According to Brian Beutler at Talking Points Memo, Republicans and — new development here — Democrats are getting behind the idea of slowly raising the retirement age. The change would go into effect only for workers who are middle-aged or younger now, all as part of a plan to More…
It seems all those deficit hawks have the country spooked. A new Gallup poll says that terrorism and the national debt now rank evenly — above health care costs, unemployment, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the specter of climate change — as the most pressing issues More…
Via Mark Knoller, the Treasury Department announced that as of yesterday, the U.S. national debt has crossed the $13 trillion mark. The exact number is now $13,050,826,460,886.97, a record high.
Of course, the $13 trillion mark itself is not meaningful. But Congressional rhetoric around it might be. Though More…
This morning, Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, senior House Republican on the Joint Economic Committee, wondered aloud why Democrats faced with the recent recession didn’t adopt the same policies favored by Ronald Reagan during the economic downturn nearly 30 years ago.
“President Reagan pursued pro-growth policies, including large reductions in marginal More…
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) just named the latest members of the White House deficit commission: Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.), Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
President Obama launched the panel last month after the Senate — behind More…
By any objective measure, the $138 billion in deficit savings the Democrats’ health reform bill would rack up over the next 10 years (while extending coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans) is quite an accomplishment — particularly coming from a Congress not exactly known for paying all its More…
Different week, different sales pitch from Democratic leaders about why heath care reform is worth supporting. The Washington Post’s Paul Kane reports:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Thursday that the legislation is “the largest deficit-reduction bill that members will have a chance to vote on”
Although a good number of (non-congressional) budget hawks are urging more federal spending to address the jobs crisis, not everyone is on board.
Martin Feldstein, the conservative Harvard economist and chief economic adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, said last night that, despite his support 16 More…
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) introduced legislation yesterday to replace the likeness of Ulysses S. Grant with that of Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill.
“Every generation needs its own heroes,” McHenry said in a statement launching his proposal. “President Reagan was a modern day statesman, whose presidency transformed More…
Add Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) to the growing list of conservative state officials who are preaching fiscal restraint while also vying for federal stimulus dollars to address state budget problems. The Washington Post reports that McDonnell — who just last week told the More…
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