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 …
As the lame-duck session of Congress grinds to a close, policymakers are feeling the pressure to rush passage of a number of expansive, potentially faulty pieces of legislation before the year’s end. Recent rumors swirling around Washington suggest the House may consider anew language in a Senate-passed version of the …
Even as the country deals with the crisis of the “fiscal cliff,” there’s another crisis waiting in the wings. “The second act will occur early in 2013 when the federal government will exhaust its ability to issue debt legally,” writes Heritage’s J. D. Foster. As computer programmers would say, the …
When President Obama put forth his first offer on the fiscal cliff, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said, “You can’t be serious.” We could say the same thing to the Speaker after his counteroffer yesterday. In a letter signed by House Republican leadership, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and …
Even with the President’s desired tax hikes, publicly held debt would rise by $7.7 trillion in 10 years under the President’s budget. That’s right: Our federal debt would continue growing even if the President gets his way completely in the fiscal cliff negotiations. Until the debate focuses on reining in …
President Obama made his first offer to congressional Republicans yesterday in negotiations over the “fiscal cliff”—an economic catastrophe of tax hikes just a few weeks away. The White House’s proposal? $1.6 trillion in tax increases, $50 billion in new stimulus spending, and a change that would make it easier to …
The fiscal cliff debate has centered on talk of raising taxes on high-income Americans. The silence on spending cuts has been deafening. On Monday, as if on cue, came investor Warren Buffett’s rehashed—albeit flat-out wrong—proposal to raise taxes on the wealthy. Even though the Obama Administration has said both sides …
