Treasury

Democrats have owned the debate for two years, while Republicans have had difficulty articulating their side of it.

Under secretary Sigal Mandelker warns companies about the risks of dealing with the Islamic Republic.

The Trump administration's decision to go after Russian leader Vladimir Putin's inner circle with sanctions is being praised as a long-awaited, highly significant response to the Kremlin's destabilizing activities.

Although this magazine has frequently lamented President Trump's tendency to praise Vladimir Putin and his regime in public, we've also applauded the administration for its punitive actions against the Kremlin's dictator. And we've urged the administration to go further by, for instance, listing…

This is Peter Navarro’s moment. The gadfly economist, whose idée fixe is America’s capitulation to China on trade, joined the Trump administration on Day One, heading up the National Trade Council, a new office created by the new president. But for the first 13 months, Trump did little to advance…

The Trump administration made clear on Friday, with what it described as the largest set of sanctions against North Korea yet, that it will continue to isolate Pyongyang even as the South seeks to engage with the North.

President Donald Trump on Friday delivered a free-wheeling speech to CPAC, a campaign-style barnburner that went over well with the raucous crowd. And on his way out, he casually got around to the important stuff: major new sanctions on North Korea.

Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin reassured lawmakers Tuesday that the department is preparing sanctions against corrupt Kremlin-linked people who are listed in a classified version of a report mandated by Congress.

Republicans and Democrats are at odds over the Trump administration's decision Monday to hold off on new sanctions that target Russia’s intelligence and defense sectors.

The Trump administration hit 30 Russian and Ukrainian entities with sanctions Friday in an effort to pressure the Kremlin over its role in the continued violence on Ukraine’s eastern border as well as its occupation of Crimea.

When the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) passed in 1995, the vote was 98-1 in the Senate and 390-0 in the House. However, in light of recent allegations of sexual misconduct against Rep. John Conyers and a settlement with at least one former staffer, the "accountability" promised by the…

A Republican lawmaker is urging the president to block a multibillion-dollar deal between Boeing and Iran Air, “the terror-supporting transport-arm” of a network that is now facing steep sanctions from the Trump administration.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday unveiled new sanctions targeting Russian and Chinese entities it said have continued to aid North Korea following recent United Nations sanctions against the Kim regime.

Anyone who doubts the power of the bureaucracy ought to look into the quandary confronting ExxonMobil.

It appears that the Treasury will soon be getting a champion of the pro-growth conservative crowd on its team in David Malpass, who has his confirmation hearing for Undersecretary for International Affairs in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.

Busting terrorist charities here in the United States was a low priority for the last eight years under Barack Obama. It's time for the Trump administration to instruct the bureaucracy to get back into this important fight.

As tension continues to mount on Capitol Hill, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned several Congressional leaders on Wednesday that America would face the debt ceiling this week.

Sanctions the Trump administration imposed on Iran after the country conducted another ballistic missile launch are more symbolic than punitive, a former Obama administration Treasury Department official said Monday.

In a decision separate from the U.S. inquiries into Russian political interference during the 2016 presidential contest, Washington announced on Monday, January 9, that five prominent individuals inside Russia would be sanctioned. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added…

Companies doing business with Iran risk U.S. sanctions unless they take heightened measures to avoid benefiting sanctioned entities like the Iranian military, according to a State Department statement provided to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. The warning contradicts remarks made by Secretary of State John…

Guidelines published last month by the Obama administration protect banks doing business with Iran from U.S. sanctions even if their transactions end up benefiting sanctioned entities, according to Secretary of State John Kerry. That stance, experts and congressional sources tell THE WEEKLY…

The Obama administration won't provide Congress with a range of details about a recent announcement that cleared the way for doing business with Iran, including Iranian firms controlled by sanctioned military and terrorist groups, according to congressional sources and experts who spoke to THE…

Representatives of both political parties agree that the current tax laws inadvertently create an incentive for multinational corporations to invest abroad. The high domestic tax rate on corporate income, combined with our worldwide tax system that double-taxes profits made overseas and then…

Following the reintroduction of the Puerto Rico debt legislation this week, it appears that the battle over how to restructure the insolvent island may soon be headed for a Congressional vote. The basic problems with previous approaches to fixing what ails the island have been papered over, to be…

"Congratulations" the Wall Street Journal wrote in late 2009. "You're about to own $100 billion a year in student loans." They weren't kidding.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton mocked her Republican rivals for the White House for being unable to name an "American woman" worthy of going on the $10 dollar bill—and then was unable to name one such woman herself.

