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108-625: Groundwork has been described as a "left-leaning think tank" and a “nonprofit that is critical of corporate behavior” by the Washington Post , and a “progressive economic policy group” in the New York Times . Groundwork is led by Lindsay Owens , an economic sociologist who served as a senior economic policy advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren and deputy chief of staff and legislative director to former Representative Keith Ellison and Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal . She

216-455: A Guaranteed Income that found a majority of voters supported making the expanded child tax credit permanent, which contradicted polling by Morning Consult and Politico that found the opposite. Reports of the group's survey data suggested that President Joe Biden 's approval ratings increased 4 percentage points among parents who received monthly checks. The program expired at the end of 2021. Along with other liberal organizations including

324-612: A columnist. In 2018, Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi agents in Istanbul . In October 2023, the Post announced it would cut 240 jobs across the organization by offering voluntary separation packages to employees. In a staff-wide email announcing the job cuts, interim CEO Patty Stonesifer wrote, "Our prior projections for traffic, subscriptions and advertising growth for the past two years — and into 2024 — have been overly optimistic". The Post has lost around 500,000 subscribers since

432-489: A database that tracks corporate earnings calls which news reports say "has described the CEOs as not just price gouging, but also 'bragging' about their ability to raise prices faster than costs." The organization has referenced companies including Chevron , H.B. Fuller , 3M and Colgate-Palmolive in the media, alleging its CEOs are "using the cover of inflation to jack up prices on consumers." In November 2022, Groundwork and

540-686: A deficit requires that the government borrow money. However, based on Article 1 , Section 8, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution , only Congress has the authority to borrow money "on the Credit of the United States". The United States debt ceiling is a legislative limit that determines how much debt the Treasury Department may incur. It was introduced in 1917, when Congress voted to give Treasury

648-496: A former Democratic congressman from Ohio. To promote the newspaper, the new owners requested the leader of the United States Marine Band , John Philip Sousa , to compose a march for the newspaper's essay contest awards ceremony. Sousa composed " The Washington Post ". It became the standard music to accompany the two-step, a late 19th-century dance craze, and remains one of Sousa's best-known works. In 1893,

756-519: A front-page story which advertised the location at which white servicemen were planning to meet to carry out attacks on black Washingtonians. In 1929, financier Eugene Meyer , who had run the War Finance Corp. since World War I , secretly made an offer of $ 5 million for the Post, but he was rebuffed by Ned McLean. On June 1, 1933, Meyer bought the paper at a bankruptcy auction for $ 825,000 three weeks after stepping down as Chairman of

864-523: A keynote speech at the convention calling on Congress to eliminate the debt ceiling during the lame duck session of the 117th United States Congress and criticized the Federal Reserve 's policies on inflation. In 2021, Groundwork Collaborative formed ProsperUS, a coalition of more than 70 progressive organizations pushing the Biden administration and Congress for increased public investment in

972-497: A major role in the resignation of President Richard Nixon , won the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize in 1973. In 1972, the "Book World" section was introduced with Pulitzer Prize-winning critic William McPherson as its first editor. It featured Pulitzer Prize-winning critics such as Jonathan Yardley and Michael Dirda , the latter of whom established his career as a critic at the Post . In 2009, after 37 years, with great reader outcries and protest, The Washington Post Book World as

1080-512: A potential budget for 2023. At 184 pages, this budget included $ 3 trillion to reduce the deficit, with savings largely coming from increased taxes on the wealthy and corporations. On April 19, Speaker McCarthy unveiled the Limit, Save, Grow Act, a 320-page House bill which would have raised the debt ceiling by $ 1.5 trillion (enough to last until at least March 31, 2024) while at the same time providing for significant spending cuts. More specifically,

1188-429: A pseudonym. His wife Agnes Ernst Meyer was a journalist from the other end of the spectrum politically. The Post ran many of her pieces including tributes to her personal friends John Dewey and Saul Alinsky . In 1946, Meyer was appointed head of World Bank , and he named his son-in-law Phil Graham to succeed him as Post publisher. The post-war years saw the developing friendship of Phil and Kay Graham with

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1296-467: A report in January 2024 arguing that it had "resounding evidence" that high corporate profits were responsible for 53% of inflation in the United States during the second and third quarters of 2023. Economist Isabella Weber called this phenomenon where firms do not lower prices for consumers after input prices fall a form of implicit collusion , allowing companies to reap windfall profits . This followed

1404-453: A series of individual stories..." He has been described as a "hands-off owner", holding teleconference calls with executive editor Martin Baron every two weeks. Bezos appointed Fred Ryan (founder and CEO of Politico ) to serve as publisher and chief executive officer. This signaled Bezos' intent to shift the Post to a more digital focus with a national and global readership. In 2015,

