The Biden Administration is stopping short of shooting down hopes of a fourth stimulus check, but signaled that the president is focused on “putting people back to work” rather than short-term relief.
WASHINGTON, June 5– The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a non-profit public policy organization, issued the following news release:. The Biden Administration's Labor Department reported today that the United States added 559,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8%. “The Labor Department's report Friday makes clear that rolling back the…
U.S. employers added a modest 559,000 jobs in May, an improvement from April’s sluggish gain but still evidence that many companies are struggling to find enough workers as the economy rapidly recovers from the pandemic recession.
The White House billed the private meeting as more of a conversation with West Virginia GOP Sen. More than anything, the session in the Oval Office was seen through the political lens of the president and Republicans trying to show the public what Americans say they want- a willingness to work together, even if no deal is within reach. Biden and Capito had a “…
Shelley Moore Capito, the White House said ahead of the Wednesday afternoon session. Publicly the administration is making it clear it views next week as a make-or-break moment for the president's push toward a deal with Republicans. “He’ s appreciative and heartened by the good faith effort that we’ ve seen from Republican senators but as the president said last…
The weather is getting warmer, our mood is getting brighter and we’re getting ready to spend again. Except we aren’t quite committed just yet. Nagging doubt is setting in.
About a year has passed since the economy started to recover from the coronavirus recession, and the rebound so far is solid if not uniformly positive. When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and forced business lockdown measures, it precipitated a steep economic slide starting around February 2020. But activity began to recover quickly, with growth resuming in…
WASHINGTON- President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered U.S. intelligence officials to “redouble” their efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, including any possibility the trail might lead to a Chinese laboratory. After months of minimizing that possibility as a fringe theory, the Biden administration is joining worldwide pressure for…
Congress has a number of tax and debt related issues to deal with over the summer and fall, members of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors were told at their virtual Congressional Conference.
Even a seemingly bipartisan effort to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol faces the blockade of Republican opposition in Congress. Rounding the first quarter of his presidency, the White House and Congress have been unable to meet key Memorial Day deadlines set by the administration on crucial priorities. The sweeping infrastructure…
—The prospects for an ambitious infrastructure deal have been thrown into serious doubt after the White House reduced President Joe Biden’s sweeping proposal to $1.7 trillion but Republican senators rejected the compromise as disappointing.
Invest in America, a research group, and Data for Progress, a progressive think tank, surveyed more than 1,200 likely voters in mid-May, with 58% of those polled supporting Biden’ s spending plans, even if Democrats must pass them without Republican support. A majority of voters surveyed, 51% to 32%, prefer Biden’ s plans over a Republican infrastructure proposal…
—The Biden administration is facing new pressure to resolve a mystery that has vexed its predecessors: Is an adversary using a microwave or radio wave weapon to attack the brains of U.S. diplomats, spies and military personnel? Confirmation that a U.S. adversary has been conducting damaging attacks against U.S. personnel would unleash calls for a forceful…
WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and James Lankford R-Okla., introduced the Improving Access to Retirement Savings…
It is just a piece of the ongoing negotiation between the White House and congressional Republicans over the $2.25 trillion package of roadwork, social welfare programs and climate change policy that is being pushed by President Biden. “This is an approach that Congress has to return to because it works,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, Oregon…
A Trump-fortified conservative majority is making its presence felt at the Supreme Court by quickly wading into high-profile social issues that have been a goal of the right for decades. Now, with three appointees of former President Donald Trump on the nine-member court, longer-serving conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas can cobble…
Their former employers are hiring again- and some, like Uber and McDonald's, are offering higher pay- but workers remain hesitant. In March, U.S. job openings rose 8 percent to a record 8.1 million, but overall hiring rose less than 4 percent, according to government data. Workers like Mullins are one reason U.S. hiring slowed in April.
In addition to seeing higher inflation in real prices, a separate report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that consumers’ expectations for inflation were also at their highest levels in nearly a decade. The Fed survey indicated that Americans expect the inflation rate will be at 3.4 percent in a year, far higher than the long-term 2 percent rate…
A recent NBER paper took a close look at the political makeup of US federal bureaucracies and found that bureaucrats tend to perform worse when they are“ politically misaligned.”. First, there is concern about whether the US has a class of unelected bureaucrats in Washington who are insulated from democratic accountability. A recent paper out of the National…
The most recent IRS data indicates that the average federal income tax rate is just over 14%. It was a direct challenge to Trump, who claimed for several years that an audit prevented him from releasing his taxes— even though the IRS had mandated for more than four decades that the tax returns of a sitting president and vice president be audited.
—Luxury brands are already cashing in on promises of a 21st- century version of the“ Roaring' 20 s” in the United States, where hefty stimulus packages and an advanced vaccine campaign are accelerating post-pandemic recovery in high-end sales, according to a new study by Bain& Co. consultancy released on Monday. The rapidly rebounding U.S. economy together with…
And the share saying this was greatest among middle-income respondents, those making between $40,000 to $99,000 per year. Americans are forking over very little, according to calculations from Congress' nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. Households earning less than $75,000, on average, will pay nothing in federal income taxes; those earning between…
These and thousands of other social media posts along with conservative websites and commentators this week misleadingly painted President Joe Biden and his administration as catalysts of chaos— who not only mishandled the temporary shutdown of the nation’ s largest fuel pipeline on Friday— but engineered it. In reality, a ransom-seeking cyberattack, not a…
Pooled employer plans, plan portability and automatic enrollment in employer retirement plans were cited as three ways to make it easier for Americans to save more money for retirement as the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee held a hearing on “Retirement Security: Building a Better Future.”
President Joe Biden met Wednesday with the four congressional leaders at the White House for the first time and said he wants to reach a compromise on an infrastructure plan, but expectations for a quick deal remain slim.
Employers added a disappointing 266,000 jobs in April even as the number of new COVID-19 cases stayed low, more states lifted constraints and vaccinations accelerated. The gains fell well short of projections in a recovery that's expected to gather force through the summer, with a million or more jobs added each month. The unemployment rate rose from 6% to 6.1%…
—A top Federal Reserve official says the outlook for the U.S. economy is bright but the recent jobs report is a reminder that the path of the recovery is likely to be uneven and difficult to predict. The Fed has said it will not start raising interest rates until it has achieved maximum employment and annual prices gains that have not only hit the Fed's 2% target, but…
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…
“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.
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.
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…
The House Ways and Means Committee unanimously passed a bill today that would make changes to how U.S. workers save for retirement, making it easier for annuities to find their way into plans.
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.
Will partisan gridlock always be on the Congressional menu? Or are there some issues on which Democrats and Republicans can work together?
—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…
Biden has delivered on a number of his biggest campaign pledges focused on climate change and the economy as well. But some issues have proved to be tougher for the administration — including immigration.
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…
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 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…
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.
