Author: Kenneth Gold
Director’s Desk
Kenneth Gold | October 9, 2014
Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office issued its preliminary deficit projection for FY 2014, estimating a deficit of under a half trillion dollars. The FY14 deficit of $486 billion would be $195 billion under last year’s deficit, and the fifth consecutive year that the deficit has fallen as a percentage of GDP since the FY09 record
Director’s Desk
Kenneth Gold | September 5, 2014
It’s September in Washington (yes, I know it’s September elsewhere as well). We’ve just returned to work from the long Labor Day weekend, school buses are again making our nightmarish traffic even worse, and the Washington Nationals are in first place in the National League East. Congress has returned from their August recess, and we’re
Director’s Desk
Kenneth Gold | July 9, 2014
Prior to the start of this year’s World Cup, the United States had reached the semifinals only once, in 1930, at the first World Cup. The US team advanced beyond the round of 16 only one other time, when they beat Mexico in 2002, and reached the quarter finals. At the start of this year’s
Director’s Desk: June 9, 2014
Kenneth Gold | June 9, 2014
It’s been thirty-six years since Affirmed won the Triple Crown, horse racing’s greatest challenge. With California Chrome’s defeat on Saturday, twelve horses have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown since 1978, only to fail in the 1½-mile Belmont Stakes, the longest and most demanding of the three races. Some observers believe that
Director’s Desk: April 24, 2014
Kenneth Gold | April 24, 2014
When asked what they remember as the most significant event of 1994, people tend to be divided between the massive 6.7 magnitude Northridge earthquake that devastated Los Angeles and the arrest of O.J. Simpson on murder charges following the infamous slow motion car chase in the white Bronco. Some of us, however, also remember 1994
Director’s Desk: March 6, 2014
Kenneth Gold | March 6, 2014
On Tuesday the FY15 congressional budget process officially began with President Obama submitting his FY15 budget request to Congress. The discretionary portion of the president’s $3.9 trillion request stays within the caps agreed to in last year’s omnibus appropriations bill, but also contains a $56 billion supplemental “wish list” of additional spending to be divided
Director’s Desk: February 12, 2014
Kenneth Gold | February 12, 2014
Congress has avoided going over yet another fiscal cliff, with the House passing a “clean” debt limit bill yesterday, and Senate passage expected later today. This will mark the fourth major piece of bipartisan legislation passed since last October’s 16-day government shutdown that includes the two-year Ryan-Murray budget agreement, the FY14 omnibus appropriations bill, and
Director’s Desk: January 13, 2014
Kenneth Gold | January 13, 2014
With the January 15 deadline to pass the FY14 appropriations bills fast approaching, on Friday House Appropriations Chair Harold Rogers (R-KY) filed a “clean” three-day extension of the current continuing resolution, which is expected to pass both chambers by Wednesday. Both sides continue to report good progress on the $1.012 trillion omnibus bill, with Chairman
Director’s Desk: December 20, 2013
Kenneth Gold | December 20, 2013
Late Wednesday the Senate passed the budget agreement that had passed the House last week, generating considerable speculation as to whether the bipartisan deal would herald a new era of bipartisan functionality, or whether its limited scope simply confirmed Congress’s inability to get big things done. In either case, it marks an end of four
Director’s Desk: November 22, 2013
Kenneth Gold | November 22, 2013
Although yesterday’s historic Senate vote to eliminate the filibuster for most presidential nominees grabbed most of the headlines, there was a second Senate vote, later in the day, that was perhaps equally historic. If there was any doubt over whether finally exercising the “nuclear option” would lead to even greater divisiveness in the upper chamber,