While debates over masks and whether to reopen have dominated headlines, more than three-quarters of respondents support enacting state laws to require mask wearing in public at all times. And nearly 60 percent said they would support a nationwide order making it mandatory to shelter at home for two weeks.
Read moreSignum Global Advisors is warning clients in a new alert to be ready for a blue wave in November that gives Democrats control of government. The research firm has previously maintained that at least the Senate will remain in Republican control.
State insurance regulators moved briskly through four topics as they try to thread the needle between suitability and fiduciary in crafting an annuity sales model law.
Nearly 700 health insurance and benefits advisors from across the nation will travel to Washington to meet with members of Congress. In addition, NAHU members will hear from industry experts, members of Congress and members of the Trump administration as they look at the future for health care reform.
Negotiators on a huge coronavirus relief bill reported slight progress after talks resumed Monday afternoon in the Capitol, with issues like food for the poor and aid to schools struggling to reopen safely assuming a higher profile in the talks. Multiple obstacles remain, including an impasse so far on extending a $600-per-week pandemic jobless benefit.
This week, the Biden campaign released its fourth and final plank in the former Vice President’s package of economic ideas: a plan for racial economic equity. But contained in the plan was a less-flashy proposal: asking the Federal Reserve to explicitly take race into account when it sets policy.
From the Middle East to Asia, Latin America to Africa and, particularly, Europe, and on issues including trade, terrorism, arms control and immigration, the presumptive Democratic nominee and his advisers have vowed to unleash a tsunami of change in how the U.S. handles itself in the international arena. Historically, U.S. foreign policy hasn't changed…
Because of such secrecy, at least in part, foreign interference largely remains an afterthought in the 2020 contest, even as Republicans and Democrats alike concede it poses a serious threat that could fundamentally reshape the election at any moment. Biden's campaign is increasingly concerned that pro-Russian sources have already shared disinformation…
The U.S. economy shrank at a dizzying 33% annual rate in the April-June quarter — by far the worst quarterly plunge ever — when the viral outbreak shut down businesses, throwing tens of millions out of work and sending unemployment surging to 14.7%, the government said Thursday.
President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, both promise sweeping progress over the next four years–- via starkly different paths. Trump, like many fellow Republicans, holds out tax reductions and regulatory cuts as economic cure-alls and frames himself as a conservative champion in seemingly endless culture wars.
Invective flew Wednesday as legislators questioned Facebook’ s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’ s Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of Apple at a hearing of the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust. For the last year, that panel has probed the business practices of the Silicon Valley giants with an eye to determining if they need to be regulated more…
With less than 100 days to go until Election Day, President Donald Trump is campaigning like he did the first time, as a challenger running against the sitting president, who this time happens to be himself. In speeches, ads and tweets, he attacks crime and urban unrest that presumably would explode in ” Joe Biden's America”- but uses video clips from President Trump's…
Worse, the White House is reportedly considering moving from a bilateral trade war to an effort to exclude China from the dollar-denominated international payment network. In Beijing, that would be seen as weaponization of US dollar. Yet, its first CEO was a former executive of American Express and its data centers are in the US, Netherlands and Switzerland.
—The U.S. Postal Service is considering closing post offices across the country, sparking concerns ahead of an anticipated surge of mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections, U.S. Sen Joe Manchin and a union leader said Wednesday. A recent document from the Postal Service, obtained by The Associated Press, described the need for an “operational pivot” to make the…
Having endured what was surely a record-shattering slump last quarter, the U.S. economy faces a dim outlook as a resurgent coronavirus intensifies doubts about any sustained recovery the rest of the year. Yet with the rate of confirmed coronavirus cases now rising in a majority of states, more businesses being forced to pull back on re-openings.
