Budget

Is Trump's $28 Billion Bailout Paying Farmers Too Much?

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration is spending $28 billion to bail out farmers hurt by the president’s trade war with China – a huge sum that some experts say overestimates the economic losses inflicted by the...
New Trump Food Stamp Rule Will Cut 700,000 from Program

By Michael Rainey

The White House said Wednesday that it has finalized a rule that will tighten work requirements for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The new rule could result...
Navy Awards Largest Shipbuilding Contract Ever

By Michael Rainey

The U.S. Navy awarded a contract Monday worth more than $22 billion to build nine new attack submarines. The agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat includes an option for a 10 th sub, which...
On Congress’s To-Do List: Prevent a Shutdown in 18 Days

By Yuval Rosenberg

Congressional appropriators back from their Thanksgiving recess have just three weeks to hammer out details on dozens of policy differences over federal funding for fiscal year 2020, which started on...
Chart of the Day: Record Low Poverty Rate

By Michael Rainey

The extensive array of government assistance programs — including Social Security, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, nutritional aid, rental assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit —...

Trump Scores a Win From NATO, but Fireworks Ahead

By Michael Rainey

Ahead of NATO’s 70th-anniversary meeting in London this week, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced last Thursday that the U.S. will contribute less to the alliance’s relatively small central...
Congress Makes a Deal on 2020 Spending, but the Budget Battle Is Far from Over

By Michael Rainey

Lawmakers took a big step over the weekend toward reaching a spending deal for the 2020 fiscal year, though a major hurdle — funding for President Trump’s border wall — remains in place. On Saturday...
States Boost Spending at Fastest Pace Since Great Recession

By Yuval Rosenberg

U.S. states increased spending in fiscal year 2019 at the fastest clip since the end of the Great Recession, according to a new report from the National Association of State Budget Officers. Total...
Secret Service Spent $254K at Trump Properties in His First Five Months in Office

By Yuval Rosenberg

It’s a shocker, we know: Newly released documents raise fresh concerns about the extent to which President Trump is personally profiting from his public office, showing that the Secret Service spent...
Public Investment Is the Key to Avoiding Economic Stagnation: Report

By Michael Rainey

Economic stagnation on a global scale is a growing threat, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The group’s November economic outlook...

There’s Still No Evidence That Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves

By Michael Rainey

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has long claimed that tax cuts will pay for themselves through faster economic growth. On Sunday, Mnuchin told CNN that the GOP tax bill will generate “$2.5 trillion...
How the GOP Tax Bill Could Trigger $25 Billion in Medicare Cuts in 2018

By Yuval Rosenberg

As they look to advance their tax bills, Congressional Republicans will have to work through — or around — a few potentially problematic budget rules. One is the Senate’s Byrd Rule, which says that...
Another Shutdown Threat? Why Congress Could Hit a Wall in December

By Yuval Rosenberg

It looks increasingly likely that Republican and Democratic leaders will be playing more than one hand of high-stakes poker on a spending bill needed to avoid a government shutdown. While Republicans...
Will the GOP Tax Plan Stall in the Senate?

By Michael Rainey

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Senate Republicans will release their version of the tax bill on Friday. Republicans plan to pass their tax bill through the upper chamber with a...
GOP Tax Plan Adds a Little More Growth, a Lot More Debt: Fitch Ratings

By Michael Rainey

Fitch Ratings analysts think the proposed Republican tax plan will provide only a modest short-term boost to the economy — and at a high price in terms of lost revenue and added debt. The credit...