Spending season kicks into full gear this week. The House will debate H.R. 5326, which spends money on the operation of the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and on science-related programs. That spending, for fiscal year 2013, adds up to a little over $600 per U.S. family. A second bill is in the House’s pipeline. [...]
Donna Christensen (D) is the delegate to the House of Representatives from the Virgin Islands. A “delegate” is a is a non-voting member of the House elected from a U.S. territory (and the District of Columbia). Delegates are paid like regular members of Congress, they serve on committees, and they have many of the same [...]
Judging by his earmark disclosures, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) seems to have said “To hell with you!” to the Senate Appropriations Committee and its earmarking rules. But the committee is doling out money to him anyway. It seems rules were made to be broken. In March, the committee issued a press release reiterating its rules [...]
The firing of Shirley Sherrod, controversy about alleged voter intimidation by the New Black Panther party, and, for some, the Journolist controversy are the stories of the week. And they’re important stories. But maybe they shouldn’t capture all of our attention. While we watch charge and counter-charge about race or journalism, the federal government is [...]
While you were watching the big health care debate, the fiscal year 2010 spending process was going on underneath your radar. Congress allocated more than $20,000 per U.S. family in spending during the fall. Do you know where it went? If you don’t, perhaps it’s because the annual spending process once again went off the [...]
Congress didn’t finish the annual spending process by the beginning of the new fiscal year October 1st. It has passed some of the bills that run the government, but most of the government has been running on temporary spending measures, called “continuing resolutions.” Here’s a run-down of the action so far: On October 1st, the [...]
The FY 2010 Spending Tracker has been updated with votes in the House last week on energy and water development spending, financial services and general government spending, and military/veterans spending. The two biggest bills of the season have yet to make an appearance. The Labor/HHS and Defense spending bills often cost about $5,000 per U.S. [...]
The House will debate H.R. 3183, the FY 2010 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill today. Its cost is about $414 per U.S. family. Another one up today is H.R. 1018, the Restore Our American Mustangs Act (cost – just over a buck-and-a-half per U.S. family). The bill would affect the protection of wild herds [...]
H.R. 3138, which is scheduled for debate in the House this week, has now been introduced. And it has been added to the FY 2010 Spending Tracker. It would spend about $410 per U.S. family.
Congress is well into the process of passing the twelve spending bills that dictate federal government spending for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2009. We’ve produced a table to track the House and Senate bills, their costs, and votes on them, as well as votes on final passage of the compromise bill [...]