Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 29, 2013
Shutdown nears as House delays health law
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved legislation early Sunday imposing a one-year delay on key parts of America’s health care law and repealing a tax on medical devices as the price for avoiding a partial government shutdown Tuesday. Senate Democrats had already pledged to ...
Politics & Diplomacy | ANALYSIS Sep 29, 2013
Shutdown quandary shows Washington's breakdown
by Karen Tumulty
Washington once again stands at a moment of crisis — only this time, Democrats and Republicans are not negotiating a way to avoid it. They are not even speaking to one another. The cumulative effect of almost three years of governing by near-death experience ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 28, 2013
Senate sends spending bill to House fate
Democrats in the U.S. Senate set up a clash with House Republicans that could lead to a partial shutdown of the federal government in the coming week, approving a spending bill Friday that includes funding for President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul — a ...
Business Sep 27, 2013
Obama draws line in sand on health law, debt ceiling
by Zachary A. Goldfarb
To the chagrin of many in his own party, President Barack Obama has almost always been willing to negotiate — on taxes, on spending, even on the social safety net. But in the current fights over a potential government shutdown and the debt limit, ...
Business Sep 27, 2013
Republican hard-liners block plan to avoid U.S. defaulting on debt
The Republican Party’s right wing on Thursday blocked a strategy by House Speaker John Boehner for navigating a series of deadlines to keep the government funded and avoid a first-ever U.S. debt default. Boehner and his leadership team revealed the first step of that ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 21, 2013
GOP ties budget to bid to cripple health care law
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a temporary funding bill to keep the government running Friday but tied it to an attempt to cripple President Barack Obama’s landmark health care overhaul — a risky ploy that threatens a partial shutdown of the government ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 19, 2013
Boehner aims to defund 'Obamacare'
With the deadline for a federal government shutdown growing near, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner had a familiar choice to make: embrace something that looked like a compromise with Democrats, antagonizing conservatives in his party, or give in to their demands and guarantee a ...
Business Sep 17, 2013
Yellen leads Fed list after Summers' exit
Central bank policy dove Janet Yellen was seen as the front-runner Monday to lead the Federal Reserve after President Barack Obama’s apparent preferred candidate Larry Summers’ surprise withdrawal. Yellen, currently vice chair of the Fed, and so the top lieutenant to outgoing chairman Ben ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 15, 2013
Conservative Club for Growth targets 'Obamacare'
by Lori Montgomery
The first sign that Republican leaders could not control their new majority came on a vote to help Americans who lose their jobs to foreign workers. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor considered the measure routine and in February 2011 put it on a list ...
Crime Sep 13, 2013
Congress bickers as U.S. government shutdown looms
As their leaders sniped over who is to blame, divided American lawmakers careened Thursday toward a budget deadline that could see the U.S. government shut down on Oct. 1. The debate over how to fund government is pushing Congress to the brink for a ...
Economy Aug 30, 2013
White House, Republicans give up on budget talks
The Obama administration and a group of Republican senators on Thursday abandoned efforts to hammer out a budget deal and avoid a showdown over the national debt, saying they had failed to resolve their long-standing dispute over taxes. “It’s very evident that there just ...
Economy Aug 27, 2013
U.S. faces deadline to raise borrowing limit
The United States is set to run out of borrowing authority in mid-October, leaving the government at a high risk of not being able to pay for Social Security checks, military salaries and other operations, the White House said Monday. The announcement, which comes ...