below is a chart detailing the number of projects that receive funding in the Corps 2012 Work Plan that...

FY13 Defense Budget Scorecard

The Defense Department today gave the public a peek behind the cover of its Fiscal Year 2013 budget request, releasing a report and fact...

The Nation’s Transportation Trust Funds

The nation’s transportation system — highways, transit lines, aviation, waterways, and ports — is largely supported by a series of...

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS): Too Costly for Taxpayers

Carbon capture and storage (CCS), also referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is the process of separating carbon dioxide (CO2)...

TIGER III Grant Awardees Named

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) today awarded $511 million worth of grants to support 46 projects in 33 states and...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: Renewable and Energy Efficiency

The Department of Energy loan guarantee program that backed Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer which went bankrupt on August 31, 2011...

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

The Medicine Bow plant has been repeatedly delayed over eight years. Putting the full faith and credit of the U.S. government behind this costly and risky project is fiscally reckless. ...

FutureGen Project Timeline

February 2003: Bush Administration announces initiative to develop zero-emissions “clean coal” power plant. The plant would burn coal to...

The Department of Energy FutureGen Initiative

The latest iteration of the Department of Energy’s FutureGen project (find a timeline here) is a federal initiative to finance and...

Analyzing Transportation Provisions in Mini-Bus Appropriations Bill

House and Senate negotiators have released a final version of the so-called "mini-bus" appropriations bill that will roll three funding...

Cashing In: Biofuels Industry Buys Congress’s Continued Support

Taxpayers for Common Sense released today a report detailing the heavily subsidized biofuels industry's political clout. The biofuels...

Big Oil, Big Profits

Another quarter, another unsurprising set of reports of huge profits for the oil companies. Continuing to be some of the most profitable...

Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Loan Program: Program Expansion Must Not Erode Taxpayer Protections

The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) was adopted by Congress in 1998 to leverage federal resources and...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program: Uranium Enrichment

The Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program was created in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to provide Treasury backed loan...

Bridging the Gap: Redirecting Investments to Fix the Nation’s Bridges

A large portion of the nation’s 600,000 bridges are in poor condition and require investment to repair or replace. Congress, by virtue of...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program: Status Update on Proposed, Pending, and Final Applicants

Passed as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program currently has $34.8...

Super Cuts for the Super Committee

Taxpayers for Common Sense has been working hard to meet the challenge of that the so-called Super Committee is facing - $1.2-1.5...

Comparison of Essential Air Service Program to Alternative Coach Bus Service

Report Highlights Significant Savings in Essential Air Service Program...

After 9/11: A Decade of Watching War on Terror Spending

This week marks the ten-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Our national security...

Comparing Proposals for a National Infrastructure Bank

With extension of the nation's surface transportation program currently being debated in the halls of Congress, policymakers are...

Transportation: Gridlock may lead to Crashes Ahead

The daunting challenges Congress faces in the next month regarding the nation's transportation programs when it returns next week: 1....

Pentagon Contracting 101

Overview Tracking contracts in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is daunting. DOD purchases more than $1 billion of goods and...

Green Scissors 2011

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined environmental, consumer watchdog, and free-market groups today to release Green Scissors 2011, which...

Myth v. Fact: Oil and Gas Companies’ Effective Tax Rate

              MYTH: OIL AND GAS COMPANIES HAVE A HIGH EFFECTIVE TAX RATE “The effective tax rate for the industry is...

Essentially Wasteful: The Essential Air Service

Congress has split town leaving an important deal unfinished. Yes, the debt ceiling got raised, but there’s another important piece of...

Debt and Debt Ceiling Q&A

If the President and Congress cannot reach agreement by August 2nd to raise the debt ceiling and pay our national obligations, the...

Spending Less, Spending Smarter: Recommendations for National Security Savings FY 2012 to FY 2021

Watchdog Groups Identify Nearly $600 Billion in National Security Spending Cuts WASHINGTON, D.C.—The federal government could save...

No Deal on Ethanol for Taxpayers

A small group Senators are attempting to snatch fiscal defeat from the jaws of taxpayer victory on ethanol subsidies. Last month the...

Senate Transportation Reauthorization Summary Released

On the heels of the House's recent proposal, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today released a summary of its own...

House Transportation Reauthorization Proposal Released

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Rep. John Mica (R-FL) today released an outline of its proposal for a...

Earmark Terms Glossary

Categories of Earmarks Disclosed Lawmaker: Earmarks Earmarks that appear in the explanatory statement of an appropriations bill for...

Big Oil, Big Corn: An in-depth look at the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit

Big Oil, Big Corn: An in-depth look at the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit Corn has been subsidized since the 1930s, but it was...

Repair Priorities: Transportation Spending Strategies to Save Taxpayer Dollars and Improve Roads

June 1, 2011 Taxpayers for Common Sense and Smart Growth America released a report highlighting smarter investments in road repair and...

Subsidy Gusher: Taxpayers Stuck With Massive Subsidies While Oil and Gas Profits Soar

There are a couple of basic truths about oil and gas companies today--they are highly profitable, heavily subsidized, and well-connected...

The Most For Our Money—Highlighting Solutions for the Nation’s Transportation Problems

Transportation dollars are tight. The gasoline tax that we rely on to build and maintain our transportation networks isn’t enough to meet...

The Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit: History and Current Policy

The Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) is the largest subsidy to corn ethanol, the most common biofuel in the U.S. The tax...

Draft of Administration’s Transportation Reauthorization Revealed

A draft has started floating around of the Obama Administration's reauthorization proposal for the nation's transportation program....

The President’s FY2012 Proposed Cuts to Fossil Fuel Subsidies

In keeping with President Obama’s call to end fossil fuel subsidies, the latest budget proposal includes several significant cuts to oil,...

Reports highlight problems with transportation spending

Billions of taxpayer dollars handed out by the Department of Transportation was distributed on the basis of a flawed selection process,...

Taxpayer Risks with the Loan Guarantee Program

The Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee program carries extremely high taxpayer risk, potentially jeopardizing billions of taxpayer dollars if energy project loans default....

HR 1363 FY11 Defense/CR Only Cuts $4.4B

Not that it’s anything to sneeze at, but HR1363 the “Department of Defense and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011” that the...

Framing the Transportation Debate: Two Recent Documents Highlight Key Issues

Two documents released recently do a great job framing the upcoming debate over reauthorization of the nation’s surface transportation...

Ongoing TCS Analysis of the FY2012 Budget Proposal

The FY2012 Presidential Budget Request was released this morning. TCS staff will be posting relevant documents and analysis as we digest...

Common Sense Cuts—$900 billion in savings over 10 years

The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...

TCS Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: Tax Expenditures

Tax Expenditures Total Cuts: $624 billion Cuts Include: Mortgage Interest Deduction Cut: $390 billion LIFO Cut: $52.9...

TCS Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: National Security

NATIONAL SECURITY Total Cuts: $95 billion Total Achieved Savings: $7 billion For too long, the defense budget was considered...

TCS Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: General

General Total Cuts: $421+ million Cuts Include: Shift Congressional Pensions to Defined Contribution Overseas Private Investment...

TCS Recommended Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: Transportation

Transportation Total Cuts: $18.7 billion The nation’s transportation system is broken, as the gasoline tax that each of us pays at the...

TCS Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: Infrastructure

Infrastructure Total Cuts: $6 billion For nearly two centuries, the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has been a way for lawmakers to...

TCS Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: Agriculture

Outdated and ineffective farm policies waste billions of federal funds each year, jeopardize fragile lands and waters and no longer...

TCS Recommended Budget Cut List No. 2: Total Cuts $205+ billion

The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...

TCS Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: Energy

Taxpayers have been subsidizing the same mature, polluting energy technologies for decades. Many projects and outdated programs still...

TCS Review of CBO Brief: Spending and Funding for Highways

As the 112th Congress begins to tackle runaway deficits, government spending cuts, and congressional earmark bans, they will undoubtedly...

TCS Recommended Budget Cuts for the 112th Congress

The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...

FY2011 Omnibus Appropriations Earmark Database

(Originally Posted 12/17/2010) Taxpayers for Common Sense has completed an initial database of the 6,706 earmarks worth $8.3 billion...

TCS and the Wilderness Society Release Report: Fair Market Value for Wind and Solar Development on Public Land

A review and analysis of the laws and regulations governing the collection and use of revenues from commercial energy development on federal lands and is a guide for policy-makers to use in developing appropriate policies for wind and solar energy projects....

Fair Market Value for Wind and Solar Development on Public Land

A review and analysis of the laws and regulations governing the collection and use of revenues from commercial energy development on federal lands and is a guide for policy-makers to use in developing appropriate policies for wind and solar energy projects....

TCS Releases Database of FY11 Earmark Requests

Taxpayers for Common Sense, WashingtonWatch.com, and Taxpayers Against Earmarks teamed together to develop a database of all fiscal year 2011 earmark requests....

TCS and the Grocery Manufacturers Association Hold a Briefing on the Impacts and Future of the Corn

Also in attendance is Iowa State University economist Bruce Babcock. Click hereClick herePolicy Briefs: "Let the VEETC Expire:...

Fiscal Commission Defense Cuts: Strong Start, More Can be Done

The draft recommendations released this week by the co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform propose...

TCS Preliminary Earmark Analysis for FY 2011

Originally Posted 10/19/2010: The FY2011 budget is a mess. Congress has not finished a single spending bill. The House has approved...

Election Gives Big-Spending Congressional Committees New Look

The Armed Services Committees are not the only Congressional bodies to see their memberships upended by the midterm elections. The...

Third Quarter Results are in and still the same story: Billions in profit, billions more in subsidie

Total SA made $3.2 in the third quarter; Shell: $3.5; Chevron: $3.8; Exxon: $7.4; and most telling of all, BP has emerged back into the...

Common Sense Reforms for the 112th Congress

As the dawn of the 112th Congress draws near, there are several reforms Congress should enact, regardless of which party is in control....

Ethanol Editorials: Newspapers Across the County Agree - End Ethanol Subsidies!

 Newspapers Across the Country Agree: End Ethanol Subsidies! In light of TCS’ release of the Green Scissors 2010 Report on July 22 and...

DOD Still Years Away From Managing its Money

Despite efforts to save billions by improving the way it does business, the Defense Department is not only still years away from being...

Good Government Groups and Lobbyists Jointly Release Common Sense Earmark Reforms for the 112th Congress

TCS joined with other nonprofit good government groups and several Washington lobbyists to hammer out some jointly agreed upon earmark...

UPDATE—$7.7 Billion In Earmarks In 2009 Omnibus Spending Bill (updated 3/13/09)

March 13, 2009 Update: Version 5 is now available.   This version includes member state and party, and also allows for a partisan...

Green Scissors 2010

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined a number of environmental and consumer groups and a bipartisan slate of Representatives today in...

FutureGen: Massive Clean Coal Project Changes Track, Still Securing $1 Billion Earmarked in the Stimulus

Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the plan to build “FutureGen” a massive commercial “clean coal” facility in Mattoon,...

New Report Finds DOE Loan Guarantee Program Riddled with Problems

 The Government Accountability Office released a new report today, finding that the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program...

DOD Tries to Shave Billions From Contracting Costs

The scent of defense acquisition reform is heavy in the air again. Just don’t call it acquisition reform.  The Defense Department...

Federal Loan Guarantees for Nuclear Reactors: Details of the Current Applicants

On February 16, 2010, the Department of Energy offered the first conditional nuclear loan guarantee of $8.3 billion to Southern Company...

Fool Me Once–Energy Legislation Should Include Royalty System for Wind and Solar Projects on Taxpayer Lands

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has refocused Congress’ attention on energy and climate legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid...

Oil and Gas Industry: A Decade of Record Breaking Profits

Big Oil has made Big Money over the last decade. In fact, the last five years proved to be some of the most profitable for any U.S....

UPDATE: Earmarks in Defense Authorization Bill

(June 4, 2010) This week’s Memorial Day Congressional recess gave us a chance to peer under the lid of the House defense authorization...

Exploring the Relationship Between Earmarks and Campaign Contributions

Taxpayers for Common Sense and the Center for Responsive Politics have joined to release a comprehensive database that links campaign...

Department of Defense: Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Plan Status Report

Read the text of the Department of Defense's Status Report on the Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness (FIAR) Plan  Download the PDF...

Mining Companies Enchanted by New Mexico Giveaways

New Mexico is one of the most heavily mined states in the country, producing large amounts of perlite, copper, and other hardrock...

Recipients of 2010 “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” Award

Taxpayers for Common Sense honor Senator Clare McCaskill (D-MO) and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-CA) with the "Mr. Smith" Award in recognition of their efforts to promote fiscal responsibility and eliminate wasteful governmental spending....

Details on the President’s Proposed Fossil Fuel Cuts

In keeping with President Obama’s call to end fossil fuel subsidies, the latest budget proposal includes several significant cuts to oil,...

Arizona Public Lands in Mining Company Hands

Arizona is one of the most heavily mined states in the country, producing large amounts of copper, silver and other hardrock minerals....

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....

Earmarks and Earmarking: Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction Earmarks have received a lot of attention in the media, in Congress, and around the water cooler. But despite the interest...

The Flap Over the Jobs Bill: Flawed Politics of the Past Would Continue to Distribute Funds in the F

Earlier this week, the Senate passed its version of the jobs bill—a bill which is flawed from a transportation and taxpayer...

Senate Jobs Bill: The Wrong Direction on Transportation

Updated 2:33pm The Senate-passed jobs bill (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act or the Jobs for Main Street Act) contains a...

TCS FY2010 Earmark Analysis: Apples-to-Apples Increase in Earmarks

  Click Here for the complete database of FY2010 Earmarks  |  Click Here for a pdf version of this analysis...

North Shore Road: Final Agreement a Win for Taxpayers

An agreement was signed this week that settles a long-standing dispute about what to do with the North Shore Road in the Great Smoky...

FY11 Budget Cuts Agriculture Waste

The President’s proposed FY2011 Department of Agriculture (USDA) budget is $25.8 billion, slightly reduced from the FY2010 level of $26.9...

2010 Defense Budget Winners and Losers

The day last April when Defense Secretary Robert Gates revealed the Defense Department’s 2010 budget has become known as “Black Monday.”...

Obama to Contractors: Don’t Cheat Uncle Sam

It was payback time for President Obama this week when he threw down the gauntlet to tax-dodging contractors.Taxpayers pay contractors...

UPDATE: 1,720 Earmarks in Final Defense Spending Bill

(December 17) The Senate will soon follow the House in passing a $636.3 billion Fiscal Year 2010 defense appropriations bill, the...

Bailout Bank Bio: Eagle Bancorp, Inc.

Eagle Bancorp, Inc. (Eagle Bancorp) is a bank holding company that provides general commercial and consumer banking services through its...

Bailout Bank Bio: GMAC

Founded in 1919 as the General Motors Acceptance Corporation, GMAC is an important company in both the auto and  home finance...

MilCon, VA and State Department Funding in Omnibus

The House of Representatives drove home a $447 billion omnibus spending bill yesterday loaded with six of the seven appropriations bills...

Senate Version of The Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA)

Both the House and Senate have proposed the creation of the new federal financing entity known as the Clean Energy Deployment...

FY10 Omnibus Disclosed Earmark Numbers

Preliminary disclosed earmark totals for the FY10 Omnibus: Transportation/HUD: 1481 worth $1.207...

Congressional Budget Office Analysis Confirms Senate CEDA Jeopardizes Billions of Taxpayer Dollars

The American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 (ACELA), S. 1462, as approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in...

Coal to Liquids: A Costly Gamble

Discovered by German scientists during World War II, the Fischer-Tropsch process – referred to by the Department of Energy as...

The Percentage Depletion Allowance (PDA): A Double Giveaway for Hardrock Mining Companies

For decades, hardrock mining companies have benefited from generous tax breaks at the expense of taxpayers, all the while extracting...

The Amazing Waste: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Funding

Despite being expensive, inefficient, and ineffective, hydrogen fuel cell technologies have received more than $1.4 billion in federal...

Oil and Gas Royalties: Relief for Oil and Gas Companies, a Fiscal Headache for Taxpayers

Oil and gas companies that drill offshore or on public lands are required to pay for the oil and gas they remove in the form of...

UPDATE: President Signs Defense Authorization Bill with $4 billion in Earmarks

(October 30) President Obama signed a $680 billion defense authorization bill this week—the largest such bill ever—with a declaration...

Contractor Accountability Legislation in Defense Authorization

One of the most interesting—and neglected—sections of the annual defense authorization bill steers annual contracting policy both for DOD...

UPDATE: Congress Passes Final $42.8 DHS Approps Bill

(October 21) Congress handed off a $42.8 billion appropriations bill funding the Department of Homeland Security through fiscal year 2010...

UPDATE: The President’s 2010 Budget: Reining in Oil and Gas Subsidies

The president’s fiscal year 2010 budget repeals several long-standing oil and gas subsidies, saving an estimated $31.7 billion over the...

More than 161,000 Abandoned Mines in the West

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that there are at least 161,000 abandoned mines in western states. The research,...

Royalties from Hardrock Mining on State Lands as High as 12%

In a recent analysis on hardrock mining, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that among twelve western states, all assess...

FY08 & FY09 Earmarks and Related Campaign Contributions

**Update: September 16 -- For Fiscal Year 2010 Earmark Databases, click here** Taxpayers for Common Sense and the Center for Responsive...

Bailout Bank Bio: Security Federal Corporation

Security Federal Corporation operates as the holding company for Security Federal Bank, which provides various banking products and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Southwest Bancorp

Southwest Bancorp, Inc., a financial holding company, provides commercial and consumer banking services in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas....

The Bancorp

The Bancorp, Inc. is a financial holding company with a wholly owned subsidiary, The Bancorp Bank. The Bancorp Bank is headquartered in...

The Connecticut Bank and Trust Company

The Connecticut Bank and Trust Company is a Connecticut state bank and trust company, founded in 2004. The bank operates its headquarters...

Bailout Bank Bio: LCNB Corp.

LCNB Corp. operates as the holding company for Lebanon Citizens National Bank that provides commercial and personal banking services in...

Bailout Bank Bio: State Bancorp

State Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for State Bank of Long Island that provides general banking products and services,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Southern Community Financial Corporation

Southern Community Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for Southern Community Bank and Trust, which provides commercial...

Bailout Bank Bio: State Street Corp

State Street Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of products and services for the institutional investors worldwide. It...

Bailout Bank Bio: Somerset Hills Bancorp

Somerset Hills Bancorp operates as the holding company for Somerset Hills Bank, which provides commercial banking services primarily in...

Bailout Bank Bio: Sterling Bancorp

Sterling Bancorp operates as the holding company for Sterling National Bank that provides banking and financial products and services to...

Bailout Bank Bio: Summit State Bank

Summit State Bank provides various commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in its primary service area of Santa Rosa,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Sun Bancorp

Sun Bancorp, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Sun National Bank that provides a range of commercial and retail banking...

Bailout Bank Bio: Superior Bancorp

Superior Bancorp operates as a holding company for Superior Bank that offers banking and related services. It offers a range of retail and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Shore Bancshares

Shore Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for The Centreville National Bank of Maryland; The Talbot Bank of Easton, Maryland;...

Bailout Bank Bio: Tennessee Valley Financial Holdings

Tennessee Valley Financial Holdings, Inc. is the holding company for TNBank, a private bank based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The bank five...

Bailout Bank Bio: Texas Capital Bancshares

Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Texas Capital Bank, National Association that provides various banking...

Bailout Bank Bio: Security California Bancorp

Security Bank of California offers a range of banking products and services to individuals and businesses primarily in California. Its...

Bailout Bank Bio: Texas National Bank

Texas National Bank was chartered in 1985 and is locally owned and operated. On January 9, 2009, the bank received $3,981,000 in exchange...

Bailout Bank Bio: Santa Lucia Bancorp

Santa Lucia Bancorp is the holding company for Santa Lucia Bank, which is headquartered in Atascadero, California and operates branch...

Bailout Bank Bio: The Private Bank of California

The Private Bank of California offers financial services for high net worth individuals; business owners; legal and financial...

Bailout Bank Bio: The Victory Bank

On February 27, 2009, the Victory Bank received $541,000 in preferred stock with exercised warrants through the Capital Purchase Program....

Bailout Bank Bio: Royal Bancshares of Pennsylvania

Royal Bancshares of Pennsylvania, Inc. (Royal Bancshares) is a bank holding company for Royal Bank America and Royal Asian Bank, which...

Bailout Bank Bio: The Freeport State Bank

The Freeport State Bank received $301,000 from the Capital Purchase Program in exchange for preferred stock with warrants on February 6,...

Bailout Bank Bio: HF Financial Corp

HF Financial Corp operates as the holding company for Home Federal Bank that provides consumer and commercial banking services in the...

Bank Bailout Bio: First ULB Bancshares (United Labor Bank)

First ULB received $4.9 million in preferred stock with exercised warrants on January 23, 2009 under the Capital Purchase Program. The...

Bailout Bank Bio: Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. is the holding company for Peoples Bank.  The company is headquartered in Newton, North Carolina,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Parkvale Financial

Parkvale Financial Corporation operates as a holding company for Parkvale Savings Bank that provides various consumer and commercial...

Bailout Bank Bio: Peoples Bancorp (OH)

Peoples Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Peoples Bank, National Association, which provides various financial services and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Pacific Coast National Bancorp

Pacific Coast National Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Pacific Coast National Bank that provides a range of commercial and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Tidelands Bancshares, Inc.

Tidelands Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Tidelands Bank. Its primary market...

Bailout Bank Bio: Pulaski Financial Corp

Pulaski Financial Corp. is a holding company for Pulaski Bank, which serves the greater St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri areas. In...

Bailout Bank Bio: OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corp.,Inc. is a holding company for OceanFirst Bank, based in Toms River, New Jersey.  The company operates 20 branch...

Bailout Bank Bio: The Tifton Banking Company

The Tifton Banking Company is a locally owned and operated bank started in 2004. On April 17, 2009, Tifton Banking Company received...

Bailout Bank Bio: Pinnacle Financial Partners

Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. operates as the holding company for Pinnacle National Bank, which provides commercial banking services to...

Bailout Bank Bios: Integra Bank Corporation

Integra Bank Corporation operates as a holding company for Integra Bank N.A. that provides personal and commercial banking, investment and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Titonka Bancshares

On April 3, 2009, Titonka Bancshares received $2,117,000 in exchange for preferred stock with exercised warrants under the Capital Purchase...

Bailout Bank Bio: Todd Bancshares

On February 6, 2009, Todd Bancshares received $4,000,000 in exchange for preferred stock with exercised warrants....

Bailout Bank Bio: Triad Bancorp

Triad Bancorp has one location in Frontenac, Missouri. On March 27, 2009, Triad Bancorp accepted $3,700,000 in exchange for preferred stock...

Nuclear Industry Subsidies

Since the nation began using nuclear energy, the federal government has provided billions in subsidies to the industry. More than $85...

Bailout Bank Bio: The Little Bank, Inc.

The Little Bank, Inc. serves the Lenoir, Wayne, Onslow, and Pitt county markets. It operates through its main office in Kinston, as well...

Bailout Bank Bio: Trinity Capital Corporation

Trinity Capital Corporation is the sole shareholder of Los Alamos National Bank. On March 27, 2009, Trinity Capital Corporation received...

Bailout Bank Bio: Tri-State Bank of Memphis

On April 3, 2009, Tri-State Bank of Memphis received $2,795,000 from the U.S. Treasury in exchange for preferred stock under the Capital...

Bailout Bank Bio: TriState Capital Holdings

On February 27, 2009, TriState Capital Holdings received $23,000,000 in exchange for preferred stock with exercised warrants under the...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bank of Kentucky

The Bank of Kentucky Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for The Bank of Kentucky, Inc., which provides various...

Bailout Bank Bio: Tri-County Financial Corp

Tri-County Financial Corporation operates as the holding company of Community Bank of Tri-County. The company was founded in 1950 and is...

Bailout Bank Bio: TriStone Community Bank

TriStone Community Bank offers general commercial and retail banking services in Winston-Salem area of North Carolina. The bank was...

Bailout Bank Bio: United Bancorporation of Alabama, Inc.

United Bancorporation of Alabama, Inc. operates as the holding company for United Bank that offers commercial banking services to business...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Bank of Manitowoc

First Manitowoc Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for First National Bank (bank) in Manitowoc, which engages in commercial and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Uwharrie Capital Corp

Uwharrie Capital Corp operates as the holding company for Anson Bank & Trust, Bank of Stanly, and Cabarrus Bank & Trust. The company,...

Lastest List of House Members Supporting Mining Reform

Early this year, Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV) introduced H.R. 699, the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009. H.R. 699 would...

Bailout Bank Bio: SCBT Financial

SCBT Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides retail and commercial banking services, mortgage lending services, trust and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bank of Currituck

The Bank of Currituck is an independent community bank serving northeastern North Carolina and parts of southeastern Virginia.  The main...

Hearing: Recovery Act: 160-Day Progress Report for Transporation and Infrastructure Programs

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing today entitled: “Recovery Act: 160-Day Progress Report for...

Bailout Bank Bio: Congaree Bancshares

Congaree Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Congaree State Bank, which provides various banking products and services to...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Busey Corporation

First Busey Corporation operates as a bank holding company for Busey Bank and Busey Bank, National Association that provide various retail...

TCS Comments on Senate Hearing on Reform of 1872 Mining Law

"We are pleased that Senator Bingaman has begun the process of engaging the Senate in reforming the Mining Act of 1872 by...

Hearing: Balancing the Fed’s Independence with Systemic Risk Regulation

The Administration’s regulatory restructuring proposals released in June envision the Federal Reserve taking on the role of Systemic Risk...

Budget Committee Hearing on Statutory PAYGO

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag testified before the House Budget Committee yesterday on the Administration’s...

Congress Sends $106 Billion Supplemental to President

(June 26) We found 13 undisclosed earmarks worth $1.35 billion in the supplemental, including $904 million for seven C-130J aircraft,...

