Here are the highlights from this weekend’s editorials on fiscal and budget policy:

Next week, House Democrats intend to introduce a package of aid to states, extended unemployement benefits, and tax break extensions.

Today in the Washington Post, Steven Pearlstein took the "Deficit Challenge", proposing his own plan on how to reduce future deficits through a combination of spending and tax changes.

Here are the highlights from this weekend’s editorials on fiscal and budget policy:

Policymakers will soon be focusing on passing a new package of extenders and tax breaks that – at a potential cost of around $200 billion over ten years – may get pushed through Congress before Memorial Day. Among other things, the bill would prevent a 21 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements to physicians, scheduled to take effect June 1st, from occurring for five years.

Admiral Roughead (Navy), General Conway, (Marine Corps) and Admiral Allen (Coast Guard) all took the spending challenge today, arguing that retired military officers and their families should have to pay more for their health care. According to CongressDaily: 

The Center for American Progress recently discussed what it would take to meet the President's fiscal goal of a primary balance in 2015, or finding about $250 billion in savings. After illustrating what it would look like to meet this goal completely through either spending cuts or tax increases, CAP argues that we will ultimately need a mix of both spending cuts and tax increases if we are to avoid large, painful cuts or economically harmful tax changes. CRFB certainly agrees.

Last week the Office of the Medicare Chief Actuary came out with their "Estimated Effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," as amended by reconciliation. The document estimates the financial and coverage effects through FY 2019 of selected provisions of the recently passed health care reform bill. There has been some confusion regarding the Medicare Actuary's report and how it lines up next to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates of the same bill, with many believing the Medicare Actuary projects greater costs than CBO. 

Yesterday the Peterson Foundation hosted the Fiscal Summit: America's Crisis and a Way Forward, convening an all-star line-up of fiscal, economic, and health care experts to discuss our fiscal challenges and to help develop solutions.

Here are the highlights from this weekend’s editorials on fiscal and budget policy:

The Wall Street Journal criticized plans by Democrats to introduce new health cost control measures in response to a report that said the recently passed health care legislation would increase premiums.