Budget Matters Blog

The House, the Senate, and President Obama agreed on something. Surprised?

Technically, they agreed to agree on something in the future. Several weeks ago, leaders of the House and Senate announced they’re planning to pass a continuing resolution in September in order to fund the federal government past Sept. 30, which is the last day of fiscal year 2012. If lawmakers don’t pass any spending legislation by that date, the government will shut down on Oct. 1 when fiscal 2013 begins. So, the good news is there won’t be a government shutdown. That’s a good thing ...

Late Friday night, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and President Obama reached agreement on a spending bill that will fund the government for the last six months of Fiscal Year 2011, which ends on September 30, 2011. The agreement is actually two bills -- a seven day continuing resolution that will allow time for the last minute work needed to enact the full spending package. That  package reportedly contains roughly $38 billion less for FY2011 than was requested by the Obama Administration back in February 2010. In doing so, Congress and the White House narrowly averted the first government shutdown since ...

It’s Cherry Blossom season in Washington, D.C. Each year at this time hundreds of thousands of people from across the country and around the world flock to our nation’s Capitol to stroll along the banks of the Tidal Basin, “ooo-ing” and “ahhh-ing” at the vibrant pink flowers on hundreds of trees, the air filled with falling petals and the sweet smell of their blooms.But on the eve of a possible shutdown of the federal government, the many tourists visiting Washington smell something rotten. On Saturday morning they may well awake to a city where much of ...