More than a decade after the last economic crisis, Ford Motor Company is still paying down a fat government loan created by Congress at the start of the Great Recession to aid automakers with factory projects. Meanwhile, Ford took a different path. In September 2009, Ford entered into an agreement with the Department of Energy and borrowed $5.9 billion as part of a…
A day of shuttle diplomacy on Capitol Hill over a coronavirus aid package produced few results Tuesday, with stark differences between the $3 trillion proposal from Democrats and $1 trillion counteroffer from Republicans as millions of Americans’ jobless benefits, school reopenings and eviction protections hang in the balance.
Susan Collins is one of two Republican senators who say they will oppose President Donald Trump’s nominee to the controlling body of the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The nomination of Judy Shelton, an advisor for Trump during his 2016 campaign, to the controlling body of the Federal Reserve Board has caused controversy.
Mystic resident Ed Fialkosky, a Republican, was resounding in his support for President Trump as the better choice to lead the ecomony. Suzanne Simpson, a New London Republican, answered the question of which candidate would be more effective on the economy with similar gusto: “HANDS DOWN PRESIDENT TRUMP!” Waterford Republican Garon VanOverloop, who believes…
On the trade front, shifting U.S. manufacturing supply chains from Asia to Latin America would help U.S. companies be more competitive in world markets and would help them reduce their over-dependence on China. In addition, a Latin American economic resurgence would boost U.S. exports and create millions of U.S. jobs. Few Americans know this, but U.S. firms…
President Donald Trump signed four executive orders Friday aimed at lowering prescription drug prices for consumers, including allowing the importation of drugs from other nations.
—Four decades after the U.S. established diplomatic ties with Communist China, the relationship between the two may have reached a turning point. China ordered the closing of the U.S. Consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Friday, in rapid retaliation for the closing of its consulate in Houston. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered…
—Joe Biden wants to address health care disparities, toughen gun control, overhaul policing, provide free community college, erase student loan debt, invest in green energy and improve the nation's infrastructure. At a time of unprecedented gridlock, even some fellow Democrats warn Biden's lengthy to-do list faces long odds in Congress. The higher priority for…
Keep giving them that extra $600 a week, or at least some emergency payment, as unemployment benefits. That’ s the loose consensus of economists and many Washington lawmakers contacted by McClatchy, as President Donald Trump and Congress engage in tense closed-door negotiations on the next federal economic relief package. Democrats are eager to continue the…
The package, called CARES II, is made up of separate bills from 10 senators as McConnell seeks to replicate an earlier strategy to launch negotiations with Democrats. GOP senators and President Donald Trump are at odds over priorities, and Democrats want more to stem the health crisis, reopen schools and extend aid to jobless Americans.
–Today, Avalanche Insights released the results of a deep audience listening survey on the desired attributes that voters are looking for in presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s running mate. The results of the survey are released just days before Joe Biden’s expected announcement of his vice presidential pick, and amid growing speculation on who…
The Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump’s choice of Judy Shelton for the Federal Reserve board of governors on a party-line vote, overcoming widespread questions about her qualifications for the Fed.
President Donald Trump acknowledged Monday a “big flare up” of COVID-19 cases, but divisions between the White House and Senate Republicans and differences with Democrats posed fresh challenges for a new federal aid package with the U.S. crisis worsening and emergency relief about to expire.
Jul. 21– The extra $600 weekly boost to unemployment insurance is set to expire by the end of the month, though the last week for which it can be claimed ends Saturday, July 25. Beginning on July 26, most people collecting unemployment insurance in the state will need to resume the search for work and register for employment with Job Service North Dakota.
Early on, President Trump had lots of help from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York Gov. We lack a coherent national framework similar to those in Europe for testing, contact tracing and social distancing. We are getting the second wave continental Europe avoided.
With COVID-19 cases hitting alarming new highs and the death roll rising, the pandemic’s devastating cycle is happening all over again, leaving Congress little choice but to engineer another costly rescue. Businesses are shutting down, schools cannot fully reopen and jobs are disappearing.
