Suit seeks to stop Trump from naming acting director of CFPB

The government official President Donald Trump wants to pass over as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with his own budget chief is asking a federal court to block the president's appointment. Leandra English, who was elevated to the position of interim director of the CFPB by its outgoing director, filed a lawsuit Sunday night in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Rival sides square off over succession at U.S. consumer finance agency

A battle over who should run the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the coming months was set for court as Obama-era holdovers sought to maintain their control over a powerful watchdog which President Donald Trump is seeking to curb. File Photo - Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney waits to testify before a Senate Budget Committee hearing on FY2018 Budget Proposals on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 25, 2017.

Cordray Names Aide to Lead Consumer Bureau in Challenge to Trump

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and named one of his lieutenants to immediately take over as acting director, setting up a potential standoff with the Trump administration over the controversial agency's leadership. In a memo to the consumer watchdog's employees, Cordray said his current chief of staff, Leandra English, would become deputy director and automatically rise to acting director when he leaves.

Trump talks welform reform, but details lacking

Welfare reform was one of the defining issues of President Bill Clinton's presidency, starting with a campaign promise to "end welfare as we know it," continuing with a bitter policy fight and producing an overhaul law that remains hotly debated 20 years later. Trump, who has been signaling interest in the issue for some time, said Monday at a Cabinet meeting that he wants to tackle welfare reform after the tax overhaul he is seeking by the end of the year.

WH: Trump not stumping for Moore due to ‘discomfort’ with bid new

President Donald Trump isn't campaigning for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore because of "discomfort" with the sexual misconduct allegations made by several women but isn't calling on the controversial judge to drop out of the race because the state's voters should decide, the White House says. Ultimately, Trump doesn't know who to believe following decades-old allegations made one month before the Dec. 12 election, according to his aides.

Trump wants to end welfare as Bill Clinton knows it

Overhauling welfare was one of the defining goals of Bill Clinton's presidency, starting with a campaign promise to "end welfare as we know it," continuing with a bitter policy fight and producing change that remains hotly debated 20 years later. Now, President Donald Trump wants to put his stamp on the welfare system, apparently in favor of a more restrictive policy.

Trump not campaigning for Moore due to ‘discomfort’ over sexual misconduct claims

President Donald Trump doesn't know who to believe about sexual misconduct allegations involving Roy Moore, but isn't campaigning for his party's Senate candidate in Alabama because of "discomfort" with the claims made by a number of women, aides said Sunday. One Republican senator urged Alabama voters to reject Moore in the Dec. 12 election even if that could mean ceding the seat to a Democrat and narrowing the GOP's 52-48 Senate edge.

The White House Is Refusing to Comply With Congressional Inquiries Into Travel Spending

Reps. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., requested the information and said the administration's reason for noncompliance was unacceptable. The White House is refusing to comply with a bipartisan congressional records request into its spending on travel and the use of government aircraft by political appointees, according to a committee making the request.

Republican tax plans both would increase the federal deficit

Republican tax writers in the House and Senate scoured the U.S. tax code this week and shook the couch cushions for loose change, as one member put it, in a struggle to find ways to pay for the deep tax cuts their leaders and President Donald Trump have promised. By late Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee had hammered together a bill and sent it toward the House floor for a vote promised next week, while the Senate Finance Committee revealed a proposal that it intends to mark up on Monday.

Trump tweets that 401(k) tax incentives – safe’ in tax plan

President Donald Trump promised Monday there will be "no change" to tax incentives for the popular 401 retirement programs. The president appeared to be responding to a recent report in The New York Times that Republican lawmakers were considering limiting the amount workers could save in 401 retirement accounts.

Trump tweets that 401(k) contributions ‘safe’ in tax plan

President Donald Trump promised Monday there will be "no change" to tax incentives for the popular 401 retirement programs. The president appeared to be responding to a recent report in The New York Times that Republican lawmakers were considering limiting the amount workers could save in 401 retirement accounts.

Trump urges House GOP to move quickly on budget, tax cuts

President Donald Trump warned House Republicans on Sunday that 2018 would be a political failure for the GOP and disappointment for the nation if they fail on tax overhaul. A GOP aide familiar with the conversation said Trump told the lawmakers again and again that the party would have a steep price to pay in next year's midterm elections if they failed to pass his plan.

Budget deficit hits $666 billion, an $80 billion spike for the year

In this Oct. 17, 2017, photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., flanked by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., left, and Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, announces to reporters that the Senate is moving ahead on a Republican budget plan at the Capitol in Washington. Senate Republicans seem to be on cruise control to pass a $4 trillion budget plan that shelves GOP deficit concerns in favor of the partyA's drive to cut taxes.

Collins: Trump should back effort to resume health subsidy

A key moderate Republican is urging President Donald Trump to support a bipartisan Senate effort to reinstate insurer payments, calling his move to halt the subsidies an immediate threat to millions of Americans who could now face rising premiums and lost health care coverage. "What the president is doing is affecting people's access and the cost of health care right now," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has cast pivotal votes on health care in the narrowly divided Senate.

Trump, senator trade online barbs

Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday called the White House "an adult day care center" after President Donald Trump criticized him in several Twitter posts. Setting off a squabble between two leaders of the same party, Trump said in a trio of tweets that Corker "begged" him for his endorsement, did not receive it and decided to retire because he "didn't have the guts" to run for re-election next year.

Republicans Worry About Keeping Trump’s Middle Class Tax Promise

Amid the uncertainty for the middle class, the framework includes hundreds of billions in tax cuts that would directly benefit top earners and the wealthy. Republican lawmakers in red and blue states are expressing unease over the limited details about middle-class relief in the tax framework their leaders released last month, which has raised difficult questions about how to prevent some middle-income Americans from paying more due to fewer tax breaks.

White House to order health care alternatives

The White House is finalizing an executive order that would expand health plans offered by associations to allow individuals to pool together and buy insurance outside their states, a unilateral move that follows failed efforts by Congress to overhaul the health care system. President Donald Trump has long asserted that selling insurance across state lines would trigger competition that brings down premiums for people buying their own policies.