Big Decisions

Budget Battles

  • Chief Justice Roberts (front row, center) wrote the majority opinion.

    Supreme Court Hands Trump a Historic Win in Immunity Case

    By Yuval Rosenberg

    Welcome to July! It’s only the first of the month, but we’ve already got fireworks going off in the nation’s capital, where the Supreme Court handed down a landmark 6-3 ruling , decided along...

  • 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: A pharmacist holds prescription painkiller OxyContin at a local pharmacy in Provo

    Delaware Sues Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors Over Epidemic

    By Nate Raymond, Reuters

    (Reuters) - Delaware on Friday became the latest state to file a lawsuit accusing corporations of helping fuel the national opioid epidemic, suing a wide range of companies involved in making,...

  • 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...

  • FILE PHOTO: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson (L) listens to Representative Tom Marino (R-PA) (R) before a House Judiciary committee hearing on the 'Oversight of the US Department of Homeland Security' on Capitol Hill in Washington July 14, 20

    Trump's drug czar nominee withdraws from consideration

    By Sarah N. Lynch and Makini Brice, Reuters

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. lawmaker who was President Donald Trump's pick for drug czar withdrew on Tuesday after a report he spearheaded a bill that hurt the government's ability to crack down...

  • File Photo: A man holds up a copy of Time Magazine in Des Moines, Iowa January 28, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

    Trump: The Fed Is Conspiring Against Me

    By Rob Garver

    Donald Trump again walked up to the line of suggesting that the US might use the trillions of dollars in debt the Treasury Department owes to China as some sort of leverage against that country in...

  • small drone

    This Tiny Drone Could Transform Urban Warfare

    By Patrick Tucker, Defense One

    In the movie Eye in the Sky, a joint U.S.-British military operation puts an insect-sized drone inside the house of a terrorist. The live feed allows the onlookers in Washington, London, and...

  • John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hold a news conference in Geneva

    Why the Kerry-Lavrov Syrian Ceasefire–the 9th Try--Better Hold

    By Patrick Smith

    After a long walk on a stony path in the wee hours of Saturday in Geneva, Secretary of State John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, finally reached a Syrian ceasefire agreement –...

  • A Nest thermostat is installed in a home in Provo

    How Terrorists Could Hijack the Internet of Things

    By Patrick Tucker, Defense One

    By 2020, there will be anywhere from 20 billion to 50 billion internet-connected devices, including about one in five cars and or trucks, according to industry forecasts. That’s big business for...

  • A man carries a girl that survived double airstrikes on the rebel held Bab al-Nairab neighborhood of Aleppo

    US, Russia Agree to a Cease-Fire in Syria

    By Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post

    GENEVA — The United States and Russia agreed here Friday to the renewal of a cease-fire in Syria, to begin Monday with the cessation of all air and ground attacks by all parties, including the...