Letters & Testimony
Oppose Ag-Only Farm Bill: Spends More Than Senate Bill; Changes Make Subsidies Permanent
July 11, 2013
Wanna Giveaway?: Congress Using Budget Gimmicks to Reverse Air Traffic Cuts
April 26, 2013 |
Update (12:30pm) - The House passed this bill today 361-41, and it now goes to the President for his signature. Though the bill does... 
Bringing Sequester in for a Landing: Congress on Verge of Avoiding FAA Furloughs with Budget Gimmicks
April 25, 2013 |
Update (9:03 pm): The Senate has gone with option 1 (see below), allowing for the transfer of $250 million from the Airport Improvement...
Analysis of Selected Sections of S. 601, Water Resources Development Act of 2013
March 20, 2013 |
The Senate's Environment and Public Works committee is taking up a water project bill that could cost taxpayers billions....
Taxpayer Subsidies for Small Modular Reactors
February 27, 2013 > Updated: July 25, 2013 |
The Department of Energy (DOE) is asking Congress to provide hundreds of millions in subsidies to commercialize small modular nuclear...
Transportation Tax Provisions within Fiscal Cliff Deal
January 03, 2013 |
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
January 03, 2013 |
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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
December 05, 2012 |
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)
September 27, 2012 |
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
September 10, 2012 |
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
August 01, 2012 |
Citing record drought conditions throughout the country, the House is debating today legislation to retroactively extend four...
Taxpayers Lose with More Unnecessary Farm Subsidy Layers
July 26, 2012 |
Federal farm programs are ripe for reform, especially those that lock in record high prices and guarantee farmers’ expected income. As...
Turning a Drought into a Fiscal Disaster
July 24, 2012 |
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
July 05, 2012 |
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
July 04, 2012 |
On June 21, the Senate passed a few long-awaited reforms to the farm subsidy maze. Unfortunately, at the same time, they also increased...
Congress Relies on Billions from Treasury in Transportation Reauthorization
June 27, 2012 |
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...
Senate Ag Committee: More is Less
June 17, 2012 |
(Originally published June 8, 2012)
With debate on the 2012 Farm Bill underway on the Senate Floor, proponents of this nearly trillion...
Why Transportation Reauthorization Negotiations Are Failing: The Pay-fors Just Don’t Add Up
June 14, 2012 |
Congress continues to meet behind closed doors in a Conference Committee to hash out the details of a transportation bill...
House to seek another extension for transportation program
March 22, 2012 |
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House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Mica (R-FL) introduced H.R. 4239 yesterday; a “clean” extension to the...
Backdoor Earmarks? Slush-y Funds in the Corps of Engineers Budget
February 08, 2012 |
(February 8, 2012 | 3:00 p.m.)
Below is a chart detailing the number of projects that receive funding in the Corps 2012 Work Plan that...
The Nation’s Transportation Trust Funds
January 19, 2012 |
The nation’s transportation system — highways, transit lines, aviation, waterways, and ports — is largely supported by a series of...
Analyzing Transportation Provisions in Mini-Bus Appropriations Bill
November 15, 2011 |
House and Senate negotiators have released a final version of the so-called "mini-bus" appropriations bill that will roll three funding...
Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Loan Program: Program Expansion Must Not Erode Taxpayer Protections
October 26, 2011 |
The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) was adopted by Congress in 1998 to leverage federal resources and...
No Deal on Ethanol for Taxpayers
July 19, 2011 |
A small group Senators are attempting to snatch fiscal defeat from the jaws of taxpayer victory on ethanol subsidies. Last month the...
The Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit: History and Current Policy
April 29, 2011 |
The Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) is the largest subsidy to corn ethanol, the most common biofuel in the U.S. The tax...
The President’s FY2012 Proposed Cuts to Fossil Fuel Subsidies
April 14, 2011 |
In keeping with President Obama’s call to end fossil fuel subsidies, the latest budget proposal includes several significant cuts to oil,...
HR 1363 FY11 Defense/CR Only Cuts $4.4B
April 06, 2011 |
Not that it’s anything to sneeze at, but HR1363 the “Department of Defense and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011” that the...
Ongoing TCS Analysis of the FY2012 Budget Proposal
March 10, 2011 |
The FY2012 Presidential Budget Request was released this morning. TCS staff will be posting relevant documents and analysis as we digest...
DOD Tries to Shave Billions From Contracting Costs
June 29, 2010 |
The scent of defense acquisition reform is heavy in the air again. Just don’t call it acquisition reform.
The Defense Department...
Fool Me Once–Energy Legislation Should Include Royalty System for Wind and Solar Projects on Taxpayer Lands
June 20, 2010 |
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has refocused Congress’ attention on energy and climate legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid...
UPDATE: Earmarks in Defense Authorization Bill
June 06, 2010 |
(June 4, 2010) This week’s Memorial Day Congressional recess gave us a chance to peer under the lid of the House defense authorization...
Details on the President’s Proposed Fossil Fuel Cuts
March 30, 2010 |
In keeping with President Obama’s call to end fossil fuel subsidies, the latest budget proposal includes several significant cuts to oil,...
The Flap Over the Jobs Bill: Flawed Politics of the Past Would Continue to Distribute Funds in the F
March 01, 2010 |
Earlier this week, the Senate passed its version of the jobs bill—a bill which is flawed from a transportation and taxpayer...
Senate Jobs Bill: The Wrong Direction on Transportation
February 24, 2010 |
Updated 2:33pm
The Senate-passed jobs bill (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act or the Jobs for Main Street Act) contains a...
Obama to Contractors: Don’t Cheat Uncle Sam
January 22, 2010 |
It was payback time for President Obama this week when he threw down the gauntlet to tax-dodging contractors.Taxpayers pay contractors...
UPDATE: 1,720 Earmarks in Final Defense Spending Bill
December 17, 2009 |
(December 17) The Senate will soon follow the House in passing a $636.3 billion Fiscal Year 2010 defense appropriations bill, the...
MilCon, VA and State Department Funding in Omnibus
December 11, 2009 |
The House of Representatives drove home a $447 billion omnibus spending bill yesterday loaded with six of the seven appropriations bills...
Senate Version of The Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA)
December 10, 2009 |
Both the House and Senate have proposed the creation of the new federal financing entity known as the Clean Energy Deployment...
Congressional Budget Office Analysis Confirms Senate CEDA Jeopardizes Billions of Taxpayer Dollars
December 10, 2009 |
The American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 (ACELA), S. 1462, as approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in...
UPDATE: President Signs Defense Authorization Bill with $4 billion in Earmarks
October 29, 2009 |
(October 30) President Obama signed a $680 billion defense authorization bill this week—the largest such bill ever—with a declaration...
Contractor Accountability Legislation in Defense Authorization
October 21, 2009 |
One of the most interesting—and neglected—sections of the annual defense authorization bill steers annual contracting policy both for DOD...
UPDATE: Congress Passes Final $42.8 DHS Approps Bill
October 21, 2009 |
(October 21) Congress handed off a $42.8 billion appropriations bill funding the Department of Homeland Security through fiscal year 2010...
UPDATE: The President’s 2010 Budget: Reining in Oil and Gas Subsidies
September 24, 2009 |
The president’s fiscal year 2010 budget repeals several long-standing oil and gas subsidies, saving an estimated $31.7 billion over the...
Congress Sends $106 Billion Supplemental to President
June 25, 2009 |
(June 26) We found 13 undisclosed earmarks worth $1.35 billion in the supplemental, including $904 million for seven C-130J aircraft,...
Bailout Bank Bio: Bank of America (and Merrill Lynch)
March 26, 2009 |
On September 15, 2008 Bank of America acquired the investment bank Merrill Lynch.
Bank of America
Bank of America is the nation’s...
F-22: No More Second Helpings
March 18, 2009 |
Goodness, the difference an economic crisis can make. A few years ago, advertisements by defense contractors arguing that the U.S. should...
Nuclear Weapons Spending in the Omnibus
March 05, 2009 |
A look at the nuclear weapons budget in the omnibus reveals that while Congress is keeping nuke funding on a short leash, a controversial...
National Security Spending in the Stimulus
February 13, 2009 |
The axe has fallen on the final version of the stimulus bill, and some national security spending ended up on the cutting room floor....
Water Infrastructure Spending in the House Economic Stimulus
January 28, 2009 |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructs large water projects (dams, levees, pumping sand on beaches) across the country. In the...
Senate Supports Nuke Labs, Border Fence in Stimulus
January 28, 2009 |
The House and Senate agree on many of the national security-related agencies that should receive stimulus funding. The Defense...
Terms for Auto Bailout Released
December 19, 2008 |
The Treasury Department just released terms for the bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler. Taxpayers for Common Sense staff will be...
Analysis of Energy Tax Provisions Included in the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
December 05, 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....
