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While Social Security benefits are going up automatically, the government’s nutritional assistance benefits are going down – and have been targeted for even further reductions.Last Friday a recession-related increase in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was allowed to expire.…

A cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will increase Social Security benefits by 1.5 percent in January, resulting in an average monthly raise of $19 for millions of disabled and retired workers.The adjustment, announced last week by the Social Security administration, is based…

Although the federal deficit fell sharply over the last year as the economic recovery continued, this good news should not be used as an excuse to ignore the serious fiscal challenges that Washington still needs to confront.The deficit for Fiscal…

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…

Although the latest manufactured fiscal crisis is over for now, brinkmanship over funding the government and the debt ceiling has caused substantial harm to the economy.According to a new report by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), the government…

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…

Fitch Ratings placed the United State’s AAA credit rating on “Rating Watch Negative” last week, due to the increased risk of a default on the government’s financial obligations from the debt ceiling standoff.Fitch said in its statement that repeated brinkmanship…

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…