Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.
The Pentagon budget would rise to a new record while U.S. automakers and victims of hurricanes and floods would receive billions of dollars in a $630 billion-plus omnibus spending bill rushing toward the House floor Wednesday.
The debate over government spending is heating up on the campaign trail and raising greater focus on which presidential candidate will really change the way Washington does business.
The House and Senate reconvene Monday after back-to-back political conventions, both parties eager to use the three-week session to show voters why their candidates are the ones to fix the economy and lower energy prices.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain has hammered home the message that he hates pork and wants to balance the budget by 2013.
He led Republicans into government shutdowns in the 1990s, and now, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich indicates his party is seriously considering another shutdown threat to force a vote on offshore oil drilling in September.
Sen. Barack Obama said Tuesday that Washington needs to draw on faith-based groups to solve the challenges the country is facing, "from saving our planet to ending poverty."
President Bush on Monday signed a bill that will pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the remainder of his presidency and into spring 2009.
The House passed a bill extending unemployment benefits by 13 weeks Thursday, but a presidential veto threat makes its final passage uncertain.
Democrats will try again Thursday to pass a bill extending unemployment benefits after it fell three votes short of a needed two-thirds majority on Wednesday.
Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.
The Pentagon budget would rise to a new record while U.S. automakers and victims of hurricanes and floods would receive billions of dollars in a $630 billion-plus omnibus spending bill rushing toward the House floor Wednesday.
The debate over government spending is heating up on the campaign trail and raising greater focus on which presidential candidate will really change the way Washington does business.
The House and Senate reconvene Monday after back-to-back political conventions, both parties eager to use the three-week session to show voters why their candidates are the ones to fix the economy and lower energy prices.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain has hammered home the message that he hates pork and wants to balance the budget by 2013.
He led Republicans into government shutdowns in the 1990s, and now, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich indicates his party is seriously considering another shutdown threat to force a vote on offshore oil drilling in September.
Sen. Barack Obama said Tuesday that Washington needs to draw on faith-based groups to solve the challenges the country is facing, "from saving our planet to ending poverty."
President Bush on Monday signed a bill that will pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the remainder of his presidency and into spring 2009.
The House passed a bill extending unemployment benefits by 13 weeks Thursday, but a presidential veto threat makes its final passage uncertain.
Democrats will try again Thursday to pass a bill extending unemployment benefits after it fell three votes short of a needed two-thirds majority on Wednesday.
The Pentagon called for swift passage of a bill providing additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after Republicans blocked its passage in the House.
Defying President Bush's demand to send him a clean war funding bill, House Democratic leaders unveiled legislation Tuesday that conditions the money on withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and adds billions of dollars in domestic spending.
President Bush asked Congress Friday for $70 billion to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan amid a developing dispute between the White House and congressional Democrats over Iraq spending.
The candidate told "forgotten" America that big government isn't the answer, but his message wasn't aimed only at them
A watchdog group critical of pork barrel spending released its latest findings Wednesday targeting the top Congressional "porkers."
Most members of Congress call them earmarks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to get them called "legislatively directed spending." But for almost every American taxpayer I've run into over the last year, it's called "pork" and it's not very tasty.
The House of Representatives approved another $70 billion in war spending on Wednesday, capping a year of frustration for Democrats who took control of Congress on pledges to end the war in Iraq.
Democratic lawmakers and staffers privately say they're closing in on a broad budget deal that would give President Bush as much as $70 billion in new war funding.
Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could "pose a dangerous public health risk."
President Bush on Monday pressured Congress to wrap up "unfinished business" as the lawmakers return from their Thanksgiving holiday break.
A top Democrat who had hinted that a compromise on war funding was possible appeared to back away from the idea Friday as the Democratic congressional leadership refused to consider it.
President Bush on Thursday called on Congress to approve billions of dollars in additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan before lawmakers leave for their Christmas break.
