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The Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account, which funds combat missions abroad, is exempt from discretionary spending caps. As this part of the Pentagon’s budget begins to take shape for the coming year, policymakers must resist the temptation to use the…

Personal financial worries and the federal government’s growing debt cloud the future of younger Americans, who often seem neglected in Washington.“As more and more baby boomers retire, younger Americans are expected to help sustain entitlement programs and, eventually, help lower…

House Lawmakers returned to their old habits during a markup of the $570.4 billion defense appropriations bill, protecting expensive weapons projects favored by lawmakers while ignoring many of the cost-saving initiatives the Pentagon proposed in its Fiscal 2015 budget request.Like…

A new prescription drug has the potential to upend the nation’s health care system and dramatically increase costs for federal health care programs and state budgets.The drug, called Sovaldi, is a highly effective treatment for Hepatitis C -- an infectious…

Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) have introduced a bill that would create a commission tasked with restoring the 75-year solvency of Social Security.The bill would require the leaders of both parties in both chambers of Congress to…

The Milliman Medical Index shows the average employer-sponsored health care plan for a family of four cost $23,215 this year, a 5.4 percent jump from 2013.While this far exceeds the general rate of inflation, it is the smallest increase since…

President Obama has nominated Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since 2009, to become his new budget director.Donovan will replace Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who became Obama’s budget director a little over a year ago but has been…

Although Congress has set a general course for reduced military spending in the years ahead, in May lawmakers in both parties again rejected specific cost-saving measures proposed by the administration and the Pentagon.Late in the month, the House approved a…