Policy Briefs

House Releases Homeland Security Earmark Letters

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

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

Engineering Boondoggles

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