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

July 30, 2013 | Reports & Data | Transportation & Infrastructure

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.... Read More

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

June 26, 2013 | Awards | Transportation & Infrastructure

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... Read More

Achieving Measurable Outcomes in Agricultural Conservation Programs

June 14, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Agriculture

Achieving Measurable Outcomes in Agricultural Conservation Programs All federal agricultural programs – including conservation programs - should prove that they are achieving measurable outcomes that... Read More

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

April 25, 2013 | Policy Brief | Transportation & Infrastructure

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... Read More

Sandy Supplemental Data

February 12, 2013 | Reports & Data | Earmarks & Appropriations , Transportation & Infrastructure

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... Read More

Analysis of Selected Provisions in Hurricane Sandy Emergency Spending Proposals

December 17, 2012 > Updated: January 10, 2013 | Reports & Data | Earmarks & Appropriations , Transportation & Infrastructure

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... Read More

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

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... Read More

Green Scissors Report 2012

August 07, 2012 | Reports & Data | Budget & Tax , Energy , Natural Resources , Transportation & Infrastructure

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. ... Read More

Congress Relies on Billions from Treasury in Transportation Reauthorization

June 27, 2012 | Policy Brief | Transportation & Infrastructure

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... Read More

MOX Misses the Mark

June 19, 2012 > Updated: April 09, 2013 | Fact Sheet | Energy , National Security

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. ... Read More

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

June 14, 2012 | Policy Brief | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

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

April 05, 2012 | Fact Sheet | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

House to seek another extension for transportation program

March 22, 2012 | Policy Brief | Transportation & Infrastructure

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... Read More

FY13 Defense Budget Scorecard

January 27, 2012 | Fact Sheet | National Security

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

The Nation’s Transportation Trust Funds

January 19, 2012 | Policy Brief | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

TIGER III Grant Awardees Named

December 15, 2011 | Reports & Data | Transportation & Infrastructure

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... 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

Analyzing Transportation Provisions in Mini-Bus Appropriations Bill

November 15, 2011 | Policy Brief | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

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

October 26, 2011 | Policy Brief | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

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

October 13, 2011 | Reports & Data | Transportation & Infrastructure

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... 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

Transportation: Gridlock may lead to Crashes Ahead

August 31, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

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

July 20, 2011 | Reports & Data | Budget & Tax , National Security

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

Senate Transportation Reauthorization Summary Released

July 18, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

House Transportation Reauthorization Proposal Released

July 06, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

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

May 31, 2011 | Reports & Data | Budget & Tax , Transportation & Infrastructure

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... Read More

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

May 15, 2011 | Reports & Data | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

Draft of Administration’s Transportation Reauthorization Revealed

April 29, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

Reports highlight problems with transportation spending

April 12, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

Framing the Transportation Debate: Two Recent Documents Highlight Key Issues

March 28, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Transportation & Infrastructure

Two documents released recently do a great job framing the upcoming debate over reauthorization of the nation’s surface transportation... 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 Cut List No. 2: Total Cuts $205+ billion

February 10, 2011 | Reports & Data | Budget & Tax , Energy , National Security , Transportation & Infrastructure

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 Budget Cut List for the 112th Congress: Energy

February 10, 2011 | Reports & Data | Budget & Tax , Energy , National Security

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

TCS Review of CBO Brief: Spending and Funding for Highways

January 21, 2011 | Fact Sheet | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

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

November 12, 2010 | Fact Sheet | National Security

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

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

March 01, 2010 | Policy Brief |

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

Senate Jobs Bill: The Wrong Direction on Transportation

February 24, 2010 | Policy Brief | Transportation & Infrastructure

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

MilCon, VA and State Department Funding in Omnibus

December 11, 2009 | Policy Brief | National Security

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

TCS Releases Space Security Database

April 07, 2009 | Reports & Data | National Security

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

F-22: No More Second Helpings

March 18, 2009 | Policy Brief | National Security

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

Failing Salmon Recovery Efforts are Costing Taxpayers Billions

February 09, 2009 | Fact Sheet | Natural Resources , Transportation & Infrastructure

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

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... Read More

Water Infrastructure Spending in the House Economic Stimulus

January 28, 2009 | Policy Brief | Natural Resources , Transportation & Infrastructure

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

Ten Common Sense Reforms for the Army Corps of Engineers

January 01, 2007 | Policy Brief | Natural Resources

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

Banking on the Future

July 31, 2005 | Reports & Data | Natural Resources , Transportation & Infrastructure

Investing in Smart Water Strategies for Pennsylvania and the Nation... Read More

Road to Ruin: The 27 Most Wasteful Road Projects in America

June 01, 2004 | Reports & Data | Transportation & Infrastructure

Road to Ruin documents 27 road projects that will drain federal tax dollars, harm communities, and damage the natural environment. In total, these projects would cost federal taxpayers at least $24 billion.... Read More

Troubled Waters

March 08, 2000 | Reports & Data | Natural Resources , Transportation & Infrastructure

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