The Obama Administration has used the recession as an excuse for a historic and permanent expansion of government and deficits. Only during the height of World War II has Washington matched current levels of spending (25% of GDP) and deficits (10% of GDP). Read More.
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) has once again pushed the outside of the fiscal envelope, presenting a budget that reaches balance in just five years—twice as fast as the group’s proposal a year ago—through entitlement reforms, deep spending reductions, and no tax increases. This aggressive plan incorporates many elements of…
In the few months since Washington’s dramatic debt ceiling confrontation, America’s fiscal situation has only worsened. Federal spending is set to soar past previous record-shattering levels, endangering the economic future of the nation. This is a moral issue because younger generations will be forced to bear either staggering levels of…
As House appropriators begin hearings on fiscal year (FY) 2013 spending,[1] a second look at last week’s Congressional Budget Office report shows they already have exceeded their official Budget Control Act limits for the current year by a stunning $156 billion. Although some of this overrun reflects justifiable…
After a year of unproductive brinksmanship, Congress and the President enter 2012 facing the same intractable budget problems as before: a fourth consecutive deficit expected to be $1 trillion or higher, spending that consumes nearly one-fourth of the economy’s total output, and an entitlement-driven fiscal disaster that has drawn…
With the collapse of the deficit reduction “super committee,” a year that began with promise is degenerating into another late-December budgetary scramble on Capitol Hill. Along with certain necessary decisions by Congress on tax policies, unemployment insurance, and the “doc fix,” nine of the 12 annual spending bills are still…
Abstract: The Budget Control Act, which ended the impasse over the debt ceiling and created a Super Committee to identify more deficit reduction proposals, cuts the defense budget by $1 trillion and paves the way for further reductions next year. These cuts come on top of successive rounds of deep…
While most attention is focused on the congressional “super committee,” House and Senate appropriators have been moving legislation aimed at meeting their own fiscal year (FY) 2012 spending limits under the debt reduction agreement enacted earlier this year. So far, the appropriators are close to that modest goal. But they…
As the congressional “super committee” grapples with deficit reduction, all manner of spending is under scrutiny. A small group of farm-state lawmakers is proposing an overhaul of dairy subsidies that would supposedly reduce outlays by $131 million over 10 years. That is just a quarter of the dollars doled out…
From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. …
Abstract : Federal spending is on an unsustainable path that risks disaster for America. Runaway spending has increased annual…
As Congress considers what to do about federal overspending and overborrowing, conservatives must maintain focus. We must pursue the path that drives down federal spending and borrowing and gets to a balanced budget, while preserving our ability to protect America and without raising taxes. An important part of that conservative…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this morning that the U.S. economy added 117,000 jobs in July and that the unemployment rate fell from 9.2 to 9.1 percent, due in large part to people leaving the labor force. While the report indicates that the economy is still weak, it is…
Abstract: Government spending has been spiraling upward in nearly all areas—and spending by most government agencies can, and should, be cut. President Obama recently submitted his 2012 budget request to Congress, providing fertile ground for spending cuts. One of the fastest-growing federal agencies, the…
Under current law, the U.S. Department of Defense faces significant spending cuts over the next 10 years—cuts that...…
America’s all-volunteer military is the most well-trained, well-equipped fighting force the world has ever seen. But...…
We’ve corrected Paul Krugman in the past, when he mistakenly invoked imaginary British spending cuts as proof that...…
The future is not bright for the U.S. military. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave America a glimpse of the...…
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta today laid out details of a plan to cut a half a trillion dollars from defense...…
House Republicans return to Washington today to vote on a two-month payroll tax extension. If news reports are...…
The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute host a Republican presidential debate on CNN this Tuesday at...…
The U.S. military has already contributed more to debt and deficit reduction than any other federal agency. Speaker of...…
Tomorrow starts the 11th year that U.S. military forces will be fighting in Afghanistan. Even though President Obama...…
While American defense budgets are in a rapidly escalating free-fall, Chinese defense budgets have seen annual...…