Budget

How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Already Shifting the Debate on Taxes and Deficits

By Yuval Rosenberg

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, has wasted no time in making waves in Congress, emerging as a focal point for the national press — and social media powerhouse...
28 Days Later: The Government Shutdown Horror Story Continues

By Yuval Rosenberg

If the partial government shutdown were a horror movie, it could now be called “28 Days Later.” We’re rapidly closing in on the one-month mark for the partial government shutdown, and developments...
Shutdown Could Be a Hint of Things to Come

By Michael Rainey

As long as the current government shutdown ends within the next few weeks, the cost to the overall economy should be relatively modest, says Andrew Hunter of Capital Economics. Much of the lost...
Trump Strikes Back at Pelosi, Blocking Her Overseas Trip

By Yuval Rosenberg

Friday will be day 28 of the partial government shutdown, but Thursday’s developments offered little hope that closed federal departments and agencies would be reopening soon — and little to allay...
The Great Debt Debate

By Michael Rainey

We told you last week about a new paper from economist Olivier Blanchard that caused a stir by suggesting that government debt may be less problematic than many experts have believed. Blanchard found...

Bipartisan Group of Senators Pushes for Trump to Reopen Government

By Yuval Rosenberg

A bipartisan group of senators is urging President Trump to agree to a three-week stopgap funding measure that would end the government shutdown, now heading for its 27th day, while they negotiate a...
Federal Workers Have Missed an Average $5,000 in Pay So Far

By Michael Rainey

Government employees who are not receiving paychecks during the shutdown have lost about $5,000 each on average so far, according to an analysis by The New York Times. In total, the missing pay comes...
Pelosi’s Shutdown Power Play Against Trump

By Yuval Rosenberg

The state of our union is … on hold? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to President Trump Wednesday morning asking him to postpone his State of the Union address, scheduled for January 29, or...
Why Some Conservatives Love the Shutdown

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The Washington Post reports that the prolonged shutdown is giving some small-government conservatives who have the president’s ear just what they’ve long wanted: a smaller government and a chance to...
Shutdown Could Be Twice as Costly as White House Estimated

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration has raised its estimate of the cost to the economy from the shutdown, CNBC’s Steve Liesman reported Tuesday. White House economists had initially weighed the effect of 800,...

McConnell’s Plan to Avoid a Shutdown

By Michael Rainey

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Wednesday introduced a short-term spending bill that would avert a partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday. The bill which would keep the...
Trump Orders Pentagon to Create Space Command

By Michael Rainey

President Trump on Tuesday directed the Department of Defense to create Space Command, a new unified combat command focused on space that is meant to lay the groundwork for a proposed Space Force...
Trump Signals He’s Ready to Back Down in Border Wall Fight

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration appeared to pull back from the shutdown brink Tuesday, with White House press secretary Sarah Sanders saying the administration won’t demand $5 billion for border wall...
Trump and Lawmakers Dig In for a Shutdown

By Michael Rainey

Neither side in the battle over President Trump’s border wall appears to be budging, raising the odds of a partial government shutdown come Friday night. “Spending discussions have stalled, with no...
3 Key Questions About the Obamacare Court Ruling

By Yuval Rosenberg

The fate of Obamacare may once again wind up before the Supreme Court now that a federal judge in Texas has ruled that the law is unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor ruled on...