Congress

Budget Battles

  • Senate Still Wrangling over Spending Bill

    By PAUL KANE and FELICIA SONMEZ, The Washington Post

    Senate leaders delayed until Wednesday consideration of a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30, as Democrats accused Republicans of reneging on an agreement to stage side-by-side votes on two...

  • TARP’s Lower Cost Doesn’t Assuage Critics

    By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

    The final price tag for TARP came in much lower than the original estimate of $700 billion, but that did little to satisfy the critics of the historic financial bailout.

  • Jeff Sessions Blasts Obama on Budget Battles

    By Kirk Victor, The Fiscal Times

    Jeff Sessions, the new ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, is taking a hard line against President Obama’s budget policies. Some wonder whether his inflexibility could get in the way...

  • Republicans Blowing Chance for Real Budget Change

    By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal Times

    The ongoing struggle to finish the 2011 budget and implement significant spending cuts is occupying almost all of Congress’s attention – with no end in sight. A stopgap funding bill containing $4...

  • The Federal Subsidy that Just Won’t Die: LIHEAP

    By Elaine S. Povich, The Fiscal Times

    Lawmakers and presidents have tried – and failed -- to cut or kill LIHEAP heating and cooling subsidies for the poor but the program has too many influential friends throughout the country.