The RSC Budget: A First Look
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) has proposed a budget that balances in just four years while holding tax revenue at near its historical average. It… Read More
Articles by Patrick Louis Knudsen
The No-Surprise Senate Budget: Higher Spending, Higher Taxes, No Real “Balance”
After going nearly four years without producing a budget resolution, Senate Democrats today released a plan confirming their mantra about “balanced” approaches has nothing to… Read More
The Senate Continuing Resolution and Its Demons
The massive spending bill released by the Senate this week suffers the same flaws as the measure the House passed last week: It spends too… Read More
2 Problems With House Spending Plan
The House version of the continuing resolution (CR) — necessary to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on September 30 —… Read More
In Congress, a Welcome Desire for “Regular Order”
As Members of Congress left town last week for the Presidents’ Day break, a refreshing and commendable sentiment followed them: nostalgia for the “regular order”… Read More
Senate Sequester Plan: They Can’t Be Serious
The Hill newspaper demonstrated a keen knack for understatement today with its account of Senate Democrats’ $110 billion sequester replacement proposal: “The bill would appear… Read More
Memo to Congress: Capitulation on Sequestration Cuts Is a Path to Defeat
With current funding for government operations scheduled to run out March 27, the House is beginning work on another Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the… Read More
CBO: Tax Increase Fails to Solve Spending and Debt Crisis
While President Obama keeps calling for more taxes, today’s figures from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show the tax hike he signed into law just… Read More
Obama’s Sequester Proposal: Details AWOL
In another stunning failure of leadership, President Obama today asked Congress to delay the scheduled across-the-board spending cuts, including those that will decimate the national… Read More
Obama’s Budget to Be Late Again
President Obama’s budget will be late again. When the President and Congress failed to close the fiscal cliff deal until January 2, it was predictable… Read More
Hurricane Sandy Relief: An Early Opportunity for Budgeting
A good test of whether the 113th Congress is likely to take budgeting seriously will come early this week, when the House considers the remainder… Read More
Congress Limps Out of Town with a Fractured Budget Process
Happily, the world did not end on December 21, as some interpreters of the Mayan Long-Count Calendar predicted. Earth did not get sucked into the… Read More
Amendment Cuts Pork from Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill
An example of fiscal responsibility turned up yesterday in an unexpected place: the U.S. Senate. Senator Dan Coats (R–IN) offered an amendment to President Obama’s… Read More
Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill: More Spending Than Disaster Aid
The Hurricane Sandy relief bill racing through the U.S. Senate is a perfect example of the spend-now-save-later practices that are driving the government deeper in… Read More
Chart of the Week: Obama’s Fiscal Cliff Plan Has $4 of Tax Hikes to $1 of Cuts
In one of heaven’s sweeter ironies, President Obama today launched the defense of his fiscal cliff proposal at a factory that makes…tinker toys. The setting… Read More
Obamacare Loses Again in Deficit Reduction Debate
Niall Ferguson poked a hornet’s nest Sunday with his Newsweek cover story, in large part for its claim that Obamacare would increase the budget deficit…. Read More
Another Temporary Budget Deal: Don’t Blame a “Broken” Process
The stopgap spending agreement reached by House and Senate leaders may be the only way Congress will escape a post-election “lame duck” showdown over funding… Read More
Sluggish Economic Growth: More Reason to Renounce Tax Hikes
On the afternoon of another discouraging assessment of the nation’s economic growth, the Obama Administration late Friday quietly released its mid-year update of the budget…. Read More
The Easiest Substitute for Defense Cuts: Obamacare
In case no one connected the dots, a report this week from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) held the solution to a serious problem plaguing… Read More
Needless and Irresponsible Delays on Congressional Appropriations
After weeks of decent progress in advancing the fiscal year (FY) 2013 appropriations bills—the annual spending bills that finance the operations of government agencies—the process,… Read More
Congress Rightly Seeks Details on Defense-Devastating Sequestration
With the commander in chief refusing to address the crippling, automatic cuts to national defense scheduled to start on January 2, Congress is appropriately stepping… Read More
Fitch Ratings Warns: Congress Must Address the Fiscal Crisis
Proof of President Reagan’s wisdom keeps cropping up. A fresh example: The U.S. has retained its AAA credit status with Fitch Ratings, mainly due to… Read More
FY 2013 Appropriations Tracker
Both the House and the Senate are proceeding with appropriations, the annual spending measures due by the start of the new fiscal year on October… Read More
Chairman Conrad’s Embarrassing Quasi-Budget
The Senate Budget Committee stretched a few definitions in announcing yesterday’s “Mark-Up of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2013.” Turns out… Read More
Got Principles? The Ryan Budget Does
Buried deep in the President’s hyperbolic assault on the House-passed budget last week—with all that “radical vision” and “social Darwinism” rhetoric—was one kernel of truth:… Read More
Senate Has an Un-Budget, Parliamentarian Rules
Hats off to the Senate parliamentarian, who apparently has rebuffed the Democratic leadership’s latest excuse for failing to bring a budget to the floor—something the… Read More
So, Where Is the President’s Solution to the Fiscal Crisis?
If President Obama wants to challenge the House Republican budget passed last week, he certainly should. His views would be more enlightening, however, if they… Read More
The RSC Budget: A Preliminary Look
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) budget introduced today addresses six key fiscal criteria. It launches decisive entitlement reforms, cuts spending sharply and quickly, avoids tax… Read More
First Reactions to Ryan’s Path to Prosperity Budget
There are six key elements to a successful federal government budget, including the plan released today by House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R—WI): Does… Read More
CBO Shows Obama’s Budget Produces More Staggering Spending and Debt
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of the President’s budget reveals a reckless fiscal plan that shirks the spending cuts in the Budget Control Act… Read More
