Backwards Budgeting

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...

Bipartisan Legislation to Combat Waste

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.,...

Debt and Deficit, Then and Now

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...

Budget 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...

Updating the Budget Process

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...

Restoring the Power of the Purse

Nan Swift at LegBranch.org: Dear Chairman Leahy, Vice Chairman Shelby, Senator Van Hollen, and Senator Hyde-Smith: We are an ideologically diverse coalition of organizations that have come together to preserve and promote the constitutional role of Congress, including...