Blogs

Even casual observers of today’s federal budget process can see it is badly broken. Congress has repeatedly failed to pass budget resolutions. Failure to pass appropriations bills has become the norm, forcing lawmakers to rely on continuing resolutions, bills that…

The penny plan to reduce spending by one cent on every dollar (one percent a year) has been bouncing around Washington for years but is now getting a higher profile with versions supported by the Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike…

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office reviews the serious problems facing the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) multiemployer program and analyzes proposed solutions.The PBGC is a government-owned corporation with a critical role: Insuring pension benefits for people in…

One of the best ways to understand -- and explain -- the country’s fiscal difficulties is to look at what we can expect to pay in interest on the rising national debt.After all, people know that if they run up…

Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its second major move towards “bundled payments” in Medicare. A bundled payment groups all of the normal fees associated with a specific type of medical procedure -- in this…

In the midst of a “bleak” time for the nation’s long-term finances, Phil LaRue, The Concord Coalition’s director of government relations, recently noted three small signs of fiscal life in Washington.The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Social Security and…

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released its annual Mid-Session Review, saying the President’s proposals for 2017 would substantially reduce the deficit from the one expected for Fiscal 2016, which ends Sept. 30. OMB now projects the 2016…

As Congress settles into a near seven-week recess, it seems increasingly likely that a stopgap Continuing Resolution (CR) will be needed before the Sept. 30 deadline for legislative action to keep government services operating. The likelihood of a CR has…