The United States tax system is inefficient, overly complex and does not raise enough revenue to keep pace with federal spending. The gap between tax revenue and federal spending is projected to get worse in the coming years due to…
The United States health care system is larger than the gross domestic product of all but five other nations. Over the past several decades, health care costs have outpaced economic growth, inflation and personal incomes. One out of every six…
The official federal budget process was established in 1974 by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act. The budget process begins in February, when the president is supposed to submit his plan to Congress after discussions with federal department…
Federal spending falls into two basic categories: mandatory spending and discretionary spending. Programs such as Social Security and Medicare, for which benefits are awarded based on pre-determined formulas, are considered mandatory spending because once they are enacted they do not…
Social Security is the largest program in the federal budget. It provides monthly income to over 60 million Americans -- most of whom depend on it as their largest source of retirement income. That spending is financed by a tax…
Despite the inclination to do so, policymakers will not be able to quickly move on from health care after last week’s defeat of the House Republican health care plan. There are immediate steps that the Trump administration needs to take…
Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare while imposing a delay on replacement plans could prove to be fiscally problematic. From strictly a budgetary perspective, the “repeal and replace” plan being floated by Republicans can be viewed as simply an immediate $680…
Three former congressmen and a retired U.S. ambassador warned of the difficult fiscal policy challenges facing the incoming Trump administration and congressional leaders at a forum last week in Concord, N.H. The bipartisan panel discussed issues such as the growing…