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.
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Lew: Next Debt Limit Date is Late February
Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent a letter to Congress, updating the Treasury's projections of when the nation would hit its statutory...
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Keep the War Gimmick Out of Doc Fix Discussions
The war savings gimmick is back! As the debate over how to offset a permanent "doc fix" to Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate formula heats up, the...
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Line Items: An Appropriate Result Edition
One Debate Spent, More to Come – The long saga over the Fiscal Year 2014 budget came to an end as Congress approved of spending bills funding the...
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Generals: Don't Turn Away from Reforming Military Retirement Benefits
One of the most contentious provisions in the Ryan-Murray budget agreement that became the Bipartisan Budget Act was a provision that reduced cost-of...
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Washington Post: "Lawmakers Should Offer Up a Fiscally Responsible 'Tax Extenders' Bill"
We couldn't have said it better ourselves! A Washington Post editorial today called on Congress to break with the trend of recent Congresses and...
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CBO's "Approaches to Reducing Federal Spending on Military Health Care"
Military personnel costs continue to increase as a share of the defense budget. One of the fastest growing components is military health care, where...
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With Spending Bill Passed, More Fiscal Steps Ahead
Yesterday, the Senate passed the Omnibus appropriations act (72-26), following strong passage in the House (359-67). The bill will now be sent to...
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The Debt Doctor: Coburn Announces His Retirement
Yesterday, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), M.D., announced that he would retire at the end of the year, two years before his Senate term would normally...
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Event: The Moral Case for Addressing America's Fiscal Crises
A large national debt has far-reaching consequences. On the blog, we often talk about the economic consequences of debt, as they are perhaps the most...
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Event: Divergent Views on Overhauling Social Security
Largely due to changing demographics, the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted within the next 20 years. To avoid this, most reform plans...
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Winners and Losers from the Omnibus Legislation
Last month's Ryan-Murray budget deal set overall spending levels for the government at $1.1 trillion, but it did not set specific spending levels for...
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The Omnibus Bill Has Passed the House
Lawmakers in the House moved quickly to pass the omnibus appropriations bill released two days ago with a 359-67 vote. Earlier in the day, the Senate...