Budget

The United States faces a number of serious fiscal and economic challenges. Federal budget deficits are projected for the foreseeable future, the economy remains weak, Social Security faces long-term financing concerns, health care spending is growing faster than the economy, tax policy is at a major crossroads, and our national debt continues to rise. Inattention to the ballooning national debt threatens to undermine the economy and our competitiveness, and could lead to a serious fiscal crisis.

On Monday, the White House released its FY 2013 budget. Our major findings include:

In this episode of The Sidebar, the weekly podcast from the New America Foundation that looks at what's in and what's underlying the news.

Justin King, Noam Sheiber, and Marc Goldwein discuss President Obama's budget proposal and Rick Santorum's surge in the Republican Primaries. Pamela Chan hosts.

The Asset Building News Week is a weekly Friday feature on the The Ladder, the Asset Building Program blog, designed to help readers keep up with news and developments in the asset building field. This week's topics include the President’s Budget, the CFPB, public benefits, inequality and mobility, community colleges, and financial education.

After two earlier rollouts—the announcement of a new “defense strategic guidance” on Jan. 5 and the top-line numbers for the new defense budget three weeks later—the Pentagon today finally released its actual budget request for fiscal year 2013, with all the details attached. When you read through the mountain of pages and appendixes, a curious discrepancy sticks out.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its updated budget and economic projections today, showing the appearance of a sustainable debt trajectory over the next ten years. However, these projections do not incorporate the costs of policies lawmakers are very likely to continue, nor do they show the long-term costs of an aging population and growing health care costs beyond the ten year window.

Among our major findings based on the report:

The Pentagon revealed a bit more of its defense budget today, and, really, the proposed cuts in spending amount to no big deal. It would be hard to justify not making these cuts. If Congress winds up wanting to cut deeper, there’s plenty of room for more hacking.

First, a word of caution: There are many ways to calculate a “cut,” and some will no doubt invoke a few to claim that the Obama administration’s cuts are severe. Let’s go to the numbers.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the important topic of fixing the budget process. It is a privilege to appear before the Committee.

At the end of last year, lawmakers enacted a temporary two-month extension of several policies set to expire, including the temporary payroll tax holiday, expanded unemployment insurance, the doc fix, and various health provisions. Encouragingly, the $33 billion cost of the extensions was fully offset over a ten-year period and a Conference Committee was appointed to determine how any further extensions would be treated.

1. Make Deficit Reduction a Top Priority.
2. Propose Specific Fiscal Targets.
3. Recommend Specific Policies to Achieve the Targets.
4. Do No Harm.
5. Use Honest Numbers and Avoid Budget Gimmicks.
6. Do Not Perpetuate Budget Myths.
7. Do Not Attack Someone Else's Plan Without Putting Forward an Alternative.
8. Refrain From Pledges That Take Policies Off the Table.
9. Propose Specific Solutions for Social Sec