Budget Battles
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How to Interpret Trump's Surprise Government Shutdown Threat
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Government Has Been a Drag on the Economy – but That’s About to Change
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A Warning About the Next Economic Crisis from Leaders Who Battled the Last One
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Lawmakers Battle Over Veterans Health Funding
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Deficit Jumps in Trump’s First Fiscal Year
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Some GOP Senators Want to Slash Gas Taxes — and Federal Highway Spending
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Democrats and the Deficit: The Intraparty Fight Ahead
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Why Children Lose Out in the Federal Budget
By Michael RaineyThe federal government spends much less on children than it does the elderly, with the latter claiming roughly 35 percent of the annual budget. The disparity is driven in part by the government’s...
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Spending Caps Could Come Roaring Back in 2020
By Michael RaineyCongress has busted through its self-imposed spending caps for this year and next, enabling the government to spend billions more that the limits imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The...
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Cost of Trump’s Military Parade Rising Fast
By Michael RaineyIt looks like President Trump’s military parade is going to cost a lot more than the initial estimate suggested – about $80 million more. The Department of Defense pegged the cost of the parade at...
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Congress Puts Spending Bills in Gear
By Michael RaineyCongress is on pace to do something it hasn’t done in more than 20 years: pass all of its spending bills before the fiscal year begins on October 1. How they’re doing it: In order to move the...
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Trump Wants $8 Billion to Build the Space Force
By Michael RaineyThe Trump administration wants to spend $8 billion over the next five years to establish the U.S. Space Force as a sixth branch of the military, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday. In a speech...
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The Coming Government Spending Spree
The end of the U.S. government’s fiscal year is less than two months away, and as Frank Konkel lays out at Nextgov , that means federal agencies will be on a mad dash to spend a big chunk of their...
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The Deficit Is Up 20% This Year
By The Fiscal Times StaffThe federal deficit was 20 percent larger in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2018 than it was during the same time last year, the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday. Revenues rose 1...
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Putting a Price Tag on the Democratic Socialist Agenda
By Michael RaineyA number of policy proposals associated with the “democratic socialist” agenda of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are gaining ground in the Democratic Party and will likely play a role in...
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Here’s What’s at Stake in November: Tax Cuts, a Shutdown and Obamacare Repeal
By Michael RaineyA lot can change over the next three months, but right now Democrats look likely to win control of the House of Representatives. They currently hold the lead in both generic ballot polls and the...
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Trump’s New Immigration Plan: Protecting Taxpayers or Stoking Resentments?
The Trump administration is finalizing a proposal that would make it more difficult for legal immigrants to get citizenship or green cards if they have ever used public assistance programs including...
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Chart of the Day: Americans Using Government Programs
The federal welfare program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families delivers cash aid to about 2.5 million people, or less than 1 percent of the U.S. population — “far smaller than the share...
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Why Trump’s Border Wall Could Cost More Than $25 Billion
By Michael RaineyU.S. Customs and Border Protection has analyzed several types of barriers for use on the Southwestern border but has failed to estimate the costs of building those barriers in all relevant locations...
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Is Congress Headed for a Disaster Relief Showdown?
By Michael RaineyDeficit hawks warn that soaring budget shortfalls and rising national debt will leave less fiscal space — or at least the perception of less fiscal space — for lawmakers to respond to the next...
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Fiscal Policy Gives the Economy a Boost
By Michael RaineyFederal, state and local fiscal policies boosted GDP growth by 0.6 percentage points in the second quarter, according to an analysis by the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the...
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Public Pensions Face a $5 Trillion Hole
By The Fiscal Times Staff“Many cities and states can no longer afford the unsustainable retirement promises made to millions of public workers over many years,” writes The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Krouse . “By one...