The Debt
  • The Debt

Budget Battles

  • ‘Doomed to Fail’: Why a $4 Trillion Bailout May Not Be Enough

    By Michael Rainey

    The roughly $4 trillion spent in response to the coronavirus pandemic has become the costliest economic rescue effort in U.S. history, surpassing even the staggering cost of 18 years of war in...

  • District of Columbia

    Debt Will Nearly Double by 2050: CBO

    By Michael Rainey

    The national debt will increase to about twice the size of the economy over the next 30 years, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday in its latest long-term budget outlook . Currently equal to...

  • FILE PHOTO: George Washington is seen with printed medical mask on the one Dollar banknotes in this illustration taken

    Pandemic Legislation Will Boost GDP by 4.7% This Year: CBO

    By Michael Rainey

    The four major laws passed by Congress to address the coronavirus pandemic will boost real domestic gross product by 4.7% in 2020 and 3.1% in 2021, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday. The “...

  • Biden’s Tax Plan: Who Really Would Pay More?

    By Yuval Rosenberg

    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...

  • The American Flag flies at the U.S. Capitol Building, as Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a State of Emergency due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on Capitol Hill in Washington

    US Debt Costs Falling Even as Borrowing Soars

    By Michael Rainey

    Interest 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...

  • District of Columbia

    Deficit Hits $3 Trillion in 2020: CBO

    By Michael Rainey

    The federal budget deficit was $198 billion in August, the Congressional Budget Office projected on Wednesday, bringing the deficit for the first 11 months of the 2020 fiscal year to $3 trillion. The...

  • U.S. President Trump hosts coronavirus response task force briefing at the White House in Washington

    Reducing National Debt Will Be ‘Big Second-Term Priority’ for Trump, White House Says

    By Michael Rainey

    Donald Trump famously declared while running for president that he would eliminate the national debt during two terms in office. "We're not a rich country. We're a debtor nation,” Trump told The...

  • The American Flag flies at the U.S. Capitol Building, as Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a State of Emergency due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on Capitol Hill in Washington

    National Debt Will Exceed Size of Economy in 2021

    By Michael Rainey

    The CBO also updated its budget outlook Wednesday, estimating that the federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2020 would come in at $3.3 trillion, down from its previous estimate of $3.7 trillion...

  • Steel beams on the draw span, which needs replacement, are shown on the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington.

    Once Again, Infrastructure?

    By Michael Rainey

    Real interest rates are negative, which means the federal government is essentially getting paid to borrow money right now, once inflation is taken into account. Writing at Bloomberg Monday, Wall...

  • US Debt Is Now Larger Than the Economy. Does It Matter?

    By Michael Rainey

    The national debt is now roughly the size of the U.S. economy, crossing a threshold that has long worried deficit hawks and many economists. At the end of 2019, the federal debt held by the public...