Trump administration paid federal workers $6.7B to quit, GAO audit says - POLITICO

“Trump spent billions to push out experienced and badly needed experts across government — this was the most expensive way imaginable to make government worse,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, said in a statement…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/16/doge-opm-spending-01079882

Taxpayer Dollars Going Into Trump Deals

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JuJyjLVs-7I

 

Republicans bristle at Trump’s latest tactics to undermine Congress’ funding power - POLITICO

“At what point did we stop legislating?” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), another senior appropriator, said last month after Voughtprivately pitched Senate Republicans on the latest party-line plan, which would inherently take funding power away from the appropriations committees...

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/21/in-year-2-of-trumps-funding-grab-congress-fights-back-01045146

 

‘Starve the beast’? The $40tn cost of Republicans’ false promises to cut spending

The enormous US debt under Trump will hobble the next Democratic administration – just as the GOP planned… 

Republicans have never been punished politically for their dismal stewardship of the budget…

 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/20/us-national-debt-republicans

 

More Money Than Iconic U.S. Parks Combined

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hbIZgEhcB18

 

Senate Democrats announce $40M ground game spend in 10 battlegrounds - Live Updates - POLITICO

The effort, branded as “Win The Senate” and shared first with POLITICO, includes seven states where Democrats are on offense — Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Texas, Iowa and Florida — along with three where the party is playing defense — Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire...

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/07/28/congress/senate-dems-ground-game-40-million-spend-01013128 

No one wasted money like a REPUBLICAN! #isaiahmartin #democrats #debate

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B8nFxDLM8H0

US employers spend more than $1.5bn a year to fight labor unions, report finds

Critics say employers spend money hiring union-avoidance consultants and lawyers while not investing in workers…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/20/how-much-companies-spend-fight-unions 

 

US spending on ‘reckless’ Iran war could have saved 87m lives, says UN

Head of UN’s humanitarian agency frustrated that $2bn weekly cost of conflict comes amid big cuts to aid budgets…

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/20/us-spending-on-reckless-iran-war-could-have-saved-87m-lives-says-un

 

Trump wants to spend $200 billion of taxpayer money on an illegal war

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TT4Z3LuNVNY

 

Trump spent more in 2 weeks on bombs than in half a year on int'l diplomacy

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2BB-nl4_KvU

 

US senator seeks perjury investigation into Kristi Noem over DHS spending

Senator Richard Blumenthal alleges the ousted DHS secretary lied to Congress about the agency's contracts…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/06/kristi-noem-congress-investigation

 

Rep. Ann Bollin defends GOP decision to end $645M in state spending

The decision caused outrage and confusion among lawmakers and funding recipients who had been counting on those state funds…

https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2025-12-12/house-appropriations-chair-defends-decision-to-wipe-645m-in-state-spending 

 

The Education Department gave another agency power to distribute its money. It hasn't gone well. - POLITICO

"Labor is not positioned to do this work," said Amy Loyd, the Education Department's former assistant secretary of career, technical, and adult education during the Biden administration. 

"This is not their core purpose and their core mission. And they may have a crush of smart ED people coming over, but I can't imagine that this is going to be something that is going to improve student outcomes by any stretch," added Loyd, who leads the All4Ed education policy advocacy organization. "This is going to do net harm to our states, to our locals, and to our kids."

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/24/the-education-department-gave-another-agency-power-to-distribute-money-it-hasnt-gone-smoothly-00663976

Senate Democrats investigate Kennedy Center’s deals and spending - The Washington Post

"Contracts, invoices, and facility use agreements reveal that you operate the Center for the enrichment of your friends and acquaintances, to dole out political favors, and as a playground for the President of the United States and his allies," reads a letter sent Thursday from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) to Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2025/11/20/kennedy-center-senate-democrat-investigation-spending-deals/

Emergency Medicaid for undocumented immigrants accounts for less than 1% of state spending: Study - ABC News

Of the 38 states that had data and Washington, D.C., the team found that emergency Medicaid spending for undocumented immigrants amounted to about $9.63 for every resident in those states, according to the research letter published Thursday morning in JAMA...

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/emergency-medicaid-undocumented-immigrants-accounts-1-state-spending/story

 

Trump administration spending $625m to revive dying coal industry

White House allocating 13.1m acres of public land to coal mining, which has been on rapid decline over past 30 years…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/29/trump-spending-coal-industry

 

U.S. economy feels the pinch as low-income consumers cut spending - The Washington Post

Working-class Americans — already up against waning wage growth and rising housing and electricity costs — are easily burned by any increase in grocery prices and tariff-fueled increases on household staples, apparel and furniture, according to recent Moody's Ratings report. They're increasingly dipping into their savings, racking up more debt, and pulling back on discretionary spending, according to recent government data, analyst reports and retail executives...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/09/20/low-income-spending-economy/

Trump asks the Supreme Court to give him dictatorial power over the economy | Vox

…Trump, in other words, claims the power to levy trillions of dollars worth of new taxes without seeking new legislation from Congress. 

The second case is Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, which is currently pending on the Court's "shadow docket," a mix of emergency motions and other matters that the Court often decides without explanation…

https://www.vox.com/politics/461677/supreme-court-trump-dictator-economy-tax-spending

Obamacare sticker shock could jolt Republicans

Pressure on Congress to renew Affordable Care Act subsidies is likely to ramp up this fall as notices of 2026 premium increases go out and consumers get their first warnings that huge rate hikes could be coming...

https://www.axios.com/2025/08/08/obamacare-premium-increases-republicans