Budget Battles
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The Rising Tide of Health Care Costs
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The Healthiest — and Unhealthiest — US States
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Health Spending Hits Record High, Even With 1 Million Fewer Insured
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A White House Report Slams Pelosi’s Drug Plan. Experts Call Its Claims ‘Nonsense’
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Hospitals Sue to Protect Secret Prices
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How a Public Option Would Affect the Insurance Market
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Joe Biden Says Pete Buttigieg ‘Stole’ His Health Care Plan
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Chart of the Day: Record Low Poverty Rate
By Michael RaineyThe extensive array of government assistance programs — including Social Security, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, nutritional aid, rental assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit —...
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Democrat's New Taxes Wouldn't Hit Just Billionaires
By Michael RaineySome Democratic tax proposals are focused on making millionaires and billionaires pay more, but other households would be affected as well. Neil Irwin of The New York Times points out Tuesday that...
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How Mitt Romney Wants to Save Social Security and Other Trust Funds
By Michael RaineyA bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney introduced legislation Tuesday that would create new congressional committees focused on the fiscal health of federal trust...
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Number of the Day: $23 a Month
By Michael RaineyThe Social Security Administration on Thursday said the cost-of-living adjustment for 2020 would be 1.6%. That translates to a bump of about $23 on the average monthly benefit of $1,460. The 2020...
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The Case for Giving Social Security to Children
By Michael RaineyUS social welfare programs reduced poverty by about two-thirds overall in 2018, according to an analysis of Census data by Matt Bruenig of the left-leaning People’s Policy Project. Bruenig offers a...
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Elizabeth Warren Has a Plan to Expand Social Security
By Michael Rainey and Yuval RosenbergElizabeth Warren released a plan Thursday to expand Social Security and raise benefit payments. Warren’s plan would: Immediately increase benefit payments by $200 a month. If enacted, Warren’s plan...
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More Progress in Tackling Poverty, but Meager Gains for the Middle Class
The poverty rate fell for the fourth straight year in 2018, dropping to 11.8%, the lowest level since 2001, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. In all, some 38 million people were living in poverty...
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Op-Ed of the Day: Fighting the Next Recession Now
By The Fiscal Times StaffJason Furman, the former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama, has some advice for Congress: Start preparing for the next recession now. In a Wall Street...
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Americans Are Missing Out on Trillions in Social Security
By The Fiscal Times StaffAmericans will lose out on $3.4 trillion in benefits by claiming Social Security too early, according to a new report from United Income, an investment management and financial planning company...
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Growth of US Debt Slows, but Record Levels Still Ahead
By Michael RaineyThe national debt will reach “unprecedented levels” over the next 30 years, according to the new long-term budget outlook released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office. Federal outlays will...
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Social Security's Costs Will Exceed Its Income Starting Next Year, Trustees Say
Without congressional action, Social Security’s costs will exceed its income starting in 2020 — and they’ll stay that way indefinitely, forcing the program to fall back on its nearly $3 trillion...
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Sen. Mike Enzi: Senate Budget Is a First Step to Strengthen America’s Future
By Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY)This week the Senate Budget Committee will consider a budget plan that will reduce deficits by half a trillion dollars over the next five years. The budget does not presume to solve all of our fiscal...
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The US in Decline: What Americans Fear for the Future
A Pew Research Center report published Thursday shows how staggeringly pessimistic Americans are about where the country is heading. “When Americans peer 30 years into the future, they see a country...
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Anxious and Suspicious, Citizens in Wealthy Countries Want Stronger Safety Nets
By Michael RaineyPeople living in some of the wealthiest countries in the world are worried about their economic futures and don’t trust government programs to provide much help if and when they need it, according to...
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What Americans Want to Do with Money Raised by Taxing the Rich
Voters support higher taxes on the rich. But what do they want done with the revenue those taxes would raise? A new Morning Consult-Politico poll asked about a range of options. First, we should note...