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  • Overview and Summary: The Spending, Deficit, and Debt Control Act of 2009
    November 3, 2009 - As Americans watch their paychecks stagnate, their jobs disappear, and their savings shrink, Washington continues its relentless expansion of spending, deficits, and debt. Federal outlays are soaring, the deficit just eclipsed the $1-trillion mark, and the Federal debt is on a path to consume resour... More
  • The Democrats' $247-Billion Doc Fix Exemption
    October 21, 2009 - In 1997, as part of a bipartisan bill to balance the budget, Congress attempted to control Medicare’s skyrocketing growth through a payment formula known as the sustainable growth rate [SGR]. It has been difficult for Congress to adhere to the resulting reductions in physicians’ payments. In fact, ... More
  • Homeland Security Appropriations - Conference Report
    October 15, 2009 - The conference report on fiscal year 2010 Homeland Security appropriations increases discretionary budget authority [BA] by $612 million, or 1.5 percent, above the 2009 enacted level. This figure does not, however, reflect the $2.8 billion this subcommittee received from the “stimulus” bill earlier ... More
  • Agriculture Appropriations - Conference Report
    October 7, 2009 - The conference report on Agriculture appropriations increases discretionary spending by 14 percent ($2.8 billion) compared with the 2009 enacted (scored) level. The measure, H.R. 2997, provides $23.3 billion in new fiscal year 2010 budget authority [BA], and $17.7 billion in outlays. This follows an... More
  • Continuing Resolution/Legislative Branch Appropriations
    September 25, 2009 - Having failed to send the President even one completed appropriations bill so far this year, Congress nevertheless has made sure to fund itself while other agencies contend with temporary funding in a continuing resolution [CR]. Fiscal year 2010 starts at midnight next week Thursday, and without a C... More
  • Medicare Savings for Health Care: Can Congres Stay the Course?
    September 18, 2009 - With the President’s commitment that health care legislation will not increase the deficit, the savings included in any bill must be durable. Because large amounts of the savings proposed come from Medicare, it is useful to review the history of previously enacted Medicare reductions. As it turns ou... More
  • Bigger Government
    September 3, 2009 - The points discussed in this paper are the following: Government spending, deficits, and debt are at record levels. But another important measure of the size of government is the growth of the Federal bureaucracy. While the private sector continues to contract, the government is expanding. Since ena... More
  • Updated Budget Estimates Growing Deficits and Debt
    August 25, 2009 - The Office of Management and Budget [OMB] and the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] today released their updated budget and economic forecasts. The bottom line is as follows: Ten-Year Deficits. OMB shows a deficit $1.9 trillion higher over the next 10 years; CBO’s deficit is $1.6 trillion higher. Th... More
  • Points to Consider
    August 20, 2009 - The administration’s Mid-Session Review, scheduled for release next Tuesday (25 August 2009), will provide an update of budget and economic projections. Key issues to consider when evaluating the report include the following: The 2009 Deficit. Because spending has been higher, and tax revenue lower,... More
  • $3.4 Trillion and Counting
    July 31, 2009 - SUMMARY Although health care legislation has been delayed, Congress is still likely to consider, before the end of the year, a bill to create a new $1-trillion health care entitlement and begin the Federal Government’s takeover of the health care sector. But this would only add to the President’s we... More

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