With debt and spending out of control, the good news is that the House Budget Committee is taking important steps toward focusing Congress on its most basic duty: budgeting. By speedily passing several budget process reform bills, Chairman Paul Ryan (R–WI) and others on his committee are moving Congress in the right direction—toward controlling spending and increasing accountability and transparency in the federal budget process. The fundamental problem with the Senate’s refusal to pass a budget for more than 1,000 days is a lack of fiscal discipline, which results in …
On the front page of the White House’s website, a clock slowly ticks away, second by second, counting down to the day, hour, minute, and second that the nation’s payroll tax “holiday” expires and the American people get socked right where it counts — in the pocket book. And just next to that clock is a message laying the blame squarely on the House of Representatives. But today the real culprit in this debacle is the U.S. Senate which, right now, is home for the holidays already, celebrating with family …
In case you’re not keeping track, it has been nearly 1,000 days since the United States Senate passed a budget. Meanwhile, America’s fiscal nightmare keeps growing, and those on the left—including Members of the Senate—keep advocating for even more spending despite America’s $15 trillion national debt. That’s an important record to keep in mind as the Senate votes today on two versions of the Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA). A BBA is constructive, but it’s not the final answer to America’s fiscal woes despite the tools it offers—in large part because …
House Cloakroom: October 31 – November 4 Analysis: This week the House will take up two bills to reduce regulations on capital. Additionally, the House will vote on legislation relating to wireless taxes as well as protecting Peace Corp workers from sexual assault. Major Floor Action: HR 2940 – Access to Capital for Job Creators Act HR 2930 – Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act HR 1002 – Wireless Tax Fairness Act S 1280 – Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act Major Committee Action: The House Oversight and Government Reform …
The nation’s capital was treated to a beautiful fireworks display last night. You can expect more of the same this week in Washington as the clock ticks toward the Obama administration’s Aug. 2 deadline for a deal on the debt limit. The House returns from a weeklong district work period and Senate is back in town after canceling recess for a rare Independence Day workweek.
House Cloakroom: June 13-17 Analysis: The House returned from a weeklong recess today and began legislative business. Completing work on the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill is first on the agenda today. Tomorrow, the House will convene at 10:00am and will consider the Agriculture Appropriations Bill. Patent Reform legislation may come up at the end of the week once they are finished with the two appropriations bills. This bill seeks to update patent laws in order to make them more compatible with today’s technological advances.
House Cloakroom: May 2-8, 2011 The House returns from a two week recess on Monday to begin tackling various issues across the policy spectrum. A possible raise of the debt ceiling will be the hot topic of the coming weeks as lawmakers begin deliberations on what serious measures will have to be included to receive their support for the raise. Other issues will be the main focus of the floor this week, though, as House leadership has signaled bills involving the healthcare, abortion funding, and gas prices. On Monday evening, …
The American military is engaged in multiple conflicts and humanitarian missions around the world, yet President Obama promised to veto legislation funding the troops for the remainder of 2011. This is a reprehensible political stunt, and it comes at the expense of our servicemen and women and the families they support. Yesterday, as efforts to resolve the debate on 2011 government funding continued, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) introduced yet another temporary bill designed to keep the government operating for one more week during negotiations, and in this case, ensure …
The House Republicans will soon debate and vote on a series of changes in the rules that govern how the House operates during the 112th Congress. Some of these rules are designed to facilitate the goal of greater spending restraint and, as a consequence, are being vigorously opposed by the trade associations whose members benefit from federal spending. In particular, proposed amendments to Rule XXI—which addresses the federal highway program—would amend the existing rule that was put in place earlier to guarantee full funding of the infamous SAFETEA-LU, a piece …
The House Rules Committee met yesterday to set the rules for debate on the DISCLOSE Act. True to form, the committee kept the public out of a hearing about a bill intended to promote “transparency” in elections. According to the Center for Competitive Politics, they sent one of their staffers to attend the hearing, but she was barred from entry. Apparently, as CCP pointedly said, “their version of democracy wasn’t strong enough to allow regular folks to attend their rubber-stamp hearing for the bill.” The Rules Committee decided to allow …
