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This year’s report by the Social Security trustees reminds lawmakers that the next Congress will face a deadline to act on Disability Insurance by 2016, an opportunity that could be used to pursue comprehensive reforms to put all of Social…

On Thursday President Obama is scheduled to sign “emergency” spending legislation on health care for veterans that will unfortunately add an estimated $10 billion to the deficit over the next decade.The House and Senate passed the measure last week after…

President Obama this month signed a measure that provides $11 billion to fund the Highway Trust Fund through May, relying heavily on a budget gimmick euphemistically known as “pension smoothing.” Congress approved the legislation in late July.The Senate had stripped…

The Medicare and Social Security trustees warned again Monday that Congress must act soon to make the programs more sustainable.In their 2014 report, the trustees said they were most immediately concerned about Social Security’s Disability Insurance program, which under current…

The House and Senate are considering different proposals for immediate funding to boost border security and help federal agencies deal with a surge of migrants from Central America.Republicans indicated today that the House would vote later this week on a…

With hope gone for completing the regular budget process this year, Speaker John Boehner said last week that the House would wait until September to take up a continuing resolution that would keep the government open after the end of…

The House recently passed a short-sighted measure that would cut the 2015 enforcement budget for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by 25 percent.Republicans say they are punishing the IRS for its poor response to recent scandals. But this would amount…

A Federal Reserve economist says her research supports theories that suggest intense political partisanship can lead to higher federal deficits as well as weaker economic growth.Marina Azzimonti, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, searched newspapers between 1891…