While the federal government remains shuttered over Republican demands to defund the Affordable Care Act, the United States faces the growing prospect of its first-ever default. If Congress does not increase Uncle Sam's borrowing authority of $16.7 trillion by October 17, experts like former Bush Treasury official Tim Bitsberger warn, the resulting global economic cataclysm […]

Unless Congress raises the debt ceiling by October 17, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned this week, the federal government will be unable to pay its bills. But while some Republicans like Rep. John Fleming (R-FL) responded, "I don't think we should run government based on economists' predictions," House Speaker John Boehner knows all too well […]

For the past week, NBC News correspondent Chuck Todd endured withering criticism for suggesting it is not the media's job to expose Republican lies about the Affordable Care Act or, for that matter, anything else. But despite his assertion that the reporter's function is not to seek the objective truth but instead to serve as […]

So it's come down to this. Once again kowtowing to the most extreme members of his Republican Party, House Speaker John Boehner is willing to shut down the federal government and trigger a global economic meltdown, all in the GOP's quixotic quest to defund, delay or otherwise damage Obamacare. With his gambit to defund the […]

In its latest forecast, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) once again confirmed that the United States does not face a near-term debt problem. Over the next few years, annual budget deficits will continue to fall in both dollar terms and as a percentage of the U.S. economy. Over the next decade, the debt will remain […]

This week, House Speaker John Boehner turned to a new sleight of hand trick in his latest effort to extract draconian spending cuts as the Republicans' price for raising the U.S. debt ceiling. Citing five examples from the past, the Speaker's "Fact Sheet" claimed that "Coupling efforts to reduce America's debt and deficit with increases […]

With the federal government set to hit the limit of its borrowing authority as early as mid-October, Republicans are once again threatening to hold the debt ceiling hostage. As the National Review described the latest ransom demand from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, "To increase the debt ceiling, Cantor said, Republicans will demand a one-year […]

In their latest effort to abort the Affordable Care Act, Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the states are targeting the "Obamacare navigators," the dozens of community groups, hospitals, charities and universities receiving a combined $67 million in federal grants to provide outreach, customer service, information and assistance to those Americans trying to enroll in […]

This week, the Republican crusade to undermine the Affordable Care Act went from the ridiculous to the sublime. Florida Senator and 2016 GOP White House hopeful Marco Rubio sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius demanding a halt to an $8.7 million, 16-city ad campaign promoting the ACA's enrollment period which […]

In October, uninsured Americans will begin the process of selecting from health insurance plans offered in online exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. While 16, mostly Democratic states are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure their success, in the rest Republicans nationwide are doing everything they can to bring about their failure. […]