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.
The Debt is Not Just a Beltway Problem
In this week’s debate on the Senate floor and the release of several congressional plans to address the deficit and debt, the national debt is on the...
Steuerle's 'Fiscal Democracy Index'
This morning, CRFB board member Gene Steuerle claimed in a USA Today article that the big problem of current deficits is not just a symptom of the...
The Cost of Continuing "Current Policy"
Today, we released our Analysis of CBO’s January 2010 Baseline, which discusses the new CBO baseline in detail, including the new deficit and debt...
Blue Dogs Join the Call for Fiscal Reform
Today, the Blue Dog coalition released its blueprint for fiscal reform. The group, comprised of moderate and conservative Democrats, has long been...
Obama Partial Discretionary Spending Freeze : A Small First Step
President Obama will propose freezing "non-security" discretionary spending for the next three years (FY2011-13) when he unveils his new budget next...
Budget Commission Falls Short
A proposal to form a bipartisan commission to address the nation’s mounting long-term debt just fell short of the 60 votes needed for approval in the...
Disgraceful
Senate vote on Baucus amendment (97-0 vote to exempt changes to Social Security from a statutory budget commission from fast-track vote in Congress).
Deficit Falls Slightly, Debt Will Continue to Soar, CBO Warns
The federal deficit in FY10 is expected to be $1.35 billion--a slight drop from the $1.41 trillion in FY09--but still the second largest in our nation...
Budget Concepts Do Matter
Budgeteers have long argued that baselines matter. You have to know where you are going before you decide where you should be. We use baselines as...
Senate Faces Key Fiscal Votes This Week
The Senate will vote this week on key fiscal measures as it attempts to increase the nation’s debt ceiling. The debt limit is expected to be reached...
Five More FDIC Bank Closings
On Friday evening, the FDIC reported that it has taken over an additional five banks ( Columbia River Bank, Evergreen Bank, Charter Bank, Bank of...
TPC Takes the Tax Challenge with Income Tax Rates
We recently invited folks to take the spending challenge and show how they would close the budget gap without raising taxes (or alternatively, take...