Free Republic

The United States ran a budget deficit in July, although government revenues increased from a year earlier due to tax hikes and a strengthening economy, a report from the Treasury showed on Monday. The U.S. government spent $98 billion more than it took in last month, with the deficit driven by spending on healthcare programs, pensions for the elderly and the military. One major reason is that Washington ratcheted austerity efforts by raising tax rates, which has helped tax receipts. It has also slashed the federal budget, although in July total spending rose to $298 billion from $254 billion in...

The defense budget has always been collateral damage in the great budget debate over the relative merits of entitlement reform and tax increases. The current deficit is projected to total some $642 billion in 2013. The combination of cuts to the defense budget mandated by the fiscal year 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) and those imposed by the sequester amount to less than $85 billion, that is, they account for no more than a 14 percent reduction of the 2013 deficit. Clearly, defense does not provide a solution to the annual deficit, much less to the seemingly endless growth...

Relatively few lawmakers turned out today to hear Pentagon officials warn that ongoing budget cuts would bring widespread changes to the military and limit its strategic goals. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Navy Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee to discuss the potential impacts, which were detailed in an assessment released yesterday known in military parlance as the Strategic Choices and Management Review, or SCMR (pronounced "skimmer"). In the worst-case scenario, the Pentagon may have to cut 142,000 more active-duty soldiers and Marines, three carrier strike groups...

If yesterday's actions by House Republicans are any indication, it would appear that there aren't enough Republicans in the House to approve the deep cuts necessary to reach a balanced budget in 10 years as the Ryan plan requires. When House Republicans approved the Ryan budget a few months ago, there were many Republicans who warned that the deep cuts being called for (along with entitlement reform) would not be passed. Too many cuts for goodies like roads and bridges not to mention deep cuts in social programs would make too many in the GOP caucus skittish. Yesterday, those warnings...

Top Republicans woke up Tuesday morning to the news that President Obama was offering what he described as a “grand bargain,” offering lower tax rates in exchange for closing certain loopholes for big business. GOP leaders view Obama’s proposal as a regression from previous negotiations, however, and are working to swat down early press reports that describe it as a significant conciliatory gesture. “Not a ‘bargain,’ let alone ‘grand,’” read the first GOP press release at 9:24 a.m. from Boehner spokesman Michael Steel. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell followed about an hour later on the Senate floor, ripping the proposal...

A few words about the McBudget. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. As fast food workers around the country protest for higher wages, we learn that McDonald’s offers advice to help them live on the wages they make which, while not technically bupkes, do amount to a paycheck you can pretty much have the driver cash for you on the bus ride home. In December, for example, Bloomberg profiled a Chicago man who, after 20 years with the burger giant, earns $8.25 an hour — and doesn’t get 40 hours a week. This, as McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson pulled down, according...

The Obama administration dug in Sunday on its vow to reject proposed spending cuts by congressional Republicans in upcoming budget talks, but declined to say whether the president would veto their proposals or allow a government shutdown. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told “Fox News Sunday” that President Obama will neither sign government funding bills that slash domestic spending nor negotiate with Republicans over spending cuts to reduce the federal debt limit. He also said the president was not going to accept a budget in which domestic spending is further cut to soften the blow to Defense spending.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed the books on 2012 with $33.4 million in unallocated cash on hand — down from $167 million the year before — while adding to the mountain of debt piled on Chicago taxpayers, year-end audits show. Last week, Moody’s Investors ordered an unprecedented triple-drop in the city’s bond rating, citing Chicago’s “very large and growing” pension liabilities, “significant” debt service payments, “unrelenting public safety demands” and historic reluctance to raise local taxes that has continued under Emanuel. The 2012 city audits explain why. [Snip] The audits by the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche provide a treasure...

For all of the panicky rhetoric coming out of Chicago, one would think the school district is on the verge of financial collapse. Indeed, the Chicago Tribune recently published an editorial announcing that the financial emergency for CPS has arrived. That may very well be, but one would never know it from the proposed increase in spending of nearly 10 percent. Chicago Public Schools recently released a proposed budget of $5.6 billion for the 2013-14 school year. That’s up from $5.1 billion the previous year. The dramatic increase in spending is largely due to a $405 million employee pension payment...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned on Monday that U.S. troops are “close to the breaking point,” after many deployments — and Congress risks worsening the situation if it doesn’t help the Pentagon with its budget. “Our people are strong and resilient after 12 years of war, but they are under stress — and so are the institutions that support them,” Hagel told the Veterans of Foreign Wars at the group’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky. “Last week at Fort Bragg’s Soldier and Family Assistance Center, I met a first sergeant who told me that in Afghanistan, he froze up and...

JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. — The audience gasped in surprise and gave a few low whistles as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered the news that furloughs, which have forced a 20 percent pay cut on most of the military’s civilian workforce, probably will continue next year, and it might get worse. “Those are the facts of life,” Hagel told about 300 Defense Department employees, most of them middle-aged civilians, last week at an Air Force reception hall on a military base in Charleston. Future layoffs also are possible for the department’s civilian workforce of more than 800,000 employees, Hagel...

MADISON – The conclusion is succinct.“Wisconsin teacher unions currently have substantial resources from their members and have been an active force in Wisconsin state politics,” wrote the authors of the “How Strong Are U.S. Teachers Unions” report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an advocate for education reform.“But recent legislation, which sharply erodes their collective bargaining rights, likely heralds an era of diminished strength for public unions in general, and teacher unions in particular in the Badger State.” IN THE BEGINNING: Hallis Mallen, of Madison, Wis., takes part in a January 2012 Recall Walker rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol....

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz seems to be at odds with her boss about the sequester that is currently cutting the pay of 1000 Florida National Guardsmen by 20 percent, who are tasked to respond to natural disasters... [According to Politifact], Obama said that the sequester — and the defense cuts that would result from it — was not his proposition. “It is something that Congress has proposed,” he said in the debate. But it was Obama’s negotiating team that came up with the idea for defense cuts in 2011...

It’s been four months since the world came to an end — by which I mean, the budgetary “sequester” that cut federal spending across the board went into effect. Remember the sequester? It was going to be a nightmare, a horror show, the worst thing that ever happened. People would die in the streets, our defenses would be mangled, the elderly would starve, the poor would be evicted. After all, 47% of Americans receive some form of government assistance, subsidy or benefit. Wouldn’t across-the-board cuts in federal spending end up hurting a large number of them? Wouldn’t the pain lead...

Gross domestic product 2012, PPP (millions of Ranking Economy international dollars) 1 United States 15,684,800 2 China 12,470,982 3 India 4,793,414 4 Japan 4,490,681 5 Russian Federation 3,380,071 6 Germany 3,307,873 7 Brazil 2,365,779 8 France 2,354,874 9 United Kingdom 2,264,751 10 Mexico 2,015,281

Hark, unless mine eyes are cheated, it appears that the House has passed a bill — on energy and water development — that would spend less money than we spent last year. Indeed, that is the case: The $30.4 billion bill is $2.9 billion less than was appropriated for 2013. If my always-suspect English-major math is correct, that $2.9 billion represents a full 0.08 percent of 2012 federal outlays. The White House has threated to veto these “draconian cuts.” Seriously — OMB put out a statement calling these “draconian cuts.” Does anybody over there know what “draconian” means? Among the...

The U.S. posted record budget surplus for the month of June, bolstered by dividend payments from GSE's Fannie Mae (OTCBB: FNMA) and Freddie Mac (OTCBB: FMCC). It was also the largest surplus since 2008, data show. The U.S. Treasury Department said today that revenue outpaced spending by $116.50 billion last month, up from a deficit of $59.74 billion reported in the same period last year. Fannie and Freddie kicked-in about $67 billion in payments last month. Mandatory cuts, coupled with higher taxes and the domestic economy showing continued signs of improvement both contributed to the surplus. Despite the positive June...

The U.S. government posted an unexpectedly large budget surplus in June, a further sign of the rapid improvement in public finances that has taken the heat off Congress to find savings and raise the nation's borrowing limit. Rising tax revenue, public spending cuts and big payments to the Treasury from government-backed mortgage companies helped the government take in $117 billion more last month than it paid out, the U.S. Treasury said on Thursday. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a surplus of $39.5 billion. June's surplus was the largest on record for that month. While the government is still $510...

More than 600 full-time military technicians in the North Dako-ta National Guard will lose a total $1.2 million in pay over the next 11 weeks as they are required to take off one day a week due to national spending cuts. The furloughs, which went into effect Monday, are part of the federal budget sequestration, a series of automatic, across-the-board cuts to government agencies, totaling $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years triggered earlier this year by the inability of Congress to compromise on a federal budget. On Wednesday, New York Congressman Steve Israel, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign...

The Pentagon is eyeing plans to eliminate danger pay for service members in as many as 18 countries and five waterways around the world, saving about $120 million each year while taking a bite out of troops' salaries, The Associated Press has learned. Senior defense and military leaders are expected to meet later this week to review the matter and are poised to approve a new plan. Pentagon press secretary George Little declined to discuss details but said no final decisions have been made.