Coal: A Long History of Subsidies

Subsidies to the coal industry began in 1932, when the federal government allowed companies to deduct a portion of their income to help...

Department of Energy: Loan Guarantee Program Overview

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....

TCS Fact Sheet: Coal Industry Profits

In 1932, the federal government began giving subsidies to the coal industry in order to help the industry recover initial capital...

Bailout Bank Bio: Oak Ridge Financial

    Oak Ridge Financial Services, Inc. operates as the holding company for Bank of Oak Ridge that provides commercial banking...

Bailout Bank Bio: Chrysler

Chrysler LLC was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  In 2007 Cerberus Capital Management took up managing...

Complete Database of House and Senate Earmark Requests

After searching all 99 senate websites (remember the Coleman/Franken Minnesota race is still unresolved), we now have a complete database...

Bailout Bank Bio: General Motors

On June 1st GM filed for bankruptcy protection in order to reorganize. Under the proceeding the company will receive access to an...

Bailout Bank Bio: MutualFirst Financial

  MutualFirst Financial, Inc. operates as the holding company for Mutual Federal Savings Bank, which provides various financial...

Visclosky FY08 & FY09 PMA Client Earmarks

The FBI has subpoenaed various records and documents from Rep. Visclosky’s (D-IN) offices in relation to the previously raided PMA Group...

Bailout Bank Bio: Monadnock Bancorp

Monadnock Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company for Monadnock Community Bank, based in Peterborough, New Hampshire. In December 2008,...

Bailout Bank Bio: MidSouth Bancorp (MidSouth Bank)

  MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for MidSouth Bank, N.A., which provides commercial and retail community...

Bailout Bank Bio: North Central Bancshares (First Federal Savings Bank of Iowa)

North Central Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for First Federal Savings Bank of Iowa that offers banking services in...

Bailout Bank Bio: Northeast Bancorp (Northeast Bank)

Northeast Bancorp is a bank holding company for Northeast Bank, headquartered in Lewiston, Maine. The bank operates 11 banking branch...

Bailout Bank Bio: MidWestOne Financial Group

  MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides retail and commercial banking products and services. It...

Bailout Bank Bio: Manhattan Bancorp

Manhattan Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Manhattan, N.A. that provides general commercial banking services to...

Bailout Bank Bio: MainSource Financial Group

MainSource Financial Group, Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Greensburg, Indiana, with three banking subsidiaries:...

Bailout Bank Bio: Leader Bancorp

Leader Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Leader Bank N.A., headquartered in Arlington, MA. Leader Bank’s deposits are insured by...

Bailout Bank Bio: HMN Financial

HMN Financial, Inc. (HMN) is a stock savings bank holding company that wholly owns Home Federal Savings Bank (the Bank). The Bank...

Bailout Bank Bio: HopFed Bancorp

HopFed Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for Heritage Bank that provides commercial banking services in southwestern...

Bailout Bank Bio: LNB Bancorp (Lorain National Bank)

LNB Bancorp, Inc. operates as the holding company for The Lorain National Bank, which provides banking, mortgage, and brokerage services...

Bailout Bank Bio: Heritage Oaks Bancorp

Heritage Oaks Bancorp is a holding company that owns all of the outstanding common stock of Heritage Oaks Bank (the Bank). Heritage Oaks...

Bailout Bank Bio: Intervest Bancshares Corporation

Intervest Bancshares Corporation operates as a financial holding company for Intervest National Bank (bank) and Intervest Mortgage...

Bailout Bank Bio: Home Bancshares

Home BancShares, Inc., a financial holding company, provides a range of commercial and retail banking, and related financial products and...

Bailout Bank Bio: MetroCorp Bancshares

MetroCorp Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for MetroBank, National Association; and Metro United Bank that provide...

Bailout Bank Bio: LSB Corporation (River Bank)

LSB Corporation operates as the holding company for River Bank that provides various financial products and services to the general...

Bailout Bank Bio: Independent Bank Corporation

Update The company recently announced that it had re-purchased its preferred stock from the Treasury Department. Independent paid $78.2...

Bailout Bank Bio: Independent Bank Corporation of Michigan

Independent Bank Corporation, a bank holding company, provides commercial banking services primarily in Michigan. The company offers...

Bailout Bank Bio: Lakeland Bancorp

Lakeland Bancorp, Inc., through its subsidiary, Lakeland Bank, provides various commercial and consumer banking products and services...

Bailout Bank Bio: ICB Financial

ICB Financial, through its subsidiary Inland Community Bank, N.A. provides a range of commercial banking services primarily to small...

Bailout Bank Bio: Hawthorn Bancshares

Hawthorn Bancshares, Inc. (Hawthorn) is a bank holding company. The Company’s activities are limited to ownership, indirectly through its...

Bailout Bank Bio: Heritage Financial Corporation

Heritage Financial Corporation is a bank holding company. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of planning, directing and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Heartland Financial

Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (Heartland) is a multi-bank holding company, having 10 bank subsidiaries in the states of Iowa, Illinois,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Green Bankshares

Green Bankshares, Inc. serves as the bank holding company for GreenBank (the Bank), which is a Tennessee-chartered commercial bank that...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Northern Community Bancorp

First Northern Community Bancorp is a bank holding company whose only subsidiary, First Northern Bank of Dixon (First Northern), a...

Bailout Bank Bio: Flushing Financial Corporation

Flushing Financial Corporation serves as the holding company for Flushing Savings Bank (the Bank). The Bank owns four subsidiaries:...

Bailout Bank Bio: FPB Bancorp

FPB Bancorp, Inc. serves as the bank holding company for First Peoples Bank (the Bank). The Bank offers a range of retail and commercial...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Litchfield Financial (First National Bank of Litchfield)

First Litchfield Financial Corporation is a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned banking subsidiary, The First...

Bailout Bank Bio: First M&F Corporation

First M&F Corporation is a holding company that engages in the banking business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Merchants and...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Financial Service (First Federal Savings Bank)

First Financial Service Corporation is the holding company for First Federal Savings Bank of Elizabethtown (the Bank). The Bank is...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Defiance

First Defiance Financial Corp. (First Defiance) is a unitary thrift holding company that, through its subsidiaries, focuses on...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Financial Holdings

First Financial Holdings, Inc. (First Financial) is a savings, loan holding and a financial holding company. It operates principally...

Bailout Bank Bio: Farmers Capital Bank Corporation

Farmers Capital Bank Corporation is a financial holding company. The Company’s subsidiaries provide a range of banking and bank-related...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Bancorp (First Bank)

First Bancorp is a bank holding company. The principal activity of the Company is the ownership and operation of First Bank (the Bank), a...

Bailout Bank Bio: Emclaire Financial

Emclaire Financial Corp. is a financial holding company that provides a range of retail and commercial financial products and services to...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Community Bank Corporation

First Community Bank Corporation of America is a unitary savings and loan holding company with one bank subsidiary, First Community Bank...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Citizens Banc Corp

First Citizens Banc Corp. (FCBC) is a financial holding company. Though its subsidiaries, the Company is engaged in the business of...

Bailout Bank Bio: Community Financial Corp.

Community Financial Corp. is a unitary savings and loan holding company that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Community Bank...

Bailout Bank Bio: CalWest Bancorp

In step with its earthy-crunchy neighbors, CalWest Bancorp is into "organic." To address its gofor al an expanded geographic presence in...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Community Corporation

First Community Corporation serves as the bank holding company for its wholly owned subsidiary First Community Bank, N.A (the Bank). The...

Bailout Bank Bio: Community Partners Bancorp

Community Partners Bancorp (Community Partners) is a bank holding company. The Company’s wholly owned banking subsidiaries are Two River...

Bailout Bank Bio: Financial Institutions, Inc

Financial Institutions, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Five Star Bank, which provides consumer and commercial banking and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Enterprise Financial Services

Enterprise Financial Services Corp. (EFSC) is a financial holding company. The Company provides a range of banking and wealth management...

Bailout Bank Bio: Timberland Bancorp

Timberland Bancorp, Inc. was established for the purpose of becoming the holding company for Timberland Savings Bank, SSB (the Bank). The...

Bailout Bank Bio: Taylor Capital Group

Taylor Capital Group, Inc., based in Rosemont, Illinois, serves as the holding company for Cole Taylor Bank, which is primarily engaged...

Bailout Bank Bio: Codorus Valley Bancorp

Codorus Valley Bancorp, Inc. (Codorus Valley) is a holding company with one wholly owned bank subsidiary, PeoplesBank, A Codorus Valley...

Bailout Bank Bio: W.T.B. Financial (Washington Trust Bank)

W.T.B. Financial Corp. is the bank holding company for Washington Trust Bank. Washington Trust is the largest privately held commercial...

Bailout Bank Bio: Colony Bankcorp

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (Colony) is a holding company. Colony provides, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, a range of products and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Community Bankers Trust

Community Bankers Trust Corporation, formerly Community Bankers Acquisition Corp., is a bank holding company and a financial holding...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bridge Capital Holdings

Bridge Capital Holdings is the holding company for Bridge Bank, National Association (the Bank), which engages in general commercial...

Bailout Bank Bio: Citizens First Corporation

Citizens First Corporation is the bank holding company for Citizens First Bank (the bank). Citizens First Bank is headquartered in...

Bailout Bank Bio: BNCCORP

BNCCORP, Inc. is a bank holding company for BNC National Bank, with 20 locations in Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, North Dakota and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Citizens Bancshares Corporation

Citizens Bancshares Corporation is the bank holding company of Citizens Trust Bank (the Bank). The Company was organized to facilitate...

Bailout Bank Bio: Centra Financial Holdings

Update The company recently announced that it had re-purchased its preferred stock from the Treasury Department. Centra Financial paid...

Bailout Bank Bio: Citizens & Northern Corporation

Citizens & Northern Corporation is a holding company that is engaged in community banking. The Company is engaged in providing a range of...

Bailout Bank Bio: CoBiz Financial

CoBiz Financial Inc. (CoBiz) is a financial holding company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The Company’s wholly owned subsidiary...

Bailout Bank Bio: Coastal Banking Company

Coastal Banking Company, Inc. is a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Lowcountry National Bank and...

Bailout Bank Bio: BanTrust Financial Group

BancTrust Financial Group, Inc. (BancTrust) is a multi-bank holding company. The Company provides an array of traditional financial...

Bailout Bank Bio: Berkshire Hills Bancorp

Update The company recently announced that it had re-purchased its preferred stock from the Treasury Department. Berkshire Hills paid...

Bailout Bank Bio: Beach Business Bank

Beach Business Bank, a small bank headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, operates two branches, in Manhattan Beach and Long Beach....

Bailout Bank Bio: Bar Harbor Bankshares

Bar Harbor Bankshares is a bank holding company. The Company has one wholly owned operating subsidiary, Bar Harbor Bank & Trust (the...

Bailout Bank Bio: BCSB

BCSB Bankcorp Inc. is a federally chartered mid-tier stock holding company. BCSB Bankcorp owns all of Baltimore County Savings Bank,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bancorp Rhode Island, Inc.

Bancorp Rhode Island, Inc. is the holding company for Bank Rhode Island (the Bank). It has no significant assets other than the common...

Bailout Bank Bio: AmeriServ Financial

AmeriServ Financial, Inc. is a bank holding company that owns all of the outstanding shares of AmeriServ Financial Bank (the Bank). The...

Bailout Bank Bio: Annapolis Bancorp, Inc

Annapolis Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, BankAnnapolis (the Bank). The Bank...

Database of FY2010 Earmark Requests

Update (May 7, 2009):  It has now been just over a month since the deadline for members to disclose on their websites all FY2010 earmark...

Ethanol Subsidies: Too Much for Too Little

Through a combination of subsidies, trade restrictions, and government mandates a handful of corporate agribusinesses and oil companies...

Bailout Bank Bio: Yadkin Valley Bank

Yadkin Valley Financial Corporation (Yadkin) is a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Yadkin Valley...

Bailout Bank Bio: Park National Corporation

Park National Corporation is a financial holding company. Its primary subsidiary is Park National Bank. The bank has branches in Ohio and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Valley Financial Corporation

Valley Financial Corporation is the holding company for Valley Bank (the Bank). Valley Bank conducts a general commercial banking...

Bailout Bank Bio: S&T Bancorp

S&T Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company. Its banking subsidiary is S&T Bank, which has 46 branch offices located in Allegheny,...

Bailout Bank Bio: F.N.B. Corporation

F.N.B. Corporation is a bank holding company for First National Bank, which operates in Pennsylvania and Ohio. FNB has expanded its scope...

Fact Sheet: Border Fence Costs Out of Bounds

Congress mandated the constuction of hundreds of miles of fencing along our Southern border in 2006 without any real knowledge of its...

Bailout Bank Bio: Centrue Bank

Centrue Financial Corporation is a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Centrue Bank (the Bank). The...

Bailout Bank Bio: Alarion Bank

Alarion Bank provides financial products and services. The company offers personal and business banking services, including checking...

