Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Washington Monument

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.
Mar 2, 2010 | Other Spending

What About Education Cuts?

Deficit Challenge suggestions continue to pour in. Recently, one commenter suggested we cancel all new Education programs proposed or started under...
Mar 2, 2010 | Budgets & Projections

Financial Report of U.S. Government

The Treasury Department recently released its annual Financial Report of the U.S. Government, reporting on the budget deficit, net operating costs,...

‘Line’ Items: A Lonely Road, Paying for Jobs

Highway to Nowhere – Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) has blocked a vote on temporarily extending unemployment and COBRA benefits, the Medicare “...
Mar 1, 2010 | Budgets & Projections

“Painful, Unglamorous, and Indispensible Work of Fiscal Discipline”

Those were some of the words uttered by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) today at the Brookings Institution as the latest political leader to...
Mar 1, 2010 | Economics

The Ever-Growing Announcement Effect Club

EPI's Lawrence Mishel joined the Announcement Effect Club with an article co-written with David Walker (already a member) in Politico last week....
Mar 1, 2010 | Economics

Weekend Editorial Roundup

Here are the highlights from this weekend’s editorials on fiscal and budget policy:The New York Times chided Jim Bunning for holding up a bill...
Mar 1, 2010

Two More FDIC Bank Closings

On Friday evening, the FDIC reported that it has taken over an additional two banks (Rainier Pacific Bank, Carson River Community Bank) for a cost...
Feb 26, 2010 | Budgets & Projections

So What Does "Current Policy" Look Like?

Here at CRFB, we love constructing baselines. Whenever CBO constructs its own budget baseline, in fact, we rush to adjust it. CBO's projections, as...

CBO/JCT Reports Roundup

 A number of very interesting and relevant government reports came out this week. Check them out: CBO: Cost Estimate of H.R. 4691,...
Feb 26, 2010

Bunning is Right on Unemployment: “We Should Pay For It”

Last night, Senator Jim Bunning blocked an effort to pass a one-month “extenders” bill by unanimous consent. The bill includes temporary...

Pages