Budget Battles
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Surprise Deal to Protect Patients From Surprise Medical Bills
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Obamacare Back at the Supreme Court — With Billions for Insurers on the Line
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The Rising Tide of Health Care Costs
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The Healthiest — and Unhealthiest — US States
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Health Spending Hits Record High, Even With 1 Million Fewer Insured
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A White House Report Slams Pelosi’s Drug Plan. Experts Call Its Claims ‘Nonsense’
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Hospitals Sue to Protect Secret Prices
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The Terrible Cost of the War in Afghanistan
The war in Afghanistan is the longest armed conflict in U.S. history, and throughout the 18 years of fighting, U.S. officials have publicly said they were making progress. Yet a new investigative...
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The Fiscal Challenge for the Next Recession
The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2019 was nearly $1 trillion. “In the next downturn, don’t be surprised if this number hits $2 trillion,” writes Nick Timiraos, The Wall Street Journal’s...
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Is Trump's $28 Billion Bailout Paying Farmers Too Much?
By Michael RaineyThe Trump administration is spending $28 billion to bail out farmers hurt by the president’s trade war with China – a huge sum that some experts say overestimates the economic losses inflicted by the...
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New Trump Food Stamp Rule Will Cut 700,000 from Program
By Michael RaineyThe White House said Wednesday that it has finalized a rule that will tighten work requirements for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The new rule could result...
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Navy Awards Largest Shipbuilding Contract Ever
By Michael RaineyThe U.S. Navy awarded a contract Monday worth more than $22 billion to build nine new attack submarines. The agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat includes an option for a 10 th sub, which...
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On Congress’s To-Do List: Prevent a Shutdown in 18 Days
Congressional appropriators back from their Thanksgiving recess have just three weeks to hammer out details on dozens of policy differences over federal funding for fiscal year 2020, which started on...
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Chart of the Day: Record Low Poverty Rate
By Michael RaineyThe extensive array of government assistance programs — including Social Security, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, nutritional aid, rental assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit —...
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Trump Scores a Win From NATO, but Fireworks Ahead
By Michael RaineyAhead of NATO’s 70th-anniversary meeting in London this week, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced last Thursday that the U.S. will contribute less to the alliance’s relatively small central...
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Congress Makes a Deal on 2020 Spending, but the Budget Battle Is Far from Over
By Michael RaineyLawmakers took a big step over the weekend toward reaching a spending deal for the 2020 fiscal year, though a major hurdle — funding for President Trump’s border wall — remains in place. On Saturday...
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States Boost Spending at Fastest Pace Since Great Recession
U.S. states increased spending in fiscal year 2019 at the fastest clip since the end of the Great Recession, according to a new report from the National Association of State Budget Officers. Total...
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How the Deficit Looms Over the Democratic Presidential Race
Democrats are set to hold another presidential primary debate Wednesday night, and if the pattern from past debates holds true, we’ll likely hear the 10 candidates on stage talk a lot about health...
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House Votes to Push Shutdown Deadline to December
The House on Tuesday passed a stopgap measure to fund the government through December 20. The Senate is set to take up the bill before current short-term funding expires on Thursday night, and the...
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Congress Has Three Days to Avert a Government Shutdown
You may not have realized it with everything else going on , but we’re technically just a few days away from a government shutdown. Current funding for federal agencies expires after November 21 —...
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Trump Wants South Korea to Pay Up for Protection: Report
By Michael RaineyPresident Trump is demanding that South Korea pay billions of additional dollars for U.S. protection, according to a report Friday at CNN . South Korea is paying about $1 billion this year to cover...
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Cost of Wars Since 9/11: $6.4 Trillion and Rising
By Michael RaineyThe total cost of the wars fought since 9/11 is approaching $6.4 trillion, according to an annual report published Wednesday by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown...