Fox Anchor Calls Out Paul Ryan's Budget Plan: Repealing Obamacare Is ‘Not Going To Happen’  —  On Sunday morning, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) stopped by Fox News Sunday to preview his new budget, which will be released in full on Tuesday.  As it had the past two years, this year's version will call …

TIMELINE: How Jeb Bush Pulled A 360 On Immigration Reform  —  Jeb Bush completed a whirlwind one-week journey on immigration on Sunday, praising a Senate proposal to grant eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants after attacking the idea in a newly released book he co-authored that was itself a reversal of his past position.

House GOP leaders blindsided by defections on spending vote  —  House Republican leaders have a new problem.  They can't count on their members to support them on procedural votes.  —  Sixteen Republicans defected Wednesday in a vote on the rule governing consideration of a government-funding bill meant …

Monstrous  —  This is a kind of blood-curdling story I just learned about this afternoon.  Zerlina Maxwell is an acquaintance who I've watched from a distance as she builds a media career as a progressive pundit and activist — succeeding to an amazing degree while also getting a law degree.

Susan Rice as national security adviser?  U.N. ambassador said to be front-runner.  —  UNITED NATIONS — Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who lost out in a bruising bid for the job of secretary of state, may have the last laugh.  —  Rice has emerged as far and away …

‘Toaster Pastry Gun Freedom Act’ proposed in Maryland  —  A Maryland state senator has crafted a bill to curb the zeal of public school officials who are tempted to suspend students as young as kindergarten for having things — or talking about things, or eating things — that represent guns, but aren't actually anything like real guns.

Two Senators  —  This is from not-for-attribution interviews with two Republican senators who attended the dinner with the president on Wednesday night at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington.  —  One was heartened and impressed by the meeting while retaining his skepticism as to whether …

GABBY GIFFORDS' HUSBAND BUYS AR-15  —  Mark E. Kelly, gun-control proponent and husband to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, recently purchased an AR-15 (an “assault weapon,” he called it)—which he now says he intended as an illustration of the need for more stringent gun laws.

Former Newark Airport TSA screener says the job does little to keep fliers safe  —  It is perhaps America's most unsafe airport.  Despite being the launching point for one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 — Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania — Newark Airport has had numerous security violations since.

Professor Krugman and Crude Keynesianism  —  I recently published a Washington Post op-ed called “Deficits do Matter” that was co-authored with talk-show host, commentator and former Congressman Joe Scarborough.  The piece argues that high and rising levels of public debt are a real concern.

The Challenge of Debt Reduction during Fiscal Consolidation  —  Publication Date: Electronic Access:  —  Free Full text (PDF file size is 1,292KB).  —  Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file  —  Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.