Our Take

UPDATE: Senate adds $2.6 billion in earmarks to defense spending bill

(September 16)  In passing its edition of the FY2011 defense spending bill today, the Senate Appropriations Committee didn’t add much to...

Gates Mandates Affordability in Defense Spending

 Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday unveiled details of his effort to overhaul procurement processes, just ahead of Senate markups...

New Report Urges Comprehensive Security Spending

A bipartisan group of national security experts including Taxpayers for Common Sense today released a report calling for a budget that...

TCS on Gates Defense Reforms: One Small Step Forward

Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new belt-tightening initiatives at the Department of Defense are a positive step forward. But much more...

FutureGen: Massive Clean Coal Project Changes Track, Still Securing $1 Billion Earmarked in the Stimulus

Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the plan to build “FutureGen” a massive commercial “clean coal” facility in Mattoon,...

Senate Takes a Step Toward Earmark Transparency

By an 11-5 vote today the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee passed  S.3335, the Earmark Transparency Act of 2010....

Senate Appropriations Committee Passes Energy and Water Bill—Includes $17 billion in Risky Loan Guarantees

 On July 22, the Senate Committee on Appropriations passed the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. The $34.97 billion bill...

Clean Energy Development Must Not Clean Out Taxpayer Pockets

Energy Legislation and Clean Energy Development The House of Representatives took another step closer to considering energy legislation...

Alaska Adopts Sensible Policy on Transportation Earmarks

Earlier this week, our attention was pointed to a new earmark policy released by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public...

Blumenauer, Menendez Call for an End to Big Oil Subsidies

On June 30, 2010, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the End Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act to cut a number of subsidies for big...

Engineering Boondoggles

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