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SNIP SNIP In the absence of a budget, appropriations must be reauthorized through congressional action. This is done with a continuing resolution, which essentially is an agreement that we will "continue" to do all the things we've been doing, along with as many plums for ourselves as we can squeeze in under the radar. Clearly, there is nothing frugal about this activity; it is the opposite of that, and both sides in Washington know this, yet they pride themselves on their ability to play these games with our tax dollars. The phrase you're going to hear a lot in the...

Obama: Some spending cuts won't help economy grow (CBS News) ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney went into the conventions virtually tied in the polls. Following the Democratic National Convention last week, however, the president came out with five-point lead over his GOP challenger. A new Gallup poll shows President Obama leading Romney 49 percent to 44 percent, a bounce commonly seen after a party's convention. Still, election day results remain unpredictable because the polls are -- and have been -- so close. The president sat down with CBS News in St. Petersburg during...

n the first of what will be a closely watched selection process for a powerful new deficit panel, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he will appoint Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.), Max Baucus (Mont.) and John Kerry (Mass.) as his three choices for a super committee charged with finding more than $1 trillion in spending cuts by the end of this year. Murray will serve as co-chair of the 12-member panel. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will select her co-chair and two other panelists, as required by the debt limit agreement signed into law by President Barack Obama last week....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Tuesday he's naming Sen. Patty Murray to co-chair a powerful "super committee" charged with finding more than $1 trillion in deficit cuts this fall. Murray will be joined by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., on the panel, which was established last week by hard-fought legislation to increase the national debt.

One day after lowering the nation’s platinum triple-A credit rating, Standard & Poor’s analysts warned Saturday that the U.S. government could face a second downgrade if the economy continues to struggle and the government fails to make the cuts outlined in the debt ceiling agreement. The ratings agency on Friday downgraded the nation to AA+ for the first time in history, saying partisanship in Washington is preventing dramatic deficit reduction.

Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the nation's credit rating reinforces Democrats' call for increasing tax revenue, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday.

• We have lowered our long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to 'AA+' from 'AAA' and affirmed the 'A-1+' short-term rating. • We have also removed both the short- and long-term ratings from CreditWatch negative. • The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics. • More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time...

It has long been obvious to all observers -- to economists, to politicians, to anti-deficit groups, to the ratings agencies -- that closing fiscal gaps will require tax increases, or the closure of big tax loopholes, or significant tax reform that will raise significantly larger sums of tax revenue than the system does now. Today, taxes as a percentage of GDP are at historic lows. Marginal rates on income and investments are at historic lows. Corporate tax receipts as a percentage of GDP are at historic lows. Perhaps taxes don't need to rise this year or next, but they do...

Christina Romer, the former chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers on Friday offered a rather strong opinion concerning the announcement by Standard & Poor's that the credit rating agency downgraded America's debt to AA+. Appearing on HBO's "Real Time," Romer said we're "pretty darn f--ked" (video follows with transcript and absolutely no commentary needed): ---- BILL MAHER, HOST: So, excuse my language, but we used to do a segment on this show called “How F—ked Are We?” (VIDEO CLIP) MAHER: I didn’t expect that there. This, just before we went on the air they said our rating got downgraded....

(CBS/AP) Following the news Friday of Standard and Poor's downgrade on the U.S. debt, several politicians from both sides of the aisle offered their reactions. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released a statement: "This makes the work of the joint committee all the more important, and shows why leaders should appoint members who will approach the committee's work with an open mind -- instead of hardliners who have already ruled out the balanced approach that the markets and rating agencies like S&P are demanding." Reid was referring to the special bipartisan congressional committee -- made up of six Democrats...

But not the balanced approached he is looking for, but the “Anytime there is increase of investment (taxes, fee increases, additional funding, etc), there will be an equivalent decrease in spending. How will you balance forty years of spending by Democrats followed by ten years of spending by Republicans and bi-patricians. What cuts do you have that will balance that card? How do you balance two years of rampant spending and an increase of the deficit of four trillion dollars? And you think that cutting the increase of spending is saving money and a cut. It is not. Your stimulus...

US President Barack Obama on Saturday renewed his call for a compromise in solving America's debt problem, saying it would take a "balanced approach" and "shared sacrifice" for Democrats and Republicans to come to an agreement. "That means spending less on domestic programs," the president said. "It means spending less on defence programs. ... And it means taking on the tax code, and cutting out certain tax breaks and deductions for the wealthiest Americans."

Call it eliminating an unfair break, or removing an unjust loophole, or even "taking a balanced approach". Just don't call it raising taxes.

President Obama, seeking to reframe the debate after a budget battle driven by spending cuts, will call for a “balanced approach” to reducing the nation’s debt and deficits in a speech in Washington on Wednesday. As the Republican-controlled House prepares to vote on both the 2011 budget compromise and its own austere 2012 proposal, which calls for major changes to entitlement programs, Obama will set out his own commitment to deficit reduction while pledging to maintain investments he says are needed to keep the economy strong. “The president will make clear that while we all share the goal of reducing...

Washington -- Organizers intended Monday's "Day without Immigrants" to prod Congress to allow the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens. But if anything, the rallies seemed to energize House foes of such a policy and put its supporters -- a bipartisan coalition in the Senate and President Bush -- on the defensive against conservatives angered by the sight of demonstrators waving Mexican flags and singing a Spanish-language version of the Star Spangled Banner. --snip-- House majority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, denounced a resolution passed last week by the California Senate endorsing the work boycott, and he...