Congress needs to drive down federal spending toward a balanced budget, including through entitlement reforms, while maintaining a strong national defense and without raising taxes. Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate achieved that objective when they adopted their respective versions of the government budget for fiscal year 2014 …
The stopgap spending agreement reached by House and Senate leaders may be the only way Congress will escape a post-election “lame duck” showdown over funding government agencies. It also presumably helps clear the agenda so Congress can focus on Taxmageddon and the scheduled defense-devastating sequestration—two other major fiscal problems lawmakers …
Understanding what Washington is up to is as simple as one-two-three: 1. Unacceptable Choices Under President Obama’s leadership, Americans have been presented two unacceptable choices. For Washington to continue to pay its bills under the limitations of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), which the President signed into law, …
After weeks of decent progress in advancing the fiscal year (FY) 2013 appropriations bills—the annual spending bills that finance the operations of government agencies—the process, disappointingly, appears to be stalling. According to CQ Budget Tracker: Although both chambers will work on appropriations bills this month, Congress appears unlikely to clear …
Buried deep in the President’s hyperbolic assault on the House-passed budget last week—with all that “radical vision” and “social Darwinism” rhetoric—was one kernel of truth: “This isn’t a budget supported by some small rump group in the Republican Party,” the President said. “This is now the party’s governing platform. This …
