Politics

It’s been a busy few days on the tax-and-budget front in Washington, D.C. Late last week, the Senate passed a budget resolution for fiscal year 2018 that allows for $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years. Republican leaders in the House want to vote on it this week. It’s a blueprint for […]

Japan is holding a snap election on Sunday. Prime Minister Shinzō Abe is widely expected to retain power, with his party maybe losing a few seats from its huge majority. In many ways, the election is a referendum on the prime minister’s economic reforms, known as Abenomics. It’s also a vote about national security. Click the […]

U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi announced today that he’s leaving Congress in January — midway through his term. The Ohio Republican is a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. That makes him part of what’s known as the governing wing of the Republican party — the folks with influence who can get […]

The contentious fourth round of NAFTA negotiations concluded in Washington, D.C. today without a deal in sight. Trade reps from Canada and Mexico rejected outright a number of hard-line protectionist policies proposed by U.S. negotiators, proposals which Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland described diplomatically today as “unconventional.” Could these seemingly irreconcilable sticking points on […]

The Senate is pushing ahead on a budget vote this week. That framework would move the GOP a step closer to the tax overhaul it has promised. The Senate plan allows for as much as $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the decade. Those cuts could blow a $2.4 trillion hole in the budget, the […]

And this one lands directly on the insurance industry, for now. The president cut payments to insurers that go toward subsidies for low-income people who buy policies on the health care exchanges. Those so-called cost-sharing reductions were worth billions to the insurance industry. So what will it do now? 

Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago, passed a penny-per-ounce tax on soda late last year. The driving force was raising revenue in a state with deep budget woes. But legal challenges delayed the tax going into effect, and a strong campaign from the beverage industry has soured public opinion on the measure. It was repealed […]