Budget

Bipartisan Group of Senators Pushes for Trump to Reopen Government

By Yuval Rosenberg

A bipartisan group of senators is urging President Trump to agree to a three-week stopgap funding measure that would end the government shutdown, now heading for its 27th day, while they negotiate a...
Federal Workers Have Missed an Average $5,000 in Pay So Far

By Michael Rainey

Government employees who are not receiving paychecks during the shutdown have lost about $5,000 each on average so far, according to an analysis by The New York Times. In total, the missing pay comes...
Pelosi’s Shutdown Power Play Against Trump

By Yuval Rosenberg

The state of our union is … on hold? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to President Trump Wednesday morning asking him to postpone his State of the Union address, scheduled for January 29, or...
Why Some Conservatives Love the Shutdown

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The Washington Post reports that the prolonged shutdown is giving some small-government conservatives who have the president’s ear just what they’ve long wanted: a smaller government and a chance to...
Shutdown Could Be Twice as Costly as White House Estimated

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration has raised its estimate of the cost to the economy from the shutdown, CNBC’s Steve Liesman reported Tuesday. White House economists had initially weighed the effect of 800,...

Trump Fails to Crack Democratic Unity on Shutdown

By Yuval Rosenberg

Even lunch is an issue. As the partial government shutdown stretches toward its 26 th day, the White House tried to bypass Democratic leadership by inviting rank-and-file House Democrats to lunch...
Why Trump Thinks He’s Winning the Shutdown Fight

By Yuval Rosenberg

Here’s your shutdown update in one word: Stuck. The partial government shutdown is now heading for its 25th day, four days longer than the previous record, and both sides remain firmly dug in on...
House Democrats to Investigate Drug Prices

By Michael Rainey

A key House investigative committee announced Monday that it was launching a wide-ranging investigation into the pricing practices of 12 major pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, Eli Lilly,...
Leading Economist Says Government Debt Might Not Be So Bad After All

By Michael Rainey

Renowned macroeconomist Olivier Blanchard says that policymakers may need to fundamentally revise their views on the long-term cost of government debt. Delivering the presidential address at last...
The Longest Shutdown Ever – with No End in Sight

By Yuval Rosenberg

Three weeks, zero progress. Congress adjourned for the weekend without any movement toward a negotiated resolution to the partial government shutdown, which is now guaranteed to become the longest in...

McConnell’s Plan to Avoid a Shutdown

By Michael Rainey

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Wednesday introduced a short-term spending bill that would avert a partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday. The bill which would keep the...
Trump Orders Pentagon to Create Space Command

By Michael Rainey

President Trump on Tuesday directed the Department of Defense to create Space Command, a new unified combat command focused on space that is meant to lay the groundwork for a proposed Space Force...
Trump Signals He’s Ready to Back Down in Border Wall Fight

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration appeared to pull back from the shutdown brink Tuesday, with White House press secretary Sarah Sanders saying the administration won’t demand $5 billion for border wall...
Trump and Lawmakers Dig In for a Shutdown

By Michael Rainey

Neither side in the battle over President Trump’s border wall appears to be budging, raising the odds of a partial government shutdown come Friday night. “Spending discussions have stalled, with no...
3 Key Questions About the Obamacare Court Ruling

By Yuval Rosenberg

The fate of Obamacare may once again wind up before the Supreme Court now that a federal judge in Texas has ruled that the law is unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor ruled on...