European Parliament Approves EU’s 2014-2020 Budget
November 19th, 2013Strasbourg (France) (AFP) – The European Parliament approved the EU’s first ever trimmed-back long-term budget Tuesday after months of acrimonious dispute between EU institutions on spending cuts for the 2014-2020 period. The budget was approved by a large majority of 682 MEPs, including the conservatives and the socialists. The Greens and the radical left voted
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Congress Budget Committee Convenes To Negotiate 2014 Resolution
October 30th, 2013The House and Senate budget conference commenced Wednesday morning, with 29 legislators convening to negotiate a federal budget. Any budget deal would likely limit or end the cuts in discretionary spending mandated by sequestration. Reaching a deal for the remainder of the fiscal year would also prevent another government shutdown. The committee of 15 Democrats
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It’s Hard To Run A Democracy With An Ignorant Public
October 30th, 2013“Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” –Vice President Dick Cheney, 2002 Given the great hullabaloo in Washington over government spending, here are a couple of noteworthy facts. Under President Obama, the federal budget deficit has been more than cut in half, from a FY 2009 high of $1.55 trillion (largely inherited from George W. Bush)
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Anti-Tax Lobbyist Grover Norquist Blasts Ted Cruz (Repeatedly) And Discounts Republican ‘Hiccup’
October 29th, 2013Over the past three decades, nobody in this country – from Ronald Reagan to Paul Ryan – has devoted more energy to slashing taxes and government than the Washington activist and lobbyist Grover Norquist. His ambition, as Norquist once quipped, is to shrink government until it’s small enough to fit into a bathtub, “so we
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A Case For Hope
October 21st, 2013WASHINGTON — “Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed.” It was the early 20th century socialist Eugene V. Debs who pointed to the utility of this extra Beatitude. You don’t have to be a lefty to appreciate its relevance to our politics after the shutdown disaster. Cynicism about the political
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