Washington Wire

Senate Republicans will have enough votes on Wednesday to nullify the Biden administration’ s new rule allowing 401 fund managers to consider climate change and social justice politics when investing clients’ savings, a move that will prompt President Biden to issue his first veto. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, told The Washington Times that he plans to side…

Raising interest rates is one of the most powerful inflation-fighting weapons that the Federal Reserve has in its economic control arsenal. The Federal Reserve has seven more meetings this year at which it can take action on interest rates, with the next one scheduled for March 22. What is the Federal Reserve's current interest rate?

The Insured Retirement Institute released its 2023 Federal Retirement Security Blueprint detailing the association’s federal legislative and regulatory public policy agenda.

WASHINGTON— President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he would nominate Julie Su, the deputy secretary of labor and the preferred choice of the Congressional Black Caucus, to become secretary of the Department of Labor. Su would replace Marty Walsh, who is leaving in March to become executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association.

Inflation is proving tougher to curb than Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell anticipated or, with an eye toward the next election, President Biden is inclined to admit. The sudden juxtaposition of the shift in purchases from services to goods— instigated by retail and office closings and work-from-home— against slowing production at Chinese and U.S….

NEW YORK- Can the Federal Reserve keep raising interest rates and defeat the nation's worst bout of inflation in 40 years without causing a recession? Key U.S. inflation measure surges at fastest rate since June. WASHINGTON- The Federal Reser ve's preferred inflation gauge rose last month at its fastest pace since June, an alarming sign that price pressures…

In 2020, the Federal Reserve took unprecedented measures as it propped up an economy halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As Fed Chair Jerome Powell told the Brookings Institution's David Wessel at the time, "There's no limit on how much of that we can do other than that it must meet the tests under the law." One showed Jerome Powell, making a consternated face and…

With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates at a relatively quick pace to combat inflation, farmers and ranchers have faced some different calculations when making decisions about their operations. Lance Albin is president of UMB Bank's agribusiness division and is based in Kansas City. University of Illinois ag economist and professor Bruce…

Asian Americans in Congress are hopeful that with the expected exit of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Biden will finally name an Asian American to his Cabinet by promoting deputy secretary Julie Su. Walsh is expected to leave the Biden administration in the coming days to lead the National Hockey League Players' Association, and when that news broke, the…

A run of stronger-than-expected economic data, paired with elevated inflation, has renewed bets on bigger Fed rate hikes. The Federal Reserve may need to put its foot more firmly on the interest rate pedal next month, traders are indicating Thursday, as sticky inflation, a resilient job market and roaring consumer spending continue to stoke price pressures.

Per CNN and other media outlets, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ran his first campaign for Congress in 2012, he expressed support for "privatizing" Social Security. The president who brought us Social Security, Franklin D. Roosevelt, told the nation in his first inauguration in 1933, in the dark days of the depression, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

WASHINGTON— America's consumers rebounded last month from a weak holiday shopping season by boosting their spending at stores and restaurants at the fastest pace in nearly two years, underscoring the economy's resilience in the face of higher prices and multiple interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. It was the largest one-month increase since March…

The absurdity of our current national politics is again on dramatic display, this time in the form of President Biden's demagoguery on Social Security and Medicare. On Social Security and Medicare, yes, some Republicans like Sens. The 2022 Social Security board of trustees' report concludes that, unless changes are made, the funds that pay retirement and other…

WASHINGTON- The pace of consumer price increases eased again in January compared with a year earlier, the latest sign that the high inflation that has gripped Americans for nearly two years is slowly easing. Rising costs will also keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate further and to keep it there through year's end.

Consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in January and 6.4 percent annually, according to Labor Department's consumer price index released Tuesday, a jump in inflation which could encourage the Federal Reserve to further raise interest rates. Earlier this month, the Fed rolled out its smallest rate hike since March 2022 as inflation appeared to ease, but that…

—U.S. inflation likely slowed again last month in the latest sign that consumer price increases are becoming less of a burden on America's households. But Tuesday's report from the government may also suggest that further progress in taming inflation could be slow and“ bumpy,” as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has described it. Consumer prices are expected…

How will the US Federal Reserve wage its battle with inflation- by keeping interest rates elevated for longer, or by taking them even higher? By tightening monetary policy, Chair Jerome Powell wants to restrain demand for labor just enough- but not too much- to bring wage growth down to the 3%- to-4% level consistent with the central bank's 2% inflation target.

Just look at the fallout from President Biden's State of the Union address, in which he accused some Republicans— "not a majority"— of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare. It enraged Republicans, but Biden achieved what he wanted in his moments of sparring with them, two things:. Republicans, since the rise of the Tea Party, have pushed for spending cuts to offset…

January could mark seven consecutive months of falling consumer prices compared to a year earlier. The Federal Reserve also is fond of the cooler pricing trends. Chairman Jerome Powell called disinflation“ most welcome” two weeks ago, after the central bank pared its own interest rate hikes in response to slower inflation.

The Federal Reserve wants your pay raise. When Fed Chair Jerome Powell says“ the labor market is extraordinarily strong,” what he’ s really saying is too much good stuff for workers is making a mess of his inflation-cooling efforts. Look at pay patterns shown in recent California results from the government’ s employment cost index, which tracks what bosses are…