Budget

Business Economists Diss Trump’s Policies

By Yuval Rosenberg

Business economists are less than bullish on the effects of President Trump’s economic policies. A semiannual survey by the National Association for Business Economics found that: Tariffs are hurting...
Trump Cancels His Military Parade as Costs Soar

By Michael Rainey

President Trump said Friday that he has canceled plans for a military parade in Washington this fall amid reports of rapidly rising costs. On Thursday, an unnamed source at the Pentagon told CNBC...
Is This an Economic Boom or Just a Blip?

By Michael Rainey

Most mainstream economists think the booming GDP growth recorded in the fourth quarter will ease toward the end of the year, but President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow says...
Why Children Lose Out in the Federal Budget

By Michael Rainey

The federal government spends much less on children than it does the elderly, with the latter claiming roughly 35 percent of the annual budget. The disparity is driven in part by the government’s...
Spending Caps Could Come Roaring Back in 2020

By Michael Rainey

Congress has busted through its self-imposed spending caps for this year and next, enabling the government to spend billions more that the limits imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The...

Cost of Trump’s Military Parade Rising Fast

By Michael Rainey

It looks like President Trump’s military parade is going to cost a lot more than the initial estimate suggested – about $80 million more. The Department of Defense pegged the cost of the parade at...
Congress Puts Spending Bills in Gear

By Michael Rainey

Congress is on pace to do something it hasn’t done in more than 20 years: pass all of its spending bills before the fiscal year begins on October 1. How they’re doing it: In order to move the...
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...

Trump Wants NATO to Spend More – a Lot More – on Defense

By Michael Rainey

President Trump wasted no time Wednesday morning criticizing NATO allies for their military spending, calling for them to double their defense spending targets to 4 percent of GDP. Trump’s call came...
Democrats and the Deficit: The Intraparty Fight Ahead

By Yuval Rosenberg

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old Democratic Socialist who stunned the political world and roiled the Democratic Party this month by defeating Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) in a primary, believes in...
Worrying About the Next Recession

By Yuval Rosenberg

When will the next recession hit? It’s been more than nine years since the Great Recession officially ended , and the U.S. economy is about a year away from passing the 1990s expansion to become the...
Another Problem with Larry Kudlow's Deficit Whopper

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow, director of President Trump’s National Economic Council, set off a wave of incredulous head-scratching on Friday by claiming in an interview with Fox Business Network that the federal...
Larry Kudlow, Trump’s Top Economic Adviser, Says the Deficit Is Falling. It Is Not.

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s top economic adviser, said on the Fox Business Network Friday morning that the federal budget deficit is falling “rapidly.” In response to a Maria Bartiromo question...