Now that the election is over, it is time for the president-elect and Congress to actually confront reality and stop all the pandering. Cut taxes? The national debt is more than $19 trillion and growing, roughly doubling under each of the past two presidents. Interest on it is more than $400 billion per year and […]
federal budget
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
President Obama submits $4.1 trillion budget
Data curated by InsideGov WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama sent Congress his final budget on Tuesday, proposing to spend a record $4.1 trillion on a number of initiatives, from a new war on cancer to combating global warming to fighting growing threats from Islamic State militants. The spending plan, for the budget year that begins […]
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Posted inOp-Eds
Robert Samuelson: Both parties guilty of budget posturing
WASHINGTON — When it comes to the federal budget, what consistently unites Democrats and Republicans is their common capacity to lie to themselves, lie to the public and postpone any serious discussion of the central issues of government spending and taxes. I use the word “lie” reluctantly because it is an unforgiving moral marker. Still, […]
Posted inMaine, Nation / World, sj-web
King: Conference panel ‘one of our last chances’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine says the conference committee aimed at coming up with a fiscal plan is “one of our last chances” to show the American people that Congress can govern. King made his remarks Wednesday on the floor of the Senate, telling his colleagues that “it’s almost less important […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
House GOP leaders seek short-term debt extension
WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner told Republican lawmakers Thursday he will give President Barack Obama a proposal extending the government’s ability to borrow money through Nov. 22 — but only if he agrees to negotiate over ending the partial government shutdown and a longer-term increase in the debt ceiling. “It gets us down the […]
Posted inLetters
In rebuttal, S. Tetenman: Major impact on those affected
The Sun Journal editorial printed Oct. 2 included in the headline the words “Shutdown OK.” The editorial stated there has been little impact on most people’s lives. That may be correct in terms of numbers of people directly affected, but is misleading on the impact on those who are affected. Approximately 800,000 people are being […]