Budget Battles
-
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
-
Manchin May Sink Key Biden Nomination
-
Democrats Call for IRS Crackdown on the Rich
-
Covid Fuels a $24 Trillion Surge in Global Debt
-
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...
-
Once Again, Infrastructure?
By Michael RaineyReal 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 RaineyThe 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...
-
Op-Ed of the Day: A Major Problem for the $26.5 Trillion National Debt
By Michael RaineyThe national debt is rapidly running higher as Congress spends trillions on coronavirus relief efforts, but James Clark, the deputy assistant secretary for federal finance in the Treasury Department...
-
Is Joe Biden Still a Deficit Hawk?
As Joe Biden prepares to formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, he’ll be looking to convince Americans that he, not President Trump, is best prepared to meet this moment in...
-
Treasury Department Expects to Borrow $2 Trillion Over Second Half of 2020
The Treasury Department said Monday that it expects to borrow another $2 trillion over the second half of this year, including $947 billion from July through September and $1.216 trillion from...