Blog
Welcome to our blog – The Bottom Line, where you’ll find up-to-date commentary and analysis on the most important news in the fiscal world. Below is a list of our blog posts.
Appropriations Watch: FY 2018
Congress has completed action on omnibus appropriations legislation. The House and Senate passed the omnibus bill, and President Trump signed the...
Rudolph Penner: Instead Of Seeking Budget Process Reforms, Congress Should Cut Spending And Raise Taxes
Dr. Rudolph Penner was the director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1983 to 1987, and he is an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute and a...
Where Does the Higher Spending in the Omnibus Go?
Policymakers recently announced an omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government for the remaining six months of Fiscal Year 2018. The bill funds...
Rising Rates Could Further Balloon Interest Spending
Note (5/15/2018): This blog was published before CBO's April 2018 baseline, which provides official estimates of the amount of interest that will be...
Maya MacGuineas: America's Debt Crisis is Coming – Interest Payments Will Hit a Trillion Dollars a Year
Maya MacGuineas is president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and head of the Campaign to Fix the Debt. She recently...
Budget Process Reform Options
With the appointment of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, focus is rightfully on how to fix our broken budget...
Interest Spending Is On Course to Quadruple
The fastest growing part of the federal budget is interest on the debt – payments made to service previous borrowing. While interest had already been...
WATCH: MacGuineas Testifies Before Ways & Means Tax Policy Subcommittee
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, testified before the House Ways and Means Tax Policy Subcommittee on tax...
WATCH: MacGuineas Testifies Before House Budget Committee
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, testified before the House Budget Committee on CBO Oversight on...
Maya MacGuineas to Testify Before Two Congressional Committees on Wednesday
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget president Maya MacGuineas will testify before two House Committees on Wednesday, March 14 on two important...
Maya MacGuineas: Federal Budget Increasingly Tilted Against Investment in Children
Maya MacGuineas is president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and head of the Campaign to Fix the Debt. She recently...
The President's Budget Proposes Smart Health Savings
Much of the health care discussion in President Trump's FY 2019 budget has focused on his $700 billion plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care...