Resources for covering the federal budget, fiscal cliff

As the White House and Congressional Republicans inch toward an agreement before the fiscal cliff deadline, the opportunity remains for digging deeper into the federal budget and the impact of a deal — or lack of deal — on both the country’s broad economic health and local communities. Find help in these links and resources.

Econocheck
A collaboration between IRE and the Sunlight Foundation, Econocheck is free to both members and non-members. It offers a wealth of data for covering the economy, including the following topics:

• Jobs and Employment
• Taxes, Government Finances and Debt
• Health Care and Insurance 
• Prices and Inflation
• Housing
• Wealth, Income and Spending

Tipsheets
IRE has tipsheets on everything from the federal budget to using census data to cover the economy 

• Analysis Tools at FollowTheMoney.org
• Following the Money: Federal Spending
• Following the Stimulus Money
• Getting intimate with government data to produce hard-hitting stories
• Tipsheets for covering the economy

NICAR federal spending data
The federal government gives out billions of dollars each year in contracts and grants – NICAR’s datasets can help you track how that money is spent.

Reynolds Center for Business Journalism
Here’s a small sample of the items available from the Reynolds center:

• Year-end tax planning stories dangle from fiscal cliff
• The Federal Reserve: A wealth of data for business reporters
• Economics beat guide

Government information on the web
Here area few basic links to government reports and data that that are readily available on the web. For more, be sure to check out the NICAR net tour.

• Congressional Budget Office
  The CBO produces “independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process.”
• Government Accountability Office reports on budgets and spending
  The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.

• Congressional Research Service
  The Government and Finance Division of the CRS “focuses on the organization, structure, operations and management of Congress and its support agencies, the executive the judicial branches; the congressional budget and appropriations process, the legislative process and congressional history; and issues related to homeland security and emergency management, community development, elections and American federalism.”
• Office of Management and Budget
  The White House Office of Management and Budget offers information on the president’s budget and past budgets.

• Committee on Ways and Means Green Book
  Since 1981, the Committee on Ways and Means has published the Green Book, which “presents background material and statistical data on the major entitlement programs and other activities within the Committee’s jurisdiction.”