Update 672 — Student Debt on the Docket:SCOTUS Casts Doubt on Biden Forgiveness If the Supreme Court rules to block the Biden administration’s student debt forgiveness plan, one possible outcome following the oral arguments the Court heard yesterday, at least it will be clear to the nation that the administration made a concerted effort to …
Update 671 — CFPB ConstitutionalityProspects for a SCOTUS Showdown In the coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide whether or not to hear Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, the long-anticipated legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s funding mechanism. The decision, …
Update 664 – House Committees & Caucuses: What’s New? What’s Out? And Who’s on Top With this week’s appointment of committees and assignments of members in the U.S. House, the blurry picture of the 118th Congress comes to greater focus. The committee and caucus assignments stand in contrast to the 117th. Despite ominous-sounding titles like …
Update 663 — Early GOP Economic BillsWhat is Message, What Meant to Enact? In the early days of the 118th Congress, the House GOP has wasted no time setting the legislative tone for the next two years. The over 350 bills proposed by the GOP to date range from seriously threatening to downright silly. The …
Update 659 — The Putative 118th Congress:What’s Ahead for Economic Policy Legislation The House GOP conference has had several thousand dollars of pizza delivered this week to sustain it through failed ballot after ballot to elect a Speaker. This spectacular display of chaotic dysfunction comes two years after the insurrection on the Capitol, a more …
Update 652 — House Democrats ElectNew Leadership for the 118th Congress The House Democratic leadership triumvirate of Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and Jim Clyburn has paved the way for succession by a new generation of Democratic Caucus leaders, approved by acclamation of the Caucus earlier today. The Caucus will now be led by Brooklynite Hakeem …
Update 583 — GDP up 6.9% in 4Q21:USICA Way to Maintain that Growth? An economy growing at 6.9 percent, annualized, in the final quarter of 2021. National unemployment is below four percent. Wages soaring. Labor mobility is like never before. All of this defies expectations, yielding, dare we say an unprecedented recovery so far. It’s no accident, …
Update 582 — The Millionaire Majority:Stock Trades on Hill, MOCs on the Take Surprised to learn that a majority of members of Congress are millionaires? In fact, the median net worth of members of Congress who filed disclosures is now just over $1 million. Then maybe it’s not surprising that the STOCK Act — the law passed in …
Update 536 — Appeal for Reconsideration:WV Open Letter to Sen. Manchin re S. 1 Vote Today’s update comes in the form of an open letter to Senator Joe Manchin following his recent Op-ed in the West Virginia Gazette stating his opposition to S. 1, the For the People Act, in current form. The views expressed …
Update 522 — Skinny Budget, Heavy Lift?President Outlines FY2022 Spending Plans Last Friday, the Biden administration released its “skinny budget,” the initial framework for its FY2022 discretionary funding request. Although not elaborate, the $1.52 trillion budget gives us the first clear glimpse into President Biden’s priorities. The administration calls for increased spending levels across the …
