by jpitney | Sep 1, 2021 | Budget, Debt, Social Security
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget sums up the annual report of Social Security trustees: The Social Security program is only 13 years from insolvency, and action must be taken promptly to prevent an across-the-board benefit cut for many current and future...
by jpitney | Aug 25, 2021 | Budget, Congress, Economic Policy
Don Wolfensberger at The Hill: What is strange about this fiscal round is that it was not preceded by adoption of the usual concurrent resolution on the budget — the lead engine that pulls all subsequent budgetary actions on spending, revenues, deficit, and debt. The...
by jpitney | Jul 14, 2021 | Budget, Bureaucracy, Congress
Dan Lips at National Review: [There is] new hope that Congress will soon eliminate significant waste from the federal budget, thanks to a bipartisan effort by the House Appropriations Committee. Representatives Tim Ryan (D., Ohio) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R.,...
by jpitney | Jun 22, 2021 | Bipartisanship, Budget, Debt
Many posts have discussed the deficit and the debt. Policymakers and the general public have tended to ignore these problems in recent years, In 1994, President Clinton named Bob Kerrey and John Danforth to lead a bipartisan commission on entitlements and tax...
by jpitney | Jun 18, 2021 | Budget, Congress, Oversight
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette and Jonathan Bydlak at Roll Call: There are several ways for Congress to regain power over our federal spending, one of which is to pass the Congressional Power of the Purse Act, a comprehensive reform bill that enjoys broad bipartisan...
by jpitney | May 24, 2021 | Budget, Congress, Presidency
James C. Capretta at AEI: While the BAA [Budget and Accounting Act of 1921] empowered the executive branch with a centralized budget process, it did not resolve an ever-present tension in American government, which is that there is no regularized process for...
