Federal budget

WASHINGTON — The House approved a short-term stopgap spending bill Friday, averting a partial shutdown of the government that could have begun at midnight. The 230-201 vote in the Democratic-led House was largely along party lines. The so-called continuing resolution... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Congressional Budget Office released a long-term economic forecast on Wednesday that has the national debt rising to 185% of gross domestic product in 2052, with interest payments to cover that debt poised to quadruple as a share... Read More

WASHINGTON — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday he’s urging congressional budget negotiators to strike a deal on an omnibus spending package by early next week, so that the Senate can act on it well ahead of the... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday passed a stopgap measure to extend funding of the federal government through March and allow negotiations of a more long-term spending package more time to bear fruit. The vote was 272-162, with 51 Republicans... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Thursday night that ended the threat of a short-term government shutdown this weekend and will keep the government running through Feb. 18, 2022. The vote in the senate came just hours... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday evening passed a stopgap spending bill that, if the Senate follows suit, will keep the federal government running until Feb. 18. The vote was 221-212 with one Republican joining Democrats in approving the measure.... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rarely have the leaders of Congress been asked to do so much, with so little, as in navigating President Joe Biden’s big domestic vision into law. Reaching for FDR-style accomplishments with slimmer-than-ever Democratic majorities has been politically messy at... Read More

WASHINGTON — Snapchat Founder and CEO Evan Spiegel made a bit of a surprise appearance at the Committee for a Responsible Budget’s annual Budget Ball reception on Capitol Hill Tuesday night. The “camera company” entrepreneur was lauded for his focus... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden headed to Capitol Hill early Thursday to make the case to House Democrats for a dramatically scaled-back domestic policy package, $1.75 trillion of social services and climate change programs the White House believes can... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans opted to oppose a funding bill needed to suspend the debt ceiling and prevent a government shutdown in a procedural vote on Monday. The measure failed by a margin of 48 in favor to 50 against,... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — What will it cost to enact President Joe Biden's massive expansion of social programs?  Congress has authorized spending up to $3.5 trillion over a decade, but Biden is prodding Democrats to fully cover the cost of the... Read More

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa was slow to get behind a $1 trillion infrastructure bill after the Senate passed it last month. It wasn't the price tag that tripped up the Democrat from a... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Bipartisan Policy Center, a D.C.-based think tank, released an analysis on Friday projecting that the United States’ debt limit “X Date” will likely arrive between mid-October and mid-November of this year. The so-called x date represents the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The House will reconvene at noon Tuesday to take a second stab at ending a stalemate with 10 centrist members over a $3.5 trillion budget framework.  Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and the other holdouts don’t necessarily oppose the... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats and immigration advocates are staring at their best chance in years to overcome Republican opposition and give millions of people in the U.S. without legal authorization a way to become citizens. Their goal is to... Read More

WASHINGTON- The Biden Administration's 2022 budget, released at the end of last week, seeks significant spending increases for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  The fiscal year 2022 budget request sets out $6.5 billion for the FDA, an increase of... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, once a regular Amtrak rider, is set on Friday to help the nation's passenger rail system celebrate 50 years of service.As a U.S. senator, Biden was a fixture on Amtrak trains between his home... Read More

BALTIMORE (AP) — To pay out his coronavirus relief package, President Joe Biden must spend an average of $3.7 billion every day for the rest of this year. That's $43,000 every second of every day until midnight chimes on 2022.   For the... Read More

WASHINGTON — Top appropriators reached bipartisan agreement Tuesday on a framework for an omnibus spending package that would avoid a partial government shutdown next month. The compromise forged between the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees sets spending allocations for the... Read More

WASHINGTON - With over 10.5 million Americans so far infected with COVID-19, the U.S. health care system’s focus has understandably been on strategies for combating the virus. Yet when the nation is finally able to shift back to handling longer-term... Read More

WASHINGTON -- With Congress considering significant health care reforms, including creating a government-run health insurance plan called the public option, a new study shows that it could be significantly more expensive than previously estimated. The study, released by Lanhee J.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an independent non-profit organization, released its anticipated report on the estimated costs of both Trump’s and Biden’s campaign plans last week. Not surprisingly, they are very expensive plans.  Both candidates have... Read More

WASHINGTON. – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Angus King, I-Maine, reintroduced their bipartisan legislation to save taxpayer dollars by reducing the federal funding available for the acquisition and leasing of new federal vehicles. The Domestic Reduction... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted to advance a stopgap spending bill Tuesday night, the penultimate step to avoiding a government shutdown at midnight Wednesday. The vote to limit debate on the measure paves the way for a final vote in... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Congressional Budget Office recently released two new outlook reports. These projections are an update of the U.S. deficit, debt, spending, and revenue over the next decade and beyond, given current laws in place. The pair of reports... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government incurred the biggest monthly budget deficit in history in June as spending on programs to combat the coronavirus recession exploded while millions of job losses cut into tax revenues. The Treasury Department reported Monday... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite the fact the White House and Senate were able to reach a deal on a roughly $2 trillion stimulus bill early Wednesday, the U.S. economy is still facing a huge shock to its system, the president of... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition is calling on the House Budget Committee to live up to its name and produce a budget this year, in spite of the fact spending caps have been set through the end of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - A Pentagon proposal to cut funding for Stars and Stripes is causing an uproar among media organizations and reporters covering the Defense Department who contend the independent newspaper remains a vital source of information for military personnel stationed... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's $4.8 trillion election year budget plan was largely panned on Capitol Hill and elsewhere Monday as just the latest example of a lack of fiscal discipline in the nation's capital. Trump’s fiscal 2021 plan does... Read More