PBS NewsHour: Government Programs Archive | 2011

ABOUT US | LOCAL TV LISTINGS EMAIL PRINT

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS


	2011 DECEMBER Dec. 1, 2011 An SEC 'Smackdown' Peter Steiner is the New Yorker cartoonist best known for his 1993 cartoon of two dogs looking at a computer monitor as one says to the other: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." He sent us an economics cartoon the other day and said we could share it, which we do herewith.



	NOVEMBER Nov. 23, 2011 Why Medicare Chief Don Berwick Was Destined to Step Down Dr. Donald Berwick, the man who has been both praised and reviled as the country's Medicare chief, will step down from his job on December 2nd. The White House announced that Marilyn Tavenner, Berwick's principal deputy and formerly Virginia's top health official, to suceed him.

	Nov. 21, 2011 How Do Tax Changes Affect Spending? Paul Solman answers the following question about taxes and spending: "How does raising or lowering taxes affect the economy? What difference does it make if the government spends the money on tanks, infrastructure, buildings or if the people spend it on 42" TV screens, cars, or home improvements?"

	Nov. 17, 2011 How Have Medicaid Dental Benefits Changed in Your State? Since 1982, every state has provided health benefits to low-income Americans through Medicaid. But in times of economic stress, the optional Medicaid dental benefits often become a prime target for cost-cutting politicians. The map below illustrates the evolution of state Medicaid dental benefits in the last decade.

	Nov. 16, 2011 NewsHour Connect: Supercommittee Fast-Tracks New Farm Bill Every 5 years Congress passes a bundle of legislation related to food and agriculture. It usually takes a year for stakeholders to voice concerns and Congress to ultimately enact the bill. This year, however, the Farm Bill process is on the fast track. Hari Sreenivasan checks in with Peggy Lowe of Harvest Public Media for more.

	Nov. 1, 2011 California Voters Fed-Up With Gridlock as Budget Crunch Lingers Spencer Michels reports from California, where the government gridlock is compounding concerns about the state's budget.

	Nov. 1, 2011 Super Committee Urged to 'Go Big' on Deficit Cuts There are just over three weeks to go until the Congressional Super Committee's deficit reduction report is due. Kwame Holman provides an update on the progress.



	OCTOBER Oct. 20, 2011 HHS Releases Final Regulations For ACOs The Obama administration has released its much-awaited final rule for Medicare accountable care organizations, making it easier for doctors and hospitals to participate.

	Oct. 19, 2011 Social Security Recipients to Get 3.6% Boost, but How Much Will it Help? Starting in January, 55 million Social Security recipients will get a 3.6 percent bump in benefits. Margret Warner discusses the cost-of-living adjustment, which is tied to inflation, with Robert Reischauer of the Urban Institute.

	Oct. 17, 2011 Occupy Wall Street Movement Expands to International Cities Following weeks of protests in New York and other cities in the United States, demonstrators took to the streets in locations around the world in similarly fashioned protests over the weekend, resulting in hundreds of arrests.



	SEPTEMBER Sept. 28, 2011 How Severe Are Problems With Social Security? Social Security checks go out on Wednesday to more than 52 million Americans, but the viability of the program has recently taken center stage in the GOP presidential nomination race. Ray Suarez discusses the economics of Social Security with David John of the Heritage Foundation and Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution.

	Sept. 28, 2011 Can Social Security, Medicare Be Considered Wealth? Economist Robert Lerman argued that such programs as Social Security and Medicare can reasonably be included in the definition of one's wealth. And if it is, inequality between rich and poor Americans is actually less drastic. Many of you wrote in to question and express disagreement with his analysis. Here. he's responded.

	Sept. 26, 2011 Is the Conventional Wisdom on Social Security Correct? Economics correspondent Paul Solman answers a question from a viewer who weighs the pros and cons between delaying Social Security benefits until the age of 70 and collecting at the age of 66.

	Sept. 22, 2011 Disaster Aid at Center of Funding Battle in House The latest battle over U.S. federal funding is a tug-of-war over disaster aid. Judy Woodruff discusses the battle, and fears that it could lead to a government shutdown, with The Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid.

	Sept. 22, 2011 A Clarification of Medicare and Medicaid From Our Last Inequality Report Many viewers took us to task for failing to acknowledge in our report on Wednesday's program that custodial nursing home care is usually paid for by Medicaid, rather than Medicare. They are correct: Medicare generally does not pay for nursing home coverage.

