politics

David Brooks may not have been specifically thinking of Facing Up to the Nation's Finances when he referred to "Entitlement People" in today's column, but he was certainly talking about people we know.

The Alaska bridge project that became the national symbol for pork-barrel spending is finally, definitely dead. But while hundreds of millions have been saved, in one sense the damage has been done.

Today's must-read budget story is the On the Economy column in the New York Times, which points out that all the presidential candidates are trying their best to remain "shocked, shocked" at the rough budget choices the country will face in 2010, when the Bush tax cuts are set to expire.

This story provides a useful reminder of an important fact of life in the budget world: lots of people in Congress are proud of their earmarks.

USA Today has today's must-read budget story, even though it's about accounting policy. If corporate accounting rules were applied to the federal budget, the U.S.

You can't tell the players without a scorecard, which is why Congressional Quarterly's take on the inside-the-Beltway angles surrounding this week's budget maneuvering is pretty handy.

If there's any part of the It's Time to Pay Our Bills report released today that deserves to be printed out and stuck on a politician's refrigerator, it's the six steps leaders can take to build public support for budget reform.