I used to write a weekly column for NationalJournal.com called "Budget Battles."  My editor and publisher there was Troy Schneider, who 11 years later was one of the founders of Capital Gains and Games.

That's also where I started giving away T-shirts (Other giveaways included mouse pads and coffee mugs.  In fact, I'm using one of those mugs now at this ridiculously early time of the morning.)

Anyway, back to the T-shirts.

Most weeks you won a shirt if you submitted the correct response to a very obscure budget question and had your name selected at random from all those who got it right. 

Economistmom has been taking on House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI) over several things he said about deficit hawks and budgeteers in an August 2 National Journal interview.  The interview is good reading.

(Full disclosure: I used to write for nj.com and Troy Schneider, one of the other founders of CG&G, was one of NJ.com's founders and my editor.)

A little history might be helpful here.  Obey may be saying it more bluntly but he's not saying anything new: Appropriators have never really liked the budget committees, congressional budget process, or Congressional Budget Act. 

In a very short time, Diane Rogers, the economist mom herself, has become one of my must reads every day. Take a look at this and you'll understand why. 

Diane Lim Rogers, a long-time budget watcher in Washington, D.C. with one of the best fiscal backgrounds in town, is launching her own blog tomorrow called EconomistMom. It is launching, appropriately enough, on Mother's Day.

And not a moment too soon. As the chief economist at the House Budget Committee, Diane couldn't participate in the debate as personally as we needed her to do. Now, as the chief economist at The Concord Coalition and someone with her own blog, she'll be able to added another rational voice to a discussion that needs as many as possible.