Government spending

President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act today. It calls for around $700 billion in defense spending for fiscal year 2018. That would blow right through the spending caps Congress agreed to back in 2011. Congress has to vote to modify those caps, if it wants to spend this much money on defense. […]

It’s been a decade since the Great Recession, and while a lot of things in the economy have recovered, state funding for public schools is still lagging behind pre-Recession levels, after accounting for inflation. That’s according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank that focuses on ways that federal and state […]

Following the collapse of the House GOP health plan, President Trump and congressional Republicans say they will now pivot to tax reform. But they have got some serious heavy lifting to do before they get there. The appropriations bill passed last November expires at the end of April. With Republicans divided, the GOP may now […]

Hybrid word combines “omnibus” spending bill and a continuing resolution, or “CR” – two funding stopgaps.

Experts say the federal budget is likely to be punctuated with new, previously unexpected spending.

Governing by crisis makes the federal government wasteful and inefficient.