Federal deficit

Steven Nelson of the Washington Examiner highlights a major piece of congressional business that’s generating concerns for fiscal conservatives. Conservatives fear spending legislation that needs to pass within nine days will be stuffed with wasteful spending and policies they oppose, and that Republicans will be too distracted by…

National Review Online editors highlight a key problem for those who consider mounting federal deficits a significant issue. It does not take great leadership — or great skill at deal-making — to do things that already are popular. There is nothing easier than giving people what they want…

Tristan Justice writes for the Federalist about a disturbing fiscal fact for the federal government. The U.S. deficit has hit its highest point in seven years, at $984 billion in the 2019 budget year, approximately a 26 percent increase from 2018 and a 48 percent increase from 2017,…

This blog, our research updates, and Carolina Journal’s Daily Journal columns all make clear that state policies are grounded in reality, including recent budgets. Yuval Levin of the American Enterprise Institute provides yet more evidence that Washington policies are orthogonal to reality, especially in finances.

Michael Tanner‘s latest column for National Review Online explores the “moral dimension” of our national debt. “Oh Lord, give me chastity,” St. Augustine is reputed to have said. “But don’t give it yet.” So it is with Republicans who have vowed to show some fiscal discipline — sometime…

Tiana Lowe reports for the Washington Examiner on the latest evidence that the federal government’s spending trajectory is unsustainable. Just 10 months into the fiscal year, our budget deficit has already surpassed the totality of that of 2018. Currently at $867 billion, the federal government’s 2019 budget deficit…

Editors at National Review Online critique a new federal spending deal. In an era of heightened partisan rancor, Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington still managed to come together in a spirit of bipartisanship this week to do that thing they do best — spend. Party leaders in…

Brian Riedl writes for National Review Online about the implications of a new federal budget deal. President Trump and congressional leaders are nearing a deal that would raise the discretionary-spending caps by $320 billion over two years and offset less than one-quarter of those costs (and even those…