Economic Policy News

Highlighting her recent trip to Africa, Ivanka Trump penned a commentary that makes a strong case for the Trump administration’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. “Despite the incredible difficulties they face, women in Africa are already transcending poverty, creating jobs, and pioneering a brighter future,” the first daughter wrote in an op-ed for CNN….

A recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute affirms that the recipe for wealth and prosperity encompasses economic freedom as its main ingredient. As a vital component of human dignity and autonomy, economic freedom is valuable as an end in itself. Just as important, however, is the fact that economic freedom provides a proven pathway…

Members of Congress are promoting the concept of changing three programs from the discretionary category (requiring annual appropriations) into mandatory (auto-pilot) spending. Such changes would become a huge backdoor spending increase. Spending limits have come under relentless attack from both parties. In 2013, 2015, and 2018, Congress passed massive spending increases with little to no…

Today we feature Genevieve Wood’s interview with Rep. Mike Johnson, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, and Rep. Jim Banks. The two Republicans, who represent districts in Louisiana and Indiana, respectively, talk about spending, the debt, and why it’s time to take these issues seriously. We also cover these stories: President Donald Trump says he’s…

Democrats are trying to put the last nail in the coffin of the Budget Control Act of 2011, one of the few remaining semblances of fiscal restraint left in Washington. This week, the House likely will vote on a plan to raise the law’s discretionary spending caps by at least $357 billion for 2020-2021. As…

The U.S. economy is strong and growing, according to the latest jobs report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released a positive jobs report on March, showing gains of 196,000 jobs, after only 20,000 jobs were created in February. All the while, the U.S. continues to boast an almost record low unemployment rate and…

A recent report by McKinsey Global Institute contains a startling fact. From 1990 through 2013, an estimated 1.1 billion people escaped extreme poverty—defined as subsisting on less than $1.90 per day—in the 71 developing countries covered by the report. Of those individuals, an estimated 1,057,000,000—about 95 percent—lived in just 18 countries. Interestingly, these are the…

The Senate Budget Committee will move one step closer to producing a new budget this week when it meets for a mark-up hearing on its fiscal year 2020 budget resolution. The proposal as it exists now would take steps to avoid another irresponsible budget deal and would eliminate one particularly egregious budget gimmick. Yet the…

The Trump administration’s budget proposal for the U.S. Agency for Global Media for fiscal 2020 reflects indifference—if not disdain—for the agency whose self-proclaimed mission is to “inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.” The spending blueprint released on March 18 would reduce the budget for the agency, formerly…

Increasing taxes on investment is always a bad idea, and that’s exactly what a new bill in Congress aims to do. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., R-N.J., want to increase taxes on investments that support businesses and jobs all across in America. The Carried Interest Fairness Act of 2019 is simply…

The Pentagon on Tuesday released the president’s budget request for defense, which calls for the resources needed to sustain the increase in military readiness experienced over the last two years. The total funding request of $750 billion would represent an increase of 4.7 percent over the 2019 budget, largely aligned with the needs expressed by…

Two major issues will dominate the congressional budget debate over the coming months—the debt limit and the future of the Budget Control Act discretionary spending caps. If past is prologue, Congress may be tempted to deal with the two issues simultaneously as part of one broader debt and spending agreement. That strategy makes it easier…

As the national debt ticks upward past $22 trillion, Congress is getting ready to pile on yet more debt as it considers a massive omnibus bill. We discuss with Heritage Foundation budget expert Justin Bogie to unpack the good, the bad, and the ugly. Plus: It looks like Republicans called Democrats’ bluff on the Green…

The U.S. national debt hit $22 trillion this week for the first time in history. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Congress are ignoring the law and their primary job responsibility by not passing a budget for the federal government. Instead, politicians lurch from one fiscal deadline to the next with no plan to control spending and debt….