Federal Budget

Budget Battles

  • Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) arrives at Democratic Party caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/ File Photo

    Factbox: What happens in a U.S. government shutdown?

    By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker, Reuters

    In shutdowns, nonessential government employees are furloughed, or placed on temporary unpaid leave. Workers deemed essential, including those dealing with public safety and national security, keep...

  • FILE PHOTO - Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin listens as U.S. President Donald Trump hosts a tax reform industry meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 31, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

    Trump Tries to Sell Tax Reform to Democrats

    By David Morgan, Reuters

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump intensified his efforts to sell Democrats on his tax reform plan on Wednesday even as Senate Republicans edged closer to passing a budget measure that...

  • U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran nuclear deal in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

    Senate Republicans Gain Crucial Support for Budget Vital to Tax Reform

    By David Morgan, Reuters

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans on Monday gained crucial support for a vote on a budget resolution that is vital to President Donald Trump's hopes of signing sweeping tax reform...

  • FILE PHOTO: Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 12, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

    No Talk of Ousting Speaker Ryan, Key Conservative Says

    By Reuters

    Many Republicans are unhappy with the deal President Donald Trump reached last week with Democratic leaders to raise the government's debt ceiling and allow it to continue financing federal spending...

  • FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Capitol Building is lit at sunset in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2016. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

    Congress sends Trump disaster aid, debt limit increase

    By Richard Cowan and Amanda Becker, Reuters

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to provide disaster aid, extend the debt ceiling and fund the federal government for three months on Friday, delivering on...

  • Shocking? States with More Guns Have More Gun Deaths

    By Futurity Org, Futurity

    States with higher estimated rates of gun ownership experience a higher number of firearms-related homicides, according to new research. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Heath...

  • Summers + Syria = Obama Lame Duck

    By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

    With the coming budgetary showdown, President Obama appears to have fully migrated into lame duck status. The president still has more than three years in the Oval Office, but his influence has...

  • Traders bet on later Fed rate hike with Summers out of picture

    Traders bet on later Fed rate hike with Summers out of picture

    By Ann Saphir, Reuters

    (Reuters) - Traders are betting the Federal Reserve will keep policy easier for longer now that former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers is out of the running to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of...

  • Doubts over Merkel coalition grow despite Bavaria victory

    Doubts over Merkel coalition grow despite Bavaria victory

    By Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters

    BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's chances of preserving her center-right coalition were in doubt less than a week before a federal election, with a new anti-euro party rising in the polls...

  • Economist Henry Aaron said that in terms of the interaction between Social Security and government borrowing, the recession brought forward “the crossover point” — the year in which tax revenues no longer covered all the costs.

    Gov Overpays $1.3 B in Disability Benefits to 36,000

    By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal Times

    As Congress continues to battle over the budget and tries to rein in the mounting national debt, the federal government wastes billions by mismanagement, fraud, abuse and lack of oversight. In the...