The government has maxed out its credit card again, mortgaging America’s future with yet more debt. Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, in a letter to Congress the day after Christmas, said, “I am writing to inform you that the statutory debt limit will be reached on December 31, …
Budget policy in 2012 was characterized by deficit spending, major increases in the national debt, and a heated debate over the “fiscal cliff.” With just days left for President Obama and lawmakers in Congress to avert a major tax hike, sequestration, and other major policy changes, today we bring you …
At least a handful of powerful U.S. senators have taken a hard line on anti-tobacco policies while investing in companies that manufacture products designed to help people quit smoking, raising potential conflict of interest questions. According to a joint investigation by Scribe and the Washington Guardian, published Monday in the …
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi today signed into law Egypt’s new constitution, which his fractured opposition has denounced as a betrayal of the original democratic goals of the 2011 revolution against the Hosni Mubarak regime. The constitution was written by an Islamist-dominated assembly that pushed through a draft over the objections …
While many Americans resolve to make 2013 the year they really do slim down, exercise more, and spend less, Congress could afford to commit to a few such resolutions of its own. Call them budget resolutions—something Congress hasn’t had in a while. Here are five suggestions: Cut spending. The federal …
On Thursday, the Senate is expected to begin consideration of H.R. 5949, the Foreign Intelligence Amendments Act of 2012 (FAA). The bill would reauthorize amendments to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which are set to expire December 31. FISA created a secret court to review wiretap applications for …
Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) and others in Congress have repeatedly expressed concerns about “fragmentation, overlap, and duplication” in non-emergency food aid programs administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). But a study released this month by the United States Government …
The end of 2012 was marked by lawmakers engaging in a distracting fiscal cliff debate over tax rates when the solution to the real fiscal crisis lies in an entirely different area of the budget. Federal spending on entitlements and interest on the debt drives the federal budget crisis. Together … 
