#Federal Budget

While still working on tax legislation, Congress now finds itself in an all-too-familiar place: Only days away from a possible government shutdown because spending decisions that should have been made months ago are still up in the air. Since Fiscal…

Individuals with the least wealth or income potential are the most dependent on government programs for support. Thus, when policymakers talk about reforming entitlement programs, many observers are concerned about the potential impact on these vulnerable groups. The good news…

At a public forum last week in New Hampshire, former U.S. senators Judd Gregg and Kent Conrad warned of difficult federal budget decisions ahead and urged elected officials to pursue more sustainable fiscal policy solutions. Gregg, a Republican from New…

While elected officials in Washington are considering various proposals that would increase the federal deficit, dozens of Iowa residents demonstrated in a recent budget exercise that they strongly favor moving in the opposite direction -- one that would substantially reduce…

The official federal budget process was established in 1974 by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act. In practice, the process prescribed by the law has never been followed to the letter, and in recent years it’s been abandoned almost…

Federal spending can be divided into three main categories. The first category is mandatory spending, which is spending that operates on autopilot based on benefit formulas approved by lawmakers in years past. Mandatory spending makes up about two-thirds of the…

A common excuse for inaction on federal deficits is that relative to the size of the economy, they aren’t abnormally large and are projected to stay that way for a few more years. Furthermore, current projections may prove to be…

When The Concord Coalition was founded in 1992, the national debt was on a sharp upward trajectory. Yet just five years later, Democratic President Bill Clinton signed legislation passed by a Republican Congress that implemented the first balanced budget in…