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☆ Republicans dismiss fears that their debt ceiling bill would make the housing crisis worse for 1 million families as 'scaremongering'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

House Republicans' debt ceiling bill would cut significant funding from federal housing services. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said the agency would suffer "the most devastating impacts in HUD's history" if the funding cuts in the bill are made law. He went on, "It's being positioned as congressional Republicans are heartless because they want to pass these spending cuts. "The House bill reduces spending to the levels we had in 2022. The last I checked, 2022 was not a horrid apocalypse sweeping across our country," Cruz told Insider on Wednesday.

☆ Senior Treasury officials reiterate dire warnings if debt ceiling isn’t lifted, pour cold water on invoking the 14th Amendment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Sam Fossum | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

2, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, both painted a stark picture of “economic chaos” if the debt ceiling isn’t lifted and confirmed that the latest Treasury data still indicates the US could default as soon as June 1st. Her comments come as some have speculated about the possibility of President Biden invoking the 14th Amendment, or taking other extreme action, if the debt ceiling is not raised in time. “I haven’t gotten there yet,” President Biden said in an interview Friday night when asked about such a move. “There is no way to protect our financial system and our economy other than Congress doing its job and raising the debt ceiling,” Yellen said. Adeyemo also tamped down the feasibility of using the 14th Amendment when asked about it Sunday, saying the “the only way” to “guarantee” that the US can pay its bills is to raise the debt ceiling.

☆ Opinion | Why I Changed My Mind on the Debt Limit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Laurence H. Tribe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Over the years, Congress has raised the debt ceiling scores of times, most recently two years ago, when it set the cap at $31.4 trillion. If the president caves to their demands, they will agree to raise the cap — until this crisis occurs again. Then, they will surely pursue the same game of chicken or, maybe more accurately, Russian roulette. Section 4 of the 14th Amendment says the “validity” of the public debt “shall not be questioned” — ever. Proponents of the unconstitutionality argument say that when Congress enacted the debt limit, effectively forcing the United States to stop borrowing to honor its debts when that limit was reached, it built a violation of that constitutional command into our fiscal structure, and that as a result, that limit and all that followed are invalid.

☆ Tucker Carlson helped broker the deal that made Kevin McCarthy House speaker after 14 failed votes, text messages show
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Tucker Carlson won concessions from Kevin McCarthy in a deal that made him House speaker, per his texts. McCarthy needed 218 votes to win his bid to become House speaker, giving him a small margin of error. The result was 14 rounds of votes that failed to produce a House speaker, making it the most contested speaker election in more than 150 years. Grossberg discussed some of the conversations between her and Carlson regarding McCarthy's House Speaker election in an interview with CNN on Tuesday night. On January 7, the House held its 15th vote for House Speaker.

☆ Prosecutors are reportedly close to deciding whether to indict Hunter Biden in connection to his taxes and a gun purchase
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Prosecutors are nearing a charging decision in the Hunter Biden case, The Washington Post reported. A lawyer for Hunter Biden and a spokesperson for the president did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. The Hunter Biden investigation has been underway for nearly four years, and he first announced the existence of the probe in December 2020. CNN reported prosecutors started investigating Biden's taxes in 2018 but temporarily halted the inquiry because of Justice Department rules barring prosecutors from taking actions that could influence the outcome of an election. The letter did not name the subject, but ABC News reported that lawmakers had been made aware that the individual was Hunter Biden.

☆ Biden Secured Trillions in Domestic Spending. Now Comes the Hard Part.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Andrew Restuccia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden is directing his senior advisers to guard against waste and fraud. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—President Biden is reorienting swaths of the federal government to focus on implementing the sweeping legislation he signed into law in his first two years in office and directing his senior advisers to guard against the waste and fraud that have bedeviled previous government programs. Mr. Biden is staking his reputation—and legacy—on spending nearly $2 trillion in taxpayer money efficiently and effectively. Done well, the effort could reshape the economy and help him win a second term. Any mistakes could threaten Mr. Biden’s 2024 re-election odds amid a pledge by congressional Republicans to conduct rigorous oversight of the administration’s spending spree.

