A moment of comity prevailed late yesterday, on a day including physical threats in both chambers, when the House adopted Speaker Johnson’s early holiday gift of a clean, two-step laddered continuing resolution, with the Senate and President Biden expected to sign on and avert a government shutdown until January 19. Democrats provided a majority of the House …
Update 735: Shutdown Threat In Temporary Remission Read More »
In late breaking news, the House GOP has dropped the nomination of Rep. Jim Jordan for Speaker, ending a bid that had fallen short in three ballots of voting and was marked by grave threats issued against opponents. After another week of House GOP speakership debate and balloting, full of sound and fury signifying nothing, …
Update 728 — Suspended Animation:House Left Behind as the World Turns Read More »
The powerful resilience of the U.S. economy and the dominant dollar continue to demonstrate global leadership as the world recovers from the COVID pandemic. Challenges from abroad — from the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East to the rapid economic contraction in China — and ones at home, which we detail below, have not …
Update 727 — Economy Stays Strong: Amid Int’l Conflict, Paralysis in House Read More »
Be careful what you vote for. The House, having voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, is now consumed by the struggle to replace him. The proximate cause of his removal: McCarthy offered a bipartisan CR to keep the government open that passed overwhelmingly, but it enraged his House GOP critics. The next Speaker is …
Update 726 — Out of the Frying Pan: Speaker Fight Raises Shutdown Risk Read More »
Even close observers were surprised to learn that Speaker Kevin McCarthy had pivoted overnight on Friday from acquiescing to draconian demands from the Freedom Caucus to his right to offering a bipartisan proposal to keep the government open without changing fiscal or any policy. Who would have predicted that the Speaker would be so willing …
Update 725 — Saturday’s Surprise: Shutdown Averted in the Final Hour Read More »
While two days and a few votes in Congress remain before the federal government enters the 2024 fiscal year at 12:00 am on Sunday, the prospects for a budget agreement by then to fund operations are vanishingly small. For millions of federal workers and program beneficiaries, life will not go on as usual. The questions …
Update 724 — Days Grow Few, Down to Two: As Nation Confronts Government Shutdown Read More »
The Fed held interest rates steady this week, with chair Jerome Powell suggesting that rates are likely to remain higher for longer than previously expected, raising recession worries. Meanwhile, on the Hill, House Speaker McCarthy sent members home for the weekend without moving any closer this week to a resolution of the months-long effort to …
Update 723 — Fed Pauses, House Punts: Econ. Policy in Week of Moving Sideways Read More »
A tumultuous week in Washington and the industrial Midwest hints at a set of short-term challenges that threaten the nation’s rapid recovery from the post-Covid recession. Failure this week, particularly by House Republicans bent on impeachment, to make meaningful budget making progress and avoid a government shutdown and by Detroit automakers to avert the UAW …
Update 722 — From Strikes to Shutdown: Challenges to the Post-Covid Recovery Read More »
Week of Data Drops Shows: Economy Yielding at Last to Fed Rate Hikes From today’s benign August jobs report to a downward GDP growth revision, to dips in inventory investment, mortgage rates, and Treasury yields, this week’s data drops show an economy cooling, perhaps enough to encourage the Fed to pause its long campaign of …
It is safe to say the resilient U.S. consumer has kept the economy from flirting with recession. And again in June, consumer spending increased by 0.5 percent over May, and again, up faster than disposable income. During and shortly after the pandemic, consumers splurged on a range of discretionary items — home gym equipment, patio …
Update 719 — Discretionary to Discount: Consumer Spending Trends and Trajectory Read More »
