David Brooks identifies a key problem with the health care reform legislation milling around Congress: it may not save us much money: If you read the C.B.O. testimony and talk to enough experts, you come away with a stark conclusion: There are deep structural forces, both in Medicare and the private insurance market, that have [...]

The current Congress loves nothing more than marshalling the power of government to save failing businesses. As Justin previously wrote, the latest is an effort to rescue newspapers: “Despite the 24/7 availability of news from print, broadcast and digital sources, there remains one clear fact: When it comes to original in-depth reporting that records and [...]

On Thursday, President Obama announced support for a new bill aimed at protecting credit card holders. As early as next week, House Democrats expect to act on a bill that would make it harder for the industry to slap new fees and rates on cardholders while also requiring clearer disclosure of the costs and risks [...]

At the center of President Obama’s overhaul strategy for Wall Street are the “stress tests” which will be applied to all financial institutions. But how accurate will the test results be? That will depend on whether the treasury takes off-balance-sheet assets into account, experts say. This is Danielle Ivory, reporting from the American News Project [...]

Thanks to a little-known congressional budget procedure called “reconciliation,” Democrats could pass sweeping healthcare reform without fear of a Republican filibuster in the Senate. When President Clinton wanted to use the rule in 1993, Democratic leaders in the Senate decided they didn’t want to abuse Senate rules on such important legislation. Sixteen years later, things [...]

While President Obama has often criticized his predecessor’s frequent use of signing statements meant to alter the effect of new laws, our new president didn’t take long to issue a signing statement of his own, tacking one onto the spending bill he signed today. [In the signing statement,] he objected to provisions of the bill [...]

  Thanks to the powerful stand taken by two Democrats, Evan Bayh, a centrist after my own heart, and Russ Feingold, a staunch, principled liberal, both of whom will vote against the $410-billion spending bill as long as it contains 9,000 earmarks, the Senate leadership came up one vote short on moving the bill forward. [...]

It’s not just out-of-touch Republicans and us lonely Centrists who are disturbed by the profligate spending of Congress. Joining the call for fiscal sanity is none other than Democratic Senator (and one-time VP hopeful) Evan Bayh. In a Wall Street Journal editorial, he writes: This week, the United States Senate will vote on a spending [...]

In 2008, both major presidential candidates promised to curtail earmarks. The only one who has yet to blink on the issue lost his fight today to reign in the excesses of the new spending bill. John McCain just can’t win. The story: The Senate voted overwhelmingly to preserve thousands of earmarks in a $410 billion [...]

Democrats in Congress have no intention of joining President Obama in his fight against earmarks. And it looks like Obama is going to give in, at least on the $410 billion spending bill which Obama will sign, despite copious earmarks. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, identified almost 8,600 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion; Democrats [...]

The Obama Administration might be talking about fiscal responsibility, but such wisdom doesn’t look likely to arrive in Washington this year. On the heels of the massive stimulus package comes the next wave of spending. On Wednesday, the House will consider a proposed $410 billion spending plan for the rest of fiscal 2009 — and [...]

This is how your Congress works. No one read the Stimulus bill.

o what extent did the Treasury Secretary and the executive branch permit misinformation and fear to be used to panic the Congress into abrogating their responsibilities to the American taxpayer and pass a very bad bill with very little consideration?

John Dickerson at Slate points out one of the unfortunate truths behind the stimulus bill: the process didn’t go as President Obama promised. All that election rhetoric about being more thoughtful and more transparent fell to the wayside as our new President chose expediency over all other considerations. If you’re going to spend nearly $800 [...]

As the stimulus bill works its way closer to completion and the President continues his PR push, many Americans aren’t yet sold on the plan. While a Pew Center Research Poll found 51% support the bill, those numbers have declined from 57% with the biggest drop coming from those who’ve “heard a lot” about the [...]

After failing to rally bipartisan support for the stimulus package, President Obama is taking to the road to rally the people behind his plan. The president will visit two areas hard hit by the recession: Elkhart, Indiana, and Fort Myers, Florida. The question is, will Obama’s trip be nothing more than the kind of cheering-crowd [...]

Oddly reminiscent of some recent comments I’ve read. Hmmm… I wonder if Nancy is commenting here on the Donk with sock puppets. h/t Joe Gandelman at the Moderate Voice

January saw the largest one-month job loss since late 1974. Businesses eliminated 598,000 jobs. In the last 12 months, the nation has lost 3.5 million jobs, the largest 12 month job loss since records started in 1939. While the employment rate is still at a manageable 7.6%, the numbers of unemployed workers are rising and [...]

If you thought $700 billion was a lot of money, well.. It is. But $2 trillion is.. ridiculous. This is Danielle Ivory from ANP. Congress and the new administration have been focusing their attention on strengthening oversight for the Treasury’s TARP program, but meanwhile few are paying any attention to the Federal Reserve. Since September, [...]