Budget

Is Trump's $28 Billion Bailout Paying Farmers Too Much?

By Michael Rainey

The 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...
New Trump Food Stamp Rule Will Cut 700,000 from Program

By Michael Rainey

The 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...
Navy Awards Largest Shipbuilding Contract Ever

By Michael Rainey

The 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...
On Congress’s To-Do List: Prevent a Shutdown in 18 Days

By Yuval Rosenberg

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...
Chart of the Day: Record Low Poverty Rate

By Michael Rainey

The extensive array of government assistance programs — including Social Security, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, nutritional aid, rental assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit —...

Trump Scores a Win From NATO, but Fireworks Ahead

By Michael Rainey

Ahead 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...
Congress Makes a Deal on 2020 Spending, but the Budget Battle Is Far from Over

By Michael Rainey

Lawmakers 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...
States Boost Spending at Fastest Pace Since Great Recession

By Yuval Rosenberg

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...
Secret Service Spent $254K at Trump Properties in His First Five Months in Office

By Yuval Rosenberg

It’s a shocker, we know: Newly released documents raise fresh concerns about the extent to which President Trump is personally profiting from his public office, showing that the Secret Service spent...
Public Investment Is the Key to Avoiding Economic Stagnation: Report

By Michael Rainey

Economic stagnation on a global scale is a growing threat, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The group’s November economic outlook...

Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed at Curbing New Agency Spending

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at cutting spending at federal agencies by requiring them to offset any increased outlays on mandatory programs with other cuts. The “...
Trump Suffers Two Legal Defeats on Immigration and Border Policies

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Trump administration suffered a pair of legal defeats on major immigration policies Friday, as a federal judge in Texas ruled that the president acted unlawfully in declaring a national emergency...
House Appropriations Chair Nita Lowey Won’t Seek Reelection in 2020

By Yuval Rosenberg

Rep. Nita Lowey, the New York Democrat who chairs the influential House Appropriations Committee, announced Thursday that she will not seek reelection next year. The 82-year-old Lowey has served in...
The Budget Outlook Isn’t Good — but It Has ‘Improved Substantially Since 2010’: Report

By Yuval Rosenberg

The national debt is now approaching $23 trillion, up nearly $9 trillion from the end of 2010, and the debt held by the public now stands at nearly $17 trillion, up about $7.5 trillion from since the...
Trump Wants States to Experiment With Medicaid — Up to a Point

By Michael Ollove, Stateline

After a series of zigzags, Utah is about to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. At least 10 red states have done the same, but Utah’s experience may be a bellwether showing how far the...