1512-599: A significant portion of funding for their 2022 election campaigns from small donors, which made it easier for them to resist pressure from business groups to raise the debt ceiling.   Indeed, the debt ceiling fight was viewed by some as being an example of widening divisions between corporate America and the Republican Party, which had begun during the Trump presidency. On May 5, 2023, the president's senior advisor, Mitch Landrieu, appeared on TV to field questions on

1620-610: A similar December 2023 paper published by the UK-based Institute for Public Policy Research and Common Wealth think tanks that stated that corporate profiteering played an important role in the inflation spike of 2022. Corporate profits surged while wages failed to keep pace with rising prices, resulting in the working class suffering the largest decline in disposable and discretionary income since World War II . The organization also reported in February 2024, that 30% of

1728-540: A standalone insert was discontinued, the last issue being Sunday, February 15, 2009, along with a general reorganization of the paper, such as placing the Sunday editorials on the back page of the main front section rather than the "Outlook" section and distributing some other locally oriented "op-ed" letters and commentaries in other sections. However, book reviews are still published in the Outlook section on Sundays and in

1836-520: A story about his past ties to a phone hacking scandal, have further shaken the newsroom's morale. Lewis continues to grapple with declining revenue and audience on the business front, seeking strategies to regain subscribers lost since the Trump era. Later that month, the paper ran a story allegedly exposing a connection between incoming editor Robert Winnett and John Ford, a man who "admitted to an extensive career using deception and illegal means to obtain confidential information." Winnett withdrew from

1944-489: A total of around $ 4.8 trillion, with two-thirds of that coming from reduced discretionary outlays and the rest coming from lower mandatory spending, increased Revenue, and lower interest payments on the national debt. Responses to the bill were mixed. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington , who filed the bill, criticized the Biden administration's spending while saying that the plan would address that. Meanwhile,

2052-486: Is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. , the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area and has a national audience. As of 2023, the Post  has 135,980 print subscribers and 2.5 million digital subscribers, both of which are the third-largest among U.S. newspapers after The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal . The Post

2160-455: Is an impasse over the debt ceiling. Said measures were first used by it in 1985, and Congress granted the Treasury permission to continue using them the following year. Secretary Yellen also initiated a "debt issuance suspension period" through June 5, and has rejected the minting of a trillion-dollar coin (which would have created $ 1 trillion in seigniorage ). Analysts were monitoring

2268-551: Is limited in power by Congress. In other words, the Treasury can borrow money to pay for federal expenditures—but only as much as Congress lets it. Since 2009, America's national debt has nearly tripled, with annual federal deficits averaging close to $ 1 trillion since 2001. During the 21st century, it has gone up for various reasons, including tax cuts under Presidents Bush and Trump , wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , entitlements like Medicare Part D , and spending in response to

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2376-487: Is non-negotiable, and that Congress is obligated to increase it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had said that there will be no default, though he also said that dealing with the debt ceiling would be up to President Biden and Speaker McCarthy. As well, members of the House Freedom Caucus (and a few other Republicans who were not part of it, such as Representative Matt Gaetz) had raised

2484-567: Is regarded as one of the leading daily American newspapers along with The New York Times , the Los Angeles Times , and The Wall Street Journal . The Post has distinguished itself through its political reporting on the workings of the White House, Congress, and other aspects of the U.S. government. It is considered a newspaper of record in the U.S. The Washington Post does not print an edition for distribution away from

2592-489: The 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis , Owens urged President Biden to "not give into hostage-taking," called for more tax increases and for Biden to invoke the Fourteenth Amendment as a strategy to avoid default. After negotiators struck a deal to raise the debt ceiling and cap discretionary spending, Owens criticized the compromise saying it "represents the worst of conservative budget ideology," citing

2700-592: The Compromise of 1790 (when Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton got both Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Representative James Madison to agree to take on Revolutionary War debts assumed by the states and the Continental Congress in exchange for locating the capital on the Potomac River by Virginia ) played a role with this: Because Revolutionary War bondholders were paid 100 cents on

2808-779: The East Coast . In 2009, the newspaper ceased publication of its National Weekly Edition due to shrinking circulation. The majority of its newsprint readership is in Washington, D.C., and its suburbs in Maryland and Northern Virginia. The newspaper's 21 current foreign bureaus are in Baghdad , Beijing , Beirut , Berlin , Brussels , Cairo , Dakar , Hong Kong , Islamabad , Istanbul , Jerusalem , London , Mexico City , Moscow , Nairobi , New Delhi , Rio de Janeiro , Rome , Seoul , Tokyo , and Toronto . In November 2009,

2916-603: The Economic Policy Institute , Demos , Center for Economic and Policy Research , and the Roosevelt Institute , Groundwork hosts EconCon, a yearly economic policy convention for left-leaning economists, advocates and policymakers. Recent keynote speakers have included Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young , Rep. Delia Ramirez , and Minnesota lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan . In 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered

3024-588: The Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic . Currently, the U.S. is the industrialized country with the fourth highest debt-to-GDP ratio, behind Japan, Italy and Greece. Additionally, the national debt is forecast to be double the United States' GDP by 2051. According to both policy experts and politicians, dealing with the deficit and debt will ultimately involve both raising taxes and decreasing spending. Past plans for taxes hikes have included reducing

3132-593: The House Oversight Committee regarding inflation, profiteering and supply chain bottlenecks. Mike Mitchell, Groundwork's former director of policy and research, testified before the House Fair Growth Committee regarding corporate consolidation and the imbalance of power between workers and companies. The Washington Post The Washington Post , locally known as The Post and, informally, WaPo or WP ,

3240-758: The Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War . Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the investigation into the break-in at the Democratic National Committee , which developed into the Watergate scandal and the 1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon . In October 2013, the Graham family sold the newspaper to Nash Holdings , a holding company owned by Jeff Bezos , for $ 250 million. As of 2024,

3348-575: The Post for two years before selling it in 1905 to John Roll McLean , owner of the Cincinnati Enquirer . During the Wilson presidency, the Post was credited with the "most famous newspaper typo " in D.C. history according to Reason magazine; the Post intended to report that President Wilson had been "entertaining" his future-wife Mrs. Galt, but instead wrote that he had been "entering" Mrs. Galt. When McLean died in 1916, he put

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3456-524: The Post moved from the building it owned at 1150 15th Street to a leased space three blocks away at One Franklin Square on K Street . Since 2014 the Post has launched an online personal finance section, a blog, and a podcast with a retro theme. The Post won the 2020 Webby People's Voice Award for News & Politics in the Social and Web categories. In 2017, the newspaper hired Jamal Khashoggi as

3564-549: The Post with two remaining local competitors, the Washington Star ( Evening Star ) and The Washington Daily News . In 1972, the two competitors merged, forming the Washington Star-News. Following Graham's death in 1963, control of The Washington Post Company passed to his wife, Katharine Graham (1917–2001), who was also Eugene Meyer's daughter. Few women had run prominent national newspapers in

3672-613: The Post 's average printed weekday circulation is 139,232, making it the third largest newspaper in the country by circulation. For many decades, the Post had its main office at 1150 15th Street NW. This real estate remained with Graham Holdings when the newspaper was sold to Jeff Bezos' Nash Holdings in 2013. Graham Holdings sold 1150 15th Street, along with 1515 L Street, 1523 L Street, and land beneath 1100 15th Street, for $ 159 million in November 2013. The Post continued to lease space at 1150 L Street NW. In May 2014, The Post leased

3780-563: The 14th amendment makes the debt ceiling unconstitutional. President Biden could, in theory, end the crisis by avoiding Congress altogether, issuing an executive order invoking Section 4 and ordering the Treasury to continue making payments, even if that pushed the public debt above $ 31.4 trillion. However, an invocation of the 14th amendment by President Biden would come with serious pitfalls. Legal scholars are divided as to whether or not it would be legally permissible for Biden to take such an action. His executive order might not be accepted by

3888-518: The Federal Reserve . He had bid anonymously, and was prepared to go up to $ 2 million, far higher than the other bidders. These included William Randolph Hearst , who had long hoped to shut down the ailing Post to benefit his own Washington newspaper presence. The Post 's health and reputation were restored under Meyer's ownership. In 1946, he was succeeded as publisher by his son-in-law, Philip Graham . Meyer eventually gained

3996-497: The House Budget Committee's Democratic members referred to it as "The Default on America Act", or DOA for short. President Biden said on April 25 that, had the bill passed Congress, he would have vetoed it. It was originally reported that a considerable amount of Republican Representatives would not have supported the bill. However, on April 26, following several days of negotiations and last-minute changes to

4104-510: The House, Republicans demanded deep spending cuts as a precondition to raising the debt ceiling, while Democrats insisted on a "clean bill" without preconditions, as had been the case in raising the ceiling in 2017, 2018, and 2019, during the Trump administration. On Wednesday, February 1, 2023, President Biden and Speaker McCarthy met for an hour in the Oval Office to discuss how to raise

4212-706: The Kennedys, the Bradlees and the rest of the " Georgetown Set", including many Harvard University alumni that would color the Post's political orientation. Kay Graham's most memorable Georgetown soirée guest list included British diplomat and communist spy Donald Maclean . The Post is credited with coining the term " McCarthyism " in a 1950 editorial cartoon by Herbert Block . Depicting buckets of tar, it made fun of Sen. Joseph McCarthy 's "tarring" tactics, i.e., smear campaigns and character assassination against those targeted by his accusations. Sen. McCarthy

4320-475: The Senate on June 1. Biden signed it into law on June 3, bringing the crisis to an end. In 2019, just over 60% of the federal budget went to mandatory spending for programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, with another 30% going to discretionary spending (half of which went to defense). The remaining 9% went to pay for interest on the debt. Meanwhile, both mandatory spending programs and interest on

