Budget

The left-of-center think tank Third Way on Friday called on Democrats to tackle entitlements as part of a bipartisan deficit deal that will surely include benefit cuts, and argues taking the issue on would be good for the party in the 2012 elections.

The group’s position flies in the face of conventional party wisdom, which considers protecting Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefit levels a key to electoral success. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week said he would be open to shoring up Social Security in two decades, closer to its insolvency in 2037.

The group counters in a new memo that the 2012 elections will be about two things: jobs and debt.

Democrats and Republicans are edging closer to a deal to close the budget deficit, Sen. Charles Schumer insisted Friday.

General Electric found a way to avoid paying any taxes in America through specialized tax breaks and fancy accounting.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is feeling pressure from Tea Partiers back home.

A Portuguese bailout could top $100 billion.

Household wealth fell nearly a quarter nationwide from 2007 to 2009, according to a new Federal Reserve study.

Michigan became the first state to cut unemployment benefits as states struggle with budget gaps.

Conservatives might demand deeper reductions to spending if they are forced to consider another stopgap bill to fund the government.

One of the world’s most famous cancer survivors on Thursday fought back against Republican lawmakers’ plans to cut medical research funding in their long-term budget.

Lance Armstrong, who captured seven Tour de France titles after overcoming cancer, argued Republican cuts to federal research agencies would have a startling effect on cancer treatment and research.

“Sometimes in D.C. this can be viewed as a political issue for some,” Armstrong said in an appearance with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACSCAN). “This isn’t a political issue. This disease doesn’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat or a Tea Partier or right in the middle.”

Republicans included the research cuts in a long-term budget they approved last month, but Congress has been forced to pass two short-term spending bills to avert a government shutdown as the Democratic-controlled Senate fights back against the GOP’s deep cuts. Advocates are making their cases as lawmakers grow increasingly frustrated with the stopgap spending measures.

Armstrong, speaking at the National Press Club, said he hoped he wasn’t making “a desperate appeal.”

The left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued guidance Thursday for any deficit reduction deal this year that calls for a 50-50 split between spending cuts and tax increases.

CBPP Executive Director Robert Greenstein said the center sees the possibility of a compromise coming together this year because “deficit fever” appears to have caught on in Washington.

He cautioned, however, against using an upcoming vote on the nation’s debt ceiling to try to force a compromise on the deficit, something some Democrats such as Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (N.D.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) are advocating.

Greenstein said he is also “worried” about the fact so many Republicans have signed Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge not to raise taxes and thinks it is major obstacle for a deal.

Portugal's government has fallen apart after its parliament rejected a budget-cutting plans, stoking fears the nation could require an international bailout.

White House Chief of Staff William Daley is recusing himself from the hunt for a director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Ten former chairmen of the President's Council of Economic Advisers are calling on Congress to use the Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction plan as the foundation for serious fiscal talks.

Earmarks can still be found in short-term spending bills, even after Republicans vowed to end the practice.

Connecticut's governor is proposing $1.5 billion in new taxes to help tackle a $3.3 billion budget gap.

New data shows U.S. orders for long-lasting products unexpectedly fell in February.

Toyota is hoping to resume work on hybrids in Japan soon, as Honda extends closures at some factories.

Ken Buck, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in Colorado last year, has joined up with a group pushing for quick passage of a balanced budget amendment. 

Buck will serve as national co-chairman of Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, a fairly new group that looks to harness grassroots energy for a constitutional amendment as a group of mostly Republican lawmakers call for one in Congress. 

"Americans are frustrated with the uncontrollable spending coming from their capital,” Buck, who narrowly lost to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) last year, said in a statement released Tuesday. “Only through a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget and safeguards against increasing taxes or increasing debts can the people be assured our representatives spend within their means.”

Campaign committee is targeting Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and nine other Republicans on plans to tackle entitlement spending.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is nearly prepared to announce whether foreign-exchange swaps shall be subject to increased regulations mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, as other derivatives will be. The Washington Post reports:

"The Dodd-Frank bill signed into law in July allows Geithner to decide whether the vast market in foreign-exchange swaps — a type of financial instrument that businesses often use to guard against fluctuations in foreign-exchange rates — should be subject to heightened regulations as other derivatives are."