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<p>More than 60 House Republicans defected and voted against the half-trillion-dollar bill, which sets funding for farm subsidies and other assistance as well as food stamps.</p> <p>The vote was 234-195 against the bill.</p>

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate would reduce the federal budget deficit by $875 billion over the first 20 years it becomes law. The CBO said in its official scoring of the bill that it would reduce the deficit by $175 billion in its first 10 years of existence. Over the next decade, it would provide an additional $700 billion in savings. .... Politics More: Congress Immigration Reform CBO CBO: Immigration Bill Will Reduce The Deficit Over The Next 20 Years Brett LoGiurato Jun. 18, 2013, 5:58 PM 489 6...

Despite being under heavy scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill and all over the country for inappropriately targeting conservative groups, IRS employees are about to receive $70 million in bonuses. The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says his office has learned that the IRS is executing an agreement with the employees' union on Wednesday to pay the bonuses. Grassley says the bonuses should...

The New York Times is pleased with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 438-page, $20 billion plan to protect New York from the effects of future hurricanes. It notes benignly that the cost is probably an underestimate but agrees with the mayor, "Whether you believe climate change is real or not is beside the point; the bottom line is we can't run the risk." Really? Imagine the argument: "Whether you believe zombies are real or not is beside the point. ... We can't run the risk." Clearly one's willingness to undertake these sorts of preparations depends completely on whether the perceived danger is...

When in April the US government reported a surplus of $112.9 billion (thanks to tax collections, Fed and GSE remittances) - the largest surplus since April 2008, many wondered if DC's profligate ways were over, and if maybe the so-called US austerity was staring to kick in. It wasn't. Because as the just released May data showed, not only did the US go right back to its deficit ways, posting a negative surplus of $138.7 billion, the largest May deficit since 2009, but the amount the US government spent, a total of $335.9 billion, was the largest May outlay in...

Bidding wars are breaking out. Foreign buyers are moving in. A new wave of contemporary architecture is taking hold. And a growing class of tech executives is helping to fuel the boom. All this is happening in Washington, D.C., a town known for its relative affordability compared with cities such as New York and San Francisco, and for architecture about as exciting as its fashion sense. Today, home prices in Washington and its surrounding suburbs are rapidly rising to new levels. As other American cities have been buffeted by an uneven economy, Washington's property market has been buoyed two forces...

In the aftermath of 9/11, many young, strong Americans enlisted, willingly agreeing to sacrifice their lives if necessary to protect our countryÂ’s interests. TodayÂ’s wealthiest Americans have the same opportunity to put their countryÂ’s interests before their own. Politicians should not shy away from asking them to put forth not their lives but what are, for them, their modest Social Security checks. The philosophy of the investment management firm I founded 15 years ago focuses first on a companyÂ’s balance sheet and second on its income statement. This approach has served our clients well. The current debate over entitlement reform...

The federal government gave out more than $40 billion for research and development (R&D) to universities across the country in fiscal 2011. Universities depend heavily on federal funding, with many of the top programs relying on the government for more than 60% of their R&D budgets. As a result, many research program directors fear that the federal cuts promoted by the sequester will hurt future funding. A few of the top schools received a disproportionate share of the governmentÂ’s spending on grants for R&D. Of all 896 schools that received federal money for R&D, approximately 20% of those funds went...

The federal government is spending $152,000 to study “voice therapy” for transgenders, saying it is incumbent to being “accepted as one's preferred gender.” “This study will illuminate the capabilities of the human larynx and inform the relationship between voice production and perception,” states a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, awarded to George Washington University. “The long term goal of this research is to inform and provide new directions for Transgender (TG) voice care, thereby improving the lives of TG people who feel their voice is a great obstacle to living as their preferred gender.” “Incomplete gender presentation can negatively...

It was a tough start to the week for many air travelers as federal budget cuts led to cascading delays along the East Coast Monday morning. Some flights out of New York and Washington were delayed by more than two hours as the Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground. The federal agency has said furloughs of air traffic controllers could lead to delays if there weren't enough people to monitor busy air corridors. *** Government budget cuts that kicked in last month are forcing the FAA and other agencies to cut their spending. FAA officials have said they...