4428-542: The Style section the rest of the week, as well as online. In 1975, the pressmen's union went on strike . The Post hired replacement workers to replace the pressmen's union, and other unions returned to work in February 1976. Donald E. Graham , Katharine's son, succeeded her as a publisher in 1979. In 1995, the domain name washingtonpost.com was purchased. That same year, a failed effort to create an online news repository called Digital Ink launched. The following year it

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4536-466: The Treasury Department began considering implementation of "extraordinary measures" to prevent a default for a few months, so as to give Congress time to increase the debt ceiling, explained in a memo it issued on January 19, 2023. However, it would only be able to use them for a few months. Extraordinary measures are accounting maneuvers that the Treasury uses to enable the federal government to continue to meet its various financial obligations while there

4644-569: The U.S. and worldwide would spike, and payments on benefits (such as social security) and salaries for the military would be stopped. Other potential consequences of a default would include reduced consumer confidence, a recession, immediately stopping about 10% of the American economy, increasing the cost of a 30-year mortgage, losing three million jobs in the U.S., and increasing the national debt due to higher interest rates. Moody's Analytics warned that Congress may not be able to avoid breaching

4752-863: The Union at the time of the 14th amendment's ratification, many pro-Union members of Congress feared that if the South were to take back a significant amount of Congress, or were to retake the Presidency, they would refuse to pay the debt incurred by the Union during the Civil War, or pay debts incurred by the Confederacy to support its war effort against the United States. Section 4 confirmed the legitimacy of all U.S. debt to stop this from ever happening. While Section 4's original purpose has long become moot, many constitutional legal scholars believe that Section 4 of

4860-551: The United States hit its debt ceiling , leading to a debt-ceiling crisis, part of an ongoing political debate within Congress about federal government spending and the national debt that the U.S. government accrues. In response, Janet Yellen , the Secretary of the Treasury , began enacting temporary "extraordinary measures". On May 1, 2023, Yellen warned these measures could be exhausted as early as June 1, 2023; this date

4968-431: The United States. In her autobiography, Katharine Graham described her own anxiety and lack of confidence when she stepped into a leadership role. She served as publisher from 1969 to 1979. Graham took The Washington Post Company public on June 15, 1971, in the midst of the Pentagon Papers controversy. A total of 1,294,000 shares were offered to the public at $ 26 per share. By the end of Graham's tenure as CEO in 1991,

5076-565: The Vietnam War in 1971 when it published the Pentagon Papers . In the mid-1970s, some conservatives referred to the Post as " Pravda on the Potomac " because of its perceived left-wing bias in both reporting and editorials. Since then, the appellation has been used by both liberal and conservative critics of the newspaper. In the PBS documentary Buying the War , journalist Bill Moyers said in

5184-528: The War. In 1902, Berryman published another famous cartoon in the Post – Drawing the Line in Mississippi . This cartoon depicts President Theodore Roosevelt showing compassion for a small bear cub and inspired New York store owner Morris Michtom to create the teddy bear. Wilkins acquired Hatton's share of the newspaper in 1894 at Hatton's death. After Wilkins' death in 1903, his sons John and Robert ran

5292-466: The White House disagreed on how to resolve this crisis. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called for negotiations to reduce federal spending in exchange for increasing the debt ceiling, including making possible cuts to Medicare , Medicaid , and Social Security , or otherwise possibly overhauling entitlements. In contrast, the Biden administration declared that raising the debt ceiling

5400-567: The White House response to the debt-ceiling crisis and the banking crisis . A week later, Landrieu held a press conference at the White House to underscore the serious threat to the national economy of the 'manufactured crisis' of the debt-ceiling standoff. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Associated Press that, while she expected that Congress would eventually raise the debt ceiling, demanding spending cuts in exchange for doing so would be irresponsible and that increasing it

5508-474: The acquisition. The combined newspaper was published from the Globe Building as The Washington Post and Union beginning on April 15, 1878, with a circulation of 13,000. The Post and Union name was used about two weeks until April 29, 1878, returning to the original masthead the following day. In 1889, Hutchins sold the newspaper to Frank Hatton , a former Postmaster General, and Beriah Wilkins ,

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5616-477: The appointment of two white men to top editorial positions have sparked internal discontent, particularly given the lack of consideration for the Post's senior female editors. Additionally, Lewis' proposed division for social media and service journalism has met with resistance from staff. Recent reports alleging Lewis' attempts to influence editorial decisions, including pressuring NPR 's media correspondent to drop

5724-489: The case in raising the ceiling 3 times during the Donald Trump administration . If the government had run out of funds, the Treasury would have had to either default on payments to bondholders or immediately curtail payment of funds owed to various companies and individuals that had been mandated but not fully funded by Congress. Both situations had been expected to result in a global economic meltdown. Additionally, if

