deficit

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June Had the Biggest Budget Deficit in History

$864B deficit breaks record set in April

(Newser) - The federal government incurred the biggest monthly budget deficit in history in June as spending on programs to combat the coronavirus recession exploded while millions of job losses cut into tax revenues. The Treasury Department reported Monday that the deficit hit $864 billion last month, an amount of red ink...

3 Grim Lines From CBO's New Deficit Report

'Unsustainable course'

(Newser) - The deficit will swell by $809 billion more than anticipated over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office announced in new projections Wednesday, per the AP . The Washington Post reports the US was already expected to hit a deficit over the $1 trillion mark in 2020. The change here, which...

National Debt Hits Another New Milestone

Public debt now stands at $22T

(Newser) - The national debt has passed a new milestone, topping $22 trillion for the first time. The Treasury Department's daily statement showed Tuesday that total outstanding public debt stands at $22.01 trillion. It stood at $19.95 trillion when President Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2017. The debt...

US Budget Deficit Surges to Highest Level in 6 Years

It hit $779B in fiscal 2018

(Newser) - The federal budget deficit has surged to $779 billion in fiscal 2018, its highest level in six years as President Trump's tax cuts caused the government to borrow more heavily in order to cover its spending. The Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit climbed $113 billion from fiscal...

Simpson, Bowles Back With Sequel to Deficit Plan

They want to slash another $2.4T, far exceeding Obama's goals

(Newser) - If you liked the first Simpson-Bowles plan, good news! Washington's favorite bipartisan hypothetical budget slashers have come up with a sequel of sorts, proposing $2.4 trillion in new (and probably politically impossible) deficit cuts over the next decade, Politico reports. How would they get there?
  • They'd slash
...

How Much Did Obama Really Add to Deficit?
 How Much Did Obama 
 Really Add to Deficit? 
Ezra Klein
Feb 1, 2012 10:14 AM CST

How Much Did Obama Really Add to Deficit?

Ezra Klein crunches the numbers and comes up with a lower total than you think

(Newser) - Mitt Romney has taken to carrying around a debt clock, blaming President Obama for the ever-climbing number it shows. But the clock doesn't show how much Obama has actually added to that debt, so Ezra Klein set out to find out. "There are two answers," he writes...

Deficit to Shrink ... to $1.1T
 Deficit to Shrink ... to $1.1T 
CBO report
Jan 31, 2012 11:42 AM CST

Deficit to Shrink ... to $1.1T

Congressional Budget Office releases its assessment

(Newser) - Good news/bad news time. Good news: The deficit will fall this year, thanks to additional tax revenue and major cuts in government spending. Bad news: It's still going to be $1.1 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office estimate released today; last year's total was $1.3...

GOP's Coburn Bares Plan for Mass Cuts, $1T Tax Boost

Medicare, Pentagon on chopping block in plan to slice $9T in debt

(Newser) - One of the Senate's staunchest budget-cutters has unveiled a massive plan to cut the nation's deficit by $9 trillion over the coming decade, including $1 trillion in tax increases opposed by most of his fellow Republicans. Sen. Tom Coburn's plan is laced with politically perilous proposals—like...

Obama: I Won't Sign Any 'Stop-Gap' Debt Deal

President says budget talks will continue 'every day'

(Newser) - Compromise was the theme of President Obama's press conference today, during which he acknowledged that yesterday's budget talks did not result in a deal—but promised that "we're gonna meet every single day until we get this thing resolved." He insisted that he and "...

Boehner to Seek Smaller $2T Deal

Deal reached impasse over issue of tax increases

(Newser) - John Boehner has informed Barack Obama that he wants to pursue a smaller $2 trillion deficit reduction deal, not the larger effort sought by the White House. In a statement issued after that conversation, Boehner said the issue of taxes ultimately killed efforts to reduce the deficit by as much...

'Gang of Six:' $3 in Cuts for Every $1 Raised

There's something for everyone to hate

(Newser) - The budget plan the bipartisan Gang of Six ultimately devises will include $3 of spending cuts for every dollar it raises in additional tax revenues, Mark Warner tells Bloomberg , promising cuts in health care, defense, agriculture, and other domestic programs, along with changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. The...

House Progressives Release Their Own Budget

Ends Bush tax cuts, adds public health care option

(Newser) - As the budget debate continues, the House Progressive Caucus has released a plan of its own—and it's all about taxes. Their proposal would end the Bush tax cuts, add new tax brackets for millionaires, and raise corporate taxes. It would also add a public option to health care...

GOP Veterans Grow Frustrated With Tea Party Freshmen

Endless push for deeper and deeper cuts causes friction in party

(Newser) - The relentlessness of newly elected members of the House who have hamstrung the budget process nearly to the point of a government shutdown is wearing on some veteran GOP representatives, Politico reports. And many of them have the ear of Speaker John Boehner. Fifty-four Republican House members voted against the...

Worried About the National Debt? Donate to Cover It!

Thanks to a government program, you don't even have to leave your house

(Newser) - Losing sleep over news that the national deficit will hit $1.6 trillion this year? Well, why not make a donation to help cover some of it? Every little bit helps, after all—and, as Consumerist points out, the Treasury Department has a program that enables you to donate via...

Tea Party's Blind Spot: Foreign Policy
Tea Party's Blind Spot:
Foreign Policy
OPINION
Jan 5, 2011 8:27 AM CST

Tea Party's Blind Spot: Foreign Policy

Movement can't go on ignoring military spending

(Newser) - The Tea Party will have a big say on GOP policy in the next Congress, but what it doesn't have is any coherent foreign policy, writes Peter Beinart at the Daily Beast. The movement might want to stay true to its ideal of reducing the deficit, scaling back the federal...

So, What Else Could We Get for $60B?
 So, What Else Could 
 We Get for $60B? 
tax cut analysis
Dec 5, 2010 3:32 PM CST

So, What Else Could We Get for $60B?

Tax cuts for high earners will cost us

(Newser) - Congress appears to be on the verge of extending the Bush tax cuts on income above $250,000 a year, which will cost the US $60 billion a year, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times . What else could that amount of money buy?
  • It could reduce the deficit
...

Deficit-Cutting Plan Fails to Advance

But it gets 11 votes, just 3 shy

(Newser) - An austere deficit-cutting plan by President Obama's budget commission has failed to win the supermajority required to force a quick vote in Congress. The plan won support from 11 of 18 commission members, however, more than expected just a few weeks ago. As a result, it could shape the coming...

Deficit Panel Considers Raising Retirement Age

It also wants to curb Social Security benefits

(Newser) - The leaders of President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission launched a daring assault on mushrooming federal deficits today, proposing reducing annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security, gradually raising the retirement age to 69, and taking aim at popular tax breaks such as the mortgage interest deduction. They also call for cuts...

GOP Demands End to Expired Program
GOP Demands End to Expired Program
Nov 10, 2010 12:13 PM CST

GOP Demands End to Expired Program

Panel blasts $2.5B welfare initiative that no longer exists

(Newser) - In a drive to cut the deficit, a GOP committee called for an end to a $2.5 billion dollar welfare program this week—which might have been a clever move if the program hadn’t already expired, notes Arthur Delaney at the Huffington Post . The committee’s leader slammed...

Dem Governor: ObamaCare Tempts Firms to Dump Plans

Tennessee's Bredesen foresees exodus to federally-subsidized insurance

(Newser) - If you crunch the numbers, President Obama’s health care plan is a great incentive for employers to stop providing coverage and put their workers in the hands of government-subsidized plans, meaning “much greater cost” for the US, writes Democratic Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen in the Wall Street Journal...

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