US economy

Subterms

    More stories

    • 238 Shares139 Views

      in US Politics

      January 6 hearings: Barr ‘not sure at all’ transition would have happened had DoJ not resisted Trump – live

      by

      The January 6 committee has concluded its hearing for the day, with the next sessions expected later in July, when House lawmakers return to Washington from a recess.In his closing remarks, committee’s chair Bennie Thompson outlined what the committee had found thus far and what it expected to show in the future..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Up to this point, we’ve shown the inner workings of what was essentially a political coup and attempt to use the powers of the government, from the local level all the way up, to overturn the results of the election. Send fake electors, just say the election was corrupt. Along the way, we saw threats of violence, we saw what some people were willing to do. In a service of the nation, the constitution? No. In service of Donald Trump.
      When the Select Committee continues this series of hearings, we’re going to show how Donald Trump tapped into the threat of violence, how he summoned the mob to Washington, and how after corruption and political pressure failed to keep Donald Trump in office, violence became the last option.The testimony of the justice department officials who gave the bulk of the day’s evidence has concluded, but before they did, Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general, told a tale familiar to those who have watched the committee’s hearings closely: he never heard from Trump on the day of the attack.“I spoke to a number of senior White House officials, but not the president,” Rosen said.What Trump was doing during the attack and who he was talking to are both expected to be focuses of later hearings of the committee.The committee has just unveiled evidence of more Republican congressmen requesting pardons from Trump in his final days in office. NEW on PARDONS: Republican congressman Mo Brooks sent an email on 11 January 2021 seeking pardons for “Every Congressman and Senator who voted to reject the electoral college vote submissions of Arizona and Pennsylvania.”— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 23, 2022
      Trump WH aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Brooks and Gaetz pushed for pardons for every Republican lawmaker who participated in Jan. 6 planning meeting — and Reps. Perry, Biggs, Gohmert asked for pardons. Jordan asked whether White House would pardon members.— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 23, 2022
      The testimony adds to the list of pardon requests that have emerged as the January 6 committee aired its evidence.Capitol attack pardon revelations could spell doom for Trump and alliesRead moreJeffrey Clark came very close to be the acting attorney general, a position in which he could have used his authority to disrupt the certification of Biden’s election win in several states, according to evidence the committee is airing.On January 3, three days before the attack on the Capitol, the White House had already begun referring to Clark as acting attorney general, according to Adam Kinzinger, the Illinois Republican leading the committee’s questioning today.The committee then turned to exploring a meeting between Trump and the leaders of the justice department that day in the Oval Office, in which Trump repeated specific claims of fraud that had been debunked and expressed his will to see Clark take over the department.Richard Donoghue said he warned of mass resignations to follow if Clark took over the department. “You’re gonna lose your entire department leadership. Every single (assistant attorney general) will walk out. Your entire department of leadership will walk out within hours. And I don’t know what happens after that. I don’t know what the United States attorneys are going to do,” Donoghue said. “My guess would be that many of them would have resigned.”Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general in the final weeks of the Trump administration, is now recounting Trump’s attempt to replace him with Jeffrey Clark, who was playing a major roles in his efforts to have states that voted for Biden overturn their results.In a meeting on a Sunday, Rosen said Clark “told me that he would be replacing me,” and had made the atypical request to ask to meet him alone, “because he thought it would be appropriate in light of what was happening to at least offer me, that I couldn’t stay on his his deputy.”“I thought that was preposterous. I told him that was nonsensical,” Rosen said. “There’s no universe where I was going to do that, to stay on and support someone else doing things that were not consistent with what I thought should be done.”However, Clark also said he would turn down Trump’s offer to replace Rosen if the acting attorney general signed the letter disputing the validity of Georgia’s electors for Biden. Richard Donoghue recounted that Rosen made the decisions to begin informing other department officials about the quandary, and almost all the assistant attorney generals said they would resign if Trump replaced Rosen with Clark.As this hearing has unfolded, the justice department officials testifying have said they investigated many of the claims of fraud in the 2020 election brought forward by Trump and his allies. The decision to look into these claims in the weeks after polls closed may be more significant than it appears at first glance.In video testimony aired earlier in the hearing, William Barr, Trump’s attorney general during the election, said be believes that the department’s ability to debunk the false claims of fraud as Trump was making them were essential to allowing Joe Biden to assume office.“I felt the responsible thing to do was to be… in a position to have a view as to whether or not there was fraud,” Barr told investigators.“I sort of shudder to think what the situation would have been if the position of the department was, we’re not even looking at this until after Biden’s in office. I’m not sure we would have had a transition at all.”The committee has returned, and is now asking Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general, about a request from Trump to seize voting machines.“We had seen nothing improper with regard to the voting machines,” Rosen said he replied, noting that investigators had looked into allegations the machines gave fraudulent results and found nothing wrong. “And so that was not something that was appropriate to do … I don’t think there was legal authority either.”Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, is recounting a meeting with Trump, in which he pushed him unsuccessfully to seize voting machines. By the end, “The president again was getting very agitated. And he said, ‘People tell me I should just get rid of both of you. I should just remove you and make a change in the leadership with Jeff Clark, and maybe something will finally get done,’” Donoghue said.Donoghue said he responded: “Mr President, you should have the leadership that you want. But understand the United States justice department functions on facts and evidence, and then those are not going to change. So you can have whatever leadership you want, but the department’s position is not going to change.”The committee is now in recess, but before they finished, Richard Donoghue described his reaction when he first learned of Jeffrey Clark’s proposed letter to the Georgia legislature asking them to convene to declare alternate electoral college voters.“I had to read both the email and the attached letter twice to make sure I really understood what he was proposing because it was so extreme to me I had a hard time getting my head around it initially,” Donoghue said. He responded in writing to Clark’s letter, saying that its allegations were “not based on facts,” and, in his view, “for the department to insert itself into the political process this way, I think, would have had grave consequences for the country. It may very well have spiraled us into a constitutional crisis. And I wanted to make sure that he understood the gravity of the situation because he didn’t seem to really appreciate it.”Clark himself made a brief appearance in video testimony the committee played before it took its break, responding to questions by asserting his fifth amendment rights and executive privilege.The committee will reconvene in a few minutes.One name that’s coming up a lot in this hearing is Scott Perry, the Pennsylvania Republican congressman who the committee said took part in Trump’s plan to pressure the justice department, and in particular install Jeff Clark at its helm.The committee just showed text messages between Perry and Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, which showed the lawmaker encouraging Meadows to work on promoting Clark. Richard Donoghue also detailed a phone call from Perry where the congressman claimed fraud in the results in Pennsylvania from the 2020 election – which the justice department determined unfounded.The committee had sought documents and requested an interview with Perry last year, but the Republican refused to comply. Last month, Perry was among a group of congressmen subpoenaed by the committee.Capitol attack panel subpoenas five Republicans in unprecedented stepRead moreRichard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, is outlining his efforts to convince the president that the justice department could not interfere with a state’s election.“States run their elections. We are not quality control for the states,” he recalled explaining to Trump. “The bottom line was, if a state ran their election in such a way that it was defective, that is to the state or Congress to correct, it is not for the justice department to step in.”But Trump wanted something simpler, Donoghue said.“That’s not what I’m asking you to do,” Donoghue told the committee Trump said after he explained the department’s position. “Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” the president said.Today’s hearing is focusing on the inner workings of the justice department, but as in previous sessions, the committee has tried to make sure the insurrection isn’t far from viewers’ minds.Case in point: lawmakers just aired video from the day of the attack showing marchers chanting “Do your job!” outside the justice department — evidence that Trump’s most ardent supporters were well aware of the president’s attempts to push government lawyers to interfere with Joe Biden’s victory.But as justice department officials tell it, they never believed in Trump’s fraud claims. Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, said Trump lawyer Pat Cipollone described the letter Clark wanted to send for Trump as a “murder-suicide pact. It’s going to damage everyone who touches it.”The committee’s top Republican Liz Cheney is offering more details about the actions of justice department official Jeffrey Clark, who had his house raided today by federal investigators.According to Cheney, Clark and another justice department lawyer drafted a letter addressed to the Georgia state legislature, which would have said the department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the state of Georgia”, and that the legislature should convene and consider approving a new slate of electors. Joe Biden had won Georgia, but Trump made baseless allegations of fraud in the polls, and the new electors would have presumably given him the state’s electoral votes.“In fact, Donald Trump knew this was a lie,” Cheney said. “The Department of Justice had already informed the president of the United States repeatedly that its investigations had found no fraud sufficient to overturn the results of the 2020 election.”Cheney said Clark had met with Trump privately and agreed to help him sway these states’ legislatures without telling his bosses at the justice department. But Cheney said Clark’s superiors – who are the witnesses testifying today – refused to sign it. That was when Trump began considering installing Clark at the helm at the justice department – which he never ended up doing. The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has started its fifth hearing, which will focus on Donald Trump’s efforts to get the justice department to go along with his plans to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Testifying in the chamber will be:
      Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general for the final weeks of Trump’s term, including during the attack on the Capitol.
      Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, who appeared in a video aired at the conclusion of Tuesday’s hearing threatening to resign if Trump appointed Jeffrey Clark to head the justice department.
      Steven Engel, the former assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel.
      We’re about 10 minutes away from the start of today’s January 6 hearing, which my colleague Lauren Gambino reports will offer new evidence of how Trump pressured the justice department to take part in his plot to overturn the 2020 election:The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection plans to present new evidence on Thursday about Donald Trump’s brazen attempts to pressure the justice department to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost, aides said.After exhausting his legal options and being rebuffed by state and local elections officials, the president turned to the justice department to declare the election corrupt despite no evidence of mass voter fraud, the nine-member panel will seek to show in their fifth and final hearing of the month.Testifying from the Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill are Jeffrey Rosen, the former acting attorney general; Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general; and Steven Engel, the former assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel.Capitol attack panel to show how Trump pressured DoJ to overturn electionRead more More