5832-475: The coin for deposit, and likely would not. Krugman expressed a different opinion, saying on Twitter, "As for claims that Powell would refuse to accept the coin, or the Supremes would block premium bonds — well, nobody knows. But my guess is that nobody wants to be the guy who destroys the world economy. Even people happy to see it burn don't want their fingerprints on it." Having recently regained control of

5940-545: The country into a recession" and made a case that profiteering by corporations is a leading cause of inflation. She has also appeared multiple times on The Problem with Jon Stewart as a featured guest and panelist to discuss why Groundwork believes the Federal Reserve's policies are misguided and how corporate profiteering is driving inflation. Likewise, Mabud has been publicly critical of the Federal Reserve, arguing its actions will cause job losses and an economic recession while not addressing price gouging by corporations. During

6048-606: The courts, and even if it were eventually upheld by the United States Supreme Court, the uncertainty leading up to a decision might cause turmoil in the markets and a spike in interest rates. In 1997, Congress passed a law that vested power to the Treasury to mint commemorative platinum coins of any denomination. The law, 31 U.S.C. Section 5112, was originally intended to help the Treasury make money off of coin collectors, an idea penned by Delaware's at-large representative, Republican Mike Castle . The text of

6156-480: The debt ceiling fight in his fundraising emails, though he wrote about it in terms of limiting government spending. At the same time, far Right Republicans in Congress had been using the debt ceiling over the past few years to galvanize their supporters and to do fundraising based on it. In March 2023, economists with Moody's Analytics analyzed five different scenarios for dealing with the debt limit. They included

6264-407: The debt ceiling more contentious than before, with economists now considering what would happen if the federal government defaulted on its loans. One analysis from September 2021 (during a previous debt limit standoff) said that, if the federal government defaulted, America's credit rating would experience a drastic downgrade, interest rates on Treasury bonds would go up sharply, interest rates both in

6372-474: The debt ceiling. The two did not reach agreement – the president called for a clean debt ceiling increase, while the speaker demanded cuts to spending in exchange for raising it – though both agreed they would continue talking about it. Biden and McCarthy met several times in May to try and find a way to solve the crisis, ultimately coming to an agreement on May 27. On March 9, 2023, President Biden released

6480-482: The debt limit. This warning was based on both the difficulty the House had in electing Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, and how some lawmakers (mostly Republican) were wondering if the Treasury would be able to prioritize paying bondholders if it was breached. Even with the ongoing fight over raising the debt ceiling, party leaders in Congress were busy raising money, with Republican Congressional leaders raising about $ 10.4 million and Democratic ones raising $ 5.7 million during

6588-409: The debt were expected to take up increasing shares of the federal budget, while tax revenues were expected to be stagnant. In the fiscal year 2022, the federal government brought in $ 4.90 trillion but spent $ 6.27 trillion, with a net budget deficit of $ 1.38 trillion (the fourth-highest of the 21st century). In addition, it has run deficits every year since 2001, when it last ran a surplus. Financing

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6696-427: The deficit or debt when they have held power, although the issue is often a foundation of candidates' election campaigns. The United States dollar (used heavily in international trade) is considered to be the world's reserve currency for a variety of reasons including the sheer magnitude of the American economy, America's geopolitical strength, the dollar's relative stability, and the market for U.S. debt. As well,

6804-515: The dollar, America made good on its debt and established good credit.  This, in turn, helped contribute to the dollar becoming the world's reserve currency. As a result, foreign creditors (including China, Japan, and the United Kingdom) are large markets for the currency. This makes it easier for the U.S. government to finance the national debt via being charged lower interest rates for borrowing money. The House of Representatives and

6912-651: The economy. The group supported the Build Back Better Plan and later, the Inflation Reduction Act . During the September 2023 government shutdown crisis, the coalition called on leaders in Congress to reject spending cuts proposed by Congressional Republicans to keep the government funded and avoid shutdown. During the 117th United States Congress , members of Groundwork's staff testified before various congressional committees on

7020-504: The effects flat spending may have on programs like Head Start and rental assistance . In June 2021, Groundwork and liberal polling firm Data for Progress launched a 'war room' called Fighting Chance for Families to advocate for extending the temporary expanded child tax credit that was included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 . In July 2021, the group released a poll from Data for Progress and Mayors for

7128-400: The end of 2020 and was set to lose $ 100 million in 2023, according to The New York Times . The layoffs prompted Dan Froomkin of Presswatchers to suggest that the decline in readership could be reversed by focusing on the rise of authoritarianism (in a fashion similar to the role the Post played during the Watergate scandal ) instead of staying strictly neutral, which Froomkin says places

7236-426: The entire company revenue stream. Executive editor Ben Bradlee put the newspaper's reputation and resources behind reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein , who, in a long series of articles, chipped away at the story behind the 1972 burglary of Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex in Washington. The Post 's dogged coverage of the story, the outcome of which ultimately played

