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Dec. 4– PLATTSBURGH– The impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump continues today with a House Judiciary Committee hearing featuring four constitutional scholars as witnesses. On Feb. 20, the Judiciary Committee argued that “an indictable offense standard was too narrow and impeachment should also apply to conduct at odds with the performance of…

President Trump said Monday he will slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Argentina and Brazil, accusing those countries of hurting U.S. farmers through currency manipulation. Brazil has been stepping up as a major supplier of soybeans to China as Beijing cut back on its U.S. farm purchases in retaliation for the tariffs. “U.S. Markets are up as much as…

That’ s one of the findings of a Bank of America survey of owners taken during July and August and obtained by The Associated Press. The Institute for Supply Management, an industry organization for corporate purchasing executives, said its index of manufacturing activity fell to 48.1 in November from 48.3 in October. “Global trade remains the most significant…

—The Latest on the COP21 climate summit in Madrid:. Democratic members of Congress say the United States remains committed to the Paris climate accord despite President Donald Trump’ s decision to withdraw from the 2015 agreement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told an audience Monday at this year’ s U.N. climate meeting in Madrid that“ we’ re still in it.”.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has retaken the lead in the Democratic primary race for president as Senator Elizabeth Warren's numbers have plummeted, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. Biden receives 24 percent of the vote among Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic, while South Bend Mayor Pete…
The facade of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Testifying to Congress this month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sent a message seldom heard from his predecessors: That the Fed should consider the struggles of the lowest-income Americans in setting its interest-rate policies.

In my decades-long career in medicine, I have never seen a worse example of industrywide price gouging than surprise medical bills. These are expensive medical bills that patients receive when they are treated at a hospital or by a medical practitioner that is outside of their insurance's network of authorized health care providers. A hospital, for example,…

Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren, D- Massachusetts, advocating for Medicare for All. On the moderate end sit South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden, both wary of requiring people to leave private insurance plans for a single-payer system. Sometime in the coming weeks or months, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in…

Even the MSNBC and Washington Post moderators questioned whether Warren's staunch backing of the government-run health care system could cost her “critical votes.” From the far end of the stage, U.S. Sen. Warren said her wealth tax– a 2% tax on wealth between $50 million and $1 billion, and a 6% tax on net worth above $1 billion– “is not about punishing anyone.

Brian Schatz, D- Hawaii, issued the following news release:. Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, a member of the Senate Banking Committee and Chair of the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, introduced the Climate Change Financial Risk Act of 2019. The legislation will direct the Federal Reserve to conduct stress tests on large financial…
The Federal Reserve system symbol on hundred dollar bill.

Most Federal Reserve officials believed last month that the three rate cuts they have made this year would be enough unless the economy weakened significantly. The consensus is that the Fed will now pause after having cut rates three times in 2019, with its benchmark rate now in a range of 1.5% to 1.75%. The central bank’s key rate influences many consumer and business loans.

Democrats reveled Wednesday over Ambassador Gordon Sondland’ s testimony that Trump was requiring a“ quid pro quo”— specifically, a public Ukrainian commitment to investigate Democrats in exchange for a Trump Oval Office meeting that their newly elected president badly wanted. Yet GOP lawmakers minimized Sondland’ s appearance, saying his revelations about…

The 37- year old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, gained significant ground in recent months in Iowa, which holds the nation’ s first caucuses in February. He is bunched at the top of most polls in Iowa with candidates who have much longer political resumes: former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

—President Donald Trump said Tuesday he went through a“ very routine physical” when he visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center over the weekend. It raised questions about his health in part because the trip didn’ t follow protocols the White House has used for previous physicals, including advance public notice. The White House released a statement…
Pressure is on the Federal Reserve to act on interest rates.

President Donald Trump summoned Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to the White House on Monday to discuss the economy and interest rates— issues on which Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed. The Fed said in a statement that Powell told Trump that the economy is in good shape and that the Fed would likely suspend its rate cuts for now.

After months of dialogue, the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have parted ways on Medicare price negotiations that Pelosi advocates and Trump— unlike most Republicans— once supported in principle. Instead Trump is backing a compromise bipartisan bill in the Senate, which does not give Medicare bargaining authority, but forces drugmakers to pay…

—New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who is deciding whether to launch a Democratic presidential bid, is pouring $100 million into an online advertising campaign attacking President Donald Trump. The campaign, which targets voters in four general election battleground states— Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin— begins running on Friday,…

Nov. 15– President Donald Trump’s pick to succeed Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Dan Brouillette, received broad support Thursday during his nomination hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Lisa Murkowski, in her opening statement, said Brouillette has done an “excellent” job as the Department of Energy’s second in command.