☆ Explainer: How the Fed might act in a U.S. default
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Despite Powell's protestations, the Fed would have a role in trying to limit the harm to financial stability. In past debt-ceiling standoffs - in 2011 and 2013 - Fed staff and policymakers developed a playbook that would likely provide a starting point. English, however, had envisioned the bonds being accepted by the Fed at a market price that would likely be impaired by their defaulted status. But, following the bank failures in March, the Fed has a new bank lending facility - one that allows securities with impaired prices to be pledged at face value. Ben Bernanke, Fed chair at the time, quipped: "So you are willing to accept 'loathsome' under some certain circumstances," drawing laughter from others on the call.

After hitting the $31.4 trillion borrowing cap on Jan. 19, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously told Congress Treasury would keep up payments on debt, federal benefits and make other outlays at using cash receipts and extraordinary cash management measures. The Republican bill would implement $4.5 trillion in spending cuts - or about 22% - in exchange for a $1.5 trillion increase in the U.S. debt limit. It has no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate and the White House has said President Joe Biden would veto the legislation. The White House has asked Congress to raise the debt limit without conditions; administration officials are already making plans to negotiate with Republicans over the president's 2024 budget plan. What we can’t see is that the debt limit be used by a part of Congress to hold an entire agenda of unrelated items hostage to this threat of default," she said.

☆ US may run short of cash after June 1 without debt limit hike, Treasury says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The debt ceiling could become binding by June 1, she said. In 2011, a similar debt ceiling fight took the country to the brink of default and prompted a downgrade of the country's top-notch credit rating. The Republican bill would implement $4.5 trillion in spending cuts - or about 22% - in exchange for a $1.5 trillion increase in the U.S. debt limit. It has no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate and the White House has said President Joe Biden would veto the legislation. What we can’t see is that the debt limit be used by a part of Congress to hold an entire agenda of unrelated items hostage to this threat of default," she said.

☆ White House banking headache won’t end with First Republic deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

JPMorgan Chase is buying most assets of the troubled First Republic Bank and assuming all of its deposits in a deal announced Monday that was arranged by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The independent agency’s new forced intervention is likely to fuel concerns about the overall health of the US banking sector. Biden’s new political headacheThe new concerns over the banking sector put the administration back in an unappealing position. Some progressive Democrats have balked at the idea that already mighty banks will get bigger by stepping in to snap up assets of troubled banks. On Sunday, he called for a shift in federal government policy to ensure all bank deposits.

☆ McCarthy Offers to Host Netanyahu in Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Karoun Demirjian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Speaker Kevin McCarthy offered on Monday to host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for high-level bipartisan meetings in Congress — issuing an implicit challenge to President Biden, who has refrained from welcoming the Israeli leader to the White House in a protest against his domestic agenda. The offer fell short of a formal invitation, but the comments were a break with diplomatic custom and tradition, and reminiscent of a similar move by congressional Republicans during the Obama administration when tensions in the U.S.-Israeli alliance were similarly fraught. The move also risked exacerbating tensions between Democrats and Republicans over how the United States should manage its alliance with Israel, a bond that has traditionally had bipartisan support in Washington. Mr. McCarthy’s comments, at a news briefing after he spoke at the Israeli Parliament, suggested a business-as-usual approach to Mr. Netanyahu’s government.

☆ BlackRock bond chief Rick Rieder manages $2.7 trillion and just took home a Morningstar award for best portfolio manager. He told us how he's investing as the economy fades.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As head of BlackRock's fixed income unit, Rick Rieder is responsible for $2.7 trillion. He told Insider he expects the recent banking crisis to slow the US economy by about 0.5% this year. Rick Rieder of BlackRock has long been one of the biggest names in the bond market, and now he's bringing home some hardware to back up his credentials. Rieder's flagship BlackRock Total Return Fund is still ahead of its competition this year, delivering a 4.4% return in a difficult bond market. Rieder said the US economy is still healthy, but he expects that strength to fade — and is adjusting his portfolios accordingly.

