Free Republic

Zo’s busting the budget. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural, record-breaking nearly $126 billion budget passed late Tuesday — growing city spending by more than $10 billion from last year despite his past dire warnings about the Big Apple’s financial situation. The under-the-wire vote by the City Council came just hours before a Wednesday deadline and after frantic last-minute attempts to drum up votes for a spending deal that disappointed lefties and moderates alike. The budget, which includes no significant cuts, ballooned from last year’s roughly $116 billion spending plan, for an approximate 8.5% increase. It passed 45-6, largely on party lines....

Some Democratic members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with identifying $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, have become the subject of criticism, but their appointments were only finalized Thursday. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, and Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina and Xavier Becerra of California are already being targeted for circumstances that could compromise their abilities to negotiate. Becerra, for example, wasted no time before using his appointment as a fundraising tool for his own campaign.

Ever gotten so deep in credit card debt that you stopped opening the bills because it felt hopeless and looking at the numbers simply stressed you out? If not, I congratulate you on your thrift and prudence. But a lot of people have reached that point, as you will discover if you spend much time on personal finance forums. If you are someone who pays off your credit card every month, it can be hard to understand why anyone would just stop opening their bills. Sure, it is hard to contemplate your financial problems. But contemplation, however unpleasant, is not...

The United Nations is going broke as the U.S. and China withhold payments to the institution in a jostle for control. Washington has failed to pay billions of dollars owed to the international body and exited dozens of its programs and agencies, including the World Health Organization, to combat what President Trump describes as wasteful spending and bad policymaking. The U.S. is more than $4 billion in arrears to the U.N. China has compounded the U.N.’s liquidity crisis by slow-walking its own payments, even as Beijing declares itself the organization’s leading defender and, in a jab at the U.S., the...

Federal documents claim Phoenix Pride owes more than $400,000 and are now getting sued.PHOENIX — Phoenix Pride has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing rising operational costs and declining sponsorship and fundraising support.The nonprofit, which has operated for 40 years and hosts Arizona’s two largest LGBTQ+ events, Pride Fest and Rainbow Fest, announced the filing Friday.In a statement, Phoenix Pride said rising operational costs, a lack of sponsorships and fundraising challenges tied to the current political climate have placed significant financial strain on the organization.Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows organizations to continue operating while restructuring their finances under court supervision.Phoenix...

The days of blank checks to NGOs is officially over. This is a huge savings for the United States as Russ Vought and the Office of Management and Budget have completely overhauled the federal grant system and are now making sure the TRILLION dollars we spend on grants are actually legit. Here's a video Andrew shared of Vought explaining the impact of this program last month, you can skip the first five minutes which is just idiot libtards protesting for no reason. BREAKING: Russ Vought at OMB has just overhauled $1 TRILLION in federal grants by adding: Strict E-Verify requirements,...

Disney's newest Star Wars movie, 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' just opened in theaters. It cost millions upon millions to make the film and it is absolutely getting its butt kicked by a small, independent horror movie called 'Obsession' which was made for a paltry $750,000. Of course, $750K is a lot of money, but not by the standards of a Hollywood movie. That's chump change. Even so, people are flocking to theaters to see 'Obsession' instead of Disney's newest expensive flick. Star Wars fans have just been burned too many times. Disney basically broke the franchise by using it to...

In mid-May, after extending the executive deadline, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his $124.7 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Executive Budget. After warning that NYC faces a budget crisis of “historic magnitude” in late April, Mamdani now assures the 8.5 million residents of the Big Apple that the city is on “firm financial footing” after he “balanced the budget” “without raising property taxes” or “slashing services.” While it is certainly true that Mamdani did not slash services or raise property taxes even higher than they already are, it is ludicrous for him to declare that NYC’s budget is...

Key FactsNew York lawmakers are planning the tax, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the state budget negotiations who noted the proposal would be levied at 1% of the buying price and be paid by buyers. The legislators are also considering expanding the tax to $1 million or more cash purchases in the state that would incorporate the suburbs and upstate New York, Bloomberg added. The tax in New York City alone could generate up to $160 million, according to the unnamed sources Bloomberg cited. A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., told Bloomberg she “announced a general agreement...

