Mike Lofgren's Blog

Mike Lofgren retired in June 2011 after 28 years as a staff member in the U.S. Congress. From 2005 until his retirement, Lofgren was a professional staff member of the Senate Budget Committee. His primary focus was on national security budgets, but he also worked on such matters as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the 2009 International Monetary Fund replenishment. From 1995 through 2004, he was budget analyst for national security on the majority staff of the House Budget Committee. In 1994 he was a professional staff member of the House Armed Services Committee’s Readiness Subcommittee. He began his legislative branch career as military legislative assistant to Rep. John R. Kasich in 1983. He has a B.A. and M.A. in history from the University of Akron. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study European history at the Universities of Bern and Basel in Switzerland and completed the strategy and policy curriculum at the Naval War College.

Since retirement, Lofgren has written about politics, budgets, and national security issues. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly, Huffington Post, Truthout, and Counterpunch. His essay on Congressional Republicans appearing in Truthout received over a million views. His book, The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted became a New York Times bestseller. He has appeared on numerous radio and TV news interviews.