This afternoon, the Senate voted 51-48 to restore reasonable tax rates on the top two percent of Americans. Ending the Bush tax cuts for households making more than $250,000 would generate almost a trillion dollars in revenue over the next ten years. This revenue could be used to pay down the deficit and build a platform for future growth by investing in education, infrastructure, research, clean energy, and more. With this vote, a majority of senators acknowledged the need for more revenue and for a fairer tax system.

Since 1790, Americans have used the Census as a tool to understand who we are and where we stand as a nation. However, our ability to gather this crucial data would be crippled under a bill recently passed by the House.

During this period of political gridlock, it's rare to find a bipartisan legislative initiative that we can enthusiastically support. But tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on just such a bill, the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act). The DATA Act would greatly enhance federal spending transparency, bringing new datasets online and helping standardize reporting across the government.

Yesterday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) released his latest budget proposal, called "The Path to Prosperity," which serves as an update to his plan from last year. The proposal, which is the draft of the fiscal year (FY) 2013 House budget resolution, is supposed to be a fiscal framework for the House for the coming year. However, the congressman's tax plan is not a serious proposal for change.