food stamps

• 

  Boehner has a backup plan

  By Jim Kuhnhenn, Julie Pace  |  December 18, 2012

  House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that he is readying a backup bill aimed at averting the “fiscal cliff” because President Barack Obama has yet to offer a balanced package of revenues and spending savings that would cut burgeoning federal deficits.

• New inflation gauge would cut benefits, bump taxes

  By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER  |  December 4, 2012

  Tweaking the way the government measures inflation sounds like an obscure method to help reduce budget deficits, but over time it would lead to significantly lower Social Security benefits while increasing taxes, mainly on low- and middle-income families.

• Small-bore proposals to help avert fiscal cliff

  By Andrew Taylor  |  December 3, 2012

  Small changes - such as federal workers contributing more toward their pensions - could start producing real changes to the potential $500 billion cliff.

• New gauge shows 49.7 million American poor

  By Hope Yen  |  November 14, 2012

  The ranks of America's poor edged up last year to a high of 49.7 million, based on a new census measure that takes into account medical costs and work-related expenses.

• Obama: Americans agree with my approach on deficit

  By ANDREW TAYLOR and JULIE PACE,Associated Press  |  November 9, 2012

  President Barack Obama, laying down his marker for grueling "fiscal cliff" negotiations, said Friday he won't accept any approach to federal deficit reduction that doesn't ask the wealthy to pay more in taxes.

• Obama approaches 'fiscal cliff' days after victory

  By ANDREW TAYLOR, NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press  |  November 9, 2012

  With tough decisions looming to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, House Speaker John Boehner made it clear Friday that he's leaving it to President Barack Obama to make the first move.

• 

  Romney, Obama ask voters for trust

  By Charles Babington  |  October 17, 2012

  President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney teed up the last three weeks of the presidential election as a question of which man voters can trust to improve the economy.

• 

  Census data another sign economy’s hit bottom

  By Hope Yen  |  September 20, 2012

  Americans are on the move again after putting their lives on hold and staying put. More young adults are leaving their parents' homes to take a chance with college or the job market, while once-sharp declines in births are leveling off and poverty is slowing.

• 

  Who are Mitt Romney’s 47 percent?

  By Connie Cass  |  September 20, 2012

  Just which 47 percent of Americans was Mitt Romney talking about? It's hard to say. He lumped together three different ways of sorting people in what he's called less-than-elegant remarks.

• 

  Congress returns for short pre-election session

  By Andrew Taylor  |  September 10, 2012

  When lawmakers return to Washington on Monday, they face big issues, including taxes, spending cuts and the prospect of a debilitating "fiscal cliff" in January. Yet Congress is expected to do what it often does best: punt problems to the future.