By Rachel Goldfarb, originally published on Next New Deal
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U.S. House Votes to Adopt Contentious Changes to Cost Estimates (Reuters)
Under new rules passed by the House, cost estimates on fiscal legislation will be measured using dynamic scoring, which could mask the impact of tax cuts, reports David Lawder.
The CBO and JCT currently provide some macroeconomic analysis as supplements to major bills, such as immigration reform or President Barack Obama's healthcare law. The change adopted on Tuesday will include those growth effects and associated revenue in official cost estimates.
White House Budget Director Shaun Donovan said in a blog posting that adoption of dynamic scoring would "risk injecting bias" into a decades-old, non-partisan budget process.
"As a result, it could allow Congress to adopt legislation that increases federal deficits, while masking its costs," Donovan said.
Follow below the fold for more.
Where Working Women Are Most Common (NYT)
Gregor Aisch, Josh Katz, and David Leonhardt examine data on women's employment rates throughout the country, considering the differing circumstances that lead women to work or not work.
Obama to Pick Former Bank of Hawaii CEO to Be Fed Governor (Bloomberg News)
Cheyenne Hopkins and Jesse Hamilton report that the President will soon announce the nomination of Allan Landon, who has worked at a firm that invests in community banks since 2010.
The Next Big Fight Among Democrats? (WaPo)
Greg Sargent says the next economic fight between populist Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration will be about how much to raise the salary threshold for overtime pay.
- Roosevelt Take: Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Richard Kirsch says these fights between populists and the administration are about the soul of the Democratic party.
Why Is Wage Growth So Slow? The San Francisco Fed Has an Answer (WSJ)
Michael S. Derby looks at new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which suggests that since employers fired workers rather than cut wages in the recession, hiring will increase before wages do.
The Mortgage Mistake (New Yorker)
James Surowiecki considers the costs of the American emphasis on homeownership and corresponding tax breaks, noting that homeowners' tax breaks don't really help low-income families.
Fair Value Accounting: The Obscure Rule Change That Could Make Student Loans More Expensive (Vox)
Matthew Yglesias explains how changing the method by which government accounts for federal credit programs could have difficult consequences for those seeking student loans and mortgages.