To date, the US has committed about $114 billion in Ukraine‐related emergency funding, equivalent to the combined 2023 budget for the Department of Homeland Security and NASA. Should Congress decide to pass additional emergency funding, Ukraine aid plus interest could top $240 billion.
Downsizing Blog
The Threat of Fiscal Dominance: Will the US Resort to Money‐Printing to Finance the Rising Debt Challenge?
Medicare and Social Security Are Responsible for 100 Percent of US Unfunded Obligations
Biden’s Phony Deficit Reduction
President Biden’s new federal budget proposes high spending and huge deficits for years to come. The deficits are expected to boost government debt held by the public from $28 trillion this year to $45 trillion by 2034.
President Biden’s Proposed Budget
DC Purple Line Cost Overruns and Delays Continue
The Price of Shortsightedness: Emergency Spending’s $2 Trillion Interest Tab
New Emergency Spending Would Cost $28-$41 Billion More Than Incomplete Budget Score Suggests
Legislators and the public tend to underestimate the fiscal costs of emergency spending. Emergency supplemental bills, such as the Ukraine‐Israel foreign aid package, are often billed as one‐time, temporary costs. This framing obscures the tens of billions of dollars in interest costs generated by new deficit spending.
Affordable Housing: Tax Credits vs Deregulation
Policymakers across the nation are concerned about the high costs of housing for moderate‐income families. One federal response to the problem is the low‐income housing tax credit (LIHTC), which provides income tax credits to developers of multifamily housing. Currently, Congress is considering expanding the LIHTC and adding a new middle‐income or workforce version of the credit.
Responding to Critiques of the Congressional Fiscal Commission
Since the House Budget Committee passed the Fiscal Commission Act out of committee in January, several critics have come out of the woodwork to argue against the bill. Criticism ranges from calling the commission process undemocratic, to claiming that Social Security and Medicare (or at least Part A) don’t contribute to the debt, to worrying about tax increases that might get passed under false pretenses, to calling the commission a death panel.
Below I list prominent critiques and their main charges, and defuse each argument in turn: