The Latest

There has been a lot of confusion recently about whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the health care reform legislation passed in 2010, is now projected to cost substantially more than previously estimated. The short answer is no -- the…

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today updated the baseline projections for federal spending and revenue that it put out in January, saying that the “fundamental story” about the federal budget had not changed.CBO said its current estimate of the budget…

Americans face an unpleasant fiscal landmark this election year: Sometime between now and when they vote in November, the national debt will exceed the U.S. economy’s entire annual production.That hasn’t happened since World War II. Once that conflict was over,…

An important cost-containment feature in the 2010 health care legislation has come under attack in the House, where two committees voted last week to do away with the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) without approving an alternative. (more…)

Last week two committees in the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This is an alarming attempt to undo a key cost-saving enforcement mechanism without putting anything else in its place. You may recall…

The federal government could save tens of billions of dollars a year by rooting out duplicative and inefficient programs, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).The report recommends that Congress and the administration examine 51 areas…

Could the tax code be changed in ways that could simultaneously reduce the deficit, encourage economic growth and promote fairness? Diane Lim Rogers, chief economist for The Concord Coalition, assured the Senate Budget Committee last week that these goals are…

Diane Lim Rogers, chief economist for The Concord Coalition, told lawmakers today that reducing special provisions in the tax code that favor some taxpayers could simultaneously reduce the deficit, encourage economic growth and promote fairness. Appearing before the Senate Budget…