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Andrew Taylor

Romney on spending: Guns triumph over butter

Last updated Monday, April 23, 2012 - 9:54am

WASHINGTON -- Reducing government deficits Mitt Romney's way would mean less money for health care for the poor and disabled and big cuts to nuts-and-bolts functions such as food inspection, border security and education.

Romney also promises budget increases for the Pentagon, above those sought by some GOP defense hawks, meaning that the rest of the government would have to shrink even more. Nonmilitary programs would incur still larger cuts than those called for in the tightfisted GOP budget that the House passed last month.

Budget cuts, Mitt Romney, Politics, National Read more Comments

Patricia Gillaird of the Government Printing Office (GPO) delivers copies of President Barack Obama's fiscal 2013 federal budget to the House Budget Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Feb. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Obama's budget: Government still getting bigger

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, February 13, 2012 - 6:16pm

WASHINGTON -- Taking a pass on reining in government growth, President Obama unveiled a record $3.8 trillion election-year budget plan Monday, calling for stimulus-style spending on roads and schools and tax hikes on the wealthy to help pay the costs. The ideas landed with a thud on Capitol Hill.

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(J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/The Associated Press) Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., arrives for a meeting with bi-partisan members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, often called the Supercommittee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Nov. 18, 2011.

Deficit deal failure would pose crummy choice

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, November 19, 2011 - 5:57pm

WASHINGTON — If the deficit-cutting supercommittee fails, Congress will face a crummy choice. Lawmakers can allow payroll tax cuts and jobless aid for millions to expire or they extend them and increase the nation’s $15 trillion debt by at least $160 billion.

Deficit, Medicare, Supercommittee, National Read more Comments

(J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE)/The Associated Press) Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, is seen following a Republican strategy session at the Capitol, Tuesday morning in Washington, Nov. 15, 2011. With the Supercommittee at an impasse and only eight days until the Nov. 23 deadline, Boehner met behind closed doors with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Democrats, Republicans far apart on deficit deal

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - 8:45am

WASHINGTON — The top Republican on a special deficit-cutting panel says GOP negotiators have “gone as far as we feel we can go” on tax hikes, a public signal that a debt bargain could be out of reach despite weeks of negotiations.

Budget, Congress, Deficit, Republican Party, Supercommittee, National Read more Comments

(CHARLES DHARAPAK/The Associated Press) President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, before signing an Executive Order to cut waste and promote efficient spending across the federal government, Standing, from left are: Budget Director Jack Lew; Social Security Administration Deputy Commissioner Carolyn Colvin; Vice President Joe Biden; Housing and Urban Development Acting Deputy Secretary Estelle Richman; Celeste Steele from the Department of Homeland Security; Jeff Zients, Federal Chief Performance Officer; Danny Werfel, Controller, Budget Office of Federal Financial Management; NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver; Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin; Deputy Director of Office of Management and Budget Heather Higginbottom.

House-Senate negotiators unveil spending bill

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - 8:43am

WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a bundle of spending measures for the ongoing budget year, blending cuts to NASA and community development programs while averting cuts to nutrition programs.

Budget, Budget cuts, Congress, President Barack Obama, Spending, National Read more Comments

(J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/The Associated Press) Answering supercommittee co-chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., for a show of hands, from right to left, former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., former White House Budget Director Alice Rivlin, and former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and Erskine Bowles, co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, respond during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011. Murray asked whether “we need both spending cuts, including entitlement reform, and revenue increases,” to reach a deal that trims the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

Congress sputters on deficit cuts, spending bills

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - 8:27am

WASHINGTON — A sputtering Congress enveloped in an atmosphere poisoned with politics and distrust enters its final weeks of the year struggling to complete a lengthy to-do list on the budget.

Budget, Congress, National Read more Comments

(CHARLES DHARAPAK/The Associated Press) In this Sept. 8, 2011, file photo President Barack Obama speaks to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, as Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner listen. In Obama’s sales pitch for his jobs bill, there are two versions of reality: The one in his speeches and the one actually unfolding in Washington. When Obama accuses Republicans of standing in the way of his nearly $450 billion plan, he ignores the fact that his own party has struggled to unite behind the proposal. And when the president says Republicans haven’t explained what they oppose in the plan, he skips over the fact that Republicans who control the House actually have done that in detail.

Lawmakers, White House regroup on jobs

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, October 12, 2011 - 7:48am

WASHINGTON — Congress and the White House face the choice of continued fighting or a shift toward bipartisan bargaining after the Senate voted to kill President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan.

Congress, Economy, Jobs, Politics, U.S. Senate, Unemployment, White House, National Read more Comments

(J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/The Associated Press) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., center, accompanied by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., left, and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Ariz., talks about President Obama’s job bill, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Senate Republicans likely to kill Obama jobs bill

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, October 11, 2011 - 7:19am

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s jobs bill, facing a critical test in the Senate, appears likely to die at the hands of Republicans opposed to stimulus spending and a tax surcharge on millionaires.

Business, Economy, Jobs, Politics, Republican Party, Unemployment, National Read more Comments

(J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/The Associated Press) Members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, often called the “supercommittee,” attend its first organizational meeting after being created out of the bipartisan compromise on the debt ceiling crisis in August, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011. From right to left are Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich. Made up of six Republican and six Democratic members of Congress, the panel is charged with finding a path to lower the federal deficit by at least $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.

Obama’s jobs plan complicates task of debt panel

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - 7:16am

WASHINGTON — Its task complicated by the cost and politics of President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan, a special House-Senate deficit-cutting panel holds its second meeting in hopes of getting on a path to bipartisan consensus on tackling the government’s fiscal woes.

Debt, Economy, Jobs, Politics, National Read more Comments

Congress returns to fight over jobs, budget cuts

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - 7:08am

WASHINGTON — Fights large and small await Congress as it gets back to business, with jobs and budget cuts topping a contentious agenda that also includes a lengthy roster of lower-profile but must-do items that also are potential victims of partisan gridlock.

Budget, Budget cuts, Congress, Economy, Tax cuts, National Read more Comments

This video image provided by Senate Television shows the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011, after the Senate has approved an emergency bill to avert a first-ever government default with just hours to spare. (AP Photo/Senate Television)

Senate OKs emergency debt limit bill

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - 1:31pm

WASHINGTON — The Senate emphatically passed emergency legislation Tuesday to avoid a first-ever government default, rushing the legislation to President Barack Obama for his signature just hours before the deadline. The vote was 74-26.

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Senate takes up debt limit bill, passage likely

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, August 2, 2011 - 6:58am

WASHINGTON — With just hours left before the national debt bumps against its ceiling, emergency bipartisan legislation to allow the government to borrow more faces one final test in the Senate. Expected passage there sends the bill to President Barack Obama, averting a potentially disastrous, first-ever government default and making a down payment toward taming out-of-control budget deficits.

Congress, Debt limit, Politics, President Barack Obama, National Read more Comments

Debt-limit votes: Senate momentum, House concerns

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, August 1, 2011 - 2:18pm

WASHINGTON -- The House began debate Monday on the hard-bargained plan to avert a national financial default, even as the White House and congressional leaders struggled to round up enough votes to approve it. Supporters said momentum for the deficit-reduction compromise was on their side, but resistance from both liberals and conservatives made the outcome unclear.

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(ALEX BRANDON/The Associated Press) Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, seen here Friday, says President Barack Obama's plan to freeze government spending just isn't drastic enough.

Obama uses scalpel on budget; Utah's Hatch says it's not enough

Andrew Taylor, The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, February 12, 2011 - 7:01pm

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's budget submission on Monday will take a surgical approach to a deficit problem his Republican rivals say warrants a meat ax.

Budget, President Barack Obama, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah, Featured Read more Comments

Senate shuns earmark ban

Andrew Taylor, The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - 2:29pm

WASHINGTON -- By a sizable -- but dwindling margin -- the Senate on Tuesday voted in favor of allowing lawmakers to keep stocking bills with home-state projects like roads, grants to local police departments and clean-water projects.

But with the House set to tumble into GOP hands and anti-earmark reinforcements coming to the Senate in January, the window seems to be closing on the practice.

Congress, Earmarks, Politics, U.S. Senate, National Read more Comments