Policy Briefs

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...

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...

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....

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....

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...

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...

Engineering Boondoggles

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