The state employed disciplined budgeting, debt repayment, spending cuts and targeted tax relief to dig itself out of a cash-flow crisis. To deal with crushing national debt, Washington policymakers should model this discipline.
State and local financial managers face the impact of federal aid cutbacks, plus new rules and even some opportunities. It’s time to focus on what’s practical and necessary, both near and longer term.
Big-city mayors are taking a wide range of approaches to interactions with the Trump administration.
About 90 percent of federal lands are located in Western states. Dave Upthegrove, public lands commissioner of Washington state, discusses how changing federal priorities are affecting his job.
The media and politicians focus on which party is winning or losing congressional seats. But moving 20 million Americans into new districts mid-decade will represent a major tear in the fabric of representative democracy.
The federal funding reductions and new eligibility rules will have severe consequences for those with substance use disorders and returning from incarceration. States have ways to keep many of them covered.
A 21st-century president and a revolutionary-era rascal have something in common: the Insurrection Act.
Federal officials said $4.65 billion from SNAP reserves will be released to meet a court order, but warned states may face weeks of delays processing partial benefits.
The possibility that Congress could reach a deal on ACA subsidies has thrown this year’s open enrollment period into chaos. State leaders are gaming out strategies just in case.
The shutdown has caused flight delays across the country. But some rural areas are at risk of losing flight service altogether.
But it doesn’t seem to be working, at least not yet. Pilot programs in Louisiana and Arizona reveal weak participation, limited functionality and risks of widespread coverage loss.
Daniel Lurie told the president that deploying the military would hinder the city’s economic rebound. Trump said he would “give him a chance.”
Federal funding is a bigger share of state budgets than ever. It comes with too many strings and strictures that choke off efficiency and innovation, and it threatens democratic self-governance.
Deployments of National Guard troops across states without full gubernatorial consent signal a shift in domestic military operations and threaten to erode state control over their forces.
A new ICE hiring drive with big signing bonuses is pulling state and local talent into federal jobs, straining departments already struggling to retain staff.
State and local governments are considering how they can help federal workers and how long they can afford to continue social safety net programs and infrastructure projects.
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