Jobs 

Small Business Confidence Drops in March:  As a result of President Obama’s failed policies and stagnant economic growth, optimism among small business owners fell in the month of March.  According to the National Federation of Independent Business, “After six months of gains, the Small-Business Optimism Index fell by almost 2 points in March. After a promising start to the year, nine of ten index components dropped last month, most notably hiring plans and expected real sales growth each taking a significant dive.”

Spending

House GOP Passes the Only Serious Plan to Address Our Fiscal Crisis:  Instead of ignoring our growing fiscal crisis which CBO now calls “unsupportable,” House Republicans have approved the only serious plan to cut deficits and bring our nation’s debt under control.  The Republican budget was passed on March 29 by a vote of 228-191.  The GOP budget cuts spending by $5.3 trillion and reduces deficits by over $3 trillion relative to the president’s budget.  Senate Democrats, on the other hand, haven’t passed a budget in three years and the president introduced an unacceptable alternative that would never balance the budget again.

Medicare

President’s Health Law Drives Medicare Spending:  According to CBO’s latest baseline projections (which are well below CBO’s alternative, more likely, fiscal scenario) “over the next ten years federal spending per [Medicare] beneficiary for Parts A and B is projected to grow by about 30 percent, while federal spending per beneficiary for Part D will double, largely because of a combination of rising drug costs and the more generous benefits enacted in the Affordable Care Act.”