Federal Budget & Tax

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Monday, February 25, 2008

State Budgets Getting Worse and Worse and Worse...

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities continues to churn out updates to their analysis first released in January detailing the increasingly poor state of state budgets around the country, and things are not getting better. The most recent update adds one more state (Oklahoma) to the list of states facing a budget crunch in 2009. Now there are 21 states that are projecting budget gaps in 2009. The updated summary stats from CBPP:

More than half of states anticipate budget problems, according to this updated analysis of state fiscal conditions.

21 states now project budget gaps for 2009. Oklahoma joins this list.

The combined budget shortfall for these 21 states is now at least $36 billion due to changes in the estimates for California and Illinois, and the addition of an estimate for Oklahoma.

4 states say they will have 2009 deficits, but have released no further information. Oklahoma leaves this list because it has now released an estimate.

3 other states project budget gaps for 2010 and beyond.

CBPP: 21 STATES FACE TOTAL BUDGET SHORTFALL OF AT LEAST $36 BILLION IN 2009

Posted by Adam Hughes, 07:59:58 PM

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Economic State Misery Snapshot
Rankings of Jobless Claims and and Home Foreclosures

Joblessness:

the five states with the largest increases in initial jobless claims for the week ending Feb. 15 were: California, (+7,857), Kentucky (+4,166), Illinois (+1,955), Georgia (+1,009), and Massachusetts (+501)
the five states wth the largest decreases were: Ohio (-2,752), Wisconsin (-2,232), North Carolina (-1,746), Pennsylvania (-1,608), and Florida (-1,410)

Homelessness:

the five states with the highest per capita home foreclosure rates in 2007 were: Nevada (one in 278 households), Colorado (345), Florida (382), Georgia (424), and Michigan (455)
the five states with the lowest per capita foreclosure rates were: Vermont (294,384), Maine (72,432), Wyoming (27,246), North Dakota (16,093), and West Virginia (15,195)

Georgia is the highest-ranking state on the combined misery index, ranking fourth worst by both measures.

Posted by Dana Chasin, 12:53:16 PM

Monday, February 11, 2008

Bush Budget Continues to Disappoint

President Bush's FY 2009 budget continues to receive poor reviews into its second week. We reviewed a number of those reactions last week (see our summary posts here and here), and below are some additional disappointed reviews:

The Daily Tar Heel: Budget May Cut Student Loans
BlackAmericaWeb: Reading Is Fundamental's Program Target of Major Cuts
Center for American Progress: Bush's Budget Cuts Aid to Displaced Workers
The Buffalo News: Bush Budget Disappoints
Washington Post: No Funds in Bush Budget For Troop-Benefits Plan
WP's Stephen Barr: Social Security, DHS Say Bush's Budget Falls Short

Posted by Adam Hughes, 12:20:59 PM

Thursday, February 07, 2008

More Reactions/Analysis of President's Budget

More reactions and analysis of the president's budget have emerged since our first round-up post on Tuesday:

CBPP: President's Budget and Medicare "Trigger"
NWLC: Budget Woes: President's FY 2009 Budget
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: The President's FY 2009 Budget
The Workforce Alliance: FY 2009 Federal Funding Analyses

There have also been a number of statements and analyses circulated from Capitol Hill:

Senate Budget Committee Dems: Brief Analysis of Bush FY 2009 Budget
Sen. Conrad (D-ND): Statement on FY 2009 Budget Release
Majority Leader Hoyer (D-MD): Bush's Legacy: Fiscal Meltdown, Weak Economy
House Budget Committee: State-by-State Analysis of President's FY 2009 Budget Request
Speaker Pelosi (D-CA): Statement on President Bush's FY 2009 Budget
Majority Leader Hoyer: Statement on Bush's Release of Another Fiscally Irresponsible Budget
Sen. Gregg (R-NH): Statement on FY 2009 Budget Release
Senate Budget Committee Repubs: Overview of President's Budget

Posted by Adam Hughes, 11:31:41 AM

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Specific Budget Cuts That Have No Future

After we pointed out a number of proposed budget cuts that are going nowhere, there have been a few news articles this week about other specific budget cuts proposed by President Bush in his FY 2009 budget that we missed. These also have about a zero percent chance of being enacted by Congress. Those proposed cuts include:

Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Bush would cut 50 percent of the CPBs $400 million budget in FY 2009 and cut $220 million from the $420 million already planned for 2010. (See NYT: Public Broadcasters Prepare to Fight Federal Budget Cuts)
Appalachian Regional Commission: Bush would cut the federal portion of the ARCs budget by 11 percent, dropping it from $73 million to $65 million in FY 2009. Congress has already authorized much higher amounts for the ARC (House - $85 million, Senate - $102 million), which runs grant programs to boost access to housing, health care, the Internet and other services in a 13 state, 410-county area. (See CQ ($): Congress Unlikely to Accept Cuts to Appalachian Development Panel)

Posted by Adam Hughes, 01:39:14 PM

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