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.
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Wessel: Why It's Wrong to Dismiss the Deficit
Two weeks ago, we responded to a Larry Summers op-ed calling for a focus on growth rather than deficits. Yesterday, Wall Street Journal economics...
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Short-Term Deficits May Be Shrinking, But Long-Term Problem Remains
Update: This blog has been updated to include the Mid-Session Review and CBO projections for the 2013 deficit. Yesterday, the Treasury Department and...
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The Tax Break-Down: the FICA Tip Credit
This is the thirteenth post in our blog series, The Tax Break-Down, which will analyze and review tax breaks under discussion as part of tax reform...
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SSA Announces New COLA
Yesterday, the Social Security Administration announced that beneficiaries will be receiving a 1.5 percent Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) this year...
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Jim Nussle: For Budget Conference, Start With The Pizza
Today was the first meeting of the budget conference committee negotiating over this year's discretionary spending levels. Although the first meeting...
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The Budget Conference Committee's First Meeting
The first meeting of the budget conference committee is today! The committee will have a month and a half to reconcile the House and Senate-passed...
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Line Items: Trick or Treat Edition
Conference Calls – While many of us prepare for a spooky adventure Thursday night, the day before will mark the beginning of another eerie undertaking...
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Daschle: Now's the Time for Entitlement Reform
In an op-ed in POLITICO yesterday, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle argued that the upcoming conference committee was the perfect time to...
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MY VIEW: Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson October 2013
The budget conference committee will begin to meet in full shortly, when the conferees will begin to look for a compromise between the Senate and...
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Could Faster Growth Solve Our Debt Woes?
A number of commentators have suggested recently that our budget problems could be solved if only we focused more on promoting economic growth...
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MY VIEW: Bill Frenzel October 2013
It is difficult to believe that nearly two weeks ago, our country was on the brink of default, the shutdown dragged on, and lawmakers seemed unable to...
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MY VIEW: Kent Conrad
Yesterday, CRFB board member and former Senate Budget Committee argued in the Washington Post that ultimately, additional revenue through...