Treasury Releases Report on Bailout Expenditures
October 29, 2008 |
The Treasury Department has released its first bailout “transaction report,” which documents where $125 billion of the $700 billion in...
Senate Passes Bailout bill
October 01, 2008 |
The Senate passed the bailout bill 74-25 this evening. Here is the rollcall for the vote.
This is what we had to say about the Senate...
Bailout Bill and Related Resources
September 27, 2008 |
The latest version of the bailout bill was just released. Read it here.
Additional resources (we're adding more as we find them, so...
Government Bailouts Top $1 Trillion in 2008
September 21, 2008 |
Update--September 23
Our transparency in government allies at Open CRS obtained a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report The Cost...
Draft Language of the Bailout Plans
September 21, 2008 |
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has drafted a replacement legislative package to the Administration's proposed bailout plan. With a quick glance...
House Releases Homeland Security Earmark Letters
September 18, 2008 |
The House Appropriations Committee has just released the earmark request letters for the 2009 Department of Homeland Security...
Risky Business on Wall Street
September 16, 2008 |
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
August 20, 2008 |
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
August 18, 2008 |
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
August 13, 2008 |
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
July 23, 2008 |
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
July 22, 2008 |
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
July 22, 2008 |
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
July 06, 2008 |
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
July 01, 2008 |
The FY 2009 House Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill contains 1,126 earmarks worth $442,562,000. That is a decrease of 13...
House Labor-HHS Spending Bill: 1,371 Earmarks, $619 Million
June 29, 2008 |
The FY 2009 House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill contains 1371 earmarks for a total cost of $619,187,000. The number of projects...
$57 million in earmarks in the House 2009 Financial Services spending bill
June 26, 2008 |
The 2009 House Financial Services Appropriations bill contains 197 earmarks for a total of $57 million (click here to see the database)....
$197 Million in Homeland Security Earmarks in Senate Spending Bill
June 25, 2008 |
The Senate version of the 2009 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill includes 19 congressional earmarks for a total of...
Emergency Supplemental Bill - Take 1
June 19, 2008 |
The supplemental appropriations bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan got fast-tracked through the House yesterday in preparation...
Fencing in DHS Spending
June 12, 2008 |
Big week on Capitol Hill for the Department of Homeland Security. On Monday, Secretary Michael Chertoff touted his agency's achievements...
House Defense Authorization Earmarks Jump From Last Year
June 12, 2008 |
A bill recently passed by the House increases the number of Defense Authorization earmarks by more than 20% from last year, according to...
Coal Subsidies: Energy Policy Act of 2005
May 25, 2008 |
The coal industry received more than $9 billion in loans, research funds, tax breaks and other subsidies in the Energy Policy Act of...
Transportation Committee Discloses New Earmarks
May 25, 2008 |
The earmark disclosure debutantes are making their way to the floor today in the technical correction bill for SAFETEA-LU (H.R....
$9.9 Billion in House Authorization Add-Ons
May 21, 2008 |
The 2009 defense authorization bill headed for the House floor this week has already raised a ruckus over earmarks, and there’s a lot to...
$5.2 Billion in Senate Authorization Additions
May 13, 2008 |
While the House Armed Services Committee marks up the 2009 National Defense Authorization Act, TCS staff is scouring the report just...
50 Defense Earmarks Not Disclosed by House Defense Committe
June 01, 2007 |
When the House of Representatives passed new rules just a few days into the new Congress requiring lawmakers to disclose the earmarks...
Ten Common Sense Reforms for the Army Corps of Engineers
January 01, 2007 |
AMERICAN RIVERS · EARTHJUSTICE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND · ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE · FRIENDS OF THE EARTH ·
MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN ALLIANCE ·...
Top Ten Worst 2005 Energy Bill
September 03, 2005 |
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
May 24, 2005 |
For more than a half century the federal government has provided billions in handouts to the nuclear power industry. And today the...
A Total Rip-off: Taxpayer Dollars Wasted on the Energy Sector
December 31, 2003 |
Analysis of Senate Energy Bill of 2003
May 02, 2003 |
As the Senate brings their energy policy legislation to the floor this week, it is clear that their bill is as filled with perks for...
Analysis HR6 - Energy Policy Act of 2003
February 06, 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
June 27, 2002 |
Following the airline industry's lead, insurance executives have been lobbying Congress for terrorism insurance legislation that will...
Agricultural Appropriations Bill Reaches Too Deep
June 28, 1999 |
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
May 24, 1999 |
Washington, DC – The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on an appropriations bill today that is riddled with unnecessary...
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