Yesterday, a bipartisan group of four Representatives introduced legislation to establish a permanent sunset commission. Representatives Jim Cooper (D-TN), Aaron Schock (R-IL), Mike Quigley (D-IL), and Joe Walsh (R-IL) introduced the "Federal Program Sunset Commission Act" (H.R. 606) in an effort to abolish "duplicative, unnecessary, or inefficient programs."

Today, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-KY) released a preliminary proposal for cuts to the President's FY2011 budget, totaling $74 billion in savings. Congress must pass a continuing resolution (CR) appropriating federal spending for the rest of the fiscal year before the current CR expires on March 4 to prevent a government shut-down.

Budget Season Ramping Up – Football season may have ended last night, but budget season is just heating up. Lawmakers have introduced a plethora of bills in order to show voters that they are serious about addressing our fiscal problems. Expect that trend to continue, but pressure will increase for real action.

With the House Appropriations Committee releasing their spending allocations for each subcommittee yesterday, it is useful to examine what the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is still chaired by Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), wanted to do with last year's failed Omnibus spending package -- wrapping all 12 appropriation bills into one.

Earlier today, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the chair of the House Budget Committee, unveiled new levels for discretionary spending for the remainder of FY 2011.

The debate over a Constitutional balanced-budget amendment has been going on in Washington for quite some time. However, the current fiscal environment and several proposals in both chambers of Congress this early in the new session mean that the idea could garner lots of attention, and votes, this year.

Game On – The Super Bowl in Texas won’t be until Sunday, but Washington had its own big game last week as President Obama gave his State of the Union address.

Today, the House voted to end public financing of political party conventions and presidential campaigns by a vote of 239-160. This is part of a continuing effort on the part of House leadership to make good on their pledge to vote on weekly bills that promote spending restraint.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has released her proposal to reign in federal spending, amounting to over $425 billion in cuts annually.

The House of Representatives this afternoon passed a rule directing Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the chairman of the House Budget Committee, to set non-security spending at 2008 levels for the rest of fiscal year 2011. This level is consistent what the new House leadership promised in their "Pledge to America." Rep.