—Shares advanced in Asia on Friday after White House officials said China and the U.S. were getting close to an agreement to cool tensions over trade. Markets have swung from euphoria to alarm as officials in Beijing and Washington offered conflicting opinions about the state of the negotiations over ending a tariff war between the two largest economies.

WASHINGTON– Americans increased their borrowing for the 21st straight quarter as more households took out loans to buy homes or refinance existing mortgages, according to a report released Wednesday from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Total U.S. household debt rose $92 billion, or 0.7%, to $13.95 trillion in the third quarter, the New York Fed’s quarterly…
The facade of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is asking Congress to tackle the growing budget deficit. Powell’s remarks before the House Budget Committee Thursday came a day after he told Congress’ Joint Economic Committee that the Fed was likely to keep rates unchanged in the coming months, unless there was a “material” shift in the economy’s outlook.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced on Wednesday that he expects the U.S. economy to continue its growth trajectory, despite risks from overseas and concerns about trade tensions between the U.S. and its prime trading partners, including China and the European Union. Powell has noted that by cutting interest rates which reduced borrowing costs…

—President Donald Trump has been fulminating for weeks over the impeachment inquiry, which he sees as a persecution cooked up by Democrats and “Never Trumpers.” On Wednesday, with the opening of historic public hearings, Republicans in the House are primed to defend him while Democrats lean in to make their points before a presumably big TV audience.
Pressure is on the Federal Reserve to act on interest rates.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is due to testify Wednesday in Congress about the outlook for the U.S. economy, giving his perspective two weeks after the Fed cut interest rates for a third time this year. The three cuts, which lowered the interest rate the Fed controls to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%, were intended to offset drags from slower global growth.

President Donald Trump touted U.S. economic strength, and criticized Democrats and the Federal Reserve on Tuesday in remarks to the Economic Club of New York. The non-profit is non-partisan, but Trump didn’t shy away from criticizing Democrats, including his predecessor, President Barack Obama, while pushing his own economic record. U.S. job growth has slowed…
Who will occupy the White House in 2021? The upcoming election is sure to hinge on the economy, pundits agree.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban became the latest tycoon to criticize Sen. Warren. In a series of tweets criticizing Warren’s socialized-medicine plan and accusing her of Trumpesque snake-oil peddling, Cuban noted that Warren is “filthy rich” and thus a hypocrite in her constant rhetorical bashing of the wealthy.

—Two political supporters of U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry secured a potentially lucrative oil and gas exploration deal from the Ukrainian government soon after Perry proposed one of the men as an adviser to the country’s new president. Perry’s efforts to influence Ukraine’s energy policy came earlier this year, just as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s…

What we’re watching heading into a new week on the 2020 campaign:. Days to Iowa caucuses: 84. Whether he does or doesn’t run, New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg has escalated doubts about front-runners Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren and pushed Democratic anxiety to new heights.

Top Trump administration officials mulled a mass resignation last year to warn the public about President Trump’s conduct, says a yet-to-be-released book obtained by the Washington Post. It says Trump has continued his well-known misogyny in the White House. But “Anonymous” repudiates that part of the op-ed in his or her book, the Washington Post said.

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg unveiled a $1 trillion strategy Friday that aims to enhance middle-class America with investments for housing, child care and tuition-free higher education. The plan earmarks hundreds of billions for federal funding to help pay for child care, make available public colleges for students whose families…

—Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, is opening the door to a 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, warning that the current field of candidates is ill equipped to defeat President Donald Trump. The 77- year-old has spent the past few weeks talking with prominent Democrats about the state of the 2020 field, expressing concerns…

President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China this week suggests that the United States risks being sidelined on the global stage under President Donald Trump. Just as the Trump administration formally launched the process of pulling out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, France and China issued a ” Beijing call” on Wednesday for increased global cooperation…

Deb Tekippe spent much of this year convinced she would support Joe Biden in his 2020 bid for president, but the more she has seen of him on the stump in Iowa and in debates on television, the less confident she has become. Tekippe’ s experience reflects the new reality in Iowa: Buttigieg has emerged as the major alternative to Biden among moderate voters the former…

Democrats took full control of the Virginia legislature for the first time in more than two decades while the race for governor in deeply Republican Kentucky was too close to call despite a last-minute boost from President Donald Trump. And in Virginia, Democrats flipped control of the state Senate and House, gaining outright control of state government in a…

According to Richmond Fed Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin, conflicting signals have made it difficult to get a handle on the true health of the U.S. economy. The U.S. central bank recently cut interest rates for the third time in 2019. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has described the cuts as insurance against ongoing risks from slowing global growth and the impact…

Industry executives are stepping up lobbying efforts to persuade Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to take action on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act.

