Federal Spending | featured news

After surviving the Supreme Court, the legislation must now weather the November election. Even if Democrats prevail, it's likely to be a target in a renewed battle over federal spending.

The amount of federal debt held by the public is projected later this year to surpass 70 percent of the nation's annual economic output, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday in a report that spotlighted the stark choices policymakers face on taxation and government spending.

US President Barack Obama will ask government agencies on Wednesday to find cost savings by cutting back in areas ranging from travel and vehicles to purchases of promotional coffee mugs and gadgets.

It's an outrageous tale: The federal government spends one out of every $10 in transportation aid on wasteful projects such as refurbishing a giant roadside coffee pot and constructing turtle tunnels.

A key Republican leader assured Sunday that a congressional supercommittee will reach agreement on $1.5 trillion in cuts in government spending by next month's deadline and avert deep automatic measures.

The House passed the second stopgap spending measure this month, funding the government for three more weeks while cutting $6 billion.

In a bipartisan vote of 335 to 91, Congress passed a measure that cuts $4 billion in federal spending, but it is good only until March 18.

The federal government hosts 47 job-training programs, 44 of which overlap. It runs 80 programs for the "transportation disadvantaged." Another 82 programs spread across 10 separate agencies endeavor to improve teacher quality -- something hundreds of ...

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives was expected to vote on Friday to choke off funds to carry out President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, intensifying a fight with Democrats over budget cuts and burgeoning deficits.

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.