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Senate GOP Open To Higher Infrastructure Price Tag

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Senate Republicans said they are willing to spend more on President Biden’ s infrastructure plan than they initially suggested, ahead of a bipartisan White House meeting on the proposal this week. McConnell’ s $800 billion figure is significantly larger than the number Senate Republicans initially floated. The White House is proposing to spend $612 billion…

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“People will come back to work if they’ re paid a decent wage,” Mr. Biden said in an address on the economy at the White House.“ My expectation is that, as our economy comes back, these companies will provide fair wages and safe work environments. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce blamed the $300- per-week federal jobless benefit for encouraging Americans to stay at home.
Congress is debating the cap on state and local tax deductions.

As taxpayers face a May 17 tax filing deadline, Congress is negotiating the possible expansion or elimination of the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions— an issue of particular significance to residents of high tax states.
Rental assistance could help some Americans avoid eviction.

The Biden administration announced the allocation of $21.6 billion in emergency rental assistance to help prevent evictions of people who lost jobs during the pandemic. This latest round of aid for renters was included in the $1.9 trillion relief package pushed through Congress in March.

A short-lived Trump-era rule that made it easier for businesses like Uber and Lyft to classify workers as independent contractors officially ended Thursday after it was terminated by the Labor Department. “By withdrawing the Independent Contractor Rule, we will help preserve essential worker rights and stop the erosion of worker protections that would…
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

Some economists, notably former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, have warned that the Federal Reserve’s current ultra-low interest rates, along with the Biden administration’ s proposed $4 trillion in new spending, atop about $5 trillion already approved, risk accelerating inflation.

—The Latest on President Joe Biden's first joint address to Congress:. President Joe Biden has ended his first address to a joint session of Congress by reaching to evoke the sweep of history. Biden mentioned President Franklin D. Roosevelt by name as he argued for passage of a $1.8 trillion spending plan that would greatly expand the government’ s role in the lives…

—The Latest on President Joe Biden's first joint address to Congress:. Tim Scott has used the Republican response to President Joe Biden’ s address to Congress to vow that“ America is not a racist country.”. President Joe Biden used his first joint address to Congress to declare the nation is“ turning peril into possibility, crisis into opportunity.” He celebrated…

The restrictions for Wednesday's event are due to COVID-19 safety protocols, but will have the added security benefit of a limited number of people inside the Capitol for the president's first major indoor event since he took office just weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Congressional leadership extended the invitations, and anyone without one must leave…
Black Americans are often on the short end of tax policy.

But it is White Americans who disproportionately benefit from the tax breaks for those things, Emory University tax law professor Dorothy Brown told lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee last week. That’s why she believes the US tax code helps to perpetuate the racial wealth gap.

—America's population growth has declined to its slowest rate since the Great Depression, the Census Bureau said Monday, while the nation's political center of gravity keeps shifting further to the Republican-led South and West. Texas, Florida and other Sun Belt states are gaining congressional seats as chillier climes like New York and Ohio lose them.

A tiny sliver of land including the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall would remain as a federal district. “My service in the Congress has been dedicated to achieving equality for the people I represent, which only statehood can provide, “Norton said at a Wednesday news conference.“ My life as a third-generation Washingtonian has marched toward this…

On March 11, 2021, US president Biden introduced his $1.9 trillion covid-19 stimulus plan. The president also announced a plan of more than $2 trillion to rebuild US infrastructure, which includes repairing roads and bridges, as well as expanding access to long-term care services under Medicaid, building schools, and expanding internet access across the US.

Ms. Yellen, former chair of the Federal Reserve, unveiled a “coordinated strategy” to marshal the forces of the Treasury Department behind combating climate change. As part of the effort, the Treasury Department is creating a “climate hub” that will serve as a clearinghouse for climate-related economic and tax policy. To lead the initiative, Ms. Yellen is appointing…

For the moment, Mr. Biden is riding high among Democrats because of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and rapid moves to roll back former President Trump’ s policies. The real test, Mr. Munsey said, will be for Mr. Biden to appeal to“ the people in the middle” to fend off non-stop criticism from Republicans. The challenge facing Mr. Biden and Democrats in the…

The Federal Reserve, which monitors risks to the financial system, expects inflation to reach 2.4 percent in 2021. This inflation estimate is above the Fed’s official target of 2%, but policy-makers expect the rate to fall back to around 2% in 2022.

—Less than three months after former President Donald Trump left the White House, the race to succeed him atop the Republican Party is already beginning. Ron DeSantis has been courting donors, including in Trump's backyard, with a prominent speaking slot before the former president at a GOP fundraising retreat dinner this month at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida…

—Taking a page from his predecessor's boastful ways, President Joe Biden is claiming credit for two months of record job creation as employers bring back many workers sidelined by the pandemic. BIDEN:“ The first two months of our administration, we’ ve created more jobs than the first two months of any administration in American history.”— remarks to Asian American…

Franklin Roosevelt’ s presidency is the historic benchmark for judging the first 100 days of any new White House incumbent. This is because Democrats could lose a significant number of seats in Congress in next year’ s midterm elections, after which it is possible Biden could face Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Inflation jumped in March, as prices for consumer goods, from gasoline to food, posted their biggest increase in almost nine years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. “The surge in inflation in March is the first meaningful wave of several that will cumulatively lift inflation in the coming months to a level not seen in many years,” said Jim Baird, chief…

—President Joe Biden wants Congress to know he's sincere about cutting a deal on infrastructure, but Republican lawmakers have deep-seated doubts about the scope of his proposed package, its tax hikes and Biden's premise that this is an inflection point for the U.S. as a world power. Biden met Monday afternoon with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and tried to…
The pandemic devastated the economy in 2020.

