Budget Battles
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Harris Tries to Flip Trump’s Biggest Advantages
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US Economy Stronger Than Previously Thought
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Harris Slams Trump’s Economic Plans, Pledges to Grow the Middle Class
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Trump’s Tax Cut Wish List Tops $11 Trillion
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Harris Prepares a New Economic Pitch
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Republicans Defy Trump on Shutdown Threat
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Speaker Johnson Scrambles for Plan B to Avoid a Shutdown
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Here’s What Happens If Congress Fails to Raise the Debt Ceiling
By Michael RaineyWhat happens if Congress fails to raise the debt limit? A new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center examines that question in detail, and the results aren’t pretty. Here are some highlights — or...
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Why Raising the Debt Ceiling Won’t Be a Problem This Year
By Rob GarverThe final wall of resistance to a “clean” increase of the federal debt ceiling, necessary to avoid a potentially catastrophic government default later this year, appears to have fallen, with White...
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Top GOP Conservative: We Won’t Play Around With the Debt Ceiling
By Rob GarverWhen it comes to the perennial fight to raise the federal debt ceiling, it’s usually best to assume that the struggle to give the Treasury Department clearance to actually pay the debts that the...
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Raise the Debt Ceiling Now, or Face Another Post-Summer Crisis: Meadows
By Eric PianinRep. Mark Meadows, R-NC, one of the most influential conservatives in the House, said Monday he favors quick action this summer to raise the debt ceiling, taking a stand on an issue that is...
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Here’s a Solution for the Annual Debt Ceiling Crisis: Get Rid of It
By Eric PianinWith another debt ceiling crisis looming that threatens a first-ever default by the Treasury and another government shutdown, there is a growing school of thought in the Senate that lawmakers should...
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The National Debt Is a Bigger Problem Than You Think
By Lawrence GoodmanThe U.S. debt situation is worse than commonly realized. Unaddressed, the surge in Treasury borrowing over the last 10 years represents an accident in the offing.
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Mulvaney’s Debt Ceiling Ploy Protects Treasurys, Not Social Security Checks
By Rob GarverThe Trump administration appears to be considering a plan to pay some government debts but not others if the debt ceiling isn’t raised on time. It’s a plan economists and financial markets experts...
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White House’s Debt Ceiling Battle Could Trigger a Shutdown — and a Recession
By Eric PianinAt a time when worldwide confidence in the U.S. has already been badly shaken by President Trump’s go-it-alone, “America First” approach to trade, NATO and climate change, a White House riven by...
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New Debt Ceiling Deadline Could Ruin Lawmakers' Summer Vacations
By Rob GarverThe federal debt limit, previously thought to be an issue that could be postponed to the fall, may need to be raised prior to the August recess, complicating the lives of top Republicans in Congress.
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The Great Risk Shift Is Back
By Mark ThomaThe vote in the House of Representatives to dismantle Obamacare was not the only attempt to undo key legislation from the Obama years that occurred last Thursday.
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How Congress Could Avoid Another Fiscal Crisis
By Eric PianinSomething strange is happening on Capitol Hill these days: Committee leaders from the House and Senate are meeting face-to-face to try to iron out differences in their competing bills. After years of...
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Deficit Drops 38 Percent as Budget Talks Heat Up
By Eric PianinThe federal government completed fiscal 2013 with a shortfall of $680 billion – a startling turnabout after four consecutive years of trillion dollar deficits and the worst economic conditions since...
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The Gloves Are Off (Already) at Budget Conference
By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal TimesIt didn’t take long Wednesday for rosy talk about bipartisanship and “common ground” to give way to bare-knuckled haggling over a new budget as the first House-Senate budget conference committee in...
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Republicans and the “Lofgren Corollary”
By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal TimesLast week I explained that Congress has become an incompetent institution , unable to do its most basic work of passing annual appropriations bills to keep the government running. We usually think of...
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Three Budget Games at the $3.6 Trillion Table
By Josh Boak, The Fiscal TimesFederal spending should exceed $3.6 trillion next year—and Democrats and Repu blicans are ready for a budget fight that will likely go down to the penny. Congress is returning after having voted last...