On March 16, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) proposed an amendment to a bill reauthorizing two award programs offered by the Small Business Administration. It has not gotten much press, but it proposes serious, long-term changes to how Washington does business and places eight members of Congress in charge of the ...

The Senate passed a sixth Continuing Resolution on March 17, 2011, which cuts an additional $6 billion from the Fiscal Year 2011 budget. The FY 2011 year ends September 30, 2011 and Republican leaders are under pressure to meet the $100 billion-cut-goal set by the House Appropriations Committee. As this ...

A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has updated data about the impact of the continued struggling economy on state budgets. According to CBPP's latest analysis, 44 states and the District of Columbia are projecting budget shortfalls totaling $112 billion for fiscal year 2012, which ...

I had the real privilege of speaking at the Michigan Forum on Jobs and Human Needs on Saturday, March 6, 2001. Sponsored by a great mix of labor, faith, peace and student groups, the event was held in Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital, which is located within Ingham County. Many ...

Congress is currently struggling to pass a budget for FY 2011 (which began six months ago). The debate has been overtaken by overwhelming concern about both the annual deficit and the national debt which is approaching $14 trillion. In the two-week continuing resolution passed on March 2, higher education programs ...

Budgeting Process How does the budget go from an idea to a law? Each February, the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of the White House, releases the President's budget requests for the next fiscal year, which starts October 1. The House of Representatives and the Senate subcommittees ...

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } On February 19, 2011 the House of Representatives passed the Republican majority's version of the Fiscal Year 2011 spending bill, which contains funding for the entire federal government through the end of September. 162 amendments were offered during consideration of the bill and ...

NPP Provides State-Level Analysis of the President'sFiscal Year 2012 Budget RequestToday the White House released the Obama Administration's budget request for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins on October 1, 2011. As expected, the estimated $3.7 trillion FY2012 request contains a number of critical policy and fiscal goals, including: Reducing the ...

To the Congress of the United States:America is emerging from the worst recession in generations. In 2010, an economy that had beenshrinking began to grow again. After nearly 2 years of job losses, America’s businesses added morethan one million jobs. Our capital and credit markets are functioning and strong. Manufacturing ...

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } Now we move from the large, tumultuous body of the House of Representatives to the smaller and more deliberative Senate. In the Constitutional compromise, the Senate is meant to prevent hasty action by the House, serve as a check on the ambition of ...