7344-438: The federal government had been unable to issue new debt, it would have had to balance its budget by imposing budget cuts that, in total, would have equaled 5% of the size of the American economy. Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe said that a default would be unconstitutional due to the 14th Amendment and the government would be required to repay its debts despite hitting the debt ceiling. President Joe Biden said that he

7452-577: The first three months of 2023. A number of moderate and progressive Democrats in the House and Senate had explicitly brought up the current debt ceiling fight in fundraising appeals to their supporters, and had framed it in terms of warning about potential consequences of a default. Messages about this came from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer , moderates like senators Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown , and progressives like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Elizabeth Warren . Meanwhile, Republican Senator Tim Scott explicitly brought up

7560-622: The following in their report on this: While the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1866, is more widely known for its provisions granting citizenship to freed slaves and establishing equal rights, it also contains a long-forgotten provision, Section 4, that states, in part, "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned." With former Confederate states being admitted back into

7668-409: The government "printing money" to pay off debt. However, according to economist Paul Krugman , the move would not be inflationary, saying on Twitter, "The Fed would surely sterilize any impact on the monetary base by selling off some of its huge portfolio of US debt." Current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen dismissed the plan as a "gimmick", saying that the Federal Reserve isn't required to accept

7776-436: The government would have defaulted, there was a compromise between Democrats and Senate Republicans to create a committee to look into cutting spending, and to also increase the debt ceiling. As a result of the near-default, America's credit rating was downgraded to AA+ by Standard and Poor's, as American borrowing costs went up by $ 1.3 billion that year. Increasing political polarization since 2011 has made votes to raise

7884-967: The impact of blogs on American politics, liberal bloggers link to The Washington Post and The New York Times more often than other major newspapers; however, conservative bloggers also link predominantly to liberal newspapers. Since 2011, the Post has been running a column called "The Fact Checker" that the Post describes as a "truth squad". The Fact Checker received a $ 250,000 grant from Google News Initiative /YouTube to expand production of video fact checks . In mid-September 2016, Matthew Ingram of Forbes joined Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept , and Trevor Timm of The Guardian in criticizing The Washington Post for "demanding that [former National Security Agency contractor Edward] Snowden ... stand trial on espionage charges". 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis Bowles–Simpson Commission 2007–2008 financial crisis 2013 budget sequestration Related events On January 19, 2023,

7992-588: The last laugh over Hearst, who had owned the old Washington Times and the Herald before their 1939 merger that formed the Times-Herald . This was in turn bought by and merged into the Post in 1954. The combined paper was officially named The Washington Post and Times-Herald until 1973, although the Times-Herald portion of the nameplate became less and less prominent over time. The merger left

8100-526: The new President Lyndon B. Johnson , "I don't have much influence with the Post because I frankly don't read it. I view it like the Daily Worker ." Ben Bradlee became the editor-in-chief in 1968, and Kay Graham officially became the publisher in 1969, paving the way for the aggressive reporting of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate scandals . The Post strengthened public opposition to

8208-494: The newspaper announced the closure of three U.S. regional bureaus in Chicago , Los Angeles and New York City , as part of an increased focus on Washington, D.C. –based political stories and local news. The newspaper has local bureaus in Maryland (Annapolis, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and Southern Maryland) and Virginia (Alexandria, Fairfax, Loudoun County, Richmond, and Prince William County). As of March 2023,

8316-648: The newspaper had won the Pulitzer Prize 76 times for its work, the second-most of any publication after The New York Times . It is considered a newspaper of record in the U.S. Post journalists have received 18 Nieman Fellowships and 368 White House News Photographers Association awards. The paper is well known for its political reporting and is one of the few remaining American newspapers to operate foreign bureaus , with international breaking news hubs in London and Seoul . The Washington Post

8424-458: The newspaper in a trust, having little faith that his playboy son Edward "Ned" McLean could manage it as part of his inheritance. Ned went to court and broke the trust, but, under his management, the newspaper slumped toward ruin. He bled the paper for his lavish lifestyle and used it to promote political agendas. During the Red Summer of 1919 the Post supported the white mobs and even ran

8532-555: The newspaper moved to a building at 14th and E streets NW, where it would remain until 1950. This building combined all functions of the newspaper into one headquarters – newsroom, advertising, typesetting, and printing – that ran 24 hours per day. In 1898, during the Spanish–American War , the Post printed Clifford K. Berryman 's classic illustration Remember the Maine , which became the battle-cry for American sailors during

8640-402: The newspaper's coverage during the run-up to the 2008 presidential election , former Post ombudsman Deborah Howell wrote: "The opinion pages have strong conservative voices; the editorial board includes centrists and conservatives; and there were editorials critical of Obama. Yet opinion was still weighted toward Obama." According to a 2009 Oxford University Press book by Richard Davis on

