Thirty Republicans have filed to run for president in New Hampshire, beating the old record of 25 candidates in 1992.

Thirteen Democrats in addition to President Obama filed to have their names on the Granite State's primary ballot.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson filed their papers in person Friday in order to meet the deadline of 5 p.m. ET.

Needless to say, it will be a crowded primary ballot in New Hampshire. Although Secretary of State Bill Gardner has yet to announce the official date, it is widely expected to be set for January 10. (read more)

During the Easter recess, House Republicans have been holding town hall meetings around the country to explain a bold and controversial budget proposal from Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan that would cut some $6 trillion in federal spending over 10 years and reform entitlement programs like Medicare.

The public is more concerned now than ever before about the disastrous state of the nation's finances, as evidenced in the number of people that attended the town halls.

Wisconsin resident Al Smith wasn't sure about the details, but praised Ryan for his efforts. "He's the only one who seems to have any idea of how to go forward," Smith said. "Whether it's right or wrong I don't know. That's what I'm here to find out."

Labor unions and activist groups opposed to one aspect or another of the Ryan plan, which passed the House before Easter, admitted to dispatching people to the meetings to turn up the heat on lawmakers. (read more)

On the floor Wednesday, Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) complained that the Republican budget cuts will cut Medicare Advantage programs. It's a remarkable claim to make since the president's health care law would cut the program several times as much, yet was supported by Democrats who voiced little or no concern about Medicare Advantage at the time.

The Senate Finance Committee Chair made a plea to all senators: "Please don't cut Medicare Advantage payments. That is just not the right thing to do. Innocent seniors are getting caught in this crossfire." He went on to call the program cut "foolhardy."

This is one of the most bizarre arguments so far in this debate inasmuch that the new health care law would cut Medicare Advantage by more than 200 billion when all is said and done, which is far more alone than the entire 61 billion in cuts Republicans are proposing.

Democrats have made many arguments against the budget cuts but in this case, they're complaining it would do something the health care bill they voted for would do in spades. A very odd argument.

In a Senate Natural Resources Committee hearing Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he believes the judge who ruled in February that the department must move forward on five pending deepwater drilling permits is "wrong" and does not have the jurisdiction to tell his department what to do.

But he and his aides also said they are already moving forward on the requested permits and Interior Undersecretary David Hayes said the department will comply with the court order in the meantime.

Under criticism from some of the Gulf Coast Senators as well as Senator Murkowski of Alaska, Salazar said the agency has issued 37 permits out of 47 requests for shallow water drilling. Of the 18 applications for deepwater wells, one has been approved, 12 have been sent back for more information and five are pending.

Lawmakers still complained the department is moving too slowly.

"We're so far off the historic level, we've got to get it back up as quickly as possible," Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said. "What I'm still hearing from the industry is uncertainty, they are still getting mixed signals, from the office down in the gulf as well as from up here."

Interior staff went to Texas last week to inspect containment capabilities in the case of a blowout and new technology is what prompted the approval Monday of the first deep water permit since the moratorium. (read more)

House Republicans now plan to offer a two week extension of federal spending in a new Continuing Resolution or CR.

Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they wanted a "clean" Continuing Resolution, meaning no additional spending cuts, just an extension of current spending.

But Republicans have divided up the $61 billion they were seeking in cuts over the next 30 weeks, which comes out to about $2 billion in cuts a week.

So they will offer a two-week extension of the CR with $4 billion in cuts.

Those cuts will be specified but that has not been worked out yet.

Republicans want to make sure that the EPA doesn't use the Clean Air Act to do by regulation what Congress refused to do in legislation: pass a cap and trade law aimed to reduce carbon emissions by taxing them:

"Now we face the threat of the EPA bureaucrats imposing the same agenda through a series of regulations," says Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.). "Like cap and trade, these regulations would boost the cost of energy not just for homeowners and car owners but for businesses large and small."

And Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who testified before the House committee, argued that using regulations to limit emissions would hit taxpayers hard. (read more)

Most Republicans say if the nation doesn't cut deficit spending, the country is headed for disaster. But some Democratic leaders say it's the other way around, and the disaster will come if spending is cut.

The debate heated up this week when House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan announced that for the rest of this year he hopes to cut non-security spending by $32 billion compared to current spending levels.

Some Democrats ridicule the number, because it is lower than Republicans had hoped to trim.

Republicans responded by saying the budget year will be almost half over by the time they can implement cuts, so reductions cover fewer months of spending. And they exempt defense, homeland security and entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare.

In addition, Democratic leaders warned Republicans this week not to shut down the government over spending, but no Republican leaders are arguing for that. (read more)

California's budget troubles may be serious--Democratic Governor Jerry Brown has proposed $12 billion in spending cuts this year--but it's just one of many states struggling to make ends meet.

"Some states are in a perilous position and have answered by having... some spending reductions and some tax increases," former George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove told Fox News. "In Illinois, for example, I think it's a 70% increase in income tax for state taxpayers." Rove noted that the options to make ends meet are limited.

Tax hikes can only go so far before the taxpayers revolt, which is why some economy watchers worry about states coming to the federal government to seek a bailout.

Douglas Elliott of the Brookings Institution says, "no state or federal officials that I am aware of have pushed for this, but the pressures are so strong I think you'll hear more and more about this possibility over time."

Republican lawmakers have made clear this will not happen.

"Should taxpayers in Indiana who have paid their bills on time, who have done their job fiscally be bailing out Californians who haven't?" House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., asks. "No. That's a moral hazard that we are not interested in creating."

But what could states do if they try all the alternatives and still can't pay their bills? (read more)

Lawmakers will look back on 2011 as the year the U.S. started down into a financial Grand Canyon, because the first baby boomers turn 65 this year -- the front edge of a tidal wave of baby boomer retirements.

"Over the next 20 years, around 10,000 baby boomers will be retiring each day," says Andrew Biggs, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. "That means more people collecting social security, more people collecting Medicare, more people collecting Medicaid as well,"

That also means the members of one of the most affluent generations will slow down in buying cars and homes and consumer products of all kinds, as they pass their peak earning years and head into retirement.

That could hurt the economy, but it is clearly a financial disaster for the federal government as those 79 million boomers shift from paying taxes into social security and Medicare and start collecting benefits from them. (read more)

One of the most explicit promises Speaker John Boehner, R-Oh., and the newly empowered Republicans made was to cut deficits immediately by returning to 2008 spending levels.

"Which, if we were able to do with the whole fiscal year, would reduce spending by 100 billion dollars," says Representative Mike Pence, R-In.

But Republicans won't have a whole budget year to work with. Congress failed to pass a current budget even though the fiscal year began last October. So the government is now operating on a temporary spending measure which runs out in March.

Budget chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wi., said that because they're halfway through the fiscal year, half the spending cats are already out of the bag. So by the time any cuts can be made, the reductions will add up to less.

"They'll try to cut tens of billions of dollars out of that funding, but realistically getting down all the way to 2008 might take a year and a half instead of the first year," says Doug Holtz Eakin, a republican analyst and former head of the Congressional Budget Office. "That would still be a remarkable success."

As a result, the cuts for this budget year are likely to be closer to 60 billion. (read more)