All sides involved in the controversy over the use of embryonic stem cells in research claimed vindication Tuesday after two teams of researchers reported having reprogrammed human skin cells to act like the stem cells, which have the potential of morphing into other cells and thereby curing disease.
In a pair of landmark studies, two groups of scientists announced Tuesday that they have reprogrammed human skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells, whose potential to mature into any other kind of cell in the body may ultimately prove key to curing a number of diseases.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the Pentagon would not be able to carry on normal operations by mid-February without additional war funding, creating "real consequences for this department and for our men and women in uniform."
In tiny Bishop, California, Rep. Buck McKeon, R-California, wants to build a museum honoring the mule.
The Iraq war may be funded largely with Uncle Sam's borrowed cash, but don't think American consumers will escape without taking a hit in the wallet.
Is George W. Bush right to veto the easing of federal funding restrictions on stem cell research?
After a decade-long wait, America's lowest-paid workers saw Congress poised Thursday to increase the federal minimum wage by $2.10
In her first public speech since announcing last Thursday that her breast cancer had returned, Elizabeth Edwards appealed Monday for more federal funding for health research of all kinds, including stem-cell research.
The following is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the House Budget Committee on Wednesday:
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged for the fifth straight time in January. Following are the minutes from the central bank's meeting:
President Bush in his State of the Union address Tuesday laid out a plan intended to make healthcare more affordable, give everyone who buys insurance the same tax break and incentivize you to be more cost-conscious in how you spend your healthcare dollars.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep short-term rates steady when its policy committee meets Wednesday. But now market observers are starting to wonder when the central bank might want to consider lowering rates as the economy starts to show signs of softness.
George W. Bush seldom suffered personally from doing what's unpopular politically. In fact, you could argue that he has made a career of it, holding fast to positions that many voters reject, as a sign of strength in these dangerous times. So his willingness to exercise his first-ever veto this week on a bill that would expand federal funding for human embryonic-stem-cell research, which 2 out of 3 voters favor, is not just a way to stroke his political base. "People like leadership much better than a finger in the wind," says White House press secretary Tony Snow. As Bush explained to him while in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the G-8 summit last week, "I took a position. I believe in it. So that's what I'm going to do."
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Do you live in a "donor" state?
Are you a confused Capitalist? With crises looming in health care, pensions, and energy (to pick the short list), corporate America's pragmatism is sorely needed in public life. Yet the business co...
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that universities that accept federal money must allow military recruiters on campus, even if they oppose the Pentagon's policy barring people who are openly homosexual from serving.
The nation's economy grew at its slowest pace in three years in the fourth quarter, according to the government's gross domestic product report Friday, which came in far weaker than economists' forecasts.
The Supreme Court demonstrated deep skepticism Tuesday that universities should be allowed to turn away military recruiters and still accept federal funds.
The former chairman of the company formerly known as AOL Time Warner is sitting back on a tan leather couch in his Washington, D.C., office, looking happy and relaxed. I'm here to talk to Steve Cas...
While the Fed's recent series of interest rate hikes hasn't sent traditional 30-year mortgages through the roof, it's driving up rates on other popular home loans.
With President Bush promising a big push to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many are wondering how the government's going to pay for all this.
After impassioned debate, the House passed a controversial bill Tuesday that would expand public funding for embryonic stem cell research -- a measure President Bush threatened to veto last week.
Biotechs specializing in stem cell research could see a jump in stock prices next week, say analysts who are keeping a close eye on a House bill that would lift limits on federal funding.
It was the toughest call of his young presidency, and George Bush chose an event no less momentous than his first prime-time address to announce that he had found a thin ridge of moral high ground on which to perch.
WHAT DO GENERAL MOTORS' WOES, the Medicare prescription-drug law, the state and local health-care time bomb described in the previous story, and Congress's recent refusal to trim soaring state Medi...
The Bush administration plans to introduce legislation to restructure the nation's passenger rail system, while Amtrak supporters in Congress fight to maintain funding in next fiscal year's budget.