	Sept. 20, 2011 How Obama Plans To Cut Health Programs By $320 Billion President Obama proposed $320 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, largely by changing how the federal government pays health providers, slashing payments to drug companies, and dramatically changing the way it splits the costs of Medicaid with the states, according to the White House

	Sept. 19, 2011 Political Checklist: GOP Calls Obama's Deficit-Reduction Plan 'Class Warfare' President Obama on Monday unveiled his new recommendations to the Joint Select Committee on deficit reduction -- a $3 trillion, 10-year package that would increase taxes on the wealthy and make some changes to entitlement programs.

	Sept. 14, 2011 9/11 to Now: Ways We Have Changed The decade after the 9/11 attacks reshaped many facets of life in America. Some changes were temporary -- an immediate response out of concern for our safety -- while some proved to be more lasting transformations in American life.

	Sept. 12, 2011 Ahead of Debate, Perry Adjusts Approach to Social Security Texas Gov. Rick Perry is trying to "fix" a political problem he created for himself in the last Republican presidential debate. The front-runner for the nomination previews his adjusted approach to talking about Social Security in an op-ed in Monday's USA Today.

	Sept. 6, 2011 How Should U.S. Postal Service's Financial Problems Be Fixed? The head of the U.S. Postal Service told lawmakers Tuesday that radical changes are needed to avert a financial collapse. Gwen Ifill leads a debate over what can be done to stave off a shutdown with Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

	Sept. 1, 2011 Report Finds Fraud, Waste by War Contractors Costs Billions After a three-year investigation, a congressionally mandated commission found this week that between $31 billion and $60 billion has been misspent in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Margaret Warner discusses the findings with one of the commissioners, Dov Zakheim.



	AUGUST Aug. 31, 2011 Vermont's Rare Flood-Induced Crisis Spurs Emergency Airlifts After the torrential rains from Tropical Storm Irene ripped homes from their foundations, washed out hundreds of key roads, and turned much of southern Vermont into a collection of unsustainable islands, Gov. Peter Shumlin deployed the National Guard to hand-deliver water and food to desperate towns.

	Aug. 31, 2011 Report: More Than $30 Billion Wasted in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars A bipartisan panel known as the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan sent its final report to Congress Wednesday, detailing at least $30 billion -- and possibly as much as $60 billion -- in wasteful spending during the course of the last decade.

	Aug. 24, 2011 News Wrap: U.S. Budget Deficit to Top $1.2 Trillion for Year In other news Wednesday, the federal budget deficit will top $1.2 trillion this fiscal year. The Congressional Budget Office reported the deficit will be slightly down from the last two years. Also, Syrian government forces stepped up their crackdown on a key city in the eastern part of the country.

	Aug. 24, 2011 Battle for the Black Hills Members of the Great Sioux Nation in South Dakota are refusing $1.3 billion in federal funds, held in trust after parts of the resource-rich Black Hills were taken from them in 1877. Now, tribal leaders are fighting to reclaim some of the lost land.

	Aug. 12, 2011 Rural Post Offices on Shaky Ground There are 3,700 mostly rural facilities that the U.S. Postal Service is now studying for potential closure.

	Aug. 10, 2011 News Wrap: U.S. Budget Deficit Hits $1 Trillion for Third Consecutive Year In other news Wednesday, the Treasury Department announced that the U.S. budget deficit this year is above $1 trillion. With two months left in the fiscal year, the deficit is slated to exceed last year's. Also, international forces killed the Taliban militants who shot down a U.S. helicopter on Saturday, killing 30 Americans.

	Aug. 5, 2011 New Obama Directive Aims to Prevent Genocide, Violent Outbreaks President Obama signed a directive Thursday setting up an interagency board to come up with a coordinated governmental approach in the next four months to prevent mass atrocities and genocide.

	Aug. 4, 2011 Bloomberg Kicks Off New Effort to Empower Black, Latino Men New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $127 million, three-year plan to coordinate city agencies and efforts with a goal of reducing disparities between young black and Latino men and the rest of the population. Jeffrey Brown discusses the new program with Bloomberg, who will contribute $30 million of his own money.

	Aug. 4, 2011 News Wrap: Panetta Warns More Budget Cuts Will Compromise U.S. Security In other news Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned the nation's security will be at risk if more spending cutbacks are made. The debt-ceiling deal requires $350 billion in defense spending cuts over the next decade. Also, the death toll in Syria's crackdown on anti-government protesters climbed even higher.

