CQ Budget, Ep. 138

CQ Budget, Ep. 133

CQ Budget, Ep. 131

CQ Budget, Ep. 129

The Senate takes up a stopgap funding measure to avoid a government shutdown next month. But the continuing resolution does a lot more than just extend current funding.

After months of delay, Senate appropriators finally got to work on their spending bills for the new fiscal year, which begins in just two weeks. But it was a slower start than lawmakers had hoped for, and unlike last year’s effort, it was deeply...

Congress is finally back in town after a long summer recess and the race is on to avoid a government shutdown before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Not one of the 12 annual spending bills needed to fund the government has cleared the Senate yet...

Even though Congress is still in a prolonged summer recess, spending battles between the White House and Congress have only been multiplying. The Trump administration plans to divert money from disaster relief and other programs to fund more...

With worries about a possible recession in the near future, the Trump administration has thrown around the idea of implementing new tax cuts to help stimulate the economy, only to flip flop on the idea multiple times later on. Specifically, the...

House Democrats are pushing new changes to the tax code aimed at helping low income individuals and families, with some lawmakers calling for an increase to the corporate tax rate. In this episode, CQ Roll Call's Doug Sword explains who stands to gain...

CQ Roll Call's Budget Editor Peter Cohn combed through the numbers since Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 and found something remarkable: the spending caps produced some results but most of the savings were because of factors out of...

Senate Democrats are preparing to fight the Trump administration over a $10,000 limit on deductions for state and local taxes, says CQ Roll Call's budget and tax editor Peter Cohn. And some conservatives are pressing the White House to bypass Congress...

With a new budget deal about to become law, CQ Roll Call senior budget reporter Paul M. Krawzak explains how raising the debt limit and raising the spending levels will shape government budget decisions this fall and the year to come. With...

Congress is racing to complete work on some big-ticket items before adjourning for the August recess. CQ Roll Call's budget and appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich reports on a deal in the works to extend the debt limit and set spending...

With new warnings that the U.S. could run out of money to meet its obligations, Congress and the Trump administration are racing to raise the debt limit before lawmakers head home for August, says CQ Roll Call’s appropriations reporter Jennifer...

With only 25 days left with both the House and Senate in session before the new fiscal year begins, the Senate has yet to draft any of its 12 spending bills and has no plan in place to pass them. The result is likely another short-term stopgap funding...

House Democrats passed the Financial Services spending bill that includes some controversial provisions, says CQ Roll Call's banking reporter Jim Saksa. Those include blocking money for a border wall, increasing funding to enforce sanctions on Iran,...

House Democrats are pushing new changes to the tax code aimed at helping low income individuals and families, with some lawmakers calling for an increase to the corporate tax rate. In this episode, CQ Roll Call's Doug Sword explains who stands to gain...

As White House and congressional leaders prepare for another meeting this week to get a bipartisan spending caps deal, CQ Roll Call's Paul M. Krawzak unpacks the political sticking points, the pros and cons of a one-year or two-year agreement, and...

House Democrats are packaging spending bills with the aim of completing all 12 by the end of the month, a goal that is likely to generate a lot of policy debates and amendments, explains Jennifer Shutt in this episode of the CQ Budget podcast....

In an usually candid interview with CQ Roll Call's budget reporter Paul Krawzak, the ex Congressional Budget Office director Keith Hall said the often secretive process the Republicans followed defeated their effort to repeal Obamacare in 2017....

House lawmakers on Tuesday again will try to clear a $19.1 billion disaster aid package via unanimous consent after Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas blocked it Friday for a variety of reasons; delaying much needed funds for states still recovering...

House appropriators this week will take up the biggest of the 12 annual spending bills, the $690 billion Pentagon measure that includes some prickly issues such as funding for Taliban expenses for peace talks with the U.S. and money to give the...

Lawmakers are struggling to find agreement on an aid package to help states recover from natural disasters, says CQ Roll Call's budget and appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich. She lays out the issues preventing Congress from passing a disaster aid...

