Testifying on Capitol Hill Wednesday, the FAA administrator said furloughs of air-traffic controllers — and hence flight delays — are unavoidable under the ‘sequester.’ House Republicans challenged his assessment.
A US judge read Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his rights at a hospital bedside hearing, finding him ‘mentally competent.’ The Boston bombing suspect reportedly called his brother the attack’s mastermind.
Farmer and labor groups are voicing support for a deal on farm workers, but it’s just one piece of the complicated effort by both political parties to craft an immigration reform bill this year.
Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant, made a record $17.2 billion in 2012. So far, it has paid back $36 billion of the $116 billion it received in a US bailout.
The TSA chief, testifying before a House Homeland Security subcommittee, said allowing small knives on planes would keep flights safe while the agency focuses on the threat from explosives.
Deficit hawks say that, ‘sequester’ or not, federal spending needs to come down by at least $1 trillion during the next decade. But finding that money just in government waste is hard.
The most likely GOP contenders are no-shows, but some other Massachusetts Republicans are launching campaigns or testing the waters. Still, Democrats may be hard to beat in this Senate race.
The CBO forecast on the economy describes the dilemma lawmakers face. Their successful measures to avoid a recession have left in place an expected dangerous rise in the national debt.
A dip in GDP during the fourth quarter of 2012 stemmed largely from a dive in federal defense spending. Some economists see a cautionary lesson for upcoming sequester talks in Congress.
Rep. Stephen Lynch, a former ironworker, announced his campaign to succeed John Kerry in the Senate. He faces Rep. Edward Markey, the apparent front-runner, in a Democratic primary.
Jacob Lew is valued by Obama as a Beltway numbers guy able to endure high-stakes budget fights. But some critics worry he won’t tackle fast-rising debt. And the Treasury job could demand big duties beyond fiscal strategizing.
AIG, which said it had been legally bound to consider the interests of shareholders, appears to have concluded that damage to its public image would outweigh any benefits of joining the suit.
The just-concluded fiscal cliff deal answered most questions about taxes, for now, but until Obama and Congress address spending cuts, the federal deficit problem has not been solved.
Nine states adjust minimum wage yearly to account for inflation and a tenth passed a new law raising minimum wage. Experts still debate minimum wage’s impact on the economy.
Prices could surge in January, but probably not double, if inaction by Congress results in the revival of a 1949 price system. And it probably won’t come to that, as lawmakers work to avert dairy-case price shock.
Negotiations over avoiding the ‘fiscal cliff’ have put Social Security back in the news. While the program isn’t a money loser for the federal government, its trustees favor acting soon to keep it healthy.
Tax revenues are seen as one source to help cut the deficit. In a new Monitor/TIPP poll, Americans were asked which tax deduction they would be most ready to part with. The charitable deduction led the list.
President Obama was set to meet with the leaders of a dozen major US corporations Wednesday, with the fiscal cliff a central topic. Businesses have rallied in trying to nudge officials toward a deal.
The Congressional Budget Office warns in a report Thursday that allowing tax hikes and spending cuts to occur – going over the fiscal cliff – could cause a recession.
The Massachusetts contest was one of the highest-profile Senate races. Voters had a positive impression of both Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown, yet the campaign was rife with negative ads.
By Mark Trumbull
April 25, 2013