The Debt

How Congress Cheats with Our Money — and How We Can Stop It

By Marc Goldwein and Zach Moller

The U.S. is on course to top its record debt levels set after World War II, and permanent trillion-dollar deficits — meaning, forever — are likely to return within two years . And unlike after World...
April Is Financial Literacy Month. Someone Tell Congress.

By Joseph J. Minarik and Caroline L. Ferguson

February is Black History Month, March is National Women’s Month, and April? Well, it’s Financial Literacy Month, of course! The U.S. government gave financial literacy its own month in 2003. April...
Why All the Warnings About Unsustainable National Debt Could Be Wrong

By Michael Rainey

International economists are warning about rising global debt levels and deficit hawks in Washington are increasingly worried about what they see as unsustainable debt levels in the U.S., but a new...
The US Has an Exceptional Debt Outlook – and Not in a Good Way

By Michael Rainey

The International Money Fund’s latest global fiscal survey warns that in five years, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio will be higher than Italy’s, a nation not generally known for its exemplary fiscal...
When the Budget Won’t Balance, Just Get Rid of the Budget Committee?

By Michael Rainey

It may sound like a joke — Erik Sherman of Forbes said it seemed like something “from The Onion or Andy Borowitz at the New Yorker, only with less humor and pith” — but Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), chair...

With Recent Laws, Congress Has Added $540 Billion to the 2019 Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Spending hikes and tax cuts passed since 2015 under the Trump and Obama administrations account for $540 billion of next year’s projected $981 billion budget deficit, or 55 percent, according to...
Extending the Individual Tax Cuts Would Reduce Economic Growth: Penn Wharton Budget Model

By Michael Rainey

Most of the individual tax cuts in the GOP tax overhaul that became law in December are scheduled to expire after 2025, but Republican lawmakers are expected to try to make them permanent well before...
Why Trillion-Dollar Deficits Matter

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office confirmed this week that the deficit is on pace to surpass $1 trillion in 2020 and climb higher from there barring action by leaders in Washington, potentially...
Paul Ryan's Fiscal Legacy: Lots of Red Ink

By Yuval Rosenberg

House Speaker Paul Ryan announced Wednesday that he won’t seek re-election this year and will retire at the end of his term in January, becoming the most prominent in a wave of Republican lawmakers...
Yellen, Democratic Economists Say Fixing Debt Crisis Isn’t All About Entitlements

By Yuval Rosenberg

Late last month, a quintet of big-name Hoover Institution economists warned in a Washington Post op-ed that a coming “string of perpetually rising trillion-dollar-plus deficits” could soon lead to a...

Why the Fed May Take Away the Punchbowl at the GOP Tax Cut Party

By Yuval Rosenberg

"Don't fight the Fed," an old investing adage warns. Yet that's just what Republicans appear to be doing in their drive to stimulate the economy with a tax cut even as the Federal Reserve looks set...
There’s Still No Evidence That Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves

By Michael Rainey

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has long claimed that tax cuts will pay for themselves through faster economic growth. On Sunday, Mnuchin told CNN that the GOP tax bill will generate “$2.5 trillion...
Why the Numbers Aren’t Adding Up for the GOP Tax Bill

By Yuval Rosenberg

Members of the House Ways and Means Committee were confronted with a gaping revenue hole of at least $74 billion Wednesday, after a change they made to their tax plan on Monday was found to wipe out...
Repeal of Obamacare Mandate Would Reduce Deficit by $338 Billlion: CBO

By Reuters Staff, Reuters

The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday said that repealing the individual mandate for health insurance would reduce the federal budget deficit less than first forecast as it readied a revised...
Will the GOP Tax Plan Stall in the Senate?

By Michael Rainey

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Senate Republicans will release their version of the tax bill on Friday. Republicans plan to pass their tax bill through the upper chamber with a...