The main budget battle is just beginning this Friday, not ending. So far, President Obama has done an excellent job of laying out exactly what the Republicans don't want to talk about in public -- that when the federal budget is cut, it has real and lasting consequences to the American economy.

That budget needs to expand, to take on the challenges that the President has powerfully outlined. Yet that budget has been shrinking for thirty years, on a declining trajectory started by Reagan and continued by every president since then -- including Obama in his first term!

No serious plan to address the deficit can go forward without defense spending reforms on the table. We need to rein in Pentagon spending after the last decade of unchecked increases, and spend our security dollars wisely.

Running throughout the Romney-Ryan budget is a suspicion that by helping people you make them weaker, that the poor are easily swayed into behaving irresponsibly. The sad thing is, Romney and Ryan are the irresponsible ones

More than half of all federal spending occurs automatically, without any congressional debate or vote. 55.5% of the federal budget, about $2 trillion,...

Congress must take control of the federal budget process, which means taking responsibility for all spending programs to get the deficit under control. If Congress doesn't start relearning how to fly, we all need to be prepared for a fiscal crash.

Democrats cannot keep putting cuts on the table that will hurt low-income people, only to see their package rejected by the Republicans, who are likely to adopt every spending cut proposal but little or none of the revenues.

Obama may be leaning against the right-wing juggernaut, but he is not changing its direction, only slightly blunting its force. He has already given in where it counts by agreeing with the Republicans in August to slash the core of the discretionary civilian budget.

Federal agency and department leaders should plan for a 5 percent reduction in discretionary spending in fiscal year 2013, and prepare for more cuts -...

The debt ceiling budgetary proposal put forth by House Speaker John Boehner includes a huge, hidden, and destructive tax increase on those least able to fight back, or even register their opposition: children.

The White House and the Congress have completely sidelined the public in the budget processes. Numbers and plans are thrown around in order to obscure rather than clarify the choices being made behind closed doors.

***UPDATED*** WASHINGTON - After an all-night session, House Republicans early Saturday morning passed legislation that would slash $60 billion in ...

It's not the non-security discretionary budget that is the culprit of today's deficit. But if enacted, Paul Ryan's proposed budget would have devastating consequences in those key public investments.

Not until recently, though, was Ryan's "Roadmap" paid much heed, but new rules passed at the beginning of the 112th Congress substantially empowered him as role as House Budget Committee Chairman.

The big question is what impact the midterm election will have on the politics of fiscal evasion. Here's hoping that President Obama will give a close look to fiscal discipline that demands equal sacrifice from the left and the right.