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More than a trillion taxpayer dollars are on the table as House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi negotiate a massive spending deal. But while those talks drag on between Pelosi, D-Calif., and Ryan, R-Wis., many House Republicans say they’re growing frustrated by the secrecy surrounding the process and the lack of details about the package. As the days tick down toward a looming budget deadline, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee—the largest conservative caucus in Congress—said in an interview with The Daily Signal that he still doesn’t know what’s exactly on the negotiating table or...

House Republicans were furious with Senate Republicans and President Obama on Saturday for trying to cut a debt ceiling deal that leaves them out in the cold. Members emerged from a conference meeting saying Obama had double-crossed them by breaking off talks in order to shop for a better deal from the Senate GOP. “Clearly the president can't be trusted,” said Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.). “It is up to Senate Republicans to grow a backbone and stand with House Republicans like they said they were going to do.”

Paul Ryan is a leader, and hats off to him for stepping up and trying to bring coherence to the House GOP strategy and messaging. As one of the commentariat very uneasy with the Speaker's decision to open with a bid of a six week extension of the debt ceiling without any attached demands, I and my colleagues still have to recognize that someone needed to step up and pull the factions together, and that Ryan has agreed to grapple with the beast that is the House GOP Conference that is representative of its very varied party. Whatever the result...

Americans are unimpressed with their political leaders' handling of the debt ceiling crisis, with a new CBS News poll showing a majority disapprove of all the involved parties' conduct, but Republicans in Congress fare the worst, with just 21 percent backing their resistance to raising taxes. President Obama earned the most generous approval ratings for his handling of the weeks-old negotiations, but still more people said they disapproved (48 percent) than approved (43 percent) of what he has done and said. What Do You Think? Will lawmakers forge a debt deal by Aug. 2? YesNoNot sureVote View results Tune into...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional leaders pressed ahead with private talks on deficit reduction on Saturday, seeking an as-yet elusive way to lift the debt ceiling and avoid a U.S. default next month. Congress must raise the $14.3 trillion limit on U.S. borrowing by August 2 or the government will run out of money to pay its bills, causing turmoil in global financial markets and potentially forcing the United States into another recession. Republicans want a deficit-cutting deal in order to raise the debt limit, but they disagree with Democrats on how to do it. The White...

Republicans pulled out of debt-reduction talks led by Vice President Joe Biden with a flourish on Thursday, blaming Democrats for demanding tax increases as part of a deal rather than accepting more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicare and other government programs. "Let me be clear: Tax hikes are off the table," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

WASHINGTON - House GOP leaders failed Thursday to deliver a $2.8 trillion budget blueprint, sending lawmakers home for the Easter holiday and possibly into the fall election with deficits on the rise and no plan to contain them. Opposition to the plan among Republican moderates and a power struggle between a faction of conservatives and the GOP-controlled Appropriations Committee forced party leaders to either pull the measure or suffer a humiliating defeat. In the face of solid opposition from Democrats, they chose the former, but said they hoped to revive a revised budget plan when Congress returns from a two-week...

Tony Blair was preparing his biggest climbdown over Europe last night, offering to slash Britain's EU budget rebate by £1 billion a year without winning any commitment from France on early reform of farm subsidies. Sources said he was ready to surrender a total of £7 billion from the rebate between 2007 and 2013 in response to demands from President Jacques Chirac and other leaders in the EU. Mr Blair: 'It is for people to make up their own minds' He also bowed to a Franco-German demand, backed by farming nations and new members from east and central Europe, to...

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez threatened Tuesday to hold up budget talks unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration reworks rules to carry out last year's workers' compensation legislation. "Democrats would have never signed onto a deal that puts injured workers in harm's way," Núñez told more than 500 workers and labor union advocates during a rally on the east lawn of the Capitol. Marking the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the workers' compensation law, SB 899, Núñez joined a parade of Democratic lawmakers, union leaders and workers accusing Schwarzenegger of breaking a pledge to protect benefits and medical treatment for those...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - In a sure sign the summer's budget brouhaha is frothing over, the Capitol's leading Democrat said Monday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can start looking for a new cappuccino pal. Senate President Pro Temp John Burton, D-San Francisco, said he was steamed with remarks the Republican governor made over the weekend accusing Democrats of holding up the budget and acting like "girlie men" for not standing up to special interests. With more than manhood on the line, Burton said the remarks could set the budget process back another two weeks because of reaction within the Legislature's Democratic majority...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Still pushing to get a budget agreement as soon as possible, negotiators from both the administration and legislative leaders went behind closed doors to work on remaining issues - including money for schools and universities, public health programs and local government. Meanwhile, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Monday appointments to a new state commission that will promote his much-anticipated reorganization of the state government. In January, Schwarzenegger promised to "blow up" the bureaucracy to eliminate inefficiency and waste. Since then, a team of about 300 state employees and consultants have been working on the reorganization plan. Although the...

<p>SACRAMENTO – Private talks between Gov. Gray Davis and party leaders on the state budget crisis broke down almost immediately Tuesday when the Senate's leading Democrat abruptly left the room, saying he had better things to do than attend the meeting.</p>

<p>A budget plan by state Senate Republicans opens the door to negotiations with majority Democrats but offers few specifics about how to achieve proposed across-the-board cuts and resorts to one-time accounting maneuvers like ones the GOP has criticized, budget analysts and advocates for state programs said on Thursday.</p>