Budget

Voters continue to be very concerned about the national debt and Social Security, according to a poll by the Peterson Foundation, which is pushing for a debt bargain. Read more...

“There is no negotiating over whether or not the United States pays its bills,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen said.

The government will pay off $35 billion in debt during the second quarter of 2013.

“The Democrats are conceding that they have lost the battle over spending cuts,” said GOP strategist Ron Bonjean.

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough was among several senior Obama aides to attend the meeting.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) plan to replace this year’s sequester with money saved from drawing down the wars “undermines national security,” the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said in a statement that Reid’s sequester replacement proposal was “budget cowardice on the backs of our warfighters.”

“What he is proposing is not about saving money from the troop drawdown in Afghanistan; it’s about further hollowing out our military,” Inhofe said.

It's the first time the White House has backed a sequester replacement without new taxes.

The Senate voted 96-0 to confirm Sylvia Burwell as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

In a 22-14 vote, the Ways and Means panel approve a bill to prioritize payments if ceiling is reached.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew faced a skeptical Congress on Wednesday as he defended President Obama's request for $2.9 billion to fund international affairs programs next year.

Lew testified that aid to multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are a “cost-effective” way to solidify the world financial system, promote U.S. national security and boost U.S. exports. Lawmakers however raised doubts after the IMF bailed out five European countries – Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus – over the past few years.

“Mr. Secretary, the IMF is controversial within the Congress,” House foreign operations appropriations chairwoman Kay Granger (R-Texas) said in prepared remarks. “It was not created to bail out industrialized nations that cannot control their spending.