TCS Releases Space Security Database

Space is crucial to our national security, and we’ve got the skyrocketing budgets to prove it. The United States spends billions on...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Merchants Corporation

First Merchants Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Muncie, Indiana. It has 65 locations in Indiana and Ohio. It...

Bailout Bank Bio: Anchor Bank

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. is a savings and loan holding company, which operates through its wholly owned banking subsidiary,...

TCS on Gates Defense Budget Cuts

The boom finally lowered on the Pentagon’s budget today, with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates revealing the major weapons cuts...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bank of America (and Merrill Lynch)

On September 15, 2008 Bank of America acquired the investment bank Merrill Lynch. Bank of America Bank of America is the nation’s...

Bailout Bank Bio: FirstMerit Corporation

Update The company recently announced that it had re-purchased its preferred stock from the Treasury Department. FirstMerit paid $125...

Bailout Bank Bio: Dickinson Financial (Bank Midwest)

Dickinson Financial Corporation is the holding company for Bank Midwest, as well as a number of military banks. Bank Midwest operates 70...

Bailout Bank Bio: National Penn Bancshares

National Penn Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding for National Penn Bank, which provides banking services primarily in eastern and...

Bailout Bank Bio: SVB Financial Group

SVB Financial Group is a bank holding company for Silicon Valley Bank. SVB Financial Group operates 27 offices in the United States and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Provident Bankshares Corporation

Provident Bankshares Corporation is the bank holding company for Provident Bank. The Bank serves individuals and businesses through a...

Bailout Bank Bio: PrivateBancorp

PrivateBancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company for six banking subsidiaries, with 23 offices in Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Milwaukee,...

Bailout Bank Bio: United Community Banks

United Community Banks, Inc. is a bank holding company that conducts its operations through United Community Bank, Brevard, North...

Bailout Bank Bio: MB Financial

MB Financial, Inc. (MB Financial) is a financial holding company with 73 banking offices located primarily in the Chicago area. The...

Bailout Bank Bio: International Bancshares Corporation

International Bancshares Corporation is a multi-bank financial holding company. Its primary banking subsidiary is IBC Bank. International...

Bailout Bank Bio: East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding for East West Bank, which provides baking services at 70 branches in the Los Angeles...

Bailout Bank Bio: Fulton Financial

Fulton Financial Corporation is a bank holding company for eleven community banks, in addition to two financial services companies and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Flagstar Bancorp

Flagstar Bancorp, Inc. is the largest publicly traded savings bank in the Midwest. Its subsidiary is Flagstar Bank. In October 2008, the...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Banks

First Banks, the holding company for The San Francisco Company, whose subsidiary, First Bank, is a privately owned bank held by Chairman...

Bailout Bank Bio: Sterling Financial Corporation

Sterling Financial Corporation is a bank holding company for Sterling Savings Bank and Golf Savings Bank, with 178 branches in...

Bailout Bank Bio: First BanCorp

First BanCorp. is a financial holding company that owns FirstBank Puerto Rico (FirstBank or the Bank). The Company is a full service...

Bailout Bank Bio: M&T Bank

M&T Bank Corporation is a bank holding company for M&T Bank, which operates 704 branch offices in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania,...

Bailout Bank Bio: New York Private Bank & Trust

New York Private Bank and Trust is a bank holding company for Emigrant Bank, and is based in New York City. NYPBT is the 50th largest...

F-22: No More Second Helpings

Goodness, the difference an economic crisis can make. A few years ago, advertisements by defense contractors arguing that the U.S. should...

Bailout Bank Bio: Discover

Discover Financial Services is a financial services company with headquarters in Riverwoods, Illinois. It was founded in 1986 and is...

Bailout Bank Bio: Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation is a financial holding company for Northern Trust Company. The company has 85 offices in the United States and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Popular, Inc.

Popular, Inc. is a diversified bank holding company. The company operates in three target markets: Puerto Rico, the mainland United...

Nuclear Weapons Spending in the Omnibus

A look at the nuclear weapons budget in the omnibus reveals that while Congress is keeping nuke funding on a short leash, a controversial...

Bailout Bank Bio: AIG

UPDATE: March 4, 2009. After reporting a $61.7 billion quarterly loss – the biggest single quarter loss ever – in early March AIG asked...

Bailout Bank Bio: The First Bancorp

The First Bancorp, Inc., is the bank-holding company for The First, N.A., with headquarters in Damariscotta, Maine. The First Bancorp,...

National Security Spending in the Stimulus

The axe has fallen on the final version of the stimulus bill, and some national security spending ended up on the cutting room floor....

Bailout Bank Bio: Wells Fargo & Company (and Wachovia Bank)

In late December 2008, shareholders of Wells Fargo and Wachovia agreed to Wells Fargo’s offer to buy Wachovia for $11.8 billion....

Bailout Bank Bio: CIT Group Inc (CIT)

CIT Group Inc. (CIT) is a global commercial finance company that provides financial products and advisory services to more than one...

Failing Salmon Recovery Efforts are Costing Taxpayers Billions

Over the last two decades, federal agencies have spent more than $8 billion on efforts to restore salmon to the Columbia and Snake River...

Bailout Bank Bio: Cecil Bancorp

Cecil Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Cecil Bank (the Bank). The Bank provides commercial banking services to individuals and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Central Federal Corporation

Central Federal Corporation serves as the holding company for CFBank, a community-oriented savings institution. As of December 31, 2007,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Central Jersey Bancorp

Central Jersey Bancorp, incorporated on March 7, 2000, is a bank holding company. The Company combined its two bank subsidiaries,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Cache Valley Banking Company

Cache Valley Bank began as the Bank of North Park, with the name being changed to Cache Valley Bank in 1981. It is a privately owned...

Bailout Bank Bio: Capital Bancorp

Capital Bank, a subsidiary of Capital Bancorp, Inc., is a private community bank. Its deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit...

Bailout Bank Bio: California Oaks State Bank

California Oaks (Cal Oaks) State Bank has $123 million in total assets and is located in Ventura County with offices in Thousand Oaks and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Central Pacific Financial Corp

Central Pacific Financial Corp. is a bank holding company that, through its banking subsidiary, Central Pacific Bank, offers full service...

Bailout Bank Bio: C&F Financial Corporation

C & F Financial Corporation (C & F Financial) is a bank holding company that owns all of the stock of its sole operating subsidiary, C&F...

Bailout Bank Bio: Carolina Bank Holdings, Inc.

Carolina Bank Holdings, Inc. was established for the purpose of serving as the bank holding company of Carolina Bank (the Bank), which is...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bridgeview Bancorp

Bridgeview Bancorp is a privately owned community bank with headquarters in Bridgeview, Illinois. It operates more than 15 banking...

Raising Questions About Transportation Spending in House Economic Stimulus Legislation

The transportation portion of the House stimulus package contains more than $43 billion for the Department of Transportation, including...

Bailout Bank Bio: Crescent Financial Corporation

Crescent Financial Corporation is the bank holding company for Crescent State Bank, with 12 full service branch offices in Cary, Apex,...

Water Infrastructure Spending in the House Economic Stimulus

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructs large water projects (dams, levees, pumping sand on beaches) across the country. In the...

Bailout Bank Bio: Central Bancorp, Inc.

Central Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company of Central Co-operative Bank, which provides commercial banking services in the northwestern...

Senate Supports Nuke Labs, Border Fence in Stimulus

 The House and Senate agree on many of the national security-related agencies that should receive stimulus funding. The Defense...

Bailout Bank Bio: Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida

Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida is a bank holding company for Seacoast National Bank. Seacoast National operates in...

Bailout Bank Bio: Community West Bancshares

Community West Bancshares is a bank holding company of Community West Bank, with five branches located in Goleta, Ventura, Santa Maria,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Idaho Bancorp

Idaho Bancorp is the the holding company for Idaho Banking Company, which provides service to customers in southwestern Idaho. The...

Bailout Bank Bio: Capital Bank Corporation

Capital Bank Corporation is the holding company for Capital Bank in North Carolina. It operates 27 branch offices, including 5 branch...

Bailout Bank Bio: Capital Pacific Bancorp

Capital Pacific Bancorp operates as the holding company for Capital Pacific Bank, which provides banking services to businesses and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Unity Bancorp, Inc.

Unity Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Unity Bank, which has 17 branch offices. The company is based in Clinton, New Jersey....

Bailout Bank Bio: Center Bancorp, Inc.

Center Bancorp, Inc. is a one-bank holding company of The Union Center National Bank (the Bank) its principal subsidiary. As of the end...

Bailout Bank Bio: 1st Constitution Bancorp

1st Constitution Bancorp serves as the bank holding company for its wholly owned subsidiary 1st Constitution Bank (the Bank). It is...

Bailout Bank Bio: Sandy Spring Bancorp

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company for Sandy Spring Bank, a community banking organization. The company is involved in...

Bailout Bank Bio: Centerstate Banks of Florida, Inc.

Centerstate Banks of Florida, Inc. is a bank holding company, with 37 banking locations in 9 counties in the central Florida. The company...

Bailout Bank Bio: Comerica Incorporated

Comerica Incorporated is a financial holding company, providing financial products and services throughout North America. As of the end...

Bailout Bank Bio: 1st Source Corporation

1st Source Corporation is a bank holding company that provides, through its subsidiaries, an array of financial products and services....

Bailout Bank Bio: Marshall & Ilsley Corporation

Marshall & Ilsley Corporation (M&I) is a diversified financial services company with five bank and trust subsidiaries including its lead...

Bailout Bank Bio: The South Financial Group

The South Financial Group, Inc. operates as the holding company for Carolina First Bank that provides a range of commercial and consumer...

Bailout Bank Bio: Center Financial Corporation

Center Financial Corporation is the bank holding company for Center Bank. As of the end of 2007, it operated 18 branch offices and 8 loan...

Bailout Bank Bio: State Street Corporation

State Street Corporation is one of the world’s largest global financial services companies, with $1.7 trillion in assets under management...

Bailout Bank Bio: Washington Federal Inc

Update The company recently announced that it had re-purchased its preferred stock from the Treasury Department. Washington Federal...

Bailout Bank Bio: West Bancorporation

West Bancorporation, Inc. operates as the holding company for West Bank, which provides commercial banking products and services to...

Bailout Bank Bio: StellarOne Corp

StellarOne Corp., formerly Virginia Financial Group, Inc., is a bank holding company. StellarOne Corp has a network of 35 branches...

Bailout Bank Bio: Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a New York-based financial institution with operations on six continents. Along with Goldman Sachs, in late September...

Bailout Bank Bio: American Express

American Express was founded in 1850 and is headquartered in New York, New York. It is known best for its global payments and travel...

Bailout Bank Bio: Monarch Financial Holdings

Monarch Financial Holdings, Inc. is a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Monarch Bank. The company...

Bailout Bank Bio: Susquehanna Banchshares

Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc. is a financial holding company that operates through its subsidiaries in the mid-Atlantic region. The...

Bailout Bank Bio: Southern Missouri Bancorp

Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Southern Missouri Bank & Trust Co. The Bank conducts its business from its...

Report: U.S. Spends Over $52 Billion on Nukes

How much does the United States spend on nuclear weapons? Seems like a simple question that the agency charged with tending our nuclear...

Bailout Bank Bio: Mid Penn Bancorp

Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company for Mid Penn Bank. It operates 15 offices located in Dauphin, Northumberland,...

Bailout Bank Bio: NewBridge Bancorp

NewBridge Bancorp is a bank holding company located in Greensboro, North Carolina. NewBridge operates banks in North Carolina and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Oak Valley Bancorp

Oak Valley Bancorp is a bank holding company for Oak Valley Community Bank, based in Oakdale, California. The company operates 12...

Bailout Bank Bio: Patapsco Bancorp, Inc.

Patapsco Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company of The Patapsco Bank, with five full-service offices located in Dundalk, Parkville, Carney,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Pacific Commerce Bank

Pacific Commerce Bank is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and serves the Japanese-American, Chinese-American, other...

Bailout Bank Bio: Indiana Community Bancorp

Indiana Community Bancorp, formerly Home Federal Bancorp, is a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Peapack-Gladstone Financial

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation is a bank holding Company for Peapack-Gladstone Bank in New Jersey. It operates 21 full-service...

Bailout Bank Bio: Old Line Bancshares

Old Line Bancshares, Inc. is a holding company for Old Line Bank, with its headquarters in Bowie, Maryland. The bank has a branch in...

Bailout Bank Bio: Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation is a financial holding company that operates throughout the South, Midwest and Texas, with approximately...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Community Bancshares

First Community Bancshares, Inc. is a holding company for First Community Bank which operates 57 banking locations in the states of...

Bailout Bank Bio: Hampton Roads Bancshares

Hampton Roads Bankshares, Inc. primarily serves as a holding company for the Bank of Hampton Roads, whose   primary service area...

Bailout Bank Bio: First California Financial

First California Financial Group Inc., formerly known as National Mercantile Bancorp, is a bank holding company, for its wholly owned...

Bailout Bank Bio: Horizon Bancorp

Horizon Bancorp is a bank holding company for Horizon Bank, which provides services in commercial banking. Horizon Bank operates two full...

