#Federal Budget

Appropriations are on the agenda this week as Congress returns from the Presidents' Day recess. With the continuing resolution (CR) that is currently funding government agencies set to expire on Friday, a government shutdown will occur unless a new CR…

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported at least some improvements over the last two years in areas of the federal government that it has designated as “high risk” for waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse.But in a new report, the GAO…

President Obama’s proposed budget for Fiscal 2012 is oddly complacent for a situation that requires anything but complacency. It would, at best, temporarily stabilize federal deficits and debt (as a percentage of GDP) later in the decade at roughly twice…

Representatives Jim Cooper (D-TN), Aaron Schock (R-IL), Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Joe Walsh (R-IL) have introduced legislation (H.R. 606) creating a sunset commission to help eliminate duplicative, unnecessary or inefficient federal programs.The bipartisan commission would provide Congress with recommendations for…

Today the House was expected to begin debating a continuing resolution (CR) to fund federal agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year. Most federal agencies are currently being funded at 2010 levels under a CR that expires March 4.The…

On Monday President Obama unveiled a proposed budget for Fiscal 2012 that failed to aggressively follow up on the recommendations of his bipartisan fiscal commission for sweeping tax and entitlement reforms.The President’s budget does make some tough choices on domestic…

Using authority provided by a new House rule, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced last week that this fiscal year's allocation to the House Appropriations Committee would be $1.055 trillion, a cut of $35 billion below the FY…

Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) have introduced legislation to convert the annual budget and appropriations process into a two-year cycle. Under the Biennial Budget Appropriations Act (S. 211), the first year of the process would be dedicated…