Appropriations / Spending

Appropriations / Spending: News Background Analysis Data

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OMB Watch has launched a new series examining how long-term resource shortfalls at federal regulatory agencies have affected the ability of those agencies to protect the public and fulfill their missions.

Read more about it in Bankrupting Government: How a Decades-Long Campaign against Federal Spending Has Undermined Public Protections

News

2008 Fiscal Policy Year in Review 12/16/2008
It's been an exceptional year. 2008 saw not only economic indicators that evoked memories of the Great Depression, but also a record-breaking federal budget deficit. The federal government, through several agencies, activated trillions of dollars in loans and asset guarantees. Congress approved the largest supplemental spending bill in its history and gave the Treasury Department the authority to expend the equivalent of three-fourths of the federal discretionary budget on one sector of the economy. But in many other ways, Congress proved to be unremarkable by staying true to its recent history of underachievement. Read More

Democrats, Obama Prepare Economic Stimulus Package for January 12/02/2008
The passage of an unemployment insurance extension, which occurred at the end of November, is likely the last effort by the 110th Congress to enact legislation to stimulate the economy. With Republicans continuing to block immediate passage of a large economic stimulus package, Democrats are preparing to move legislation as soon as President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January 2009. Read More

TARP Oversight Helped, Hindered by Senate 12/02/2008
A pair of bills designed to improve oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) has been introduced in the Senate. The first would place restrictions on the use of federal funds and provide greater transparency, and the second would strengthen the role of the Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP). TARP was created by the $700 billion financial bailout bill that Congress passed before the election. Read More

TARP Purchases Increasing as Oversight Languishes 11/18/2008
As Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson continues to purchase hundreds of billions of dollars in bank equities under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), oversight of the program remains meager. TARP, as created through the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA), gives Paulson wide latitude in selecting firms and individuals to implement the program and equally wide latitude in disbursing the $700 billion in authorized funds. However, with $290 billion already committed, two of three oversight institutions created by EESA have yet to be implemented, signaling that oversight and transparency in TARP are second-tier objectives for Congress and the Treasury Department. Read More

Joint Economic Committee Holds Hearing on the Need for Economic Stimulus 11/04/2008
On Oct. 30, a group of economic experts testified before the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) on the necessity and scope of a second economic stimulus package. While committee members and witnesses agreed on the severity of the ongoing economic situation, there was a clear ideological divide on which course of action Congress should pursue. At the center of the divide were the competing concerns for families facing certain hardships inflicted by a contracting economy and for the consequences of an increase in the federal budget deficit, which would be required to aid those families and help reverse the current economic trend. Read More

Commentary: Despite Record Deficits, Stimulus Package Warranted 10/21/2008
Although enactment of an economic stimulus package could push the federal budget deficit above $1 trillion, political consensus on its necessity is emerging. Political factions are split on the issues of how large and what form a stimulus package should take. Economists, however, indicate that targeted spending can be a powerful weapon to address recession and the effects of economic hardship on American families, even if it increases the deficit. Now is exactly the time to be enacting such fiscal policy. Read More

Commentary: Bailout Package Signed into Law; Economic Stimulus Still Needed 10/07/2008
With the enactment of a $700 billion Wall Street bailout, or "financial rescue" package, prospects for success in stabilizing the nation's financial markets remain uncertain. Certain, however, is that deteriorating economic conditions that continue to put Americans on the unemployment rolls will remain unaffected by the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). And despite over $100 billion in tax cuts included in the package, Congress failed to leverage even modest economic stimulus from the resulting jump in the federal budget deficit. If and when Congress returns to work for a lame-duck session after the elections, it should consider what steps to take next to improve the economy and aid those who have fallen victim to it. Read More

Congress Enacts Flurry of Legislation at Year's End 10/07/2008
Congress tentatively adjourned for the year on Oct. 3 after passing a flurry of legislation to address the financial meltdown, extend expiring tax cuts, provide disaster relief funding, and fund the federal government through March 6, 2009. Read More

Free Market Ends as Washington and Wall Street Merge 09/23/2008
Following a string of guarantees, buy-outs, and bailouts for various financial firms, Congress is now rushing to authorize the Treasury Secretary to spend $700 billion to bail out the rest of Wall Street. Since its role in the sale of investment bank Bear Stearns to rival J.P. Morgan in March, the federal government has intervened three times in the nation's financial markets by using taxpayer dollars to prop up the value of various private banking and mortgage entities. While taxpayers ought to be concerned about the sums of money involved in these transactions, a more fundamental problem exists: the bottom-line cost is anybody's guess. Read More

Commentary: On Bailouts, Congress Should Move with Great Care 09/23/2008
The pace at which Congress is considering the largest intervention into financial markets in the history of the United States, if not the world, is shocking. Over the weekend, the Bush administration proposed legislation that would grant it the authority to buy up toxic financial assets in an amount equal to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The magnitude of the funds requisitioned is matched only by the administration's requested level of unchecked power and opacity in how it would execute this historic market intervention. Congress has responded with uncharacteristic haste, setting the stage for passage of monumentally flawed legislation that purports to fix a yet-undiagnosed problem in roughly one week. Read More

Congress Returns with Little Time, Huge Workload 09/09/2008
Congress returned to Washington the week of Sept. 8 to a jam-packed schedule and just three weeks left to complete work for the year before the target adjournment date of Sept. 26. Below is a brief summary of some of the major pieces of legislation covering fiscal policy issues that will likely be addressed: Read More

Defense Contract Oversight Faces Multiple Challenges 08/19/2008
Over the last seven years, the Defense Department has doubled the amount of money spent on private contractors, yet it has remained disturbingly lax on contractor oversight. Recent evidence has emerged showing that the Pentagon spends too little on contract oversight and interferes with current auditors to restrict the length and scope of investigations. Read More

Appropriations Breakdown Threatens Federal Investments 07/22/2008
As the FY 2009 appropriations process grinds to a halt, a new OMB Watch analysis of the past nine fiscal years reveals that the nation's priorities are better served when Congress and the president work together to complete the annual appropriations process. Congress's abandonment of the FY 2009 appropriations process increases the risk that the resources critical to vital government supports will be further constrained as both sides of the aisle simply refuse to work toward agreement on FY 2009 appropriations legislation. Read More

Bush Signs War Supplemental, Cements Fiscal Legacy 07/08/2008
Contrary to his assertion that he would "not accept a supplemental over $108 billion," President Bush signed a $257 billion war supplemental spending package on June 30. The bill will fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the remainder of the fiscal year (ending Sept. 30) and through the first several months of the next president's term. Read More

Fiscal Responsibility, War Critics Take a Back Seat in House War Supplemental 06/24/2008
When the House Democratic leadership introduced a supplemental appropriations bill the week of June 16, chock-full of popular spending measures, it ensured easy passage of the $257 billion package. The Democrats and President Bush can each claim they won items in the negotiation over the bill: the Democrats won increased spending on domestic programs; Bush was able to kill any requirements for withdrawal of soldiers from Iraq. Yet the bill remained controversial because the Democrats refused to include fiscally responsible measures or accede to the opinion of 63 percent of Americans that soldiers should return home within two years. Read More

Obama and Coburn Shine Brighter Light on Government Spending 06/10/2008
Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) have joined forces again to craft legislation that would increase the transparency of how the federal government spends taxpayers' money. The Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act (S. 3077), introduced June 3, is a follow-up to the 2006 Transparency Act, which was also spearheaded by the two senators. Obama and Coburn, along with Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and John McCain (R-AZ), introduced the new legislation with the goals of making important new data easily accessible and enabling citizens to hold our government accountable for the fiscal stewardship of our shared resources. Read More

Congress Adopts Mixed-Bag Budget Resolution 06/10/2008
A rare event occurred in Washington on Thursday, June 5: Congress approved a budget resolution during an election year, a feat not seen since 2000. This fact and a human needs-oriented approach to spending signal that Congress is addressing national priorities while attempting to more responsibly manage the country's finances. However, Congress's eliding of pay-as-you-go rules and unrealistic assumptions about war spending and Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) relief have marred an otherwise responsible budget resolution. Read More

Spike in Jobless Rate Restarts Focus on Unemployment Insurance 06/10/2008
On June 6, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a jump in the national unemployment rate from 5.0 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May, the single biggest month-to-month increase in 22 years. Another 49,000 Americans joined the ranks of the unemployed in May, bringing the yearly total thus far to 324,000. The news took analysts by surprise, and along with rising oil prices, helped push stocks down by three percent on all three major American exchanges and re-ignited talk of a possible recession. Read More

President Bush: Veto Rhetoric vs. Fiscal Reality 05/28/2008
Although Congress has not yet begun to consider any of the appropriations bills that will finance the federal government in FY 2009, the White House threatened to veto Democratic spending bills — even before any details were unveiled. With the flurry of veto threats late in his presidency, President Bush appears to be attempting to erase seven-plus years of reckless fiscal management of the federal government with token gestures that feign fiscal responsibility. Despite these recent actions, budget watchdogs say the Bush legacy on fiscal policy will be one of irresponsibility, inattention to detail, and futility. Read More

War Supplemental Bill Awaits Final House Approval 05/28/2008
When Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess, the House will take up the Senate's $250 billion supplemental war spending proposal. After the Senate added on $165 billion for war funding to the House's bill (which contained no money for the wars), it also tacked on some $10 billion in additional non-defense discretionary spending above the House's level of $21.1 billion. Although similar to the House version, the Senate's bill differs in a few key aspects, and the House will have to approve the Senate version or continue negotiating by amending it and passing it back to the upper chamber. Read More

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