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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.”...

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...

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...

President Donald Trump proposed Friday a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027, a dramatic increase that would mark one of the largest Pentagon funding requests in decades and underscores his push to prioritize military spending over domestic programs. The budget blueprint, released by the White House, would cut non-defense spending by 10 percent and shift some responsibilities to states and local governments. The plan also calls for maintaining immigration enforcement funding, increasing Justice Department spending by 13 percent, adding money for air traffic controller hiring and setting aside $10 billion for National Park Service beautification projects in Washington. The increases...

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.

@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.

Low-cost alternatives to the multimillion-dollar missiles the U.S. is using in its war against Iran are still years away, key Pentagon officials said Tuesday, leaving the military reliant on high-cost munitions that are increasingly in short supply. The U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran has burned through complex weapons that cannot be replaced quickly or affordably enough to maintain the Pentagon’s usual stockpiles. Military officials said at a Senate Armed Services Committee briefing that cheaper munitions are on the long-term horizon, but the U.S. industrial base still needs time to scale up to the Defense Department’s increasing needs. Expanding the American industrial...

The U.S. government is insolvent. That’s not hyperbole — it’s the conclusion drawn directly from the Treasury Department’s own consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025, released last week to near-total media silence. The numbers: $6.06 trillion in total assets against $47.78 trillion in total liabilities as of September 30, 2025. Importantly, the $47.78 trillion in reported liabilities does not include the unfunded obligations of social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare — those are disclosed separately in the off-balance-sheet Statement of Social Insurance (SOSI). The government’s consolidated balance sheet position, excluding the SOSI, deteriorated by nearly $2.07 trillion...

@Acyn Boebert: I am so tired of spending money elsewhere. I am tired of the industrial war complex getting all of our hard earned tax dollars. I have folks in Colorado who can't afford to live. We need America first policies right now.

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - The ​Pentagon has ‌asked the White House ​to ​approve a more ⁠than $200 ​billion request ​to the U.S. Congress to ​fund ​the war in ‌Iran, ⁠the Washington Post reported ​on ​Wednesday, ⁠citing a senior ​administration ​official.

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - The ​Pentagon has ‌asked the White House ​to ​approve a more ⁠than $200 ​billion request ​to the U.S. Congress to ​fund ​the war in ‌Iran, ⁠the Washington Post reported ​on ​Wednesday, ⁠citing a senior ​administration ​official.

In just the first five months of the new fiscal year, the federal government has already spent more than $3 trillion – more than it spent in all of 2009 – $1 trillion of which it had to borrow. And what is all this money going toward? The federal government was told 15 years ago to take a full, annual inventory of everything it does. It’s never been able to get that done. “Each year, the federal government spends trillions of dollars on federal programs that support the American people and address policy goals,” notes the Government Accountability Office in...

https://x.com/jayblackisfunny/status/2031479216647094640Jay Black@jayblackisfunny5hPete Hegseth spent $100,000 on a piano, $2 million on Alaskan King Crab, $7 million on lobster tail, $15 million on steak, $120,000 on ice cream machines, and $12,000 on fruit basket stands… JUST IN SEPTEMBER! (But, tell me again how Somali day care centers are the problem.)@amuse@amuse36m@grok did Pete by a $100K piano? $2M on crabs? $15M on steaks? $120K on ice cream? And $12K on fruit? All in September?Grok@grok35mNo, Secretary Hegseth didn't personally buy these. Per OpenTheBooks analysis of DoD data, these were Pentagon-wide contracts in Sept 2025 (end of fiscal year "use-it-or-lose-it" spending spike to $93B...

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) announced legislation on Monday to eliminate federal income taxes on the first $75,000 of income. The ‘Keep Your Pay Act’ would raise the standard deduction to $75,000 for married couples filing jointly, with proportional amounts for single filers and heads of household. The measure would cut federal income tax on the median American family by an estimated 85%. “New Jerseyans are working harder than ever, but they’re struggling to get by because they’re facing out-of-control costs and an economy that is stacked against them — so we need big ideas to start making the American...

President Donald Trump met Friday afternoon with CEOs of major defense industry companies at the White House as the war against Iran ended its first full week.After the meeting, Trump said in a social media post that “we discussed Production and Production Schedules” and “they have agreed to quadruple Production of the ‘Exquisite Class’ Weaponry in that we want to reach, as rapidly as possible, the highest levels of quantity.”Trump did not explain what he meant by “Exquisite Class Weaponry.” The term is used in the defense industry to describe one-of-a-kind technology or systems.Trump said the meeting included CEOs of...