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  • Entitlements, Taxes & Spending

    Replace the culture of entitlement with the culture of mutual responsibility.

    Rep. Ryan Presents Roadmap for a Sustainable Fiscal Future

    Our nation is on an unsustainable fiscal course. The three major entitlements – Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – alone are set to eclipse historical tax levels by 2052 and a realistic assessment of the Congressional Budget Office baseline shows the government piling on an additional $13 trillion over the … More

    Baucus Commission Is No Solution for Spending

    The Senate this week is considering amendments to Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) legislation to raise the debt limit.  Reid’s bill is a substitute to the version that passed the House, which would add $925 billion to the federal debt ceiling, but his would hike the limit by $1.9 trillion … More

    Senator Coburn’s “Radical” Alternative to Raising the Debt Limit

    Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has a radical alternative to raising the debt limit: spend less money. In an amendment introduced last week Senator Coburn proposed saving approximately $120 billion by, “consolidating more than 640 duplicative government programs, cutting wasteful Washington spending, and returning billions of dollars of unspent money.” The … More

    Is Obama’s Underwhelming Spending Freeze A Fakeroo?

    The President has the right idea with his proposal to freeze spending.  Unfortunately, after driving spending to a record $3.7 trillion—nearly 26% of GDP—last year with the accompanying $1.4 trillion deficit, the proposal is at best a bit….underwhelming. According to the administration, only $447 billion in spending would be subject to … More

    The Domenici/Rivlin Debt Reduction Task Force

    Today in Washington, the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) launched its new Debt Reduction Task Force, chaired by former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and former OMB director and CBO director Dr. Alice Rivlin. The task force will aggressively address the abysmal fiscal outlook of the United States economy due to government … More

    Obamacare Will Decrease the Deficit? Yeah, Right!

    The vote looming in the Senate to raise the debt limit should serve as a wake-up call that federal spending is out of control. Instead, Democratic leadership has tried to convince Americans that passing costly health care legislation is not only sensible, but requisite, and must be done now. Neither … More

    Morning Bell: A Nothing Burger, A Fig Leaf, and a Commission On the Side

    From the President who brought you unaccountable, constitutionally-questionable czars comes the latest innovation in pass-the-buck leadership: a White House executive commission designed to solve the behemoth of a spending problem plaguing the federal government.  Members of Congress have described the commission as a “nothing burger,” a “fig leaf” and “something … More

    Discretionary Spending Caps, A Good First Step

    After quietly increasing the federal debt limit from $12.1 trillion to $12.4 on Christmas Eve, the US Senate is beginning debate today on yet another increase. Hoping to avoid making the skyrocketing debt levels an election issue; this time around they want to pass an increase large enough to feed their … More

    One Year Later: Obama’s Economic Hopes Are a Year Late and $13 Trillion Short

    When President Obama was inaugurated one year ago, the US economy was struggling. In his address he noted: “The state of our economy calls for action, bold and swift.  And we will act, not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth…All this we can … More

    Government Welfare: Cell Phones for the Poor

    Government-sponsored text messaging? You got it. Welfare recipients in approximately 20 states–with more to follow– are currently eligible to receive a free cell phone with a limited number of monthly minutes. All individuals that qualify for state or federal welfare–food stamps, Medicaid, etc.–and have an income at or below 135% … More