Update 885 – Fed Not Ready to Cut;Dissents from Two Chair Aspirants The Federal Reserve hit pause, as expected, on interest rates at the conclusion of its July FOMC meeting this afternoon, with two Trump-appointed Fed Governors – Waller and Bowman – dissenting. Such a dissent is rare. Today marks the first time two FOMC …
Update 884 – Trump/Powell Tete a Tete, Japan Deal, EO on AI, Noms Lead Week President Trump continued his ongoing pressure campaign against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a highly unusual hard-hat clad tete-a-tete to tour the Fed’s Washington D.C. building renovations yesterday afternoon. Trump called on the Fed to lower interest rates ahead …
Update 878 – OBBB’s Parable of the Cave: GOP Moderates, Hawks Chicken Out on Bill Moments ago, the House passed Trump’s signature domestic economic legislation, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” sending it to Trump’s desk in time for July 4. Trump achieves much of his domestic policy agenda, with his TCJA tax cuts extended, …
Update 877 – Rulings and OBBB Process,Mamdani Win, Prices, Entitlement Reports The Senate parliamentarian continued her review of the GOP’s reconciliation bill (OBBB) this week, shooting down Medicaid cuts crucial to the fiscal balance of the bill. This straw may have broken the camel’s back, as calls to overrule or dismiss the Senate’s referee following …
Update 875 – OBBB Senate Obstacles,Fed Freeze, Genius Act Vote Lead Week With the Senate Finance Committee’s text for the GOP One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) released this week, we now have a full picture of the Senate’s approach to reconciliation. Though expected to be a more moderate version of the House bill that passed …
Update 874 – Tariff Rate Date MoveMay CPI, Rescissions Bill Lead Week On Tuesday, President Trump announced that the United States had completed a framework for a trade deal with China, calling for both countries to loosen export controls and bring tariff rates back down to levels agreed to in the Geneva “truce.” The next …
Update 874: Round-Up on Trade, Prices, Recissions Read More »
Update 872– The Trump-Musk Meltdown:Elon Attacks OBBB… But to Any Effect? Yesterday, President Trump and Elon Musk’s disagreement over the projected deficit impact of Trump’s reconciliation package erupted into public view on social media. While the dust seems to have settled somewhat as of today, this split raises questions about Musk’s political influence going forward. …
Update 871 – Tariffs’ Court Battles;Musk Mission Ends in Fiscal Failure Trump’s trade agenda hit a major but tentative roadblock this week as two courts halted many of his tariffs, ruling his use of emergency powers “unlawful.” As the appeals process unfolds, the administration is able to maintain its tariff rates, but its long-term survival …
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 865 – Another Fed Rate Pause;June Hold Likely Given Tariff Uncertainty The Federal Reserve hit pause, as expected, on interest rates at the conclusion of its May FOMC meeting this afternoon. While many expected Fed Chair Powell to hint at a coming rate cut at the FOMC’s next meeting in June, he instead emphasized …
