Did you miss this week's issue of NTUF's Taxpayer's Tab? If so, here's a quick recap.
To offset the lack of a Social Security COLA for 2011, Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY) has introduced the Seniors Protection Act. Under the Act, seniors, veterans, and other beneficiaries would each receive a one-time payment of $250. NTUF estimates that H.R. 2590 would increase spending by at least $14.5 billion based on the number of Americans -- 58 million -- who receive Social Security and SSI benefits. H.R. 2590 is this week's "Most Expensive Bill of the Week."
Other Tab highlights include: This week's "Wild Card" bill, which is H.R. 3036, Ready-To-Compete Act. H.R. 3036 was introduced by Congressman John Yarmuth (D-KY). The bill seeks to leverage the reach of public television to "help retrain today's workers and best equip the workforce of the future." The legislation would expand public television's Ready to Learn efforts and create the Ready to Earn program.
The "Most Friended Bill" this week is H.R. 2547/S. 1372, No Child Left Inside Act of 2011. According to Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD), the House sponsor of the bill, "Many schools are being forced to scale back or eliminate environmental education programs." H.R. 2547 would create three new grant programs to increase environmental education programs in the nation's schools.
"The Least Expensive Bill of the Week" is H.R. 1848/S. 1316, One Percent Spending Reduction Act of 2011. The legislation introduced by Congressman Connie Mack (R-FL) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) seeks to eliminate future deficits and to achieve a balanced budget by 2019. To achieve that goal, the bill imposes a one percent cut in both discretionary and mandatory spending for each of the next six fiscal years. If Congress and the President cannot agree on spending cuts that would meet the reduction target, there would be an across-the-board spending cut.
For more details, including NTUF's preliminary cost estimates for each of these bills, read the entire Taxpayer's Tab online.
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