    • 138 Shares109 Views

      in US Politics

      Yellen says US recession not ‘inevitable’ but expects ‘economy to slow’

      by

      Yellen says US recession not ‘inevitable’ but expects ‘economy to slow’ Treasury secretary says ‘inflation unacceptably high’ and it is Biden’s ‘top priority to bring it down’ Joe Biden’s treasury secretary Janet Yellen says she expects “the economy to slow” but continued insisting that a full-blown recession is not “at all inevitable”.Yellen’s remarks on Sunday came days after the US central bank moved to sharply raise interest rates in an effort to contain soaring inflation.She told ABC’s This Week host George Stephanopoulous that her financial outlook results from how the economy has “been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered and we have reached full employment”.“It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable,” Yellen added.Pressed on the issue of inflation, which polls indicate is a top priority for US voters as the midterm elections in November approach, Yellen said inflation causes are global, not local, and those factors are unlikely to diminish immediately.Yellen said some trade tariffs on China inherited from the administration of former President Donald Trump made “no strategic sense”. She added that Biden was reviewing them as a way to bring down inflation.“Clearly, inflation is unacceptably high,” Yellen said. “It’s President Biden’s top priority to bring it down.”The US central bank’s chairperson, Jerome Powell, has also said “it’s his goal to bring it down while maintaining a strong labor economy,” according to Yellen.The comments from Biden’s top economist came reflect the administration’s ongoing push to change the national narrative around the economy.Yellen’s comments were more in line with that push than they have been recently.Last month, she broke with the administration’s preferred talking points when she admitted to the American public that she “was wrong” about the path inflation would take.Recent economic confidence polling has shown sharp drops, with Gallup recording the lowest reading during the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s likely the lowest confidence has been since the tail end of the Great Recession in early 2009.Dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the economy could ricochet through the midterms elections. Central to those concerns are gasoline prices, which have surged during Biden’s term.On Sunday, Yellen voiced measured support for temporarily pausing gasoline taxes, describing it as an idea “certainly worth considering”.Separately, energy secretary Jennifer Granholm warned drivers against expecting quick relief in prices amid tight oil supplies worldwide.The US energy information administration has projected that prices at the pump will average about $4.27 per gallon in the third quarter – down from the current $4.98 – but that its forecast could be “completely upended” by world events.“We know this is going to be a tough summer because driving season just started,” Granholm said. “And we know that there will be continued upward pull on demand.”Looking ahead to Biden’s scheduled – and highly controversial – visit to Saudi Arabia next month, Granholm said the president “has asked for all suppliers around the globe to increase production”.The planned trip has become a lightning rod for criticism as it appears to be a reversal of the president’s stated intent to make the kingdom a “pariah” over its human-rights record, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA concluded was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Granholm said Biden is “very concerned” about human rights in Saudi Arabia and surely will raise the issue, “but he’s also very concerned about what people are experiencing at the pump and Saudi Arabia is head of OPEC”.“We need to have increased production so that everyday citizens in America will not be feeling this pain that they’re feeling right now,” Granholm added.Yellen was not alone Sunday in presenting a more upbeat economic message than the recessionist narrative most US economists are presenting. A survey of economists published Sunday by The Wall Street Journal raised the probability of recession to 44% in the next 12 months – a level of probability that the newspaper wrote is “usually seen only on the brink of or during actual recession.”The director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese, told Margaret Brennan on CBS’ Face the Nation that the US “is in an uncertain moment and we face real challenges, global challenges.”“We need to navigate through this transition in a way that gets us to stable growth without giving up all of the incredible economic gains that we’ve made,” he said.Pressed on how the administration plans to lower inflation, running at a 40-year high of 8.6% and projected by the congressional budget office to remain high into 2024, Deese said a package of legislative measures was being prepared in congress to lower prescription drug costs, utility costs and enacting tax reforms.“If we can do a package like that we can move forward in the near future,” Deese said. “It will not only help in lowering prices, but it will send a signal to the markets and the global economy that the United States is really deadly serious about taking on this inflation.”In a rare one-on-one interview last week, Biden set out his administration’s public line.“First of all, it’s not inevitable,” he said to the Associated Press. “Secondly, we’re in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation.”As clouds gathered over the US economic position during the past 18 months, administration economic officials and central bankers have reformed their inflation message from “transitory” to an economy, as Deese said, that is “in a transition.”TopicsUS politicsUS economyReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Fauci tests positive for Covid with mild symptoms – as it happened

      by

      Steve Bannon, former president Donald Trump’s one-time campaign manager and senior White House strategist, will face trial on contempt of Congress charges, a federal judge has ruled.BREAKING: Judge Carl Nichols DENIES Steve Bannon’s motion to dismiss the indictment against him for contempt of Congress. Trial set for July 18. Story to come.— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) June 15, 2022
      Bannon was indicted for the offense last year after he refused to cooperate with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. He pled not guilty to the charges, which are rarely used and punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.Following the ruling, Bannon vowed to call the committee members to testify at his trial.BANNON used the post-ruling avail to say he expects his lawyer to call members of the Jan. 6 select committee to testify at his trial. That seems…highly unlikely. pic.twitter.com/ZG46vPUjrW— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 15, 2022
      Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to criminal contempt of CongressRead moreJudges in Washington were busy today. The supreme court started Wednesday off with a slew of rulings that touched on the farthest reaches of federal law, while a federal judge ruled Trump confidante Steve Bannon will have to stand trial on contempt of Congress charges and another judge found two January 6 rioters guilty at a bench trial. Here’s what else happened today:
      The Federal Reserve made its biggest rate hike in nearly 30 years to fight runaway inflation.
      The Biden administration announced another $1 billion in weapons for Ukraine as it tries to defend cities in the east from Russia’s advance.
      The justice department has brought federal hate crimes charges against the alleged shooter at a Buffalo supermarket who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack.
      Questions continue to swirl over the actions of Republican House representative Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, after the January 6 committee released video evidence of a man who accompanied the lawmaker on a tour taking photos of Capitol hallways and a security checkpoint the day before the insurrection.
      A special election in Texas ended with bad news for the Democrats when voters sent a Republican to represent their district for the first time. GOP voters also embraced a number of candidates who endorsed Trump’s “big lie.”
      The US politics live blog returns Thursday at 9 am eastern time, ahead of another hearing of the January 6 committee.The January 6 committee hasn’t publicly said whether they’ll recommend prosecuting Trump, but CNN reports that its members agree the former president committed a crime by acting to stop Joe Biden from entering the White House. The question is, what to do about it?From CNN’s article:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The internal debate, which has heated up in recent weeks, spilled into the open on Monday night when the committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, repeatedly told a group of reporters at the Capitol that the committee would not be issuing any criminal referrals.
      “No, that’s not our job,” Thompson said when pressed.
      Thompson’s off-the-cuff remarks sparked an immediate response from several of his fellow committee members who rushed to knock down the notion they would not be pursuing criminal charges.
      “The January 6th Select Committee has not issued a conclusion regarding potential criminal referrals. We will announce a decision on that at an appropriate time,” GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the vice chair of the committee, tweeted 15 minutes after Thompson’s comments.
      Sources tell CNN Cheney is a leading voice among those members who believe the committee should issue a criminal referral.
      Committee member Elaine Luria, a Virginia Democrat, took it one step further, tweeting Monday night that the committee has yet to vote on whether it will recommend criminal referrals but made clear she believes “if criminal activity occurred, it is our responsibility to report that activity to the DOJ.”
      In a video released Tuesday, Cheney said that Trump likely violated two criminal statues in his efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count lawful electoral votes.
      The episode Monday night illustrates that after nearly a year of work, the committee remains divided over what is likely the most pressing question it faces: whether to seek criminal charges against Trump based on the evidence it has uncovered.Also under pressure as the committee airs its evidence is attorney general Merrick Garland, who could order the opening of an investigation into Trump. He’s only said that he’s watching the hearings, but Democrats want him to do more than watch.Garland says he is watching January 6 hearings amid pressure to investigate TrumpRead moreTwo more January 6 rioters have been found guilty by a federal judge today, including one who jabbed Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman with a flagpole.Kevin Seefried and his adult son Hunter Seefried opted for a bench trial before judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee who sits in Washington. Goodman, who was hailed for diverting the rioters away from lawmakers, testified at their trial.Reminder:Kevin Seefried === > pic.twitter.com/Igf0bgZzyK— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2022
      Mixed verdict coming here for kevin Seefried’s son Hunter NOT GUILTY – of some destruction charges. Judge says it wasn’t shown Hunter smashed window. But GUILTY – of disorderly and entering restricted building— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2022
      But as for Kevin Seefried .. who carried the Confederate flag …. GUILTY of top charge of obstruction Also guilty of other charges: disorderly, entering restricted building Among many other things, judge cites Seefried jabbing Confederate flag at Capitol officer.— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2022
      Federal courts are working through the many cases of people who participated in the January 6 insurrection, with a former West Virginia city councilmember sentenced yesterday to a brief stint in jail for breaking into the Capitol.The primaries held yesterday in states across the country confirmed that the spirit of Donald Trump is very much still alive in the Republican party. My colleague Lauren Gambino reports that voters embraced candidates who campaigned on the former president’s “big lie” about the 2020 election:In pivotal primary races from Nevada to South Carolina on Tuesday, Republican voters chose candidates who fervently embraced Donald Trump’s lie about a stolen election, prompting warnings from Democrats that US democracy will be at stake in the November elections.Victories of pro-Trump candidates in Nevada set the stage for match-ups between election-deniers and embattled Democrats in a state both parties see as critical in the midterms.In South Carolina, a vote to impeach Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection proved one Republican’s undoing while another survived the former president’s wrath to win the nomination.Pro-Trump Republicans’ primary wins raise alarm about US democracyRead moreMore than two years after he became the public face of the US government’s response to the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has tested positive for the coronavirus, National Institutes of Health (NIH) said.“He is fully vaccinated and has been boosted twice. He is currently experiencing mild symptoms. Dr. Fauci will isolate and continue to work from his home,” according to the NIH.