The House passed legislation (H.R. 2920) on July 22 that would reinstate statutory "pay-as-you-go" (PAYGO) budgeting rules, which were allowed to expire in 2002.

It's been an exceptional year. 2008 saw not only economic indicators that evoked memories of the Great Depression, but also a record-breaking federal budget deficit. The federal government, through several agencies, activated trillions of dollars in loans and asset guarantees. Congress approved the largest supplemental spending bill in its history and gave the Treasury Department the authority to expend the equivalent of three-fourths of the federal discretionary budget on one sector of the economy. But in many other ways, Congress proved to be unremarkable by staying true to its recent history of underachievement.

A 2006 Bush Treasury Department report debunks many of the recent claims that the President's supporters have made about tax cuts.

Today, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its annual Mid-Session Budget Review, and has lowered by $127 billion the projected FY 2006 budget deficit - from $423 billion estimated earlier this year to $296 billion. The reduction is attributed to an unexpected rise in corporate and personal income tax receipts and revenues from capital gains taxes. Beneath the increased tax revenue, however, is a frightening reality: the ever-widening gap between the very rich and the rest of us. Moreover, OMB's lowering of its initial projections is consistent with the White House agency's strategy of predicting drastically over-inflated deficits in order to release revisions that give the appearance of improving fiscal health.