Bailout Bank Bio: Fidelity Southern Corporation

Fidelity Southern Corporation is a bank holding company that operates primarily through its wholly owned subsidiary, Fidelity Bank....

Bailout Bank Bio: Elmira Savings Bank

Elmira Savings Bank operates as an independent community bank. The company has eleven banking offices: three in Elmira, three in Ithaca,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Eastern Virginia Bankshares

Eastern Virginia Bankshares, Inc. is a bank holding company for EVB, which operates 23 service branches in eastern Virginia. EVB is a...

Bailout Bank Bio: Fidelity Bancorp, Inc.

Fidelity Bancorp, Inc. is a bank holding company that provides a range of banking services through its wholly owned banking subsidiary,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Saigon National Bank

According to its website: “Saigon National Bank is a locally owned community bank devoted to serving the financial needs of the...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Financial Bancorp

First Financial Bancorp is a bank holding company that engages in the business of commercial banking and other banking and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Huntington Bancshares

Huntington Bancshares is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with 600 regional banking offices in Indiana,...

Bailout Bank Bio: TIB Financial

TIB Financial Corp. is a financial holding company with several subsidiaries: TIB Bank, The Bank of Venice and Naples Capital Advisors,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Seacoast Commerce Bank

Seacoast Commerce Bank services businesses and individuals in Chula Vista and San Diego County, California. The bank is headquartered...

Bailout Bank Bio: Alliance Financial

Update The company recently announced that it had re-purchased its preferred stock from the Treasury Department. Alliance paid $27.2...

Bailout Bank Bio: Cadence Financial

Cadence Financial Corporation is a financial holding company, with assets consisting primarily of its investment in Cadence Bank. Cadence...

Bailout Bank Bio: Wainwright Bank & Trust

Wainwright Bank & Trust Company is a banking company based in Boston, Massachusetts. As of December 2007, Wainwright operated 10...

Terms for Auto Bailout Released

The Treasury Department just released terms for the bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler.  Taxpayers for Common Sense staff will be...

Bailout Bank Bio: City National Corporation

City National Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of City National Corporation and is based in Beverly Hills, California. It operates 62...

Bailout Bank Bio: Citizens South Banking Corporation

Citizens South Banking Corporation is the holding company for Citizens South Bank. Citizens South Bank has 14 full-service branch offices...

Bailout Bank Bio: BNC Bancorp

BNC Bancorp operates as the holding company for Bank of North Carolina, which provides banking products and services in Cabarrus,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Dime Community Bancshares

NOTE: Dime Community Bancshares was approved to receive $77.3 million from the Treasury Department through the Capital Purchase Program,...

Bailout Bank Bio: CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp. serves as the holding company of Citizens Business Bank. The bank’s customers consist primarily of small to mid-sized...

Bailout Bank Bio: Commerce National Bank

Commerce National Bank offers commercial banking services in Orange County, California. The bank was founded in 2003 and is headquartered...

Bailout Bank Bio: Encore Bancshares, Inc

Encore Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company for Encore Bank headquartered in Houston, Texas. As of December 31, 2007, it operated...

Nuclear Subsidies Past and Present

Since the beginning of nuclear energy the federal government has provided billions in handouts to the industry. More than $85 billion has...

Bailout Bank Bio: 1st Financial Services Corporation

1st Financial Services Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Mountain 1st Bank & Trust Company. The company, headquartered...

Bailout Bank Bio: Trustmark Corporation

Trustmark Corporation is a multi-bank holding company whose primary subsidiary is Trustmark National Bank (TNB). Trustmark conducts...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bank of Marin Bancorp

Update The company recently announced that it had re-purchased its preferred stock from the Treasury Department. Bank of Marin paid $28...

Bailout Bank Bio: Ameris Bancorp

Ameris Bancorp is a financial holding company for the Ameris Bank, operating 46 banking offices in Georgia, Alabama, northern Florida,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bank of the Ozarks Inc

Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. is a bank holding company which owns Bank of the Ozarks. Bank of the Ozarks conducts operations through 65...

Bailout Bank Bio: Blue Valley Ban Corp

Blue Valley Ban Corp. (Blue Valley) is a financial holding company for its primary wholly owned subsidiary, Bank of Blue Valley. The bank...

Tongass Timber Plan Plunders Taxpayer Pockets

SUPPORT THE ANDREWS-CHABOT AMENDMENT TO CUT ROAD-BUILDING SUBSIDIES Since 1982, the Forest Service has lost nearly $1 billion...

Congressional Oversight Panel for the Bailout Releases First Report

The Congressional Oversight Panel for Economic Stabilization has released its first report on the $700 billion Emergency Economic...

Bailout Bank Bio: Wintrust Financial

Wintrust Financial Corporation is a financial holding company that controls 15 subsidiaries that serve customers in the greater Chicago,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Tennessee Commerce Bancorp

Tennessee Commerce Bancorp, Inc. is the bank holding company of Tennessee Commerce Bank. Tennessee Commerce is headquartered in Franklin,...

Bailout Bank Bio: WesBanco, Inc.

WesBanco, Inc. operates as the holding company for WesBanco Bank, Inc. WesBanco operates 115 banking offices in West Virginia, Ohio, and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Severn Bancorp Inc.

Severn Bancorp is a savings and loan holding company. Its principal subsidiary is Severn Savings Bank. Severn operates in Maryland,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Old National Bancorp

Old National Bancorp is a financial services holding company based in Evansville, Indiana. Its subsidiary, Old National Bank, provides...

Bailout Bank Bio: TowneBank

TowneBank, based in Portsmouth, Virginia, offers banking services throughout the Hampton Roads region in Southeastern, Virginia. The...

Bailout Bank Bio: Heritage Commerce Corp

Heritage Commerce Corp is the holding company for Heritage Bank of Commerce. They are located in San Jose, California. The bank was...

Bailout Bank Bio: Whitney Holding Corporation

Whitney Holding Corporation is a bank holding company based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The company is the parent of Whitney National...

Analysis of Energy Tax Provisions Included in the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

The following is a summary of the non-consumer energy tax breaks included in H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008....

Bailout Bank Bio: Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc.

Boston Private Financial, Inc. is a holding company located in Boston, Massachusetts. The company owns a number of financial services...

Bailout Bank Bio: Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp is the holding company for Cathay Bank, which is located in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles, CA. According to...

Bailout Bank Bio: KeyCorp

KeyCorp is a national financial services company based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the parent company of KeyBank which has branches in 13...

Bailout Bank Bio: Columbia Banking System Inc.

Columbia Banking System, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Tacoma, Washington. Columbia operates 55 banks branches in parts...

Bailout Bank Bio: BB&T Corporation

BB&T is a regional financial holding company. The core of its business and franchise was created by the merger of equals between BB&T and...

Bailout Bank Bio: Cascade Financial Corporation

Cascade Financial Corp. is a bank holding company for Cascade Bank, which operates in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. In...

Bailout Bank Bio: Wilshire Bancorp

Wilshire Bancorp is a bank holding company for Wilshire State Bank, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The bank has branch offices...

GAO: More than $49 Million in Potentially Ineligible Farm Payments

Just months after a new multi-billion dollar five year farm bill was passed into law, a federal watchdog reports that individuals who are...

Bailout Bank Bio: Citizens Republic

Citizens Republic Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Flint, Michigan. In addition to Michigan, it has banks in Wisconsin,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Iberiabank Corp

IBERIABANK Corp. is the holding company for IBERIA Bank and Pulaski Bank and Trust.  IBERIABANK Corp. received approval in early...

Bailout Bank Bio: Great Southern

Great Southern Bancorp Inc. is a holding company based in Springfield, Missouri. Great Southern has been approved to receive up to $60...

Bailout Bank Bio: Nara Bancorp

Nara Bancorp is the holding company for Nara Bank, located in Los Angeles, California. Nara was begun as a community bank intended to...

Bailout Bank Bio: TCF Financial

TCF Financial Corp. recently announced that it would participate in the Treasury Department’s Capital Purchase Program, and expects to...

Bailout Bank Bio: Broadway Financial

Broadway Financial Corporation announced in November that it received $9 million under the Treasury Department’s Capital Purchase...

Bailout Bank Bio: Wilmington Trust

Wilmington Trust Corporation, based in Wilmington, DE, is a financial holding company whose primary subsidiary is Wilmington Trust...

Bailout Bank Bio: Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp is a bank holding company based in Ohio with bank branches in Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. In early November,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Western Alliance Bancorporation

Western Alliance Bancorporation, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a bank holding company. According to its website, Western...

Bailout Bank Bio: Signature Bank

New York City-based Signature Bank is a full-service commercial bank with 21 private client offices in and around New York City....

Bailout Bank Bio: Simmons First National

Simmons First National Corporation is a financial holding company based in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The primary banking subsidiary is...

Bailout Bank Bio: Synovus Financial

Synovus is a Columbus, Georgia based financial services holding company that recently announced its participation in the Treasury...

Bailout Bank Bio: Intermountain Community

Intermountain Community Bancorp is a bank holding company located in Idaho. It is the bank holding company for Panhandle State Bank, the...

Bailout Bank Bio: Banner Corporation

Banner Corporation is a Washington based bank holding company with banks in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. In a November 4th press...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Horizon National

First Horizon National Corporation is a holding company for First Tennessee Bank National Association and other banking-related...

Bailout Bank Bio: Webster Financial

Webster Financial Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Waterbury, Connecticut. Its banking subsidiary is Webster Bank,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bank of Commerce Holdings

Bank of Commerce Holdings, based in Redding, California, is the holding company for Redding Bank of Commerce and several other related...

Bailout Bank Bio: Midwest Banc Holdings Inc

Midwest Banc Holdings, Inc. is a bank holding company operating in the greater Chicago metropolitan area.   In early November, Midwest...

Bailout Bank Bio: Pacific Capital

Pacific Capital Bancorp is a bank holding company of Pacific Capital Bank, N.A., which operates 48 branches under several brand names...

Bailout Bank Bio: Porter Bancorp

Porter Bancorp, headquartered in Louisville, KY, is a bank holding company whose subsidiary, PBI Bank, has nineteen branches in twelve...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Midwest Bancorp

First Midwest Bank began in Joliet, Illinois and continues to serve the southern Chicago suburbs and the Quad Cities area. Their...

Bailout Bank Bio: Bank of New York Mellon

The Bank of New York Mellon was established in 2007 with the merger of Mellon Financial Corporation and The Bank of New York Company,...

Bailout Bank Bio: PNC Financial Services Group

PNC is a Pittsburgh-based bank that is among the largest of U.S. banks. It received $7.7 billion under the Treasury Department’s Capital...

Bailout Bank Bio: Suntrust Banks Inc

SunTrust Banks Inc. is a bank holding company based in Atlanta, G. The corporation’s largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank which has 1,700...

Bailout Bank Bio: Associated Banc-Corp

Associated Banc-Corp (ABC) is a bank holding company with headquarters in Green Bay, Wisconsin. ABC is the 37th largest bank holding...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Pactrust Bancorp

First PacTrust Bancorp is a holding company and holds all the stocks for Pacific Trust Bank. It is located in Chula Vista, California. In...

Bailout Bank Bio: First Niagara Financial Group

Update The company recently announced that it had re-purchased its preferred stock from the Treasury Department. First Niagara paid...

Bailout Bank Bio: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co

J.P. Morgan Chase is a New York based financial services company with worldwide operations. J.P. Morgan Chase is the umbrella brand that...

Bailout Bank Bio: UCBH Holdings Inc

UCBH Holdings is the holding company for United Commercial Bank, Ltd (UCB). In October it announced that it would participate in the...

Bailout Bank Bio: Valley National Bancorp

Valley National Bank is a federally chartered commercial bank operating 195 branches in parts of northern and central New Jersey and some...

Bailout Bank Bio: Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third (5/3) Bank is a Cincinnati, Ohio-based corporation, and one of the largest money managers in the Midwest with 1,300 branches...

Bailout Bank Bio: Umpqua Holdings Corp

Umpqua Bank is a community bank with 147 branches across Oregon, Washington and California. Umpqua is based in the Portland, Oregon...

Oil and Gas Subsidies: Overview

Taxpayer subsidies to the oil and gas industry have played a major role in U.S. energy policy since 1916. Two of the largest tax breaks,...

Bailout Bank Bio: US Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, which is the country’s sixth largest bank,...

Bailout Bank Bio: Capital One Financial Inc

Capital One Financial is a financial services company whose products and services include consumer and commercial banking and credit card...

Bailout Bank Bio: Zions Bancorporation

Zions Bancorporation is expected to receive $1.4 billion in bailout funds from the Department of the Treasury. Zions is a financial...

Bailout Bank Bio: Goldman Sachs

On October 28, 2008, Goldman Sachs received $10 billion of the first $125 billion from the $700 billion bailout bill. Goldman Sachs is a...

Defense Spending: Change or More of the Same?

President-elect Barack Obama’s new transition web site is pledging to review every major defense program for possible cuts, and...

Nuclear Reprocessing

Nuclear fuel reprocessing is the process of collecting nuclear waste to recover and reuse plutonium and uranium. Despite decades of...

