On June 22, 2017, House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) introduced H.R. 2997, the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act. The legislation will provide for a six-year reauthorization and significant reforms to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
On July 19, 2017, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs (HSGAC) held a hearing titled, “The Postal Service’s Actions During the 2016 Campaign Season: Implications for the Hatch Act.” During testimony from both the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), it was revealed that the USPS violated federal law, the Hatch Act, during the 2016 campaign cycle.
On March 7, 2017, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that if the debt ceiling was not raised or extended before March 16, the U.S. Treasury would be unable to borrow funds for standard operating procedures. Since then, the Treasury has been forced to use accounting maneuvers known as “extraordinary measures” to keep the government running, but these work-arounds will only delay the inevitable debate that Congress must have. Eventually, Congress will have to decide how to address the debt ceiling, or the federal government will default on its payments and risk an economic crisis.
When Congress considers legislation to lower taxes, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will be using dynamic scoring to help estimate its cost. In 2015, Congress required CBO to use dynamic scoring on legislation with an impact of at least 0.25% of gross domestic product over the next 10 years (about $45 billion in 2015), or […]
For anyone familiar with the subway system in Washington, D.C., the warning, “step back, doors closing,” alerts riders to the dangers of trying to beat the trains’ automatic doors, which are not as forgiving as those on elevators. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), known as “Metro” to Washingtonians, first ran its trains in 1976. It started out positively, but the system has fallen from grace after years of poor service and intermittent reliability, not to mention several fatal incidents, and riders are leaving the service at increasing rates.
On March 16, 2017, the White House released its budget, “America First – A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.” This “skinny budget” increases spending for defense by $54 billion and cuts an equal amount of money for duplicative and wasteful programs. The budget calls also cuts burdensome regulations and calls for better management of federal programs.
On March 7, 2017, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that if the debt ceiling was not raised or extended before March 16, the Treasury will be unable to borrow funds for standard operating procedures. In order to avoid breaching the debt ceiling, the Treasury will be forced to take extraordinary measures so that it […]
It is no secret that the United States Postal Service (USPS) is broke and broken. The agency’s low standards of delivery are rarely achieved, it has billions in losses and unfunded liabilities, and it has failed to adapt to changing markets. Reforms are essential, but H.R. 756, the Postal Service Reform Act, falls short of what is needed.
With the beginning of a new administration, the best and brightest in leadership are often selected to advise the President. House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, M.D. (R-Ga.), who has been nominated as the secretary of Health and Human Services, fits that description. He will not only be an excellent secretary; he has been an exceptional chairman of the committee. In December, 2016, Chairman Price proposed a series of changes to the budget process. His reforms, which will help return the budget process to regular order, include:
Since the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) was first passed, Congress has been able to pass the 12 appropriations bills on time on only three occasions; the most recent was in 1997. Although the CBA has been amended several times, the budget process remains as broken as it is confusing. It allows members of […]
