Blogs

With the federal budget on an unsustainable path, Iowa residents should press presidential candidates to explain what they plan to do about it, according to a guest column in the Waterloo Courier by two members of First Budget’s Iowa Cabinet.…

After reauthorizing transportation programs for three weeks late last month, lawmakers are once again poised to pass another short-term extension to give themselves more time to negotiate an agreement on a multi-year bill. Lawmakers say they do not have enough…

With a Democratic presidential debate scheduled Saturday in Iowa, a former member of Congress from the state takes the candidates in both parties to task for failing to focus more on the need for broad fiscal reforms. “Unfortunately, addressing the…

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) has proposed legislation that would replace 75 percent of the sequester cuts scheduled under current law with a mix of reforms in “mandatory” spending programs and additional revenue from limiting certain tax breaks. “In the aftermath…

Former New York governor and Republican presidential candidate George Pataki will be featured in an in-depth interview this Friday at 10 a.m. EDT on Fiscal Fridays, the public affairs television series on the New Hampshire-based NH1 News Network. Pataki will…

Emphasizing the nation’s fiscal challenges, Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby recently told the Senate Budget Committee that reforms in the budget process could help elected officials better meet those challenges. Bixby focused in particular on the benefits of…

An interview next Monday with Ohio Gov. John Kasich will kick off Your First Budget, a series on the MC22 television network that will give voters in Iowa and elsewhere information on the budget and economic proposals of the presidential…

The House is about to consider a 3-year highway bill financed with revenue unrelated to transportation. But two lawmakers are suggesting alternative plans to address the Highway Trust Fund’s long-term insolvency. Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.)…