Blogs

As policymakers look towards the upcoming budget debates over the debt ceiling and “automatic” spending cuts (the sequester), those concerned with fiscal responsibility should be more focused on policy reforms than achievement of a specific deficit-reduction target.The idea that we…

President Obama’s inaugural address Monday touched lightly on the subject of deficit reduction, but it failed to convey the magnitude of the fiscal problems facing the country and the urgency with which they should be corrected.On the positive side, Obama…

Many states face severe fiscal challenges that could be made even more difficult by Washington’s budget problems, according to the State Budget Crisis Task Force. The bipartisan organization focused much of its research on six states. Its recently released reports…

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson bolsters the case for tax reform in her annual report to Congress, calling the complexity of the U.S. tax code – which now weighs in at nearly four million words -- a “significant, even…

With Democrats and Republicans squaring off over upcoming budget decisions, The Concord Coalition is urging elected officials to promptly raise the federal debt limit and then reform the debt limit process. Such a reform could be part of a comprehensive…

Although recession-related pressures on state budgets may be easing, governors and other state officials around the country are worried about the potential impact of Washington’s fiscal difficulties. State finances are “modestly recovering in step with the slowly improving national economy,”…

The 113th Congress convened last week amid widespread concern that the fiscal cliff legislation – signed Wednesday by President Obama – set the stage for a series of “mini-cliffs” and intense political struggles over federal budget issues early this year.The…

On his way out the door, retiring Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) had a lot to say. It was a final reminder -- he called it a challenge -- from one of the Senate’s foremost deficit hawks of…