Update 866 – GENIUS Fails Senate Test;Reconciliation Faces Test next Tuesday Yesterday, after trying to muscle Democrats into moving forward with the first major piece of crypto legislation this Congress, Senate Majority Leader John Thune faced an embarrassing setback when the GENIUS Act failed to get cloture, falling short by a surprisingly wide margin. The …
Update 861 — DOGELess Barking But Still Biting DOGE’s initial visibility, assault on the civil service, budget cuts, and firings drew unwanted scrutiny and criticism, making it the focal point for the backlash against Trump, Musk, and the GOP’s efforts to reshape the federal government. Since then, the Trump administration’s actions, from immigration to tariffs, …
Update 833 — Continuing Irresolution:Speaker Still ISO Plan to Avert Shutdown Mike Tyson once remarked that boxers have a plan going into every fight — until they get punched in the mouth. Speaker Johnson had a viable, bipartisan plan A this week to keep the government funded through mid-March and avert a shutdown via a …
Update 830 — Lame Duck Finish Line: Remaining Business of 118th Congress This morning’s November CPI report, showing overall inflation ticking up to 2.7 percent last month, shows that the steep price increases of the past two years have eased but far less than the Federal Reserve would prefer. The new data comes ahead of the …
Update 829 — Jobs Gains Up Again in November; Crypto Friendly SEC Pick among New Trump Noms. This morning’s jobs report, showing 227,00 jobs added to the economy and unemployment ticking up to 4.2 percent in November, indicates that the labor market remains strong after labor action and extreme weather led to low job gains in …
Update 825 — Lame-Duck Session PreviewEcon. Issues on 118th’s Must-Pass Agenda The 118th Congress may turn out to be one of the least productive ever, but a few precious weeks remain before the books are closed and it can be evaluated. Between now and adjournment late next month, several economic policy must-pass items are on …
Update 823 — Trump Rolls to Second TermFed Rate Cut 25bp; Powell Defiant on Trump Supported by 56 percent of working-class voters, themselves 57 percent of the electorate, and taking down the Blue Wall, Donald Trump won the presidential popular vote majority for the first time, en route to a 295-226 electoral college margin (on …
Update 819 — Storms of Disinformation:Speaker Johnson: Assistance “Can Wait” Millions of Americans affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the last month have had to endure not only personal and financial catastrophe but a flood of disinformation from Republicans about the status and availability of federal disaster assistance. Calls continued this week for Congress …
Update 773 — Supplemental’s Status, Roundup of Week’s Other Developments It isn’t the express train but the long-lingering local that the $95 billion international assistance package, originally requested by the administration over six months ago, is riding en route to the finish line in Congress. Once enacted, the White House will sign and herald most …
Update 771 — CPI Hotter Than Expected;March Report Dampens Rate Cut Outlook Following this week’s CPI report for March, observers ranging from President Biden to Fed Governors to market participants agree that the trends in stubbornly elevated prices thus far this year point to a reduced likelihood of a Fed pivot to interest rate cuts …