8748-478: The number of deductions, increasing rates on higher earners, and making new taxes, while proposals for reducing spending have included reducing Social Security benefits, lowering payments for Medicaid and Medicare, and cutting defense spending, among others. However, it tends to be difficult to do so in practice, owing to citizens' reluctance to alter large programs like Social Security or the raising of taxes. Historically, no political party has been willing to reduce

8856-597: The one in 2011, including how both involved the GOP-controlled House of Representatives demanding spending cuts in exchange for increasing the debt limit. In 2011, both the House and the Obama administration negotiated for months on it until talks collapsed. As a result, markets experienced turmoil, with the S&;P 500 dropping by over 16% in the final month before the deadline. In August 2011, two days before

8964-487: The ongoing debate over raising the debt ceiling, and were keeping investors informed of it and similarly warning about the potential consequences of a default. However, as of January 23, 2023, markets were not reacting to the debt ceiling debate, as the expectation was that the debt ceiling would be raised in time to prevent default. Analysts wrote that, with the exception of the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, markets had historically not reacted to debates over raising it. On

9072-433: The organization would embrace artificial intelligence to improve the paper's financial situation, telling staff it would seek "AI everywhere in our newsroom." In June 2024, Axios reported the Post faced significant internal turmoil and financial challenges. The new CEO, Lewis, has already generated controversy with his leadership style and proposed restructuring plans. The abrupt departure of executive editor Buzbee and

9180-403: The other hand, they wrote that if the debt ceiling wasn't increased as the deadline for doing so drew nearer, stock prices would start dropping and interest rates would begin to rise. On May 5, 2023, European credit rating agency Scope placed the United States' AA sovereign rating under review for downgrade. The Associated Press has noted similarities between the 2023 debt ceiling crisis and

9288-420: The paper into an undistinguished secondary role in competition with other contemporary media. As part of the shift in tone, in 2023 the paper closed down the "KidsPost" column for children, the "Skywatch" astronomy column, and the "John Kelly's Washington" column about local history and sights, which had been running under different bylines since 1947. In May 2024, CEO and publisher William Lewis announced that

9396-465: The position shortly thereafter. In 1933, financier Eugene Meyer bought the bankrupt Post , and assured the public that neither he nor the newspaper would be beholden to any political party. But as a leading Republican who had been appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve by Herbert Hoover in 1930, his opposition to Roosevelt 's New Deal colored the paper's editorials and news coverage, including editorializing news stories written by Meyer under

9504-451: The progressive consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen released a report that found that large corporations opposed to anti-price gouging legislation spent $ 751 million on federal lobbying since 2020, nine times more than what was spent by supporters of the legislation. In early 2022, Janet Yellen , Larry Summers , and Jason Furman criticized this approach of focusing on price gouging to combat inflation. The organization released

9612-527: The proposals contained in the draft law included eliminating the partial federal student loan forgiveness program put in place by the Biden administration, introducing work requirements for Medicaid, withdrawing IRS enforcement funding for audits, and eliminating several clean energy subsidies. In its April 25 analysis of the bill, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that it would reduce federal budget deficits from 2023 to 2033 by

9720-501: The right to issue bonds for financing America participating in World War I, rather than issuing them for individual projects, as had been the case in the past. In 1939, Congress gave the Treasury the right to issue and manage debt—though it limited how much it could issue. From 1939 to 2018, the Treasury increased the debt ceiling 98 times, decreasing it five times. Whilst the Treasury can borrow money to pay for federal expenditures, it

9828-428: The rise in grocery prices in particularly vulnerable sectors like beef, chicken, fruits, vegetables and snacks and urged the Biden adminsitration to finalize rules to address the concentration in the meatpacking industry. In 2022, Owens penned a New York Times op-ed where she criticized the hiking interest rates of interest rates to slow the economy, calling them a "a blunt policy tool with a high likelihood of throwing

9936-641: The statute did not specify any limitations on how high the denomination of the coin could be. An idea, which first emerged just prior to the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, is that the Treasury Secretary could instruct the US Mint to issue a trillion-dollar coin, and deposit it with the Federal Reserve. According to economist Mark Zandi , using the coin in such a way would be inflationary. An opinion article in National Review likened it to

10044-417: The stock was worth $ 888 per share, not counting the effect of an intermediate 4:1 stock split. Graham also oversaw the Post company's diversification purchase of the for-profit education and training company Kaplan, Inc. for $ 40 million in 1984. Twenty years later, Kaplan had surpassed the Post newspaper as the company's leading contributor to income, and by 2010 Kaplan accounted for more than 60% of

10152-774: The topics of corporate profiteering, supply chain bottlenecks, inflation, workers' rights, and corporate consolidation. Owens testified before the Senate Budget Committee regarding the links between corporate profiteering and inflation. Dr. Rakeen Mabud, Groundwork's chief economist, testified before the House Antitrust Subcommittee , the House Consumer Protection Subcommittee , the House Financial Services Committee , and

