On Thursday, the Senate voted to begin debate on gun-control. The vote marked the first time gun legislation will be argued in the upper chamber since the 1990's. The final vote to begin debate was 68 to 31, with 16 Republicans crossing the isle to allow arguments to proceed.

President Obama has officially released his fifth annual budget. Once again, the president has put forward a mix of infrastructure spending, investments in education and research, and a plan for additional deficit reduction. Unlike previous budget plans, however, this new proposal offers cuts to Social Security and Medicare, in an attempt to bring Republicans to the negotiating table.

It's one of Republicans' favorite lies – that Americans are burdened with the weight of one of the world's highest tax rates. Unsurprisingly, it couldn't be further from the truth. A new report from Citizens for Tax Justice shows that in 2010, the United States collected less in taxes as a percentage of GDP than all but two industrialized nations that make up the Organization for Economic Development.

Despite the fact that Americans want Medicare and Social Security protected, President Obama has once again included cuts to the vital programs as part of his new budget proposal. As he's done previously, the President has offered up a change to cost of living increases – called the chained CPI – which reduces benefits paid to seniors, veterans, and the disabled.