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The Budget Control Act (BCA) is one of the few fiscal controls on spending. Passed in 2011, the BCA was part of a deal to raise the nation’s debt limit while simultaneously cutting and controlling spending to rein in growing budget deficits and stabilize the federal budget. The BCA has been successful at controlling discretionary spending growth and cutting some mandatory spending but has far too often been undermined by the actions of Congress. In fiscal year (FY) 2018, the future of the BCA remains unclear.
The United States is on a fiscal collision course. Projected spending, deficit, and debt levels are highly unsustainable and are growing automatically due to statutory rules and structural demographic and programmatic factors. Absent presidential and congressional leadership through the regular budget process, fiscal restraints are necessary to invoke reforms to out-of-control federal spending and borrowing and to avert a severe fiscal crisis in the United States. Existing U.S. institutions and budget procedures are inadequate for addressing current and future fiscal pressures.
This is an adaptation of the talk I gave at Westminster Skeptics in the Pub on Monday 2nd August. You can hear an audio transcript of the talk at the Pod Delusion website.
I was invited to stage the talk again at the Winchester SITP, a recording of which is here.
The Status of the U.S. Military With clear threats in many corners of the globe challenging U.S. security and interests, one would assume the nation is investing more into its military. Yet for years the opposite has been the case. Whether through the “peace dividend” of the 1990s, the efficiency initiatives under Defense Secretary Robert Gates, or the Budget Control Act of 2011 and its subsequent sequestration-level cuts, the military has been continuously handicapped in its ability to meet global responsibilities.