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How blue state Republicans could shape Congressional legislation this year

Republicans have a slim majority in the House of Representatives — and those from liberal states could throw their weight around.
New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis could be among the GOP leaders from a liberal state that could have massive sway in the House of Representatives.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump wants lower yields on 10-year bonds. Can he make that happen?

Feb 6, 2025
The new administration hopes that energy dominance and government efficiency can bring down borrowing rates.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) with President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office. Bessent said the administration's policies will reduce 10-year bond yields.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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A look at the economic impact of the 2017 tax cuts

Feb 5, 2025
The Trump administration said the tax cuts would pay for themselves, but according to a study “that's just not true at all."
Donald Trump signing into law the Tax Cut and Reform Bill, a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul package, in December 2017.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Why the U.S. government owes itself money

Feb 4, 2025
The US government is $36 trillion in debt. But who is owed all that money?
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks to press after the Dec. 20 approval of a stopgap funding bill that omitted President Donald Trump's debt ceiling suspension call.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

How Congress — and not the president — controls how taxpayer money is spent

Feb 4, 2025
According to both the Constitution and the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the president does not have the authority to spend or hold back funding Congress has appropriated.
The Constitution gives Congress what’s called “the power of the purse” — not the president.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Musk-led DOGE has access to the U.S. Treasury's payment system. What will they do with it?

Feb 3, 2025
Wendy Edelberg of Brookings says "political malpractice" might be a bigger risk to economic stability than the government's massive borrowing.
Demonstrators gather outside U.S. Agency for International Development headquarters in support of USAID funding.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Image

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Unpacking some of Donald Trump's first executive orders

Jan 21, 2025
Trump promised tariffs on Day One. None have been announced so far.
President Donald Trump signs executive orders on Monday.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Musk's DOGE aims to cut $2 trillion in spending. That will be tricky.

Jan 13, 2025
The Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE, is a task force Trump has appointed, headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. It has some lofty resolutions for its stated goal of cutting wasteful government spending.

New year, new Congress, old problem: the debt ceiling

Jan 2, 2025
The options on the table: cut spending, default on the national debt, raise the ceiling — or eliminate it altogether.
In recent years, congressional debate over raising, lowering or suspending the debt ceiling has grown more common.
Kent Nishimura/Getty Images