Budget Battles
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Republicans Want Strings Attached to California Disaster Aid
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Biden Goes Out With a Bang in the Jobs Market
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Trump Privately Pushes Senators for ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’
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Trump Considers Declaring National Emergency for Tariff Rollout
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Trump Unloads: Grievances, Greenland and the Gulf of Mexico
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Republicans Divided Over How to Pass Trump’s Agenda
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Trump Pushes Johnson to Victory as Speaker
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One More Try? Why Obamacare Repeal Is on the Horizon Again
By Rob GarverThe effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which many assumed was dead or at least in a state of suspended animation for the foreseeable future, may be showing some stirring of life...
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Trump Takes on a Powerful Leader, but This Time It’s on Capitol Hill
By Rob GarverPresident Trump was obviously angry. The target of his ire was a man who has been aggravating him for a long time by ignoring his demands, refusing to work through the president’s chosen...
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Heads Up: Health Care Is Still in Trouble
By Rob GarverThe issue of the US health insurance system was taken off the front burner with the evident failure of the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But while it may not be in...
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Here’s How Trump Could Get Democrats’ Help on Tax Reform
By Rob GarverThe Trump administration has been reaching out to ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats to talk about possible areas of agreement on tax reform.
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Congress Is Constructing a Wall, All Right. But It’s Built Around Trump
By Rob GarverLike a body’s immune system trying to wall off an abscess, the institutions of the federal government seem to be coming together to block, or at least limit, the influence of the president on the...
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The US Spends Billions on Cybersecurity — but No One Is Sure Exactly How Much
By Eric PianinThere is no universally accepted definition of what cybersecurity actually means. Moreover, the public and even lawmakers don’t have a clue as to how much the government is actually spending overall...
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How Could the VA Make $5.5 Billion in Improper Payments Last Year?
By Eric PianinSen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri has been on a tear recently in going after government fraud and waste. The ranking Democrat on the Senate’s chief oversight committee and a former state auditor in...
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Congress Just Handed Trump Bragging Rights on Expanded GI Education Benefits
By Eric PianinFor a chief executive preparing to leave town on a 17-day summer vacation after suffering a humiliating setback on health care reform, President Trump will be able to claim some bragging rights when...
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Top GOP Conservative: We Won’t Play Around With the Debt Ceiling
By Rob GarverWhen it comes to the perennial fight to raise the federal debt ceiling, it’s usually best to assume that the struggle to give the Treasury Department clearance to actually pay the debts that the...
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Why Republicans Are Going It Alone on Tax Cuts
By Eric PianinRepublicans made it clear on Tuesday that despite their debacle in pressing for health care reform without any Democratic assistance, they would again go their own way in drafting and passing major...
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Dems Lay Trap for GOP with Buffett Rule
By Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple West, ReutersPresident Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are laying a political trap for Republicans to be sprung on Monday when the U.S. Senate is slated to vote on the proposed "Buffett Rule," which...
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Stimulus Fraud and Weak Jobs Pose Threat to Obama
By Eric PianinAlmost from the time it was enacted, the Obama administration’s $825 billion economic stimulus program has been under siege by critics who claim it wastes federal funds without creating meaningful or...
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High Gas Prices? Blame Goldman Sachs
By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal TimesIn a move that could impact public perceptions about the cause of rising oil prices, consumer groups and some industrial are pushing the Obama administration to limit commodity speculation centered...
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Justice Department Probing Widespread Stimulus Fraud
By Eric PianinThe Justice Department is investigating 66 cases of alleged fraud, abuse, bid rigging and embezzlement within transportation projects funded under the $825 billion federal stimulus program enacted by...
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Earmark Obsession Skewers A Lot More than Pork
By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal Timesn April 1, Richard Cowan of Reuters reported that some House Republicans are warming to the idea of bringing back “earmarks” in appropriations bills. It was not an April Fools’ joke. Since the mid-...