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Gov. Kathy Hochul is delivering a big win to businesses that have been pressuring her to pay off their billions of dollars in unemployment-insurance debt — but she’s stealing the cash from state reserves to do it. Hochul said Monday that the state will cover the roughly $7 billion debt still lingering for employers from the pandemic. The businesses had hoped federal money that the state received during COVID-19 would at least partly be used to help cover the deluge of unemployment claims spurred by the pandemic, as most other states did.+ But the state used the money for other...

The Trump administration has released its FY2026 budget proposal, and it contains some interesting tidbits. Let's look at some highlights.The recommended funding levels result from a rigorous, line-by-line review of FY 2025 spending, which was found to be laden with spending contrary to the needs of ordinary working Americans and tilted toward funding niche non-governmental organizations and institutions of higher education committed to radical gender and climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life.We also considered, for each program, whether the governmental service provided could be provided better by State or local governments (if provided at all). Just as...

The CIA plans to cut 1,200 positions, along with thousands more from other parts of the U.S. intelligence community.... The administration recently informed lawmakers on Capitol Hill that it intends to reduce the CIA’s workforce by about 1,200 personnel over several years and cut thousands more from other parts of the U.S. intelligence community, including at the National Security Agency...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday proposed a $163 billion cut to the federal budget that would sharply reduce spending in areas including education and housing next year, while increasing outlays for defense and border security. The administration said the proposed budget would raise homeland security spending by nearly 65% from 2025 enacted levels. Non-defense discretionary spending — a slice of the budget that excludes the massive Social Security and Medicare programs as well as the rising cost of interest payments on the nation’s debt — would be cut by 23% to the lowest level since 2017, the White...

So, you be the judge of the best reason to vote “no…” ... [Graph at URL]

DOGE is working: in Q1, US debt funding needs were $2BN less than the Treasury forecast in February, and in Q2 the Treasury is expected to need $53 billion less than it forecast 3 months ago. The result?

With New York’s state budget being almost two weeks past due, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’ll continue “to keep up the fight” for New Yorkers. “Everyone knows what I’m standing for, and I’m not wavering on my belief that we need to make some significant reforms so we can say that this budgeting process is over,” she told NY1 political anchor Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Monday. The governor and state lawmakers have been at a standstill over how to spend upwards of $252 billion in a state budget since April 1. One of the points of contention in...

The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 federal budget would slash Department of Commerce funding by more than 25%, eliminating the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research program and targeting other climate, ocean and fisheries programs within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration... The Oceanic and Atmospheric program funding would be reduced by $485 million to $171 million, according to news media reports on the Office of Management and Budget document that began circulating among NOAA staffers and leaked to news organizations April 11 in Washington...

An internal document reviewed by The Post targets spending on humanitarian assistance, global health and international organizations such as the U.N. and NATO... The memo, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, says that cuts contained in an early proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget for the next fiscal year would leave a total budget of $28.4 billion for all activities carried out by the State Department and USAID, a separate agency that the Trump administration has sought to dismantle. That represents a decline of $27 billion, or 48 percent, from funding levels approved by Congress...

WASHINGTON — The White House has begun to notify Congress of its request to eliminate “all” public broadcasting funding and codify foreign aid cuts identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, The Post has learned. Major proposed clawbacks in the so-called “rescissions” plan include $1.1 billion in appropriated funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funds to PBS and National Public Radio, and $8.3 billion from USAID. A memo drafted by White House budget director Russ Vought — and requested by GOP congressional leaders — accuses CPB of a “lengthy history of anti-conservative bias” and cites “waste,...

The House on Thursday passed a budget resolution after delaying an earlier vote to lock up GOP support. The resolution passed in a 216-214 vote. Republican Reps. Thomas Massie, Ky., and Victoria Spartz, Ind., voted against the resolution. The budget resolution is critical to advancing President Trump’s legislative agenda on the southern border, tax cuts and energy policy, as it allows Republicans to avoid a Senate filibuster by Democrats. House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a press conference Thursday morning that he had the votes in order to move Trump's agenda forward. President Donald Trump praised the passage of the...

House Republicans on Wednesday advanced the Senate’s blueprint to enact key parts of President Trump’s legislative agenda, teeing up the measure for a final vote — even as its fate hangs in the balance amid conservative opposition. The chamber voted 216-215 along party lines to adopt the rule, which governs debate for legislation, the last step before the entire House weighs in on whether to adopt the measure. Three Republicans voted with all Democrats against adopting the rule. A final vote is slated for around 5:30 p.m. Three Republicans voted with all Democrats against adopting the rule: Reps. Thomas Massie...

President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed the Senate-passed budget resolution, saying it will help advance the “one, big, beautiful bill” to cut taxes and secure the border. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday night, calling on the House — and by extension, every House Republican — to vote to pass the Senate-passed budget resolution: The Budget Plan just passed by the United States Senate has my Complete and Total Endorsement and Support. All of the elements we need to secure the Border, enact Historic Spending Cuts, and make Tax Cuts PERMANENT, and much more, are strongly covered and represented...

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged a first ever $1 trillion defense budget proposal on Monday, a record sum for the military. Trump, during a press event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the upcoming budget would be “in the vicinity” of $1 trillion Hegseth went further in an X post on Monday evening, saying Trump “is rebuilding our military — and FAST.” “COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense budget,” Hegseth posted from his personal account. “(PS: we intend to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely — on lethality and readiness).” The number would be a...

Some in the U.S. Senate stayed up way past their bedtimes on Friday night, voting into the wee hours in a battle against mainly Democrat amendments attempting to derail President Donald Trump's agenda before managing to pass a budget plan. After the six-hour vote-a-rama ended, the legislation passed nearly along party lines, with "no" votes from Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Susan Collins (R-ME), 51-48, around 2:30 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday morning. Here is what we know so far about the plan:On paper, the new Senate budget outline allows for $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, a seemingly modest amount....

Hardworking Americans face rising prices and a weaponized federal government, yet more than 1,500 federal programs are still receiving billions in taxpayer dollars despite their legal authorizations expiring years or even decades ago. A federal program is separately authorized and funded by Congress. If a program is not authorized, or authorized at a specific level, it is not supposed to receive funding. But because of Congressional inaction, apathy, and inattention, these programs regularly receive such funding even though they lack legal authorization. 491 specifically-identified unauthorized programs and federal spending accounts for roughly 8% of the annual federal budget of $6.45...

The Senate passed a framework for a sweeping bill promoting President Donald Trump’s agenda after an hourslong series of amendment votes during which Democrats sought to put Republicans on record on issues like tariffs and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It passed mostly along party lines in a 51 to 48 vote around 2:30 a.m. ET on Saturday morning. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., were the only two Republicans to join Democrats in opposing the measure. The amended framework would raise the debt ceiling by up to $5 trillion within the reconciliation process, taking future leverage...

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...NEH employees were informed by managers on Tuesday morning of DOGE’s recommended reductions to the staff by as much as 70 to 80 percent of the organization’s 180 staffers, as well as the possible cancellation of all outstanding grants made under the Biden administration. Senior leadership is expected to provide more detailed plans...

The Treasury General Account (TGA), essentially the US government's checking account, now has just $280 billion left for disbursing funds for Social Security checks, government salaries and other crucial programs millions of Americans rely on. The last time the Treasury's coffers dwindled this low was in 2023 when the US breached the debt ceiling, a legal limit set by Congress on how much the government can borrow to pay its bills. By May of that year, the TGA, which is managed by the Federal Reserve, was down to just $37 billion. Social Security, healthcare and military spending alone would lead...