Roll Call

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) apparently thinks the root cause of all our budget problems is changing the budget process. My column from today's Roll Call explains why, even though changes are needed, what he's proposing and when he's proposing it is an attempt to do something without actually doing anything.

Change the Budget Process? Give Us All a Break

You would think that the deficit and national debt that many in Congress keep telling us are way too big would prompt a serious discussion about what should be done that has at least some prospect of actually succeeding.

But what instead is being proposed as salvation from our devil-sent combination of fiscal afflictions and budget transgressions? Apparently, all we have to do to be delivered is to change the Congressional budget process.

My column from today's Roll Call explains why and how the "Perils of Pauline"-like budgeting of 2012 will turn into "The Hangover, Part II" this year. If the thought of that makes you cringe...exactly.

Budget Talks: ‘Perils of Pauline’ or ‘Hangover Part II’?

The 2012 budget debate in Washington is going to be vastly different from the one that took place in 2011.

This doesn’t mean the long-term deficit is no longer an issue. It also doesn’t mean there won’t be the usual noise when it comes to spending and revenues.

Multiple rounds of finger pointing, recriminations and constantly repeated nonsensical statements should be expected.

There is a growing movement on Capital Hill and elsewhere to make substantial changes to the congressional budget process. Why you might ask (and you should)? Because yet again the process is being blamed for everything that's wrong with the federal budget.  Fix the process, we're told, and all our fiscal maladies will go away and the world once again will be an economic garden of Eden.

As I explain in my weekly column in today's Roll Call, calling "BS" on this claim is almost too easy.  (FYI..."BS" is a technical term in federal budgeting.)

Saying that "agita" means "heartburn" is a little like describing a bagel as a bread donut. That's why the word is so perfect is explaining the angst in Washington these days about appropriations...at least that's what I say in my weekly "Fiscal Fitness" column in today's Roll Call.

I know this will be a shock for many CG&G readers, but I try to call it pretty much straight down the middle when it comes to Republicans, Democrats and the budget.  This time, the GOP deserved to be called out...and then some...on the unnecessary pain it's trying to put the country through on the continuing resolution.  The technical term for the Republican plan is "BS."