President Obama today released his $3.9 trillion fiscal 2015 budget proposal, a plan that includes new manufacturing institutes, job training, and the president’s signature initiative of universal pre-kindergarten education. Here are the highlgihts of what the budget contains.

Next week on March 4, President Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget will be released. Here’s what will -- and what won’t -- be in his budget request.

The battle to pass a debt ceiling suspension bill is finally over. Earlier this week, lawmakers in the House of Representatives passed a suspension of the debt ceiling until March 15, 2015. Yesterday, after a dramatic vote to end debate on the bill, Senate leaders voted 55-43 to pass the House version of the debt ceiling suspension. 

Late last week, Senate lawmakers failed to reach an agreement to restore jobless aid to 1.7 million unemployed workers. The Senate voted 58-40 Thursday on a proposal that would have reinstated unemployment insurance benefits through the end of March, just two votes shy of the 60 votes needed to end debate on the bill.

House lawmakers passed a five-year farm bill this week that would cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by $800 million per year, which amounts to a 1 percent cut to the program’s $80 billion annual cost. Senate lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the bill Monday.

Congressional leaders left Washington late last week after passing the omnibus but before they restored unemployment aid to jobless workers.

An omnibus in London/ Photo by Gene Hunt.  A $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill was unveiled last night in Congress to fund the government for the rest of this fiscal year. The bill will be voted on by the end of the week. But what exactly is an “omnibus”? In...