 Special Edition: National Security Costs and Benefits Clifford D. May, Bradley Bowman and Rep. Jim Banks — FDD's Foreign Podicy The threats facing the United States and its allies are not static. They grow. They transform. America’s defense strategies and defense budgets need to respond with creativity and muscularity. In November, the U.S. Congress employed a legislative tool known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) to provide temporary funding for the U.S. Military. Now, in December, there is another funding deadline looming. But this kind of uncertainty puts America’s national security and our military personnel at heightened and unnecessary risk. Listen Here Budgeting Through Rose-Colored Glasses Brian Chen, City Journal Even before Covid-19 blew a hole in their budgets, many states and cities were only one modest downturn away from fiscal calamity. With unfunded pension liabilities looming, a decline in revenue was bound to push states and municipalities over the edge at some point. The only question was when; the pandemic gave us the answer.Yet, while seemingly invincible places like New York City are now on life support, once-moribund areas are getting a second wind. Read more here.... China Has a Few Things to Teach the U.S. Economy
– Noah Smith, Bloomberg  Any new nondelegation doctrine must be based on clear, judicially administrable principles rooted in the Constitution itself, writes Adam White. READ MORE The conservative majority on the Roberts Court is likely to restore nondelegation doctrine Peter J. Wallison | AEIdeas The Myth of “Coequal” Branches of the Federal Government
By Richard J. Bishirjian on Oct 22, 2019 10:00 pm The popular myth, retold almost daily by members of Congress, that the Constitution established three separate, but equal branches, of government has no basis in fact. The true intent of the Framers was for the Congress to be supreme because it is the nature of representative government that the most representative branch should be most ... Read in browser » Structural, Not Cyclical, Budget Reform by John B. Taylor via Economics One Today I published a column in Project Syndicate on fiscal policy. I am positive about pro-growth effects of the tax reform in the 2017 tax act and of the greater use of cost-benefit analysis in the recent regulatory reform effort. And the recent trade deals—the USMCA and “  In search of responsible republican government, part 2: The parties as a solution Jay Cost | September 2019
In search of responsible republican government, part 1: The institutional problem Jay Cost | AEI | August 6, 2019 Restoring Congress: The parties are a solution
Jay Cost | NationalReview.com | June 17, 2019 GETTING REPUBLICAN GOVMINT WORKING. . . AGAIN, WHY THE PARTIES ARE BROKEN & NEW RATIOS FROM THE CBO8/10/2019  Why Budget Negotiations Succeed—and Why They Fail 10 Blocks podcast In search of responsible republican government, part 1 Jay Cost | American Enterprise Institute This report examines the origins and developments of dual issues — the decline of the legislature and the rise of the presidency. Updates To The Budget Calculator via Budget Matters, America Off Balance We are happy to announce we have updated the America Off Balance Budget Calculator to reflect the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) recent update to their 10-year budget and economic projections. Party Instability: Why American Politics Feels Broken
by David Brady via PolicyEd American politics feels broken because existing voting blocs are regrouping and reconsidering which issues motivate them and which political party they support. Ongoing economic and demographic structural changes have led to control of the legislative and executive branches shifting back and forth. While this is not the first time in the history this has occurred, political parties will need to figure out a winning combination of policies that can consistently win them elections in order to stabilize American politics.  The Judiciary Can Restore the Power of Congress by Peter J. Wallison Just as the courts played a role in weakening Congress over time, they can help force lawmakers to take up their constitutionally assigned tasks. Read More » Energy in the Legislature by Philip A. Wallach Jeff Bergner has written an engaging memoir seasoned with the author’s considered judgments about what is wrong with the U.S. Senate. Read More » Party Instability: Why American Politics Feels Broken
by David Brady via PolicyEd American politics feels broken because existing voting blocs are regrouping and reconsidering which issues motivate them and which political party they support. Ongoing economic and demographic structural changes have led to control of the legislative and executive branches shifting back and forth. While this is not the first time in the history this has occurred, political parties will need to figure out a winning combination of policies that can consistently win them elections in order to stabilize American politics.   New budget, same story
James C. Capretta | RealClearPolicy The primary value of most presidential budgets is political, and this one is no different.  New House budget rules take three steps forward but one big step back Alan D. Viard | The Hill The House recently voted to adopt the new Democratic leadership’s proposed rules for the 116th Congress. Two of the rule changes may slightly improve the long-run budget outlook, and another may help avert debt-limit showdowns. But one change takes a clear step backward. The congressional budget process: A brief primer
James C. Capretta | AEI Economic Perspectives The modern budget process has been amended in several important ways since its establishment in 1974, including the introduction of caps for appropriated spending and a pay-as-you-go rule for taxes and entitlements, both of which are enforced with automatic cuts in spending if they are violated. James Capretta argues that the current process was written for a time when appropriations spending was dominant; it does not work as well with so much of the federal budget devoted to spending that occurs automatically on entitlement programs. Further, the current process does not facilitate executive-legislative agreement on budgetary aggregates, which is an important reason for instability and uncertainty in federal finances.  17 Ideas for Congress’ Budget Reform Committee
