In a refreshing break from tradition, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $967 billion discretionary spending plan that would stay within the fiscal year 2014 sequestration spending levels. The measure would protect defense from further cuts and instead deliver the total savings through reductions to domestic discretionary programs. It was …
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 Republican Study Committee (RSC) has proposed a budget that balances in just four years while holding tax revenue at near its historical average. It advances more aggressive entitlement reforms than the House Budget Committee plan, including Social Security, and features deeper spending cuts. Nevertheless, the plan also suffers weaknesses, …
Federal funding for high-speed rail would end under the House fiscal year 2014 budget introduced by Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R–WI). Costly high-speed rail and other intercity rail projects are not federal priorities, especially in this era of trillion-dollar budget deficits. They should not be exempt from budget cuts. …
This week, the budget committees of both chambers of Congress released their budgets ahead of President Obama’s budget—marking the first time in 92 years that Congress kicked off the budget process instead of the President. The House budget, under the helm of Chairman Paul Ryan (R–WI), delivers a balanced budget …
After going nearly four years without producing a budget resolution, Senate Democrats today released a plan confirming their mantra about “balanced” approaches has nothing to do with actually balancing the budget. In their view, “balance” is a mix of higher taxes and higher spending, chronic deficits and debt, and a …
Calls to spend more on teachers are likely to come up in tonight’s debate. More likely still, we’ll hear accusations that Governor Mitt Romney wants to slash education spending by 20 percent. This figure is a reference to the House of Representatives-approved budget, authored by House Budget Committee chairman Paul …
