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...

Public Pensions Face a $5 Trillion Hole

By The Fiscal Times Staff

“Many cities and states can no longer afford the unsustainable retirement promises made to millions of public workers over many years,” writes The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Krouse . “By one...
Pentagon Plans Liftoff for Space Force

By Michael Rainey

Congress failed to provide funding for President Trump’s “Space Force” in its 2019 defense spending bill , but that hasn’t stopped the Pentagon from working on a plan for the new military agency. The...
How to Interpret Trump's Surprise Government Shutdown Threat

By Yuval Rosenberg

Surprise! President Donald Trump is once again threatening to shut down the government over his desire for stricter immigration policies and funding for a border wall with Mexico. “I would be willing...
$Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during an event to introduce the "Medicare for All Act of 2017\$

Putting a Price Tag on Medicare for All

By Michael Rainey

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for all” proposal would increase federal spending by $32.6 trillion over 10 years, according to a new analysis of the proposed legislation by a libertarian think tank...
The Economy Is Booming. Will It Last?

By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

The U.S. economy is humming. Gross domestic product grew at an annualized 4.1 percent rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday in its initial estimate for the period. The surge...