Government Spending & Fiscal Policy News

This week, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Rescissions Act of 2025 in response to a formal request submitted to Congress by President Donald Trump. From 1974 to 2000, it was commonplace for the president to request rescissions of funding under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. In…

On Wednesday evening, the world’s wealthiest man announced that his sojourn in the nation’s capital is almost over. “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President [Donald Trump] for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Elon Musk posted to X, the social media platform…

Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk told CBS News Tuesday he is “disappointed” in the spending codified in Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill.” “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” the Tesla CEO…

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The agency providing Congress with cost estimates—including projections for the GOP’s major reconciliation bill—has a long history of inaccuracy and bias, according to some policy experts and lawmakers. Established in 1975, the Congressional Budget Office was created to “provide objective, nonpartisan information to support the Congressional budget process and to help the Congress make…

Although last year provided evidence of great improvement, Romania and Bulgaria still need to continue increasing their defense spending to strengthen NATO’s southeastern flank. Both nations spent over 2% of their gross domestic product—the measure of the total value of goods and services their countries’ produced—on their defense in 2024. Two percent is currently the…

House Republicans delivered on their promise to defund Big Abortion on Thursday by passing the budget reconciliation bill that has consumed Washington’s attention for the past three months. In the bill, the House GOP removed Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in the country. The effort had been supported by dozens of…

House Republicans secured a provision in the “big, beautiful bill” prohibiting taxpayer funding for all gender-transition procedures. The House Rules Committee’s Wednesday night markup strengthened a provision from the Energy and Commerce Committee preventing Medicaid, CHIP, and Affordable Care Act funding of gender transitions only for minors. The Rules Committee markup struck “for minors” and…

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified Tuesday before a Senate panel about waste in his department, as Democrats became testy over several points.  During the hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, Kennedy noted, “This agency has a budget that is comparable…

The House Budget Committee advanced the Republican budget reconciliation bill Sunday night after three days of negotiations brought enough additional cost-saving proposals to convince four GOP budget hawks to reverse their initial opposition. The bill passed by a 17-16 margin, with all Democrats on the committee voting against it. The bill, if it passes the…

Top congressional Republicans are picking up the pieces in the wake of the House Budget Committee’s rejection Friday of leadership’s budget proposals. If one thing’s clear, it’s that leadership will have to seek a compromise with fiscal hard-liners. On Friday, the House Budget Committee voted against advancing the budget package with Republican fiscal hawks—specifically, Reps….

The House Budget Committee voted down the budget reconciliation bill in a blow to leadership’s efforts to pass President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” The bill was voted down 16-21 in committee, with Republican fiscal hawks—specifically Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma—voting…

Freshman Rep. Brandon Gill returned from leave with his newborn son Friday to participate in a contentious budget vote that could make or break Republican efforts to pass what President Donald Trump calls the “one big, beautiful” budget bill—aimed at funding his policy priorities and fulfilling a host of campaign promises. As of Friday morning,…

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson met with competing groups of Republican lawmakers Thursday morning on issues that could decide whether or not the GOP’s “big, beautiful” budget bill passes the House. Johnson, R-La., is working at a feverish pace to pass a budget reconciliation bill that would fulfill President Donald Trump’s campaign promises, such…

House Speaker Mike Johnson is being pressured on multiple fronts in his efforts to pass a budget reconciliation bill by Independence Day.  Not only is he being pressed by fiscal hawks to make deep spending cuts to cover tax breaks, but he’s also being threatened by blue-state Republicans demanding higher tax deductions to offset their…

The House Judiciary Committee advanced its portion of the massive budget bill last week, and the legislation includes a provision that would be the “most significant regulatory reform ever,” according to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, which Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,…

“The House is moving things along quickly, and the Senate is in lockstep,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters Monday, in reference to the Republican budget reconciliation bill that is being ushered through Congress.  The message of unity comes after the treasury secretary met with the top four Republican congressional leaders in the budget reconciliation…

The Department of Agriculture has worked with the Department of Government Efficiency to slash millions in woke spending projects, from a $300,000 contract educating queer and transgender farmers to $5 million to keep trees alive. “Probably the most stunning for me was the $500,000 grant to study transgenderism in mice,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told…