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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
With Republicans likely winning a Senate majority in today’s elections, it’s worth examining whether there are parallels to what happened in 2006 when Democrats reclaimed the majority in the House following 12 years of Republican rule. As you may recall, 2006 was, like 2014, a “six-year itch” cycle. That is,
Although the current continuing resolution (CR) expires in just six weeks, and Congress isn’t scheduled to return for another two weeks, no one is mentioning the “S word” (shutdown) this year. Instead, the question seems to be whether Congress will be able to pass an FY15 omnibus bill, or whether
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Dr. Phyllis O’Callaghan on October 3. From 2008 to 2012 Phyllis was Visiting Senior Fellow with the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University, where she taught a Research Seminar on the Evolution of the Contemporary Congress, and was a
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
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
Congress returns from its August recess next week, and is well positioned to conclude one of the least productive Congresses in modern history. With less than a month before the next fiscal year begins, it would be reasonable to expect a flurry of activity surrounding last ditch efforts to pass
There’s no single reason for the failure to fulfill early expectations, and many observers were skeptical from the start, despite the more favorable conditions for passing the spending bills this year. The House has in fact passed five relatively non-controversial bills – Milcon/VA, Legislative Branch, Commerce/Justice/Science, Transportation/HUD, and Defense. This
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
There has obviously been no shortage of post-race analyses of Eric Cantor’s primary defeat on Tuesday. No one has claimed credit for predicting the outcome; the most accurate polling had Cantor up by 13 percent, while his internal polling had him up by 34 percent. Since defeating Cantor, David Brat
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