	Aug. 4, 2011 Reid: Deal Made to End FAA Shutdown Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday afternoon that a bipartisan compromise has been reached to end the partial Federal Aviation Administration shutdown that put thousands of transportation and construction workers out of work indefinitely.

	Aug. 2, 2011 Budget Impasse, Partial Shutdown Costing FAA Millions in Lost Revenue Since July 23, the FAA has furloughed nearly 4,000 employees and shut down construction grants for workers at airport facilities. Judy Woodruff discusses the budget impasse, which is costing the FAA millions in lost revenue, with Public Radio International's Todd Zwillich and USA Today's Ben Mutzabaugh.

	Aug. 2, 2011 Most Americans See 'Ridiculous' Process in Washington House Speaker John Boehner got his votes. He passed a debt limit increase tied to significant deficit reduction with two-thirds of his conference supporting the bill. He only lost 28 of those 87 House freshmen and, most importantly for his legacy, he avoided becoming the face of default and potential economic calamity.

	Aug. 1, 2011 Can Leaders Find Enough Votes for Debt Ceiling Agreement? If members of Congress from both parties and in both chambers follow their leaders, the United States is all but assured of avoiding default thanks to a last-minute agreement reached with President Obama on Sunday.



	JULY July 26, 2011 No Deal in Sight After Obama, Boehner Address Nation The back-to-back speeches by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, a rare event outside of the annual State of the Union event, were evidence of the seriousness of the debt limit situation.

	July 22, 2011 Democrats Unhappy Over Possible Deal Focused on Cuts President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner may be close to a deal that lowers the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years, which would be mainly achieved through spending cuts and entitlement reforms with the promise of revenue increases through tax reform at some point next year.

	July 21, 2011 Obama Open to Short-term Increase in Debt Ceiling With negotiators running out of time to raise the country's borrowing limit, President Obama signaled Wednesday he would be willing to accept a short-term increase in the debt ceiling if lawmakers were close to nailing down a comprehensive deficit reduction plan.

	July 19, 2011 Women Should Get Free Birth Control, HHS-Backed Group Urges Birth-control pills are among the contraceptives that could be offered at no cost to Americans.

	July 19, 2011 President Obama: Gang of Six Deficit Reduction Plan Is 'Good News' With the United States just two weeks away from defaulting on its debt unless a deal is reached to raise the debt limit, a bipartisan group of senators presented a possible new way forward Tuesday when they introduced a new debt reduction plan.

	July 19, 2011 Conservative Groups Oppose McConnell-Reid Debt Plan Just as the McConnell-Reid backup plan on the debt ceiling is gaining steam in the Senate as the likeliest outcome that avoids default, conservative groups are ramping up pressure to take it down.

	July 18, 2011 Congress Prepares for Show Votes on Debt Ceiling The United States Congress will once again become a Kabuki theater troupe this week when the House of Representatives puts the "cut, cap and balance" plan on the floor Tuesday despite it having nearly no chance of becoming law.

	July 15, 2011 President Obama: It's 'Decision Time' on Raising Debt Ceiling The weeklong series of White House meetings with President Obama and congressional leaders has produced one concrete result: There will be no meeting Friday. President Obama will instead use his bully pulpit, which Friday will be the White House press briefing room podium, to frame the current state of affairs.

	July 14, 2011 Democrats Spell Out Debt Default Consequences Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with Sen.

	July 14, 2011 Frustration, Deadlock Dominate Talks on Lifting Debt Ceiling If the threat of a credit rating downgrade from Moody's Investors Service and a warning of possible "financial calamity" from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke doesn't bring congressional leaders and President Obama closer to an agreement, what will?

	July 13, 2011 President Obama Hauls In $86 Million for Campaign, DNC He may have to fight sky high unemployment, persistent economic pessimism and an energized political opposition to win re-election, but if he loses President Obama will not be able to blame it on being underfunded.

	July 12, 2011 Clock Is Ticking on Debt Ceiling Agreement After yet another meeting at the White House Monday, the bipartisan group of congressional leaders charged with hammering out a deal with President Obama agreed to meet again on Tuesday.

	July 11, 2011 New Rules Unveiled for Health Care Exchanges Saying "flexibility is the name of the game," Department of Health and Human Services officials unveiled a broad framework for states to follow as they build their health insurance exchanges under the health reform law.