Barack Obama's administration has cut the budget nearly in half for preventing domestic bombings, MailOnline can reveal. Under President George W. Bush, the Department of Homeland Security had $20 million allocated for preventing the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by terrorists working inside the United States. The current White House has cut that funding down to $11 million. That assessment comes from Robert Liscouski, a former Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 that killed three Americans and injured at least 173 others.

The Senate did something this past weekend it hasn't done in four years: passed a budget. The law requires the Senate to pass a budget, but Congress often ignores its own laws. For most of Barack Obama's presidency, a series of continuing resolutions kept the money -- your money -- flowing. Now the Senate wants to add a trillion dollars of new taxes, even more than President Obama seeks. Despite our growing debt, the Senate wants to fund things like the Senate barbershop, which loses a third of a million dollars every year. It's like they live in a...

So my vacation plans to Cyprus have been canceled. Something about the government there seizing everybody's wallet because the country is bankrupt. Another nanny state bites the dust. When will they ever learn? Never. Here in the good old USA, there are 76 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus -- folks such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York Rep. Charles Rangel, California Rep. Maxine Waters and Florida Rep. Alan Grayson. Sanders is the only honest one in the bunch. He comes right out and admits he's a socialist. He'll take all your stuff while telling you tales of Ethan...

Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.) explains how stupid the sequester is in this neat video. He shows how it's the equivalent of declining to order the optional DVD player for the back of your new truck. Click excerpt link for the video and remember to share it with your friends!

The House Thursday approved by a party-line vote a Republican spending plan for 2014 that would balance the U.S. budget in 10 years with substantial cuts in spending and a new Medicare plan for Americans younger than 55. It passed 221-207 and puts the GOP once again solidly on the side of reduced federal funding and more tax cuts. Democrats said it would devastate programs important to the middle class and poor, while providing huge tax benefits to the wealthy. The GOP budget would cut the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent, through the closing of loopholes and other...

The Washington, D.C., region has long been considered recession-proof, thanks to the remorseless expansion of the federal government in good times and bad. Yet it’s only now—as D.C. positively booms while most of the country remains in economic doldrums—that the scale of Washington’s prosperity is becoming clear. Over the past decade, the D.C. area has made stunning economic and demographic progress. Meanwhile, America’s current and former Second Cities, population-wise—Los Angeles and Chicago—are battered and fading in significance. Though Washington still isn’t their match in terms of population, it’s gaining on them in terms of economic power and national importance. In...

Hey, remember that awesome CPAC speech by Mitch McConnell? The one where Mitch McConnell said — and I quote — “Obamacare should be repealed root and branch. And we’re not backing down from this fight.” And the same speech where Mitch McConnell also said, “This law is a disaster, and anybody who thinks we’ve moved beyond it is dead wrong.” Well, as I told you, Mitch McConnell excels at saying one thing and doing another. Yesterday, Mitch McConnell voted to fund Obamacare. Hey Utah, he joined Orrin Hatch in doing so. Remember, just last year on the campaign trail Orrin...

Finally, an answer to the question “Why does Congress have such low approval ratings?” Harry on Senate floor linking Big Guy’s idea for sequestration to the deaths of 7 brave Marines It’s because they are so despicable. I recommend that they work on that. Meanwhile, back at the Big White where the ill effects of Big Guy’s idea for sequestration are still being felt: (snip) Hard to believe, butt Big Guy headed out on Air Force Won right after the St. Patrick’s day celebration on his Mid-East Charm Offensive. Mazel Tov! So far, so good! “Say, Bibi, about that Iron...

Yesterday, Paul Ryan, Republican Chairman of the House Budget Committee, unveiled his plan that would balance the federal budget within one decade. Considering that the nation’s debt (not including the huge future cost of major entitlement programs) is now approaching $17 trillion, one might think political leaders in Washington, D.C. would consider such a proposal. On the Democratic side of the aisle, however, there is no interest whatsoever in taking such a constructive approach. Democrats in both houses of the Congress and the Obama Administration, along with many media-based pundits, began to loudly criticize the Ryan proposal even before it...

Barack Obama certainly enjoys the trappings and perks of the Office of President. The actual job of being President, however, doesn't seem to interest him. His desire to avoid being tied to any specifics of any proposal have caused him to do what no modern President has done. He is the first President since 1921 to abdicate the task of drafting a federal budget to Congress. Congress established the modern budget process in 1921. Under the terms of the law, the President is required to submit a budget for the federal government no later than the first Monday in February....