Month: April 2011

John Boehner and congressional Republicans are to be congratulated for their performance in the recent budget negotiations, both for the modest victory they achieved and the potential defeat they escaped. In wringing another $38 billion in spending cuts out of Senate Democrats and the Obama administration, they have made another marginal gain in the struggle for the long-term solvency of the American government. In their willingness to take a half a loaf, they avoided a shutdown and the risk they would be blamed for it — a high-wire act for very low stakes.

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via A Budget Skirmish Victory – The Editors – National Review Online.

While the president’s party still controls Washington, House Republicans have dragged a reluctant Senate and White House into taking this imperfect first step toward getting spending under control. The agreement will reduce government spending by $38.5 billion over the next few months — and by hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming decade.

This is real money. And as Stanford University economics professor John B. Taylor observed, “Reducing discretionary spending in 2011 … will help establish credibility and show that government can actually take needed actions, not just promise to take them.”

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Boehner: Next fight to be about trillions, not billions – USATODAY.com.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll – Rasmussen Reports™.

John Boehner closes the deal to avoid government shutdown – John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman – POLITICO.com.

Trump brings media blitz to NBC, ‘steamrolls’ Meredith Vieira on birther issue – Yahoo! News.

New Yorks state-run institutions for the mentally disabled are billing the Medicaid program nearly $2 million per patient a year—a rate that goes far beyond the cost of caring for the patients and is attracting the scrutiny of federal regulators.

The state spends $700 million a year to house about 1,400 disabled people in the facilities. But it bills Medicaid more than three times that amount.

By taking advantage of federal matching funds, the state pockets approximately $1 billion extra every year—and uses it to subsidize other areas of the budget.

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via The $2 Million Patients – WSJ.com.

Ryan: Debt on Track to Hit 800 Percent of GDP; CBO Cant Conceive of Any Way Economy Can Continue Past 2037 | CNSnews.com.

A $600,000 frog sculpture that lights up, gurgles “sounds of nature” and carries a 10-foot fairy girl on its back could soon be greeting Defense Department employees who plan to start working at the $700 million Mark Center in Alexandria, Va. this fall. That is unless a new controversy over the price tag of the public art doesn’t torpedo the idea.

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via Pentagon Art: $600,000 Gurgling Toad Sculpture – Washington Whispers (usnews.com).

Marriage and Procreation: The Intrinsic Connection « Public Discourse.