My column from today's Roll Call was drafted the day before the Obama 2011 budget was released yesterday and then quickly updated to include some key facts and make my deadline.  It's a view from 100,000 feet of what's ahead the rest of this year.  Much more to come.

Obama’s Budget Shows the Tensions Between Jobs and Deficit

Feb. 2, 2010

What did the president really mean last week when he turned to his left from the podium, looked straight at the Republicans, and stated, “That’s how budgeting works”?

Although it was published this morning, this column from today's Roll Call was written last Thursday and we now know that the Obama fiscal 2011 budget will be submitted to Congress on February 1.  Hopefully this will help you get in the mood for what's ahead.

Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-TN) once said that the first budget proposed by President Reagan was a "riverboat gamble."  My "Fiscal Fitness" column from today's Roll Call explains why this year's debate may more approprately be compared to Texas Hold 'em.

My Roll Call column this week explains why the refusal of even some of the members of Congress who call themselves deficit hawks might have been infuriating but wasn't at all suprising.

The Real Story About Pentagon Spending and the Federal Budget

Dec. 8, 2009

It didn’t get the name until two years later, but what we know today as the Defense Department was created in 1947. Although the Navy was part of the new department from the beginning, lifers and veterans of that branch have often told me that they almost never think of themselves as being or having been part of the DOD. This included my late father-in-law, who, when the talk turned to politics after Thanksgiving dinner, would routinely rail against the Pentagon and go to great lengths to explain why the Navy was, is and should be separate from the rest of the military.

My column from Roll Call should only be read by those with strong stomachs.

Seeing the Future: The ‘FlashForward’ Version of the Budget Debate

The premise of “FlashForward,” one of the new shows on ABC this season, is that everyone in the world blacks out for a little over two minutes and then wakes up having seen a vision of the future. I had that type of vision last night about the coming federal budget debate: It’s going to be the most convoluted, frustrating and torturous in U.S. history.

My column in today's Roll Call will help you appear to be an in-the-know budget person when you're next on Capital Hill.

Congress Deserves Some Slack for the Appropriations Delay

Nov. 17, 2009

One of the things you learn quickly when you spend any time on Capitol Hill is that you never use the phrase “omnibus appropriation” in mixed company. In this case, “mixed company” means any group of people that includes a current or former Member or staffer of the House or Senate Appropriations committees.

Last Thursday and Friday were the inspiration for my colunm in today's Roll Call.

Like Wall Street, Budget Policymakers Need Certainty

Nov. 3, 2009
By Stan Collender
Roll Call Contributing Writer    

Wall Street, which supposedly hates uncertainty, was clearly unhappy late last week.

On Thursday, in the face of a report showing not just that the economy had stopped declining but that it had actually grown faster than expected in the third quarter, the Dow Jones industrial average rallied by almost 200 points. Then, after a separate report on Friday showed that consumer spending had fallen by an unexpectedly large amount in that same quarter, the market sold off by more than the previous day’s gain as the Dow fell by about 250 points.

For the record, I've known Norm Ornstein for years, he made the initial contact for me at Roll Call and so is at least partially responsible for my column being published, and my Beautiful and Talented Wife (The BTW) was a student of his at Catholic University.

However, I choose to think that his comment in the fifth graph below is totally objective.

To Escape Economic Purgatory, Feds Must Spend More Money

Oct. 28, 2009
By Norman Ornstein
Roll Call Contributing Writer   

When I first heard about the plan to give every senior on Social Security $250 because there will be no cost-of-living adjustment, I laughed until it hurt. It hurt a lot.

My column from today's Roll Call has already generated "a few" comments.  All responses welcome.

2009 Deficit Is a Triumph of Fiscal Policy

Oct. 20, 2009

Despite the headlines and the page-one, right-hand column, above-the-fold stories in the New York Times and Washington Post on Saturday, I’m not at all upset about the 2009 federal budget deficit.

You shouldn’t be either.