Spending Cuts | featured news

US Airways is blaming a dip in revenue on federal budget cuts, Reuters reports. The carrier says it thinks the cuts have reduced demand for last-minute tickets, which typically go for the highest fares.

The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster but still anemic rate at the end of last year. However, there is hope that growth accelerated in early 2013 despite higher taxes and cuts in government spending. The Commerce Department says the economy grew at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the October-December quarter. That was slightly better than the previous estimate of 0.1 percent growth. The revision reflected stronger business investment and export sales.

President Obama signed a spending bill Tuesday that headed off a government shutdown.

The wrangling of President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over the federal budget underscores a clash of core philosophies about how the economy works that supersedes any skirmish on taxes or spending cuts.

U.S. employers ramped up hiring in February, adding 236,000 jobs and pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January. Stronger hiring shows businesses are confident about the economy, despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.

President Obama will have a bipartisan lunch on Thursday with Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, and the panel’s senior Democrat, Representative Chris Van Hollen.

A private survey shows U.S. businesses added a solid number of jobs in February, indicating higher taxes and looming government spending cuts have yet to slow hiring.

After their fifth budget battle in the past two years and after the sequester cuts went into effect on Friday, both sides seemed to wave the white flag and declare a political truce -- for now. President Obama, during his press conference on Friday, suggested little appetite for a showdown over government operations, which will expire later this month. “If the bill that arrives on my desk is reflective of the commitments that we’ve previously made, then obviously I would sign it because I want to make sure that we keep on doing what we need to do for the American people.”

As automated federal spending cuts take effect, projected red ink for the next decade has been reduced by about $4 trillion. But this wasn't how Democrats or Republicans wanted to do it.

The Congress is getting an earful about the big spending cuts beginning to hit government services from worried and irate constituents, including one senator's own spouse.