The Senate on Tuesday rejected a plan backed by President Barack Obama to create a bipartisan task force to tackle the federal deficit this year, despite glaring new figures showing the enormity of the red-ink threat. The special deficit panel would have attempted to produce a plan ...

Last year's $787 billion economic stimulus bill is going to be even more expensive — $75 billion more. The new Congressional Budget Office estimate, released Tuesday, provides more ammunition for Republicans who say the stimulus has been long on spending and short on creating promised jobs. The additional ...

The US government's budget deficit is expected to fall to 1.349 trillion dollars in its 2010 fiscal year from 1.414 trillion dollars in 2009, estimates by Congress showed Tuesday. But if legislation were enacted in the next several months that either boosted spending or reduced revenues, the 2010 deficit could equal or exceed last year?s shortfall ...