Treasury Releases Report on Bailout Expenditures

The Treasury Department has released its first bailout “transaction report,” which documents  where $125 billion of the $700 billion in...

Stevens Trial: Defense Exhibits

The following is an exhaustive list of defense exhibits introduced in the trial against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), which concluded last week...

Senate Passes Bailout bill

The Senate passed the bailout bill 74-25 this evening. Here is the rollcall for the vote. This is what we had to say about the Senate...

In their Own Words: U.S. Senators and the Bailout

TCS staff have scoured the web and wires for press releases or other official statements on the bailout from United States Senators in...

Stevens Trial: Allen Details Gifts to Stevens

Wednesday Morning (10/1/08): Note:  The afternoon testimony was cancelled due to a problem with a juror.  Allen will be back on the stand...

President Signs Earmark-Laden Spending Bill

President George W. Bush signed a massive year-end spending bill late Tuesday, just hours before a new fiscal year began. The "Minibus"...

Bailout Bill and Related Resources

The latest version of the bailout bill was just released.  Read it here. Additional resources (we're adding more as we find them, so...

Stevens Tops FY2009 Earmark Heap

As Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) sat today in a federal courthouse while jurors were chosen in the federal trial against him, he received at...

2,321 Earmarks worth $6.6 Billion in Minibus Legislation

After a bit of speed reading, TCS staff came up with earmark totals for the CR/Def/DHS/MilCon bill that was released 13 hours ago. These...

Sample of Earmarks in the FY09 Minibus

It’s slow going looking through the earmarks, but here’s a few – some are repeat customers and some are rookie earmarks. More to...

Congress Releases $600 Billion Spending Bill for 2009

Late last night, the House released the more than $600 billion FY09 CR/MiniBus legislation, to fund much of the government through early...

Government Bailouts Top $1 Trillion in 2008

Update--September 23 Our transparency in government allies at Open CRS obtained a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report The Cost...

Draft Language of the Bailout Plans

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has drafted a replacement legislative package to the Administration's proposed bailout plan. With a quick glance...

House Releases Homeland Security Earmark Letters

The House Appropriations Committee has just released the earmark request letters for the 2009 Department of Homeland Security...

FY2009 Appropriations Bills: TCS Analyses and Earmark Databases

The following are links to TCS's analysis and database for each of the FY09 appropriations bills. (Note: With the exception of House...

Risky Business on Wall Street

This morning the federal government (which means you the American taxpayer) became the not-so-proud owner of American International Group...

Senate Adds $5.2 Billion in Earmarks to Defense Authorization Bill

The Senate is expected to pass the 2009 Defense Authorization Bill sometime tonight, but to do so they will have to resolve a raucous...

Sen. Obama (D-IL) Requested $860.6 million in earmarks FY2006-FY2008

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) requested 326 projects worth $860.6 million between FY2006 and FY2008, according to a Taxpayers for Common Sense...

Royalty-in-Kind: A Costly Complication

Under intense pressure from the oil and natural gas industry, the Minerals Management Service (MMS)1 started the Royalty-in-Kind (RIK)...

Clean Coal Projects: Cleaning Out the Pockets of Taxpayers

Since the late 1970’s, the federal government has funneled billions of dollars into “Clean Coal” technology and programs designed to make...

Cost of War Reports

Below are links to the monthly “Supplemental and Cost of War Execution Reports” compiled by the Defense Accounting Finance Service, DOD’s...

DOD: $13b to Contractors in Afghanistan

The Department of Defense paid contractors $13 billion for operations in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2007, according to documents...

110th Congress By the Numbers

      110th Congress By the Numbers   1932 House or Senate Resolutions...

Top 10 Congressional Resolutions of the 110th Congress

TCS staff have taken a moment to reflect on the activities of the 110th Congress.  Below is a list of some of their more "notable"...

CBO Lowballs Estimate of Iraq Contracts

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) got a lot of jaws dropping this week with a report estimating the U.S. has spent $85 billion on...

Senate Energy and Water Earmark Total Nearly Identical to Last Year

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY2009 Energy and Water appropriations bill contains 1,480 earmarks worth $3.50 billion (click here...

$35 Million in Undisclosed Earmarks in Senate State and Foreign Operations Bill

The 2009 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill contains 7 earmarks worth $35.4 million dollars (click here...

Very Little of Iraq Oil Surplus Goes to Rebuilding

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report tabulating U.S. and Iraqi expenditures on rebuilding efforts (click here for...

Nearly $200 million in Agriculture Earmarks in Senate Bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee included 307 earmarks worth about $197.2 million in the Fiscal Year 2009 Agriculture Appropriations...

House Earmarks $721 Million in Military Construction Appropriations Bill

The House of Representative today passed a bill to fund Military Construction and Veterans Affairs programs in fiscal year 2009 contains...

Silos Full of Subsidies

Overview For over 70 years American taxpayers have been doling out billions of dollars every year to underwrite the agriculture...

TCS Statement on Don Young Ad Controversy

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written Statement by Ms. Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense: It has come to our...

House Appropriations Committee Starts to Move

Well, the House Appropriations Committee filed the Military Construction spending bill. This is the first show of actually moving bills...

Senate Doubles House Take of Financial Services Earmarks

The FY 2009 Senate Financial Services Appropriations bill contains 90 earmarks worth $221.3 million (click here to view the database)....

GAO: Defense Contract Audit Agency Bends to Contractor Pressure

TCS followers know we have argued for increased oversight of defense spending, particularly spending on contracts. The federal...

Earmarks for Energy and Water Projects Double in House Legislation

The FY 2009 House Energy and Water Appropriations bill contains 1,465 congressional earmarks for a total cost of more than $3.1 billion...

Oppose Attempts to Raid Treasury to Backfill Highway Trust Fund

July 23, 2008 Dear Representative: Taxpayers for Common Sense Action urges you to oppose H.R. 6532, which would transfer $8 billion...

Cost of Senate Labor-HHS Earmarks Increase Significantly

The FY 2009 Senate Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations bill contains 942 earmarks for a total cost of more than $847...

Shelby, Milkulski Secure 25% of Earmarks on CJS Spending Bill

The FY 2009 Senate Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill contains 552 earmarks worth $471.4 million, according to an...

House Commerce Justice Science Spending Bill: 1,126 Earmarks, $442,562,000

The FY 2009 House Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill contains 1,126 earmarks worth $442,562,000. That is a decrease of 13...

House Labor-HHS Spending Bill: 1,371 Earmarks, $619 Million

The FY 2009 House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill contains 1371 earmarks for a total cost of $619,187,000. The number of projects...

$57 million in earmarks in the House 2009 Financial Services spending bill

The 2009 House Financial Services Appropriations bill contains 197 earmarks for a total of $57 million (click here to see the database)....

$197 Million in Homeland Security Earmarks in Senate Spending Bill

The Senate version of the 2009 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill includes 19 congressional earmarks for a total of...

Appropriations Committee Votes to Make DOJ Grants More Competitive

Last week, our good friends at the Project on Government Oversight released a new report that chronicled cronyism in grant making in the...

Oil and Gas Subsidies, Profits and Production: Colorado and Across the Nation

This is the first in a series of state specific analyses Taxpayers for Common Sense is completing on energy industry subsidies, profits and production. The goal of these analyses will be to raise awareness of the national subsidies the oil and gas industry receives....

Emergency Supplemental Bill - Take 1

The supplemental appropriations bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan got fast-tracked through the House yesterday in preparation...

Fencing in DHS Spending

Big week on Capitol Hill for the Department of Homeland Security. On Monday, Secretary Michael Chertoff touted his agency's achievements...

House Defense Authorization Earmarks Jump From Last Year

A bill recently passed by the House increases the number of Defense Authorization earmarks by more than 20% from last year, according to...

Utah Hardrock Mining Fact Sheet

Under the 135 year old Mining Law of 1872, valuable taxpayer lands and minerals are virtually given away to international mining...

Database of Congressional Earmarks for FY2008

**First posted Feb. 14, 2008** Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) staff and interns have devoted thousands of hours to researching,...

Final Days of Don Young’s Way?

With board members jumping ship, the governor asking tough questions, and the cost estimate ballooning, the logical conclusion is that...

Ending the Earmark ATM: Despite Reforms, Earmarks Continue to Thrive

Congress disclosed 11,234 earmarks worth $14.8 billion in this year’s spending bills. An additional $3.5 billion worth of earmarks were...

TCS Agriculture Program

Taxpayers for Common Sense works with a broad range of groups to enact significant farm policy reform. With the farm bill up for...

Coal Subsidies: Energy Policy Act of 2005

The coal industry received more than $9 billion in loans, research funds, tax breaks and other subsidies in the Energy Policy Act of...

Transportation Committee Discloses New Earmarks

The earmark disclosure debutantes are making their way to the floor today in the technical correction bill for SAFETEA-LU (H.R....

What Is Government Waste?

1. If it doesn't work, don't fund it. 2. Eliminate redundant expenditures. 3. Stop helping those who don't need help. 4. Get a fair price...

$9.9 Billion in House Authorization Add-Ons

The 2009 defense authorization bill headed for the House floor this week has already raised a ruckus over earmarks, and there’s a lot to...

TCS Statement on House Passage of Farm Bill Conference Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 14, 2008 CONTACT: Steve Ellis, 202-546-8500   Written Statement by Ms. Ryan Alexander, President of...

$5.2 Billion in Senate Authorization Additions

While the House Armed Services Committee marks up the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act, TCS staff is scouring the report just...

TCS Letter to the Speaker: Make the Supplemental Spending Bill Transparent

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Madam Speaker: Taxpayers for...

Oppose Harmful Amendments to S. 2284

May 7, 2008 Dear Senator: The Senate is currently considering S. 2284, the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2008. Taxpayers...

Bipartisan Group of Senators Call for Taxpayer Protections in New Mining Law

Washington, D.C. – Today Senators Feingold (D-WI), Sununu (R-NH), Cantwell (D-WA), and Gregg (R-NH) led a bi-partisan push for the...

Senate Cuts Transportation Earmarks

The FY09 Senate appropriations bill providing money for transportation and Housing and Urban Development projects contains 609 earmarks...

Hardrock Mining Royalty Fair to Taxpayers, Fair to Industry

Fair Compensation for Taxpayers For more than 8 decades the coal, oil, and natural gas industries have all paid royalties for the right...

Institutionalizing JIEDDO

As November draws closer, an increasing number of overpriced defense programs are running for cover in the Defense Department budget,...

Earmarks Moratorium, Budget Resolution and Sen. Reid

Things on a earmark moratorium/reform are very fluid. We are hearing that Speaker Pelosi’s frustration with the earmark issue may end up...

Obey Throws Down the Gauntlet

In a letter where you can almost hear his frustration, Appropriations Chairman asked the members of the House to check off whether they...

Bush Administration Releases Proposal for Farm Bill Compromise

Below is a copy of the proposal reportedly put forth the by the Bush Administration over the weekend.  It’s hard to say whether this is...

Boeingﾒs Tanker Tariffs

Boeing’s loss of the tanker aircraft contract to Northrop Grumman and EADS North America last week represents much more than the contract’s...

Parameters of a Successful Farm Bill

The President released a response to House and Senate conference committee negotiators. The President proposed 13 potential offsets to...

Errata to TCS FY08 Earmarks Database

February 29, 2008 -- After consultation with Sen. Obama’s staff, TCS determined that a $7,227,500 project should be added to the database...

Taxpayers for Common Sense Releases New Earmark Database

Despite reform, new database finds that Congress hasn’t lost its appetite for pork Washington, D.C. – Congress has cut earmarks by 23...

TCS FY08 Earmark Database Release

TCS has rolled out our FY08 earmarks database. Now you can peruse and search 11,234 Congressional earmarks worth $14.8 billion. But wait,...

Shadowy Supplemental

6:05 p.m. -- Beyond invoking Congressional wrath by not requesting a year’s worth of emergency supplemental spending with the White House...

Senate Budget Committee Minority’s Observations

12:05 p.m. -- Here is a link to the (pdf | 1.16 MB). One key complaint of Ranking Member Sen. Gregg (R-NH) is that the budget fails to...

The Coast Guard’s Troubled Deepwater Acquisition

11:30 a.m. -- A program to recapitalize a large portion of the agency’s ships, aircraft and communications -- got a more than 20% bump up...

$5.6 Billion in Emergency CORPS Funds for Katrina

Feb. 4, 10:30 a.m. -- In their final budget, the Bush Administration keeps up the pressure on the Corps of Engineers, providing the agency...

Digging the Hole Deeper

6:50 p.m. -- The budget predicts a deficit of $407 billion in FY09 (and a FY08 deficit of $410 billion), a figure that just squeaks under...

Bush Administration’s 2009 Budget Talking Points

10:50 a.m. -- These talking points were just emailed to us. Wanted to make sure that you had a chance to see them....

Border Security Under Scrutiny

SBInet, the DHS program tasked with providing the fence’s technological elements such as cameras and sensors, received $775 million. Though...

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership/Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative

Feb. 4, 4:50 p.m. -- The administration is proposing $123 million more than Congress enacted in FY2008 for the Global Nuclear Energy...

