On September 6, 2018, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to evaluate the ill-famed ten-year anniversary of conservatorship for government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Committee members and witnesses addressed the inherent dangers of keeping the status quo as well as potential reforms to limit systemic risk. What was supposed to […]
On Wednesday, June 13, 2018, the House Committee on Appropriations passed the fiscal year (FY) 2019 Defense Appropriations bill by a vote of 48-4. The bill provides $674.6 billion in total spending for the Department of Defense (DOD), including $606.5 billion in base discretionary spending as well as $68.1 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations […]
On September 6, 2008, mortgage giants and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into federal conservatorship in the wake of the housing market crash and global financial crisis. Nearly a decade later, neither the GSEs, the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA), nor Congress have offered any viable plans to unwind these […]
In 2018, Republicans have done little to separate themselves from Democrats when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars. On February 9, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 eviscerated the last semblance of fiscal responsibility in Washington, the 2011 Budget Control Act, by allowing spending caps to increase by $300 billion over the next two years. […]
As Congress stares down yet another funding deadline on March 23, 2018, discussion over the $900 million earmark has resurfaced.
On November 16, 2017, the Conference Report for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year (FY) 2018 was sent to President Trump to sign into law after swiftly passing both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The NDAA authorizes defense spending levels and prioritizes how the money will be spent at the […]
Deep in the depths of the Senate-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, provisions have been injected that could harm already vulnerable Department of Defense (DOD) information technology (IT) systems and place national security at risk. Sections 881-886 of the NDAA pave the way for the DOD to use open source […]
President Donald Trump has the authority to fill more than 4,000 executive positions, of which 1,212 require Senate confirmation. According to a joint study by The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service, as of August 22, 2017, the Senate has confirmed 124 Trump nominees, with 277 nominations pending. By comparison, President George W. Bush had 294 confirmations, with 414 pending nominations by August 22, 2001; while President Obama reached 310 confirmations and 433 pending nominations by August 22, 2009. The confirmation of less than half the number of Bush and Obama nominees has hindered the advancement of President Trump’s agenda.