—The Federal Reserve has opened one of its lending programs to nonprofit groups, including hospitals, educational institutions, and social service organizations. The Fed said Friday that its Main Street Lending Program, which is targeted to mid-sized businesses and can lend up to $600 billion, will soon extend credit to nonprofits with at least 10 employees…
U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas J. Donohue sent a letter to congressional leaders today urging swift action to combat the coronavirus pandemic and provide economic relief to families, businesses, and communities across the country.
Senate Democrats released a proposal Thursday to invest $350 billion in communities of color that have been hit hard by the coronavirus, as Congress looks to pass another relief package by the end of the month. Led by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, the proposal is dubbed the Economic Justice Act.
Nearly 17.4 million workers were continually claiming unemployment insurance for the week ended July 4, the Labor Department said. “What we’ re seeing is continued, historic elevated rates of job loss in the United States,” said Nick Bunker, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab.“ We’ ve seen sustained elevated rates of job loss, and that’ s continued as we hurdle toward the…
According to a study published by UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, the COVID-19 pandemic has put the U.S. economy into a “depression” and projects that the country’s GDP won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until early 2023.
A senior official accused the U.S. this week of using the Hong Kong issue to try to obstruct China's development. Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang told U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad in a meeting in Beijing that threats of U.S. sanctions and the withdrawal of special trading privileges for Hong Kong are not about democracy and freedom in the semi-autonomous…
WASHINGTON- Ivanka Trump urged out-of-work Americans to “find something new” Tuesday as part of a new jobs initiative designed to tout the benefits of skills training and career paths that do not require a college degree. But the effort- complete with website, advertising campaign and virtual roundtable featuring Apple chief executive Tim Cook and IBM Chair…
Jul. 15– U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he will start crafting a second– and last– federal assistance package when the Senate session begins next week. McConnell didn't provide many details of the proposed plan during a private meeting Tuesday at Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital, but he touched on some highlights.
WILMINGTON, DEL.- Joe Biden released a $2 trillion plan Tuesday aimed at combating climate change and spurring economic growth in part by overhauling America's energy industry, with a proposal to achieve entirely carbon pollution-free power by 2035.. But it doesn't go as far as the Green New Deal, the sweeping proposal from progressives in Congress that calls…
The presumed Democratic presidential nominee topped Mr. Trump 49%-42% in the new national survey of likely voters by John Zogby Strategies and EMI Research Solutions. The same poll in late May showed Mr. Biden ahead by 13 points, 54%-41%. Mr. Biden's advantage in the “gender gap” also shrank, though he still topped Mr. Trump among female voters by 10 points, 51%-41%.
But its exporters face threats including tension with Washington and a possible downturn in U.S. and European demand. Imports of U.S. goods surged 10.6% to $10.4 billion despite tariff hikes in a fight with Washington over trade and technology. Forecasters say exports are likely to slump as demand for masks and other medical supplies recedes and U.S. and…
—President Donald Trump's push to reopen schools is being complicated by a split within his ranks over how to do it, with some advisers advocating for a massive federal expenditure to make campuses safe as Congress compiles the next COVID-19 relief bill. But the Republican leader has not said how much Congress is willing to spend, wary of high-dollar outlays…
Jul. 10– DUNMORE– Paying homage to his Scranton roots, Joe Biden in a campaign stop here on Thursday invoked childhood memories to lay out his plan to “build back a better America.” Biden, 77, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, toured McGregor Industries in Dunmore and then addressed about 50 people– mostly campaign workers and media– on his jobs and…
“Initial state claims have barely budged over the past month, and are only 16% lower than on June 6,'' Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at The Century Foundation, said in a statement.” Equally concerning, initial state claims increased in 23 states last week, including those with major virus spikes, such as Texas and Louisiana. ” United Airlines warned this week that it may…
—The Supreme Court ruled Thursday in two cases involving access to President Donald Trump’ s financial records. In the case involving Congress, the Supreme Court's 7-2 ruling ruling returns the case to lower courts, and it's unclear how quickly the case might be resolved. In the New York case, also a 7-2 ruling, the court rejected broad arguments by Trump’ s lawyers…
Launching an economic pitch expected to anchor his fall presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Joe Biden is proposing sweeping new uses of the federal government’ s regulatory and spending power to bolster U.S. manufacturing and technology firms. Biden calls for a $400 billion, four-year increase in government purchasing.