10260-572: The war, while contrary information got lost". On March 23, 2007, Chris Matthews said on his television program, " The Washington Post is not the liberal newspaper it was [...] I have been reading it for years and it is a neocon newspaper". It has regularly published a mixture of op-ed columnists, with some of them left-leaning (including E. J. Dionne , Dana Milbank , Greg Sargent, and Eugene Robinson ), and some of them right-leaning (including George Will , Marc Thiessen , Michael Gerson and Charles Krauthammer ). Responding to criticism of

10368-621: The west tower of One Franklin Square , a high-rise building at 1301 K Street NW in Washington, D.C. Mary Jordan was the founding editor, head of content, and moderator for Washington Post Live , The Post's editorial events business, which organizes political debates, conferences and news events for the media company, including "The 40th Anniversary of Watergate" in June 2012 that featured key Watergate figures including former White House counsel John Dean , Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee , and reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein , which

10476-547: The year prior to the Iraq War there were 27 editorials supporting the Bush administration 's desire to invade Iraq. National security correspondent Walter Pincus reported that he had been ordered to cease his reports that were critical of the administration. According to author and journalist Greg Mitchell : "By the Post 's own admission, in the months before the war, it ran more than 140 stories on its front page promoting

10584-414: Was about ensuring that the federal government could pay for spending that Congress had already approved, rather than about new spending. Yellen made similar points in her January 13, 2023, letter to Congress, also warning that if they did not suspend or raise it, they would harm the American economy, the American people, and the global financial system's stability. As a result of reaching the debt ceiling,

10692-908: Was attempting to do for the Senate what the House Un-American Activities Committee had been doing for years—investigating Soviet espionage in America . The HUAC made Richard Nixon nationally known for his role in the Hiss / Chambers case that exposed communist spying in the State Department . The committee had evolved from the McCormack - Dickstein Committee of the 1930s. Phil Graham's friendship with John F. Kennedy remained strong until their deaths in 1963. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover reportedly told

10800-500: Was considering invoking the 14th amendment because he felt he had authority to do so, but questioned whether it could be done in time to avoid default given the possibility that it might be appealed. On May 27, Biden and then-House speaker Kevin McCarthy struck a deal to increase the debt-ceiling but cap federal spending; the resulting bill, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 , passed the House on May 31 and

10908-407: Was founded in 1877 by Stilson Hutchins (1838–1912); in 1880, it added a Sunday edition, becoming the city's first newspaper to publish seven days a week. In April 1878, about four months into publication, The Washington Post purchased The Washington Union , a competing newspaper which was founded by John Lynch in late 1877. The Union had only been in operation about six months at the time of

11016-430: Was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. In 1933, financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1933 and revived its health and reputation; this work was continued by his successors Katharine and Phil Graham , Meyer's daughter and son-in-law, respectively, who bought out several rival publications. The Post 's 1971 printing of

11124-525: Was held at the Watergate hotel. Regular hosts include Frances Stead Sellers . Lois Romano was formerly the editor of Washington Post Live . The Post has its own exclusive Zip Code , 20071. Arc XP is a department of The Washington Post , which provides a publishing system and software for news organizations such as the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times . The newspaper

11232-401: Was later pushed to June 5. The debt ceiling had been increased multiple times through December 2021 since the 2013 debt-ceiling standoff , each time without budgetary preconditions attached. In the 2023 impasse, Republicans proposed cutting spending back to 2022 levels as a precondition to raising the debt ceiling, while Democrats insisted on a "clean bill" without preconditions, as had been

11340-600: Was named the organization's executive director in June 2021. Previous notable Groundwork employees include Janelle Jones, former chief economist at the Department of Labor , and Angela Hanks, former acting assistant secretary for Employment and Training Administration at the Department of Labor. Groundwork offers research on "corporate profiteering " which the organization claims is a contributor to inflation sometimes called " greedflation ". The organization maintains

11448-596: Was recently named to the Washingtonian 's “Most Influential People Shaping Policy” list, noting that “Owens is known in media circles for her skills in communicating ways to better understand inflation and corporate profiteering.” The organization was founded in 2018 by Michael Linden. Linden also served as the executive associate director at the Office of Management and Budget from May 2022 - June 2023. In January 2021, Lindsay Owens became interim executive director and

11556-400: Was renamed Graham Holdings shortly after the sale. Nash Holdings, which includes the Post , is operated separately from technology company Amazon , which Bezos founded and where he is as of 2022 executive chairman and the largest single shareholder, with 12.7% of voting rights. Bezos said he has a vision that recreates "the 'daily ritual' of reading the Post as a bundle, not merely

11664-410: Was shut down and the first website was launched in June 1996. In August 2013, Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post and other local publications, websites, and real estate for US$ 250   million , transferring ownership to Nash Holdings LLC, Bezos's private investment company. The paper's former parent company, which retained some other assets such as Kaplan and a group of TV stations,

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