Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty’s budget speech this week was a masterful combination of bluster and sleight-of-hand, one that promised candor while selling snake oil. “I promised to level with the American people,” he says early on, noting that he has called for phasing out ethanol subsidies that largely benefit the first-in-the-nation caucus state of …
Continue reading “Pawlenty Selling Snake Oil for a Budget Plan”
Today’s front-page piece in the Washington Post about the Republican evolution to no-tax absolutism showcases how profoundly unserious, infantile, and destructive the Republican Party has become on fiscal policy. At its most basic level, budgeting is simple. Policymakers must decide what the federal government should do – from defending the nation to promoting economic growth …
Interest is growing in tax policy circles in a new round of tax reform, with many experts hoping the White House and Congress will enact legislation that’s roughly modeled on the landmark Tax Reform Act of 1986. Before moving too far down that path, however, they might want to keep in mind how different the …
Continue reading “Simplify the Tax Code, But Leave 1986 Out of It”
With regard to tonight’s House vote to raise the federal debt limit, let’s see if I understand this correctly. House Republicans oppose a “clean” debt limit increase – that is, legislation that would do only one thing: raise the limit on allowable federal debt. They insist that Congress must accompany any debt limit increase with …
Continue reading “Struggling to Understand the GOP Debt Limit Vote”
The Palestinian push for U.N. recognition of statehood comes amid signs that Palestinians are discarding the notion of living in peace with Israel, which will require the United States to veto any proposal that reaches the Security Council in order to protect its key Middle East ally. Arguing for U.N. recognition, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud …
Continue reading “Palestinian ploy would push Israel to the edge of destruction”
The fiscal debate in Washington will soon focus more squarely on key safety net programs for the poor, such as Medicaid and SNAP (formerly called food stamps). Here’s why: The debate of recent months has become a game of whack-a-mole. Private-sector budget hawks try to focus attention on the big steps needed to reduce the …
Continue reading “Whack-a-Mole Politics: Safety-Net Programs in View”
The future of federal fiscal policy may lie not in the negotiations that Vice President Joe Biden is holding with bipartisan congressional leaders, or in the meetings of what’s now the Senate “Gang of Five,” or in deliberations at the Senate Budget Committee to produce a fiscal 2012 budget resolution. Instead, it may lie in …
Continue reading “New York Special Election a Litmus Test for GOP”