Budget Matters Blog


Pick Your Better Border Budget Battle: Can we reach a deal on the border crisis?

Competing funding proposals to deal with the border crisis express vastly different priorities about border security, refugee assistance, and legal representation, echoing the deep divisions about immigration reform overall.


Penny on the Dollar: US Foreign Aid is about One Percent of Spending

One of the most enduring myths about the federal budget is that a significant portion of it goes overseas in the form of foreign aid.  In fact, foreign aid is about one percent of the federal budget.


Deja-Vu all over again: Can Congress Pass a Budget?

With elections looming in November, most observers don’t expect Congress to pass a budget before the October 1 deadline. 


Billions of Dollars Missing From Government Spending Website

The Government Accountability Office recently found that $619 billion in federal grants and loans was improperly reported in 2012.


Now or Never: Congress Struggles to Beat its Do-Nothing Rep

This Congress is on track to be one of the least productive ever, with a full slate of immediate problems still unaddressed. 


Corporate Tax Inversions and Our Ailing Tax Code

What corporate tax inversions mean for U.S. taxpayers.


Highlights From This Year's Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports

Yesterday the trustees of two key social insurance programs - Social Security and Medicare - released their annual reports projecting the future of the programs’ finances.


What You Need to Know about CBO’s Recent Long-Term Budget Outlook

Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its 2014 Long-Term Budget Outlook, projecting that the nation’s fiscal future is stable for the next few years and then begins to worsen gradually with an increase in the federal debt.


What Do the Recent Supreme Court Cases (“Hobby Lobby” and “Harris v Quinn”) Have to Do with the Federal Budget?

Doug Hall explains the budgetary implications of the controversial Hobby Lobby and Harris v Quinn Supreme Court rulings.


The F-35: The Pentagon’s Most Expensive Weapon Can’t Even Fly

The Pentagon’s most expensive weapons system in history, the infamous F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, was recently grounded.