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Small Modular Reactors: Federal Subsidies for Mini Nukes

July 23, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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... Read More

Federal Subsidies for the United States Enrichment Corporation

July 08, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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.... Read More

DOE Loan Guarantee Program: Vogtle Reactors 3&4

July 02, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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... Read More

Impact of Ag Subsidies and Record Farm Profits in Farm Country

June 18, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

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... Read More

Corporate Consolidation in Agriculture Fact Sheet

June 13, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

Corporate Consolidation in Agriculture Fact Sheet Despite best intentions, sometimes federal programs do more harm than good and cause unintended consequences that unnecessarily shift... Read More

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

May 01, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

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... Read More

Taxpayer Supports for Corn Ethanol in Federal Legislation

April 16, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture , Energy

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... Read More

Repowering Assistance Program Fact Sheet

April 12, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture , Energy

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

Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels Fact Sheet

April 08, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture , Energy

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... Read More

Political Footprint of the Corn Ethanol Lobby

March 20, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture , Energy

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,... Read More

Taxpayer Subsidies for Small Modular Reactors

February 27, 2013 > Updated: July 25, 2013 | Policy Brief | Energy

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... Read More

Political Power of the Agribusiness and Crop Insurance Lobbies

October 31, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture , Budget & Tax

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,... Read More

Farm Bill 101

October 02, 2012 | 101 | Agriculture , Budget & Tax

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.... Read More

Agricultural Safety Net 101

October 02, 2012 | 101 | Agriculture

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.... Read More

Big Oil Makes Top Dollar

August 12, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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... Read More

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

August 02, 2012 > Updated: August 29, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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.... Read More

Coal Industry Profits

July 26, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Energy , Natural Resources

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... Read More

Zombie Earmarks in Defense Spending Bill

July 15, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Earmarks & Appropriations , National Security

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... Read More

Federal-Free Risk Management in Agriculture

June 18, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

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... Read More

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: Uranium Enrichment

May 15, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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... Read More

Big Oil Tops $150 Billion in Profits in 2011

March 01, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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

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

January 18, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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

The Department of Energy FutureGen Initiative

November 29, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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

Big Oil, Big Profits

October 30, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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

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... Read More

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

August 12, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Energy , Natural Resources

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

Ongoing TCS Analysis of the FY2012 Budget Proposal

March 10, 2011 | Policy Brief |

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

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... Read More

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... Read More

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... Read More

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

November 03, 2010 | Fact Sheet |

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... Read More

Green Scissors 2010

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

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

June 21, 2010 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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

Oil and Gas Industry: A Decade of Record Breaking Profits

June 14, 2010 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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.... Read More

Details on the President’s Proposed Fossil Fuel Cuts

March 30, 2010 | Policy Brief | Energy

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

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

November 03, 2009 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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... Read More

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

September 24, 2009 | Policy Brief | Energy

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

TCS Fact Sheet: Coal Industry Profits

June 07, 2009 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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

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... Read More

Ethanol Subsidies: Too Much for Too Little

April 29, 2009 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture , Energy

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

Bailout Bank Bio: AIG

March 03, 2009 | Fact Sheet | Budget & Tax

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

Bailout Bank Bio: Capital One Financial Inc

November 13, 2008 | Fact Sheet | Budget & Tax

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

Bailout Bank Bio: Goldman Sachs

November 07, 2008 | Reports & Data | Budget & Tax

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

Clean Coal Projects: Cleaning Out the Pockets of Taxpayers

September 08, 2008 | Fact Sheet | Energy

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

TCS Agriculture Program

June 01, 2008 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

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

Bush Administration Releases Proposal for Farm Bill Compromise

March 04, 2008 | Agriculture

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... Read More

Parameters of a Successful Farm Bill

February 29, 2008 | Agriculture

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

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

October 14, 2007 | Agriculture

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

FRESH Act Fact Sheet

September 30, 2007 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

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

House Passes “Carbon Copy” Farm Bill

July 26, 2007 | Agriculture , Budget & Tax

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

U.S. Farm Policy: Blank Check Politics

March 31, 2007 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

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

Oil and Gas Royalty Relief Fact Sheet

April 27, 2006 | Fact Sheet | Energy , Natural Resources

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

TCS Statement on Senate Farm Subsidy Vote

November 03, 2005 | Agriculture , Budget & Tax

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.... Read More

Top Ten Worst 2005 Energy Bill

September 03, 2005 | Policy Brief | Energy

OCS inventory: Government sources estimate that a full inventory of America’s Outer Continental Shelf would cost the government... Read More

World Trade Organization Overrules King Cotton

March 03, 2005 | Agriculture

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.... Read More

Fixed Direct Payments: Flawed Formula Fleeces Taxpayers

May 18, 2003 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

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

TCS Statement on House Supporting Payment Caps in Farm Bill

April 17, 2002 | Agriculture

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

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

February 13, 2002 | Agriculture

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: ... Read More

Chabot takes Stand Against Wasteful Spending

June 28, 2000 | Agriculture

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

Agricultural Appropriations Bill Reaches Too Deep

June 28, 1999 | Policy Brief | Agriculture

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

Agriculture Appropriations Bill Reaches Too Deep

May 24, 1999 | Policy Brief | Agriculture , Budget & Tax

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

Welfare for Waste

May 01, 1999 | Reports & Data | Budget & Tax , Natural Resources

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

Pentagon Follies

April 01, 1996 | Reports & Data | National Security

How the Department of Defense Is Wasting Your Tax Dollars... Read More

Weekly Wastebasket

Our weekly reality-check for federal spending. View All

September 13, 2013

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... Read More