Federal Deficit, Spending Cuts | featured news

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 Obama's deficit-reduction plan “falls short” of targets set by House Republicans and Obama's own fiscal commission and would be unlikely to stabilize borrowing, according to a new independent ...

Federal wildlife officials say they will take more than 1,300 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list within 60 days. An attachment to the budget bill signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama strips protections from wolves in five Western states.

Congress approved a $38-billion spending cut package Thursday, sealing a deal to prevent a government shutdown before plunging into an even more far-reaching debate over spending on federal programs and benefits for the years to come.

In the run-up to a vote, Speaker John Boehner predicted Thursday a $38 billion package of spending cuts would clear the House with a bipartisan majority and said it marks a first step in a longer Republican campaign to rein in federal deficits

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 Obama administration's proposed 2012 budget will include $1.1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years.

The proposed reductions fall short of the $100 billion in cuts Republicans campaigned for last fall but represent substantial hits to various programs including law enforcement, NASA, the EPA and arts funds.