President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2021 proposes to significantly reduce the size and reach of the federal bureaucracy by focusing federal activities on constitutional priorities and empowering state and local governments to address other issues closer to the people. Such reforms would have put the budget on track to balance, before exceptional measures to respond to COVID-19 (a disease caused by the novel coronavirus that originated in China) led to a steep and sudden economic decline and a massive increase in deficits.
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A better way to raise the minimum wage Rick Newman
Democrats are having a big fight among themselves about how to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 per hour since 2009. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and some other liberals want it raised to $15 per hour, but conservative Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.V.) say that’s too high for rural areas and smaller cities. They might raise it to $11, which the Sanders camp considers dismissively low.
Why not have it both ways? A 2019 Democratic proposal would establish five minimum-wage tiers for different areas of the country, based on regional living costs. Within five years, the minimum wage in the costliest cities would rise to around $15, which is Sanders’ goal. In medium-cost areas, it would rise to about $13, while in the lowest-cost places the minimum would hit $11.50.