Overview: Doubling the debt Every year the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issues a long-term budget outlook covering the next 30 years, assuming no changes in current law. This year’s report was released on September 21 and covered the years 2020…
Introduction Recent reports from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have reiterated long-standing warnings that the federal budget suffers from a growing structural gap between projected spending and revenues. If left unaddressed, this structural…
Although Congress has yet to complete its long overdue work on spending plans for the current fiscal year, lawmakers must soon turn their attention to the budget for Fiscal 2019, which begins Oct. 1. Unfortunately, President Trump’s proposed budget fails…
Two deadlines converge by coincidence this year. They are not related to one another and the precise consequences of failing to deal with them in a timely manner are different. Missing either of the deadlines, however, has the potential to…
Congress voted in February 2018 to again suspend the federal debt limit. On March 1, 2019, it went back into effect and was set at the level necessary to include all debt racked up prior to that date ($21.988 trillion). While…
President-elect Donald Trump and the new Congress have many challenges to tackle. Hovering over all of them is our nation’s unsustainable fiscal policy. New proposals, whether on the spending or tax side of the budget, will not be credible if…