Administration Proposes $2 Billion Cut in Road Spending

Feb. 4, 12:25 p.m. -- In what seems to be a budget rite of passage, the administration has proposed billions of cuts to Congress’ pet...

FY 2009 Budget Historic Tables

Summary:  Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009 contains the Budget Message of the President, information on the...

Golden Fleece Award

Taxpayers for Common Sense Announces New Golden Fleece Recipient Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority - Taxpayer Funded Cheerleaders...

Earmark Reductions

We’ve heard a lot today about how much the Democrats have cut earmarks over previous year levels. First off, we want to congratulate them...

Disclosure Double-Talk

  Lawmakers are not generally shy about taking credit for the presents they bring home to their districts at the end of the year. That’s...

D-Day for Omnibus

In the wee hours this morning, the omnibus emerged from the bowels of the Capitol to be posted on the House Rules site: Speed readers...

Omnibus Spending Bill Stuffed with Earmarks

  Washington, D.C. - The following is a written statement by Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the Omnibus...

Omnibus Creeps Forward and Cost of Earmarks

During this afternoon’s always entertaining colloquy between House Majority Leader Hoyer and Minority Whip Blunt on the House schedule,...

As the Omnibus Turns

While House Appropriations Cardinals are supposedly shaking the spending trees to find programs to cut from the end-of-the-year...

Omnibust ﾖ What We Know

What I'm hearing is that no one really knows what the next step is for Congressional Democrats to close the door on the FY08 spending...

Nuclear Subsidies General Fact Sheet

Since the beginning of nuclear energy the federal government has provided billions in handouts to the industry. Nuclear power has...

SAME DAY SERVICE ON THE OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL

Here’s one possible scenario: The Omnibus spending bill appears tomorrow, runs through a revolving door at the Rules committee, and makes a...

A Look at the New New Orleans

posted by Steve Ellis, 202-546-8500 ext. 126     TCS Vice-President, Steve Ellis, just got back from touring the Lower Ninth ward in New...

Finding War Funding

The specter of war supplementals hovered over the Capitol this week, given weight by threats from Defense Secretary Robert Gates that...

Failure to Hold Water

In 1997, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published the results of its economic evaluation of a proposed lock to replace the existing lock...

THUD Earmarks: Budget Battle Lines Drawn

TCS’s database of earmarks in the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill have landed with a THUD on our web...

Congress and the Contractors

While databasing the earmarks that made it into the 2008 defense appropriations bill signed by President Bush last weekwe discovered that,...

House-Senate-Conference Earmarks for Labor-H Up

Now Congress is into full appropriations swing – that is until they take off for Thanksgiving. For your viewing pleasure...

President Vetoes $23 Billion Water Projects Bill

Washington, D.C. - The following is a written statement by Steve Ellis, Vice President of Taxpayers for Common Sense on the President...

Funding a Sinking Ship?

While members of Congress hashed out the conference agreement on the Fiscal Year 2008 defense appropriations bill, the Navy was apparently...

Earmarks Benefiting ProLogic, Inc. and BAE Systems

Dear Representatives Obey and Lewis, and Senators Byrd and Cochran: As two organizations which have been critical of earmark abuses, we...

The Snowballing Supplemental

Washington, D.C. (October 26, 2007) - Since President Bush released his latest addition to the burgeoning FY2008 war supplemental on...

Justifying the Supplemental

The documents released this week by the White House and Department of Defense explaining how they will spend the new $42.3 billion addition...

TCS Applauds Amendment Securing Royalty Reforms in Mining Legislation

TCS Applauds Hinchey Amendment Securing Royalty Reforms in Mining Legislation Washington, DC -- The following is a written statement by...

Crop Insurance and Disaster Assistance: 2007 Farm Bill Issues (CRS Report for Congress)

The federal government has relied primarily on two policy tools in recent years to help mitigate the financial losses experienced by crop...

TCS Statement On Partnership in Senate Farm Bill Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, 2007 CONTACTS: Steve Ellis, 202-546-8500 Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement by Ms....

Oppose Waste in Space Stop Funding for the Space Test Bed in FY 2008

Dear Senator, Taxpayers for Common Sense urges you to reject an amendment to the FY09 Defense Appropriations bill proposed by Sens. Kyl,...

FRESH Act Fact Sheet

The FRESH act introduced by Senators Lugar and Lautenberg, and co-sponsored by Senators Cardin, Menendez, Reed, Hatch, Collins and...

TCS Requests Ethics Investigation of Coconut Road Earmark

The Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Chairwoman The Honorable Doc Hastings, Ranking Member House Committee on Standards of Official...

Senate Guts Earmark Transparency Rules

TCS has just discovered that Senate leadership gutted earmark transparency rules that had initially passed the Senate 98-0. S. 1, the...

Water Project Waste: Oppose Water Resources Development Act of 2007

Dear Senator: We write in strong opposition to the final conference version of H.R. 1495, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of...

Support Webb-McCaskill Wartime Contract Commission Amendment to FY08 Defense Authorization

Dear Senator: Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) urges you to support Sens. James Webb (D-VA) and Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) Wartime Contract...

New Mexico Hardrock Mining Fact Sheet

Under the 135 year old Mining Law of 1872, valuable taxpayer lands and minerals are virtually given away to international mining...

Hardrock Mines on Federal Lands Provide No Return to Taxpayers

Overview Under the General Mining Law of 1872, mining companies pay no royalties to the federal government for hardrock minerals extracted...

H.R. 2262 Fact Sheet

H.R. 2262 Provides Overdue Mining Reforms Mining Industry Struck Gold with Century-Old Giveaways One hundred and thirty-five years ago,...

Rep. Don Young’s Coconut Rd. Earmark Rejected

You may have heard about the $10 million earmark for a Florida highway interchange that Rep. Don Young (R-AK) included the 2005 highway...

TCS Releases list of earmarks in FY 08 Senate Financial Services Appropriations Bill

Request a complete list of Senate Financial Services Earmarks (mailto: info@taxpaye.net) Washington, D.C. - The FY 2008 Senate Financial...

Final Week Flurry ﾖ Defense & AG Earmarks and More

For your summer reading pleasure we have posted all the earmarks in the House FY08 Defense and Agriculture spending bills. And I can assure...

Senate Already Watering Down Earmark Disclosure Rules

Congress is racing the clock to pass earmark and ethics reform before they skip town for a month long vacation. For a bill that’s supposed...

Ask Senator Stevens to Give Up Committee Assignments

Dear Leader McConnell: I'm writing to request that you ask Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) to temporarily recuse himself from his committee...

House Passes “Carbon Copy” Farm Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 27, 2007 CONTACT: Steve Ellis, 202-546-8500 x126 Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement from...

Written Testimony of Steve Ellis before Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee House Committee on Natural Resources Hearing on H.R. 2262

Good morning Chairman Costa, Ranking Member Pearce, members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify this morning on H.R....

Oral Testimony of Steve Ellis before Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee House Committee on Natural Resources Hearing on H.R. 2262

Good morning Chairman Costa, Ranking Member Pearce, members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify this morning on H.R....

Commerce of Earmarks ﾖ CJS Spending Bill

To help you follow the CJS debate, TCS has released our database (MORE THAN 1100 EARMARKS IN HOUSE COMMERCE-JUSTICE-SCIENCE SPENDING BILL)...

House Transportation Spending Bill: The Road to Political Pork

Washington, D.C. - The House FY08 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations bill contains more...

Paving the Way for Pork ﾖ THUD Earmarks

TCS has plowed through the more than 1,400 earmarks worth nearly $2.2 billion in the aptly named THUD spending bill. Congress contributed...

1,300 Earmarks in Labor/HHS

Here’s one reason why Rep. Obey’s amendment to eliminate all the earmarks in the Labor/HHS bill failed last night. Actually here are 1,342...

Senate Makes House E&W Earmarks Shopping Frenzy Look Tame

So the House Energy and Water spending bill approved yesterday included 1,010 earmarks worth $3.2 billion. We think that’s a lot, but then...

Earmarks Aplenty in Senate Energy & Water Appropriations Bill

So 1,759 earmarks and $3.8 billion later we finished our database of the Senate Energy & Water Appropriations bill. It's a doozy. Twenty...

ﾑBama Wins Senate CJS Approps Sweepstakes

TCS has completed our analysis and database of the Senate CJS appropriations bill. Even in the minority, Sen. Shelby (R-AL) knows how to...

Senate Interior Appropriations earmarks to Start Your 4th With a Bang

Just so you don't think recess means relaxation for TCS, we've just released our findings and database on the FY08 Senate Interior Approps...

House FY08 Financial Services Analysis and Database and Additional Senate FY08 Defense Analysis and Database

The TCS analysis and database of the House FY08 Financial Services bill (TCS ANALYSIS OF FY08 HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES APPROPRIATIONS BILL)...

Support Amendments to Rein in Financial Services Appropriationsﾒ Earmarks

Dear Representative: Taxpayers for Common Sense Action urges you to support amendments from Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and others to...

Senate Homeland Security and More on House Appropriations

I wanted to alert you that TCS has released our analysis and database of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations (TCS ANALYSIS OF FY08...

Donﾒt Fund Unnecessary Nukes Oppose Funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead in FY 2008

The Honorable Byron Dorgan  Chairman Senate Appropriations Committee The Capitol, S-131 Washington, DC 20510   Dear Chairman...

House Interior Appropriations Initiation Analysis and Database

For your weekend reading pleasure, please find the link below to TCS's initial analysis of the House FY08 Interior Appropriations bill....

House Leg Branch & State/Foreign Ops

Hmmm. What do the FY08 Legislative Branch (TCS Analysis of House Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill) and FY08 State and Foreign...

Itﾒs Time to Change Outdated Mining Law

Dear Representative, The law that governs precious metal mining on federal land is 135 years old and it is time for it to be updated. Rep....

TCS Releases Analysis of Senate MilCon Earmarks

As promised TCS is churning through the appropriations bills. We've just completed our analysis of the Senate MilCon/VA appropriations...

Reform Financial Disclosure Rules for Congress

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader Boehner, Minority Leader McConnell: As you have probably read this week,...

Kind-Flake Legislation Brings the Farm Bill into the 21st Century

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 13, 2007 CONTACTS: Steve Ellis, 202-546-8500 Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by...

Tentative Deal to Put Earmarks Back in House Spending Bills

An AP story (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-13-congress-spending_N.htm) seems to indicate there has been a step back from...

Appropriations Underway

The House has taken up the rule governing the debate on the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill , (TCS ANALYSIS OF THE...

TCS Analysis of the House FY2008 Homeland Security Bill

For Immediate Release June 11, 2007 Contact: Steve Ellis 202-546-8500 x126 TCS ANALYSIS OF THE HOUSE FY2008 DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND...

50 Defense Earmarks Not Disclosed by House Defense Committe

 Posted by Laura Peterson, June 8, 2007   Additional Information...

Appellate Jurisdiction Custer Battles

Appellate Jurisdiction Custer Battles    

Earmark Protection Program

Okay, I have to admit that I thought that Chairman Obey's bluster about not including earmarks was going fall by the wayside during the...

50 Defense Earmarks Not Disclosed by House Defense Committe

When the House of Representatives passed new rules just a few days into the new Congress requiring lawmakers to disclose the earmarks...

OMB Tracking FY08 Earmarks

OMB Director Portman sent a memo to Heads of Departments and Agencies today. He is directing them to track earmarks in the FY08 spending...

House Armed Services Committee Releases Defense Authorization Earmarks

posted by Laura Peterson, May 23, 2007 With little fanfare, defense earmarks made their public debut in the House Armed Services Committee...

House Planning to Hide Earmarks From the Public

Both CongressDaily and Roll Call (Steven Dennis' article from today pasted in at bottom) have reported that House Appropriations Chairman...

Murtha Track Record on Earmark Pressure: ‘If You Vote Against This Bill, You Wonﾒt Have Any Input at All the Next Time’

Rep. Rogers (R-MI) is bringing a privileged resolution to the floor to reprimand Rep. Murtha (D-PA) for threatening to eliminate any...

WRDA Earmarks Aplenty

We have completed compiling all the WRDA earmarks - all 438 of them - and their sponsors into a database. The Water Resources Development...

Water Project Waste

Dear Senator: On behalf of the nearly one million members of our organizations, we write in strong opposition to the Senate version of the...

See How the Spending Bills Stack Up

Congress beat us. Less than 43 hours after the Conference Report filed the House and Senate sent $124.2B in "emergency" spending to the...

Support Deepwater Reform

Dear Member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee: Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) urges you to reform the Coast...

Supplemental on House Floor

The House started debating the Rule governing consideration at 6:10, that means if all follows form they Supplemental itself will be on the...

Analysis of Chairman Murthaﾒs Donors

Analysis of Chairman Murtha’s Donors.pdf

Senate Appropriations Earmark Transparency Announcement

Senate Appropriations Chairman Byrd (D-WV) announced earlier today that the Appropriations Committee will be disclosing earmarks beginning...

