Budget Battles
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Senators Float $908 Billion Stimulus Compromise
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What Biden’s New Economic Team Says About His Agenda
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What Biden’s Pick of Yellen Means for the Economy and Stimulus
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Trump Threatens Veto of Defense Bill
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Virus Surge Could Wallop the Economy Again
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Mnuchin Pulls Plug on Emergency Covid-Relief Programs
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250,000 Dead. Where Are Trump, Pelosi and McConnell?
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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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‘Doomed to Fail’: Why a $4 Trillion Bailout May Not Be Enough
By Michael RaineyThe 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...
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Debt Will Nearly Double by 2050: CBO
By Michael RaineyThe 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...
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Pandemic Legislation Will Boost GDP by 4.7% This Year: CBO
By Michael RaineyThe 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 “...
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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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Does the Deficit Matter? Congress Asks Four Top Economists
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael RaineyWednesday’s impeachment hearings will rightly dominate headlines given the bombshells in Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony, but they weren’t the only hearings happening in Congress. The House...
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How the Deficit Looms Over the Democratic Presidential Race
Democrats are set to hold another presidential primary debate Wednesday night, and if the pattern from past debates holds true, we’ll likely hear the 10 candidates on stage talk a lot about health...
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Rethinking the Debt Threat: House Panel to Hold Hearing Next Week
The House Budget Committee will hold a hearing next week examining the costs and consequences of federal debt, with four prominent economists slated to testify. Ahead of the hearing, Democratic...
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Cost of Wars Since 9/11: $6.4 Trillion and Rising
By Michael RaineyThe total cost of the wars fought since 9/11 is approaching $6.4 trillion, according to an annual report published Wednesday by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown...
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National Debt Hits $23 Trillion
By Michael RaineyTotal federal debt has surpassed $23 trillion for the first time, according to data released by the Treasury Department Friday. Of that amount, $17 trillion is debt held by the public, which is...