Economic Policy News

Just how bad is this new budget deal? The Heritage Foundation’s Justin Bogie joins us to explain what the short-term and long-term consequences of this big spending splurge could be. Plus: President Donald Trump attends the National Prayer Breakfast, and Vice President Mike Pence is bringing Otto Warmbier’s dad to the Olympics in South Korea.

Good news: For the first time in a while, the United States isn’t just economically stronger. It’s economically freer. How do we know? Check the just-released 2018 “Index of Economic Freedom,” an annual data-driven research project that scores and ranks almost every country. The U.S. isn’t alone, I’m glad to say. Since it began measuring…

The bipartisan budget deal to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over the next two years is worse than you think. Not only would it bust the budget caps that have long kept federal spending under control. It also would renew a package of expired tax subsidies, marking the return of a corrupt ritual of…

Congressional leaders on Wednesday announced their latest budget-busting deal. The plan would provide a much-needed boost to defense spending, but fails in almost all other areas. Over the next two years, it would raise the Budget Control Act caps by $296 billion with only a third of that being paid for. This agreement would raise…

Some people have called for a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution as a means of reining in a big-spending Congress. That’s a misguided vision, for the simple reason that in any real economic sense, as opposed to an accounting sense, the federal budget is always balanced. The value of what we produced in 2017—our…

Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas was chosen last month to replace a fellow Republican, Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee, as chairman of the House Budget Committee. With fiscal 2018 appropriations yet to be finalized, Womack finds himself in an uncertain position. If a deal is reached to raise the Budget Control Act caps for 2019, some…

We live in a Golden Age of economic progress. People living today enjoy long lives, good health, and high standards of living unimagined just a few generations ago. Billions of people around the world have escaped poverty. Things we take for granted—antibiotics, the iPhone, air travel—would have seemed like magic to our great-grandparents. These blessings…

In the coming weeks, Congress is set to vote on a spending bill that will include funding for federal disaster relief. Following a year of intense hurricanes and record-breaking wildfires, the congressional desire to continue the trend of expanding the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide the bulk of relief funds to states affected by…

Lawmakers are discussing the possibility of passing yet another continuing resolution on Jan. 19 to keep the government from shutting down. If another continuing resolution comes to fruition, it will be the fourth one since the fiscal year started back on Oct. 1. As of now, we have already passed more than one-quarter of the…

Congress achieved major success in 2017 by passing the first meaningful tax reform in decades, but fell short in other areas of the budget and spending. This year, important issues loom, including defense and nondefense appropriations for the remainder of the year, the debt limit, an infrastructure plan, and health care and entitlement reforms, among…

As 2017 comes to a close, it’s worth remembering that America’s mountain of debt continues to grow. Here are five key facts about federal spending in 2017 to remember: 1. The deficit reached $666 billion. By many, 666 is known as the number of the beast in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament….

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is expected to be signed into law today, would reform the tax code by lowering federal marginal rates for most households, corporations, and small businesses. We have revised our previous estimates of the House and Senate versions of the bill to reflect changes made by the conference committee….

The Heritage Foundation’s documentary “33 Minutes” may not be the most cheerful holiday season film, but its warning to the American public about the risk of nuclear attack could not be more timely. In recent months, North Korea’s missiles have grown in range and capability. The most recent missile it tested, the Hwasong-15, can reach…

Congress and the president are reportedly working on another backroom budget deal that might raise the Budget Control Act spending caps by up to $200 billion over the next two years. Congress should not pass another deal that piles more deficit spending onto future generations. Congress should strengthen and extend spending limits in the Budget…

Congress is facing a budget deadline Dec. 8. Heritage Foundation’s Romina Boccia explains what’s at stake. Plus: the latest on the tax reform debate, and Poland’s push for no work on Sundays.

Last week, Congress passed the fiscal year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, sending it to the president’s desk. This bill advances many commendable nuclear weapon and missile defense policies. The bill affirms Congress’ commitment to ensuring strong, extended measures of deterrence, and it addresses Russian arms control violations—including Russia’s potential violations of the New Strategic…

A new report from Congressional Quarterly indicates Congress will soon announce another backroom budget deal that would bust the spending caps set by the Budget Control Act. According to the report, the deal would break the discretionary spending caps by at least $182 billion over the next two years. If true, this would bust the…