Oct 18, 2019 | Other Spending
Appropriations Watch: FY 2020
Updated 10/18/2019: Congress did not complete action on appropriations before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The House passed a...
Blog
Welcome to our blog – The Bottom Line, where you’ll find up-to-date commentary and analysis on the most important news in the fiscal world. Below is a list of our blog posts.
Oct 18, 2019 | Health Care
Fact Checking Medicare for All Claims from the Fourth Democratic Primary Debate
During the fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential election cycle, former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana Mayor...
Oct 16, 2019 | Other Spending
President Trump Bolsters Administrative PAYGO Through Executive Order
Last week, President Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to identify and propose offsets whenever they propose an action that...
Oct 10, 2019 | Budget Process
Introducing the PAYGO Tracker
The first rule of getting out of a hole is to stop digging it deeper. Yet with deficits projected to exceed $1 trillion this fiscal...
Oct 8, 2019 | Budget Process
Enzi's Proposals Would Improve the Budget Process
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) has developed a series of draft budget process reforms. As we’ve explained before, the current...
Oct 4, 2019 | Social Security
2019 Technical Panel Shows Social Security Could Be in Worse Shape Than We Thought
The Social Security Advisory Board's (SSAB) 2019 Technical Panel released its final report last week, projecting that under its suggested changes to...
Oct 3, 2019 | Budget Process
Representatives Rice, Barr Introduce Fiscal State of the Nation Resolution
Last week, Representatives Kathleen Rice (D-NY) and Andy Barr (R-KY) introduced a bipartisan bill to make it harder for Congress to ignore the...
Oct 2, 2019 | Budget Process
Upcoming Congressional Fiscal Policy Deadlines
Updated 10/2/2019: Congress did not complete action on appropriations before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, although lawmakers enacted...
Oct 2, 2019 | Social Security
What Would Social Security 2100 Mean for the Debt?
Saving Social Security from its looming trust fund insolvency would significantly improve the overall fiscal picture. Under the Congressional Budget...
Oct 1, 2019 | Taxes
Kamala Harris's LIFT the Middle Class Act
This is the second policy explainer in our US Budget Watch 2020 series covering the 2020 presidential election. In the coming weeks and months, we...
Will Thanksgiving Appropriations Be Stuffed with Debt?
Having just enacted a continuing resolution last week to extend current government funding through November 21, policymakers must now work toward the...
Sep 25, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
Eugene Steuerle: Multi-Trillion Dollar Fiscal and Monetary Gambles
Dr. Eugene (Gene) Steuerle is an Institute fellow and the Richard B. Fisher chair at the Urban Institute and a member of the Committee for a...
Sep 23, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
Marjorie Margolies: When will the 2020 presidential candidates be asked about America’s debt?
Marjorie Margolies is president of Women’s Campaign International and a member of the board of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. ...
Sep 18, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
We Updated the Debt Fixer and Released Results Showing Americans Can Fix the Debt
We have updated our popular Debt Fixer interactive budget tool, just as Congress faces another deadline to keep the government funded and avoid a...
Sep 17, 2019 | Other Spending
Elizabeth Warren's Higher Education Plan
This is the first policy explainer in our US Budget Watch 2020 series covering the 2020 presidential election. In the coming weeks and months,...
Sep 16, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
Eugene Steuerle: Congress is supposed to decide how the U.S. spends money. Soon, it won’t be able to.
Dr. Eugene (Gene) Steuerle is an Institute fellow and the Richard B. Fisher chair at the Urban Institute and a member of the Committee for a...
Sep 12, 2019
Factchecking and Live-Tweeting the Democratic Presidential Primary Debates
Tonight's Democratic presidential primary debate marks the third round of debates of the 2020 campaign and will surely touch on fiscal issues....
Sep 11, 2019 | Taxes
Is Spending, Not Tax Cuts, Driving the Deficit?
The House Ways and Means Committee minority recently published a blog post claiming that "spending, not tax cuts, [is] driving national deficits." It...
Sep 11, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
Tim Penny & David Minge: Debating 2020 Democrats should not ignore our exploding debt
Tim Penny is co-chair and David Minge is a board member of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Both are former representatives from the...
Sep 9, 2019 | Budgets & Projections
Debt Could Reach Record Levels by 2030
The Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) latest budget projections point to high and rising debt under current law, but the situation is far worse if...