Faced with an $8 billion budget shortfall, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will visit the nation's capital Thursday, with a bipartisan group of state legislators in tow, to lobby for a larger piece of the federal pie for the Golden State.
Defense stocks rallied to all-time highs after George Bush was re-elected. But the positive outlook for the group isn't just the result of his victory.
The day before the curtain was to be raised for a week of well-practiced political theater, Republican National Convention delegates flocked Sunday to New York's Great White Way for a taste of a different kind of theater.
Billions of dollars earmarked by Congress for state and local homeland security are going unused because of safeguards meant to combat fraud and waste in government spending, according to a report released Thursday.
Contrary to popular belief, the curse "May you live in interesting times" may not be Chinese, and it may not be ancient.
The Federal Reserve will probably raise interest rates soon. And that's causing tech investors to flee for the exits.
The economy grew at roughly the same pace in the first quarter as it did in the fourth quarter, the government reported Thursday, coming in below forecasts on Wall Street.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry promised Wednesday he would cut the federal budget deficit before it becomes a "fiscal cancer" that undermines the U.S. economy.
When Alan Greenspan testified before congress in mid-February, the Fed chairman delivered a Valentine's Day garland to the recent performance of the U.S. economy, lauding the "stunning increases in...
After decades of battling inflation, the Federal Reserve is on guard against a new potential enemy: inflation's evil twin, deflation. Not that Fed officials believe deflation--a widespread decline ...
It's tempting to let the above headline stand by itself, on an otherwise blank page. Fact is, the Democrats not only don't have an economic plan--they don't even have an outline of one or, it seems...
Federal budget policy is more of a mess today than it's been in decades. Deficit spending will reach an estimated $157 billion this year and will continue for several more years even in the rosiest...
In wartime, as everyone knows, federal spending must go up. The aftermath of Sept. 11 is no different. The U.S. needed to rout al Qaeda from Afghanistan, tighten airport and border security, and he...
$90 Average price of a single-event ticket at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics.
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the economy, but one thing is crystal clear: We're headed into a recession. The nation's economic output, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), will almost ...
The presidential candidates have seized on education in the hope of finding an issue that will ignite voter excitement. Bush's and Gore's plans differ in nuance, but both men advocate policies that...
Four years ago, the Hungarian economy was deep in crisis: Inflation was rampant, unemployment was rising, and trade and government deficits were mounting. Making things even worse was the fact that...
Late last year I bought Boeing at $34, close to its lowest price since 1995. The company had a lot of problems then. And you know what? It's still got a lot of problems. But the stock is up 36% to ...
No one in Washington seems to worry about budget deficits anymore--no one, that is, except the Congressional Budget Office. Its recent study Long-Term Budgetary Pressures and Policy Options describ...
Ever wonder whether economists deliberately make their subject confusing? After all, if you ever really knew what they were talking about, you might not be so impressed. Fortunately, David Blitzer,...
When did big government begin? Conservatives of all ages tend to think federal spending went out of control around their tenth birthday. Commentators who have a little more historical perspective t...
Washington will be buzzing in the months ahead with talk about balancing the budget, cutting back government outlays, and pruning federal programs, but here's a prediction: Until Congress dramatica...
WASHINGTON'S MAJOR PLAYERS ARE GETTING ready for the blame game. After 26 straight years of federal budget deficits, government leaders are finally gearing up to slash spending dramatically. Troubl...
THE WASHINGTON business lobby is awash in euphoria. "I haven't felt this good since Reagan won," says Dirk Van Dongen, head of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. Jerry Jasinowski,...
WASN'T THIS supposed to be the year Alan Greenspan got to triumphantly parade down Wall Street to the cheers of bondholders big and small? In many ways the circumstances seemed right. In January 19...
PRESIDENT Clinton now seems to be pinning most of his hopes for further deficit reduction on the reinventing government initiative to streamline the bureaucracy. But what he and many others in Wash...
