“The financial condition of the government’s bedrock retirement programs for middle- and working-class Americans remains shaky, with Medicare pointed toward insolvency by 2026,” CNBC reports.

“That’s the word from the latest report by the government’s overseers of Medicare and Social Security. It paints a sobering picture of the programs, though it’s relatively unchanged from last year’s update. Social Security would become insolvent in 2035, one year later than previously estimated.”

Politico: “As Americans rush Monday to finish up their own taxes, their judgment on Trump’s beloved tax cut bill is pretty clear: Most really don’t like it.”

“Multiple polls show a majority of Americans don’t think they got a tax cut at all — even though independent analyses show they did. And only around a third of the country approves of the legislation itself, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed by Congress at the end of 2017.”

A new Gallup poll finds Americans continue to have net-negative views of the 2017 tax bill — 49% disapprove and 40% approve.

“The legislation passed without a single Democratic vote in either chamber of Congress, and Americans’ views of it are similarly divided along party lines. Democrats’ approval of the law is 16% and Republicans’ is 78%. Independents’ approval stands at 32%.”

NBC News: “At least 60 companies of the Fortune 500 companies reported that their 2018 federal tax rates amounted to effectively zero, or even less than zero, on income earned on U.S. operations… The number is more than twice as many as ITEP found roughly, per year, on average in an earlier, multi-year analysis before the new tax law went into effect.”

CBS News: “With less than a week of tax season to go, plenty of taxpayers are still sorting through the new regulations signed into law by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But middle-class homeowners who live in high-tax areas are finding themselves particularly hard-hit. Many owe thousands this year, rather than the refunds they usually received.”

“Their problem sits with the new deduction cap on state and local taxes, which the law caps at $10,000. Before 2018, taxpayers were allowed to deduct their total combined state and local taxes from their federal taxes, softening the blow of high property and income taxes in states like New Jersey and California.”

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds just 17% of Americans believe their taxes will go down as a result of President Trump’s 2017 tax law. By contrast, 28% believe they’ll pay more, 27% expect to pay about the same and 28% don’t know enough to say.

“That helps explain why the tax cut provided so little ballast for the GOP as Democrats recaptured control of the House in November’s midterm elections. Pew Research polling last month found that the tax cut remains underwater politically, with 36% of Americans expressing approval and 49% disapproval.”

“A looming battle between President Donald Trump and Democrats over government spending and the debt limit could make the 35-day government shutdown look like a blip,” Politico reports.

“A series of budget deadlines converge in the coming months that could leave Washington on the precipice of another shutdown, $100 billion in automatic spending cuts and a full-scale credit crisis. And lawmakers are openly worried about stumbling over the edge.”

New York Times: “Months after the legislation passed, and amid foreign policy blunders and a defeat on funding a wall along the southern border, Mr. Trump’s administration is putting the issue front and center.”

“But some activists who helped work on the legislation — which would expand job training and early-release programs, and modify sentencing laws, including mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders — have expressed concern that Mr. Trump is more attuned to the political opportunities the law offers him, rather than with ensuring it is enacted effectively.”

President Trump said that he’s overruled his administration officials on zeroing out funding for the Special Olympics in their budget proposal, The Hill reports.

Said Trump: “The Special Olympics will be funded, I just told my people.”

Washington Post: “The decision is ultimately up to Congress, which has chosen to fund the program the previous two years despite the Trump administration’s requests to end funding.”

“President Trump complained in a private lunch Tuesday with Senate Republicans about the amount of disaster aid designated for Puerto Rico, as lawmakers prepare for a standoff over funds for the island still struggling to recover in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria,” the Washington Post reports.

“Aid for Puerto Rico has long been a fixation for Trump, who has asked advisers how to reduce money for the island and signaled that he won’t support any more aid beyond food stamp funds.”

“The U.S. posted its biggest monthly budget deficit on record last month, amid falling corporate and individual tax revenue and increasing federal spending,” Bloomberg reports.

“The budget gap widened to $234 billion in February, compared with a fiscal gap of $215.2 billion a year earlier. That gap surpassed the previous monthly record of $231.7 billion set seven years ago.”

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds only 21% U.S. taxpayers expect to pay less income tax this year as a result of the tax reform law passed in 2017 by Republicans who promised big savings for everyday Americans.

Just prior to approval of the tax reform by Republicans, Trump said: “This is going to be one of the great gifts to the middle-income people of this country that they’ve ever gotten for Christmas.”

“The White House’s proposed budget includes funding for a small children’s health program sought by one of President Donald Trump’s golfing buddies: Jack Nicklaus,” Politico reports.

“Nicklaus had lobbied Trump on the golf course in Florida, and he met with HHS Secretary Alex Azar and then-OMB Director Mick Mulvaney in Washington, D.C., to request funds, say two individuals with knowledge. Trump personally directed HHS to earmark the funds to help Nicklaus develop mobile children’s hospitals, one individual said.”

“Democrats are finally in charge of the House. But they’re likely to skip one of their most fundamental responsibilities: passing a budget. Eager to steer clear of another public intraparty battle, House Democrats are expected to avoid a vote on a budget this year,” Politico reports.

“House Democrats are still drafting a budget, which would offer their first chance as a new majority to formally outline their broader agenda. But the resolution — which is purely a political messaging document and is not signed into law — would also stoke major ideological clashes within the caucus over Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and defense spending.”

“The federal budget deficit is ballooning on President Trump’s watch and few in Washington seem to care,” the AP reports.

“And even if they did, the political dynamics that enabled bipartisan deficit-cutting deals decades ago has disappeared, replaced by bitter partisanship and chronic dysfunction.”