Coverage of the national budget and your taxes.
House Democrats on Thursday rolled out a more than $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, billing it as an economic stimulus to create jobs and fight the recession brought on by the coronavirus crisis.
About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, a historically high number, even as the economy increasingly reopens and employers bring some people back to work.
Congress’ chief scorekeeper had high praise for the Trump administration Tuesday, saying its agencies managed to deliver coronavirus aid “incredibly quickly,” helping moderate the worst economic effects of the COVID-19 downturn.
Prosecutions for Paycheck Protection Program fraud are expected to increase even as the coronavirus pandemic itself begins to wane, a top Justice Department official told senators on Tuesday.
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Tuesday President Trump has “squandered” the economic expansion created during the Obama-Biden administration, causing an economic recession.
Uncle Sam has added $1.2 trillion to the budget deficit over the last two months, according to the latest numbers Monday that detail how the government has used cash to try to combat the coronavirus pandemic and its economic catastrophe.
Key Democrats on Sunday tamped down expectations of the “defund police” movement but said there will need to be a reexamination of how money is spent, as they prepared to announce a major piece of legislation designed to set national standards for how state and local police can operate.
President Trump on Friday hailed an unexpected gain in hiring in May as an “incredible” turnaround from the coronavirus shutdown, saying the only thing that can stop the U.S. economy now is Democratic policies.
The unemployment rate fell to a better-than-expected 13.3% in May, the Labor Department said Friday, in the strongest signal yet that the economy has turned the corner from the coronavirus shutdowns.
Nearly 1.9 million people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, evidence that many employers are still cutting jobs even as the gradual reopening of businesses has slowed the pace of layoffs.
White House senior adviser Kevin Hassett said a private-sector jobs report for May released on Wednesday could mean the economy is recovering even more quickly than expected after the recent coronavirus-related lockdowns.
The National Taxpayers Union gave two of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden’s potential running mates low scores on their annual fiscal scorecard for lawmakers.
Religious liberty advocates are voicing support for the White House’s acting budget director, who faces confirmation hearings this week in the Senate, where his religious beliefs were criticized three years ago.
More than 2 million unemployment claims filed last week brought job losses to more than 40 million since the coronavirus shutdown began in March, but the Trump administration and leaders across the country voiced optimism Thursday that the economy will bounce back.
Former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Wednesday said no amount of federal spending can replace reopening a U.S. economy that has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
A group of Republican senators Thursday urged the Justice Department to investigate how dozens of Planned Parenthood affiliates received more than $80 million in coronavirus relief loans, arguing the organization’s billion-dollar revenue should have made those affiliates ineligible.
Positive economic news poured in from reopened states Wednesday as President Trump hosted the governors of Arkansas and Kansas at the White House, while Florida’s governor blasted the media for incorrectly predicting that he ended the state’s coronavirus shutdown too soon.
The federal government is poised to pay out tens of millions of dollars in unemployment benefits to millionaires who find themselves out of work during coronavirus and are still can collect $600 a week under the stimulus bill despite their wealth.
Uncle Sam found it was actually pretty easy to get people to stop working during the coronavirus crisis — all it took was a generous $600-a-week boost in unemployment.
President Trump ordered a sweeping emergency deregulation effort Tuesday to jump-start the economic recovery as states reopen from coronavirus shutdowns, and he directed federal agencies not to “over-enforce” regulations against small businesses that are working to bounce back.
The Congressional Budget Office released new projections Tuesday showing a more optimistic view of the economy as it revives from the coronavirus crisis, saying unemployment will rebound faster than the analysts had projected.
President Trump on Tuesday announced $16 billion in direct payments for farmers and ranchers to compensate them for lost business from the coronavirus outbreak that he said was “caused by China.”
Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin on Tuesday said “no workers” should have to give their lives in a bid to give the U.S. economy a boost during the coronavirus pandemic, pushing back on questioning from Sen. Sherrod Brown, Ohio Democrat.
The Treasury Department has not yet doled out any of the $46 billion that was set aside for airlines and businesses deemed critical to national security that was part of the $2.2 trillion rescue package Congress passed in March, according to a report released on Monday.
Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin will likely come under tough questioning from senators Tuesday about a small business lending program included in the government’s $2 trillion relief package.
The 14 House Democrats who almost sunk House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s $3 trillion coronavirus rescue bill provided a glimpse at the calculations the party is making ahead of the election.
Former White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said parts of the 2017 tax-cut law he helped shepherd through Congress might have to be rolled back amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
White House senior adviser Kevin Hassett on Monday said a substantial economic recovery should happen before the end of 2021 — a potential timeline recently floated by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome “Jay” Powell.
The shutdowns were intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus but ushered in a retail apocalypse that forced into bankruptcy major players such as Gold’s Gym, gourmet foods retailer Dean & DeLuca, clothier J.Crew and department stores J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she’s ready to negotiate with Republicans on the next coronavirus rescue bill, with her opening offer being the $3 trillion spending package the House recently passed.
House Democrats pushed through their $3 trillion coronavirus spending bill Friday night, despite pushback from liberals and moderates within their ranks as well from Republicans.
House Democrats on Friday narrowly rejected a GOP-led motion to prevent illegal immigrants from getting coronavirus stimulus checks.
President Trump touted major funding for transit systems Friday, specifically calling out New Jersey and Chicago.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democrat from Virginia, announced her opposition to the Democrats’ $3 trillion coronavirus spending bill Friday, hours before the chamber is set to vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday refuted the “partisan wish list” label lobbed at her $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill, saying it’s no different than other packages Congress has passed.
Maryland and Virginia governors on Wednesday announced plans to begin reopening their states’ economies on Friday, but the Greater Washington area will remain locked down for at least two more weeks because of a high concentration of COVID-19 cases.
When Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp reopened his state for business last month, he was derided as a coronavirus-denier and a veritable murderer.
President Trump will visit the sharply divided battleground state of Pennsylvania on Thursday as he encourages a rebellion by local Republican officials against Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home coronavirus orders.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday called Democrats’ new $3 trillion coronavirus rescue package an “American wish list” and said the bill is directly related to swiftly combating issues tied to COVID-19.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell said Wednesday that Congress might need to spend more on coronavirus relief to pull the nation out of an economic crisis that has cost more than 20 million jobs.
Washington is spending trillions of dollars on an economic recovery, but many businesses — from restaurants to factories — won’t snap back at all from the coronavirus crisis.
Tucked inside House Democrats’ new coronavirus bill is language that would create a loophole in states’ voter ID requirements, allowing people to cast ballots without having to prove who they are.
House Democrats on Tuesday went all-in with a new coronavirus spending bill that topped $3 trillion and checked off virtually every box on the party’s liberal wish list, all but guaranteeing it has no chance of ever becoming law.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday announced that he is spearheading a package of liability reforms to protect the health care industry and businesses form COVID-19 lawsuits when the economy reopens.