	July 11, 2011 Debt Ceiling Negotiations Enter Round 3 The debt and deficit negotiations are now aimed at accomplishing two goals. The first goal for all sides sitting around the table is to get a deal in place by Aug. 2 to avoid any negative impact on the economy. The second goal, which is being pursued concurrently, is to emerge from the talks as the political winner.

	July 8, 2011 As Cuts Loom, Study Finds Medicaid Works Medicaid makes a big difference to the health and financial stability of the poor, a new study concludes.

	July 8, 2011 President Obama Gets His Monthly Jobs Report Card A jobs report does not an election make, but the Obama economy is in a rut and the president is going to find it harder and harder each month to earn the patience of the American people.

	July 7, 2011 Budget Battle Closes in on Medicare, Medicaid Few details have emerged from the closed-door deficit reduction talks, but members of both parties now admit one thing: Changes could be on the way for Medicare and Medicaid.

	July 7, 2011 Obama, Congress Search for Grand Bargain on Debt Ceiling At his news conference last week, President Obama called on members of Congress to "do something big" when it comes to raising the country's debt ceiling. It appears he plans to hammer home the point with top House and Senate lawmakers when they arrive at the White House Thursday morning.

	July 5, 2011 Congress Gets Back to Work on Debt Ceiling The debt/deficit problem facing the country didn't go away over the Fourth of July holiday. As Aaron Sorkin's fictional President Bartlet once said, "My point is this: Break's over."

	July 1, 2011 As Debt Deadline Looms, Leaders Remain Far From Agreement Washington's debt talk theater delivered an encore presentation Thursday, with Obama administration officials and Republicans in Congress trading verbal jabs, one day after the president admonished lawmakers for not acting with a sense of urgency to raise the federal government's $14.3 borrowing limit.



	JUNE June 29, 2011 Obama to Hold News Conference Amid Debt Ceiling Talks The last time President Obama held a major news conference, an earthquake and tsunami had just struck Japan, the revolt in Libya was a month old, a budget deal had yet to be hammered out to avert a government shutdown, the unemployment rate was below 9 percent, and the president had yet to declare he is running for re-election.

	June 23, 2011 White House, GOP Budget Deficit Talks Hit a Wall: Now What? Budget deficit negotiations between Vice President Joe Biden and GOP lawmakers broke down Thursday after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor pulled out over the question of raising taxes. Judy Woodruff discusses the breakdown and what's ahead with The Washington Post's Lori Montgomery and The Wall Street Journal's Damian Paletta.

	June 22, 2011 FDA Lays Out Global Strategy to Monitor for Dangerous Foods, Drugs In an unusual special report Monday, the Food and Drug Administration laid out a strategy it hopes will help it do a better job of policing America's food and drug supply.

	June 20, 2011 Medicare Advisory Group Urges Closer Look at Costs for MRIs, CT Scans With fresh attention on the powers of a new independent panel that will be created under the health reform law, there's been growing debate around a recommendation from an existing panel -- one calling for reduced payments and fewer MRIs.

	June 14, 2011 FDA Issues New Effectiveness Guidelines for Sunscreen The Food and Drug Administration released new regulations Tuesday for sunscreens that will require the products to be tested for protection against two types of sun exposure that cause sunburn, premature aging of the skin and skin cancer.

	June 10, 2011 Comparing the Budget Proposals, Visually The Washington Post has an informative and interactive graphic to help you sort through some of the various budget proposals, but Paul Solman has a couple of warnings.

	June 9, 2011 What Defense Budget Reforms Could Panetta Accomplish? With Leon Panetta facing confirmation hearings over his secretary of defense nomination, Jeffrey Brown discusses how Panetta could handle major challenges within the massive defense budget with Gordon Adams, who supervised nation security budgets under President Clinton, and Heritage Foundation research fellow Mackenzie Eaglen.

	June 9, 2011 Panetta Faces Budget Questions in Senate Confirmation Hearing Leon Panetta, director of the CIA and Defense Secretary Robert Gates' likely successor, is all but assured confirmation but faces questions over the future of a Defense Department managing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya in light of budget constraints.

	June 2, 2011 Plate Pushing Vegetables, Fruit Ousts Food Pyramid The government scrapped its food pyramid Thursday, replacing it with MyPlate, a campaign that encourages Americans to fill up half their diet with fruits and vegetables, and avoid sugary drinks and oversized portions.

	June 1, 2011 Social Security Administration Stops Sending Earnings Statements Those with summer birthdays will find an important piece of mail missing from their mailboxes. On March 31, the Social Security Administration abruptly decided to stop sending its yearly earnings statements.



	MAY May 27, 2011 Romney Set to Formally Declare Candidacy in New Hampshire On the eve of Mitt Romney's first trip to Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation caucuses, the Union Leader reports that he plans to formally declare his candidacy next week in New Hampshire, home of the first-in-the-nation primary.

	May 26, 2011 GOP Seeks to Move Budget Debate Beyond Medicare One day after seeing an electoral rebuke to the House GOP budget proposal that overhauls Medicare into a voucher-like system for future beneficiaries, only five Republican Senators defected in support of it after Democrats forced a vote on it Wednesday night.

	May 25, 2011 Democrat Hochul Pulls Upset Win in New York House Race In a decisive victory Tuesday, Democrat Kathy Hochul defeated Republican Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, 47 percent to 43 percent, in a heavily GOP congressional district.

	May 23, 2011 Pawlenty Officially Launches 2012 Campaign for White House Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, gets his moment in the spotlight Monday when he officially declares his candidacy for the White House at a 12:30 p.m. EDT town hall in Des Moines, Iowa.

	May 19, 2011 Report on W. Va. Mine Disaster Blames Safety Lapses, Poor Oversight The first official investigative report on the disaster at Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia last year, which killed 29 miners, found that the explosion could have been prevented and was the result of a corporate culture at the mine "in which wrongdoing became acceptable, where deviation became the norm.

	May 18, 2011 Grand Deal on Deficit Reduction Unlikely as Coburn Quits Talks The quest for a bipartisan solution to the country's short- and long-term deficit problems got a lot tougher Tuesday when Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., walked away from the negotiating table.

	May 17, 2011 Romney Hits the Jackpot in Las Vegas Fund-raiser Mitt Romney's haul from his Las Vegas call-day exists, for the time being, in a vacuum, without any other figures for comparison. And that was precisely the campaign's goal as it set out to boast financial prowess, intimidate the opposition and build momentum for Romney's second attempt at winning the White House.

	May 16, 2011 Gingrich Calls GOP Budget 'Right Wing Social Engineering' Former House speaker Newt Gingrich broke from his party leadership on the Hill by stiff-arming the budget drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and passed last month in the House.

	May 13, 2011 Medicare, Social Security May Exhaust Funds Sooner Than Expected The trustees who oversee the finances of Medicare and Social Security said Friday that both programs will exhaust their trust funds sooner than previously expected.

	May 13, 2011 Rep. Paul Launches 2012 Bid, Hopes Third Time's the Charm Rep. Ron Paul made it official Friday, becoming the second full-fledged presidential candidate in the GOP's 2012 field, coming on the heels of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's move Wednesday.

	May 10, 2011 Study: 44 Million Could Lose Medicaid Coverage Under GOP Plan A new study released Tuesday by two nonpartisan organizations added new fuel to the debate over debt and spending when the report found that debt reduction proposals by House Republicans lawmakers could leave up to 44 million more low-income and disabled Americans without health insurance.

	May 10, 2011 President Obama to Renew Push for Immigration Reform When President Obama takes to the stage Tuesday in El Paso, Texas, and launches the next phase of his public campaign to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, he'll be doing so against the backdrop of the recently released 2010 Census data.

	May 6, 2011 Without Heavy Hitters, First GOP Debate Does Little to Shape Race The lack of attendance by Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and other top-tier presidential hopefuls at Thursday night's GOP debate was notable enough to get its own round of questioning.



	APRIL April 29, 2011 The Budget Battle: WWHD? (What Would Hayek Do?) AK? (And Keynes?) Cut taxes? Hike them? Cut government? Save the safety net? These economic questions are dominating debate in DC. So we thought we'd consult two of the greatest economists of all time: What would YOU do about today's budget deficit?

	April 29, 2011 Space Shuttle Endeavour To Launch No Earlier Than May 10 Space shuttle Endeavour, NASA's youngest orbiter, was scheduled to blast off into space for the final time at 3:47 pm ET, but will be delayed by at least 48 hours.

	April 28, 2011 For President Obama, 'Birther' Issue Is a Teachable Moment For years now, conspiracy theorists have stoked false rumors about President Obama's place of birth. On Wednesday, the president called their bluff, and in doing so, attempted to shift the country's focus back to more serious issues.

	April 27, 2011 Budget Battles Reignite Animosity Between Congress, D.C. Government Kwame Holman reports on the historically tense relations between Congress and the District of Columbia's residents and local politicians. The two worlds collided recently when Congress and President Obama reached a budget agreement in part through provisions affecting abortion services and private-school voucher programs in D.C.

	April 27, 2011 5 Questions About the Federal Reserve and Bernanke's News Conference The Federal Reserve may regularly make decisions affecting monetary policy and the country's economy, but its chairmen have never held a regularly scheduled news conference to explain their thinking...until now.

	April 25, 2011 Republicans Get a Tough Break on Spring Recess When House Republicans voted on their 2012 budget the Friday before the congressional recess, there figured to be plenty of stories over the course of the following two weeks about how the plan was being received in their home districts.

	April 21, 2011 Budget Showdown: What's In the Obama and Ryan Plans? This week President Obama has been crisscrossing the country selling his budget plan to the American people. Meanwhile, Republican Representative Paul Ryan has been pitching his budget proposal to constituents in Wisconsin. We wanted to take a step back from the rhetoric for a look at what's in the competing plans.

	April 20, 2011 New 'Passenger Bill of Rights' Limits Tarmac Time, Reimburses Lost Bags Passengers wait in check-in lines Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Wednesday a bulked-up version of the "Passenger Bill of Rights" for consumers traveling by air.

	April 20, 2011 Polls Show Support for Fixing Deficit, but Not for Remedies The storyline after November's midterm elections was that voters had sent a clear message to lawmakers in Washington to reduce the size and scope of government. And it appears many Americans still feel that way.

	April 19, 2011 Prescription Drug Abuse Targeted as a 'Public Health Crisis' The Obama administration launched a major campaign Tuesday to combat prescription drug abuse, which it says is the nation's fastest growing drug problem.

	April 19, 2011 Poll, Credit Rating Complicate Obama's Mission on Deficit On a day when he's scheduled to hold the first of a series of town halls to sell his vision for bringing down the deficit, President Obama is greeted by a new poll that shows 57 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of the economy and fresh headlines about the dangers of the country's debt.

	April 18, 2011 Obama Hits the Road to Sell Deficit Reduction Plan President Obama put forward a plan last week to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years. Now he has to sell it to the American people.

	April 15, 2011 Vote on Ryan Budget Sets Stage for 2012 If you weren't paying close attention this week, you may have missed it. But make no mistake about it, this was the week that defined the contours of the political battle set to dominate the discourse for the next 19 months.

	April 14, 2011 House Vote on Budget Compromise Looks to Be Rocky Remember that much heralded 11th-hour deal to cut $38.5 billion from this year's federal spending in order to avert a government shutdown? Well, it turns out actual savings in this year's spending are only about 1 percent of that sum, and conservatives are none too pleased.

	April 12, 2011 New Initiative Aims to Reduce Medical Errors, Accidents Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday that her department will spend $1 billion dollars on a new program designed to cut down on medical mistakes, preventable injuries and infections in American hospitals.

	April 12, 2011 For Romney, a Challenging Path to GOP Nomination The moment Mitt Romney officially tossed his hat into the 2012 presidential ring, the press coverage immediately turned to describe why the perceived front-runner is a flawed contender for his party's nomination.

	April 11, 2011 'On Shaky Ground' Shows Oversight Faults in California School Buildings A new report by California Watch found that hundreds of California's public schools do not meet the legal construction codes for earthquake safety.

	April 11, 2011 Obama and GOP Prepare for Much Bigger Fights Ahead Political leaders in Washington were able to avoid a government shutdown by reaching a deal centered on $38.5 billion in spending cuts for the remaining six months of the fiscal year. The debate over the fiscal crisis facing the United States now moves from the billions to the trillions.

	April 9, 2011 Shutdown Watch Liveblog: 11th-Hour Deal to Avert Shutdown House Speaker John Boehner spoke just before 11 p.m. ET following a closed-door meeting and announced the House Republicans had reached a deal with the White House and the Senate just before the 11th hour to avert a government shutdown.

	April 8, 2011 Lawmakers Must Beat Midnight Deadline to Avoid Shutdown When the clock strikes midnight Friday the federal government will run out of money and all non-essential operations will grind to a halt unless Democratic and Republican negotiators are finally able to resolve the differences over spending cuts and policy provisions that have divided them for weeks.

	April 7, 2011 What a Possible Government Shutdown Means Across the Nation See how public media stations are covering the story, and how a shutdown could play out in states around the nation, from parking enforcement to garbage collection to national parks.