☆ Biden Faces His First Big Choice on Debt Limit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Jim Tankersley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“In our history, we have never defaulted on our debt or failed to pay our bills. Congressional Republicans must act immediately and without conditions to avoid default.”But that does not mean Mr. Biden will be able to maintain his current posture toward Mr. McCarthy indefinitely. Administration officials have pushed business groups to pressure Republicans to pass a no-strings debt limit increase. “I’m happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended,” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. More recently, officials across the administration have blasted the Republican bill for potentially cutting spending on popular programs for veterans, students and more.

☆ Enraged congressional Republicans call Biden's reelection bid a sign of the apocalypse. But some of his former GOP colleagues say America can simply do better.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

incumbent President Joe Biden is officially running for reelection in 2024 to "finish the job." Some House and Senate Republicans cast a second Biden term as certain doom. "Finishing the job would be truly catastrophic," Ted Cruz said, riffing on Biden's reelection theme. Cruz delved even deeper into the bleakness, predicting that a second Biden administration would usher in more inflation, crime, illegal crossings at the southern border and embolden global adversaries including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. And surely, we can do better than that," Wicker told Insider at the US Capitol.

☆ 'Crypto is dead in America' as US regulators target the sector for threatening the establishment, Chamath Palihapitiya says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Crypto is paying the price for challenging the establishment, Chamath Palihapitiya said. "Crypto is dead in America," the so-called SPAC King said recently on the All-In podcast. "Crypto is dead in America," Palihapitiya said. Recent examples of the SEC's enforcement efforts include a February proposal to stop investment advisors from trading in crypto, and the threat of legal action against a number of Coinbase products. Meanwhile, Palihapitiya also lamented the SEC's enforcement rationale, claiming that it is excessively targeting a company that has a history of being regulation-friendly.

☆ Hillary Clinton: Republicans’ Debt-Ceiling Games Threaten National Security - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Hillary Clinton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But during Democratic administrations, they have weaponized the debt ceiling to extort concessions, despite the danger of default. Congressional Republicans were refusing to raise the debt ceiling, and the prospect of a default was getting closer by the day. They peppered me with questions about the fight back home over the debt ceiling and what it would mean for the international economy. So I was not surprised when he, too, turned the conversation to the debt ceiling, barely containing his glee at our self-inflicted wound. “We could spend the next six hours talking about China’s domestic challenges,” I told Mr. Dai.

“I hope the Republican Party can muster the courage to oppose late-term abortion like we have done in the past. But after the midterms produced a slimmer-than-expected majority, there now appears to be little appetite inside the House GOP for such a bill. Troy Nehls, a Republican from Texas, told CNN: “it’s up to the states,” when asked about a national ban. The National Right to Life Committee said it is in regular communication with House Republican leadership about possible legislative efforts and educational needs on the issue. “What we’re working on right now is primarily reacquainting members with the abortion issue after the Dobbs decision.

☆ A Supreme Court justice resigned 54 years ago over conduct that may 'pale in comparison' to Clarence Thomas' — but Thomas is almost certain to get off scot-free thanks in part to the 'Trump effect'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned in 1969 over accusations of financial misconduct. But unlike Fortas, Thomas is unlikely to experience severe consequences in the post-Trump era. Like Fortas, Thomas has been accused of financial misconduct. Democratic lawmakers have called for an investigation into Thomas, and the Senate Judiciary Committee has said it will hold a hearing on Supreme Court ethics. "He will forever be remembered as the second Abe Fortas," Kalir said.

