federal budget

Apr 9, 2009 5:13 PM CDT

Obama Seeks $83.4B for Wars

(Newser) - President Obama will ask Congress for $83.4 billion in supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the AP reports. Obama had in the past opposed such requests outside of the federal budget, but the administration says it's necessary one final time to fund the military through the...

Cities Brace for Fallout From New Defense Budget

Apr 8, 2009 2:00 PM CDT

Cities Brace for Fallout From New Defense Budget

(Newser) - With President Obama and Robert Gates hoping to reconfigure defense spending, cities and towns around the country are bracing for the economic fallout, ABC News reports. Some of the places most likely to be pinched if Gates’ budget stands:

Marietta, Ga.: Where Boeing and Lockheed Martin assemble F-22s. About 2,

...

Senate Follows
House to Back
$3.5T Budget

Apr 3, 2009 1:22 AM CDT

Senate Follows House to Back $3.5T Budget

Approval of $3.5T budget clears way for Obama's agenda

(Newser) - The Democratic-controlled Senate has passed a budget drafted to President Barack Obama's specifications, voting a few hours after the House approved a similar plan. The budget calls for spending of $3.5 trillion for the year beginning Oct. 1 and has a deficit projected at $1.2 trillion. The Senate...

House Dems Pass
Obama's $3.5T Agenda

Apr 2, 2009 6:59 PM CDT

House Dems Pass Obama's $3.5T Agenda

(Newser) - President Obama's ambitious national agenda cleared its first hurdle this evening. The House, as expected, passed a $3.5 trillion spending plan that follows the broad outlines of Obama's plan. The 233-196 vote fell along party lines, the Washington Post reports. The Senate is expected to follow suit, possibly late...

Obama Tactics Straight Out
of Arm-Twist Chicago: Rove

OPINION

Apr 2, 2009 1:57 AM CDT

Obama Tactics Straight Out of Arm-Twist Chicago: Rove

President's push for budget support not looking much like 'new politics'

(Newser) - President Obama's consolidation of power is looking more like old-fashioned Chicago politics than the "new politics" promised, Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal. The president has mobilized outside groups and the remnants of the campaign machine to target lawmakers skeptical about his spending plans, initially going...

'Alternative Budget' Splits GOP Leaders

Mar 27, 2009 10:31 AM CDT

'Alternative Budget' Splits GOP Leaders

Boehner, aiming for damage control, reins in Cantor, Ryan

(Newser) - Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan argued against the alternative budget “blueprint” announced yesterday, but party leaders ordered them to back the plan as a way of refuting the Democratic charge that the GOP is the "party of no," Politico reports. Ryan, the top Republican on the budget...

Senate Panel
Clears $3.6T
Budget Plan

Mar 27, 2009 5:59 AM CDT

Senate Panel Clears $3.6T Budget Plan

Spending blueprint leaves president's agenda mostly intact

(Newser) - President Obama's spending plans have passed a major hurdle in the Senate, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Senate Budget Committee passed a plan largely similar to Obama's $3.6 trillion request in a 13-10 vote split along party lines. The House committee passed its version Wednesday, clearing the way...

Budget Debate Devolves
Into Verbal Slugfest

Mar 26, 2009 4:24 PM CDT

Budget Debate Devolves Into Verbal Slugfest

(Newser) - The White House today ridiculed a budget proposal laid out by House Republicans, but the GOP gave as good as it got, the Hill reports. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the GOP document included a “picture of a windmill” but no substantive numbers. “It took me several minutes to...

Dems Slash
Obama's
Budget

Mar 25, 2009 2:04 AM CDT

Dems Slash Obama's Budget

Congressional Dems scrap future plans to bail out financial sector

(Newser) - Democratic leaders trying to trim the federal deficit have taken a hatchet to President Obama's budget plan, reports the Washington Post. Congressional Democrats are expected to formally announce plans today to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from the budget over the next five years, and eliminate plans to steer...

Don't Use Budget Process for Big Reform: GOP to Obama

Mar 24, 2009 11:34 AM CDT

Don't Use Budget Process for Big Reform: GOP to Obama

Procedure would allow Democrats to pass agenda with 51 votes

(Newser) - To circumvent a likely 60-vote minimum in the Senate for big-ticket bills like health reform, President Obama is considering pursuing proposals through a budgetary tactic known as reconciliation, where just 51 votes are needed and no filibustering is allowed. But Republicans are having none of it, Politico reports. Senate Republican...