CQ budget and appropriations editor Peter Cohn games out the prospects of the ambitious $2 trillion infrastructure spending package touted by President Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer. And we...

The writing of fiscal 2020 spending bills begins with the biggest nondefense measure, Labor-HHS-Education. CQ's health care reporter Andrew Siddons previews the bill and the partisan fights it triggers, including on gun violence research. And CQ's tax...

CQ Roll Call's appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich unpacks the demands and possible consequences of the Democratic party's progressives, who last week derailed plans to vote on raising the spending caps to prevent across-the-board spending cuts...

CQ Budget and appropriations editor Peter Cohn sat down with Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, one of the longest and most influential members of Congress. Grassley says that he sees a good opportunity to work with Democrats on several bipartisan...

The House Budget Committee may punt on a fiscal 2020 budget resolution to avoid exposing Democratic caucus fissures over tax and spending policy. But an effort to reach a deal to raise spending limits for the coming fiscal year could prove just as...

A fund designed to help crime victims is also used by lawmakers as an annual budgetary gimmick to help pay for other programs. But the victims fund is starting to run dry, making appropriations decisions tougher, as our tax and fiscal policy reporter...

The president has proposed deep cuts to planned spending in Medicare and Medicaid, while trying to uphold austere limits on nondefense discretionary spending. But Congress is already talking about a rewrite. CQ's Kellie Mejdrich explains what...

President Donald Trump's fiscal 2020 budget request, due out next week, is likely to skirt a defense spending cap to boost the military while proposing deep cuts to nondefense programs. CQ's Paul M. Krawzak explains how the White House blueprint is...

CQ's award-winning defense reporter John M. Donnelly revealed that a Pentagon fund that President Donald Trump wants to use to pay for his wall is nearly depleted, forcing him to look elsewhere in the Pentagon budget for the money. Trump appears...

CQ defense reporter John M. Donnelly spells out how President Donald Trump's emergency action to raid Pentagon accounts to pay for a border wall could affect military facilities and programs already stretched thin.

A new snag over immigrant detention policy has thrown a monkey wrench into border security negotiations, as lawmakers look to prevent another government shutdown. CQ appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich explains what both sides are seeking and how...

Congressional negotiators are working to reach bipartisan agreement on a Homeland Security spending bill that can fend off another shutdown and thwart President Donald Trump's threat of declaring a national emergency, CQ appropriations reporter Kellie...

CQ budget and appropriations reporters Kellie Mejdrich and Jennifer Shutt unpack what could happen in the next three weeks as lawmakers and the White House wrestle with how to prevent another government shutdown in three weeks.

The House and Senate are poised to consider legislation that could end the partial government shutdown — if the competing bills had any chance of passing both chambers, explains CQ budget and appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich. Listen for the...

As the longest shutdown in modern history enters its fourth week, CQ's fiscal policy reporter Doug Sword assesses the options for ending the spending impasse. But none appear promising, as President Donald Trump rejected the latest proposals.

Within days of the government shutdown setting a record,  federal agencies, employees and the general public will begin to feel the pain, says CQ budget and appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich. She also gives the latest developments...

There is no plan at the moment to prevent a partial government shutdown at the end of the week over President Donald Trump's insistence for $5 billion for a border wall, explains CQ budget reporter Jennifer Shutt. She games out what the options are to...

Just when lawmakers thought they had breathing room to hammer out a year-end spending deal, President Donald Trump drops a request for an extra $4.76 billion, technically referred to as anomalies. CQ's budget and appropriations team, Kellie...

Lawmakers are racing against the clock to pass seven more spending bills, but their efforts are likely to be a struggle amid President Trump's insistence for $5 billion for the border wall that Democrats don't want to give him, says CQ budget editor...

This is a special edition podcast to bring you an interview with a key lawmaker, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, about how Democrats will respond to Republican tax cuts. "When it comes to the tax breaks for millionaires that will definitely be revisited,'' the...

