Blogs

The same deficit fundamentals that have stymied Democratic lawmakers and President Obama now confront House Republicans. Their new chairman of the Budget Committee, Paul Ryan, faces a difficult job in producing a budget resolution that dramatically improves the deficit picture…

Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf laid out four simple observations about the federal budget in a recent presentation to the National Association for Business Economics.First, on the government’s current path the gap between spending and revenues would persist even…

Congress averted a government shutdown last week by passing a new continuing resolution (CR) that funds agencies through March 18. President Obama signed the resolution into law on Wednesday.Concerns about a shutdown had increased when the House originally passed a…

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns in a new report that delay in raising the debt limit could negatively impact markets and borrowing costs.The debt limit does not constrain the ability of the government to run deficits, but its ability…

Appropriations are on the agenda this week as Congress returns from the Presidents' Day recess. With the continuing resolution (CR) that is currently funding government agencies set to expire on Friday, a government shutdown will occur unless a new CR…

Even if the new Economic Report of the President had actually discussed better ways to raise revenue or to make Social Security and Medicare programs more sustainable, it would have judiciously avoided using the controversial words “taxes” or “entitlements.” (more…)

A government shutdown became more likely last week as the House passed a new continuing resolution (CR) opposed by President Obama and Senate Democrats. In a process that lasted most of the week, nearly 600 amendments were offered during over…

President Obama’s proposed budget for Fiscal 2012 is oddly complacent for a situation that requires anything but complacency. It would, at best, temporarily stabilize federal deficits and debt (as a percentage of GDP) later in the decade at roughly twice…