I. What’s the Debt? How big is the U.S. national debt? Some reports say that it’s $36 trillion and others say it’s $29 trillion. The two numbers may cause some confusion but both are correct. They simply measure two different…
Over the course of two meaningful days—May 1 and 2—I had the opportunity to travel to Tyler and Longview, Texas, to lead our signature Principles & Priorities federal budget exercise for U.S. Representative Nathaniel Moran. Congressman Moran, who represents Texas’s…
This past Thursday and Friday, I had the privilege of visiting the University of Iowa in Iowa City to engage with students, faculty, and community members on the pressing issues surrounding our nation’s fiscal policy. Hosted in collaboration with the…
Introduction After nearly four decades of a consistently downward trend, the consumer price index (CPI) in 2021 increased at the fastest rate since 1982, marking a clear reversal of the previous trend.[1] Although various economic disruptions related to the…
Introduction In part one of this defense primer, readers learned that the defense budget is a significant portion of the federal budget (about 15% in 2019), approximately 96% of which is Department of Defense spending (the Pentagon’s…
Most Americans know that the defense budget constitutes a substantial portion of federal spending, but there remains plenty of confusion as to just how much. While a quick search can answer that for you (spoiler alert: $714 billion in…
As 2021 begins, America is beset by a host of urgent challenges. At home, the nation remains deeply divided in the wake of a bitterly contested election...
Key Takeaways Several times each year, the Congressional Budget Office publishes a baseline – a policy-neutral snapshot of the federal budget meant to inform lawmakers about future trends, such as the sustained imbalance between revenues and spending. Often, the…
Every year the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issues a long-term budget outlook covering the next 30 years assuming no changes in current law. The last such report was released in June of 2019 and covered the 30 years ending…