Budget Battles
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Trump's Legacy: $7.8 Trillion Rise in Debt
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Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion ‘American Rescue Plan’
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Trump Impeached Again: What's Next?
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America’s Infrastructure Gap Will Hit $5.6 Trillion: Report
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Trump Impeachment Could Delay Biden Stimulus
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Biden Calls for Trillions More in Covid Relief
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Dems Pledge $2,000 Checks as Biden Agenda Gets a Boost
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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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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...
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Deficit Tops $3 Trillion in 2020: CBO
By Michael RaineyThe federal budget deficit rose to a record-breaking $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020, according to estimates released by the Congressional Budget Office Thursday. Even before the coronavirus crisis...
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Both Trump and Biden Plans Would Push Debt Higher: CRFB
By The Fiscal Times StaffEach set of proposals laid out in the campaigns of President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden would increase the national debt by about $5 trillion over a decade, according to a new analysis...
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Blanchard Defends a ‘More Relaxed Attitude on Public Debt’
By Michael RaineyRenowned macroeconomist Olivier Blanchard made waves in fiscal policy circles with his recent work that finds that government deficits and debt are less harmful than many experts have assumed, and in...
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Number of the Day: Global Debt Grows by $3 Trillion
By The Fiscal Times StaffBorrowing is back, big-time. Global debt grew by $3 trillion in the first quarter of the year to reach $246.5 trillion total, according to a report by the Institute of International Finance cited by...
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Pelosi Pushes for Spending Parity in Deal to Raise Debt Ceiling
By Michael RaineyHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi said over the weekend that she wants to see equal increases in defense and nondefense spending in the budget deal currently under negotiation between Congress and the White...
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The Race Is On to Avoid a Debt Ceiling Crisis
Eager to avert a debt ceiling crisis, the White House is pushing lawmakers to agree to a budget deal and raise the nation’s borrowing limit within a few weeks — and is signaling a willingness to...
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Can Lawmakers Avoid a Fiscal Fiasco?
Congress has until the end of September to fund the government for the next fiscal year and avoid another shutdown. It might have even less time to raise the government’s borrowing limit and avoid a...