Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The estimated price tag for the war in Iran so far has jumped to $29 billion, up from the $25 billion figure given at the end of April, a senior Pentagon official revealed Tuesday. Jules Hurst, acting under secretary of Defense who serves as the de facto chief financial officer at the Pentagon, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that the higher amount came from a further crunching of the numbers. “The Joint Staff team, with the comptroller team are constantly looking at that estimate, and so now we think it’s closer to [$]29 [billion],” Hurst said....

Survey finds 42% of people feel like they’ll have credit card debt until they die Americans collectively owe $1.3 trillion in credit card debt, with the average household carrying more than $11,000 in balances. John Kiernan, managing editor at WalletHub, said people are struggling with credit card debt. A new WalletHub survey found about 2 in 5 people say they expect to have more credit card debt by the end of this year. “And 42 percent of Americans feel like they’ll have credit card debt until they die,” Kiernan said. “So, it’s an expensive thing that’s kind of eating away...

Washington — President Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News Monday morning that he aims to suspend the federal gas tax "for a period of time." "I think it's a great idea," the president said. "Yup, we're going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we'll let it phase back in." Gas prices have soared over 50% since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, hitting a high of over $4.52 on Sunday, according to AAA. Analysts say the prices are likely to remain high with Iran...

The U.S. government learned last week that it may have reached an unfortunate milestone: The size of its debt surpassed the nation’s total economic output. It was a striking imbalance, according to early estimates, one that the country has experienced only in rare circumstances — briefly during the pandemic, and in the aftermath of World War II. But the development barely seemed to register in the nation’s capital, where few policymakers bothered to acknowledge the latest warning sign about the government’s poor fiscal health. The root of the problem is well-documented and widely known. U.S. debt has soared in recent...

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at getting tens of millions of American workers enrolled in retirement accounts. The order further directs the Treasury Department to implement the Federal Saver’s Match program to boost Individual Retirement Account (IRA) savings. Here’s what you need to know about the new accounts and the billions of dollars in federal matching available. Who is eligible? Through the website TrumpIRA.gov – launching in January 2027 – all Americans will be eligible to browse and enroll in “high-quality, low-cost” IRA plans offered by private-sector financial institutions. The plans offered will cater to “American workers...

Six months before Election Day, America’s $39 trillion national debt has moved from an abstract fiscal concern to a dinner-table anxiety… A new national survey released Thursday by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation found that 92% of registered voters are concerned that the national debt is fueling inflation and driving up their personal cost of living, including prices for groceries, energy, housing, and transportation. The figure includes 94% of Democrats, 92% of independents, and 89% of Republicans — a degree of bipartisan alignment rarely seen in today’s fractured political environment… The concern extends beyond deficits in the abstract. Eighty-eight percent...

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on Friday warned that the growing national debt is “a ticking time bomb” and he called on his fellow lawmakers to do “much more.” The U.S. national debt crossed 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of the first quarter, the first time the debt crossed that line since 1946. The debt surpassed $39 trillion in March, a mere five months after it reached $38 trillion. Roy told Fox Business’s Cheryl Casone that the debt is “a ticking time bomb and that some of us have been talking about for a long time.”...

The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of gross domestic product, crossing a once-unthinkable threshold, on the way toward breaking the record set in the wake of World War II. As of March 31, the country’s publicly held debt was $31.265 trillion, while GDP over the preceding year was $31.216 trillion, according to data released Thursday. That puts the ratio at 100.2%, compared with 99.5% when the last fiscal year ended Sept. 30. That figure will likely climb for the foreseeable future because the federal government is running historically large annual deficits of nearly 6% of GDP, which add to...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday said $400 million in Ukraine support was released after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) penned an angry op-ed criticizing the stall in funding. “The department recognizes that $400 million was allocated for European capacity building, and as of yesterday, it has been released,” Hegseth said in response to a question about the aid from Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.). Elfreth followed up to ask whether the money was released under contract. Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III said the aid was “not under contract, but released to be put under contract.” When pressed by Elfreth on when...

the first time since 1996, foreign central banks now hold more gold than U.S. Treasuries (U.S. debt) in their reserves, marking a historic turning point in global reserve management. Data published by Visual Capitalist reveals that, in the course of 2025, the share of gold in central bank reserves surpassed that of U.S. debt holdings, a trend driven by rising geopolitical uncertainty and a quest for asset diversification. Between 2021 and 2025, central banks - particularly in emerging markets like China, India and Turkey - significantly increased their gold holdings. This move reflects a broader strategy to reduce reliance on...

