Budget Battles
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Covid Relief Bill Stalls in Fight Over Unemployment Benefits
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GOP Turns to Delay Tactics to Stall Covid Relief Bill
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Biden Agrees to Limit Covid Relief Payments
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Dems Debate Smaller Unemployment Checks
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Now It's the Senate's Turn on Stimulus
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Democrats Scramble to Save $15 Minimum Wage
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The US Is About to Get a New Top Tax Break
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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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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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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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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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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...