Brian Riedl, E21 The Congressional budget process is a dysfunctional mess. Lawmakers often juggle a series of continuing resolutions and occasional government shutdowns until finally crafting a single omnibus appropriations bill well into the next fiscal year. That 2,000-page, trillion-dollar bill is then quickly passed before lawmakers can read it and before outsiders can expose the gimmicks. Read more here....  A Federal Budget Plan to Avert a Debt Crisis
Brian Riedl, E21 Annual budget deficits are projected to soon surpass $1 trillion, on their way to $2 trillion or even $3 trillion in 10 to 15 years. Social Security and Medicare face a combined $100 trillion cash deficit over the next 30 years, which would push the national debt to nearly 200% of the gross domestic product (GDP). At that point, interest on that debt would consume 40% of all tax revenues—or more, if interest rates rise. Unless reforms are enacted, global markets will, at some point, stop lending to the U.S. at plausible interest rates. Read more here....  How Medicare for All Will Squeeze Blue States
Chris Pope, National Review Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, along with other single-payer advocates, has argued that the federal government could cover all Americans’ medical needs for much less than they currently spend privately. Much attention has focused on the impact of dramatically reducing payments to health-care providers, and on the magnitude of the tax increases involved. But “Medicare for All” would also lead to an enormous redistribution among states — cutting the health-care resources available to Sanders’s state by almost a third. Read more here....  Congress must grow to check the administrative state
James C. Capretta | RealClearPolicy James Capretta explores the rise of the administrative state and the corresponding decline in power of the legislative branch, explaining that Congress' persistent failure to properly fulfill the role of checking the executive branch in recent years, is one reason the nation's politics are out of balance. Capretta argues that Congress could begin to reassert itself by building stronger institutional support for the development of specific legislative responses to emerging issues and problems. The legislative branch has steadily lost power to the executive branch because it does not have the capacity to develop and implement legislative policies that can competently address the many challenges that present themselves in a modern economy. House and Senate members need more help from true experts to fulfill their constitutional roles. The 'administrative state' needs to follow the rule of law by Congress Peter J. Wallison | The Hill Rules and regulations by federal agencies, which many now call the administrative state, are quickly supplanting Congress as the principal source of the rules that American citizens and businesses have to obey. Peter Wallison argues that the power of the administrative state must be reined in if we are to remain a nation where the rule of law prevails. The actions of administrative agencies such as the Justice Department must not go beyond what Congress authorized, and the courts should enforce this limit.  
Highlighting the problems with the current budget process through public hearings and developing some creative ideas for reform would be progress for budget reform at this point, argues James Capretta. He proposes that the joint committee should consider three ideas to improve the current process. First, they should allow the budget resolution to set statutory caps on appropriated spending. Second, they should scale back the time devoted to passing annual appropriations bills. Finally, Capretta argues that Congress should build a long-term focus into the budget process. Testimony: The budget resolution: Content, timeliness, and enforcement James C. Capretta | Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform The current federal budget process hinders Congress' ability to make timely and orderly decisions in addressing fiscal challenges. Three solutions could change the role of the budget resolution and reform the process. The congressional budget process: A brief primer James C. Capretta | AEI Economic Perspectives James Capretta discusses what the role of the budget request is, what the congressional budget looks like in theory, and what it looks like in reality, as well as several other key features of the congressional budget process. Capretta argues that the current process was written for a time when appropriations spending was dominant; it does not work as well with so much of the federal budget devoted to spending that occurs automatically on entitlement programs. Further, he concludes that the current process does not facilitate executive-legislative agreement on budgetary aggregates, which is an important reason for instability and uncertainty in federal finances. A PLAN FOR FISCAL HAWKSBy EPPC Senior Fellow Henry Olsen
National Review Republicans who want spending restraint probably represent only about 10 to 15 percent of the total Republican-voting electorate, but without their support Republicans cannot win. That gives the fiscal-restraint advocates a strong hand to play, if they play it correctly. Read More  Political institutions and the governmental burden on business
Weifeng Zhong | Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics  Transparency for Congress' Scorekeepers
Matt Jensen | National Affairs Two of the most important and powerful agencies of the federal government are barely known to the American public. The Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation are Congress' scorekeepers. The assumptions made by the CBO and the JCT, and the assessments they produce, shape nearly every federal policy debate. These projections come to be treated as facts, shaping the way various policy proposals are understood and debated. 
 Max Boot writes: Bolton is right that Trump’s policies have been more conventional than expected, but he is wrong to ascribe this development to insidious foreign policy elites. President Trump is simply being forced to acknowledge the complex realities that he refused to grapple with on the campaign trail. - Commentary
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