The federal budget deficit will be nearly $1 trillion this year, our national debt is headed toward $17 trillion, Congress' approval polls are a dismal 13 percent, and our lawmakers are on a two-week spring break.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he asked Democrats to bring forth "a thoughtful budget" that tabled tax hikes and worked toward balancing spending with cutting. What he got, however, was a far cry from that.
Forget passing a Senate budget. Senate Democrats and Republicans can't even agree on basic numbers such as what it means to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion — a disagreement that underscored the difficulty of agreeing on a 10-year budget.
Budgeting has never been at the top of President Obama's list of priorities. For the fourth time in five years, the White House missed the statutory deadline Monday for submitting its annual spending blueprint to Congress. Mr. Obama isn't in a rush to let the world know that his intention is to keep spending the country into the red.
Congressional Republicans are preparing to let $85 billion in automatic spending cuts begin to bite March 1, saying they have become convinced that letting the "sequesters" take effect is the only way they will be able to wrangle real spending cuts from President Obama.
After more than three years, the Democrat-controlled Senate may bring forth a formal budget under the direction of its newly appointed Budget Committee Chairman, Sen. Patty Murray
Washington is abuzz over whether House Speaker John A. Boehner is purging conservatives from positions of power within his caucus. In a closed-door meeting Monday, Republican leaders stripped plum committee assignments from four outspoken advocates of limited government.
House Republicans voiced displeasure with their leaders in a closed-door meeting Wednesday after some conservatives were kicked off plum committees this week in retaliation for bucking party leadership on big votes — and were met with warnings that others still could be punished.
President Obama signed legislation Tuesday that affords greater protection to federal employees who expose fraud, waste and abuse in government operations.
