Federal Deficit | featured news

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Sunday disputed claims that allowing a portion of the Bush tax cuts to expire will choke economic growth, saying the government needs to do the "responsible" thing and show the world it is capable of tackling the deficit.

The new estimates paint a grim unemployment picture as the economy experiences a relatively jobless recovery.

Congressional budget experts say a climate and energy bill now stalled in the Senate would reduce the federal deficit by about $19 billion over the next decade, a key selling point for advocates who are struggling to move the bill through ...

The Fed chief said that “the federal budget appears to be on an unsustainable path” but that the “exceptional increase” in the deficit had been needed.

The federal deficit through the first four months of the budget year is running at a record-breaking pace even though the deficit in January was slightly smaller than expected.

Increase is much larger than previously planned, but is necessary to avoid defaulting on debts next year, House majority leader says.

The White House has told domestic agencies to assume their budgets will be frozen or even cut by 5 percent as it signals a big push to take on the deficit next year.

The White House and Congressional leaders are weighing options for reducing the federal deficit, including a bipartisan commission that could force tax increases and spending cuts.

The United States must reduce its budget deficit and Asian nations must encourage more consumption to prevent a recurrence of the global imbalances that contributed to the financial crisis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday.

The deficit is the largest relative to the size of the economy since 1945, underscoring the challenge to shrink the fiscal gap even as the White House considers more steps to stimulate a slow recovery.