Coverage of the national budget and your taxes.
When President Biden sent Congress his Homeland Security budget in the spring, his director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement was peppered with questions from lawmakers about why he was asking for a cut in funding and fewer detention beds at a time when the border was out of control.
Congress avoided a government shutdown before Thanksgiving, but partisan divisions on top-line spending numbers, House Republican infighting and limited time to finish full-year spending bills means that another shutdown scenario is just around the corner.
An elevated Los Angeles freeway closed for more than a week because of an arson fire reopened ahead of Monday morning’s commute, at least a day earlier than previously announced and weeks ahead of the original estimate.
President Biden on Thursday signed a temporary spending bill a day before a potential government shutdown, pushing a fight with congressional Republicans over the federal budget into the new year, as wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel remains stalled.
The Senate approved a House-passed temporary government-funding measure Wednesday night, sending the legislation to President Biden for his signature and narrowly avoiding a midnight Friday shutdown deadline.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves refused to approve top lawmakers’ proposed revenue estimate Wednesday, fearing a lower projection than he wanted would prevent him from justifying future income tax cuts.
Stanford, Northwestern and the Ivy League universities have collected a combined $33 billion in taxpayer-funded grants and contracts and another $12 billion in tax breaks on their endowments over the last five years, according to new data from OpenTheBooks.com.
Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed a two-part, temporary spending measure across the finish line in the House on Tuesday, calling his approach one that will “break the fever” that has led Congress to annually rush through a bloated year-end funding bill.
The federal landlord agency says it can deliver a “telework dividend” and slash government’s office space by as much as 30% over the coming years, saving billions of dollars a year, but it will take an initial investment from Congress to get it done.
The House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday announced it would vote against Speaker Mike Johnson’s stopgap spending bill, adding to the growing number of GOP defectors.
A two-step government funding proposal from House Republicans faced nominal resistance Monday from both sides of the aisle, raising hopes that Congress will beat the Friday midnight deadline to avert a shutdown.
The House and Senate are on pace to approve their own versions of stopgap spending measures as lawmakers continue work on the annual budget, which is more than a month past its original Oct. 1 due date.
President Joe Biden has a simple reelection pitch to voters - let him “finish the job.”
Speaker Mike Johnson has chosen to run with a two-step, “laddered” stopgap bill to keep the government open with less than a week before federal funding expires.
The Census Bureau has predicted for the first time that the U.S. population will decline as deaths begin to outnumber births before the end of this century.
