Budget

Reps. James Clyburn and Chris Van Hollen will represent House Democrats in White House-led deficit talks.

Rep. Buck McKeon isn't backing an additional $400 billion in cuts from the Pentagon's budget over 12 years.

A day after 59 members broke with leadership on the 2011 spending bill, all but four backed the 2012 measure.

Obama said he expects cuts to be part of raising the debt limit, but officials are holding the line.

Two Republicans with their attention squarely on the 2012 election voted against the budget resolution championed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg (R), who's running for Senate next year, cited the changes to Medicare as the reason he voted against the resolution Friday. 

"This budget — the first one we have even considered in two years — has a lot of good things in it that I fully support," Rehberg, who is challenging Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), said in a statement.

"But there are still too many unanswered questions with regard to Medicare reform, and I simply won't support any plan until I know for a fact that Montana's seniors will be protected."

The vote came after a clear sign that at least half the Republican Caucus supports even tougher spending cuts.

Shouts on the floor of "close it down" as Democrats vote present to try to take down GOP budget.

Republicans on a Senate committee say the president's speech this week makes his old budget unworkable.

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) decided late Thursday that the time just wasn't right for a House vote on the bipartisan deficit recommendations of the Bowles-Simpson commission.

Cooper blames President Obama, in part, for the fact that the House will not be voting to substitute the fiscal commission's recommendations for the GOP 2012 budget on the floor.

"Yesterday, the president made an important speech on the budget that, temporarily at least, has inflamed partisan passions on both sides of the aisle, making a vote tomorrow less likely to be a reasoned one," Cooper said Thursday.

He said Obama and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) deserve better treatment for trying to tackle the debt.

Cooper also withdrew his amendment, which was to receive a floor vote Friday during consideration of the Ryan 2012 budget, because the vote could have hurt Gang of Six talks in the Senate.

"Another crucial development is the sensitive nature of the quiet Senate negotiations on deficit reduction, particularly the so-called Gang of Six. We all realize that, because the other body is less partisan than today’s House, a comprehensive solution is more likely to originate in that chamber. The fact that senators ranging from Durbin to Coburn have already supported Bowles-Simpson is proof. I do not think it is wise to risk doing anything to derail or impair those behind-the-scenes negotiations, which I am told by key senators in both parties could be the result of a premature House vote," he said.

President Obama admits his 2006 vote against raising the debt ceiling was "political."

Obama's deficit plan requires the Defense Department to find more places to cut.

Wall Street is nearing a settlement with federal regulators over fraud allegations tied to toxic mortgage bonds.

Rapid economic growth and rising inflation in China make for an economy in danger of overheating.

The G-20's effort to drive global growth is faltering.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is not ruling out future civil action against Goldman Sachs for its role in the financial crisis.

Are U.S. companies buried in tax obligations or cleverly limiting their exposure?

Britain's austerity budget may not be helping growth after all.