The U.S. economy is poised for an extended period of strong growth and hiring, the chair of the Federal Reserve said in an interview broadcast Sunday, though the coronavirus still poses some risk. Chair Jerome Powell, speaking to “60 Minutes,” also said that he doesn’t expect to raise the Fed’s benchmark interest rate.

Liberal Democrats issued new demands on Medicare and amnesty for illegal immigrants, which the administration refused to rule out, and Republicans said there is a narrower deal to be had if Mr. Biden doesn’ t run roughshod over them again. Administration officials said Sunday that they want movement in Congress by Memorial Day, which would require a breakneck…

And while Biden had proposed the most ambitious gun-control agenda of any modern presidential candidate, his moves underscored his limited power to act alone on guns with difficult politics impeding legislative action on Capitol Hill. And while gun control advocates lauded Thursday's moves as a strong first step in combating gun violence, they, too,…

Mr. Biden challenged opponents of the $2.25 trillion plan to put up or shut up on outlining their own ideas, while the Treasury Department projected the broader plan translates to roughly $2.5 trillion in tax hikes over 15 years. “I’ m wide open, but we got to pay for this,” Mr. Biden told reporters when asked about a corporate tax rate lower than the 28% that is in his plan.“ I’…

With a tightly divided Congress, that’ s a tough proposition, and he might be better off to rally public support for replacing the personal and corporate income taxes with a value-added tax to finance his policy agenda. The IRS penchant for abuse was cultural, and don’ t be surprised if zealots— yet unknown to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen— surface again during the…

President Joe Biden is drawing a red line on his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. BY JOSH B OAK The Associated Press. President Joe Biden drew a red line on his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan Wednesday, saying he is open to compromise on how to pay for the package but inaction is unacceptable.

—The Republican attorneys general of Kentucky and Tennessee have added their voices to those in several other states who are objecting to a provision in the $1.9 trillion pandemic aid plan that bars states from using relief money to offset tax cuts. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III filed suit…
America's roads, bridges and IT infrastructure would be rebuilt under Biden's $2 trillion plan.

President Joe Biden just proposed a roughly US $2 trillion infrastructure plan, which he ambitiously compared to the interstate highway system and the space race. He aims to pay for it solely by taxing companies more, including the first increase in the corporate tax rate.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that President Joe Biden’s more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan doesn’t go far enough and isn’t fast enough. The New York Democrat also took issue with the amount of spending, arguing that an ideal plan would cost about $10 trillion.

—Technology companies sighed with relief Monday after the Supreme Court sided with Google in a copyright dispute with Oracle. The high court said Google did nothing wrong in copying code to develop the Android operating system now used on most smartphones. To create Android, which was released in 2007, Google wrote millions of lines of new computer code.
Unemployment rose into double digits during the pandemic last year.

Stimulus efforts have mostly been successful, Fed researchers say. The $5 trillion in COVID-19 relief spending lawmakers have passed in the last year has far eclipsed how much they doled out during the Great Recession and in previous downturns.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is pushing President Joe Biden to expand the stimulus payments.

Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren pressed President Joe Biden to include monthly payments and automatic extensions to unemployment insurance in his future recovery efforts, which are expected to cost up to $4 trillion. Kamala Harris proposed monthly COVID-19 stimulus payments of $2,000 last year, but the idea didn’t gain much traction.

GRINNELL, Iowa, April 1– Grinnell College issued the following news on March 31, 2021:. The poll, a partnership between Grinnell College and J. Ann Selzer of Selzer& Company, was released Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Only 46% of Americans responded that “free speech” was an excellent or good fit for describing what is happening in the U.S. today.

Mar. 31— Moments before boarding a plane at the Allegheny County Airport in late August, then-Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden paused to talk directly to Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. At the limited-access event at Hazelwood Green brownfield project in Pittsburgh, Biden promised he wouldn't seek a blanket ban on fracking and…
President Joe Biden is expected to release a plan that would provide funding to upgrade America's bridges, roads and general infrastructure.

The White House says the president sees the next phase of his “Build Back Better” agenda as a chance to “rebalance” what the administration describes as an out-of-date federal tax code and to funnel that money into its new spending priorities.