	April 7, 2011 With Shutdown Imminent, 'Narrow' Differences Remain Congressional leaders have taken budget negotiations to the brink of a federal government shutdown, and Thursday is almost certainly the point of no return.

	April 6, 2011 Budget Negotiations Down to Wire, Shutdown Looming Two days. That's all congressional leaders have to agree on billions in cuts to a trillion-plus dollar budget in order to avert a government shutdown at midnight Friday.

	April 5, 2011 Ryan Risks Political Backlash With GOP Budget Rollout As Congress wrangles over relatively minuscule reductions in non-defense discretionary spending for the remainder of the fiscal year, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is taking the long view Tuesday as he rolls out the House Republican budget for FY 2012 and puts a marker down on major reforms to Medicaid and Medicare.

	April 4, 2011 President Obama Launches 2012 Re-election Campaign "It Begins With Us" is the name of the video that the Obama 2012 campaign emailed to its 13 million supporters shortly after 5 a.m. EDT Monday, marking the official launch of the president's re-election effort.



	MARCH March 31, 2011 Congress, White House Make Progress On Budget, But No Deal Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner's spokesman are in agreement on one key thing: Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to.

	March 24, 2011 Census Data Show Hispanic Boom; Blacks Leave Cities for South, Suburbs New census data on race and migration released this week show minorities accounted for 90 percent of the growth in the U.S. during the past decade. Ray Suarez discusses the new numbers with the Brookings Institution's William Frey, author Isabel Wilkerson and the Pew Hispanic Center's Mark Hugo Lopez.

	March 24, 2011 Patchwork Nation: Census Raises Questions About Detroit's Future For as long as anyone cares to remember, Detroit has been Michigan's center of gravity.

	March 18, 2011 President Obama Heads to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador As President Obama makes his first presidential foray into Latin America, he does so with a pair of international crises in Japan and Libya far from resolved.

	March 17, 2011 House GOP Makes Another Run at Cutting NPR Funding House Republicans are putting funding for NPR back on the chopping block Thursday. On Tuesday, the House passed a three-week temporary spending bill with $6 billion in cuts, including $50 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports NPR and PBS.

	March 16, 2011 April 8 Looms in Battle Over Budget April 8 looms as the deadline by which a continuing resolution must be passed funding the government for the remaining six months of the year -- or a shutdown will occur.

	March 15, 2011 Some Republicans Plan to Break Ranks Over Stopgap Funding The most important vote tally to watch Tuesday will be the one that indicates how many Republicans in the House voted against the three-week continuing resolution brought to the floor by the GOP leadership.

	March 11, 2011 President Obama Has a Full Plate Ahead of News Conference When President Obama takes the podium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to take questions from the press, he does so with a great many unresolved issues on his plate.

	March 10, 2011 Rep. Granger: Scope of Foreign Aid Misunderstood, But Budget Cuts Needed Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, speaks with Judy Woodruff about U.S. spending on foreign aid. Granger chairs the House subcommittee that appropriates foreign aid funding.

	March 10, 2011 Foreign Aid Facing Proposed Cuts and a Public Perception Problem Calls for belt tightening and budget slashing abound on Capitol Hill as members of Congress debate not one but two contentious spending measures -- government spending for the remainder of financial year 2011 and the president's budget proposal for 2012.

	March 9, 2011 E-mails Show Possible Crack in Wisconsin Stalemate As Democrats in the Wisconsin state Senate reached the end of their third week hiding out in Illinois, there was a possible glimmer of movement away from each side's fortified positions in the battle over collective bargaining rights and slightly toward compromise.

	March 8, 2011 Senate's Votes on Budget Expected to Fail Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have a pretty good idea about how far apart they are when it comes to funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year, but they're expected to vote Tuesday on two measures to find out for sure.

	March 4, 2011 Wisconsin Budget Stalemate Reaches Tipping Point Republican Gov. Scott Walker announced Thursday that he would start sending layoff notices to 1,500 state workers Friday unless the impasse over his budget repair bill is resolved.

	March 2, 2011 Former House Speaker Gingrich Prepares to Make His Move Newt Gingrich has indicated that he'll soon clarify his intentions for a presidential run.



	FEBRUARY Feb. 28, 2011 Two-week Stopgap Puts Talk of Shutdown on Hold Senate Democrats have signaled they can support a two-week funding measure put forward late last week by House Republicans that contains $4 billion in cuts from current spending levels.

