According to Roll Call, discussions about taxes and spending dominated the Sunday shows yesterday.

The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post say Republican leaders have “doubled down” on their call for spending cuts as part of any deal to raise the debt ceiling. The Hill and Roll Call have more on this story.

The New York Times says earmarks are not dead.

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Think about it.  It takes a simply majority vote in the Senate to begin the debate on the budget, a process so critical the Senate exempts the budget from its filibuster rule.  Why can’t they at least debate a budget?  Well, it’s an open secret in Washington that the Senate wants to avoid a budget debate because they fear it will lead to tough votes that can be used against them in upcoming elections. Budget debates open the amendment floodgates and force senators to take clear stands on a vast range of contentious fiscal and social issues by casting politically perilous votes. After all, no incumbent, Republican or Democrat, relishes the prospect of seeing his or her voting record used as a weapon in a challenger’s campaign ad. The instinct for self-preservation is understandable, but I wouldn’t exactly call it admirable.

Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who leads the Democratic majority in that chamber, has claimed that the Budget Control Act (BCA) passed in August 2011 to resolve the debt-ceiling standoff, with its enforceable discretionary spending cap of $1.047 trillion, gives him the budget he needs for the upcoming fiscal year.  Sorry, but no. Both houses of Congress and the White House have a responsibility to produce detailed budget proposals, to work through the arduous process of reconciling competing plans and to deliver an annual budget document to guide government spending for the year. That’s not just my opinion. The Senate Parliamentarian, the referee on matters of legislative process, issued a procedural ruling in March that undercuts the claim that the BCA is enough to suffice as a budget blueprint for this year. For Reid and other budget hold-outs, this ruling is a black eye.

A budget is one of the most rudimentary aspects of governing.  In fact, it’s even required by law.  Take a look for yourself:  the law requires Congress to pass a budget.  On page 926 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, it says that on or before April 15 of each year “Congress completes action on concurrent resolution on the budget.”  How can it be that Congress is able to disregard its own deadline?  Well, actually, since the law doesn’t contain any enforcement mechanisms, there are no consequences imposed on Congress if it fails to enact a budget by April 15.  Do you think you could ignore a law simply because it didn’t have any enforcement mechanisms?  Sorry, but no.

The Senate owes the American people a budget.  And the least they could do is allow the legislative body to begin debating one.BA

None of the measures were accompanied with spending cuts or “pay-fors,” meaning they could have a sizeable impact upon the deficit and national debt. With the federal deficit for 2012 on pace to exceed $1 trillion, adding more programs is sure to push that number higher.

Job creation is a priority for all leaders in Washington, and the president should be commended for his active role. However businesses are slow to invest due to lack of certainty over our nation’s fiscal future. Going further in debt has held our economy back and will continue to do so unless spending is addressed.

With annual revenue for the country at $2.5 trillion we are sure that Congress and the president can find programs to cut in order to offset these proposed programs. Make sure to check out the measures here, and take a look below for a small list of programs and expenditures we think the president and Congress could stand to cut now to pay for the measures proposed.

1.     $14.5 billion for duplicative job training programs

2.     Conferences for the GSA

3.     Grants that are wasted by state and local governments

4.     Public relations for the IRS

5.     Unnecessary researchBA

Some of these job-training grants have been spent on salaries, as is the case with a Montana trade union that spent four times as much on salaries as the actual training for displaced workers. Others expenditures include training for “green” jobs that didn’t exist, trips to casinos, and pet care.

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who commissioned the 2011 GAO report, cites the duplication programs as a problem on his website. “We spend millions of dollars on dozens of job training, yet thousands are looking for work.” Duplications occur when multiple agencies are assigned to handle similar programs, such as the 17 offender reentry programs, run by 5 different agencies, which costs American taxpayers $250 million a year.

There has been much debate about cutting the expenses of government. A good start may be to re-examine the job training programs that cost the taxpayers billions training workers for jobs that don’t exist.BA

According to Fox News, when given two choices, 38% of registered voters say President Obama’s “Buffett Rule” proposal is a serious proposal that will reduce the budget deficit. 54% say it is an election year gimmick to avoid cutting government spending.

According to Rasmussen, 50% of likely voters think society would become less fair if the government got more involved in regulating the economy. Only 22% believe society would become more fair if there was greater government regulation. 21% feel things would remain about the same.

According to Fox News, when given four choices, 35% of registered voters would describe the economy as “in recession, things could get worse”; 48% would say “still in recession, but things could get better”; 9% would say the “recession is over, but another could be coming”; and 6% say the recession is over and the economy is recovering.

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The proposal was a bipartisan work brought forth by Senators McConnell and Reid in a rare show of transparency and compromise. The two remarked, “We have been working for years on this budget, and now that it’s passed, we are ready to do away with politics and just do the work.”

Next on the agenda for the duo, world peace: “After the work we just put into passing a budget, three years of work, we figure world peace should be a cake walk,” remarked Sen. Reid. But, not to be outdone, others in the Senate began working on plans to end world hunger. Senator Kyl has teamed up with Senator Kerry to bring legislation to the floor that would end hunger worldwide in just two years.

Whether or not the Senate will take on more of the worlds problems remains to be seen. What is clear though, is that this body of straight forward, earnest, and hard working individuals can accomplish quite a lot when they work together.

In case you haven’t figured it out, this blog is total fiction. The Senate still hasn’t done anything. In fact, the Senate will be in recess for the entire week. No budget in three years. Happy Anniversary!

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The Washington Free Beacon notes it has been three years since the Senate passed a budget.

Bloomberg highlights former fiscal commission co-chair Erskine Bowles’s recent comment in New York on the nation’s fiscal crisis.

Despite billions in stimulus spending, The Washington Post reports state and local governments are still cutting jobs.

According to The Hill, Congress will have an easier time this year passing the annual defense authorization bill.

Politico looks at efforts to defund portions of the health care law.

The Washington Free Beacon says the auto bailout is still unpopular.

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According to Third Way, when given two choices, 60% of Independents say it is more important to reduce the budget deficit; 35% say it is more important to reduce the income gap.

According to ABC/Washington Post, 21% of adults think the recession is over while 76% think the country is still in a recession.

According to The Economist, 2% of adults say they trust the federal government to do what is right just about all the time; 10% say most of the time; 42% say some of the time; and 40% say almost never.

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This year, though, the White House also decided that the receipt calculator was a good idea and prepared a similar tool on their website. Aside from some small design differences, we saw a couple of important things to note.

The way you calculate how much you paid:

While Third Way only asks for a the total amount paid in federal taxes, the White House asks for amount paid to Social Security, Medicare, and Income taxes.

The Percentages:

The two use different percentages to determine where your money went. Ex:Third Way estimates 20.2% for defense while the White House estimates 24.9$%.

The Catagories:

Percentages differ, but more importantly is how the two categorize expenditures. The White House puts Medicare and Medicaid into healthcare for a total percentage of 23.7% while Third Way splits the two for 13.5% in Medicare and 7.6% in Medicaid.

Aside from these differences, the two provide a good rough estimate of how your tax dollars were spent last year based upon government spending data. Make sure to check them out!

To view the Third Way tax receipt calculator, click here.

To view the White House tax receipt calculator, click here.BA

2. Congress Being Congress

1. Wednesday Waste: Grant Mismanagement in DetroitBA