Blogs

President Obama unveiled a proposed 2015 budget Monday that falls short of the credible framework he offered last year for comprehensive, bipartisan fiscal reform.“While there are some positive elements in the President’s plan this year, overall it seems to ratify…

In testimony to lawmakers last week, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen criticized current fiscal policy, saying budget cuts have put a drag on the economy while longer-term deficit projections still need to be addressed.During her testimony to the Senate Banking…

Information released so far on the President’s proposed budget for Fiscal 2015 provides a mixed picture on fiscal reform.The administration has unfortunately dropped an earlier plan to save money by switching to a more accurate measure of inflation, but it…

In an analysis of its recent Budget and Economic Outlook, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) underscores a key point: That growth in health care and retirement programs, together with rising interest payments, will drive projected federal deficits and debt higher…

As we await the full release of the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget, some important specifics have been slowly made public. It looks like this budget, as is usually the case, will contain a mixture of sensible reforms and politically…

In a disappointing show of political panic, Congress last week overturned a reasonable reform it passed just last December in future cost-of-living adjustments for military pensions going to working-age beneficiaries. President Obama signed the reversal legislation last weekend.The episode does…

The House Budget Committee last week approved a bill on a bipartisan 22-10 vote that would switch the annual congressional budget process to a biennial (two-year) cycle.The legislation, introduced by Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wisc.), a committee member, has attracted 100…

Although Congress finally took action on the debt limit last week, the legislative hypocrisy on display fed public cynicism and underscored the need for debt limit reforms.The fundamental problem is that Congress only considers a debt limit increase after it…