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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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. ...

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...

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....

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. ...

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....

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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)...

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. ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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....

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: Agriculture

Outdated and ineffective farm policies waste billions of federal funds each year, jeopardize fragile lands and waters and no longer...

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...

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:...

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...

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...

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,...

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....

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...

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,...

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...

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...

Nuclear Industry Subsidies

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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: Capital One Financial Inc

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

Nuclear Reprocessing

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

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

FRESH Act Fact Sheet

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

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...

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...

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...

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 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....

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...

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...

World Trade Organization Overrules King Cotton

The following is a prepared statement by Franz Matzner, Policy Analyst of Taxpayers for Common Sense on the World Trade Organization's final decision on the Brazil Cotton Case....

A Total Rip-off: Taxpayer Dollars Wasted on the Energy Sector

Nuclear energy, once widely hailed as ‘too cheap to meter,” has become one of the most expensive sources of electricity, due to the high...

Fixed Direct Payments: Flawed Formula Fleeces Taxpayers

Fixed Direct Payments, or ‘decoupled payments’, provide farmers with direct income unrelated to the market.1 Many argue that direct...

Analysis HR6 - Energy Policy Act of 2003

The current 768 page, 5 inch thick energy legislation is fueled by pork and will do very little to reduce energy prices or increase...

Terrorism Insurance Giveaway

Following the airline industry's lead, insurance executives have been lobbying Congress for terrorism insurance legislation that will...

TCS Statement on House Supporting Payment Caps in Farm Bill

The following is a statement by Cena Swisher, Senior Director at Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the House Supporting Payment Caps in Farm Bill:...

Despite Changes, Farm Bill Costs too Much, Continues to Plague Family Farmers

The following statement is from Joe Theissen, Executive Director of Taxpayers for Common Sense in response to final passage of S. 1731, the Senate farm bill: ...

Energy Polluter Poised to Reap $62 Billion in Taxpayer Handouts

WASHINGTON, DC - Government subsidies to oil, coal and nuclear power industries could double if the Senate passes the House energy bill...

Passing the Buck

How the Mining Industry Used Outdated Rules to Pass Environmental Cleanup Costs to Taxpayers...

Chabot takes Stand Against Wasteful Spending

Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH) today offered two separate amendments to the House Agriculture spending bill that would eliminate...

Troubled Waters

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is wasting billions of dollars on environmentally harmful projects, charges a new report by Taxpayers...

Agricultural Appropriations Bill Reaches Too Deep

Washington, DC - The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on an appropriations bill today that is riddled with unnecessary...

Agriculture Appropriations Bill Reaches Too Deep

Washington, DC – The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on an appropriations bill today that is riddled with unnecessary...

Welfare for Waste

How Federal Taxpayers Subsidies Waste Resources and Discourage Recycling...

Syria: Excuse 535 To Not Cut the Deficit

Volume XVIII No. 37 Possible action in Syria has become the most recent excuse du jour for Pentagon boosters...