What the budget deal means for you

The Fix

What the budget deal means for you

After a major vote in the House of Representatives Thursday, a bipartisan budget deal that would keep the government open into 2015 appears likely to become law. You might not really be all that interested in the effect this compromise will have on the economy or in the feud between Republican leaders and the conservative faction in their party. You might be too jaded to ask whether this compromise marks the beginning of a grand new era of cooperation on Capitol Hill or whether it’s just a fluke. But you should still know what’s in the deal. Here’s why:

1. Airline tickets will become more expensive.

Negotiators, led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), didn’t want to raise taxes, but the money to restore some of the sequester cuts had to come from somewhere, so they found some creative ways of getting it. One of their solutions is to increase the fee you pay to the Transportation Security Administration when you purchase a plane ticket.

The price of a typical round-trip airline ticket will increase $6.20. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)

The price of a typical round-trip airline ticket will increase $6.20. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)

A typical fee of $5 on a round-trip ticket would more than double to $11.20. Continue reading “What the budget deal means for you”

Budget Deal Is a Tipping Point for the US Economic Recovery

Curious Capitalist

Budget Deal Is a Tipping Point for the US Economic Recovery

By Dec. 11, 2013
image: The sun rises on a cloudy morning at the Capitol in Washington, Nov. 13, 2012.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Whisper it—we may be at a tipping point in the US economic recovery. The announcement that U.S. budget negotiators have reached a provisional two-year deal to avert another government shutdown (which had been set to happen, sans deal, in early 2014) was fantastic news. For the last few years, government has been a headwind, rather than a help, to the recovery. If you’d have stripped the public sector out of the growth numbers over the last year or so, you’d find that the U.S. was already in a 3 percent growth economy, rather than the sluggish “New Normal” of 2 percent that we’ve all gotten used to. If this deal, which still has to be voted on in both the House and Senate, marks a move from gridlocked, partisan politics in Washington to something more constructive, that’s a big deal. Continue reading “Budget Deal Is a Tipping Point for the US Economic Recovery”

Democrats: No Budget Deal Without Unemployment Insurance Extension

Democrats: No Budget Deal Without Unemployment Insurance Extension

By Matthew Larotonda 59 minutes ago ABC News Blogs
Democrats: No Budget Deal Without Unemployment Insurance Extension (ABC News)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The White House and its Democratic allies are pushing to continue a jobless benefits program set to expire for over a million long-term unemployed without congressional intervention. And while whispers persisted this week that Congress could be close to a budget deal before their holiday break, today Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said her party’s negotiators were insistent on an extension as a bargaining chip.

“Yes, indeed, we are making a very clear statement that we cannot, cannot support a budget agreement that does not include unemployment insurance in the budget or as a sidebar in order to move it all along,” she said at a Democrats-only hearing on the uninsured. “It would undermine who we are as a country.”

The congresswoman later indicated at a press conference that she could support a budget deal that doesn’t include continuation for the benefits, if they are extended separately on their own merit. Continue reading “Democrats: No Budget Deal Without Unemployment Insurance Extension”

Furloughed federal workers begin filing for unemployment checks in DC, Maryland, Virginia

Furloughed federal workers begin filing for unemployment checks in DC, Maryland, Virginia

By Associated Press, Published: October 2

WASHINGTON — Federal workers who are furloughed because of the government shutdown began filing for unemployment benefits almost immediately this week, uncertain about when they would be able to return to work.

Employment agencies in the District of Columbia and Maryland said Wednesday that they have already seen an increase in online applications for benefits. Virginia is requiring federal workers to fill out a special paper application to mail to Richmond.

Workers must be out of work for at least a week before they are eligible to receive benefits in D.C. and Virginia. There is no waiting period to receive benefits in Maryland. Continue reading “Furloughed federal workers begin filing for unemployment checks in DC, Maryland, Virginia”

Sequestration Concerns Play Out

Sequestration Concerns Play Out

Critics of government spending have long complained that the sequester fears were overblown: The across-the-board spending cuts were not and will not be apocalyptic. And, in a lot of ways, they were right. Half of the doomsday predictions that The Washington Post looked at this week never happened, the paper reported. But that doesn’t mean the sequester was a big dud.

Some 680,000 of the Defense Department’s civilian personnel nationwide will begin taking occasional furlough days starting next week through the end of the year. And sequestration has reduced unemployment benefits across the country by more than $100 a week in some states, according to the National Employment Law Project. Continue reading “Sequestration Concerns Play Out”

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