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

The House passed health care overhaul legislation on Saturday night by a vote of 220 – 215, with 39 Democrats opposing the bill and one Republican voting in favor. Twenty-two of the 39 were members of the Blue Dog Coalition, the group known for being relatively fiscally responsible.

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

This morning, US Budget Watch, a joint project of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and The Pew Charitable Trusts, hosted an event on the current health care reform debate. The event focused on the fiscal implications of reform, specifically looking at costs, offsets, and the extent to which health care reform can “bend the cost curve.” Featured at the event was a new set of charts Comparing the Health Care Reform Bills along with previously released US Budget Watch papers Comparing Health Care Plans and Evaluating Health Care Plans.

A number of very interesting and relevant reports have come out of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) this week. Check them out:

US Budget Watch has updated a number of charts comparing the latest versions of the health care reform bills. Included is the new Republican version of the House bill, the score of which Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released last night. The new Republican bill would reduce the deficit by $80 billion over ten years, and likely reduce it even more in the out years. It would only cover roughly 3 million more uninsured, however.

In today's Washington Post, Ceci Connelly has an article titled, "Health Bills are too Timid on Cutting Costs, Experts Say." In it she discusses how the health care reform bills in Congress are "shying away" from incorporating some of the most "aggressive techniques" for slowing the rise of health care costs, even in spite of the Administration's stated dedication to reining in costs.

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office put out An Overview of Federal Support for Housing. In the report, CBO outlined the nearly $300 billion in housing-related spending and tax breaks offered this year.

Recently, the government has undertaken extraordinary efforts to help prop up the housing sector. Interestingly enough, though, most of our support for the sector has nothing to do with the current economic crisis, and has been in place for decades.

This Friday, November 6th U.S. Budget Watch will be hosting an event, "Will Health Care Reform Heal the Federal Budget?" This event aims to explore the fiscal implications of the various health care reform proposals.

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