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This year’s federal budget deficit is shrinking, and shrinking faster than anyone had anticipated: surely this is good news. There have been a number of really positive developments on the budget and the economy over the last several months, mostly unexpected. Just last month, the House and Senate both passed
Gangs of lawmakers have been making news since at least the 1983 reform of Social Security. The theory is that smaller, nimbler groups including members from both parties are more likely to get results on contentious issues. While in recent years gang activity in the Senate has proliferated, their record
Like all presidential budget requests, President Obama’s FY14 budget includes recommendations for streamlining government to promote greater efficiency. Traditionally, presidents propose cuts to programs (Obama’s budget includes 215) and encounter resistance from Congress, but this year might be different. Congressional Reaction Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings
According to a recent Gallup poll, congressional approval stands at 13 percent, just three percentage points above last year’s all-time low of 10 percent approval. With numbers like these, it’s no wonder that members of Congress are eager to leave Washington and head home to their states and districts. Congress
As the House and Senate Budget Committees process their respective versions of the budget resolution this month, it’s useful to remind ourselves exactly what this document is about. And what it isn’t about. Here’s a quick and dirty primer: What the Budget Resolution is: • A blueprint, in the broadest
The sequester is in place despite Congress providing itself an expedited process meant to stave off these indiscriminate and draconian across-the-board cuts. Back in 2011, when congressional Republicans insisted on substantial spending cuts as the price of increasing the debt ceiling, the President and Speaker Boehner tried to reach a
What do the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the Hurricane Sandy Relief Act, and the fiscal cliff deal have in common? All passed the House this year over the objection of a majority of the majority party. In bringing these bills to the House floor, Speaker John Boehner chose to
GAI faculty Kenneth Gold and Susan Sullivan Lagon joined hosts Bob Leins and Tammy Flanagan on the Federal News Radio program For Your Benefit. Topics discussed on the program broadcast include 2012 election results, polarization in both houses, resistance to compromise, leadership changes and committee chairs; the deficit and the
Senior Fellow John Haskell joined the C-SPAN Washington Journal program to talk about the roles and responsibilities of top leadership positions in both chambers of Congress.
With nine days to go, hope of averting the March 1 sequester continues to fade, with each side drawing a line in the sand, and little reason to believe that their differences can be breached any time soon. Last week the President again went on record demanding that any agreement
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