Budget Battles
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Pelosi Sets Deadline for Stimulus Deal
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US Deficit Soars to $3.1 Trillion
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McConnell Rejects Trump’s Call for Bigger Stimulus
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Mnuchin: Relief Bill Will Be ‘Difficult’ Before Election
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Trump Undermines McConnell on Stimulus Plan
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Trump Faces a GOP Revolt Over Stimulus
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Trump's Big U-Turn: A $1.8 Trillion Stimulus Offer
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Two New Polls Find Trouble for Trump on the Economy
As the Trump administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) scramble to see if they can reach a roughly $2 trillion stimulus deal — while Senate Republicans look to vote on a smaller, $500...
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McConnell Warns White House Against Pre-Election Stimulus Deal: Report
By Michael RaineyHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Tuesday that lawmakers are moving ahead with a draft of a new coronavirus stimulus bill, despite a lack of agreement on some key provisions. Yet even as Pelosi...
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Court Rejects Trump Effort to Cut Food Stamps
By The Fiscal Times StaffA federal judge on Sunday rejected a Trump administration plan to cut $5.5 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the next five years. The proposed rule change would allow...
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Stimulus Deal or No Deal? Pelosi Sets Tuesday Deadline
By Michael RaineyIt may not have a made-for-TV theme song, but Nancy Pelosi’s ultimatum does pack some dramatic punch: 48 hours or we’re done. House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) said Sunday that a deal must be reached...
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2021 Stimulus Size Hinges on Senate More Than President: Goldman Sachs
The election contest between President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden has been called the most consequential of our lifetime — and more voters say the race matters to them than in decades...
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US Deficit Soars to $3.1 Trillion
By Michael RaineyThe federal budget deficit topped $3.1 trillion in the 2020 fiscal year, the U.S. Treasury announced Friday, marking the largest annual deficit in U.S. history. As a share of the economy, the deficit...
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Pelosi Cites Progress, but Warns of Poison Pills in Stimulus Deal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said after a nearly 90-minute negotiating session Thursday that they had made some progress toward a coronavirus relief package...
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McConnell Shoots Down Trump’s Call for Bigger Stimulus
President Trump said Thursday he’d agree to a coronavirus relief package larger than the $1.8 trillion his administration offered last week, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly shot...
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Mnuchin: Relief Bill Will Be ‘Difficult’ Before Election
In case it wasn’t already clear that a new coronavirus relief bill probably isn’t coming before the election, just take a look at what Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has been negotiating the...
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Why Big Deficits Are Here to Stay (for Now)
By Michael RaineyFrom billions in income supplements for households to trillions in guaranteed loans for businesses, fiscal policy has taken a central role in the government’s response to the Covid recession...
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Why Joe Biden Wants to Go Big on a Stimulus Package
By Michael RaineySome Democratic economic policy wonks have long believed they made a serious mistake during the Great Recession: The $787 billion stimulus package President Barack Obama signed into law in 2009 just...
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Biden’s Tax Plan: Who Really Would Pay More?
Joe Biden’s tax plan would have high earners paying significantly more, with the top 1% of households shouldering 80% of the increase while those earning less than $400 would see no change on average...
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US Debt Costs Falling Even as Borrowing Soars
By Michael RaineyInterest costs on the national debt have fallen about 10% this fiscal year, even as the amount of debt issued by the U.S. Treasury has hit record levels, Bloomberg reported Friday. And over the next...
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Senate Dems Block GOP’s Scaled-Back Coronavirus Relief Bill
Senate Republicans on Thursday failed to advance their scaled-back coronavirus relief package, as Democrats blocked the roughly $650 billion plan, which they called woefully inadequate. House...
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Medicare Chief Spent Millions in Taxpayer Funds to Boost ‘Personal Brand’
By Michael RaineySeema Verma, who runs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the Trump administration, spent more than $3.5 million in public funds on outside consultants who worked to “boost her public...