Republicans currently have a slim majority in both the state House and Senate. Democrats are looking to cement control of the state by taking control of both the Executive Mansion and the General Assembly for the first time in more than two decades. Virginia Republicans, who have generally tried to keep Trump at an arm’s distance, are hoping the specter of…

—Gaining momentum in the final three months before the Iowa caucuses, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg offered sharply different messages this weekend as they inched closer to a confrontation over the direction of the Democratic Party. During a frenetic three-day stretch of campaigning in Iowa, two other top contenders sought to prove their staying…

—Democrats swept a rules package for their impeachment probe of President Donald Trump through a divided House, as the chamber’s first vote on the investigation highlighted the partisan breach the issue has only deepened. Yet the roll call also accentuated how Democrats have rallied behind the impeachment inquiry after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent…
The U.S. and China remain locked in a trade war.

The stock market is more concerned with the U.S.- China trade war, the strength of the global and U.S. economy, interest rates and corporate profits than the impeachment inquiry. For instance, on Thursday, analysts pinned the market’s drop largely on a weak report on business activity in the Midwest and worries about the trade war with China.
Pressure is on the Federal Reserve to act on interest rates.

The Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates Wednesday for a third time this year to try to support the economy. But it signaled that it plans no further cuts unless it sees clear evidence that the economic outlook has worsened. For now, Chairman Jerome Powell sounded a bullish note about the economy in a news conference afterwards.

Its move strikes a sharp contrast with Facebook, which continues to defend running paid political ads, even false ones, as a free speech priority. Facebook has taken fire since it reiterated in September that it will not fact-check ads by politicians or their campaigns, which could allow them to lie freely. During Facebook’ s conference call for earnings, which…
The U.S. and China remain locked in a trade war.

The U.S. economy grew by nearly 2 percent between July and October– slower than the first two quarters of 2019, but better than expected, the Commerce Department said in its quarterly report Wednesday. It projects U.S. growth of 3 percent for the rest of the year. Wednesday’s report was released hours ahead of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The facade of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Federal Reserve cuts rates for 3rd time this year but signals it will pause its rate reductions.The Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 1.5% to 1.75% as expected.

Stock markets are mostly down as investors look ahead to an expected interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Britain’s FTSE 100 is down 0.2% to 7,291, while Germany’s DAX shed 0.2% to 12,910. Asian markets mostly closed lower, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 losing 0.6% to 22,843.12. The Federal Reserve is set to cut its benchmark interest rate Wednesday for a…

When President Barack Obama was reelected in 2012, a Saudi tycoon and his business associate sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to the U.S. to help pay for the inaugural celebration and get a picture with the president, according to court documents and an analysis of campaign finance records by The Associated Press. U.S. election law prohibits foreign…

An appeals court ruling in a major, Texas-led legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act is expected any day, meaning it could come on the eve of open enrollment that runs through Dec. 15, or during the middle of it.
The U.S. Capitol.

The gap is widely expected to top $1 trillion in the current budget year and likely remain there for the next decade. Forecasts by the Trump administration and the Congressional Budget Office project that the deficit will top $1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, which began Oct. 1.

“I got into this race in April to really give voice to the forgotten people of our country: the workers who have been left behind, the businesses who have been left behind, the people who need health care or aren’t getting a quality education, or are saddled by tremendous debt,” Mr. Ryan said in a statement. A U.S. House member from the Youngstown area, Mr. Ryan was little…
Pressure is on the Federal Reserve to act on interest rates.

The Federal Reserve finds itself in an unusually delicate spot as it considers how much more to try to stimulate an economy that’s still growing and adding jobs but also appears vulnerable. Will a U.S. manufacturing sector that is essentially in recession weaken the rest of the economy? Will a shaky truce in the U.S.- China trade war hold?

But that fundraising might isn’t spilling over to the most vulnerable Republicans fighting to hold onto their seats in a narrowly divided Senate. And in Colorado, Cory Gardner, who led Senate Republicans’ campaign arm in 2018, barely outraised former Gov. The trouble for Republicans extends to states where they’re supposed to be on firmer ground.

Elizabeth Warren got her way and the Senate filibuster were eliminated, it’s likely Congress already would have gutted Obamacare, allocated billions more dollars to President Trump’s border wall, and even erased the Massachusetts Democrat’s own brainchild idea, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which grew out of the Wall Street collapse a decade…

“This election could come down to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida, and of the states that are pivotal, we have the second-largest number of electoral votes,” said Terry Madonna, political scientist and poll director at Franklin& Marshall College. “Trump can’t win the presidential election without the blue-collar, working-class base that’s heavily,…