Budget

Trump Wants $8 Billion to Build the Space Force

By Michael Rainey

The Trump administration wants to spend $8 billion over the next five years to establish the U.S. Space Force as a sixth branch of the military, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday. In a speech...
The Coming Government Spending Spree

By Yuval Rosenberg

The end of the U.S. government’s fiscal year is less than two months away, and as Frank Konkel lays out at Nextgov , that means federal agencies will be on a mad dash to spend a big chunk of their...
The Deficit Is Up 20% This Year

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The federal deficit was 20 percent larger in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2018 than it was during the same time last year, the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday. Revenues rose 1...
$Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during an event to introduce the "Medicare for All Act of 2017\$

Putting a Price Tag on the Democratic Socialist Agenda

By Michael Rainey

A number of policy proposals associated with the “democratic socialist” agenda of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are gaining ground in the Democratic Party and will likely play a role in...
Here’s What’s at Stake in November: Tax Cuts, a Shutdown and Obamacare Repeal

By Michael Rainey

A lot can change over the next three months, but right now Democrats look likely to win control of the House of Representatives. They currently hold the lead in both generic ballot polls and the...

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...

Trump to Provide $12 Billion in Aid to Farmers. Critics Cry ‘Welfare!’

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Trump administration is offering $12 billion in emergency aid to American farmers who have been hurt by the president’s escalating trade war with China and other countries. “This is a short-term...
Lawmakers Agree on $716 Billion Defense Bill, Take Aim at Turkish F-35s

By Michael Rainey

The Senate and House Armed Services Committees have reached an agreement on a $716 billion National Defense Authorization Act for 2019, Stars and Stripes reports . The House could vote on the massive...
Medicaid Expansion Boosts Employment: Study

By Michael Rainey

People with disabilities are more likely to be employed in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health...
Heritage Foundation: Average Household in Every State Will Get a Tax Cut in 2018

By Yuval Rosenberg

A new analysis by the conservative Heritage Foundation says that the average household in every state and every congressional district will get a tax cut this year as a result of the GOP tax law. You...
Will the Fed Take the Punch Bowl Away?

By Michael Rainey

Although weaker public-sector spending may help explain the slow-growth rut the U.S. has found itself in over the last decade, most economists say that the extraordinary deficit-financed stimulus at...