Entrenched stumbling blocks loom over next budget negotiations

May 1, 2017
Congressional negotiators have reached a $1 trillion deal to fund the government through September. If approved by both chambers before Friday, the deal would avoid a government shutdown. But short-term budgets and stopgap measures are inefficient and wasteful tools for running a government. Beyond the dissent over what gets funded and what’s on the chopping […]

What Democrats and Republicans stand to gain from Congress' new $1 trillion spending bill

May 1, 2017
Some of Trump's key proposals, like his call for a U.S.-Mexico border, will not receive funding.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Weekly Wrap: What Trump's tax plan tells us

Apr 28, 2017
Nela Richardson from Redfin and Sudeep Reddy of Politico join us to discuss the week’s business and economic news. This week, they talk about President Trump’s tax plan. There are still a lot of questions surrounding it, but it aims to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent and would benefit the wealthy and corporations the […]
President Trump's tax plan is up for discussion.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

What happens when government breaks the rules

Apr 28, 2017
How do the three branches of government run when things aren't going according to plan?
NFL players Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins have twice lobbied Congress for criminal justice reform.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Political parties spend big in Georgia's special congressional election

Apr 13, 2017
Republicans and Democrats are testing how far outside money goes in the Trump era.
Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional staffer, is the leading Democratic candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District.
Johnny Kauffman

A bipartisan approach could save Trump's tax reform

Apr 11, 2017
Linking infrastructure to tax reform could draw more votes, says Jason Furman of the Peterson Institute.
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Senate blocks states from creating retirement plans

Mar 31, 2017
The Senate narrowly passed a plan to roll back a program used by states and local governments to create individual retirement accounts for workers not covered by an employer account. The program is already underway in several states, including California, Oregon, Maryland, Connecticut and Illinois. It’s an odd position Republicans now find themselves in — […]

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A new Senate bill puts pennies in the crosshairs

Mar 31, 2017
A new Senate bill proposes some changes to American currency — switching from dollar bills to coins, making nickels out of cheaper metals and suspending production of the penny. But why are these copper-colored coins in the crosshairs? Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

Yeah, it’s all about your parents’ retirement

Mar 30, 2017
We got some grim news from the Congressional Budget Office today. The CBO predicted that the budget deficit and government debt will more than triple during the next 30 years unless Congress and the White House change the laws on how much the country spends and takes in. A big part of the problem? The […]

Looming budget fight could slow GOP push for tax reform

Mar 28, 2017
Following the collapse of the House GOP health plan, President Trump and congressional Republicans say they will now pivot to tax reform. But they have got some serious heavy lifting to do before they get there. The appropriations bill passed last November expires at the end of April. With Republicans divided, the GOP may now […]