Page 9 - Budget Control News Today

When recently asked about the soaring national debt, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blamed entitlement spending and Congress’ lack of interest in taking up entitlement reform.

News and analytical articles about Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

President Obama’s budget proposal for FY 2013 would reduce national defense to the lowest of the major budget priorities of the federal government. Under the Constitution, Congress has the obligation to pass a budget that maintains U.S. military capabilities.

The NDAA is an opportunity to begin rebuilding the U.S. military and Congress needs to take advantage of it.

It seems fitting that the Heritage Foundation released its latest Index of U.S. Military Strength just before Halloween. It makes for some scary reading. It's easy to assume that our military will always be prepared to not only defend our shores, but to protect our allies and interests worldwide. Indeed, to suggest otherwise might seem unnecessarily pessimistic.

Growing evidence linking earmarks to bribes from lobbyists andtheir clients has encouraged Congress to enact reforms, but many ofthese proposals would make only cosmetic changes. Much moretransparency is needed, and stiffer reporting requirements shouldbe imposed on lobbyists, their clients, and the Members of Congressand congressional staff that they contact.

For the first time in more than five years, Congress has passed a budget plan. The plan would balance the budget by 2024—but only if Congress were to enact additional enabling legislation that would actually accomplish the savings included in their budget. That’s a huge “if.” This is one of Washington’s dirty secrets. Members of Congress get to claim credit for passing a budget that balances without being held to the task of actually accomplishing this feat.

Fifty years after the break in at Democratic National Committee headquarters, the corrosive impact of Watergate continues.

COVID-19 insurance claims could reach as high as THB110bn ($3.2bn) to THB180bn by the end of June, mainly from low-price COVID insurance, according to the research department of Thai Reinsurance Public Company (Thai Re).

The House and Senate voted last week, and President Biden signed into law on December 10, 2021, a bill to delay looming reduction in Medicare rates set to take effect in 2022. The...