President Obama held this press conference on March 1, 2013, on the deadline for the sequestration cuts to automatically begin.

Speaker of the House John Boehner gave this statement at a press conference about the sequester, on February 28, 2013.

Should a functioning government fail to emerge in Italy, the eurozone could soon find itself engulfed in another round of expensive and controversial bailouts, says CFR's Charles Kupchan.

Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke presented these prepared remarks to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on February 26, 2013. The committee provides a webcast of the whole hearing.

President Obama gave these remarks on the impact of the sequester on February 26, 2013, at Newport News Shipbuilding.

Micah Zenko argues, "The tolerance for threat inflation in the absence of plausible threats should be questioned and challenged by anyone interested in, or holding a stake in, the future of U.S. foreign policy."

Examines data including GDP, household debt, and industrial production to show the weakness of the current recovery compared to previous postwar rebounds.

Former co-chairs of the President's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson proposed a new deficit reduction plan on February 19, 2013, through their organization Moment of Truth. Their plan projects reductions by $2.4 trillion over the next decade, with cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and discretionary spending, and ending or curbing deductions and tax breaks.

Michael Spence argues that effective management of the assets side of national balance sheets is critical for promoting market efficiency, innovation, and resiliency.

Contrary to those who see a future of "globalization on steroids," Joshua Kurlantzick says the reality of today's economic slowdown is that it will leave as its legacy the worst degloblization in modern history.

The president's annual address set the stage for more political wrangling over U.S. fiscal policy at a time when decisiveness is crucial for the economy, writes CFR's Robert Kahn.

"Nowhere is this more heartfelt than in Italy. The euro is more than a currency: It is the strongest symbol of belonging to Europe, a relationship that many Italians hope can teach them better governance."

Peter Orszag finds good news about health care costs in the latest budgetary and economic projections released by the CBO, but he cautions that the outlook for unemployment and federal spending is still gloomy.

Timothy F. Geithner, the 75^th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, will join the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as a distinguished fellow. Geithner, who was previously a senior fellow at CFR in 2001, will be based at the organization's headquarters in New York.

Benn Steil's Wall Street Journal Europe op-ed, co-authored with Dinah Walker, argues that the Bank of England is getting "Libored"—that is, misled and manipulated—by the banks benefiting from its Funding for Lending Scheme. The Fed, which has shown interest in the scheme, should beware.

Because a financial crisis can inflict lasting damage to productivity growth, Peter Orszag argues that the failure of U.S. policymakers to enact a "barbell" fiscal policy now could yield more economic troubles down the road.

Benn Steil's column in Dow Jones' Financial News, co-authored with Dinah Walker, shows why last March's Greek debt restructuring left Greece in poor shape to avoid financial collapse

Peter Orszag argues that aggressive action to continue recent slowing in health-care cost growth can help to stabilize the U.S. fiscal trajectory and increase take-home pay.

Richard N. Haass argues that many of the same issues that we faced in 2012 will continue to be problematic in 2013.

President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (also called the "fiscal cliff bill") into law on January 2, 2013.