Budget Battles
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Dems Ready to Go It Alone on Massive Covid Relief Bill
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Republicans Hammer Biden’s Big Stimulus Plan
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Biden Unveils ‘Wartime’ Covid Response Plan
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Biden Signs 17 Executive Actions on Day 1
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Yellen Tells Congress to ‘Act Big’ to Rescue the Economy
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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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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...
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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...
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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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Deficits Could Average $2 Trillion a Year Over the Next Decade: Report
By Michael RaineyThe massive fiscal response to the coronavirus crisis will play a big role in driving federal deficits to an average of $2 trillion a year for the next 10 years, according to new projections from the...
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Pelosi, Dems Look to ‘Go Big’ With $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
House Democrats on Thursday unveiled a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill, arguing that the need to rebuild crumbling roads and bridges, expand broadband access in rural areas and invest in clean...
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Coronavirus Spending Will Add $2.4 Trillion to Deficit: CBO
By The Fiscal Times StaffThe four pieces of legislation Congress passed in March and April to provide relief and stimulus during the coronavirus pandemic will add about $2.4 trillion to the deficit, the Congressional Budget...
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Bernanke, Yellen and More Than 140 Top Economists Call for Massive New Coronavirus Relief Bill
A group of more than 140 top economists, including former Federal Reserve chairs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen as well as Nobel laureates and former chairs of the Council of Economic Advisers, is...
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Budget Deficit Soars to $1.9 Trillion After Coronavirus Relief Spending
By Michael RaineyThe federal budget deficit grew to $1.88 trillion in the first eight months of the 2020 fiscal year, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday. Nearly twice the deficit recorded in all of 2019, the...