IBD Editorials America's Job Recovery Is Only For Part-Timers Posted 07/05/2013 06:09 PM ET Employment: From the media to Wall Street, June's jobs report is being spun as a major positive, a sign the economy is getting back on track. Maybe the pundits should look at the actual numbers, which are abysmal. aclbfTo hear some of them, the 195,000 payroll jobs added for the month while the unemployment rate stayed at 7.6% were a big deal. One investment house called it a "very good report." Another termed it "solid." Really? Let's take a little closer look at the numbers. The...

More than 650,000 civilian Defense Department workers will begin taking the first of their 11 unpaid days off next week, but the cut in salary they will see in the three months may pale compared to what officials worry could be larger-scale layoffs next year. Roughly 85 percent of the department’s nearly 900,000 civilians around the world will be furloughed, according to the latest statistics provided by the Pentagon. But while defense officials were able to shift money around to limit the furloughs this year, there are widespread worries that if automatic budget cuts go forward for 2014, thousands of...

I thought I’d re-up this story from the headlines. White House fear-mongerers hardest hit: Before “sequestration” took effect, the Obama administration issued specific — and alarming — predictions about what it would bring. There would be one-hour waits at airport security. Four-hour waits at border crossings. Prison guards would be furloughed for 12 days. FBI agents, up to 14. At the Pentagon, the military health program would be unable to pay its bills for service members. The mayhem would extend even into the pantries of the neediest Americans: Around the country, 600,000 low-income women and children would be denied federal...

Pointing to Africa's crippling lack of electrical power, President Barack Obama is due to announce on Sunday a $7 billion initiative over five years to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. Obama has been faulted for lacking a grand program to benefit Africa like the HIV/AIDS initiative launched by President George W. Bush or the broad reductions of trade barriers achieved by President Bill Clinton. Despite severe U.S. budget constraints, the power initiative could provide Obama with just such a signature program.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is expected to have a broad financial impact on both federal and private employer spending as same-sex married couples become eligible for benefits previously denied them... Currently there are an estimated 1,138 federal benefits provided on the basis of marital status. All of those benefits will now be available to same-sex married couples who reside in the 12 states where same-sex marriage is legal.

The battle to build the next “Beast” has begun. The Department of Homeland Security has opened bidding for the contract to design and engineer the next presidential limousine. Applications to be considered for the project were due this week, and a winner will be chosen by Sept. 29, but due to the sensitive nature of the vehicle, it’s likely we won’t know anything more about it until the new car enters service, possibly as early as 2015. A spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service confirmed that the department is looking into purchasing the next generation limo, but couldn’t offer further...

Yesterday El Rushbo reiterated a theme he's been presenting in connection with the amnesty bill ("immigration reform") being pushed through Congress. He's been noting that there are businesses out there perfectly happy with using taxpayers money to do business. While he's mentioned GE and its ties to the Obama Administration's "green energy" agenda, I think we can see another example of it playing out in the farm-food stamp legislation that failed in the House yesterday with 62 Republicans voting NO. Those 62 tend to be the more conservative members with notable execptions. Some of those Republicans called "conservative" from agri...

Madison — The Senate plans to send Gov. Scott Walker a state budget Thursday that would cut income taxes by an average of $150, raise property taxes by $29 on the typical home, reject a key element of ObamaCare and allow voucher schools in all corners of Wisconsin. The budget passed the Republican-controlled Assembly on Wednesday 55-42 and is likely to get through the Senate by just one vote. Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) told his colleagues on the Senate floor that without major changes, he would vote against the budget because it is "too far removed from the interests...

MADISON — They picked up their ball and went home. Assembly Democrats, fed up with what they saw as the futility of fighting a “disastrous” Republican-crafted state budget proposal, on Wednesday declined to offer amendments or to even debate the $68 billion, two-year spending plan. Instead, the minority party effectively gave the majority the silent treatment. Republicans quickly brushed off the political statement, and used their numbers to pass a budget they praised for lifting a big burden off of Wisconsin taxpayers. Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, had plenty to say at a press conference following the budget’s passage on...

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate would reduce the federal budget deficit by $875 billion over the first 20 years it becomes law. The CBO said in its official scoring of the bill that it would reduce the deficit by $175 billion in its first 10 years of existence. Over the next decade, it would provide an additional $700 billion in savings. .... Politics More: Congress Immigration Reform CBO CBO: Immigration Bill Will Reduce The Deficit Over The Next 20 Years Brett LoGiurato Jun. 18, 2013, 5:58 PM 489 6...

