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Director’s Desk
Having tried and failed for five years, congressional Republicans last night finally passed and sent to the president a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, fully knowing they don’t have the votes to override a certain veto. Although the House had already voted 61 times to repeal Obamacare, Republicans had been unable to bring
It’s Not Over
Many of the news stories that covered last week’s passage of the two-year, 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act had headlines similar to the Associated Press story titled “No shutdown, no default: Congress leaders, Obama back deal”. And while the agreement is an enormous and widely unexpected accomplishment that does prevent the country from going into default,
Director’s Desk
In addition to providing a two-year budget framework, the 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act is far kinder to federal employee pay and benefits than the 2013 Ryan-Murray agreement. It’s also kinder than the FY 16 congressional budget resolution, which would have made sharp cuts to feds in the workplace. The 2013 budget deal raised the amount
Director’s Desk
It’s hard not to think that yesterday’s dugout fight between Washington Nationals Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper isn’t somehow a reflection of what’s going on only a few blocks away on Capitol Hill; and manager Matt Williams will likely soon be joining Speaker Boehner on a Florida golf course. The Speaker’s resignation appears to have
The boy who cried shutdown
Having failed to pass a single FY16 appropriations bill, and with 14 legislative days scheduled* before the end of the fiscal year, a consensus has emerged on the inevitability of yet another continuing resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown on October 1. I think the odds do favor a CR over a shutdown, but
Director’s Desk
Although no one expected any of the 12 appropriations bills to even be considered on the Senate floor, the House passed six of the spending bills and was on its way to passing two more before the August recess. Although Republicans have 54 seats in the Senate, it’s well short of a filibuster-proof majority, and
An Early Look at Prospects for the FY16 Budget
On Wednesday last week the House passed its version of the FY16 budget resolution; and on early Friday morning the Senate passed its version. Modern budget resolutions are highly partisan vehicles, so one would assume that they’d pass easily in each chamber. And with one party in control of both the House and the Senate,
Director’s Desk
On Monday the Congressional Budget Office issued its new Budget and Economic Outlook: 2015 to 2025. There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that deficits have come down dramatically since the record $1.2 trillion deficit in FY09, to $483 billion in FY14, and will shrink even more this year and next, to
Uncertainties Ahead for Federal Spending
For federal departments and agencies, the most important issue in the First Session of the 114th Congress will be the shape of the FY16 congressional budget resolution, which will set the discretionary spending levels for the Appropriations Committees. New House Budget Committee Chair Tom Price of Georgia recently told a Heritage Foundation Conference that he
Director’s Desk
A major decision point facing the 114th Congress will be how to deal with federal spending beyond the end of the current fiscal year. The December 2013 Ryan-Murray agreement raised baseline discretionary spending by about $9 billion per year for FY14 and 15, but expires at the end of the year. Unless Congress and the