Budget Battles
-
Dems Debate Smaller Unemployment Checks
-
Now It's the Senate's Turn on Stimulus
-
Democrats Scramble to Save $15 Minimum Wage
-
The US Is About to Get a New Top Tax Break
-
150 Top Business Leaders Back Biden's Covid Plan
-
Fed's Powell Warns Congress on the Economy
-
Two Key Senators Say No to Biden’s Budget Office Pick
-
Tweet of the Day: What’s Missing From GOP Attacks on Biden Rescue Plan
Republicans have been slamming President Biden’s Covid rescue plan, arguing that it is more focused on advancing a longstanding liberal wishlist than on delivering real pandemic relief. GOP...
-
2021 Deficit Projected at $2.3 Trillion Even Before Biden Stimulus: CBO
The U.S. budget deficit will total $2.3 trillion this fiscal year, down substantially from last year but still on track to be the second largest in the nation’s history, the Congressional Budget...
-
Biden Rips Republicans on Covid Relief, Says He’s Ready to ‘Act Fast’
President Biden on Friday made a forceful case for his $1.9 trillion Covid rescue package, arguing in a speech to the nation that another weak monthly jobs report demonstrates that the economy...
-
US Treasury Slashes Borrowing Estimate
By Michael RaineyThe federal government spent less than expected at the end of 2020, so the U.S. Treasury earlier this week sharply reduced its estimates for borrowing in the first three months of 2021. The Treasury...
-
Investors Tell Washington: Don’t Worry About the Debt
With a growing number of lawmakers expressing concerns about another massive, deficit-financed Covid relief package and the historically large national debt, Politico’s Victoria Guida reports that...
-
The Battle Over Biden’s Big Stimulus Plan
President Biden’s flurry of first-week executive orders comes as his $1.9 trillion proposal for the next coronavirus relief package faces intense Republican opposition, including from moderates whose...
-
Yellen Tells Congress It’s Time to ‘Act Big’ to Rescue the Economy
Incoming Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday urged Congress to “act big” and deliver more relief to the pandemic-ravaged economy. As she sought to build support for the $1.9 trillion rescue...
-
Orszag, Rubin and Stiglitz Call for a New Fiscal Framework
The consensus on the dangers of rising debt has shifted dramatically over the last decade. Economists have been reexamining how best to spur recovery and encourage wider-spread prosperity as...
-
Deficit Hits $572 Billion for First Three Months of Fiscal 2021: CBO
The federal budget deficit for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 totaled $572 billion, up $215 billion from the same period a year earlier, the Congressional Budget Office estimated on Monday...
-
2021 Deficit On Track to Total $2.3 Trillion: Budget Watchdog
The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2021 is on track to total $2.3 trillion, or 10.4% of gross domestic product, lower than the record $3.1 trillion deficit last year but higher than any other...
-
CBO Report Lists 83 Options for Reducing the Deficit
The federal budget deficit in October and November, the first two months of fiscal year 2021, totaled $430 billion, an increase of $87 billion, or 25%, over the same period last year, the...
-
Debating the Debt: Biden’s Team Reflects a Big Shift
Debates about the national debt and federal budget deficit dominated political and policy clashes throughout the Obama administration, but largely disappeared during President Trump’s time in the...
-
What Biden’s New Economic Team Signals About His Agenda
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced his picks for top members of his economic team, with choices that signal a strong focus on providing relief for a Covid-stricken economy and help for the...
-
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...
-
Cost of Interest on National Debt Falls Despite Surging Deficit: CBO
By Michael RaineyThe federal government estimates that it has paid billions of dollars less in interest on the national debt in the 2020 fiscal year, despite an increase in the size of the national debt on an annual...