A wounded soldier receives treatment at a rehabilitation center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Thousands of civilian workers at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center -- the country’s top facility for wounded combat soldiers -- are facing furloughs this summer, as a result of sequester and other federal budget problems, according to the Defense Department. Roughly 2,400 workers at the suburban Washington facility were recently notified by letter that the department needs them to take off as many as 11 days without pay this summer to help with “extraordinary and serious budgets challenges.”...

Imagine an enemy that could neutralize 13 U.S. Air Force squadrons. What force could pull off such a feat? Not China, not Russia, certainly not al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Only the U.S. House of Representatives, and its weapon is sequestration. The problem traces back to 2011, when lawmakers approved a plan for across-the-board budget cuts that would kick in if a special panel couldn't reach compromises during a debt limit showdown. The cuts were intended to be so unacceptable they would force members of Congress to do their jobs, make tough choices, and work with one another. In other words,...

It might be a different year, but the story is the same. Michigan taxpayers will be paying $50 million in subsidies to millionaires and billionaires making movies in Michigan. That comes after what initially appeared to be a move to reduce the subsidy. At the beginning of the year, Gov. Rick Snyder recommended cutting Michigan's film incentives in half, to $25 million. The House plan didn't include any money for the film incentive program. The Senate wanted to spend $50 million on the incentives again. Appropriations for the film incentives are one item within the general government budget. The full...

Not so long ago, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said it expected the U.S. government to register a budget deficit in the current fiscal year of $642 billion. But hold on a minute… The budget deficit so far (as of May 31, 2013) has already hit $626.3 billion, and we still have four more months to go in the government’s current fiscal year!

"Extraordinary and serious budgetary challenges" are being cited as the reason that thousands of employees at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center are being furloughed this summer, according to a letter sent to employees. The letter, which was obtained by Federal News Radio, directly blames budget cuts related to sequestration as the reason that more than 3,500 civilian workers at both Walter Reed and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital will take up to 11 unpaid days off. "The Department of Defense will need funding in other accounts that can be used to provide the warfighters with what they need to protect...

As the U.S. House of Representatives gets ready to debate a $500 billion, five-year farm bill, environmentalists and fiscal hawks warn the legislation could leave taxpayers on the hook for expensive new subsidies to growers if crop prices fall. House Speaker John Boehner this week said he would vote for the bill, despite misgivings over dairy subsidies, and that a majority of House Republicans would support the bill. "I've got concerns," Boehner said of the farm bill. "But doing nothing means that we get no changes in the farm program, no changes in the nutrition program and as a result,...

When in April the US government reported a surplus of $112.9 billion (thanks to tax collections, Fed and GSE remittances) - the largest surplus since April 2008, many wondered if DC's profligate ways were over, and if maybe the so-called US austerity was staring to kick in. It wasn't. Because as the just released May data showed, not only did the US go right back to its deficit ways, posting a negative surplus of $138.7 billion, the largest May deficit since 2009, but the amount the US government spent, a total of $335.9 billion, was the largest May outlay in...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday sought to lay the blame for upcoming Chicago Public Schools budget cuts on state lawmakers' failure to extend pension relief, saying the loss in Springfield is now "on the doorstep of every school and every classroom in the city of Chicago." The mayor refused to rule out teacher layoffs or a property tax increase as pension payments are expected to balloon from $196 million this year to $612 million in the next budget year, which begins July 1. "Chicago Public Schools is working through the issues," Emanuel said in his first news conference since last...

CBO: The Deficit Has Shrunk Massively Over The Past Year Brett LoGiurato Jun. 7, 2013, 3:15 PM The federal budget deficit has fallen $220 billion in a year-over-year period, according to the latest monthly budget estimate from the Congressional Budget Office released Friday. According to the CBO, the federal government has run a budget deficit of $627 billion over the first eight months of the fiscal year. That's almost $220 billion less than the same period — May through October — of 2012. The CBO has not changed its overall deficit forecast, which is still projected to remain at $642...

<p>MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The Republican-controlled budget committee has approved a plan to cut income taxes about $650 million over the next two years.</p> <p>The Joint Finance Committee voted Wednesday on the tax cut, which is nearly double what Gov. Scott Walker proposed in February.</p>

Swedish repay their mortgages so slowly that it will take 140 years on average, according to the IMF. The International Monetary Fund lamented Friday that Swedish households pay their mortgages so slowly that they are planning to do an average of 140 years. "Financial stability is [...] reinforced by a steady reduction in repayment schedules - that exceed an average of 140 years," the IMF said in a statement after a mission in Sweden. This statistic was revealed in March by a government agency, the inspection of the financial sector. It covers loans considered relatively safe, those where the real...

