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Articles on Spending cuts

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Bill Clinton, at right, oversaw the first balanced budget since 1969, with some help from a bipartisan deal with Newt Gingrich. AP Photo/Doug Mills

I helped balance the federal budget in the 1990s – here’s just how hard it will be for the GOP to achieve that same rare feat

House Speaker McCarthy wants to put the US on a path to a balanced budget as debt ceiling negotiations begin with President Biden. Here’s why it won’t be easy to repeat what Bill Clinton accomplished.
Community health workers like these visit patients’ homes in Malawi to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation–Malawi/Chris Cox

Trump’s global gag order: 5 questions answered

All recent Republican presidents have cut off foreign aid tied to abortion. Trump’s expansive version of those restrictions endangers billions slated for HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has questioned whether Meals on Wheels gets ‘results.’ Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

What the Trump team should consider before axing Meals on Wheels funds

Trump’s budget director singled out Meals on Wheels as a waste of federal dollars. But identifying bad ways to spend taxpayer money is harder than it sounds.
The government-funded International Republican Institute, a nonprofit, supports democratic efforts like this voter education campaign in Burma. International Republican Institute

What Trump’s foreign aid cuts would mean for global democracy

U.S. democracy assistance is not perfect. But drastic cuts to that slice of the federal budget would sever a lifeline to pro-democracy activists around the world.
If implemented, President Trump’s proposed foreign aid cuts would have many repercussions. Kendra Helmer/USAID

US foreign aid, explained

As President Trump puts U.S. foreign aid on the chopping block, few Americans know much about it. Perhaps even fewer realize that the U.S. lags behind its peers on this front.

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