BUSINESS BRIEFS Business Briefs

Fed lifts restrictions on Wells Fargo

NEW YORK - The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that Wells Fargo is no longer subject to the restraints the Fed placed on the bank in 2018 for having a toxic sales and banking culture. It's a win for Wells Fargo, which has spent nearly a decade trying to convince the public and policymakers that it had changed its ways. Faced with reaching unreasonable sales targets, branch employees had opened up millions of fake accounts in order to meet those goals. The Federal Reserve took the unusual step of placing Wells in a program where it could grow no larger than it was in 2018.

Trump formally asks to claw back funds

WASHINGTON - The White House has officially asked Congress to claw back $9.4 billion in already approved spending. The process known as rescission will take funding away from programs targeted by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. It requires President Donald Trump to get approval from Congress to return money that had previously been appropriated. Trump's aides say the funding cuts target programs that promote liberal ideologies. The request to Congress is unlikely to meaningfully change the troublesome increase in the U.S. national debt. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the government is on track to spend roughly $7 trillion this year, with the rescission request equaling just 0.1% of that total.

U.S. won't Social Security over loan default

Borrowers who have defaulted on their student loans will no longer be at risk of having their Social Security benefits garnished, an Education Department spokesperson said Tuesday. The government last month restarted collections for the millions of people in default on their federal student loans. An estimated 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a January report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Advocates encouraged the Trump administration to go further to provide relief for the roughly 5.3 million borrowers in default.

- Associated Press

- Associated Press