Budget News Dec. 20 - 23

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News
THURSDAY
Senate Approves $725 Billion Defense Spending Bill
As the busy lame duck session of Congress winds down, the Senate Wednesday approved a defense spending bill, authorizing the Pentagon to spend $725 billion in fiscal 2011, including nearly $160 billion to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iowa lawmakers expect $700M budget shortfall
The fight over what to cut will begin almost as soon as the Legislature convenes on Jan. 10.

WEDNESDAY
U.S. Congress Passes Bill to Fund Government's Spending Through March 4
The U.S. Congress approved legislation that would keep the government funded through March 4, setting up a budget fight early next year between the administration and Republicans.

TUESDAY
Budget Cuts To Darken SoCal City Street Lights
To trim $9 million from their budget, Vista officials say they will shut off half of the city’s residential street lights in March unless property owners agree to pay higher lighting fees.
Put up or shut up' on debt - senator
Democrat Mark Warner and Republican Saxby Chambliss say they will introduce the Bowles-Simpson report as legislation.
Cameron Warns U.K. Faces Tough Times
With tax receipts lifting just 3.1% since last year—the lowest level since December 2009—the Office for National Statistics reported Tuesday that the public sector borrowed £23.3 billion ($36.14 billion) in November, compared with £17.4 billion a year earlier.
Stimulus price tag: $2.8 trillion
Since the recession began three years ago, Congress has poured a total of $2.8 trillion into the economy in an effort to spur hiring, get people spending again and prop up industries struggling to stay afloat.
Auditors question TSA's use of and spending on technology
Since it was founded in 2001, the TSA has spent roughly $14 billion in more than 20,900 transactions with dozens of contractors.

MONDAY
OECD Backs Spain's Deficit Cuts
In its annual report on the Spanish economy, the OECD forecast gross domestic product will fall 0.2% in 2010, rise 0.9% in 2011 and 1.8% in 2012.
Anticipating higher revenues, McDonnell outlines spending priorities
Following a lean 2010 session in which the state was forced to close a $4.2 billion shortfall in the current two-year budget, McDonnell expects state revenues, driven by stronger-than-expected income tax collections and sales tax activity, to total $283 million over fiscal years 2011 and 2012.

Economist Comments
THURSDAY
States Scramble to Repay Feds for Unemployment Insurance Loans -- Plus Interest
The federal government estimates the collective interest on the outstanding loans will total about $2 billion in 2011, while continued state borrowing is expected to stretch the outstanding loan amount to $65 billion by fiscal year 2013.

WEDNESDAY
Stop panicking over muni defaults!
...that is not to say that all projects will be economically viable – some munis will default. Municipalities in 24 states can file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection and defer bond payments.

MONDAY
The Wind Subsidy Bubble
Green pork should be a GOP budget target.
Hugh Hewitt: California's economic suicide now includes cap-and-trade
The absurdity of a single state attempting to tackle climate control via the imposition of regulations on 600 facilities is wildly amusing. No one can argue that all the effort and all the costs, all the bureaucrats and all the rules will have any impact whatsoever on the climate.
Europe's Single Bailout Zone
The moves toward a fiscal union mean German taxpayers have become the lenders of last resort.
Retiree Benefits Are Cheating Our Children
Except for those on Social Security and Medicare, government for most middle-class Americans consists mainly of schools, police, fire protection, roads and ambulance service. It's states and localities.
Drama needed to jolt Americans into tackling debt
Why has Britain managed to boldly go into fiscal territory which the US has hitherto ducked? That is the $800bn question...

Blogs
THURSDAY
Money Substitutes and Velocity
The issue is whether we should think of the Fed as offsetting velocity shocks or we should think of changes in velocity as offsetting monetary shocks.
What Works in the Deficit Reform Proposals?
If you've struggled to wade through the intricacies of the different budget reform plans making their way through Beltway wonkdom, you're probably not alone.

WEDNESDAY
The Failed State of Illinois
...as the Journal reports, investors seem to be increasingly differentiating between those states that are in bad fiscal shape and those that are in really bad fiscal shape.

TUESDAY
Senate Presents an Acceptable Continuing Resolution
Last week, a Heritage Foundation analysis stated that an acceptable continuing resolution should (a) spend no more than last year’s level, (b) not shift funds to new Democratic priorities, (c) exclude additional advanced appropriations that bind future Congresses to spend money, and (d) exclude unrelated government expansions and regulations.

MONDAY
Omnibusted
Instead, Congress will now pass a continuing resolution to fund the government at current levels until the new Congress is seated in January.
Worst of the Waste: The 100 Outrageous Government Spending Projects of 2010
When taxpayers aren’t shelling out money for music memorabilia, they’re busy paying for the other projects listed in Coburn’s report. Here are a few named in the report…
Build America Bonds: Eliminated or in Suspended Animation?
Who’s been issuing the bonds? The most cash-strapped and fiscally profligate states: California, New Jersey, Ohio and New York.

Reports
TUESDAY
Truth and Consequences
A Guide to Understanding the U.S. Government Debt and Deficits.