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Congressional Budget Office raises this year’s federal budget deficit projection by $400 billion
Read full article: Congressional Budget Office raises this year’s federal budget deficit projection by $400 billionThe Congressional Budget Office says it projects this year’s federal budget deficit to be $400 billion higher, a 27% increase compared to its original estimate released in February.
Budget Office report credits immigration and spending deals with improved outlook despite huge debt
Read full article: Budget Office report credits immigration and spending deals with improved outlook despite huge debtThe nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says it expects the federal government will be awash in debt over the next 30 years.
CBO projects a $188 billion decrease in this year's federal budget deficit, but debt would then grow
Read full article: CBO projects a $188 billion decrease in this year's federal budget deficit, but debt would then growThe Congressional Budget Office says it expects the federal budget deficit to drop by $188 billion this fiscal year to $1.5 trillion.
Congressional Budget Office projects lower inflation and higher unemployment into 2025
Read full article: Congressional Budget Office projects lower inflation and higher unemployment into 2025The Congressional Budget Office says it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.
Congressional Budget Office predicts slower economic growth and 4.7% unemployment into 2024
Read full article: Congressional Budget Office predicts slower economic growth and 4.7% unemployment into 2024The Congressional Budget Office reports that economic and job growth so far this year has been stronger than forecast in February, but an updated outlook sees parts of the economy as weakening through 2024.
Debt limit deal is in place, but budget deficit is still a multi-decade challenge for US government
Read full article: Debt limit deal is in place, but budget deficit is still a multi-decade challenge for US governmentEven with new spending restraints included in the congressional debt limit deal, the U.S. government’s deficits are still on course to keep climbing to record levels over the next few decades.
How raising the nation's debt limit could reduce spending of some coronavirus relief funds
Read full article: How raising the nation's debt limit could reduce spending of some coronavirus relief fundsProposals to raise the nation's debt limit include spending cuts to coronavirus relief funds that haven't been used.
More red ink: Congressional budget agency projects bigger deficits as debt talks continue
Read full article: More red ink: Congressional budget agency projects bigger deficits as debt talks continueThe Congressional Budget Office says this year’s projected federal budget deficit has jumped by $130 billion.
Treasury's Yellen says US could default as soon as June 1
Read full article: Treasury's Yellen says US could default as soon as June 1Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has notified Congress that the U.S. could default on its debt as early as June 1, if legislators do not raise or suspend the nation’s borrowing authority before then and avert what could potentially become a global financial crisis.
Dems seem headed for climate, health win after ups and downs
Read full article: Dems seem headed for climate, health win after ups and downsIn a story published July 30, 2022, The Associated Press reported that the Congressional Budget Office estimated that an insulin bill would increase the price of the drug.
House passes domestic terrorism bill after Buffalo shooting
Read full article: House passes domestic terrorism bill after Buffalo shootingThe House has passed legislation that would devote more federal resources to preventing domestic terrorism in response to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.
House backs bill to help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits
Read full article: House backs bill to help veterans exposed to toxic burn pitsThe House has passed legislation that would dramatically boost health care services and disability benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A dozen years after last minimum wage hike, is $15 new norm?
Read full article: A dozen years after last minimum wage hike, is $15 new norm?The signs and banners are dotted along suburban commercial strips and hanging in shop windows and restaurants, evidence of a new desperation among America’s service-industry employers: “Now Hiring, $15 an hour.”.
Beware of budget gimmicks in push for massive spending deals
Read full article: Beware of budget gimmicks in push for massive spending dealsSenators negotiating two colossal bills that would deliver more than $4 trillion for infrastructure, health care, environment and other initiatives keep insisting both bills will be fully paid for.
Jump in hiring fuels optimism for US economic recovery
Read full article: Jump in hiring fuels optimism for US economic recoveryThat is down dramatically from 14.8% last April, just after the virus erupted in the United States. AdAlso hiring last month were retailers, which added 41,000 jobs, health care companies, with 46,000, and manufacturers, with 21,000. But state and local governments have slashed 1.4 million jobs since the pandemic erupted, including 86,000 last month, and most have instituted hiring freezes. The Congressional Budget Office projects the nation will add a substantial 6.2 million jobs this year. Sounding an optimistic note, he said: “There’s good reason to expect job creation to pick up in the coming months."
House Democrats vow to pass minimum wage hike
Read full article: House Democrats vow to pass minimum wage hikeThe version sent to the Senate won’t include a plan to raise the minimum wage. “When it comes to the minimum wage, I am going to be one of the loudest screamers about it,” Dingell said Feb. 7. “There will be a lot of discussions about minimum wage and you may see it being moved as a separate bill,” Dingell said. The last time the federal minimum wage was raised was July 24, 2009. It is currently the longest period the U.S. has gone without raising the federal minimum wage since it was instituted in 1938.
Budget office expects $2.3T deficit before Biden relief plan
Read full article: Budget office expects $2.3T deficit before Biden relief planThe U.S. government's budget deficit hit $735.7 billion through the first four months of the budget year, an all-time high for the period, as a pandemic-induced recession cut into tax revenues while spending on COVID relief measures sent outlays soaring. The Treasury Department reported Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, that the deficit so far for the budget year that began Oct. 1 is 89% higher than the $389.2 billion deficit run up in the same period a year ago. Still, the deficit could soon be revised upward if President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package becomes law. The CBO expects the budget deficit to fall to about $1 trillion in 2022 as the economy heals and there is less need for government spending. AdSeveral decades of deficit spending has meant that the total federal debt held by the public is slightly larger than GDP.
