Washington Wire

As the European Central Bank succinctly put it on Twitter: "What really drives inflation? "As in, double-digit inflation had nothing to do with central bankers printing up $7 trillion and handing it to governments, bankers and to the rich in asset purchases. In fact, something sudden did happen: By early 2022 one of every three dollars in existence had been printed in…

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits slid last week to its lowest level in five months, further evidence that the U.S. labor market continues to defy the Federal Reserve's attempts to cool it off. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell by 7,000 to 221,000 for the week ending July 22, from 228,000 the week before, the Labor Department…

The Federal Reserve opted to resume rate hikes at Wednesday's meeting by a quarter of a percentage point, as expected. Last month, the central bank took a brief hiatus from increasing the federal funds rate after 10 consecutive rate hikes beginning in March 2022. Between now and the Sept. 19-20 meeting, he said, the Fed will look closely at five upcoming reports, all…

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates as expected Wednesday, but left it wide open as to whether any more rate hikes are coming. The Fed lifted its federal funds rate target to a range of 5.25%-5.5% Wednesday, the highest level in 22 years. The Fed's goal is to push inflation down to its target of 2%.

WASHINGTON– The White House says health insurance companies are ignoring federal laws when it comes to covering mental health treatments and President Bident has new rules aimed at fixing the problem. Democratic Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow says insurance companies need to cover mental illness like any other illness. The White House says insurance…

Jul. 20— KeyBank chairman and CEO Chris Gorman is optimistic that the Federal Reserve is settling on the right formula to tame inflation. Gorman predicts that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates by a quarter point at next week's meeting, and then pause additional increases, to take stock of the impact. The Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates…

The latest group IRS authorities are targeting is small business owners who use a specific kind of insurance that helped thousands weather the COVID-19 pandemic: microcaptives.

The ERISA Industry Committee and coalition partners today issued a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service requesting transition relief relating to a SECURE 2.0 Act provision requiring that individuals with FICA wages of more than $145,000 in the prior year make any retirement plan catch-up contributions on an after-tax (“Roth”) basis starting after December 31, 2023.

Is the media trying to make President Joe Biden "look good" instead of reporting the news as news, along with analysis? For example, are we being misled about the condition of our economy? Does anyone not understand the following: If you are not working, you are unemployed?

President Biden is taking a victory lap, saying inflation has dropped for 12 months straight. But there's a clear enough downward trend that the Federal Reserve is already hearing calls to declare its own victory over inflation, rather than continue to raise interest rates until it achieves its stated goal of bringing the inflation rate down to 2 percent.

President Joe Biden nominated Su, a civil rights lawyer and former California labor commissioner who has served as a deputy labor secretary since 2021, to become labor secretary in February. Su has been controversial for her time as California labor secretary, when she oversaw an estimated $31 billion in fraudulent unemployment payouts after freezing…

Two programs, worth $14 billion and $6 billion, respectively, will offer competitive grants to states, tribes and nonprofits to invest in clean energy projects, with a focus on disadvantaged communities, the White House says. Congress created the green bank, formally known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, in last year’ s climate law. The grant competitions…

—Inflation fell to an annual rate of 3 percent in June, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department, giving consumers more breathing room after nearly two years of high prices. The latest rate is still shy of the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target. "The Central Bank has been on a campaign to rein in inflation for nearly a year and a half, pausing a beat…

For more than a year, economists have warned that the United States was bound for recession. So far, the economy refuses to go along. The economy is rolling despite 10 interest rate hikes in 16 months from a Federal Reserve intent on defeating high inflation.

—U.S. inflation is expected to post its lowest level in more than two years in a highly anticipated report being released Wednesday— a slowdown that, if sustained, could lead the Federal Reserve to halt its interest rate hikes later this year. A figure that low would mark the mildest year-over-year increase since March 2021, when the current bout of painfully high…

"It's not completely off the table," Ms. Yellen told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview that aired Sunday. Although the number of new jobs was below estimates, the strong labor force buoyed expectations of another interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve to further combat inflation. Ms. Yellen said Americans should soon expect to see far fewer new jobs becoming…

Mr. Biden said his administration will propose rules that shorten the duration of short-term health insurance plans, which critics refer to as“ junk plans,” to three or four months at most, instead of the three years allowed by the Trump administration. The president said the plans are often misleading and do not cover the suite of conditions required by Obamacare…

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C.— Making his case for 2024, President Joe Biden declared in deep-red South Carolina on Thursday that Republican-led states are gaining factory jobs because of economic measures he pushed through Congress despite stiff GOP opposition. White House officials maintain that if Republicans had their way, South Carolina, like many other…