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.
Two New Ideas to Save Money on Drugs in Health Affairs
The House Affordable Medicines Caucus recently launched by Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Keith Rothfus (R-PA) already has plenty of ideas to reform our...
Senator Sanders Proposes Emergency VA Authorization
In response to the recent VA scandal and hospital backlogs, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has proposed legislation...
MY VIEW: Alice Rivlin June 2014
Alice Rivlin is a former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and Office of Management and Budget. She has served as a member of the National...
Another Example of Abusing the War Spending Label
President Obama yesterday announced $1 billion for a European Reassurance Initiative to step up U.S. presence and planning in Central and Eastern...
Postal Service Emerges as Offset for Highway Trust Fund
Bloomberg Businessweek reported last week that House Republicans are considering a plan that would utilize savings from U.S. Postal Service (USPS)...
Should Congress Extend Bonus Depreciation?
The Ways and Means Committee voted on a number of tax bills last week, including legislation that would restore and expand bonus depreciation at a...
Delaney and Cole Propose Social Security Commission
Reps. John Delaney (D-MD) and Tom Cole (R-OK) introduced the Social Security Commission Act of 2014 today.
House Affordable Medicines Caucus Has Options
Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Keith Rothfus (R-PA) have officially re-launched a bipartisan caucus in the House looking to promote the use of high...
Ways and Means Continues Increasing Deficit With Tax Cuts
The Ways and Means Committee is continuing to work through the set of over 50 tax breaks that expired at the end of 2013, choosing certain provisions...
President Obama Announces Path of Troop Drawdown in Afghanistan
President Obama announced yesterday the number of troops that would be remaining in Afghanistan beyond the end of the year. While these levels are not...
The Budgetary Effect of Credit Programs
Credit programs involving loans and loan guarantees are accounted for differently than most other programs in the federal budget. Whereas other...
Senate Appropriations Committee Approves FY2015 Spending Levels
Today the Senate Appropriations Committee approved 302(b) spending allocations for FY2015 appropriations at the beginning of a markup for the Military...