Moderate Is a Lonely PositionAug 18, 2011 - U.S. News and World Report By Kira Zalan Tanner: Getting to Yes — the Case for a Centrist ‘Super Committee’Aug 09, 2011 - Roll Call By John Tanner President Barack Obama’s signature is now dry on the hard-fought Budget Control Act of 2011. So where’s the victory lap? Where are the pundits jockeying to take credit? Extremes grouse as center carries the debt dealAug 02, 2011 - CNN Op-Ed by John Avlon (CNN)—The center can hold. That’s at least part of the big-picture takeaway after the House passed a lopsided if 11th-hour debt ceiling and deficit reduction bill by a refreshingly bipartisan margin of 269 to 161. The moderate middle wins the dayAug 02, 2011 - The Washington Post By Rosalind S. Helderman and David A. Fahrenthold, Published: August 1 For weeks, the debt-ceiling debate has been defined by a clash of the extremes; tea party conservatives seeking to dramatically reshape government and committed liberals afraid that doing so would squeeze the poor and the working class. Five myths about the debt ceilingJul 11, 2011 - Washington Post By Bruce Bartlett In recent months, the federal debt ceiling — last increased in February 2010 and now standing at $14.3 trillion — has become a matter of national debate and political hysteria. The ceiling must be raised by Aug. 2, Treasury says, or the government will run out of cash. Dissent but Not Rebellion in the GOPMay 17, 2011 - Roll Call By Jessica Brady A diverse bloc of defectors has emerged in the House GOP majority — and it’s not those who rode into office on the tea party wave last fall. The real rabble-rousers in the Republican Conference are mostly moderates and seasoned lawmakers, not the freshmen who many predicted would be a problem caucus. How to reduce the national debtMay 04, 2011 - Politico By: Roger C. Altman and Richard N. Haass Three weeks ago, our country’s leaders came within an hour of shutting down the federal government, fighting over relatively small cuts in this year’s budget. Now comes the far harder task of securing votes to raise the federal debt limit by early July — before the nation’s borrowing ability expires. The stakes are now vastly higher. Failure to pass it could damage the economy and hurt every American. But there should be a way out of this that meets the core requirements of both parties and, at the same time, reduces our future debt. This Is No Way To Run A GovernmentApr 25, 2011 - Center on Congress, Indiana University The confusion and last-minute deal-making that marked Congress’s attempt to avoid a government shutdown is becoming a habit on Capitol Hill. Former Congressman Lee Hamilton says, “This is No Way To Run A Government.” In the days following the budget deal to stave off a government shutdown, the news was filled with reports on what the measure actually contained. Stories focused on the bits of budgetary hocus-pocus that got the White House and lawmakers to $38 billion in cuts, what was actually in those cuts, and the stray bits of policy-making that had nothing to do with reducing the deficit. But the news seemed to miss the most important point: the whole process got things exactly backward. Debt Limit Battle Begins NowApr 12, 2011 - Roll Call Democrats and Republicans wasted no time drawing stark battle lines for the coming fight over raising the debt limit as a top Republican dismissed out of hand the White House’s calls for a simple increase to the nation’s borrowing authority. “We are not going to vote to raise the debt limit unless we see some guarantees” on mandatory spending caps and entitlement reform, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Monday. Centrists Meet In The Middle Of The Budget BattleApr 03, 2011 - NPR As Tea Party-backed Republicans demand deep cuts, negotiations have opened up the possibility of a centrist coalition that might pass a compromise budget. Guest host David Greene speaks to two House moderates, Republican Charlie Bass of New Hampshire, and “Blue-Dog” Democrat John Barrow of Georgia, about current budget negotiations. Six Fiscal Heroes Plow the Road for Deficit CutsMar 30, 2011 - The Fiscal Times At the Imagine Solutions conference in Naples, Florida last week, CNBC’s Tyler Mathisen asked a panel of Fiscal Times columnists whether any elected official in the federal budget debate could be considered a hero. There was a long silence. House Republican leaders turn to moderate Democrats for budget dealMar 29, 2011 - Washington Post Having difficulty finding consensus within their own ranks, House Republican leaders have begun courting moderate Democrats on several key fiscal issues, including a deal to avoid a government shutdown at the end of next week. House's Republican centrists hope to provide 'balance'Jan 18, 2011 - Washington Post The week before Rep. Charles Bass lost his seat in 2006, the leader of the House GOP’s moderate wing complained that it was simply “a terrible year to be running for reelection.” Blue Dogs on K Street Say Their Clout StaysNov 07, 2010 - Roll Call Even though Republicans swept dozens of centrist Democrats out of office last week, Blue Dog lobbyists argue that demand for their services will not diminish in the new Congress. K Streeters Launch Blue Dog NonprofitApr 13, 2010 - Roll Call Six Democratic lobbyists with deep ties to the Blue Dog Coalition, including former Reps. Bud Cramer (Ala.) and Charlie Stenholm (Texas), unveiled Tuesday a new nonprofit called the Blue Dog Research Forum. In a letter to Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.), who co-chairs the Blue Dog Coalition, Cramer and Stenholm wrote that they were establishing the organization to “ensure there will always be a forum in Washington to mark that middle ground when it comes to issues affecting the country’s fiscal health.” |
Featured ResearchA Framework for Tax Reform We ask both Democrats and Republicans to call a truce on taxes and work sincerely toward a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement on tax reform by June 2012. The time for action is now. |
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