Mitch McConnell

I'm not going anywhere,” said Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican.“ I just got elected to a six-year term. Mr. McConnell, who has served in the Senate since 1985, turned 79 this February just as Republicans lost the Senate majority after two special election defeats in Georgia. Generally, the state’ s governor, currently Democrat Andy Beshear, would have the authority to…
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

WASHINGTON >> No matter how encouraging Andy Slavitt's news is at the government's coronavirus briefings, he can always count on next-up Dr. After the tumultuous briefings of the Trump era, when top doctors would troop to the podium in the White House press room only to be upstaged by spurious pronouncements from Donald Trump himself, the thrice-weekly virtual…

—When former President Donald Trump was asked to list those he considers the future leaders of the Republican Party, he quickly rattled off a list of names, including Florida Gov. For someone who built a reputation as one of Trump's most steadfast supporters, Pence is now viewed with suspicion among many Republicans for observing his constitutional duty in…

WASHINGTON- The Biden administration is ramping up efforts to sharply increase offshore wind energy along the East Coast, announcing progress on a huge wind farm planned off the New Jersey coast and setting a goal to generate enough power to provide electricity for more than 10 million homes by 2030.. President Joe Biden “believes we have an enormous…

While Democrats in Congress are pushing legislation that would limit states' ability to enact strict voting requirements, Republicans in state legislatures are considering bills to tighten voting regulations in the name of securing voter integrity. Alabama has followed suit, as a number of election-centered bills have been introduced during the ongoing…
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Buttigieg appeared before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in an opening gambit to sell Congress on President Joe Biden’ s infrastructure plan. Congress just passed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, but Buttigieg told lawmakers that a broader economic recovery will require a national commitment.

—President Joe Biden held off on holding his first news conference so he could use it to celebrate passage of a defining legislative achievement, his giant COVID-19 relief package. He'll meet with reporters for the nationally televised afternoon event in the East Room of the White House. “It’ s an opportunity for him to speak to the American people, obviously…
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen poses for a picture.

—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress on Tuesday that more must be done to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. Both officials struck upbeat notes about the U.S. economy’s outlook in their appearances Tuesday.

—Washington, D.C.' s bid for statehood finally got a congressional hearing Monday, but Mayor Muriel Bowser's clashes with Republicans on the panel made clear that the issue is far from settled. Republicans accused Democrats of a cynical power play, claimed statehood was never the intention of the country’ s Founding Fathers, and insisted that Congress doesn’ t even…

Theodore Roosevelt, one of 31 presidents who served in uniform, said: “Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.” He believed everyone had a duty to serve their country, if they were able. Now, America's need for national service is as great as it has ever been.

Airlines and other tourism-related businesses are pushing the White House to draw up a plan in the next five weeks to boost international travel and eliminate restrictions that were imposed early in the pandemic. More than two dozen groups made their request in a letter to the White House on Monday. They want people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to…
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh

President Joe Biden’s Cabinet is nearly complete with the confirmation of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh on Monday. But the work of building his administration is just beginning, as Biden has hundreds of key presidential appointments to make.

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Florida on Monday to promote how President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan will help residents and businesses recover from COVID-19-related hardships. Harris left Washington for Jacksonville late Monday morning after she swore in Isabella Casillas Guzman as head of the U.S. Small Business…

Professors from Northwest Indiana and across the state said the influx of cash likely will offer immediate relief and needed stimulus for the economy, helping struggling families, anxious small business owners and cash-strapped local governments. Only about 9% of the funding— or between $123 billion and $160 billion— will go to virus prevention measures…

Biden told reporters Sunday at the White House that“ at some point” he would go to the border and that he knows what is going on in the border facilities. The White House dispatched Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to four Sunday news shows in an effort to stress that it was working to get things under control. The White House has steadfastly refused…

President Joe Biden signed the sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package last week, and $1,400 checks are already arriving in individual bank accounts. When the checks are getting the most attention, several items in the bill will help small-employer agencies and advisor businesses, trade association executives say.

—President Joe Biden is calling for changes to the filibuster to require lawmakers to speak on the floor of the Senate to hold up a bill, while the chamber's Republican leader warns of“ scorched-earth” tactics if Democrats use their new majority to bring an end to the legislative roadblock entirely. His comments on Tuesday came hours after Senate Republican…

House Bill 307 asks Congress to allow North Carolina to use daylight time year-round. Representatives John Szoka, R- Cumberland; Jon Hardister, R- Guilford; and David Willis, R- Union, are co-sponsors. People throughout North Carolina lost an hour on Sunday morning as they set their clocks ahead.

In remarks from the White House, Biden touted the benefits of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package he signed last week after it passed through Congress without Republican support and said Sperling has “already hit the ground running” to make sure they are delivered to Americans quickly. White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that Sperling, the only…

Mr. Biden is ordering all states to make all adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccines by May 1, framing it as a prelude to Independence Day soirees that will provide a sense of normalcy. Others say Mr. Biden is coasting on a head-start from Mr. Trump's “Operation Warp Speed” and needs to set loftier goals if he wants credit for the recovery. Paul Mango, who played a key role in…

The new COVID-19 relief bill is big- really big, as Barney Fife would say. It will provide $1.9 trillion of federal government spending to people, businesses, state and local governments and a variety of other institutions. This is in addition to $4 trillion of help approved last year.
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