WASHINGTON — The federal government, which ended the 2019 budget year with its largest deficit in seven years, began the new budget year with a deficit in October that was 33.8% bigger than a year ago as spending hit a record. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit last...
US Budget Deficit Hits $984 Billion, Highest in 7 Years
WASHINGTON — The federal deficit for the 2019 budget year surged to $984.4 billion, its highest point in seven years, and is widely expected to top the $1 trillion mark in coming years. The 26% surge from the 2018 deficit of $779 billion that the government reported Friday reflected such...
Walters: Can Kamala Harris Break the Jinx?
While California is the nation’s most populous and richest state – and has been for a half-century – it hasn’t wielded the level of national political power one might expect from that status. New York, still the nation’s financial center, and Texas, California’s chief cultural and economic rival, have been...
Democrats' Internal Battle Over Health Care Goes Back Decades
WASHINGTON — Seventy years ago, before Medicare existed to inspire "Medicare for All," a Democratic president wrestled with a challenge strikingly similar to what the party's White House hopefuls face today on the issue of health care. Harry Truman, then in his fourth year of pressing for a national health...
What Do Devin Nunes and Bernie Sanders Have in Common?
On the political spectrum, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont and Rep. Devin Nunes (R) of California are polar opposites. But the liberal Sanders and the conservative Nunes share a disdain of mainstream media that has inspired both to set up media operations distilling unfiltered campaign messages to voters. Sanders...
Bernie Sanders Thinks Media Is Unfair, so He Created His Own
WASHINGTON — When Bernie Sanders wanted to preview a speech about his signature health care plan, "Medicare for All," he did not opt for a traditional interview. Instead, he made an appearance on "The 99," his Democratic presidential campaign's in-house livestreamed show, a controlled, decidedly on-message pro-Sanders program that streams on a...
Sanders Set to Mount Vigorous Defense of 'Medicare for All'
WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders will vigorously defend his signature "Medicare for All" proposal on Wednesday and hit back at his critics who say his push amounts to both bad politics and bad policy. The Vermont senator also will pledge to reject campaign donations from health insurance and pharmaceutical industry executives, lobbyists and...