Issue Briefs

President Obama has turned to a well-known expert on the federal budget to run a Defense Department where the administration hopes to dramatically improve efficiency and reduce spending.The President named Leon Panetta, who has been CIA director, to replace Robert…

Under Paul Ryan’s budget plan, the country’s three big entitlement programs – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – would make up a larger share of non-interest federal spending than they would under the budget President Obama proposed earlier this year.It…

Appropriations remain on the agenda this week as Congress considers yet another short-term continuing resolution (CR). A new CR is necessary to prevent a government shutdown when the current one expires this Friday.After the Senate last week rejected both a…

Washington’s money problems make it all the more important for individual Americans to plan responsibly for their own financial futures. At the same time, elected officials have no time to lose in confronting the fiscal challenges imposed by an aging…

Almost a year after passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and as Republicans in the House of Representatives begin their effort to repeal or slowly dismantle the legislation, it makes sense to revisit some of the…

Citing the country’s “extreme fiscal duress,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week said the administration would cut $78 billion from its five-year defense plan. The Pentagon budget would still continue to grow above inflation for the next three years, however.Gates…

Whether the U.S. can move beyond “deficit denial” may depend on three elected officials who will each present a budget plan early next year: President Obama, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND).These three…

Whether the United States can move beyond “deficit denial” may depend on three elected officials who will each present a budget plan early next year: President Obama, incoming House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), and Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad…