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As congressional hearings last week made clear, some lawmakers in both parties continue to chafe at a key cost-control element in last year’s health care legislation: an advisory panel that several years from now could help curb excessive Medicare spending.Critics…

While the final outcome of the appropriations process this year will likely be affected by negotiations over the debt limit, in the meantime Congress has continued to make progress on the FY 2012 bills.Last week, the House passed the Energy/…

This week Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.) proposed a comprehensive plan to reduce projected federal borrowing by $9 trillion over ten years and the bipartisan “Gang of Six” senators outlined a $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan to their colleagues. President Obama this…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell continue to work on a plan that would let President Obama raise the federal debt limit in increments while allowing congressional Republicans to repeatedly vote against the increases.Recent reports…

The partisan vortex in Washington is now so strong that it threatens to swallow all rational thought. (more…)

Recent reports by Brown University and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) underscore the need for Congress to honestly account for war costs, both past and present, and to factor them into long-range planning.The Brown University report, authored by Neta C.…

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) outlined a budget framework Monday that he said would reduce deficits by $4 trillion between 2012 and 2021.Democrats on the committee developed the framework, which Conrad presented in a speech on the Senate…

Both negotiations and the war of words continue over raising the federal debt limit and curbing future deficits. Further talks are planned this week, with the Treasury continuing to warn that congressional inaction by Aug. 2 risks “catastrophic” economic damage…