—U.S. consumers reduced their borrowing for a third straight month in May as the millions of jobs lost because of the coronavirus pandemic made households less eager to take on new debt. The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that consumer borrowing declined by $18.3 billion in May, a drop of 5.3%. Consumer borrowing is closely watched because of clues it can…
—At least a dozen lawmakers have ties to organizations that received federal coronavirus aid, according to newly released government data, highlighting how Washington insiders were both author and beneficiary of one of the biggest government programs in U.S. history. Under pressure from Congress and outside groups, the Trump administration this week…
A large franchisee of Wendy’s, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurants, whose CEO is a major donor to President Donald Trump, received loans totaling $15 to $30 million. The Treasury Department identified just a fraction of the total borrowers Monday, naming only companies that got more than $150,000.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling has no immediate impact because a judge appointed by President Donald Trump in Washington last week knocked down the policy on procedural grounds. The Justice and Homeland Security departments didn't immediately respond to requests for comment late Monday. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties…
—Small businesses can still get help from the government’ s coronavirus relief plan after Congress extended the Paycheck Protection Program until Aug. 8. The PPP is part of a $2 trillion coronavirus aid package passed by Congress in March. On Monday, the Small Business Administration, which oversees the program, disclosed the names of companies that received…
It’s not America’s first such crisis of confidence. Historical polling data shows that the country hit similar lows, or lower, in “right direction” numbers in late 2008 and mid-1992. The 2008 dip followed the stock market crash of the Great Recession, and the 1992 dip came after a less-intense economic slump and civil disturbances.
WASHINGTON- If President Donald Trump wants to understand why Joe Biden has clear leads against him in swing states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he need look no further than his rally in Tulsa on June 20. In 2016, he won the suburban vote by five percentage points, and those same voters gave him his narrow margin of victory in states such as…
In the United States and around the world, concern is mounting over a potential COVID-19“ second wave” as economies reopen and nominal coronavirus case numbers rise. Congress failed the first time. After the pandemic began and government-mandated lockdowns stopped the previously strong economy in its tracks, Republicans and Democrats alike came together to…
The Department of Labor issued its new fiduciary rule one workday after a federal court upheld the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest standard, which the DOL rule was designed to harmonize with.
Days after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to scrap the Affordable Care Act, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would see it expanded.
The court’s decision means that Reg BI, which which establishes a new advice standard for brokers, can take effect as planned on Tuesday.
—Democrats pushed a strengthening of“ Obamacare” patient protections toward House passage Monday, an effort they hoped would help them sharpen the coronavirus pandemic and President Donald Trump's efforts to scuttle the increasingly popular law into a lethal campaign-season weapon. For Democrats, the bill was a chance to showcase their support for…
The familiar yet startling attacks on a pillar of democracy come amid a resurgence of the coronavirus under Trump's watch that forced Vice President Mike Pence to cancel upcoming campaign stops in Florida and Arizona and pushed several Trump-allied Republican governors to scale back reopening efforts. The Republican president is hoping that a…
Jun. 29– The U.S. is facing a growing terrorism problem, and the threat will likely escalate as anger and polarization intensify over the upcoming presidential election, police brutality and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, experts on extremism say. “Both the anti-quarantine protests that the far-right orchestrated in April and May and the recent civil unrest have…
—President Donald Trump has denied that he was made aware of U.S. intelligence officials’ conclusions that Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban- linked militants for killing American troops in Afghanistan. The intelligence assessments came amid Trump’ s push to withdraw the U.S. from Afghanistan, and suggested that Russia was making overtures to…
The Trump administration doesn’t expect to release a detailed health care plan until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of the Affordable Care Act, said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
