Blogs

At a luncheon this month in Jackson, Wyoming, former U.S. senator Alan Simpson left no one in doubt about how important he believes it is to fix the federal debt.Nor did Simpson – who co-chaired the National Commission on Fiscal…

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) now estimates that gradually increasing the eligibility age for Medicare to 67 would reduce deficits by $19 billion through 2023, significantly less than the $113 billion CBO estimated in January 2012.The new estimate is based…

With the budget conference committee starting to meet this week, some political leaders seem to be thinking that the ideal “grand bargain” on the budget would be: Do nothing.Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby warns that this could become…

Who says that Democrats and Republicans can't reach a grand bargain? Harry Reid and Paul Ryan seem to have it figured out. If Democrats and Republicans don’t demand compromises from each other, everyone can get along. It’s the perfect political grand…

As Washington wrestled with its immediate budget problems last week, an Iowa gathering of national, state and local experts considered the opportunities and challenges ahead with one of the key drivers of federal spending: health care.Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert…

With last week’s passage of a short-term Continuing Resolution funding the government and a debt limit increase, elected officials gave themselves a tight set of deadlines to finally put together a budget plan that might consider more structural, long-range fiscal…

Spurred by a Thursday deadline to avoid risking a federal default, Senate leaders said yesterday that they were finally making progress towards a bipartisan agreement to raise the federal debt limit and end the government shutdown.Reports this morning, however, said…

Worried and frustrated by Washington’s latest fiscal fights, a panel of experts on the federal budget last week faulted elected officials in both parties for irresponsibility, inflexibility and, in some cases, lack of common sense.The situation led former senator Sam…