Budget Deficit Soars Past $1.8T

Mar 20, 2009 4:01 PM CDT

Budget Deficit Soars Past $1.8T

(Newser) - The federal budget deficit will surpass $1.8 trillion during the current fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office said today. The figure far outstrips the previous estimate of $1.2 trillion and spells trouble for President Obama's proposed budget, the Wall Street Journal reports, but the White House budget director...

Obama Takes Baby Steps on Earmark Reform

ANALYSIS

Mar 12, 2009 12:45 PM CDT

Obama Takes Baby Steps on Earmark Reform

Some say he missed opportunity; others fault lack of specifics

(Newser) - President Obama announced moves to curb pork-barrel spending yesterday, but not as decisively as some hoped, Politico reports. Obama said he was signing the “imperfect omnibus because it’s necessary for the ongoing functions of government,” but in future he wants fewer earmarks in federal spending measures, and...

Moderate Dems
Balk Over
Obama Deficit

Mar 11, 2009 11:07 AM CDT

Moderate Dems Balk Over Obama Deficit

Right wing of the president's party will fight to shave budget

(Newser) - Barack Obama may be president, but it’s Congress that passes the budget, and moderate Democrats are the ones holding the keys to the federal treasury, reports Time. Obama’s 2010 budget calls for $3.6 trillion in federal spending. And though deficit-hawks appreciate the president’s honest numbers (in...

Top Dem Dogs Ready to Retool Obama's Budget

ANALYSIS

Mar 10, 2009 10:00 AM CDT

Combative Obama Braces for Fight on Budget

Prez backs $3.6 trillion budget in latest video

(Newser) - In his weekly radio address today, President Obama struck a more combative tone than usual in a push for his $3.6 trillion budget, reports Politico. “I know these steps won’t sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing...

Budget Includes
Fishing Lessons,
Moon Shot

Feb 26, 2009 7:00 PM CST

Budget Includes Fishing Lessons, Moon Shot

(Newser) - A $3.6 trillion budget is bound to have nooks and crannies. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at some of the lesser publicized aspects of President Obama's plan:

Interior Department gets $50 million to teach young people how to hunt and fish and generally love the environment.
NASA

...

Obama Budget Relies on Rosy Growth Estimates

Feb 26, 2009 5:38 PM CST

Obama Budget Relies on Rosy Growth Estimates

(Newser) - President Obama is more optimistic about the nation's economic prospects than most economists, Bloomberg reports. His budget plan forecasts a GDP contraction of 1.2% this year, followed by a 3.2% expansion in 2010. The median forecast of economists calls for a contraction of 2% this year and growth...

Dems Shrug Off Obama's Call to Battle Earmarks

analysis

Feb 26, 2009 10:40 AM CST

Dems Shrug Off Obama's Call to Battle Earmarks

'Faceless bureaucrats' shouldn't guide funds: Reid

(Newser) - Leading Democratic lawmakers didn't welcome President Obama’s call to jettison budget earmarks, suggesting that as elected officials, they should control where funds are headed, the Hill reports. “We cannot let spending be done by a bunch of nameless, faceless bureaucrats,” Harry Reid said yesterday. Obama pointed to...

Obama Trying to Shift
Burden to the Rich

analysis

Feb 25, 2009 7:46 PM CST

Obama Trying to Shift Burden to the Rich

(Newser) - As details trickle out about President Obama's budget, one clear picture is emerging—he is dead-set on making the rich pay more, write Jackie Calmes and Robert Pear in the New York Times. In the latest example, he plans to fund half of his health-care reform through tax increases on...

Obama Blasts
'Casual Dishonesty'
of Bush Budgets

Feb 23, 2009 3:58 PM CST

Obama Blasts 'Casual Dishonesty' of Bush Budgets

(Newser) - At a White House “fiscal responsibility summit” today, President Obama opened fire on what he called the Bush administration’s “casual dishonesty” about the federal budget, Politico reports. “Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years,” Obama said, “we cannot simply spend...