Media Center
Debt Limit Déjà Vu? What Can We Learn from the Close Calls of 2011 and 2023?
Laura Blessing | June 7, 2023
Normally, we remember what we were doing when great triumphs or tragedies take place on the world stage. Fiscal policy is not typically on that list of events. And yet, I remember clearly what I was doing in the lead up to Treasury’s “X date” in 2011. I was in grad school, and I had
Debt Limit with Michael Thorning
GAI | May 26, 2023
Matt and Laura are joined by special guest Michael Thorning from the Bipartisan Policy Center, to discuss the debt limit negotiations, modernization of Congress, and the FY24 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill.
Director’s Desk
Kristin Nicholson | May 3, 2023
Dear Friends, The biggest story on Capitol Hill- and the theme of this month’s newsletter – is the debt limit. Now that House Republicans have passed what amounts to an initial offer (and promptly left town for a week-long recess), the focus will shift to whatever move President Biden and
The Debt Ceiling and the Appropriations Process
Katina Slavkova | May 3, 2023
The partisan and intra-branch posturing on the debt ceiling, on display since January, has finally yielded actual legislative text. Last week Speaker Kevin McCarthy successfully shepherded his conference to pass a debt ceiling bill, accurately characterized as a “bare-minimum victory on a doomed bill.” This description of the House GOP’s initial bargaining offer perfectly
A Conversation with Congressman David Price
GAI | March 24, 2023
Laura is joined by special guest Congressman David Price to reflect on his long career in Congress: what got him into politics, his perspective as a scholar of political science, his focus on his district, time on the appropriations committee, and thoughts on party leadership over time.
Back to the Future for Appropriations Procedures in the 118th Congress?
Matt Glassman | March 17, 2023
President Biden released the President’s Budget last week and with it, the federal appropriations process has lurched to a start. In the modern era, we have come to expect to see late introduction of the President’s budget, forgoing passing a budget resolution by the budget committees (“deeming” them instead), and the failure to pass individual
Director’s Desk
Kristin Nicholson | March 17, 2023
Dear Friends, As the cherry blossoms open around the Tidal Basin, another spring ritual is getting underway in Washington: the annual budget and appropriations cycle. President Biden submitted his Proposed Budget for FY24 on March 9, kicking off another round of budget hearings on the Hill, which will be followed by months of
Director’s Desk
Kristin Nicholson | February 3, 2023
Dear Friends, February may be the dreariest month in Washington, but it will certainly not lack for action this year. It didn’t happen quickly (and surprisingly took even longer in the Senate than the House), but both chambers have finalized their committee rosters, allowing the work of oversight and legislating to kick into higher
Hollow Promises: Speaker McCarthy and Appropriations
Josh Huder | February 3, 2023
As Kevin McCarthy brokered with conservatives to win the speakership, he made a series of promises to significantly revamp the budget and appropriations processes. Among them were commitments to pass a budget that balances in 10 years, consider and pass each appropriations bill individually (rather than in “minibus” or “omnibus” form), and provide members an
Congressional Oversight and the 118th Congress with Josh Chafetz
GAI | January 25, 2023
Laura and Matt are joined by Georgetown Law Professor Josh Chafetz to discuss congressional oversight, the importance of the type of oversight some people decry as mere “theater,” and upcoming high-profile oversight issues in the118th Congress.