Budget

Spending Bills Leave Conservatives Frustrated

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Lawmakers have been passing spending bills with unusual speed and little fanfare lately, most recently the $854 billion package covering the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor...
Senate Approves Spending Bill, Reducing Chances of a Shutdown

By Yuval Rosenberg

In a 93-7 vote, the Senate on Tuesday passed a package of spending bills that would boost fiscal 2019 funding for the Defense Department and provide full-year funding for the departments of Education...
‘Beware Trillion-Dollar Deficits,’ Barron’s Says

By Yuval Rosenberg

In the latest Barron’s cover story, Jack Hough warns of the long-term risks of rising U.S. public debt. While noting that there’s little chance of hitting debt-related turbulence anytime soon and...
The Air Force Wants More Planes – and a Lot More Money

By Michael Rainey

The Air Force is 71 years old today, and its birthday wish list is a doozy. Saying that growing threats from China and Russia call for a substantial increase in U.S. air power, Air Force Secretary...
Kudlow: ‘I Don’t Buy’ That Tax Cuts Boosted Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow is at it again. Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, the top economic adviser to President Trump said that, while the administration is looking to cut federal spending — including...

Are Deficit Hawks Dead or Just Playing Possum?

By Yuval Rosenberg

“The deficits hawks are dead,” declared Paul Kane, The Washington Post’s senior congressional correspondent and columnist, in a piece over the weekend. It’s easy to see why Kane says that, and there’...
Social Security Pulled 27 Million People Out of Poverty in 2017

By Michael Rainey

Since 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau has produced a more sophisticated measure of poverty that, among other things, includes the income effects of government assistance programs such as Social Security...
Arkansas Drops Thousands from Medicaid

By Michael Rainey

More than 4,000 people will lose their Medicaid coverage in Arkansas for failing to meet the state’s new work requirements. Earlier this year, the Trump administration approved the new work rules,...
Why Democrats Want to Bring Back Earmarks

By Michael Rainey

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) wants to restore earmarks as part of Democrats’ effort to “ fix government ” should the party win control of the House in November. The use of earmarks — funds for...
Congress Reaches Spending Deal to Avoid Shutdown. Will Trump Go Along?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Congressional leaders have struck a bipartisan deal to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month and put off a divisive fight over funding for President Trump’s border wall with Mexico...

Trump’s New Immigration Plan: Protecting Taxpayers or Stoking Resentments?

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Trump administration is finalizing a proposal that would make it more difficult for legal immigrants to get citizenship or green cards if they have ever used public assistance programs including...
Chart of the Day: Americans Using Government Programs

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal welfare program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families delivers cash aid to about 2.5 million people, or less than 1 percent of the U.S. population — “far smaller than the share...
Why Trump’s Border Wall Could Cost More Than $25 Billion

By Michael Rainey

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has analyzed several types of barriers for use on the Southwestern border but has failed to estimate the costs of building those barriers in all relevant locations...
Is Congress Headed for a Disaster Relief Showdown?

By Michael Rainey

Deficit hawks warn that soaring budget shortfalls and rising national debt will leave less fiscal space — or at least the perception of less fiscal space — for lawmakers to respond to the next...
Fiscal Policy Gives the Economy a Boost

By Michael Rainey

Federal, state and local fiscal policies boosted GDP growth by 0.6 percentage points in the second quarter, according to an analysis by the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the...