Weekly Round Up

Update 906: Chinese Trade Detente

Update 906 — Chinese Trade Detente,Shutdown Rolling to Record Lead Week President Trump returned from Asia touting major success when, in fact, details of finalized plans are few and far between. With China, we are nearly back where we were before, after months of pain for American businesses and farmers who are paying the price …

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Update 895: Sliding toward Shutdown

Update 895 – Sliding toward ShutdownFY26 Status Leads Week’s Round-Up With only 10 days left for Congress to approve and Trump to sign a Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget to avoid a shutdown, the House voted today to advance a Republican CR proposal that would fund the government through November 21. But the Senate quickly …

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Update 893: Macro Muddle Confronts Fed

Update 893 – Macro Muddle Faces Fed; Democrats’ Shutdown Strategy Emerges The nation’s macroeconomic picture got murkier this week, with CPI showing August prices rising by the most since January, even as jobless claims jumped by the most in four years this week and unemployment edged up last month — “a curious kind of balance,” …

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Update 886: Trump Levies to Hit Aug. 7

Update 886 – Trump Levies to Hit Aug. 7Stock Trade Ban Gains; Big Jobs Retreat New tariff rates are set to go into effect in seven days following an Executive Order signed by Donald Trump yesterday. The new rates range from 10-41 percent, way above the historical average, but countries still have one week to …

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Update 884: Trump/Powell Tete a Tete

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 …

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Update 880: Rescissions Cloud Looms over FY26

Update 880 – Recissions’ Impact on FY26, Gould’s OK for OCC Lead Week’s Round-Up Senate Republicans this week debated Trump’s $9.4 billion rescissions package targeting funding for international aid and public broadcasting, which faces a July 18 deadline for a simple majority vote. While the package is small, its passage could cloud negotiations on FY26 …

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Update 875: Senate’s OBBB Obstacle Course

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 …

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Update 872: The Trump-Musk Meltdown

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. …

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Update 870: House OKs Trump OBBB

Update 870 – House OKs Trump OBBB:On to the Senate for Tweak or Overhaul? The House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) yesterday in a 215-214 vote after a week of seemingly fraught negotiations. The bill, which consists of trillions of dollars in tax cuts that are skewed towards the ultra-wealthy and paid …

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Update 868: Reconciliation Halted

Update 868 – Reconciliation Halted:House Budget Stops Massive Tax Bill In a somewhat surprising turn of events today, the House Budget Committee rejected the GOP reconciliation blueprint, with four Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. The Republican defectors cited concerns over the proposal’s overall deficit impact, as well as delays in implementing cost-reduction measures like Medicaid …

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