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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Why the Price of the F-35 Keeps Soaring
By Ciro ScottiThe most costly fighter ever built is getting even more expensive. A new General Accounting Office report says the Pentagon will spend an additional $3.9 billion over the next five years on “...
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What a Waste—Senate Health Care Debate Squanders Time and Millions for Nothing
By Rob Garver and Eric PianinFor Republican leaders in the Senate, watching their first two attempts to pass a health care bill this week fail badly in floor votes must have been extra painful as they plainly knew in advance...
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The Pentagon Skips Out on a $10 Billion Debt
By Eric PianinBy law, the free-spending Defense Department is required to implement a plan to achieve at least $10 billion in administrative cost savings within the next two years. But the Government...
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Can Congress Finally Stop Wasting $100 Billion a Year in Erroneous Payments?
By Eric PianinIn response to repeated prodding by the General Accounting Office and other government watchdogs, the House Budget Committee is calling for creation of a special commission to crack down on...
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Homeland Security Did Not Report $3.5 Million Spent on Conferences
By Eric PianinThe behemoth Department of Homeland Security violated federal rules when they neglected to report nearly two dozen conferences sponsored by the agency in 2014 and 2015 at an overall cost of more than...
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The Latest FBI Mess: The $2 Billion Project to Build Its New Headquarters
By Eric PianinThe FBI’s once imposing fortress-like headquarters in downtown Washington is in shambles today, with netting hanging from the façade to prevent broken concrete from hitting passing tourists. Inside,...
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The Navy’s Argument for Building Another $500 Million Combat Ship Doesn’t Hold Water
By Ciro ScottiUnder pressure from the White House, the Navy agreed to add a second Littoral Combat Ship to its 2018 budget despite grave concerns about the capabilities of the vessel. The stated reason was to save...
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How a No-Show Worker Scammed the VA Out of $100,000
By Eric PianinA former research investigator at a VA health facility in Oklahoma City scammed the government out of more than $100,000 by claiming thousands of hours of work while he was drawing a salary at a...
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Ouch! Mylan May Have Overcharged the US More Than $1 Billion for EpiPens
By Rob GarverThe federal government appears to have shelled out more than $1.27 billion in overpayments to the drug company Mylan, which holds the patent on the widely-used EpiPen, an auto-injector for...
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How Bad Is Drug Theft at VA Hospitals? Feds Pursue Dozens of New Cases
By Eric PianinIn the last few months, the VA inspector general’s office opened 36 criminal investigations into alleged drug theft by employees at veterans hospitals, bringing the number of open criminal...
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Obamacare Just Killed the Joy of Eating a Vending Machine Snack
It’s bad enough that the Affordable Care Act is raising premiums and deductibles—and perhaps lowering your tax refund. In addition, the ACA has given the Food and Drug Administration the power to go...
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GAO Outs Justice for Not Protecting Whistleblowers
By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal TimesThe Justice Department has a rather embarrassing track record when it comes to how it treats whistleblowers who shine a light on wrongdoing within its agencies. In the age of Edward Snowden and...
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New Study Proves that Every Man Doesn’t Have His Price
By Eric PianinIt’s long been an article of faith that the wheels of government bureaucracies turn more swiftly if they’re amply greased, whether in the U.S. or around the globe. But apparently, that isn’t the case...
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Doh! Obamacare Website Botches Subsidies for 800,000
By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal TimesObamacare’s first tax filing season is not off to a great start. Health officials confirmed Friday that the at least 800,000 Obamacare enrollees received the wrong tax information, which will likely...
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HUD Gives $37 Million in Housing Subsidies to the Wrong People
By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal TimesMore than $37 million in monthly housing subsidies for needy people ended up in the wrong hands last year because the Department of Housing and Urban Development doesn’t know how to verify who’s...