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☆ Factbox: How does the U.S. House of Representatives decide on a speaker?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Members of the U.S. House of Representatives gather for a fourth round of voting for a new House Speaker on the second day of the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstJan 4 (Reuters) - After winning a slim majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in November's midterm elections, Republicans are trying to elect a speaker. The full House of Representatives votes for the speaker on its first day of a new Congress, which was Tuesday. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the House will continue voting until someone does. The House returned from its winter recess on Tuesday to elect a speaker and swear in newly elected representatives, but no one nominated received enough votes to win, despite three rounds of voting.

☆ New Fed research flags rising risk of U.S. recession
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The paper’s authors said that the unemployment rate bottoms out and begins to move higher ahead of recession in a highly reliable pattern. When this shift occurs the unemployment rate is signaling the onset of recession in about eight months, the paper said. The San Francisco Fed research, written by bank economist Thomas Mertens, said its innovation is to make the jobless rate change a forward-looking indicator. The San Francisco Fed paper noted that the Fed, as of its December forecasts, sees the unemployment rate rising next year amid its campaign of aggressive rate hikes aimed at cooling high levels of inflation. In 2023, the Fed sees the jobless rate jumping up to 4.6% in a year where it sees only modest levels of overall growth.

☆ The U.S. passed a historic climate deal this year — here's a recap of what's in the bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

The IRA's provisions have major implications for clean energy and manufacturing businesses, climate startups and consumers in the coming years. As 2022 comes to a close, here's a look back at the key elements in the legislation that climate and clean energy advocates will be monitoring in 2023. Taking aim at methane gas emissionsSome pumpjacks operate while others stand idle in the Belridge oil field near McKittrick, California. Mario Tama | Getty ImagesThe package imposes a tax on energy producers that exceed a certain level of methane gas emissions. And the bill has a hydrogen production tax credit, which provides hydrogen producers with a credit based on the climate attributes of their production methods.

Jonathan Ernst | ReutersThe Jan. 6 House select committee released its long-awaited final report Thursday, capping an 18-month probe of the 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump. "Donald Trump's senior Justice Department officials — each appointed by Donald Trump himself —investigated the allegations and told him repeatedly that his fraud claims were false," Cheney wrote. "Donald Trump's White House lawyers also told him his fraud claims were false. Members of the Oath Keepers militia group among supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, January 6, 2021. U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak to supporters from The Ellipse near the White House on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.

☆ U.S. Capitol riot committee delays releasing final report on assault by Trump backers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) carries the comittee's final report as he departs after the final public meeting of the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 19, 2022. The House of Representatives Select Committee said it expected to release its report on Thursday. "Rather than honor his constitutional obligation to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed,' President Trump instead plotted to overturn the election outcome," the House panel said in the 160-page summary of the report. Trump then waited hours to make a public statement as thousands of his supporters raged through the Capitol, assaulting police and threatening to hang Pence. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone, Cynthia Osterman, Alison Williams and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives committee voted on Tuesday to release partially redacted tax filings from former President Donald Trump and said tax authorities had failed to properly scrutinize his returns while he was in office. The House Ways and Means Committee voted to release a summary of Trump's tax returns between 2015 and 2021, the years when he was running for president and serving in the White House, panel members said. Committee chairman Richard Neal, a Democrat, said a redacted summary of Trump's tax returns would be released within days. Trump has said that he cannot release his tax returns because they were being examined by the IRS. Another House committee on Monday asked federal prosecutors to prosecute Trump for sparking the deadly Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives committee voted on Tuesday to release partially redacted tax filings from former President Donald Trump, which could lead to more unwelcome scrutiny for the former president as he mounts another White House bid. The House Ways and Means Committee voted to release a summary of Trump's tax returns between 2015 and 2021, the years when he was running for president and serving in the White House, panel members said. Like other committee Republicans, he voted against their release on the grounds that it could set a bad precedent. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstCandidates are not required by law to release their tax returns, but previous presidential hopefuls of both parties have voluntarily done so for several decades. Another House committee on Monday asked federal prosecutors to prosecute Trump for sparking the deadly Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

watch nowThe Jan. 6 select House committee on Monday referred former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation and potential prosecution for his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. While the Justice Department, which is already conducting an investigation of Trump, takes criminal referrals seriously, it is not obligated to charge anyone with a crime. Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not been charged with any crimes related to the 2020 election and the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump last month announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024. He did not name them, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is among the members who defied a subpoena from the committee.

