House Speaker John Boehner, President Barack Obama, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Unable to broker an eleventh hour deal with congressional Republican leaders, President Obama signed the order activating the automatic across-the-board federal spending cuts – known as sequestration – on Friday.In the days prior to the March 1 deadline, the White House held a series of press briefings with the heads of various federal agencies highlighting the impact that sequestration would have on agency operations.Secretary of Education Arne Duncan warned that the $14.5 billion Title I budget – which provides assistance to low income communities – would be cut ...

The White House/ flickr

In the first State of the Union address of his second term, President Obama laid out a grand social vision for the next four years, while largely avoiding the critical budget challenges currently facing the nation.

He failed to mention the federal government is operating on a temporary budget or that the debt ceiling was merely suspended until May. He briefly mentioned across-the-board budget cuts – known as sequestration – that are scheduled for March 1, acknowledging that the effect of such cuts would be devastating. Nearly every federal program would be hit by sequestration, including Head Start ...

Actually, the fiscal cliff never left. If you thought we solved the fiscal cliff with the deal back in January (or even the more recent debt ceiling deal), you’re mistaken. Washington left a bunch of issues unresolved, and actually made a couple of them worse. And it’s up to Congress to find some answers.

Sequestration

A major unresolved issue is sequestration – the automatic across-the-board spending cuts that were set to take effect on Jan. 2 – which the fiscal cliff deal simply delayed until March 1. And it looks increasingly like Congress will let sequestration go into effect, despite ...

Article II of the U.S. Constitution states that the president "shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union."

While the date is not specified by the Constitution, traditionally the State of the Union takes place in late January. This year President Obama will give the State of the Union Address on Feb. 12. The speech is the president's opportunity to not only report on the state of the nation -- on such matters as the economy and foreign policy -- but to also lay out the Administration’s policy agenda for the ...

U.S. Government photo

The State of the Union is usually a speech about a vision – not only for the twelve months ahead, but for years to come.

This year is different.

Congress hasn't passed a budget for the current year, sequestration is scheduled to indiscriminately reduce funding for critical initiatives like education and food safety, and the government will shut down in May and default on its loans unless Congress deals with the debt ceiling. These looming crises will have to figure into President Obama's address next week. Instead of laying out a roadmap for how to ...

The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 requires the President to submit his budget request for the upcoming fiscal year no later than the first Monday of February. Recently, however, the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced it will delay the scheduled Feb. 4 release of the president’s fiscal year 2014 budget request until early March or later. According to the House Budget Committee, the Obama Administration has missed the deadline on three of its four previous budget submissions. By comparison, President George W. Bush missed it once out of his eight budgets, and President ...

Speaker John Boehner/ photograph under Creative Commons

Good news came at the end of last week, and it's something that will affect you and your neighborhood. Speaker of the House John Boehner said the House would vote on a three-month increase to the debt ceiling in order to give lawmakers time to pass a more comprehensive budget deal. A vote could come as early as today.

What is the Debt Ceiling (Debt Limit)?

The debt ceiling is the legal limit Congress places on its own borrowing. If the federal debt reaches the debt ceiling, the government is unable to ...

On Jan. 23 the Housed passed legislation to deal with the debt ceiling – the legal limit Congress places on its own borrowing. If the federal debt reaches the debt ceiling, the government is unable to borrow additional funds to support continued operations, triggering a government shutdown and default on existing loans. Raising the debt ceiling doesn't grant the government permission to spend money on new things – instead, it lets the government borrow additional funds to support spending that's already been authorized. Congress has the authority to raise the debt ceiling as needed.The legislation – known officially as the ...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said further deficit reduction must come from health care programs

Photo by Gage Skidmore/ flickr

When lawmakers struck a fiscal cliff deal on New Year's Day, they did not make any changes to Medicare or Social Security. But the debate over if and how to reform entitlement programs has only just begun.

To understand this issue, we should define a couple key terms. First, entitlement programs have their name because eligible Americans by law are entitled to benefits from Medicare, Social Security, and a handful of other programs in this category. Entitlement reform refers ...

One of the major issues not addressed as part of the recent deal on the fiscal cliff is the future of the major entitlement programs – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.Entitlements are programs that pay benefits to anyone who applies for them and meets the eligibility requirements for that specific program. Social Security and Medicare – the two largest entitlement programs – together account for roughly one third of total federal spending.Many analysts, along with congressional Republicans, consider these programs to be the main contributors to our growing federal debt. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who led GOP negotiators during ...