US Budget Watch Releases New Paper

August 21 - Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, introduced a new paper from US Budget Watch on C-SPAN this morning. Promises, Promises: A Fiscal Voter Guide to the Next Election describes the major policies of the presidential candidates, separated into taxes, healthcare, energy, and other spending. The report offers estimates of each proposal's cost in 2013, the last year of the next presidency. As paper explains:

"The two major political parties' presidential candidates are campaigning on a lengthy list of policy initiatives, most of which would have significant impact on the federal budget...[This paper] attempts to offer voters a ‘best guess' of the costs of proposed policies if enacted as the candidates describe them...The next president will face difficult fiscal challenges. It is therefore critical that voters understand the potential budgetary impacts of the candidates' plans."