With this in mind, we agree as a group that we cannot both represent our constituents and our conservative principles by supporting the budget in its current form. We in good conscience cannot support this budget unless the following issues are substantially addressed: · Adoption of Rep. Dale Kooyenga’s tax reform package and serious reforms to the “Marriage Penalty” tax. · Complete and total removal of the “DNA Collection Upon Arrest” proposal. · An overall reduction of $500 million in bonding. · Appropriations and tax reform done in a deficit neutral manner. · Double dipping 2/3 FTE employee provision returns...

Perhaps it is nothing more than an accident of timing that as federal workers brace for a summer filled with unpaid furlough days, their leaders are traveling the nation and globe on trips that exude luxury. On Wednesday, President Obama left the White House for two Chicago fund-raisers in the hope of helping Democrats retake the House in next year’s elections. The cost of flying aboard Air Force One to his hometown: $180,000 per hour. The same day, Michelle Obama traveled to Massachusetts to lunch with rich donors who had paid up to $37,600 per ticket at the Taj Boston...

The language of budget cuts, austerity, and sequestration seem to dominate the media's landscape these days, instilling fear into Americans of vital government services being cut and chaos ensuing if governments aren't allowed to spend and borrow infinitely. Conservatives decry supposed cuts to the military-industrial-complex, and liberals bemoan that without government welfare transfer programs, there would be social Darwinism. ... Leaving aside the details on whether the U.S. budget is actually shrinking, one needs to look no further than the city of Detroit to find the spontaneous order, civic cooperation, and peaceful market forces that take over when government simply...

The “World Famous Rocketeers” were flying high two months ago. The Air Force fighter squadron had returned safely with its F-15E Strike Eagles and aircraft crews from a six-month Middle East deployment, and in March the entire wing passed a readiness evaluation with an unusually high rating. That was then. In April, the Air Force ordered the Rocketeers — more formally, the 336th Fighter Squadron — to stop flying because of the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. Now, the squadron’s two dozen F-15s are parked underneath canopies on the flight line, with red covers over their gaping afterburners to...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the nation must do more than just remember its fallen heroes on Memorial Day. In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says the country must care for the loved ones the fallen leave behind. He says the country must also make sure that all veterans receive the care and benefits they have earned. Obama says that, above all, the armed forces must have the support needed to carry out their missions at home and abroad

The day after a four-lane interstate bridge in Washington state collapsed, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is using the incident to blame Republicans for the "dangerous consequences" of the sequestration spending cuts that started in March. "For 62 days, the American people have waited for House Republicans to move forward with the budget process and replace the devastating sequester cuts that are slashing into our country's safety net, national security, and public infrastructure," Pelosi's office said in a press release. "Yesterday, an Interstate 5 bridge north of Seattle collapsed after an oversized truck hit the structure. Thankfully, no one...

MADISON – When the co-chair of the Legislature’s powerful Committee on Joint Finance says it might be best if you stepped down, you know you and your agency are in for a long, hard day. “I can’t believe Kevin Reilly is still there,” Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills said of the beleaguered president of the University of Wisconsin System, under the political microscope for building up hundreds of millions of dollars in reserves during difficult fiscal times. “In the best interest of the state, Kevin Reilly should not be in this position,” Darling said. The finance committee voted to slash...

Via Joel Gehrke, a scene from the intramural debate over the debt ceiling between Maverick McCain and the Paul/Lee/Cruz tea-party coalition. If you read Erika’s post last night, you already know the background. The tea partiers are threatening to block the Senate’s budget from being sent to the House for a conference committee unless Reid assures them that whatever emerges won’t raise the debt ceiling. (Or, if it does, that 60 votes will be required for passage rather than the simple majority typically required for budget bills.) Reid won’t budge on that — yet. McCain, who’s been busy lately recouping...

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough lashed out at Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for his criticism of his own party in debt-ceiling negotiations. Responding to Cruz’s comment that he did not trust the GOP to be an arbiter in the debt debate. Scarborough predicted Cruz’s “self-righteous” demeanor would be his ultimate undoing as a member of the U.S. Senate. “It’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun when Ted Cruz is standing in line in the cloak room to get hot dogs,” Scarborough said. “This is a guy that has obviously decided...