We had heard that Sens. McCain and Feingold, with Reps. Meehan and Shays, intended to introduce new legislation to increase regulations on lobbying. On Friday, McCain and Shays, sans Meehan and Feingold, announced thier intention to introduce lobbying reform legislation, the Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act of 2005. Reportedly, Meehan and Feingold were not present because they don't think the GOP bill goes far enough to regulate lawmakers.

The Congressional Budget Office released their Long-term Budget Outlook today, in which they noted Even if taxation reached levels that were unprecedented in the United States, current spending policies could become financially unsustainable. An evergrowing burden of federal debt held by the public would have a corrosive and potentially contractionary effect on the economy.

We have been saying a lot lately that Congressional GOP budget and tax policies look out for the wealthy by providing them with tax cuts, while at the same time hurt the poor by robbing social programs of funding in the name of fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction. While this is true, there is more to the picture. As Josh Lynn and Robert Gordon have recently discussed at Think Progress and in the American Prospect, the latest GOP policies are also responsible for discouraging hard work and self-reliance - two ideals endlessly promoted in conservative rhetoric. Lynn and Gordon write

The SEC told reporters that it is working on new guidance to clarify its thinking on some enforcement matters, according to BNA's Daily Report for Executives: Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said Dec. 14 that the commission intends to issue formal guidance that "more clearly explain[s] objective criteria for imposing ... penalties" in enforcement actions.