Unproductive Congress Sticks With Status Quo

Congress just began its long August recess without approving a single regular spending bill for Fiscal 2015, now less than two months away. While that’s troubling enough, lawmakers this summer have continued to neglect the nation’s long-term fiscal difficulties as well.

“Lawmakers stick with the status quo and hope these problems will simply disappear,” says Chase Hagaman, New England regional director for The Concord Coalition. In a recent letter published in the Concord Monitor (N.H.), he adds:

“Entitlement programs are growing exponentially, tax revenues fail to cover our expenses, interest payments on the federal debt already overshadow the budgets of some of our largest government agencies, and parts of the budget are slated for unrealistically large cuts. “

Excessive partisanship, short-term thinking and pandering to special interests are responsible for many of the country’s fiscal problems. Hagaman urges policymakers to focus on compromise and reasonable solutions.

External links:
Long-Term Outlook in 26 Slides (CBO)