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  • Congress Passes a Budget That Doesn't Invest Enought in International Efforts to Curb Global Warming

    The long drama of whether or not the US Congress would invest in international efforts to curb global warming pollution or gut these investments is finally over – at least for the rest of this fiscal year.  Last week President Obama signed into law a budget for the rest of this fiscal year (fiscal year […]

  • The budget deal slows innovation and slashes rail, green jobs, and cleanup programs

    This year’s budget negotiation hacked away at a lot of important programs.Photo: Dan ConwayCross-posted from the Wonk Room. The Republican slash-and-burn budget accepted by President Obama to avoid a government shutdown will put our fragile economic recovery in jeopardy. Moreover, the cuts are ideologically motivated, preserving massive subsidies for fossil fuel polluters while knocking out support […]

  • Hungry kids and the environment hit hard by USDA budget cuts

                 Hungry kids may be getting less cheddar.The House Appropriations Committee has released a detailed list of budget cuts as part of the deal to avoid a government shutdown, and it looks like agriculture and food programs are getting hit pretty hard. The USDA budget will be cut by $2.6 billion, down from the $108 billion […]

  • Endangered wolves sacrificed for budget deal

    Although Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama stood firm against Republican attempts to repeal clean air and clean water protections, wolves (such as the famous Limpy) in the Northern Rockies weren’t so lucky. Under pressure from ranching interests in Montana and Idaho, as well as anti-wolf zealots in those states, Reid and Obama […]

  • Cutting international investments would endanger U.S. leadership

    We need to step up, not cut, our funding for green energy in India.Photo: Amaresh S KThis post was coauthored by Rebecca Lefton. Lawmakers continue to debate the fiscal year 2011 budget. As we approach the next showdown this week over another temporary extension of the continuing resolution, a final resolution of the 2011 budget, […]

  • Paul Ryan’s Big Oil budget halts energy innovation

    Rep. Paul Ryan.Photo: Gage SkidmoreCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) proposed fiscal year 2012 budget resolution is a backward-looking plan that would benefit Big Oil companies at the expense of middle-class Americans. It retains $40 billion in Big Oil tax loopholes while completely eliminating investments in the […]

  • Guess what else the GOP wants to cut? Tsunami monitoring!

    Whatever, my kid can do that.Image: Pacific Tsunami Warning CenterIf we had any evidence that Republican House members were capable of feeling shame, we’d expect them to be so red right now. Mother Jones reports that one of the items on the GOP’s budgetary chopping block is … tsunami monitoring. Last month, they voted to […]

  • More drilling won’t help

    We have a problem we can’t drill our way out of.Photo: arbyreedCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. Unrest in Libya and Egypt is driving up oil prices, stirring concerns that gasoline could hit $5 a gallon by summer. Like a smoker’s persistent cough, it’s another warning to change our ways. America sends nearly $1 billion […]

  • The continuing threat of the continuing resolution

    No riders, please.Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. The House yesterday passed a bill to keep the government open for an additional two weeks on a bipartisan basis. The most striking feature of that bill was what it was missing — the Republican leadership dropped all of the anti-environmental exemptions from current law (and […]