Tag: OMB

U.S. Senator JD Vance Requests Clarification from Biden National Security Advisor on Ukraine Spending

Hannah Poling

On Monday, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) along with U.S. Congressmen Chip Roy (R-TX-21) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01) sent a letter to the National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan requesting clarification regarding “major discrepancies” between claims made by administration officials regarding American aid given to Ukraine.

This follows Sullivan stating at a White House press briefing on September 21st, 2023 that the Biden Administration had sent approximately $79.9 billion in aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

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Commentary: Despite ‘Strong’ Rhetoric, Biden Administration Signals Gloomy Economic Outlook

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The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the now-released President’s Budget is projecting just 0.6 percent in inflation-adjusted real growth of the U.S. economy in 2023 as the unemployment rate is expected to rise to 4.3 percent in 2023 and peak at 4.6 percent in 2024 after the economy is finished overheating from the continued, elevated inflation, consumers max out on credit and spending falls off a cliff.

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Wisconsin Congressman Gallagher Reintroduces Bipartisan Bill Targeting Over-budget, Behind-Schedule Projects

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) and Katie Porter (D-CA-47) are pushing for passage of their reintroduced Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, a bill to publicize which federal projects are dramatically over budget or behind schedule. 

The measure instructs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to generate an annual report on all projects that run at least $1 billion over initially authorized expenses or whose completion takes at least five years longer than originally scheduled. 

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President Trump’s 2019 Shutdown Minimizes the Impact on Citizens, Where President Obama’s Maximized the Impact in 2013

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by Molly Prince   Services typically suspended during government shutdowns have continued to operate under the Trump administration, with insiders pointing to acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought (pictured above) as the reason why. Agencies impacted by government shutdowns are forced to severely cut back on operations, suspend services and often send workers home without pay. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been using creative solutions to blunt the burden, according to a senior administration official and several prominent Republicans. Vought joined the OMB in early 2018 and assumed the role of acting director Jan. 3 after Director Mick Mulvaney became President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff. “My marching orders from Russ is to make this shutdown as painless as possible,” a senior administration official, who asked to speak on background so they could speak frankly, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. The response by the Trump administration has differed greatly from that of the previous administration during the 2013 shutdown. “What the marching orders in the last administration were was to weaponize the shutdown, to make it as painful as possible,” the official continued. “They did things as a policy matter, to not keep programs running,…

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Three Common Ways Governments Misuse Statistics and What You Can Do About It

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US Capitol at night

by Andrew Berryhill   Government agencies and researchers produce endless reams of statistics. While statistics can be valuable, they can be easily misrepresented. A 2017 study on the use of statistics in news characterized the problem as such: “The constant supply of data produced by think tanks, government agencies, independent researchers, academics and others is a significant and a potentially healthy democratic resource. But the time constraints that characterize modern news production put considerable pressure on journalists, who have to interpret the sometimes highly complex methods and meanings behind statistics, reporting data even-handedly and with clarity.” Without critical and educated evaluation of statistics, the public could be misled by information that’s misused, incomplete, or manipulated. Unfortunately, it seems that manipulation of statistics to further an agenda is becoming more common throughout society. Bad information propagated by government agencies especially is affecting policy decisions and harming the public when news outlets report it with insufficient examination. Here are three common ways governments and modern society in general misuse statistics. 1. “Predicting” the Long-Term Effects of Complicated Legislation: Obamacare When the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tried to predict the effects of the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as “Obamacare”), it was utterly wrong on numerous points. The CBO released…

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Trump Taps Kraninger for Consumer Protection Post

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Kathy Kraninger

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Kathy Kraninger, associate director of the Office of Management and Budget, to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which seeks to prevent financial abuses to consumers. In a statement Saturday, the White House said Kraninger would continue the efforts of the current CFPB chief, Mick Mulvaney, to scale back the agency’s regulatory ambitions while continuing efforts to keep financial fraud in check. Mulvaney, who is the president’s budget director, had filled the role in an actingcapacity, replacing Richard Cordray, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who had led the agency from 2012 until his retirement last year. The CFPB was formed in the wake of the U.S. financial crisis of 2007-08, authorized by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Its duties are to protect consumers from fraud by banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, foreclosure relief servicesand other financial companies. Kraninger is currently associate director for general government programs with the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees government spending.           VOA News

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Mulvaney Proposes Congressional Oversight of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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President Trump’s acting head of a federal consumer bureau proposed Monday to bring congressional oversight to the Obama-era agency that’s often criticized for its far-reaching regulating of the lending industry. Mick Mulvaney, installed by Mr. Trump late last year to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the agency should receive its funding from Congress and should obtain lawmakers’ approval before imposing major rules on businesses.

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Mick Mulvaney Looks for More Trump Appointees to Help Him ‘Refocus’ Consumer Bureau

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Interim Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney said Thursday that he wants to bring more Trump political appointees on board at the agency as he pores over its books and considers halting dozens of pending cases targeting businesses. “We’re trying to get help over here,” Mr. Mulvaney told The Washington Times in an interview.

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Repealing Obamacare’s Individual Mandate Won’t Cause Doomsday Democrats Promise

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If Congress moves forward with repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate through tax reform, it would likely not lead to the coverage losses that some of the program’s supporters tout. The Senate is currently proposing repealing the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that all Americans purchase health insurance or pay a penalty through its tax reform proposal, a proposal…

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