Taxes, Federal Deficit | featured news

Top congressional Republicans on Sunday suggested they could compromise on the two biggest issues -- healthcare and taxes -- that stand in the way of a deal to get the United States' debt under control.

Republicans planned sharp cuts to foreign aid and education on Wednesday, while Democrats weighed a tax hike on millionaires, highlighting the yawning divide between the two parties in the budget debate.

The battle over whether tax increases can be used to cut the nation's debt flared Tuesday as the Senate's Democratic budget writer floated a possible millionaire's surtax to help cut projected deficits over the next decade. But Republican leaders flatly said no to tax increases....

With high gas prices and federal deficits in the political spotlight, senior Democrats believe that Senate Republicans will support an idea they otherwise might not like.

President Barack Obama, two years into a presidency that increased spending to prime a weak economy, is turning his attention to the nation's crushing debt and trying to counter a Republican anti-deficit plan with a framework of his own that tackles politically sensitive health care programs while also increasing taxes....

President Barack Obama is sending Congress a $3.73 trillion spending blueprint that pledges $1.1 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade through spending cuts and tax increases.

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.

Many Americans applauded the spending plans and tax breaks set out in President Barack Obama's record budget, while others questioned the yawning deficit it would entail.