Political Ignorance Threatens Deficit Reduction

Americans know little about what’s in the federal budget, Bruce Bartlett reminded us late last week in a convincing piece that relied on the latest poll results. And while wanting to cut deficits and spending, the public largely opposes cuts to the particular domestic programs that dominate the budget. It’s a welcome reminder: All else …

Sorry, the Federal Deficit Isn’t a Spending Problem

In a bitterly polarized Washington, where the two parties increasingly confront one another over issues both large and small, we have apparently reached a rare bipartisan consensus: The rising deficit is a spending problem. Republicans have been saying it for years; President Obama largely adopted their narrative in his recent State of the Union address; …

Obama’s Shift to Center: Big Payoff at a Big Price

President Obama’s move to the political center and the accompanying rise in his approval ratings is good news both for him and the country because a weak President usually means a weak nation, at home and abroad. But Obama’s tortuous path to greater popularity says something disturbing about our political system and the ability to …

Battle Looms over GOP Efforts to Remake Medicaid

Debates over taxes and spending are often about bigger things, such as the proper role of the federal government, our responsibilities as citizens to finance that government, and our obligations to care for one another. Over the last 20 years, presidents and lawmakers have debated a number of fundamental questions: Welfare reform in 1996 — …

GOP Fiscal Fissures will Plague Policymaking

The debates of recent days over extending Bush-era tax cuts and funding government operations for 2011 make clear the contradictions within Republican fiscal policy – lower taxes and lower deficits, simultaneously – that will plague federal policymaking in the coming years. Until they choose the latter, U.S. fiscal problems will only grow worse. Consider the …