WASHINGTON — The Senate has approved must-do legislation to fund the day-to-day budgets of five Cabinet agencies, kick-starting long overdue work to add the details to budget limits agreed to by President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans this summer.

The bipartisan 69-30 vote came on a $182 billion bundle of three bills to fund programs including transportation, space exploration, housing subsidies and the FBI for the 2012 budget year that started a month ago.

Under the budget pact enacted in August, lawmakers have to cut about $7 billion — or less than 1 percent — from the more than $1 trillion budgeted last year for the daily operations of federal agencies. Such cuts are too small for tea party conservatives but would come in addition to savings from benefit programs like farm subsidies and Medicare expected from a deficit “supercommittee” later this month.

It’s a question worth asking as Democrats and Republicans threaten for the third time this year to shut down the federal government. Americans faced the same prospect during spring budget talks and the summer debt ceiling debate. Now it’s happening over what was expected to be passage of a routine bill to fund Washington through mid-November while replenishing disaster relief funds.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — To those still trying to salvage homes wrecked by natural disasters this summer, don’t worry. Congress has your back.

There is just no way lawmakers would let funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency run out.

Well, they probably won’t. They don’t want to anyway. But they’ve now left open the possibility that they might.

Once again, Congress is manufacturing a crisis — the third this year. Lawmakers are putting the country at risk of a government shutdown, creating pointless uncertainty over what used to be ordinary legislative business.

Why? House Republicans and Senate Democrats can’t agree on the terms of a bill that would continue to fund the government temporarily beyond Sept. 30, when the fiscal year ends.

WASHINGTON — House GOP leaders are regrouping after a surprise loss on a measure to provide $3.7 billion for disaster relief and prevent a government shutdown at the end of next week.

Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said Thursday that he would meet with Republican lawmakers this afternoon on Capitol Hill to discuss how to move forward after a surprise Wednesday vote in the House against legislation extending government funding and disaster relief monies.

“There’s no threat of government shutdown. Let’s just get this out there,” Boehner said at his weekly press conference.

Wednesday’s 230-195 defeat came at the hands of Democrats and tea party Republicans.

WASHINGTON — As the U.S. government grapples to find ways to trim the bloated federal deficit, a new report suggests officials might start with cutting out $16 muffins and $10 cookies

“We found the Department (of Justice) spent $16 on each of the 250
muffins served at an August 2009 legal conference in Washington,” said a
DOJ Office of Inspector General report released on Tuesday.

The DOJ spent $121 million on conferences in fiscal 2008 and 2009,
which exceeded its own spending limits and appeared to be extravagant
and wasteful, according to the report that examined 10 conferences held
during that period.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will propose $1.5 trillion in new taxes as part of a plan to identify more than $3 trillion in long-term deficit reduction and slow the nation’s escalating national debt.

Obama’s tax plan is aimed predominantly at the wealthy and draws sharp contrasts with congressional Republicans.

It comes just days after House Speaker John Boehner ruled out tax increases to lower deficits. It also comes amid a clamor in his own Democratic Party for Obama to take a tougher stance against Republicans. And while the plan stands little chance of passing Congress, its populist pitch is one that the White House believes the public can support.

Washington (CNN) – Economic fears are not diminishing. More than eight in 10 Americans think the economy is in another recession, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. One-third of those surveyed think it’s serious.

While the country isn’t technically in a recession because the economy hasn’t experienced two straight quarters of negative growth, the poll’s results highlight the importance of President Barack Obama’s jobs speech next Thursday night.

Full results (pdf)

Americans have “a bad case of economic jitters,” according to CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

With just a few short months to come up with a plan for significant budget savings, the leaders of the congressional deficit “super committee” said in a statement today that they’re busy devising a plan of action.

“In our capacity as co-chairmen, we are engaging in serious discussions to determine what set of rules will govern the committee’s operation, examining a schedule of potential meetings and exploring how to build a committee staff that will help us achieve success,” Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas said in a statement.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — It’s easy to read the latest budget outlook from the Congressional Budget Office as further proof that the United States really needs to get serious about dealing with the national debt.

But if that’s all that lawmakers take away, they will have missed a big point.

The CBO is not in the business of telling Congress what to do. But it is in the business of showing Congress how what it chooses to do may affect the country’s economic future.

One of the big lessons in the latest CBO analysis is that lawmakers should tread carefully when deciding how to tamp down debt so as not to unduly upend economic growth.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — President Michele Bachmann has a promise: $2 gas.

“Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again,” Bachmann told a crowd Tuesday in South Carolina. “That will happen.”

Sure, politicians promise all kinds of things on the campaign trail. But Bachmann, a leading contender for the 2012 Republican nomination, is wading into truly tricky territory.

The price Americans pay at the pump is tied to the crude oil market — a global system largely beyond the reach of Washington.

It’s certainly true that prices — now about $3.50 a gallon on average — have risen since President Obama took office.