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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Congress has reached a deal to avert a government shutdown this week, but lawmakers bought themselves just two weeks to hammer out a new agreement, keeping the threat of a shutdown alive. A government shutdown, last seen in the mid-1990s, would actually be a partial — not total — halt to federal operations. Services deemed essential would continue, but other services, operations and payments could come to a stop. “‘Shutdown’ is, in our view, an overused term since much of the government does not actually shut down — the military continues to operate, Social Security checks go...

U.S. businesses are bracing for layoffs and disruptions along their supply chains if the federal government shuts down later this week because of an impasse over the federal budget. (snip) Especially hard hit are small and midsized businesses that rely on steady flows of revenue from federal contracts to provide a wide array of products and services such as information technology consulting, building construction and maintenance, or food service at national parks. (snip) Should the government close, the Treasury could provide a several-hundred billion dollar cushion by borrowing from Social Security, federal pensions and other funds, says Gary Hufbauer, a...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Warning of economic repercussions, the Obama administration said Wednesday that a government shutdown would halt the processing of tax returns and limit small business loans and government-guaranteed mortgages during peak home buying season. Obama's administration sought to put the prospect in terms people would care about, even saying the beloved Cherry Blossom parade in the nation's capital would be wiped out.

Rolling out a plan that is as shocking in how much it cuts as President Obama’s first budget was in how much it spent, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is laying out a case for huge spending cuts in a new white paper that couches the coming battle in almost apocalyptic terms. “This generation’s defining moment has arrived,” Ryan says in his conclusion. At issue is the GOP’s proposed budget, which cuts $5.8 trillion over 10 years, including massive cuts to entitlement programs experts say are driving the government towards a fiscal cliff. The bold move by Ryan and House...

The president seems to have forgotten that he got shellacked in November, and fits of pique aren't exactly leadership. What part of "I won. You Lost" does he not remember? The Speaker will have to patiently explain to the American people confronting closed parks and museums next week that President Obama refuses to negotiate and is willing to sacrifice everyone's convenience for the benefit of Planned Parenthood, the taxpayer subsidy for NPR and PBS, EPA's carbon regs and the continued jam down of Obamacare.

Boehner, Obama Fail to Reach Budget Deal After Meeting By JARED A. FAVOLE And DAMIAN PALETTA WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) on Tuesday said no budget deal was reached after meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, raising the stakes ahead of a possible government shutdown at the end of the week. The White House earlier said it ordered top officials at multiple federal agencies to ensure contingency plans were ready for a potential partial shutdown. "While there was a good discussion, no agreement was reached," Mr. Boehner's office said in a summary of the meeting that...

2012 plan revamps Medicare, lowers corporate tax rate to 25%WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Opening a new battle in Washington’s budget wars, House Republicans on Tuesday proposed to slash government spending by $6.2 trillion over 10 years, cut the top corporate tax rate to 25%, and dramatically overhaul the Medicare program. Republicans’ fiscal 2012 budget blueprint, released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, would also scrap President Barack Obama’s health-care law, remake federal welfare programs and allow oil and gas companies to drill more freely. It cuts $6.2 trillion over the next decade compared to Obama’s 2012 budget proposal....

A transcript of the weekend's program on FOX News Channel.Paul Gigot: This week on "The Journal Editorial Report," as a government shutdown looms, Republicans make progress on budget cuts. But is it enough to satisfy the Tea Party? Plus, with gas prices soaring and his approval rating sinking, the president promises to get serious on energy, but will his proposals reduce costs or drive them higher? And Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain--as the Arab spring continues, the U.S. struggles to define its interests in the Middle East. What American leadership in the region should look like, next. *** Gigot: Welcome to...

Public servants who think themselves wronged by their government have been demonstrating for days in Madison, Wisconsin. Their march for fair treatment in the budget battles and contract negotiations to follow is intended to evoke sympathy, but is it merited? Such a thing has happened before. In the summer of 1786, Captain Daniel Shays led a revolt of his fellow Revolutionary War veterans in Pennsylvania. His compatriots were losing their homes to foreclosure, after having served their country, after enduring the frost at Valley Forge, the shelling at New York, the disease and malnutrition of an ill-equipped army's eight-year campaign...

The Senate passed its version of the omnibus spending bill, which will fund government operations for 214 Cabinet departments. Most significantly, the Senate tacked on $70 billion to fund the US war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill's passage is portrayed today as a big victory for President Bush -- and a defeat for Democrats. USA Today /AP, for example, reports by a 70-25 vote, "Bush and his GOP allies won a major victory in passing a measure providing $70 billion for the wars without restrictions that Democrats had insisted on for weeks." Another AP dispatch says "Bush was...

<p>The arrival in Nashville this month of a new governor and legislature will dispel some of the lingering mistrust built up by the outgoing Sundquist administration during the rancorous four-year battle over a state income tax. But it won't be enough to clear the way for tax reform.</p>

<p>House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh yesterday stripped state Rep. Frank Buck, who flirted late last year with the idea of challenging Naifeh for the speaker's post, of his chairmanship of the powerful House Judiciary Committee.</p> <p>Naifeh, just elected to his seventh term earlier in the week, again raised the hackles of Republican members of the legislature by appointing only Democrats to lead the 13 House standing committees.</p>

With members of the state Legislature at an impasse over a new operating budget for the world's fifth largest economy, the state of California is withholding checks to pay for social services administered by welfare departments in the 58 counties, officials said Thursday. Some $245 million to pay for programs such as the state's welfare-to-work program called CalWorks, will be withheld, says Rita Saenz, director of the Department of Social Services. "The problem here is that the counties are still obligated to administer the programs," she says, putting the financial load, at least temporarily, on counties. It was not...