#Federal Budget

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 Department of the Treasury has released final budget numbers for Fiscal Year 2011, which show that it ended with a deficit of $1.3 trillion -- about the same as the previous year.This marked the third fiscal year in a…

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…

Last week Senators Jeff Sessions (R-Al.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) introduced the “Honest Budget Act,” which proposes a number of fiscally responsible reforms to the budget process.The bill would strengthen the budget point of order preventing consideration of appropriations bills…

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is urging Congress to focus on achieving long-run fiscal sustainability in the federal budget while avoiding action that could “impede the ongoing recovery.”These two objectives are compatible, Bernanke assured the Joint Economic Committee in his…

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Al.) both have expressed support for biennial budgeting -- a proposal to convert the budget process to a two-year cycle. The comments were made at a hearing last…

President Obama continues to campaign for a package of tax cuts and additional spending that he says will provide the U.S. economy with needed short-term support. At the same time, the congressional super committee is looking for ways to cut…

The new congressional committee on deficit reduction continues its work this week amid concerns that some elected officials have tried to narrow its options.In a recent guest column in the Ames Tribune in Iowa, Concord Coalition officials lament that both…