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House Democratic leaders scrapped a scheduled Wednesday vote on a budget measure backed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., amid opposition from left-wing members of the caucus. The measure would have raised limits on discretionary spending for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies, but leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) pushed to allow billions more in spending on domestic programs. An amendment offered by CPC co-chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., would have added $67 billion to spending limits for nondefense programs over the next two fiscal years. Jayapal's amendment would have also capped defense and nondefense spending at $664 billion each...

The Department of Defense has awarded nearly $1 billion in contracts to two companies for construction related to a wall along the southern border, the first such contracts to be awarded since President Trump declared a national emergency. According to a notice on the Pentagon's website, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $789 million contract to the company SLSCO Ltd., from Galveston, Texas, for "border replacement wall construction" in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Barnard Construction Co. Inc., of Bozeman, Montana, was awarded a contract worth $187 million for "design-bid-build construction project for primary pedestrian wall replacement" in Yuma, Arizona.

New York woke Sunday to learn that state lawmakers had agreed to a budget that aims to spend a whopping $175 billion in the next fiscal year, while imposing a boatload of new taxes and fees in the name of funding the MTA. More hits to your pocket, and more spending, are still to come: The budget also sets up “independent” commissions to settle the details of both public funding of state political campaigns and “congestion” tolls in Manhattan. Plus, lawmakers this year may yet legalize online sports betting and the sale of pot, each of which will come with...

House Democratic leaders appear likely to give up on passing a budget this year rather than trying to bridge divisions between progressives seeking more money for domestic programs and more moderate members in swing districts who fear being attacked on tax hikes.

Elizabeth Warren promoted some of her signature proposals at a town hall event Monday night -- which, all told, could cost a combined $100 trillion, according to recent estimates. Sen. Warren, D-Mass., discussed the policies -- the Green New Deal, universal child care and slavery reparations -- at a CNN town hall event in Jackson, Miss. The 2020 Democratic hopeful told the crowd that the Green New Deal represents a way forward for the country. “That’s how we build a future. And I’ll add one little piece to it and say when you take a look at the Green New...

The Pentagon has a list of $6.8 billion worth of construction projects it could choose to take money from in order to build President Trump’s border wall, according to a list belatedly provided to Congress on Monday. But officials have yet to even decide how much Defense Department money they’ll use toward the wall, and so they haven’t decided which projects on the target list would actually be affected.

It turns out September, not April, may be federal taxpayers’ worst nightmare. The end of the government’s fiscal year usually brings an orgy of spending as agencies look at their budgets, see extra cash lying around, and figure they’d better use it all up or risk it getting cut in the future. The “use it or lose it” mentality explains why the Defense Department spent $9,241 on a Wexford leather chair, $2.3 million on crab and another $2.3 million on lobster tails in September, according to a study released Thursday by OpenTheBooks. Taxpayers shelled out $97 billion on contracts in...

President Trump will ask Congress on Monday for $8.6 billion in additional funding to build a wall along the United States border with Mexico, a person familiar with the details said on Sunday. The request, which will come as part of Mr. Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget proposal, is certain to reignite a conflict with Democrats that led to a record-long government shutdown this year. Mr. Trump had previously requested $5.7 billion to build a wall but was rebuffed by both Democrats and Republicans, who approved a spending bill that did not include the funding. That resulted in Mr. Trump declaring...

President Trump will seek to boost defense spending by $34 billion and slash welfare programs in a budget the White House plans to propose Monday. Trump wants to up Pentagon spending to $750 billion and put in place strict new requirements for welfare recipients, according to the Associated Press and other reports. He’s also going to ask for border-wall funding and money to establish his proposed Space Force branch of the military.

A powerful General Assembly committee voted Friday to revise Gov. Larry Hogan’s more than $46 billion budget proposal to provide millions more in funding for Maryland’s public schools, while cutting some of the Republican governor’s prized initiatives. Led by Baltimore Democrat Maggie McIntosh, the House Appropriations Committee approved a spending plan that provides about $320 million more for operating Maryland’s public schools. That would be the first step toward implementing recommendations from the so-called Kirwan Commission, which has proposed ambitious new programs to boost student performance. The committee’s spending plan also includes $500 million for public school construction and $46...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Donald Trump proposes his 2020 federal budget on Monday, official Washington will likely have a quick look, shrug and move on, marking another stage in the quiet decay of the U.S. government’s traditional policy-making processes. There was a time when the release of the president’s budget was a red-letter day on the calendar of Washington wonkery, with policy experts and fiscal hawks delving into spreadsheets and expounding upon new spending plans and the national debt. But the hoopla of budget day is gone, a relic of a time when politics were less polarized, the federal...

