Blogs

We’re on the road again! As the U.S. economy regains its footing, policymakers must shift their attention to the pre-existing structural imbalances that have put us on a path of chronically slow economic growth and unsustainable debt over the…

If you blinked this week, you probably missed that the total federal debt reached $30 trillion—an historic high. Like aging Americans who bemoan birthdays ending in zero (30, 40, 50, …), this occasion marked the crossing of an important, albeit…

What began as a tense week of dangerous brinkmanship over the debt limit in Congress is ending with a surprising burst of bicameral cooperation and bipartisanship. House and Senate leaders hammered out a deal that would allow Democrats to…

In a last minute dash to avoid a funding lapse that could shutter federal offices, on Thursday night Congress sent to President Biden a continuing resolution (CR) that would temporarily fund the government at FY 2021 levels for 11…

Democrats in Washington are working furiously to put the finishing touches on the President’s Build Back Better (BBB) social safety net spending bill. Trying to shoehorn their legislative priorities into the fiscal parameters of the measure while nodding to…

The Biden Administration released this week a revised Build Back Better framework (BBBF) that reflects the president’s negotiations with Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Krysten Sinema (D-AZ), and Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Although significantly scaled back from the initial $3.5 trillion target,…

This week the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published its final monthly budget review for FY 2021. While the Treasury Department will publish the official numbers in its next Monthly Report, CBO’s end-of-year report provides an accurate preview of…

Earlier this week the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for next year (2022) would be 5.9 percent. That’s slightly more than the 5.8 percent increase in 2008, and the biggest increase since 1982.[1] Under current…