Economy & Small Business

New York Times - John Harwood

Ask around the White House and the Capitol, and you will quickly find reasons to doubt that Republicans will compromise with President Obama on a budget deal that includes more tax increases and entitlement spending cuts.

So why does Mr. Obama keep talking to Republicans about a deal? Because Republicans still have powerful incentives to strike one.

Bloomberg Businessweek - David J. Lynch

A shrinking U.S. federal deficit is undermining the favorite tax-and-spending arguments of both Republicans and Democrats.

During the recurring fiscal crises of the past few years, Republicans have pressed for deep budget cuts, including fundamental changes to programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Democrats have called for increasing the tax burden on the wealthiest Americans.

Both will be harder sells in an unfamiliar era of falling deficits.

POLITICO - Darren Samuelsohn

Sequestration was supposed to be a meat ax slashing large chunks of the federal budget, but Congress is poised to turn it into Swiss cheese.

The shortlist for the next round of possible sequester saves includes cancer patients, medical researchers, hungry seniors, poor people and pre-schoolers.

“I’m looking at doing rifle shots on a lot of things, on Head Start programs, on elderly feeding programs,” Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, told POLITICO.

Time is a precious commodity. Last week, you might have been one of many airline travelers who lost unnecessary time due to flight delays and cancellations resulting from staffing reductions within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Claiming compliance with required cuts due to sequestration, FAA actions that upset travelers and hardworking personnel should ultimately be recognized as an attempt by the Obama Administration to make a dramatic political statement.

Two months late and $8.2 trillion short, President Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget blueprint finally arrived on Capitol Hill. While the unveiling of the White House budget is usually the first event of the yearly budget season, its arrival well after passage of the House Republican budget makes the contrast between the two plans even more dramatic.