Government Spending

Kevin McCarthy’s Historically Bad Week
Plus: Washington welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Sort of.

House Republicans Saddle Up for More Chaos
Even their own colleagues aren’t sure of what the GOP holdouts want from the spending impasse.

Will Kevin McCarthy Fight Back?
It’s unclear whether the speaker has the votes to push a stopgap spending measure, but the endgame for House hardliners is even foggier.

Strolling Toward a Shutdown
Plus: So much for the hopes for a room-temperature superconductor.

Approaching the Appropriations Fight
The tight deadline to pass a series of spending bills will again test Kevin McCarthy’s leadership.

Interest Payments Are a Ticking Time Bomb
Massive federal borrowing means gambling America’s economic future on interest rates never rising.

Powerball Politics
Too many in Washington want to ignore the price of risk or wrangle with costs and trade-offs.

Loaded With Gimmicks, but Still Worth It
The debt-limit deal is disappointing, but Congress cannot risk economic calamity.

Death of a Talking Point
Returning to the tax policies of the 1950s would make our deficits worse.

Fact Checking a Graphic Comparing Bank Bailouts to Proposed Federal Spending Programs
The chart assumes that taxpayers will bear the entire cost of covering deposits for SVB and Signature Bank customers.

There Is No Painless Way to Balance the Budget
‘Taxing the rich’ and cutting ‘woke’ programs won’t come close to getting the job done.