With just eight legislative days remaining to avoid a partial government shutdown, lawmakers will confront a slew of prickly issues, including Robert S. Mueller III's Russia investigation, in their government spending talks, says CQ's senior...

The co-chairwoman of the select committee tasked with overhauling the budget process threw her colleagues a curveball that could derail plans to report out a bill by the Nov. 30 deadline, CQ's senior budget reporter Paul Krawzak tells host...

Democratic Rep. Nita M. Lowey of New York is expected to lead the powerful House appropriations panel in the new Congress and she already has a list of priorities she will be pursuing. CQ's budget and appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich gives us a...

A 16-member bipartisan, bicameral select committee is on the verge of proposing changes to the annual budget and appropriations process, including moving the budget resolution from an annual to a biennial schedule. CQ's Jennifer Shutt talks about the...

President Donald Trump wants another tax cut for the middle class, a proposal that administration officials and members of Congress are now scrambling to make happen. CQ budget and appropriations editor Peter Cohn explains the options available and...

The rising deficit, the president's request for 5% in budget cuts and discussions of needing to trim Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security set off a storm of debate just three weeks before the midterms. Roll Call's senior Senate reporter Niels...

Stock market losses and interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve may be making some people jittery especially President Donald Trump. But none of it is abnormal, explains CQ's numbers guru, budget and appropriations editor Peter Cohn.

Three Republican House Appropriations subcommittee chairmen - Kevin Yoder of Kansas, John Culberson of Texas and John Carter of Texas - face tough re-elections, says Roll Call senior political reporter Bridget Bowman. A loss for Yoder and Culberson...

It's not all 12 as they had hoped, but lawmakers did get five big spending bills signed into law, leaving seven others for the lame-duck session. The president's insistence for border wall funding could take center stage, says CQ appropriations...

With three spending bills signed into law, Congress is unlikely to pass all nine outstanding bills before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, says CQ appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich. Meantime, President Donald Trump has sent mixed signals on...

House and Senate lawmakers made a deal to give the Pentagon a huge spending boost and defy President Donald Trump's call to cut various health, education and labor programs. CQ Defense reporter John M. Donnelly and Health reporter Andrew Siddons...

Congress is racing to pass at least three spending bills as early as this week and is poised to make progress on others, says CQ Budget Tracker editor David Lerman. Time, however, is running out.

House and Senate leaders like to brag about their respective chambers' progress on passing spending bills but not one has won final passage, CQ budget and appropriations reporter Kellie Mejdrich says. She unpacks the reasons behind the bottleneck that...

With the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and midterm elections just around the corner, Republicans hope to pass nine spending bills to tout on the campaign trail. CQ senior budget reporter Paul M. Krawzak explains why that might be a heavy lift.

The Senate takes up a spending package this week that rejects White House attempts to cut school funding by about 11 percent next year. CQ's Kellie Mejdrich explains the conflict over education priorities between Congress and the White House and which...

The Senate will attempt to pass the two biggest spending bills of the year in one fell swoop. Consideration of the Defense and Labor-HHS-Education bills could begin this week. CQ's Kellie Mejdrich explains why the package could prove to be a heavy...

The Senate is racing through spending bills at a breakneck speed with strong bipartisan support, in contrast to its record of recent years.  CQ’s Ryan McCrimmon explains how the Senate was able to pick up its pace on appropriations, and why...

Senate lawmakers will try this week to outdo their House colleagues by passing a four-bill spending package —if they can overcome snags, says CQ appropriations reporter Jennifer Shutt.    

House appropriators are set to give President Donald Trump some of the border wall funding he's been seeking, says CQ immigration reporter Dean DeChiaro. He explains what's in the Homeland Security spending bill.

CQ budget reporter Kellie Mejdrich breaks down why Senate appropriators face stiff opposition from the House and White House over how to pay for a private health care program for veterans.

Congress returns from its Fourth of July break with expectations that it will tackle a robust spending agenda including the two chambers negotiating the final shape of three spending bills — as lawmakers hope to avoid another 12-bill...