Budget Blogwatch: First Edition!

Welcome to the first edition of Facing Up’s “Budget Blogwatch!” The blogospere is swarming with information and debate surrounding federal spending and associated budget woes. Check back often for an updated report, featuring some of the web’s most popular and well-informed bloggers!

BudgetBlog (a project of the Center for American Progress) takes on public opinion and Congress’ current budget battle, highlighting a number of interesting components. According to the blog’s author, Tim Westrich, there are two main, partisan viewpoints on the governmental front:

On one side are those who want the budget to include higher appropriations for programs in health care, education, infrastructure, homeland security, and law enforcement. On the other side are President Bush and his conservative allies who want to cut these domestic appropriations on the grounds that the levels proposed by the majority in Congress represent, as usual, wasteful and unneeded spending.

But where does the public stand? Interestingly, a poll conducted in September 2007 by Hart Research shows the public willing to spend more on law enforcement, schools, homeland security, health insurance and a number of other structural components. What do you think? Feel free to comment below.

Over at OMB Watch, Dana Chasin covers the Center for American Progress’ proposal of its Practical and Progressive Economic Stimulus and Recovery Plan. Chasin has her doubts about the stimulus package. She says, “CAP offers no concrete proposal, saying only, "we must design a mechanism that would rely upon existing market players, the existing mortgage finance delivery systems, and familiar financial market instruments coupled with federal credit enhancement."

And while we’re on the subject of economic stimulus packages, Texas GOP Rep. Mike Conaway posted his thoughts regarding the implementation of a stimulus package on The Hills Congress Blog regarding. As a result of America’s “declining economy,” Conaway claims that the American people are feeling the economic pain. He says that higher energy and food prices, lower home equity values and other components are hampering consumer spending. Conaway alleges that a stimulus package should be approached with sensibility and should only be enacted out of shear necessity. He also says that “…designing a package that is immediate, temporary and targeted to sectors that would most benefit economic growth in the long run.”

President Bush must be on to all of this chatter regarding fiscal rejuvenation. Yesterday morning, CNN reported that President Bush is going to unveil his plans for economic stimulus today as well. According to CNN, “President Bush is putting together his first public call for an emergency fiscal stimulus bill while negotiations on Capitol Hill focus on rebates for taxpayers and other steps to jump-start the sagging economy.”

And over at the Economist’s View, commentary is rampant over Paul Krugman’s New York Times piece on America’s economic crisis. The Economist’s View poses the following question: “How did we end up with problems usually associated with third-world economies?”

Check back next week for more from the Facing Up to the Nation’s Finances team!