Since his election, Governor Walz has promised to increase the gas tax in Minnesota. Walz delivered on that promise in his just-released budget proposal. In the budget proposal released this week, Walz is proposing to increase the gas tax by 70% which will collect an estimated $1.3 Billion from taxpayers. The average family which drives two cards can expect to pay up to an additional $300 at the gas pump annually. This tax increase will now give Minnesota the 4th highest gas tax in the nation. The budget will have to get passed by the Minnesota Senate which is currently...

“Friends don’t let friends drive I-70.” The tongue-in-cheek mantra is often uttered by Colorado skiers and snowboarders who frequent resorts far from the crowded mountain corridor, which funnels thousands of vehicles onto two lanes west of Denver every winter weekend. “It’s nightmarish. Hours and hours in the car. I think the last time I went to Keystone (typically a 90-minute drive from Denver), I spent four hours getting there and five hours getting home,” said Cole Capsalis of Denver. “There was more time in the car than skiing.”

Yes, Congress is aware the national debt recently surpassed $22 trillion for the first time in U.S. history. No, members don’t think they’ll do anything to seriously address it anytime soon. “I don’t see anybody prioritizing it, and sadly folks often prioritize things when crisis hits. I don’t want a debt spiral crisis to hit,” said Rep. Rob Woodall, Georgia Republican. “I hear lots of conversations about how to spend a whole lot more.” With the spending process for 2019 now wrapped up, lawmakers are turning their attention to exactly how they plan to avoid $126 billion in cuts set...

"We are looking at about a $65 million estimated shortfall in our budget this year... a draft of suggested budget cuts for the district was discussed last week at an AISD board work session. This documented suggested: Realigning and reducing academic and (estimated savings of $2.51 million). Anticipated staffing reductions due to enrollment declines (estimated savings of $3.41 million). Changing the schedules at LASA and LBJ to be consistent with all other high schools (estimated savings of $720,000). Across-the-board cut 5 percent reduction to school supply allocations (estimated savings of $560,000) A revised actuarial foran employee health plan (estimated savings...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this month that the state faces a surprise hole in its budget to the tune of $2.3 billion. The legacy Democrat failed to add that the deficit was caused by oppressive policies that have gutted the population and wealth of New York. Instead, Cuomo conveniently blamed President Trump and the Republican tax cuts for the shortfall. While the new cap on the state and local tax deduction has likely prompted some of the high earners in New York to pack up and move to low tax jurisdictions, it is not tax reform causing the...

The national debt hit $22 trillion this week. You won’t find many in either major party who think this is a healthy development. But isn’t part of the reason people vote Republican because that party presents itself as fiscally responsible compared to Democrats? For as long as the debt has grown, Republicans have been promising to stop it. Yet, in 1981 the national debt topped $1 trillion after former President Ronald Reagan’s first year. When former President George H.W. Bush left office in 1993, it was more than $4 trillion. His son, former President George W. Bush, would push it...

Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise ye princes, and prepare the shield. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed.And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. – Isaiah 21:...

On Wednesday, the House and the Senate both passed a massive 1,159 page spending bill that they were given less than 24 hours to read. There was a concerted effort by the leadership of both parties to rush this bill through before the American people could be mobilized to oppose it. We are being told that this spending package represents a compromise, but as you will see below, the wording of the bill is so restrictive that it is going to make it just about impossible for President Trump to get anything built on the border. At this point I...

The details on the new budget deal have been published and, if you're a fan of small government and fiscal conservatism, you're not gonna like it. It's being called the Border Security Bill, which is ironic because many details of the budget have nothing to do with border security. If approved, this would fill out the Federal government's budget for the rest of the fiscal year through October. So what the heck is in it? Here's a quick synopsis: Democrats added lots of aid and welfare programs in the 2019 spending bill to support the growing number of economic migrants...