☆ U.S. House Jan. 6 committee preparing to vote on recommending least 3 criminal charges against Trump -report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] Former U.S. President Donald Trump announces that he will once again run for U.S. president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election during an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

[1/2] A view of the U.S. Supreme Court building on the first day of the court's new term in Washington, U.S. October 3, 2022. The Supreme Court on Dec. 1 said it would hear arguments on the legality of the debt relief program in the other case pursued by six mostly Republican-led states. Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. Students who received Pell Grants to benefit lower-income college students would have up to $20,000 of their debt canceled. The Congressional Budget Office in September calculated that the debt forgiveness program would cost taxpayers about $400 billion.

Sinema herself, however, said she would not caucus with the Republican Party, according to an interview Politico published on Friday. It will be up to Senate Democrats to foil Republican initiatives. Sinema and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin have kept Washington in suspense over the last two years as they repeatedly withheld needed votes for legislation sought by Biden. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) walks from her hideaway office to the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. August 2, 2022. Just this week, Sinema and Republican Senator Thom Tillis unveiled an immigration reform plan that is getting bipartisan attention in the Senate.

☆ U.S. Senator Sinema leaves Democratic Party, registers as independent
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) walks from her hideaway office to the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. August 2, 2022. Senator Kyrsten Sinema said on Friday she had switched her political party affiliation to independent, leaving the Democratic Party just days after it won a U.S. Senate race in Georgia to secure 51 seats in the chamber. I registered as an Arizona independent," she said in a op-ed for local media outlet Arizona Central. Sinema, in a separate Politico interview published on Friday, said she would not caucus with the Republican Party. Sinema on Friday said her shift came as a growing number of people in her Western U.S. state were also declaring themselves politically independent, rejecting both the Republican and Democratic political labels.

Another state court then replaced that map with one drawn by a bipartisan group of experts. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts wondered whether such broadly worded provisions provide proper "standards and guidelines" for state courts to apply. The Republican lawmakers argued that the state court usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority under that provision to regulate federal elections. Justice Brett Kavanaugh emphasized the "historical practice" that "nearly all state constitutions regulate federal elections in some way." David Thompson, arguing for the North Carolina lawmakers, said the Constitution "requires state legislatures specifically to perform the federal function of prescribing regulations for federal elections.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoDec 7 (Reuters) - Donald Trump should be immune from civil lawsuits over last year's siege on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, a lawyer for the former president told a federal appeals court on Wednesday. Democrats in Congress and police officers filed several lawsuits over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack that said Trump conspired with others to disrupt certification of the 2020 election results. But he reiterated that civil lawsuits should be barred because they could make other presidents vulnerable to future litigation over their speech. Joseph Sellers, arguing in defense of the lawsuits, said Trump does not have immunity because his actions disrupted the work of another branch of government. Several members of Congress who are suing Trump attended Wednesday's arguments, including Democrats Eric Swalwell and Pramila Jayapal.

WHITE HOUSE RUNOn Nov. 15 Trump launched his campaign for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic President Joe Biden. NEW YORK CRIMINAL PROBEAfter Tuesday's verdict in the tax fraud case, the New York state judge set sentencing for Jan. 13. GEORGIA ELECTION TAMPERING PROBEA special grand jury was empanelled in May for a Georgia prosecutor's inquiry into Trump's alleged efforts to influence that state's 2020 election results. Trump asked Raffensperger to "find" enough votes needed to overturn Trump's election loss in Georgia. Legal experts said Trump may have violated at least three Georgia criminal election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with performance of election duties.

The position of others including Chief Justice John Roberts was harder to read, raising the possibility of a ruling less broad than the Republican state lawmakers pursuing the appeal seek. The Republican lawmakers are asking the Supreme Court to embrace a once-marginal legal theory that has gained favor among some conservatives called the "independent state legislature" doctrine. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. Thompson also argued that state constitutions cannot impose substantive limits on the actions of legislatures on federal elections. A lower state court subsequently rejected the legislature's redrawn map and adopted one drawn by a bipartisan group of experts.

