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...

Probably No Shutdown, at Least This Week

By Michael Rainey

The House passed a government funding bill Thursday to keep the doors open for a few more weeks, and the Senate is expected to approve the measure as soon as tonight. Earlier in the day, the Big Four...
Why the Top Corporate Tax Rate May End Up Higher Than 20 Percent

By Michael Rainey

President Trump’s reference to a 22 percent tax rate for businesses last weekend left some analysts scratching their heads, since the White House and numerous lawmakers had signaled that the proposed...
Why the GOP’s Debt-Financed Tax Cuts Could Come Back to Haunt Them

By Yuval Rosenberg

Republicans keep saying that their tax cut plan will pay for itself, despite a profound lack of evidence to support that argument. Even the most optimistic study, from the conservative-leaning Tax...
Continuing Resolutions Cost the Military Billions

By Yuval Rosenberg

Defense hawks have warned that operating under continuing resolutions hampers the military. “Continuing resolutions lock the department into the previous year’s budget for their duration,” Susanna V...
Trump Says a Shutdown ‘Could Happen’ – Here’s What’s Holding Things Up

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump warned Wednesday that a government shutdown “could happen” and sought to blame Democrats, accusing them of holding up talks on a spending deal with their demands for continued...