	Feb. 24, 2011 President Obama's Views on Same-sex Marriage Are Evolving The news out of President Obama's Justice Department that the administration will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court should come as no big surprise. Mr. Obama has long been publicly committed to legislatively repealing the 1996 law.

	Feb. 23, 2011 What Would a Government Shutdown Look Like? "Shutdown" has been a buzzword in Washington this week, as tensions continue to rise in Congress over reaching a budgeting agreement for the rest of the fiscal year before the current one expires.

	Feb. 17, 2011 Exclusive: States Facing Massive Medicaid Budget Crunch Across the country, states faced with massive budget gaps are looking for ways to cut Medicaid spending. See how much states expect their Medicaid spending to rise in 2012.

	Feb. 17, 2011 Republicans Plan Vote to Cut $61 Billion From Budget House Speaker John Boehner may have lost an intra-party skirmish on funding for an alternative engine for a fighter jet and Democrats may have wooed enough Republicans to restore funding for police officers, but the big moment many new members have been waiting for is due to arrive later Thursday.

	Feb. 16, 2011 Helium 3 Shortage Affects National Security, Medicine Inside a storage room at Andrew's Air Force Base is a cluster of neutron radiation detectors, and alongside them, a tiny amount of plutonium, used for training drills.

	Feb. 16, 2011 On Capitol Hill, a Budget Faceoff Now that President Obama has unveiled his budget proposal and gone before reporters to defend it, we can start paying attention to the real budget battle in town.

	Feb. 15, 2011 House Republicans Seek to Fulfill Campaign Pledge on Budget House Republicans campaigned on a pledge to cut $100 billion from the budget this year, and they're seeking to fulfill that pledge as they kick off Tuesday's debate about how to fund the government through Sept. 30.

	Feb. 14, 2011 Political Checklist: President Obama's Budget a 'Starting Point' After President Obama unveiled his 2012 budget proposal Monday, Political Editor David Chalian spoke with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff about the limits -- and possibilities -- of a budget that likely will be rejected by House Republicans.

	Feb. 14, 2011 President Obama's Opening Bid for 2012 Budget: $3.73 Trillion President Obama's message of "Winning the Future" in his State of the Union address was the poetry. Now comes the prose.

	Feb. 9, 2011 CIA Employee Mistakes Preceded Promotions The CIA fails to hold agents and senior managers to consistent levels of accountability when they make mistakes, even in instances where people have been killed or wrongly imprisoned, according to an investigation by the Associated Press published Wednesday.

	Feb. 8, 2011 Cities, States Face Tough Choices on Debt Amid Cash-Flow Concerns Wall Street investors and some in Congress recently have raised concerns about the risk of cash-strapped municipalities defaulting on bonds they issued. Judy Woodruff talks to the National League of Cities' Chris Hoene and Richard Larkin of Herbert J. Sims and Company, an investment banking firm, about the risks of default.

	Feb. 8, 2011 Funding Shortage Threatens AIDS Drug Programs For the past year, William Kibler has relied on Florida's AIDS Drug Assistance Program to help provide the medicine he needs to stay healthy.

	Feb. 1, 2011 Slide Show: Kennedy Center Shows Off VSA Commissions The Kennedy Center is honoring its namesake on the 50th anniversary of his inauguration. Among the festivities meant to reflect that administration's cultural agenda is an exhibit that reflects part of his social and public health agenda: addressing the treatment and perception of people with mental illness or disability.



	JANUARY Jan. 14, 2011 U.S. Turns to China for 'Real Action' on North Korea, Other Issues Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urges China to enforce U.N. sanctions against North Korea in a major policy address Friday. Margaret Warner, in Seoul, speaks with South Korea's national security adviser, and describes South Korea's tougher line toward the North, and what's behind it.

	Jan. 10, 2011 Haiti Reconstruction Aid Falls Short, New Figures Show New figures on reconstruction aid to Haiti reveal that while billions have been pledged, international donors were slow to deliver funds in 2010.

	Jan. 6, 2011 Dueling Deficit Messages Mark Early Days of Congress Senate Democrats came out swinging Thursday against the new House Republican majority, claiming that proposed exemptions and tax cuts will increase the federal deficit.

	Jan. 3, 2011 The World: Stories We're Watching in 2011 From rising tensions on the Korean peninsula to the potential birth of a nation in Africa, the following are stories the NewsHour's foreign affairs beat is tracking in the coming year.