Congressional leaders led a national debate in July 2011 about the problems of federal overspending and overborrowing. Unfortunately, at the end of the debate, Congress enacted a so-called Budget Control Act that did little to control overspending and vastly increased borrowing. Congress then scooted out of town for the month of …
President Barack Obama made two fundamental mistakes today in his press conference which was intended to calm the markets. First, he did not lead off with a moment of reflection on the loss of American military lives in Afghanistan over the weekend. Second, he completely missed the boat on why Standard …
There is considerable misunderstanding about what the new debt ceiling law does to the area of defense. Many people are describing the required defense cuts in terms of dollar-figure reductions. A recent article appearing in The Cable, for example, referred to a $350 billion reduction for defense. These descriptions are …
The congressional enactment of the Budget Control Act to increase the national debt limit was mostly a triumph of process, not substance. But substance cannot be avoided. The looming question is how this process will deal with the biggest entitlement challenge: Medicare. On Medicare, Congress has only two options: (1) …
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced yesterday that the Budget Control Act of 2011 would lead to $2.1 trillion in deficit reductions. But the CBO’s letter to congressional leaders is somewhat misleading. Table 3 of the document shows how much in discretionary and mandatory deficit reduction the CBO estimates would …
My fellow conservatives, Americans are disappointed. They are disappointed that the debate over our debt limit was about the needs of politicians instead of the needs of the country. They are disappointed with a broken government that refuses to fix itself. And they are disappointed that the Budget Control Act …
Today marks the Obama administration’s debt deadline, and lawmakers in both parties are rushing to comply. The House hurriedly passed the Budget Control Act yesterday on a vote of 269 to 161. Sixty-six conservatives broke ranks. The Senate is expected to vote today; several conservatives have already voiced their opposition. Meanwhile, transparency …