“He has not recently been in close contact with President Biden or other senior government officials,” the NIH said, noting Fauci will return to the institutes when he tests negative.The 81-year-old is a frequent guest in media outlets and in Congress, and also the target of ire from people opposed to Covid-19 restrictions, particularly Trump supporters. Fauci has, in turn, criticized the former president for his handling of the pandemic’s early months.Fauci says he will resign if Trump retakes the presidency in 2024Read moreOn the complete opposite end of the pay spectrum from the world of Washington politics, The Guardian’s Dani Anguiano has delved into a new American Civil Liberties Union report that has found people who work while imprisoned are often paid literally pennies for their labor, or not at all:Incarcerated workers in the US produce at least $11bn in goods and services annually but receive just pennies an hour in wages for their prison jobs, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).Nearly two-thirds of all prisoners in the US, which imprisons more of its population than any other country in the world, have jobs in state and federal prisons. That figure amounts to roughly 800,000 people, researchers estimated in the report, which is based on extensive public records requests, questionnaires and interviews with incarcerated workers.ACLU researchers say the findings outlined in Wednesday’s report raise concerns about the systemic exploitation of prisoners, who are compelled to work sometimes difficult and dangerous jobs without basic labor protections and little or no training while making close to nothing.US prison workers produce $11bn worth of goods and services a year for pittanceRead moreRemember Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager in 2020 who told the January 6 committee he never believed the election was stolen, and implied he had somehow cut ties with the former president? Stepien played a major role in Monday’s hearing of the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, but HuffPost has discovered that Stepien seems to still have plenty of ties to Trump:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Yet Stepien never really left Trump, with his firm receiving $20,000 in both February and March of 2021, and as much as $30,000 and no less than $10,000 in every month since. His work for Trump to this day, according to an adviser to the former president, is to coordinate Trump’s political strategy, including Trump’s efforts to defeat candidates who challenge his false claim that the election was stolen from him or, worse, voted to impeach him for inciting the Jan. 6 attack.
      Each week, Stepien is on an hourlong call with other top Trump aides, including Dan Scavino, Jason Miller, and Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. The last such call was June 6; Monday’s call was canceled because it conflicted with the Jan. 6 committee hearing.
      “He’s trying to tell the world he quit,” the Trump adviser, who is familiar with Trump’s political operation, said on condition of anonymity. “He has been on every call since Jan. 6. He gets paid every month to do that. … I mean, come on, man.”The article doesn’t say how Stepien’s relationship with Trump is following the airing of the campaign manager’s testimony to the committee.The Federal Reserve has announced its largest increase rate increase in almost 30 years as it looks to tame inflation by reducing demand. Dominic Rushe explains what the central bank’s decision means:With soaring inflation and the shadow of recession hanging over the United States, the Federal Reserve announced a 0.75 percentage-point increase in interest rates on Wednesday – the largest hike since 1994.In a statement after a two-day meeting, the Fed said “overall economic activity appears to have picked up after edging down in the first quarter”.But it warned that “inflation remains elevated”, and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia had created “additional upward pressure on inflation and [is] weighing on global economic activity. In addition, Covid-related lockdowns in China are likely to exacerbate supply-chain disruptions.”It added: “The committee is highly attentive to inflation risks.”Federal Reserve announces biggest interest rate hike since 1994Read moreSteve Bannon, former president Donald Trump’s one-time campaign manager and senior White House strategist, will face trial on contempt of Congress charges, a federal judge has ruled.BREAKING: Judge Carl Nichols DENIES Steve Bannon’s motion to dismiss the indictment against him for contempt of Congress. Trial set for July 18. Story to come.— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) June 15, 2022
      Bannon was indicted for the offense last year after he refused to cooperate with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. He pled not guilty to the charges, which are rarely used and punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.Following the ruling, Bannon vowed to call the committee members to testify at his trial.BANNON used the post-ruling avail to say he expects his lawyer to call members of the Jan. 6 select committee to testify at his trial. That seems…highly unlikely. pic.twitter.com/ZG46vPUjrW— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 15, 2022
      Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to criminal contempt of CongressRead moreJoe Biden’s optimism persists. In fact, he has “never been more optimistic about our future”, he often tells the public.Today on Twitter is no exception and it’s because of America’s trade unions, the perseverance and revival of which was a strong theme during his 2020 election campaign to restore a Democrat to the White House after Donald Trump’s corrosive one-term presidency.Wall Street didn’t build this country.The middle class built this country.And unions built the middle class.— President Biden (@POTUS) June 15, 2022
      Biden was in Philly yesterday with organizers, and is still aglow about it.It was great to be with AFL-CIO yesterday in Philadelphia. These folks are a big reason why I’ve never been more optimistic about our future. Unions have never let this country down, and we’re going to keep building a better America – together. pic.twitter.com/NT1Jqmcd5h— President Biden (@POTUS) June 15, 2022
      Joe Biden has freshly reaffirmed American commitment to Ukraine’s efforts against the Russian invasion as US and NATO allies meet in Europe amid talk of cracks opening in the west’s resolve.The US president announced more aid for Ukraine, $1bn more in military aid and $225m in humanitarian assistance, and back up his defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, who said in Brussels earlier today that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was at a “pivotal” moment and America and its allies “cannot afford to let up and lose steam”.Biden said in a statement just released by the White House that he had spoken with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy this morning:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} To discuss Russia’s brutal and ongoing war against Ukraine. I reaffirmed my commitment that the United States will stand by Ukraine as it defends its democracy and support its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of unprovoked Russian aggression.He announced more funding for “additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems that the Ukrainians need to support their defensive operations in the Donbas,” the heart of Ukraine’s industrial east where Russia has focused its bombardment to increasingly powerful effect in recent weeks.The pledge came amid clear signs that Zelenskiy is hardening his determination to try to beat back Russia in the east, against the odds, amid fierce combat, and has been urging the west for more weaponry.Biden added:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} We also discussed Secretary Austin’s efforts in Brussels today to coordinate additional international support for the Ukrainian armed forces. We also remain committed to supporting the Ukrainian people whose lives have been ripped apart by this war….The bravery, resilience, and determination of the Ukrainian people continues to inspire the world. And the United States, together with our allies and partners, will not waver in our commitment to the Ukrainian people as they fight for their freedom.The New York Times has reported western unity “seems to be fraying among some Western allies”, with those further east close to Russia hardening their resolve while countries such as Italy, France and Germany were wary of stagnation in Ukraine (and stagflation at home, among other fears), but without a clear path to resolution. Meanwhile, the US continues, for now, to bolster Ukraine’s resistance.The day thus far has been busy, with the supreme court releasing a slew of decisions in cases that touched on the farthest reaches of federal law. In the Senate, signs emerged that the bipartisan compromise on gun control was facing obstacles that could delay its passage.Here’s a rundown of the day’s events:
      The Biden administration is set to announce another $1 billion in weapons for Ukraine as it tries to defend cities in the east from Russia’s advance.
      The justice department has brought federal hate crimes charges against the alleged shooter at a Buffalo supermarket who killed 10 Black people in a racist attack.
      Questions continue to swirl over the actions of Republican House representative Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, after the January 6 committee released video evidence of a man who accompanied the lawmaker on a tour taking photos of Capitol hallways and a security checkpoint the day before the insurrection.
      A special election in Texas ended with bad news for the Democrats when voters sent a Republican to represent their district for the first time.
      June is Pride Month, and President Joe Biden’s administration announced today he had signed an executive order that would counter “legislative attacks” against LGBTQ+ children and adults.“President Biden believes that no one should face discrimination because of who they are or whom they love. Since President Biden took office, he has championed the rights of LGBTQI+ Americans and people around the world, accelerating the march towards full equality,” the White House said.Among the provisions of Biden’s executive order detailed by the White House:
      Addressing discriminatory legislative attacks against LGBTQI+ children and families, directing key agencies to protect families and children;
      Preventing so-called “conversion therapy” with a historic initiative to protect children from the harmful practice;
      Safeguarding health care, and programs designed to prevent youth suicide;
      Supporting LGBTQI+ children and families by launching a new initiative to protect foster youth, prevent homelessness, and improve access to federal programs; and
      Taking new, additional steps to advance LGBTQI+ equality.
      The provision addressing “legislative attacks” is meant to deal with the more than 300 “anti-LGBTQI+ laws” the White House said were introduced in statehouses over the past year, many of which are targeted at transgender youth. The order directs the federal health and human services department to “release new sample policies for states on how to expand access to comprehensive health care for LGBTQI+ patients.” The education department is also directed to release “a sample school policy for achieving full inclusion” of students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.The alleged gunman who killed 10 people in a racist massacre at a Buffalo, New York supermarket last month could face the death penalty after prosecutors brought hate crimes charges against him.The Associated Press reports:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;} Payton Gendron already faced a mandatory life sentence without parole if convicted on state charges in the 14 May shooting which also wounded three survivors – one Black, two white.
      The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, was in Buffalo on Wednesday to visit families of the 10 people killed. He was expected to address the federal charges during the visit.
      Gendron’s radical, racist worldview and extensive preparation for the attack at the Tops Friendly Market are laid out in documents he apparently posted online.
      The documents embrace a conspiracy theory about a plot to diminish white Americans’ power and “replace” them with people of color, through immigration and other means.
      The posts detail months of reconnaissance, demographic research and shooting practice for a bloodbath meant to scare anyone not white and Christian into leaving the country.
      Gendron drove more than 200 miles from his home in a nearly all-white town near the New York-Pennsylvania border to a predominantly Black part of Buffalo. There, authorities say, he killed shoppers and workers using an AR-15-style rifle, wearing body armor and livestreaming the carnage from a helmet-mounted camera.
      The 18-year-old surrendered to police as he exited the supermarket.Buffalo mass shooting suspect charged with federal hate crimesRead moreWhile Washington has publicly stated it remains committed to defending Ukraine, Bloomberg News reports that some in the White House worry the sanctions on Russia have worsened the American economy more than expected while doing little to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin.From their story:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Some Biden administration officials are now privately expressing concern that rather than dissuading the Kremlin as intended, the penalties are instead exacerbating inflation, worsening food insecurity and punishing ordinary Russians more than Putin or his allies.
      Officials were initially impressed by the willingness of companies from BP Plc. to McDonald’s Corp. to abruptly “self-sanction,” sometimes selling assets at fire-sale prices. But the administration was caught off-guard by the potential knock-on effects — from supply chain bottlenecks to uninsurable grain exports — due to the companies’ decisions to leave, according to people familiar with internal discussions.
      In some cases, companies have signaled that they are being extra-cautious or want clearer guidance from the US before continuing business with Russia. Until that happens, they are going beyond any legal requirements to ensure they don’t accidentally violate sanctions policies, according to Justine Walker, the head of global sanctions and risk at the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, an industry group.
      “Because we just have so many changes at once, governments are not able to step in and give precise clarification and we are seeing many, many examples of authorities coming to different positions,” Walker said in an interview. “Companies ask, ‘Should we be applying sanctions to this entity?’ and the government will come back and say, ‘You need to make your own decision.’”The war in Ukraine has played a role in driving inflation higher in the United States, and in particular the price of gas, which has played a major role in the Biden’s deepening unpopularity.According to an article in Politico, the White House is growing frustrated with its ability to respond to the increase in costs across the economy:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Prices keep rising. And the clock keeps ticking.
      So the White House has started to change up its messaging on inflation, even though President Joe Biden has limited tools at his disposal to battle the crisis. The president stepped up efforts to draw contrasts with Republicans, unleashing a series of new attack lines Tuesday in a speech delivered amid a flurry of sobering headlines on rising costs and interest rates.
      “America still has a choice to make. A choice between a government by the few, for the few,” Biden said at an AFL-CIO union convention in Philadelphia. “Or a government for all of us – a democracy for all of us, an economy where all of us have a fair shot.”
      But with the midterms rapidly approaching, voters’ patience appears likely to run out – and the president and party in power stand poised to pay the political price.
      “The political environment is brutal for Democrats. There are few more economic issues more politically painful than high food and high gas prices and we are heading into high stakes midterms,” said Dan Pfeiffer, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama. More

