Weekly Newsletter From National Taxpayers Union Foundation
In 1991, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) started computing the costs and savings of bills sponsored or co-sponsored by members of Congress. Their goal was to provide taxpayers with objective information about what Congress wants to do with our tax dollars. You can review the information at the BillTally Project webpage.
Building on that effort, NTUF has launched a weekly newsletter called The Taxpayer’s Tab that highlights BillTally research, and you can take advantage of the research. Each weekly newsletter will feature that week’s “most” and “least” expensive bills plus the bill with the most “co-sponsors.” In addition, they’ll identify a few “wildcards,” which they hope you might find of interest.
For example, the “most expensive bill" from last week’s July 13 issue includes the below information. Also, newsletters contain “links” so you can obtain background information, e.g., to detailed information about the bill:
“The bill: H.R. 5035, National Shipbuilding Budget Policy Act
“Annualized cost: $7.219 billion (first-year cost)
Congressman Robert Wittman's (VA-1) sponsored H.R. 5035 authorizing new spending for both the US Navy and US Merchant Marine fleets. The Navy would receive $20 billion to meet its force requirements -- about 292 vessels in the near-term of 2011-2020. $60 million would go toward replacing and expanding Merchant Marine fleet ships. The Journal of Commerce points out the bill is warranted because "the Obama administration's fiscal 2011 budget does not provide any new funds for Title XI construction. It only provides money for administration of existing loans."
“As Co-Chair of the Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus, Wittman stated "unless new ship construction budgets are increased and sustained above the current projected levels, the fleet will continue to shrink and ships will continue to be acquired inefficiently. We're already well behind in funding for maintenances and acquisition and, we can't afford inefficiencies in these times of tighter budgets."
“The act would increase federal spending on ship building by $7.219 billion from its current $13 billion budget levels.”
You can sign-up for the Taxpayer’s Tab newsletter here.