#Budget Process

President Obama signed the first regular appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2012 into law last Friday. The legislation was referred to as a “minibus” and combined three of the twelve regular appropriations bills: Agriculture, Commerce/ Justice/ Science, and Transportation/ Housing…

House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement yesterday on the first conference report of the appropriations process for Fiscal Year 2012. Referred to as a “mini-bus,” the agreement combines three of the twelve appropriations bills: Agriculture, Commerce/ Justice/ Science, and…

The special congressional committee on deficit reduction recently heard testimony from the leaders of two prominent bipartisan panels that developed sweeping proposals that could cut federal borrowing by $4 trillion or more in the next decade -- well above the…

On Capitol Hill last week, attention turned to Fiscal Year 2012 appropriations as the House and Senate convened a formal conference on a “minibus” bill which combines three appropriations bills: Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, Science; and Transportation, HUD. The meeting was…

Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, last week outlined some of the difficulties facing lawmakers as they weigh further cuts in the “discretionary” spending that Congress approves on an annual basis. Though defense and non-defense discretionary spending account…

In addition to the political challenges facing the “super committee” on deficit reduction, it is running short of time. It has a historic opportunity to move beyond partisanship to forge a comprehensive plan for fiscal reform, but under the debt…

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released projections this week that serve as a reminder of the importance of the deficit reduction committee’s work and the need for it to exceed the $1.2 trillion target necessary to avoid automatic spending cuts.GAO…

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is receiving an earful of advice as congressional committees and individual lawmakers offered a wide variety of recommendations, many of them at odds with each other.Congressional committees were asked to submit their suggestions…