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Fiscal experts testified last week to the House Budget Committee on the need to control automatic federal spending on programs such as Social Security and Medicare in which expenditures are not subject to the annual appropriations process. The committee hearing…

A recent report by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings promotes recommendations to address challenges in an era of incomplete access to retirement plans, generally stagnant income growth and a Social Security program with unsustainable…

Conflict over military funding returns to Capitol Hill as appropriators and some defense hawks spar over using a special account supporting combat operations to increase defense spending above the limit set by last fall’s bipartisan budget agreement. The House version…

A top priority for lawmakers before leaving Capitol Hill next month for the presidential nominating conventions is reconciling differences over funding to combat the Zika virus. The administration has requested $1.9 billion. It also says funding for fighting the Zika…

Many millennials have high hopes for the future that include addressing climate change, pioneering improvements in health care, making college more affordable and keeping the country strong. But Chase Hagaman, New England regional director for The Concord Coalition, says millennials…

Lawmakers continued to struggle with 2017 spending legislation before their Memorial Day recess began, with the House last week overwhelmingly rejecting a measure for energy and water programs that GOP leaders had supported. Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for…

The Obama administration is threatening to veto defense policy legislation passed by the House last week that contains a war-funding gimmick. The National Defense Authorization Act would shift $18 billion from the Overseas Contingency Operations fund to the military’s basic…

The House and Senate made some progress last week on appropriations legislation for the coming fiscal year despite continued uncertainty over ultimate spending levels that should have been established more than a month ago in a congressional budget resolution. (more…)