    • 113 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Federal Reserve announces biggest interest rate hike since 1994

      by

      Federal Reserve announces biggest interest rate hike since 1994Fed confirms 0.75 percentage-point increase as Americans across country hit hard by rising prices and shortages of key items With soaring inflation and the shadow of recession hanging over the United States, the Federal Reserve announced a 0.75 percentage-point increase in interest rates on Wednesday – the largest hike since 1994.Until this week the Fed had been expected to announce a smaller increase. At a press conference, the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, said the central bank decided that a larger hike was needed after recent economic news, including last week’s announcement that inflation had risen to a 40-year high.He made clear that a similarly outsized rate rise should be expected at its next meeting in July unless price rises softened. “We at the Fed understand the hardship inflation is causing,” he said. “Inflation can’t go down until it flattens out. That’s what we’re looking to see.”The hike will increase the Fed’s benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 1.5% and 1.75% and officials said they expected rates to rise to at least 3% this year.Powell acknowledged that the Fed’s attempt to cool spending is likely to lead to job losses. The Fed expects unemployment to rise to 4.1% from the current rate of 3.6% as it attempts to bring inflation back down to its target rate of 2%.“We never seek to put people out of work,” Powell said. But, he added: “You really cannot have the kind of labor market we want without price stability.”The rate rise came after more bad news on inflation late last week sent US stock markets into a tailspin, presenting the Fed and the Biden administration with an escalating crisis amid fears that runaway inflation has now spread through the economy.Over a third of US population urged to stay indoors amid record-breaking heatRead moreThe Fed cut rates to near zero at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as the US and global economies effectively shut down. It increased rates for the first time since 2018 in March this year, but the increase did nothing to tamp down rising prices.Powell initially described rising prices as “transitory”, but has changed his view and says the Fed intends to aggressively increase rates in order to bring prices back under control. There are already signs that consumers are cutting back in the face of rising inflation. Retail spending fell for the first time this year in May, the commerce department said on Wednesday. Home sales have fallen for three consecutive months and consumer confidence hit a record low between May and June.Last week the labor department announced consumer prices were 8.6% higher in May than they were a year ago. The increase was broad-based, with food and fuel prices rising alongside rent, airfares and car prices.Across the country, consumers are being confronted by rising prices and shortages. Nationally, gas now costs an average of $5 per gallon, close to $2 higher than a year ago. In California, a gallon of gas now costs more than $6, up from just over $4 a year ago.Supply chain disruptions and other issues have led to shortages of basic necessities including tampons and baby formula.On Wednesday, Joe Biden summoned top oil executives to the White House to discuss ways they can “work with my administration to bring forward concrete, near-term solutions that address the crisis”.Biden’s handling of the inflation issue has battered his poll numbers. With crucial midterm elections, and control of Congress, coming up in November, Biden’s approval rating is 33%, according to Quinnipiac University’s national poll, equal to the lowest rating for his administration.Many parts of the economy remain strong and the Fed is aiming for a “soft landing” – hoping it can tame inflation by raising rates without sharply increasing the unemployment rate – but Powell acknowledged some risks, including the war in Ukraine, were beyond the influence of the Fed.Nearly 70% of the academic economists polled by the Financial Times and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business now believe the US economy will tip into a recession next year.TopicsFederal ReserveUS interest ratesUS economyInflationUS politicsBiden administrationEconomicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden commerce secretary shifts blame for inflation onto Russia’s war in Ukraine

      by

      Biden commerce secretary shifts blame for inflation onto Russia’s war in UkraineGina Raimondo’s comments seen as part of a White House push to deflect blame for nation’s economic troubles away from Biden Joe Biden’s commerce secretary Gina Raimondo attempted on Sunday to shift blame for the US inflation crisis back onto Russia’s war in Ukraine, days after another cabinet member admitted the presidential administration had made failures in predicting its impact on the economy.Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, conceded last week she made an error in 2021 when she said inflation, which has only recently dropped from a near 40-year high, posed merely a “small risk”.“I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,” Yellen told CNN last Tuesday.In her appearance on the same network’s State of the Union on Sunday, Raimondo pointed to “unexpected” developments that had derailed the global economy, and insisted: “We will get inflation under control.”She said: “I don’t think anyone predicted (Russian president Vladimir) Putin’s war in Ukraine, or various other things that have happened that have been unexpected. It’s worth noting that gas prices are up $1.40 a gallon since Putin moved troops into Ukraine.”Her comments will be seen as part of a concerted White House push to deflect blame for the nation’s economic troubles away from Biden, who has faced accusations of ignoring experts’ warnings over inflation and, more recently, the baby formula shortage.Calling inflation his “top domestic priority”, the president and his acolytes have embarked on a messaging campaign in recent weeks directed at voters in November’s midterm elections, and playing up his economic successes such as the bipartisan infrastructure act.It comes as gas prices reach almost record daily highs, up to $4.84 a gallon according to the AAA, the cost of groceries and services continue to soar, and new parents scramble to find baby formula.Raimondo herself appeared to torpedo the effort later in the interview by admitting she only learned of issues with formula in April, the same time as Biden. But production at the nation’s biggest manufacturing plant, owned by Abbott in Michigan, was closed down after bacteria was found during inspections as early as January, and problems were evident at the site late last year.“I’m not involved in the administration’s response here, but I think they’re doing a very good job and as soon as they learned that this could be a severe shortage they got on top of it,” she said.The Michigan facility resumed production this weekend after a lengthy shutdown, although it will likely be several weeks before formula appears on shelves.In another sign of growing disconnect in Democratic circles over the economy, California congressman Adam Schiff spoke out strongly on Sunday against Biden’s planned summer trip to Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s leading oil producing nations.“We should make every effort to lower oil prices, but going hat-in-hand to someone who’s murdered an American resident would not be on my list,” Schiff said on CBS’ Face the Nation, referring to the implication of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.“I wouldn’t go,” Schiff continued. “I wouldn’t shake his hand. I would want to see Saudi Arabia lower oil prices, or increase their production [and] I’d want to see them make changes in their human rights record. I want to see them hold people accountable that were involved in that (Khashoggi) murder … before I would extend that kind of dignity.”TopicsUS newsUS economyInflationUS politicsJoe BidenBiden administrationnewsReuse this content More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      The Guardian view on US gun violence: another desperate day | Editorial

      by

      The Guardian view on US gun violence: another desperate dayEditorialFirearm sales and deaths have soared in the last two years. All killings – not just mass shootings – must be addressed To see the smiling faces of the children murdered at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, is unbearable. The killing of at least 19 pupils and two teachers is not, as it should be, unthinkable. It comes a decade after 20 children and six staff members were shot dead at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut, and only 10 days after the racist murder of 10 mostly black shoppers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.Gun sales have risen sharply since the pandemic began, although the US already had more guns than citizens, far ahead of any other country. The murder rate has soared by nearly 30%. Firearms are the leading cause of death for America’s children, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 under-18s last year. Mass shootings account for at most 3% of gun violence deaths; many occur in ones or twos, and largely in disadvantaged neighbourhoods of colour. Unlike Tuesday’s tragedy, these victims go mostly unremarked, even when they are school age. Yet they, too, are irreplaceable to those who loved them.Attempts to curb mass shootings, for example through banning assault weapons, are therefore both necessary and wholly inadequate. Yet lawmakers have struggled to enact and defend even these. Many believed that Sandy Hook had to prove a turning point. The passionate efforts of bereaved parents, vilified and attacked as they grieved, have led to a gunmaker being found liable for a mass shooting in the US for the first time. But the most wide-reaching change resulting from school shootings has been that millions of children now go through drills – traumatising those who will, thankfully, never encounter a shooter.On Tuesday, Joe Biden asked – as so many have – why the US is “willing to live with this carnage”. Support for tighter gun controls has dropped in recent years, though most still want them, and backing usually rises after mass shootings. Texan Republican leaders have prided themselves on expanding gun rights. Governor Greg Abbott, along with state senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, is due to speak at the NRA’s meeting in Houston this weekend. The Republican grip on the country’s institutions, skewing the executive, the legislature and the judiciary rightward, is another problem. A conservative, pro-gun supreme court will rule shortly on a New York law restricting who can carry guns in public, potentially imperilling restrictions elsewhere.Local gun violence prevention programmes work: the Biden administration is right to have dramatically increased funding, but more must be done. It is also essential that misogyny is addressed: most mass shooters have a history of expressing hatred of women and attacking female family members, and most women shot by their partners have previously been abused by them.It is hard to feel any optimism when persistent campaigning by survivors and bereaved families has failed to shift the nation. The question is not merely what might save children like those at Uvalde, but whether anything will be done to save Americans more broadly if even these deaths do not force the US to address gun violence seriously. These deaths were not unthinkable. Inaction, in the face of them, must be.TopicsTexas school shootingOpinionUS gun controlUS domestic policyUS economyUS politicsTexaseditorialsReuse this content More

    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      US economy is on a downhill slide. But Republicans can’t fix it, Biden warns

      by

      US economy is on a downhill slide. But Republicans can’t fix it, Biden warnsThe president says frustrated Americans ‘have a choice between two paths’ but that the GOP is not focused on fighting inflation On a recent visit to a family farm in rural Illinois, thousands of miles away from the front lines of the grinding war in Ukraine, Joe Biden lashed out at his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, blaming him for destabalizing global food supplies and driving up the cost of groceries at home.Russia’s assault on Ukraine, Biden explained after a tour of the farm’s fields and grain bins, has dramatically reduced food exports from the warring nations that together supply more than a quarter of the world’s wheat, causing food prices to spiral.Biden targets America’s wealthiest with proposed minimum tax on billionairesRead more“Right now, America is fighting on two fronts,” the president said. “At home, it’s inflation and rising prices. Abroad, it’s helping Ukrainians defend their democracy and feeding those who are left hungry around the world because Russian atrocities exist.”With less than six months before the midterm congressional elections, Biden is talking about the economy – a lot. It is thetop issue on voters’ minds and, worryingly for Democrats, one of the biggest political liabilities for the president and his party.Despite a streak of steady job growth and low unemployment, Americans are deeply pessimistic about the state of the economy. Inflation, running at nearly its fastest rate in four decades, has become inescapable. Gas prices have surged to record highs as many families struggle to afford the basic necessities like food and rent. Now economists are warning of possible recession. Compounding matters, a shortage of baby formula has left parents in one of the world’s wealthiest countries scrounging to feed their infants.Amid the national tumult over the economy, Biden’s approval ratings have fallen sharply, dipping to the lowest point of his presidency – 39% – this month, according to the latest AP-NORC poll.The visit to the Illinois farm was part of a wider effort by the White House to reset the narrative around the economy after months of unyielding criticism from Republicans, who have used inflation as a political cudgel against Biden.In recent days, Biden has sought to tell a textured story about the economy, one that concludes with the sharp warning that as bleak as it can seem now, the alternative – Republican control of Congress – would be much worse.In his telling, the administration pulled the nation back from the brink of economic catastrophe with a massive stimulus bill and mass vaccination campaign that saved lives and livelihoods during the depths of the pandemic. Two years on, there is much more to do. Naming inflation as his “top domestic priority”, Biden has touted the administration’s efforts to put the economy on a sturdier path by strengthening the nation’s supply chains, cracking down on price gouging and releasing oil from the strategic reserve.Under mounting pressure in recent weeks, he invoked the Defense Production Act to ramp up baby formula production and launched “Operation Fly Formula” to rush shipments into the US from overseas.Yet those actions, he charged, are being undermined by Putin’s aggression in Ukraine that has sent fuel and food prices soaring; new Covid-19 lockdowns in China that are straining supply chains anew; alleged price-gouging by oil companies; and an “ultra-Maga” Republican party intent on obstructing the president at every turn.Biden says he understands Americans’ frustration with rising costs and the slow pace of progress in Washington – so deeply, in fact, he could “taste” it. But electing Republicans, he argued, would not ease their troubles.“Americans have a choice right now between two paths, reflecting two very different sets of values,” Biden said. He charged that the Republican party, still in the thrall of Donald Trump, had no serious plan to tackle inflation and was instead more focused on fighting issues such as banning textbooks from classrooms.In a press release, the Republican National Committee accused Biden of being “desperate to blame anyone but himself for the worst inflation in 40 years”.“But,” it added, “the American people know he is responsible.”For Democrats who hold narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress, asking voters for two more years of unified government in Washington is a risk that Biden himself acknowledged.Voters historically punish the president’s party in the midterm elections. And this cycle, Democrats have struggled to energize their base, deflated over the party’s failure to pass Biden’s sweeping agenda, designed to remedy longstanding economic challenges. At the same time, Democrats are struggling to persuade independent and moderate Republicans voters who recoiled from Donald Trump in 2018 and 2020.Whether Democrats can change voters’ attitudes on the economy weighs heavily on their prospects.Public opinion surveys have consistently found that voters have more trust in Republicans to handle the economy and inflation than Democrats. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that only 28% of Americans approved of the job Biden was doing to tackle inflation, while 68% disapproved. The same poll showed that 50% of Americans believe Republicans were better able to handle the economy. Just 36% said the same about Democrats.The political headwinds against them, Democrats believe they have found an opening that will undercut Republicans’ advantage.A plan written by Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, would require all Americans to pay some income tax, including families that don’t earn enough to owe taxes now and would require Congress to reauthorize all federal legislation every five years.Biden recently used his bully pulpit to elevate Scott’s 11-Point Plan to Rescue America, which he attacked as an “extreme” vision for the country.Many Republicans, including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell have distanced themselves from the proposal. Downplaying the disagreement, the White House said it was the only comprehensive plan Republicans have put forward for the midterm elections. “This is not the last you’ve heard from us about chairman Scott’s tax plan that will raise taxes,” Jen Psaki, in her last week as White House press secretary, said.In a withering response, Scott called Biden unfit for office and challenged him to a debate.“Joe Biden can blame me all he wants,” the Florida senator said. “Here’s the truth: he’s the president of the United States, Democrats control the House of Representatives and the Senate. Democrats’ agenda is hurting American families and no amount of spin can change that.”A polling memo by Navigator Research, a Democratic messaging group, underscores why the party is seizing on Scott’s plan. It found that the proposal, when described as a plan that would “raise taxes” on millions of working class families and potentially threaten entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare,” was deeply unpopular, even among Republican voters. And when contrasted with the Democrats economic agenda, voters’ views of Biden and his party on the economy improved.Isaiah Bailey, an advisor to Navigator Research, said it was incumbent on Democrats to make voters aware of these dueling visions for the country.“Unpopular positions are only politically meaningful when they permeate public consciousness,” Bailey said. He added that Democrats demonstrate that they are trying to deliver on their promises, even in the face of Republican opposition and procedural challenges like the filibuster.“Democrats really need to look like fighters,” he said.Maria Cardona, a veteran Democratic strategist who has urged her party’s leaders to talk more about the economy with more urgency and empathy, agreed.“For way too long Republicans have gotten away with blaming Democrats, pointing the finger and talking about Biden’s policies,” she said.With so much at stake this fall, including the push to ban abortion if the supreme court overturns Roe v Wade, as is expected, Cardona said it was imperative that Democrats draw a clear contrast with the opposition party.“There’s no question in my mind that we are not taking advantage of the moment in time, when handing over control of Congress to the Republican party is more dangerous for the future of our democracy and for the well-being of our citizenship than it has been in at least a generation,” she said.Surveys suggest that voters broadly understand – and support – the decision to impose sanctions on Russia, even if there are consequences for their pocketbooks. And many cite the ongoing pandemic as a leading cause of the nation’s economic woes. Yet there are signs dissatisfaction with the president’s economic leadership is hardening.“It does not blunt their desire to have you produce a solution,” said Patrick Gaspard, president and chief executive of the Center for American Progress thinktank in Washington. “They’re clear on what the causation is but also clear that they want this president, this Congress, to solve the problem.”A president’s ability to tackle inflation is limited. That power rests largely with the Federal Reserve.Wendy Edelberg, director of The Hamilton Project and a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, said there are indications that the president’s efforts to shore up the nation’s supply chains are taking root.One of the best steps the White House can take, she said is to “not create additional hurdles for monetary policymakers”.“Let monetary policy run its course,” she said, adding that on that front she believes “they’re doing the right things there”.Aiming to cool the economy, the central bank recently approved the sharpest rise in interest rates in more than 20 years. But Jerome Powell, fresh from being confirmed by the Senate for a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve, acknowledged the challenge of attempting to control inflation without tipping the US economy into a recession.Ahead of Biden’s visit to Illinois, the White House received a dash of good news in an otherwise discouraging report: inflation slowed for the first time in months, though the annual rate remained high. But speaking at a fundraiser in Chicago later that day, Biden acknowledged the difficulty of the task ahead.“It’s going to be hard because inflation is going to scare the living hell out of everybody,” he said. “We have a problem we have to deal with. In the meantime, we can’t take our eye off all that could happen if we do not prevail.”David Smith contributed to this reportTopicsJoe BidenUS economyBiden administrationRepublicansUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      US inflation rate slows but remains close to 40-year high

