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Blog | May 2019

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.
Congress
May 29, 2019 | Health Care

Senate HELP Committee Releases Discussion Draft to Reduce Health Care Costs

The leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee recently released the Lower Health Care Costs Act, a discussion...
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Concept_DC_Capitol Building
May 24, 2019 | Other Spending

Lawmakers Should Offset Latest Disaster Relief Package

Yesterday, the Senate voted to appropriate an additional $19 billion in disaster relief to aid the damage caused by wildfires, hurricanes,...
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Other Spending_Infrastructure_Crane
May 23, 2019 | Other Spending

Representative Blumenauer Introduces Bill to Shore Up the Highway Trust Fund

Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) has introduced the Rebuild America Act, which would raise the excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel...
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Concept_DC_Capitol Building
May 20, 2019 | Budgets & Projections

Maya MacGuineas: Federal Disaster Funding Doesn't Have To Be An Emergency

Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and head of the Campaign to Fix the Debt. She recently wrote an...
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May 17, 2019 | Budget Process

Hearing Recap: Fixing a Broken Budget and Spending Process – Perspectives of Two Former Chairmen

The Senate Budget Committee began a series of hearings on reforming the budget process on May 15. The first hearing, “Fixing a Broken Budget and...
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May 15, 2019 | Other Spending

Gimmick Alert: Congress Considering Increasing Spending Through Harbor Maintenance Maneuver

Having already used the war spending designation and fake mandatory savings to get around discretionary spending caps, lawmakers are turning to...
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Spending_Transportation_Highway
May 15, 2019 | Other Spending

Options to Offset An Infrastructure Package

A meeting between Democratic Congressional leaders and President Trump a few weeks ago raised the possibility of an infrastructure package. The...
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Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg
May 13, 2019 | Budget Process

WATCH: Conrad and Gregg Testify Before Senate Budget Committee

Two former Senate Budget chairmen are testifying today before the Senate Budget Committee on the failures of the current budget process and the...
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May 13, 2019 | Budgets & Projections

Tim Penny & David Minge: Our Trillion-Dollar Problem Deserves Bipartisan Attention

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...
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Social Security_Card_Layered
May 10, 2019 | Social Security

Event Recap: Unpacking the 2019 Social Security Trustees' Report

On April 26, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget hosted a lunch and panel discussion on "Unpacking the Social Security Trustees' Report."...
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