Tag: United States

Budget Deal Is a Tipping Point for the US Economic Recovery

Curious Capitalist

Budget Deal Is a Tipping Point for the US Economic Recovery

By Dec. 11, 2013
image: The sun rises on a cloudy morning at the Capitol in Washington, Nov. 13, 2012.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Whisper it—we may be at a tipping point in the US economic recovery. The announcement that U.S. budget negotiators have reached a provisional two-year deal to avert another government shutdown (which had been set to happen, sans deal, in early 2014) was fantastic news. For the last few years, government has been a headwind, rather than a help, to the recovery. If you’d have stripped the public sector out of the growth numbers over the last year or so, you’d find that the U.S. was already in a 3 percent growth economy, rather than the sluggish “New Normal” of 2 percent that we’ve all gotten used to. If this deal, which still has to be voted on in both the House and Senate, marks a move from gridlocked, partisan politics in Washington to something more constructive, that’s a big deal. Continue reading “Budget Deal Is a Tipping Point for the US Economic Recovery”

Budget deal a step backward: Opposing view

Budget deal a step backward: Opposing view

Michael A. Needham 10:45 p.m. EST December 10, 2013

More spending and higher fees.

While imperfect, the sequester has proved to be an effective tool in reducing base discretionary spending. Nonetheless, conservatives have expressed a willingness to alter the budget caps established by the 2011 debt ceiling deal in exchange for immediate and substantive structural reforms that significantly reduce spending and address the real drivers of our debt.

OUR VIEW: Beats another shutdown Continue reading “Budget deal a step backward: Opposing view”

Conservatives sound alarm over tentative budget deal

Conservatives sound alarm over tentative budget deal

Published December 11, 2013 FoxNews.com

Conservative groups pushed back hard against the proposed federal budget agreement announced Tuesday, arguing that the tentative deal unravels hard-fought spending cuts.

Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis, the lead negotiators on the agreement, detailed the specifics of the proposal at an evening press conference.

The proposal would restore about $63 billion in funding that had been cut by the so-called sequester. Officials said the increases would be offset by a variety of spending reductions and increased fees elsewhere in the budget totaling about $85 billion over a decade, leaving enough for a largely symbolic deficit cut of $23 billion over the next decade. Continue reading “Conservatives sound alarm over tentative budget deal”

US Congress cross-party budget deal reached

BBC

US Congress cross-party budget deal reached

Congressman Paul Ryan (left) and Senator Patty Murray (right)
Senator Patty Murray (right) and Congressman Paul Ryan (left) were picked to head a cross-party budget committee in the wake of an October government shutdown

A cross-party Congressional budget committee convened after an October government shutdown has reached an agreement to fund federal services.

The proposed deal finances the government for two years and reduces the federal deficit by $23bn (£14bn).

It also avoids another government shutdown on 15 January when government funding is scheduled to run out. Continue reading “US Congress cross-party budget deal reached”

Congress, with the clock ticking, nears deals on defense and budget bills

Congress, with the clock ticking, nears deals on defense and budget bills

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg – The U.S. Capitol stands in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013.
 

By and , Published: December 9 E-mail the writers

After compiling a reed-thin record of achievement for 2013, the House and Senate began their final week of the year together in Washington on the verge of breakthroughs on a new defense policy bill and budget agreement, deals that could permit lawmakers to boast of modest year-end successes and enjoy their first extended Christmas break since at least the start of the Obama presidency.

Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) is determined to adjourn the House for the year on Friday. The Senate plans on remaining in town until Dec. 20. It is a short schedule that forced leaders of the House and Senate armed-services committees Monday to scale back their ambitions and agree to move ahead with a modified version of the National Defense Authorization Act, one of the few “must pass” measures left for the divided Congress.

Video

@TheBudgetGuy Stan Collender tells Chris Cillizza what the much-anticipated budget deadline has in common with the hit nineties television show.

@TheBudgetGuy Stan Collender tells Chris Cillizza what the much-anticipated budget deadline has in common with the hit nineties television show. Continue reading “Congress, with the clock ticking, nears deals on defense and budget bills”

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