Budget

How Congress Cheats with Our Money — and How We Can Stop It

By Marc Goldwein and Zach Moller

The U.S. is on course to top its record debt levels set after World War II, and permanent trillion-dollar deficits — meaning, forever — are likely to return within two years . And unlike after World...
Will Work for Food? Republicans Push Stricter Rules for SNAP

By Michael Rainey

Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps, is provided in the farm bill, a massive spending and regulatory package Congress passes every...
April Is Financial Literacy Month. Someone Tell Congress.

By Joseph J. Minarik and Caroline L. Ferguson

February is Black History Month, March is National Women’s Month, and April? Well, it’s Financial Literacy Month, of course! The U.S. government gave financial literacy its own month in 2003. April...
Why All the Warnings About Unsustainable National Debt Could Be Wrong

By Michael Rainey

International economists are warning about rising global debt levels and deficit hawks in Washington are increasingly worried about what they see as unsustainable debt levels in the U.S., but a new...
The US Has an Exceptional Debt Outlook – and Not in a Good Way

By Michael Rainey

The International Money Fund’s latest global fiscal survey warns that in five years, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio will be higher than Italy’s, a nation not generally known for its exemplary fiscal...

Why More School Districts Are Holding Class Just Four Days a Week

By Sophie Quinton, Stateline

The public school in Campo, Colorado, hasn’t required all its students to come to class on Fridays for nearly two decades. The 44-student district dropped a weekday to boost attendance and better...
When the Budget Won’t Balance, Just Get Rid of the Budget Committee?

By Michael Rainey

It may sound like a joke — Erik Sherman of Forbes said it seemed like something “from The Onion or Andy Borowitz at the New Yorker, only with less humor and pith” — but Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), chair...
With Recent Laws, Congress Has Added $540 Billion to the 2019 Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Spending hikes and tax cuts passed since 2015 under the Trump and Obama administrations account for $540 billion of next year’s projected $981 billion budget deficit, or 55 percent, according to...
F-35 Deliveries Halted Over Repair Bill

By Michael Rainey

The F-35 Lightning II has yet to fire a shot in anger but the Pentagon is already arguing with manufacturer Lockheed Martin over a big repair bill. The Defense Department has stopped accepting most...
This State's a Big Winner When It Comes to Defense Spending

By Michael Rainey

Spending on huge weapons programs like the F-35, which has an estimated lifetime cost of more than $1 trillion, is carefully spread around the country to maximize its economic impact – and to make it...

What Are the Odds of Another Government Shutdown This Week?

By Yuval Rosenberg

The scramble is on. Any minute now, lawmakers are set to unveil the $1.2 trillion omnibus bill to fund the government ahead of a March 23 deadline to avoid a third federal shutdown this year. Under...
The Budget Is a Mess. Is This How We Fix It?

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal budget process is a costly mess. Alice Rivlin, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, summed up the recent dysfunction in...
Pentagon Like a ‘Befuddled Consumer’ in a Crowded Shopping Aisle

By Michael Rainey

The Defense Department’s effort to improve its technical capacities in space is running into a basic problem most consumers can probably identify with: It’s not a very good shopper. As the 21 st...
Waiting for the Omnibus: Clock Is Ticking on $1.2 Trillion Spending Bill

By Yuval Rosenberg

Get ready for another 11th-hour scramble on a spending bill. “The $1.2 trillion dollar spending bill that Congress needs to pass by next week has gotten bogged down in haggling over details and added...
Experts Tell Congress CBO Isn’t the Problem

By Yuval Rosenberg

The House Budget Committee on Wednesday held the last of five oversight hearings on the Congressional Budget Office, the independent scorekeeping agency that has come under fire from Republicans ,...