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) broke ranks Thursday morning and voted against a budget resolution that could set the stage for ending the two-month shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Murkowski, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, opposed the budget resolution because it would lay the groundwork for passing a budget reconciliation package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for 3 1/2 years — effectively taking those two key agencies out of the annual congressional appropriations process. Murkowski supports funding those critical immigration enforcement agencies, but she didn’t like that...

The Trump administration is in advanced discussions with budget carrier Spirit Airlines about a bailout, sources familiar with the negotiations told CBS News. The financing package could include a loan of up to $500 million, in exchange for warrants that would allow the federal government to take a potentially substantial ownership stake in the beleaguered airline, the sources said. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is one of the chief proponents pushing the Trump administration to take an ownership stake in the carrier, multiple sources told CBS News. The deal is not done and is subject to change, but could be finalized...

Businesses can begin filing for tariff refunds on Monday as the federal government starts unwinding billions of dollars in import duties imposed by the Trump administration under emergency powers, opening the door to what could be one of the largest repayments to importers in U.S. history.

There’s a new forecast of the Social Security boost retirees should expect in 2027 - and it’s a huge disappointment for the millions of Americans who depend on their bi-monthly benefit checks... Older Americans absolutely rely on this so-called ‘cost of living adjustment’ or COLA, since more than 40 percent of them depend on Social Security alone for all of their retirement income. The new estimate of the forthcoming official 2027 cost-of-living adjustment shows the average Social Security benefit check will only rise by $56, or roughly 2.8 percent. The average benefits check for retired workers would increase to $2,081...

It’s One Big Beautiful refund. Americans are rolling in the dough this tax season thanks to a bevy of new reforms passed by the Trump administration that have boosted returns by double digits. More than 53 million taxpayers cashed in after taking advantage of new deductions included in President Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” including tax-free tips and overtime, cheaper car loan interest and senior write-offs. The tax breaks translated to a surge in refunds — as filers in 2026 took home, on average, $3,462, or 11.1% more than last year, IRS data shows. The numbers are even...

Hunter Biden is hiding from his creditors in California, avoiding paying over $20 million he owes various people, The Post has learned. Although a lawyer for the former first son claimed he is “living abroad” in South Africa, where his wife Melissa Cohen hails from, he’s actually holed up at luxury 8,000-acre estate in Santa Ynez, two hours north of Los Angeles, sources claim. “He’s been telling everyone that he is living in South Africa because he has no money, but it’s a ruse, to show that he is broke and can’t pay his bills,” said a source close to...

On March 18, 2026, the House of Representatives voted on H.J. Res. 139, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. The roll call was 211-207. Every Republican voted yes. Every Democrat voted no, save one — a defection that will presumably not be celebrated at the next caucus retreat. Under suspension of the rules, passage required 291 votes. The final count was 80 votes short. This is not a near miss. It is a structural diagnosis rendered as a procedural vote.AdvertisementThe same week, gross national debt crossed $39 trillion — $39,016,762,910,245.14 on March 17. That milestone arrived five months...

President Donald Trump is asking for an eye-popping $1.5 trillion to fund the Pentagon in the budget proposal the White House released Friday. With the war with Iran ongoing, Trump has pushed that more money is needing to fund the US military and less on social programs. 'We're fighting wars, we can't take care of daycare,' he muttered at Wednesday's Easter lunch, which was closed to press, but video was accidentally posted online.

The gov't debt will kill this Republic unless the drunken-sailor spending by Congress stops. The best chance to stop it: perhaps the line-item veto. The debt is now over $37 trillion dollars! To put that into perspective, suppose each dollar is a second in time. Then: $1 million = 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, 40 seconds $1 billion = 31 years, 8 months, 18 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes, 40 seconds $1 trillion = 31,688 years, 8 months, 18 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes, 40 seconds Congress MUST stop spending.

@RepNancyMace Washington’s war machine has spent decades sending our sons and daughters into endless conflicts in the Middle East, with no clear exit strategy, all to serve the interests of powerful politicians. We will not stand for it. We will not sacrifice American lives for the same failed foreign policies. The war machine may be willing to give the lives of your sons and daughters for the price of oil, but we are not.