White House Veto Threat: House Defense Bill Would Hurt Americans

The White House issued a veto threat on Monday evening, threatening to torpedo the House’s version of the annual Department of Defense (DoD) appropriations bill (H.R. 2397). House Republicans are proposing defense spending levels that are higher than this years and that break through spending caps established by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

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Key Senate Democrat Calls for 'Replacing' Sequestration, But With What?

On its face, a recent memo from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA), released June 28, seems to be calling for an end to unrealistic spending cuts and austerity. But in calling on Congress to "replace" across-the-board spending cuts, called sequestration, the memo says very little about how to do this – which begs the question: replace sequestration with what?

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Congress Says Special-Ops Budget Too Secret

While details on spending on specific national-security programs are sometimes kept from the public, such secrecy is not supposed to extend to Congress. Lawmakers are supposed to have detailed information on executive branch activities so they can knowledgeably exercise their constitutional power of the purse.

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GAO: Lower Contractor Compensation Caps Would Save Hundreds of Millions

Hundreds of millions of dollars per year could be saved if Congress lowers the maximum amount the government reimburses contractors for their employees’ compensation, according to a new report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’ investigative arm.

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GOP 30-year Budget Projections Target Social Security and Medicare

Ezra Klein wrote an interesting piece over at the Wonk Blog this afternoon poking fun at congressional Republicans who have decided that, since current budget deficits are dropping, it makes more sense for them to focus on 30-year deficit projections.

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The Impact on Public Investment from Drops in Non-Defense Discretionary Spending

While the damaging impacts of austerity have received increased attention in recent weeks, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows that most of the major budget plans being considered in Washington would make things worse.

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Sign-on Letter Opposing House Spending Cuts Circulated

USAction is circulating a sign-on letter opposing House spending bills that would increase defense spending and cut domestic programs. The letter is open to national, state, and local organizations through June 25.

President Obama has already issued a veto threat against two House spending bills for these reasons. The Center for Effective Government is among the organizations that have signed the letter.

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White House At Odds With House on Weapons Cancellations

It's an old battle: executive branch expertise on how it thinks taxpayer dollars should be spent versus the congressional power of the purse. This story plays out often in the yearly authorization and appropriations bills for the Department of Defense (DOD). This year is not any different as a White House statement from yesterday makes clear.

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Debt Limit to be Reached in October or November

The federal government will not reach its statutorily-set debt limit of $16.7 trillion until October or November, according a report released June 11 by the Congressional Budget Office.

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Now Is Not the Time for a 'Grand Bargain'

The Washington Post took time this weekend to reprimand progressives who think continued budgetary austerity when the economy is still recovering is ill-advised.

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