The nation's continuing debate over the budget deficit and government spending is reflected daily in your letters to MONEY. No other subject has generated as much mail over the past five months, be...
President Clinton claims that his economic plan -- the latest ''major attack'' on the federal budget deficit to be launched by Washington -- will reduce the deficit by almost $500 billion over five...
Amid all the confusion, here are at least six things you can count on from Bill Clinton's revolutionary -- and still evolutionary -- economic plan.
YOU SAY you've heard enough about the federal budget deficit? You know it will come to roughly $314 billion in fiscal 1992? You know the national debt grew from nearly $1 trillion ten years ago to ...
If you're following the presidential race, you've already heard the convention hoopla, watched both parties claim the high ground on family values and absorbed a lot of macroeconomic talk about cut...
Mario Cuomo, the quintessential tax-and-spend Democrat, has just signed off on a New York State budget calling for yet another increase in outlays. But what an increase -- a distinctly unwhopping 3...
IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, where the February 18 primary is fast approaching, there is only one political issue: the sputtering U.S. economy. Now that Mario Cuomo has made his to-be-or-not-to-be decision, D...
IS THERE an economic phenomenon more frustrating than the federal budget deficit? For a decade it has mocked us, defying all efforts to eliminate it -- from the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act of 1985, w...
We should properly relish the failure of Communism and the corresponding triumph of capitalism, but we should try to be realistic about what we are celebrating. Our society has won because, through...
If last year's broad interest-rate decline, which brought long bond yields down from 9.50% to 7.89%, continues through 1990, homes and autos could be more affordable, personal debt could be less bu...
WHEN WERE YOU LAST at a dinner party where someone didn't raise at least one of these perennially favorite topics: (1) how that $47,500 subdivision split- level, bought in 1973, is now worth a cool...
THEY SUPPORTED BUSH overwhelmingly in the election, but now that he's about to become their President, America's CEOs have stern talk for him about the deficit. Cut it, they say. Cut spending in al...
EVEN BEFORE the election, Michael Dukakis made a lasting change in the way politicians think about relations between business and government. He has challenged his party's old faith in big-governme...
ONE OF the great accomplishments of the Reagan era was to reduce government intrusion into business decision-making, from the boardroom to the shop floor. Kiss those days goodbye. No matter who win...
IT'S HARD TO SPOT Vice President George Bush without an economist at hand. The Yale Phi Beta Kappa in economics figures that distinguished conservative thinkers can help him convey an upbeat econom...
A LIBERAL WHO can count.'' That's how Michael Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts and Democratic presidential front-runner, describes himself. Not a bad call. The phrase highlights the contrasting f...
IN THE COMPASSION-PACKED Sixties and Seventies, welfare became a right, checks became grants, and social workers turned into ''human services technicians.'' But now the buzzword in the welfare bure...
Many Americans, including this reviewer, wish to reduce the role of government in their lives. But not many of us libertarians have thought much about a strategy for doing so. We have generally bel...
WASHINGTON'S tilt toward tax reform and fiscal restraint is cause for celebration. The proposals promise long-run benefits for the economy. Pass the beer, though, not the champagne. The spending cu...
to trim without hurting the poor. WASHINGTON'S deficit fighters have directed most of their firepower this year at such politically palatable targets as defense. But if Congress is truly going to g...
IN THE THICK undergrowth of federal spending, subsidies to business and state and local governments are some of the hardiest forms of plant life--and the most in need of weeding. They will have cli...
POLITICIANS, pundits, and most economists have come to agree that the federal budget deficit is the paramount problem facing the U.S. By ''the deficit'' they no longer mean the difference between t...
AS HIS MILITARY buildup reaches its second stage, Ronald Reagan appears determined to kick in the after-burners. The budget that the President sent to Congress in early February calls for increases...
The war on federal spending--at least the rhetorical war--will heat up in the coming months as President Reagan renews his call for the line item veto, the power for the President to veto individua...

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