Tim Fernholz

What’s missing from this Politico story, and indeed from Republican rhetoric around the health-care reform bill, is any evidence that the Affordable Care Act will increase the deficit. Republicans have exempted their ACA repeal bill from scoring by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office because the CBO’s analysis is that ACA will save the government $143 […]

Despite what you hear, It’s not necessarily true that Republicans want to cut the budget. Or rather, that they want to face the consequences of doing so. Take the new rule that gives House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan the ability to essentially write a budget resolution himself should the House fail to pass one […]

Ezra touches on it in this morning’s Wonkbook, but I want to draw out a problem inherent in all of our discussions of the vacant National Economic Council directorship and the White House’s continuing search for a new permanent Chief of Staff. Right now, we should be worried that President Obama is most concerned about […]

House Republicans have unveiled new rules that allow budget resolutions to pass with large deficits so long as they come from tax cuts: Current House rules include a pay-as-you-go requirement that any tax cut or spending increase for a mandatory (i.e., entitlement) program must be offset by cuts in other mandatory spending or increases in […]

The typical — and apparently compelling — case against the Democrats promoted by Republicans during the mid-term elections was straightforward: Democrats didn’t listen to the American people’s concerns about jobs and the economy and instead launched an ideological crusade to reform the health-care system. Which makes it weird that the first thing that Republicans intend […]

Soon-to-be House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s savvy communications staff strikes again; Politico recently “obtained” a list of the Congressman’s widely-anticipated investigations, set to kick off when he officially takes over his committee this week. While most of the agenda won’t surprise — subjects set for scrutiny include Wikileaks’ release of documents and “how overregulation […]

Flipping through my colleagues’ contributions to this series, it seems I’m not the only person having trouble choosing just one piece. We’ve been blessed with an abundance of talented writers and important stories to tell, and I could certainly point you toward plenty of great work, like Ann Friedman on Sarah Palin or Gabe Arana’s […]