Tag Archives: Office of Management and Budget

March 8, 2013 · 1:51 PM

West Wing Week: 03/08/13 or “Jedi Mind-Meld”

The White House

This week, the President urged Congress to resolve harmful budget cuts and reduce the deficit in a way that helps grow the economy and strengthen the middle class, held his first Cabinet meeting of the second term, announced three key Cabinet nominations, and signed the Violence Against Women Act.

Friday, March 1st

  • The President answered questions from White House reporters about his plans to move the country forward in light of the harmful automatic budget cuts — known as the sequester — that threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs, and cut vital services, that are taking place because Republicans in Congress refuse to close loopholes that only benefit the wealthy and the well-connected.

Monday, March 4th

  • The President announced his nominees to lead the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Office of Management and Budget.
  • The President convened the 17th meeting with his Cabinet- the first of his second term, to discuss how each agency would address the sequester and its impact on American families.

Tuesday, March 5th

  • The President spent some time with the staff of the Office of Management and Budget, reflecting on the importance of the work they’re doing in light of the sequester.

Thursday, March 7th

  • The President and Vice President traveled to the Department of the Interior for the signing of the Violence Against Women Act, which continues to strengthen the criminal justice system’s response to crimes against women, including domestic violence, sexual assault and trafficking.
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January 12, 2013 · 9:12 PM

Okay This Is Awesome

Okay This Is Awesome

I completely agree with TPM ‘s Josh Marshall on the White House’s response…

TPM Editor’s Blog

The White House has officially responded to the ‘We the People’ petition to commit the US to building a Death Star.

Best line: “Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?”

Next best: “The Administration does not support blowing up planets,” which may represent a slight shift from the position of the previous administration.

The White House’s full response:

image content

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October 25, 2012 · 8:48 AM

As Foodborne Illnesses Skyrocket, GOP Slashes Funds For Food Safety

No wonder Congress’ approval ratings are way a dismal 13%…

Think Progress

Even though President Obama signed into law the Food Safety Modernization Act — giving the Food and Drug Administration wider power to stop foodborne illness outbreaks before they start — the number of Americans who become sick or die because of contaminated food hasincreased 44 percent over the last two years, according to a new report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

This adds up to about 48 million people getting sick. But Republicans have threatened to defund the law that helps curb salmonella outbreaks. Meanwhile, the FDA remains unable to implement the reforms because of underfunding:

But while some parts of the law have been enacted, the vast majority of the law’s regulatory framework remains in limbo, sitting in the White House Office of Management and Budget, with no clear timetable for implementation.

“In February, the president’s budget requested $4.5 billion for the Food and Drug Administration. But budget proposals in both the Senate and the House fall below this target, coming in $600 (million)-$700 million below full funding, which the Office of Management and Budget has called ‘harmful’ to food safety regulations,” the Public Interest Research Group says. [...]

Instead of improving, the problem of foodborne outbreaks is getting worse, the report says.

“When comparing 2010 infection incidences with national health objective targets … the only incidence rate that meets the target goal was the incidence of infection with E. coli O157,” the report says. “The incidence of salmonella was three times the 2010 national health objective target, which is especially alarming, as salmonella causes the majority of hospitalizations and deaths from foodborne disease.”

Continue reading here…

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July 4, 2011 · 5:37 AM

Independence Day for Corporations and the Wealthy; Hard Times for the Rest of Us

Buzzflash

Oh Say Can You Seethe…

Another Independence Day, and times are tough for everyone.

No, not everyone.

Sit back, get uncomfortable, and choose any one of these facts to make you mad.

(1) The financial maneuverings of a single hedge fund manager made him enough money in one year to give a $30,000 per year job to every one of the 168,000 unemployed people in Louisiana.

(2) One year of Bush tax cuts would pay ALL U.S. unemployment benefits.

(3) If the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000.

(4) The trillion EXTRA dollars a year taken by the richest 1% (by TRIPLING their cut of the income pie since 1980) would provide a $50,000 a year job for every college student in the United States.

(5) According to Citizens for Tax Justice, 12 of our largest corporations paid an effective tax rate of negative 1.5% on $171 Billion in Profits. The oil industry paid only 4% in U.S. federal income taxes over the past three years.

If you’re not mad yet, maybe this will do it:

– A GE spokesperson: ”We are committed to acting with integrity in relation to our tax obligations.”

– Paul Ryan: I talked to [Boeing CEO] Jim McNerny a couple of weeks ago, their tax rate is extremely high, far higher than their competitors.

– An Exxon spokesperson: “..any claim we don’t pay taxes is absurd…ExxonMobil is a leading U.S. taxpayer.”

– Chevron CEO John Watson: ”The oil and gas industry pays its fair share in taxes”

The reality, according to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is that the percent of total tax revenue derived from corporate taxes has dropped from about 20% in the 1960s to under 9% in 2010.

Why shouldn’t profitable corporations and finance-savvy individuals pay back to the system that made them rich? Why shouldn’t they pay for government-funded research, national security, infrastructure, and untaxed financial speculation opportunities?

They don’t want to pay, and that should make the rest of us angry. But if you don’t like being angry, heed the advice of Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein: “Everybody should be, frankly, happy…the financial system led us into the crisis and it will lead us out.”

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