On Wednesday, the Treasury Department announced that after 2020, the image of Alexander Hamilton will share a place on the $10 bill with a to-be-determined woman. It has yet to be decided if Hamilton will share each bill with the yet-unnamed woman, or if there will be multiple series of $10 bills…

Amidst the cliched rhetoric decrying “unpatriotic” companies that accompanied the Obama administration’s recent move to address corporate inversions, it was easy to miss the fact that there is relatively little of substance that can be remedied via regulation alone, even with Treasury Secretary…

In January during his State of the Union Address, President Obama unveiled his new myRA program. “Let’s do more to help Americans save for retirement. Today, most workers don’t have a pension. A Social Security check often isn’t enough on its own. And while the stock market has doubled over the…

President Obama has painted a bleak portrait of cooperation in Washington in several recent speeches, charging that Republicans say "no to every proposal that we know could make a difference in the lives of hardworking Americans," and that "Washington doesn’t work" because we have a "party on the…

Less than a month after the exposure of a widespread vulnerability on government "open data" websites, another perhaps even more insidious opening for abuse of government websites has come to light. The problem is known as an "unvalidated redirect," and has been found on the websites of the…

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew refused to answer Fox host Chris Wallace's simple question this morning: How many people have signed up for Obamacare?

The government will be tapped out on Oct 17, according to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.  Unless, that is, Congress takes:

The Hill reports:

At a pre-Independence Day naturalization ceremony at the Treasury Department Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew used about one-third of his address to a roomful of newly sworn-in citizens to criticize the America’s immigration system and plug the current immigration legislation. According to…

The Chicago Tribune editorializes:

Refuting Democratic suggestions that progressive groups were also swept up in the IRS probe of the tax status of Tea Party organizations, the Treasury Department's inspector general has revealed that just six progressive groups were targeted compared to 292 conservative groups.

The Internal Revenue Service has come under heavy criticism from both Republicans and Democrats in recent days after an inspector general's report detailed "inappropriate criteria" used to identify certain applications of mainly conservative organizations for special review resulting in long delays…

The Treasury Department "fully licensed" Beyonce and Jay Z's trip to Cuba, according to Reuters.

Jack Lew, who has been nominated as the next treasury secretary, oversaw up as many as a hundred Cayman Island investments when he worked at Citi Bank as chief operating officer of the alternative investment services unit, SEC disclosures reveal. It has previously been reported that Lew himself had…

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama called Cayman Island investments "the biggest tax scam on record." Now, in 2013, President Obama has nominated Jack Lew, who had $56,000 in Cayman Island investments, to be the next secretary of Treasury. 

By choosing White House chief of staff Jacob Lew as his new treasury secretary, President Obama is bracing himself to battle congressional Republicans in 2013, not seeking bipartisan compromises with them.  If confirmed, Lew would succeed Tim Geithner in the treasury job.

In a blog post on the New York Times website, columnist Paul Krugman says no to serving as treasury secretary. Which is clarifying, even though he was never offered the job anyway.

The Treasury Department is telling its staff not to worry about the "fiscal cliff," an internal memorandum sent to all employees reveals. The memo, which is signed by the deputy secretary of the treasury, Neal S. Wolin, states that "there is no reason why both sides should not be able to come…

Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, is releasing a statement this evening that claims President Barack Obama's "secret" plan "increases spending by more than $1 trillion above the current baseline."

Always looking "forward," President Obama has asked Bill Clinton—who was elected to the presidency 20 years ago—to speak tonight and suggest to the American people (whether explicitly or implicitly) that this is really a choice between Clinton and George W. Bush, rather than between Obama and Mitt…

None. That’s the total of on-the-other-hand good news I have to report this week. Lest you think I am overlooking the debt deal cut in Washington last week, consider this:

In a stunning development on Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department accused the Iranian government of sponsoring al Qaeda. Treasury designated six al Qaeda terrorists and reported that they are working for a network headquartered in Iran. This al Qaeda network is “headed by Ezedin Abdel Aziz…

As of this writing, the president has pulled off a great political trick, with the help of some kamikaze Republicans. He has refused to offer a deficit-reduction plan, or submit a budget, or allow the Senate Democrats to do either—and has the public persuaded that he is the man who is seeking a…

Why, exactly, do we need to extend the debt limit to the point where the federal government can borrow another $2.4 trillion (hardly a nice round number) — about the same amount of money, even in inflation-adjusted dollars, that we borrowed to fight all of World War II? Because, as Treasury…

I just ran into former White House chief of staff/Treasury secretary/secretary of State Jim Baker at Reagan National airport. After some small talk and some sharing of our pleasure at the killing of Osama bin Laden and our admiration for all involved, from the president to the Navy SEALs, we…