OMB FY05 Earmark Database Live

Today, OMB updated their new online earmark database. If you recall, OMB's database went live a few weeks ago with incomplete data and...

U.S. Farm Policy: Blank Check Politics

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues outdated, depression-era farm subsidy policies that funnel billions of dollars to...

TCS Statement on Senate Passage of Emergency Spending Bill

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on Senate passage of...

Support Flake Amendments to Strike Wasteful Programs from H.R. 1401

Dear Representative: Taxpayers for Common Sense Action urges you to support Representative Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) amendments to cut wasteful...

Taxpayers for Common Sense Statement on House Passage of Emergency Spending Bill

Today, the House passed an emergency spending bill that weighed in $21 billion heavier than President’s $103 billion proposal. House...

When an Earmark Isnﾒt an Earmark

Lawmakers have already exploited a loophole in the new transparency rules that appear to allow 'immaculate conception' earmarks. Let me...

Supplemental Up On House Floor; Approved by Senate Appropriations

The House has begun debate on the Supplemental. The rule provides for no amendments and four hours of debate equally divided between...

Taxpayers for Common Sense Statement on the Emergency Spending Bill

At $20 billion more than the President’s proposal, Congress’s $124 billion emergency spending bill is giving taxpayers an acute case of...

Emergencies and Earmarks - Supplemental

I'm hearing that the Senate supplemental is weighing in at $121B, slightly slimmer than the House's $124B, although the Ag Emergency...

Cosponsor the National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act

Dear Member of Congress: Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan, budget watchdog group, urges you to co-sponsor the National Forest...

Earmark Rumblings

Today was to be the day of earmark reckoning. At 3 PM, the Office of Management and Budget was supposed to post on the internet a database...

TCS FY07 Defense Earmarks Database Available

The results are in! Taxpayers for Common Sense analysis of the FY07 Defense spending bill found 2,646 earmarks worth $10.5B. This compares...

Sen. Thune Earmark and DM&E Rail Loan - Rejected

Today, the Federal Railroad Administration rejected the Dakota, Mining & Eastern (DM&E) loan application. Why does TCS care? For two main...

FY07 Earmark Instructions to Agencies

OMB just sent out a memo to Department Heads and Federal Agencies directing them how to deal with the FY07 spending bill (which the...

FY07 Spending Bill

Four and half months into the fiscal year, 2007 appropriations are finally done. What a mess. The Republicans left a mess by not getting...

Omnibus: 48 Hrs. to Read the Bill ﾖ HA! Earmark Disclosure ﾖ Double HA!!

Here’s the likely scenario: The Omnibus spending bill appears tomorrow, runs through a revolving door at the Rules committee and makes a...

Presidentﾒs SAP on FY07 Omnibus

The President’s Statement of Administration Policy on the FY07 spending bill is out. I am heartened by the Administration's comment: “The...

2007 Administration Outline of Farm Bill

Summary: 2007 Administration Outline of Farm Bill    

Spending Bill Machinations

Good theater on the House floor today (if you're a geek like me). Before getting to the substance, I thought I would comment on a nearly...

Continuing Resolution 101

The House Rules Committee is supposed to consider the FY07 Continuing Resolution (CR) today at 3 PM. CR 101: For the last several years,...

Continuing Resolution Rumors

The long-term continuing resolution for FY07 appropriations is supposed to be considered by the House on Wednesday. It should come out on...

Support Cloture on Gregg ‘A Second Look At Wasteful Spending’ Amendment

Dear Senator: Taxpayers for Common Sense Action urges you to support cloture on Sen. Judd Gregg’s (R-NH) amendment, “A Second Look at...

As the Line Item Veto Turns

So, Sen. Gregg's line item veto (enhanced recission) amendment is back up on the floor of the Senate. It wasn't "germane" to the...

Line Item Veto ﾖ Enhanced Recission Authority Fight & Black Budget Earmarks

Right now, the Senate is bogging down on Sen. Gregg's "Second Look at Wasteful Spending" amendment.  That's a pretty good name for what...

Earmark Transparency One Step Closer

Tonight, the Senate unanimously passed an amendment to the ethics bill to bring earmarks out of the shadowy corridors of the capitol and...

Little More on Earmark Reforms

So, I keep looking for potential loopholes in the rule. One question that comes up in my head is the rule's definition of earmark where it...

Taxpayers Demand ‘Leave No Earmark Behind’ Reforms

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Harry Reid U.S. House of Representatives...

Ten Common Sense Reforms for the Army Corps of Engineers

AMERICAN RIVERS · EARTHJUSTICE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND · ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE · FRIENDS OF THE EARTH · MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN ALLIANCE ·...

No Congressional Pensions for Felons

 Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid:  On behalf of the millions of taxpayers represented by the groups listed below, we urge you to make...

TCS Statement on Final Passage of FY07 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill

Washington, D.C. - The following is a statement from Steve Ellis, Vice President for Programs at Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the Defense...

Don’t Fall for False Advertising: Support Real Fiscal Reform in Water Resources Development Act

Dear Senator: For many years, our organizations have examined the standard operating practices of the Corps of Engineers and working to...

WRDA 2007 Senate Letter

Dear Senator: For many years, our organizations have examined the standard operating practices of the Corps of Engineers and working to...

An Open Letter to the United States House of Representatives: Support Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act

Dear Representative:   We urge you to support H.R. 4973, the “Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2006.” Our organizations...

Forest Service Flunks Fiscal Audit

Washington, D.C. - The following is a prepared statement by Franz Matzner, Senior Policy Analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the...

Support H.R. 4890, Legislative Line Item Veto Act

 Dear Representative: Taxpayers for Common Sense Action urges you to support H.R. 4890, the Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 2006....

1872 Mining Law Patenting Fact Sheet

The Claim-Patent System: Fueling a 135-Year Heist of Public Lands The claim-patent system serves as the basis for hardrock mineral...

Testimony Before Democratic Policy Committee Oversight Hearing on Post-Katrina Reconstruction

TCS applauds you for looking more closely at certain contracting mishaps in the wake of Katrina, both because of the sizable federal...

An Open Letter to the United States House of Representatives: Vote ‘Yes’ on the Chabot Amendment to End Tongass Logging Subsidies

Dear Representative:     On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we strongly urge you to support Representative Steve Chabot’s...

‘Relief’ for Oil and Gas A Fiscal Headache for Taxpayers

“Now, we don’t think oil companies need tax incentives or subsidies to drill for oil at $70 a barrel, or for that matter at $25.”  Wall...

Oil and Gas Royalty Relief Fact Sheet

“Relief” for Oil and Gas A Fiscal Headache for Taxpayers “Now, we don’t think oil companies need tax incentives or subsidies to drill...

Cloture Stymies Real Lobby Reform

Dear Senator: By invoking cloture yesterday on S. 2349, the Lobbying Reform bill, the Senate prematurely stifled debate on earmarking...

500 Alaska Fisherman Endorse Removal of Four Dams

Contact: Kathleen McNeilly (202) 546-8500 x128 or Eric Jordan 907-747-6743   WASHINGTON, D.C. - More than 500 Alaska fishermen have...

Grazing on Federal Lands

Federal grazing programs managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) cost taxpayers more than $100...

Taxpayer Coalition Letter to Sen. Richard Shelby: Federal Flood Insurance Program Needs Reform

 The Honorable Richard Shelby Chairman Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs United States Senate Washington DC 20510 Dear Mr....

North Shore Road

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Swain County), North Carolina Projected Cost to Federal Taxpayers: $604...

TCS Statement on the Death of Senator William Proxmire

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement from Jill Lancelot, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the death of...

TCS Applauds the Elimination of the Alaska Bridges to Nowhere

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement from Jill Lancelot, President...

TCS Statement on Senate Farm Subsidy Vote

The following is a written statement by Jill Lancelot, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the Senate refusal to cut billions in handouts for the nation’s largest and richest farms....

Oppose OCS, Shale Provisions in Budget Reconciliation; Support the Udall Amendment to Strike Public Land Giveaways

Dear Resources Committee Member,  Taxpayers for Common Sense Action, a national non-partisan budget watchdog, is concerned with several...

An Open Letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee: Support Subsidy Reform

Dear Senator:   The undersigned organizations have long advocated reform of our crop subsidy system.  Now, with added federal expenditures...

TCS Has Grave Concerns Regarding the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005

Dear Representative: Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), a non-partisan budget watchdog, has grave concerns regarding H.R. 3842, the...

TCS Praises RSC’s Operation Offset

Washington, D.C. - The following is a written statement by Steve Ellis, Vice...

TCS Statement on Presidential Address on Katrina Aid Package

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Steve Ellis,...

Top Ten Worst 2005 Energy Bill

OCS inventory: Government sources estimate that a full inventory of America’s Outer Continental Shelf would cost the government...

New Report Addresses Water Infrastructure Deterioration in Pennsylvania;

Washington, DC - A new report by Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) finds that Pennsylvania and the nation are facing hundreds of billions of...

TCS Statement on the Signing of the Transportation Bill

Washington, D.C. - The following is a written statement by Keith Ashdown, Vice-President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on George W. Bush...

August 2005 Westlands Renewal Letter

Mr. Richard Stevenson Bureau of Reclamation 2800 Cottage Way, MP-440 Sacramento CA 95825 Dear Mr. Stevenson, Taxpayers for Common Sense,...

August 2005 San Luis Drain Letter

Ms. Claire Jacquemin Bureau of Reclamation 2800 Cottage Way, MP-700 Sacramento, CA 95825 August 4, 2005 Dear Ms. Jacquemin, On behalf of...

Banking on the Future

Investing in Smart Water Strategies for Pennsylvania and the Nation...

TCS Statement on Passage of the Water Resources Development Act

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Steve Ellis, Vice-President of Programs at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a...

Banking on the Future: Investing in Smart Water Strategies

The United States maintains the most advanced water system in the world, but faces major funding challenges over the next twenty years to...

Senate Opportunity Lost: Senators Opt Not to Chop Timber Subsidies in the Tongass

Washington, D.C. - The following is a written statement from Jill Lancelot, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense: The U.S. Senate...

TCS Commissioned Report—Billions Spent to Deter Marijuana Use, But Program Effectiveness Remains Unknown

Marijuana is the most widely used illegal substance in the United States, and study after study shows that despite spending billions of...

Billions Spent to Stop Pot Smoking, But Program Effectiveness Remains Unknown

Washington, D.C. - Despite the federal government spending nearly $4 billion to combat marijuana use last year and tens of billions over...

Rip-Off in Big Cypress: How the Department of the Interior attempted to orchestrate one of the worst land deals in history

By: John Nohlgren On May, 29th 2002, President George W. Bush and his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, together announced the...

Veto the Transportation Bill

Dear Mr. President:     On behalf of the millions of members represented by our respective organizations, we ask that you hold steadfast to...

TCS Statement on Inspector General Tanker Report

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement by Keith Ashdown, Vice-President of Policy of Taxpayers for Common Sense on the IG...

Louisville’s Eastern Bridge Project is a Taxpayer Waste

Remarks by Erich W. Zimmermann, Policy Analyst Delivered at River Valley Club, Louisville, Kentucky June 3, 2005 Good afternoon, my...

Nuclear Subsidies in 2005 Energy Bill

For more than a half century the federal government has provided billions in handouts to the nuclear power industry. And today the...

TCS Statement on the Derailment of the Tongass Forest Subsidy Amendment

Washington, D.C. - The following is a written statement from Jill Lancelot, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense: Taxpayers lost big...

Highway Bill Breaks the Bank

The following is a written statement by Erich Zimmermann, Policy Analyst at Taxpayers for Common Sense, on Senate passage of the...

Donﾒt put Homeland Security in the Hands of Lobbyists: Continue the Moratorium on DHS Earmarking

May 10, 2005 The Honorable Judd Gregg Chairman Subcommittee on Homeland Security Committee on Appropriations U.S. Senate Washington, DC...

Lawmakers Axing Roadless Rule Costs Taxpayers

Washington, D.C. - The following is a written statement by Jill Lancelot, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the administration...

Still Fighting the Cold War: No Mission for Nuclear Bunker Busters in the 21st Century

Convinced that we require a broader range of nuclear options to ensure a credible deterrence threat, the National Nuclear Security...

The Modern Pit Facility: A $4 Billion Boondoggle Being Sold on Alarmist Rhetoric and Dated Data

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is currently designing a $2-4 billion Modern Pit Facility (MPF)i that will cost...

Stop Uranium Subsidies from Fouling Up the Energy Bill Support the Udall Amendment

Dear Representative:   We urge you to support Representative Tom Udall’s amendment to strike Section 631 from H.R. 6, the Energy Policy...

Support Senator Dorganﾒs Amendment to Authorize a Special Commission on Way and Reconstruction Contracting

Dear Representative: On behalf of our members, the undersigned groups urge you to oppose the Energy Policy Act of 2005. We strongly...

Oppose Amendment to Prevent Cancellation of C-130J

Dear Senator: On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we urge you to oppose Senator Saxby Chambliss’s (R-GA) amendment to the Emergency...

TCS Statement on Emergency Supplemental Bill