The Supreme Court's eventual decision, due by the end of June, could apply to 2024 elections including the U.S. presidential race. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. Kagan noted that in a series of cases over the years the Supreme Court expressed that state courts had a role to play in this area. A lower state court subsequently rejected the legislature's redrawn map and adopted a new map drawn by a bipartisan group of experts. The Supreme Court in March declined a Republican request to put those lower court actions on hold.

☆ Biden to sign railroad bill into law on Friday, averting a strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/3] U.S. President Joe Biden addresses a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., December 1, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWASHINGTON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden is set to sign railroad-related legislation later on Friday that will block a strike that could have wrecked the nation's economy but stops short of providing additional paid sick leave. Biden, who the White House said would sign the measure into law and deliver remarks at 10:15 a.m. (1515 GMT), on Thursday said the bill was critical to avert devastating economic consequences for Americans but that he would continue to separately push for paid sick leave for all U.S. workers. Reporting Steve Holland and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Trump company tax fraud trial nears end in battle over who to blame
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney's office, said Weisselberg was a product of the "culture of fraud and deception" at Trump's company, and not its only tax fraud beneficiary. Weisselberg is expected to serve five months in jail after pleading guilty to tax fraud and other charges. He told jurors his greed motivated him to cheat on taxes, and described the company's modest payroll tax savings as a "byproduct." Necheles told jurors: "The issue here is not whether as a byproduct the company saved some money. Steinglass urged jurors to dismiss the defense's "far-fetched argument" that Trump's company relied on Mazars to catch wrongdoing.

☆ U.S. Treasury's Yellen 'practiced and practiced' her signature for U.S. bills
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Ashitha Shivaprasad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen holds a news conference in the Cash Room at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, U.S. July 28, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoNEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she "practiced and practiced" writing the signature that will soon adorn U.S. dollars in order to avoid the illegible scrawls of her predecessors Tim Geithner and Jack Lew. "I knew this was something you could really screw up and I wanted to get it right, and I practiced and I practiced," Yellen told CBS's late-night comedian Stephen Colbert on Wednesday. "I am going to see the first sheets of currency that have been printed with both of our names," Yellen said. Dollar notes have been printed since Yellen took office in early 2021 with former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's signature on them.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoNEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A congressional grilling on cryptocurrency answered a lot of questions, but far more about the ignorance on Capitol Hill than digital currencies. More bizarrely, Roger Marshall, also a Republican, suggested a “pause in this cryptocurrency digital world” while Congress gets its “arms around it,” a process he said could take years. Marshall also referenced central bank digital currencies, but those will fall under the U.S. Federal Reserve’s purview if the central bank approves such a project. Bitcoin has been around for more than a decade, however, and Congress has failed to craft relevant laws to oversee crypto. The hearing was the first of several planned to examine FTX’s bankruptcy, cryptocurrency regulation, and agency jurisdiction over digital assets.

☆ Trump Organization's criminal tax fraud trial heads to closing arguments
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoCompanies Trump Organization Inc FollowNEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Closing arguments to the jury by prosecution and defense lawyers are set to begin on Thursday in the criminal tax fraud trial of former President Donald Trump's real estate company, which is accused of running a 15-year scheme to defraud tax authorities. Trump, who announced this month he will again seek the presidency in 2024, has not been charged in the case. To prove the Trump Organization guilty, prosecutors must show that Weisselberg and other executives acted as "high managerial agents" of the company when they carried out tax fraud and that the company benefited in some way. Weisselberg has worked for the Trump family for about five decades and is currently on paid leave from the company. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen WalderOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday declined to put that decision on hold, and the administration has said it plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. A view of the U.S. Supreme Court building on the first day of the court's new term in Washington, U.S. October 3, 2022. "We stand firm against the president's political exploitation of our student loan program just before an election," Peterson said in a statement. Biden on Nov. 22 extended the repayment pause to no later than next June 30 to give the Supreme Court time to decide the case.

☆ U.S. Treasury's Yellen says cryptocurrencies need regulation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen holds a news conference in the Cash Room at the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, U.S. July 28, 2022. Yellen told an event hosted by the New York Times DealBook that it was important to ensure that crypto assets had adequate customer protections. Yellen told DealBook that the United States was involved in discussions with allies about regulating cryptocurrencies and the Treasury Department had also done a number of reports mapping out "significant" concerns. "The good piece of an explosion like we saw is that it hasn't spilled over to the banking sector. "It's a Lehman moment within crypto, and crypto is big enough that we've had substantial harm with investors."

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