Topic: Federal Deficits
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Five ways to improve Obama's pre-k plan
President Obama’s Preschool for All plan is well intentioned but includes features that are not justified by research and won’t help it pass in Congress. The plan must make the following five adjustments.
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5 steps to bipartisan cuts in Medicare – and the deficit
Medicare is the single greatest contributor to long-term deficits. If Democrats and Republicans cooperate on waste-cutting ideas – many of which are backed by President Obama – both parties stand to gain. Here are five ways Congress should act.
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Briefing
After the 'sequester,' now what?
$85 billion in across-the-board cuts to defense and social programs took effect March 1. The cuts must occur this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Here's how things look.
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Four reasons Republicans are embracing the 'sequester'
Republicans, it is clear, are conflicted on the "sequester." How did they come to embrace it? Here are four reasons.
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If not 'sequester,' then what? Five ideas from left and right.
Few in Washington believe that "the sequester,” $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to hit the federal budget as of March 1, is a good idea. But what's the alternative? Here are five proposals, from the right, the center, and the left, to replace the sequester. Which do you like?
All Content
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Tax VOX Online sales tax is not a tax increase: Five things to know
The Senate is close to passing a bill that would let states require online merchants to collect sales tax on their products. A few key myths about online sales tax, busted.
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Will flight delays stir up ire against sequester?
Rolling flight delays blamed on automatic government spending cuts imposed in March snarled some of the nation's busiest airports, testing how Americans will gauge Washington's sequester solution to spending and debt issues.
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Readers Write: How to stop illegal immigration; 'Sequester' is hurting criminal justice
Letters to the Editor for the April 22 & 29, 2013 weekly print issue: It's fair to say that if there were no hiring of illegal immigrants, none would come. Sweeping federal spending cuts are having a devastating effect on the criminal-justice system and its ability to carry out constitutional mandates.
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Tax VOX Taxes: Who would pay more under Obama budget?
President Obama's 2014 budget would taxes on the highest-income American households, Gleckman writes, but middle-income households would also pay slightly more in taxes than under today’s law.
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The New Economy IRS to close for five days: this week in the economy
The IRS will shut its doors to the public for five days in the coming months due to federal budget cuts. IRS closure dates and other news from around the economy this week.
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Southern Europe digs in against further austerity, as IMF calls for relief
But the EU has little room to give, as Europe waits for signals from September elections in Germany – the ultimate decider of Europe's economic direction.
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Tax VOX What happened to state tax reform?
Months ago, several Republican governors proposed major tax reform plans, Gleckman writes, but by tax day, two of those governors had abandoned their tax reform plans. What happened?
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Obama budget 'compromise?' No way, says the GOP (+video)
In the Republican radio address Saturday, Rep. Jackie Walorski (R) of Indiana called President Obama's proposed budget for 2014 'a blank check for more spending and more debt.'
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Paul Ryan and Chris Van Hollen: the fiscal bellwethers
The two House members – longtime ideological foes – will play a central role in bringing their respective party members along if Congress is ever to cut a grand fiscal deal.
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GOP's Rep. Dave Camp envisions inclusive path to a fiscal 'bargain'
Dave Camp, House Ways and Means Committee chairman, said Thursday that involving more members of Congress in budgeting and deficit-cutting could yield, if not a 'grand bargain,' at least a modest deal.
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Sen. Tom Coburn: How 'Dr. No' helps others say 'yes' (+video)
The Oklahoma Republican, an outsider's outsider, has become an essential player on key issues because if the opposition can cut a deal with Coburn, an unassailable conservative, other conservatives will go along.
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Robert Reich Obama budget: Why entitlement cuts are a 'grand bargain' we don't need
President Obama's willingness to negotiate on Social Security – which Democrats have protected from Republican assaults for almost eighty years – doesn’t bode well, Reich writes.
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Obama budget's big education items: Preschool for All, college Race to the Top (+video)
President Obama's budget proposal gives the Education Department $71.2 billion in discretionary spending for fiscal year 2014. Preschool for All would be funded by a tax hike on cigarettes.
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Obama budget changes Social Security: Are Republicans on board?
President Obama proposed changes to entitlements including Social Security in his new budget, prompting hopes of a 'grand bargain.' Republicans mixed qualified approval with skepticism.
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Obama’s budget gambit: Return of the 'grand bargain'?
President Obama is for the first time proposing a budget that includes changes to Social Security and Medicare. This infuriates the left but could open the door to compromise with Republicans.
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Six things Obama's budget plan reveals about his priorities
President Obama's $3.78 trillion budget for fiscal 2014 lays out elements of a possible 'grand bargain' with Congress. At the same time, it speaks to his policy priorities.
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Robert Reich The invisible sequester
Americans are starting to feel the pain from the sequester's $85 billion in federal spending cuts between March and September 30, Reich writes. They just don’t know it yet.
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Obama budget plan would cut deficits – but enough?
A sketch of President Obama's new budget proposal shows a modest amount of deficit reduction, but some experts say more is needed to set the US on a stable economic path.
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Obama's budget offends just about everybody. Is that compromise?
President Obama will unveil his federal budget proposal this coming week. Based on leaked details, the plan already is getting hammered by his own liberal base as well as by Republicans.
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Energy Voices How US energy policy fails to address climate change
To manage energy supplies and climate change risks, the United States has done little in terms of policy that makes sense given the gravity of the climate change challenges it and the world face, Cobb writes.
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Liberals to Obama: not so fast on Social Security cuts
The worst fears of progressive groups were confirmed Friday: President Obama's budget will include cuts to Social Security. But the call has gone out, and liberals are fighting back.
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Cuts to Social Security? What Obama is proposing.
In an effort to reach a bipartisan agreement to reduce federal deficits, President Obama is backing a change in the inflation formula used to calculate adjustments in Social Security benefits.
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Jobs report for March a disappointment. What happened?
The US economy created only 88,000 jobs last month. Possible factors include the increase in payroll taxes, which went into effect at the beginning of the year, and the tailing off of repairs from superstorm Sandy.
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Why Obama is taking a pay cut
In solidarity with the federal employees receiving reductions in pay as a result of the sequester, the president has opted to return 5 percent of his salary to the government this year. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will also return a portion of his salary.
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Decoder Wire Obama 5% of salary: He'll give it back, in sign of 'sequester' solidarity
Obama 5% of salary will be returned as a tribute to federal workers facing furloughs under the sequester. That's $20,000 – a big chunk for most people, but for the president, not so much.
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