      by

      US inflation rate slows but remains close to 40-year highConsumer price index reveals costs rising by a monthly rate of 0.3% in April, down from 1.2% in March, the first fall since August 2021 Price rises slowed in the US in April but the annual inflation rate remained close to a 40-year high, leaving many Americans struggling to afford necessities including food, shelter and fuel.The latest consumer price index (CPI) figures – which measure a broad range of goods and services – showed prices rising by a monthly rate of 0.3% in April, down from 1.2% in March, the first fall since August 2021.But it is still too early to say whether inflation has peaked. At 8.3% the annual rate of inflation in April was down from 8.5% in March but remains at a level unseen since the 1980s. Over the year the CPI’s food index increased 9.4%, the largest 12-month increase since April 1981. The so-called core-price index – which excludes the volatile categories of food and energy – increased 0.6% on the month, up from March’s 0.3% gain.The figures come as the Federal Reserve is moving to sharply increase interest rates in an attempt to bring prices back under control. The pace of rate rises, and fears that they may trigger a recession, have spooked investors and sent stock markets reeling.Soaring demand and a lack of supply thanks to the pandemic have led to price rises across a broad swath of goods and services. Air fares are up 40% over the last three months. A booming house market has made housing unaffordable for many Americans, especially people of color, and 49% of people recently told Pew Research that affordable housing is a large problem in their community.Randall Kroszner, an economics professor at the University of Chicago and former Fed governor, said the sharp rise in core inflation would worry the Fed. “That is where you look for evidence that inflation is becoming entrenched,” he said.Kroszner said global issues including the war in Ukraine and China’s Covid woes had combined with rising rates to deliver a “one-two punch” to the US economy. He believes the chances of the US entering a recession have risen and that the housing and jobs markets may be the next to suffer.“I’m generally an optimist but this is challenging,” he said.The rising cost of living has become a leading political issue as the US prepares for November’s midterm elections. Rising prices have battered Joe Biden’s approval ratings. This week an Investors Business Daily/TIPP poll found that Biden’s approval had fallen to 39%, approaching his previous record low of 38% set in February, and confidence in the US economy was close to an eight-year low.On Tuesday, Biden said his administration was doing all it could to tackle inflation. “I want every American to know that I’m taking inflation very seriously,” he said in remarks from the White House. “It’s my top domestic priority.The Biden administration has made attempts to bring down prices. In March the White House announced plans to release up to 1m barrels of oil a day from the strategic reserve, in an attempt to dampen high gasoline prices exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. But gas prices remain elevated at a national average of $4.37 a gallon compared with $2.96 a year ago, according to AAA.Republicans have blamed Biden’s stimulus programs for rising prices, a claim he disputes. ​​ The president said his policies had “helped not hurt” the nation’s economic outlook.MIT economics professor Kristin Forbes said the US recovery had shown the US economy lacked skilled workers in industries where demand for jobs was high, pushing up wages – a problem that also afflicted the UK in the wake of the pandemic.The former Bank of England policymaker told a committee of MPs in the UK parliament that she expected inflation in the US to fall, especially once increases in borrowing costs feed through into more expensive mortgages and loans.However, she said the UK faced an acute inflationary spiral that would continue into the autumn because Britain was the only country affected by all six drivers of global inflation. Inflation is running at 7% in the UK, but is forecast by the Bankto exceed 10% later this year. She highlighted the impact on the UK of higher energy prices, a falling exchange rate, trade restrictions that pushed up goods prices, a decade of modest inflation going into the pandemic, expectations among businesses and consumers of much higher inflation in a year’s time and a tight labour market, forcing wages higher.“The UK is the only country to tick every box with inflation pressures coming from all six areas,” she said.TopicsUS economyInflationEconomicsUS politicsBiden administrationnewsReuse this content More