Budget

Does the Deficit Matter? Congress Asks Four Top Economists

By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Wednesday’s impeachment hearings will rightly dominate headlines given the bombshells in Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony, but they weren’t the only hearings happening in Congress. The House...
Pentagon Fails Audit – Again

By Michael Rainey

The second audit of the Department of Defense ended the same way as the first one: with a failing grade. The fiscal 2019 audit examined more than $2.9 trillion in assets and $2.8 trillion in...
How the Deficit Looms Over the Democratic Presidential Race

By Yuval Rosenberg

Democrats are set to hold another presidential primary debate Wednesday night, and if the pattern from past debates holds true, we’ll likely hear the 10 candidates on stage talk a lot about health...
House Votes to Push Shutdown Deadline to December

By Yuval Rosenberg

The House on Tuesday passed a stopgap measure to fund the government through December 20. The Senate is set to take up the bill before current short-term funding expires on Thursday night, and the...
Congress Has Three Days to Avert a Government Shutdown

By Yuval Rosenberg

You may not have realized it with everything else going on , but we’re technically just a few days away from a government shutdown. Current funding for federal agencies expires after November 21 —...

Trump Wants South Korea to Pay Up for Protection: Report

By Michael Rainey

President Trump is demanding that South Korea pay billions of additional dollars for U.S. protection, according to a report Friday at CNN . South Korea is paying about $1 billion this year to cover...
Cost of Wars Since 9/11: $6.4 Trillion and Rising

By Michael Rainey

The total cost of the wars fought since 9/11 is approaching $6.4 trillion, according to an annual report published Wednesday by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown...
Fed Chief: Get the Deficit Under Control While the Economy Is Still Strong

By Michael Rainey

Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell told lawmakers Wednesday that Congress needs to get the deficit under control while the economy is still growing and the outlook remains positive. Failing to do so...
Congress Plans Stopgap Spending Bill Through December 20

By Yuval Rosenberg

Mark December 20 on your calendar. Congress plans to pass a second stopgap spending bill to keep the government running through that date, House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-NY) told...
Verma Attacks Critics of Medicaid Work Requirement, Pushes for Tighter Eligibility

By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News

Seema Verma, the Trump administration’s top Medicaid official, Tuesday sharply attacked critics of her plan to force some Medicaid enrollees to work, a policy that led to thousands of people losing...

Why Huge Deficits Could Be Here to Stay

By Michael Rainey

Even as annual deficits climb back toward the $1 trillion mark, “the deficit fear-factor” continues to recede in Washington, says Bloomberg’s Steve Matthews, reporting on a debate organized this week...
States Get a Third of Their Revenue from Uncle Sam

By Michael Rainey

The federal government provided 32.4% of all state revenues in the 2017 fiscal year, according to a new analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts. That’s roughly in line with the year before, when...
2019 Deficit Was Just Under $1 Trillion, Highest in 7 Years: CBO

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2019 grew to $984 billion, or 4.7% of GDP, the highest since 2012, the Congressional Budget Office estimated on Monday. The total for 2019 is 26% higher...
How Much Would Trump’s Snake-and-Alligator-Filled Border Moat Cost?

By Michael Rainey

President Trump has asked his staff to investigate some pretty extreme options related to border security, according to a forthcoming book by Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis of The New...
Americans Like Most Major Federal Agencies — Except One

By Yuval Rosenberg

The American public’s trust in the federal government is at a historically low level , with just 17% of adults telling pollsters earlier this year that they trust the government to do what is right...