Dems propose $1,400 payments as part of Biden virus relief
Read full article: Dems propose $1,400 payments as part of Biden virus reliefLess than three weeks into his presidency, Biden has declared that vanquishing the virus and resuscitating the economy are his top priorities. AdHouse Education and Labor Committee Democrats also previewed their plans Monday. Couples who make up to $150,000 would be entitled to $2,800 relief payments, which would gradually diminish and fully disappear for those earning $200,000. Biden has said he will not allow the per-person payments to fall below $1,400 but has indicated flexibility on the income thresholds. A federal law known as COBRA already allows them to temporarily keep their old employer’s health plan, but they typically have to pay prohibitively high premiums.
CBO projects 4.6% growth in Biden's first year, jobs lag
Read full article: CBO projects 4.6% growth in Biden's first year, jobs lagBased on the CBO's projections, economic growth would be the strongest since 1999. While the growth estimates suggest a quick snapback in gross domestic product, the CBO projection shows that hiring will occur at a lag as consumer spending returns and employers become more comfortable with adding workers. CBO projected an average of 521,000 jobs will be added monthly this year, a pace that would fall to 145,000 in 2022. Biden's supporters can point to the CBO's projection of a three-year recovery in hiring as a need for more aid. A separate measure of economic growth in the CBO report that compares the fourth-quarters says growth would be 3.7% this year, a partial reflection of some of the gains that have already occurred in the middle of last year.
COVID-19 relief pushes U.S. budget deficit to a record $3.1T
Read full article: COVID-19 relief pushes U.S. budget deficit to a record $3.1TWASHINGTON – New, eye-popping federal budget figures released Thursday show an enormous $3.1 trillion deficit in the just-completed fiscal year, a record swelled by coronavirus relief spending that pushed the tally of red ink to three times that of last year. By that score, the flood of red ink in 2020 still blew past Obama's 2009 record, in which the deficit almost hit 10% of GDP. The CBO estimate is preliminary, based on daily Treasury reports, but is likely to match the official numbers due from Treasury and the White House budget office later this month. The figures come as Washington has been debating another round of COVID-19 relief, spending that Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jay Powell says is needed to ease the chances of a double-dip recession and a higher jobless rate. The COVID-related spike in the deficit obscures a smaller, steady rise in the deficit under President Donald Trump's watch.
US budget deficit hits record $3 trillion through 11 months
Read full article: US budget deficit hits record $3 trillion through 11 monthsWASHINGTON – The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday. The deficit from October through August is more than double the previous 11-month record of $1.37 billion set in 2009. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting the deficit this year will hit a record $3.3 trillion. The previous record deficit for a fiscal year was $1.4 trillion in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Spending totaled $6.05 trillion, up from $4.16 trillion for the same period last year.
Budget deficit to hit record $3.3T due to virus, recession
Read full article: Budget deficit to hit record $3.3T due to virus, recessionWASHINGTON The federal budget deficit is projected to hit a record $3.3 trillion as huge government expenditures to fight the coronavirus and to prop up the economy have added more than $2 trillion to the federal ledger, the Congressional Budget Office said. Deficit scolds have long warned that rising levels of debt will serve as a drag on the economy in the coming years. The Federal Reserve has stepped in to keep credit markets stable and interest rates low for years as debt levels have risen. The CBO projected that the debt would exceed 100% of GDP in 2021 and set a new record high of 107% in 2021. CBO, the nonpartisan economic and research arm of Congress, predicts that deficit will total $13 trillion over the coming decade.
Budget deficit to hit record $3.3T due to virus, recession
Read full article: Budget deficit to hit record $3.3T due to virus, recessionWASHINGTON The federal budget deficit is projected to hit a record $3.3 trillion as huge government expenditures to fight the coronavirus and to prop up the economy have added more than $2 trillion to the federal ledger, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. Thats more than triple the 2019 shortfall and more than double the levels experienced after the market meltdown and Great Recession of 2008-2009. But deficit scolds have long warned that rising levels of debt will serve as a drag on the economy in the coming years. The enormous deficit is bringing the federal debt, as measured by the size of the economy, near levels not experienced since the end of World War II. At years end, the amount of debt held by investors will approach the size of the economy.
US deficit estimated to hit $1 trillion for 2020, CBO says
Read full article: US deficit estimated to hit $1 trillion for 2020, CBO saysPixabay(CNN) - The Congressional Budget Office raised its estimate of the projected federal budget deficit Wednesday and is now predicting that the deficit will reach $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, and reach $1 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year. The CBO had previously estimated a $896 billion deficit for 2019 and $892 billion for 2020. The White House's Office of Management Budget has run slightly higher numbers, predicting that the deficit will exceed $1 trillion for the entire fiscal year. Trump pledged to eliminate the federal debt during the 2016 campaign. "The recent budget deal was a budget buster, and now we have further proof," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a statement.