A new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office suggests that the cost of building and maintaining the proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system could reach roughly $1.2 trillion over two decades, far exceeding the $185 billion figure previously cited by Pentagon leadership. The ambitious program aims to significantly expand existing U.S. missile defense infrastructure. Plans include bolstering ground-based interceptors, upgrading sensor networks and enhancing command systems, while also introducing a major space-based component designed to identify, monitor and potentially intercept threats from orbit. This orbital layer would rely on a large network of satellites, including systems capable of engaging incoming...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a new budget that taxes the rich, forgoes a property tax hike, and depends on the generosity of Gov. Kathy Hochul to fill a budget gap Mamdani called historic. Mamdani's gap reprieve came in the 11th hour. The mayor was unrepentant in his determination to tax the rich and create a city that is more hospitable to working New Yorkers. The lingering question is whether it will drive businesses out and hurt the tax base. Mamdani said his preliminary budget proposal released 12 weeks ago, "reflected a straightforward reality. New York City was...

He’s being placeholder-ed in an awkward position. Mayor Zohran Mamdani could be forced to release his executive budget Tuesday with “placeholder” estimates on key sources of revenue, after he tried to rely on dysfunction-riddled Albany to reach a deal on its own spending plan and bail out the Big Apple, insiders revealed. The potential fill-in-the-blanks city budget plan is exactly what Mamdani tried to avert when he delayed its release from May 1 in hopes that Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers would reach a deal on its own long-delayed budget and give the city a windfall of new tax...

San Francisco's BART rail system is facing the possibility of sweeping station closures and potentially an even wider shutdown, as officials warn the cash-strapped transit agency is running out of money. The Bay Area network, which operates 50 stations across five counties, is confronting a projected budget deficit of roughly $376 million next fiscal year as ridership remains far below pre-pandemic levels and federal relief funding expires. The cash-strapped transit agency is hurtling toward a financial cliff as ridership remains far below pre-pandemic levels and emergency federal funding dries up. Under a proposed emergency service plan, BART could eliminate rail...

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service on Friday reported a net quarterly ​loss of $2 billion as it faces a growing financial crisis and has ‌warned it could run out of cash as soon as February. USPS said mail volumes fell another 6.3% in the three months ending March 31 as operating revenue rose 2.3% to $20.2 billion ​over the same quarter last year. USPS last month said it would temporarily ​suspend employer payments for a federal pension program to conserve cash ⁠and plans to raise the price of first-class mail stamps to 82 cents ​from 78...

As the Trump administration continues its effort to root out federal funding for diversity initiatives, the National Institutes of Health has modified its grant review process to identify research that contains words associated with race or gender, which has held up some grant disbursements and forced scientists to rewrite proposals. “I feel that this kind of censorship is making the path forward to support narrower and narrower research only to include, for example, white, straight, cisgender men,” said a program director at one of NIH’s institutes. “Any other population is being scrutinized, which is highly, highly, highly problematic for a...

Omar explains how New York City's newly elected leadership is confronting a multi-billion dollar budget hole that threatens the very affordability programs that fueled their historic campaign. From free childcare and rent freezes to universal transit, Omar argues that these ambitious policies are colliding with a structural reality: a city budget dependent on state intervention and a foundation already showing dangerous stress fractures... also highlights the growing political tension between the city's executive branch and the state leadership in Albany, including figures like Governor Kathy Hochul and Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado. Mamdani LOSES ITAfter Hochul OFFICIALLY REJECTS$5.4B NYC Bailout For...

On the 76th day since Department of Homeland Security funding lapsed, Congress passed a bill Thursday restoring the flow of federal dollars to most of its agencies — without solving any of the policy disagreements that led to the record-breaking shutdown. The House approved by voice vote the partial DHS funding measure the Senate passed more than a month ago. President Donald Trump is expected to swiftly sign the bipartisan legislation, fully funding the Coast Guard, TSA, Secret Service, FEMA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with other offices within DHS that don’t deal with immigration enforcement. Now...

The House on Thursday passed a bill to fund the bulk of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), minus Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a major step toward ending the record-breaking, 10-week shutdown. The bill passed by voice vote less than an hour after Republican leaders sent out a notice that the chamber would consider the legislation amid increasing pressure from the White House, Senate, and Republican rank-and-file. The bill passed the Senate last month and now goes to President Trump’s desk for his signature. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had sat on the bill for weeks, but...

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani declares a “budget crisis,” seeks a state bailout, and delays the deadline for finalizing the city budget by at least 10 days.

A Maine city councilor will face an ethics board review after he was heard complaining about 'illegals' in his community. Bangor City Councilor Wayne Mallar, 81, discussed a proposed budget increase for multilingual services in schools at a Board of Ethics meeting on March 31. 'The school department's asking for a 10 percent increase. As far as I'm concerned, they get no increase,' he said - seemingly unaware his comments were being picked up by a microphone. 'They can't speak English, read English or write English. It's not a disability. We do not have to furnish. They're probably all illegals...