Economic Policy News

The Daily Signal provides economic policy news with reporting, analysis, and commentary on markets, growth, and fiscal responsibility.
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  • opinion

    Democrats Erase Women Through Budget ‘Reconciliation’

    According to Senate rules, a reconciliation package should be limited to budget questions. But in 2021, $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend bill Democrats are trying to push through via the reconciliation process offers the chance for radical gender activists to slip the language and assumptions of their ideology into federal legislation. For instance, the text on “Maternal…
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  • opinion

    More Bad Policies and Government Spending Will Worsen Labor Shortage

    The September employment report released on Oct. 8 showed a modest employment gain, with 194,000 new jobs added, and a drop in unemployment from 5.2% in August to 4.8%. What appears to be good news in the report—a 0.4 percentage point drop in the unemployment rate to 4.8%—is not all positive news. The decline is…
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  • opinion

    Fact Check: Would Biden’s Spending Bill Hike Taxes on Those Making Less Than $400,000?

    President Joe Biden repeatedly has promised that his massive tax increases won’t hit people earning less than $400,000. Biden even put his family honor on the line, tweeting, “I give you my word as a Biden: If you make under $400,000 a year, I’ll never raise your taxes one cent.” But now that the official…
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  • opinion

    Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Budget Gets ‘F’ for Its Second Grade Math

    President Joe Biden, 78, has a 7-year-old’s grasp of basic math.  “My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars,” Biden claimed via Twitter on Sept. 25. Regarding this multitrillion-dollar budget, he continued: “And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.”  One can imagine a second grader named Joey Biden showing off his new train set and telling his playmates,…
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  • opinion

    Democrats’ Spending Bill Unprecedented in Every Way

    There was a time not very long ago when political parties never would have entertained the idea of jamming through any massive, generational reform without some form of buy-in from the other party. Today, Democrats argue that the filibuster’s imaginary threat of “minority rule” has compelled them to use (really, abuse) the budgetary reconciliation process…
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  • opinion

    Rep. McClintock ‘Terrified’ for Economy as Democrats Push Massive Spending Bills

    America’s national debt has topped $28.4 trillion, but Democrats want to raise the debt limit and keep on spending.  For months, Democrats have been pushing a $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend bill, but they may have hit a roadblock Thursday.  Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he can’t support the social welfare spending package.  “My top line has…
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  • opinion

    No, Government Spending Isn’t ‘Zero Cost’

    This week, President Joe Biden made the incredible statement—sycophantically repeated by the press—that his $3.5 trillion budget bill, which includes major spending initiatives on everything from climate change to Medicare, would be “free.” Biden tweeted, “My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars. Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for…
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  • opinion

    Preschool Funding in $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill Is Modeled After Failed Head Start Program

    Fraud, abuse, poor outcomes, and high costs. Those aren’t exactly hallmarks of successful programs, and yet, those pushing for universal preschool and child care in the $3.5 trillion spending bill currently making its way through Congress have landed on the ineffective federal Head Start program as their model. “It is very much built around the…
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  • opinion

    5 Things You Need to Know About Paid Family Leave Program in Progressives’ $3.5 Trillion Spending Package

    We all want to have the ability to take leave from work when major or even minor life circumstances necessitate it. Having access to paid leave is incredibly important because without a paycheck, many workers cannot afford to take the leave they need. Fortunately, there’s been a huge upswing in access to employer-provided paid family…
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  • opinion

    4 Ways to Understand Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill

    House Democrats have unveiled pieces of the $3.5 trillion spending bill over the past several weeks. Most legislation focuses on specific issues, which makes it possible to have constructive debate. However, this bill covers welfare, immigration, taxes, energy, families, and much more, making it extremely difficult to comprehend. Providing context on this tax-and-spend bill’s size…
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  • opinion

    Health Policy Changes in Democrats’ Spending Bill Would Reduce Patients’ Choices, Raise Taxpayer Costs

    The left’s health policy strategy is simple: Step by step, centralize government control over larger chunks of the health care sector of the economy, add more and more taxpayer subsidies (requiring ever higher taxes), and block the emergence of any independent alternatives for coverage and care. In the end, the coverage and care that individuals…
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  • opinion

    Democrats’ Massive Spending Bill Would Hasten America’s Fundamental Transformation

    The massive spending bill backed by President Joe Biden and Democrat leadership in Congress highlights just how radical their party has become and the farce behind billing the Biden presidency as a “moderate” alternative to the far left. The $3.5 trillion spending measure has been billed as a way to promote health care and repair…
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  • opinion

    Media Hides Secret in $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill

    There’s one piece of the $3.5 trillion spending bill that the media is unlikely to tell you about—their bailout. The massive, bloated $3.5 billion spending bill has so much pork that fiscal hawks could eat it for weeks. One piece that hasn’t received much attention yet is a special journalism “tax credit” equal to 50%…
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  • opinion

    Even Some Democrats Sound Alarm on Radical $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill

    Despite already spending trillions of dollars on COVID-19 relief legislation, for the past few months, Democrats have been focused on designing the largest tax-and-spend bill in U.S. history. As the House and Senate move the legislation through at freight-train speed, troubling details about the plan have emerged. All Americans should be concerned about Democrats’ plans…
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  • opinion

    There’s (Cradle to) Grave Waste in Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan

    Congressional Democrats are proposing to spend an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars on what The New York Times calls “cradle to the grave” additions to U.S. social welfare. When budgeting shenanigans are ignored, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the full cost is not the $3.5 trillion that has been widely advertised,…
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  • news

    How Democrats Plan to Hike Taxes to Pay for $3.5 Trillion in Spending

    House Democrats will consider nearly $3 trillion in tax hikes over the next decade in an attempt to pay for their $3.5 trillion budget that includes most of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda and would overhaul the nation’s social safety net. The hikes are predominantly focused on wealthy Americans and large corporations. Among the increases…
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  • opinion

    $3.5T Spending Bill Would Lavish Hundreds of Billions on Nanny State Education

    The massive, unprecedented $3.5 trillion spending bill making its way through Congress includes education spending on an equally unprecedented scale. In all, the plan would spend some $761 billion on education and workforce programs, on par with total annual education spending from all sources—federal, state, and local. The bulk of the proposed education spending in…
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  • opinion

    Federal Handouts Hamper Job Market, Economic Recovery

    One thing we know for sure from the COVID-19 pandemic is that it has had and continues to have a lasting impact globally, as well as on the U.S. economy and job market. Despite more than 18 months of hardship, the stock markets have miraculously continued to move upward, indicating a renewed confidence in our…
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  • news

    9 Things You Need to Know About the Budget Resolution’s Reckless Tax and Spending Spree

    After passing a $1.1 trillion infrastructure spending bill on a bipartisan basis—which is filled with liberal spending priorities—the Senate will now consider a budget resolution that, if enacted, will clear a path to implement a massive progressive agenda. This resolution would reshape the American economy and permanently expand government control over many aspects of peoples’…
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  • opinion

    Infrastructure or Democratic Wish List? What to Know About Those $1.1 Trillion and $3.5 Trillion Spending Bills

    Congress is forging ahead with a $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill. The measure has received bipartisan support, but many conservatives warn that now is not the time to put America in even more debt.  The government has increased America’s national debt by $5.2 trillion just since the start of 2020, but “adding to that with two…
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