☆ I.R.S. Official Is Said to Assert Political Meddling in Hunter Biden Inquiry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Michael S. Schmidt | Luke Broadwater | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As Justice Department officials weigh whether to indict Hunter Biden, the investigator overseeing the Internal Revenue Service’s portion of the case has come forward with allegations of political favoritism in the inquiry that stand to add to the already fraught circumstances facing the department. Congressional leaders learned of the investigator’s allegations on Wednesday when a lawyer sent them a letter asking for whistle-blower protections for his client. The letter stated that the unnamed client, identified as an “I.R.S. While the letter from the lawyer, Mark D. Lytle, did not name Hunter Biden, Senate and House Republicans put out statements specifying that it was referring to him. The disclosure fed claims by congressional Republicans that a Justice Department run by the president’s political appointees could not be trusted to make a decision about his son based on the facts and law.

☆ Appeals Court Delays Ex-Prosecutor’s Deposition on Trump Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jonah E. Bromwich | Luke Broadwater | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An appeals court temporarily blocked congressional Republicans from questioning a former prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, briefly pausing an order from a federal district judge. The prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, worked on the district attorney’s investigation into Donald J. Trump for about a year, before resigning in 2022, and published a book about his experience. The office brought felony charges against Mr. Trump last month. Shortly after the charges were unsealed, Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, subpoenaed Mr. Pomerantz, signaling that he intended to conduct oversight of the inquiry into Mr. Trump, his political ally. She said that Republicans on the committee had a constitutional right to question Mr. Pomerantz.

US President Joe Biden during an event at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 77 training center in Accokeek, Maryland, on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. President Joe Biden is preparing to make his intention to seek a second term official next week, with advisers planning to launch his re-election campaign as soon as Tuesday, three sources familiar with the plans said. And as he did four years ago, Biden would launch his candidacy with a campaign video message, the sources said. The Washington Post first reported that Biden is preparing to announce his re-election bid next week. The timing and method of the announcement mirror how the Obama-Biden ticket launched its re-election bid in 2011.

☆ DeSantis keeps losing home-state endorsements to Trump, and the Florida governor's recent visit to DC didn't produce any converts.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ron DeSantis bled support from the Florida congressional delegation this week. 3 more Florida GOP lawmakers are lining up behind Trump amid DeSantis' trip to DC. Ron DeSantis' personal appeal to congressional Republicans in DC on Tuesday night appears to have spectacularly backfired, as Florida lawmakers continue throwing their support behind Trump in the 2024 presidential race. And freshman Rep. Brian Mast told CNN that not only does he plan to endorse Trump, he'll also spearhead a "Veterans for Trump" group. Even if DeSantis had tried that, Crenshaw noted that he has no plans to endorse anyone in the GOP presidential primary, so that was off the table.

☆ DeSantis goes to Washington, a place he once despised, looking for support to take on Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Steve Contorno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Hours ahead of his meeting with congressional Republicans, Florida Rep. John Rutherford endorsed Trump, making him the sixth House Republican to back the former president over their home state governor. Rutherford’s announcement comes after NBC reported last week that DeSantis’ political operation was scrambling to convince Florida Republicans not to endorse until after he had formally decided to run. A spokesman for DeSantis’ political operation did not return a call or email. But by plucking support from within DeSantis’ backyard, Trump has created the impression that even Republicans close to DeSantis may be having second thoughts about his performance. Roy was among the first to back DeSantis, calling him “a man of conviction” who “unequivocally has made Florida stronger and freer.”

☆ U.S. House Republicans tangle over debt limit, spending cut plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Sometime this summer, the Treasury Department will be unable to manage its debt under the current $31.4 trillion limit on borrowing, according to the Biden administration and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. "Don't bother with partisan wish lists and unrealistic proposals that will never solve this debt default crisis," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, warned House Republicans in a speech to the Senate. But Mace said McCarthy showed rank-and-file Republicans a series of options, projected onto a screen, that included the possibilities of a $1 trillion or $2 trillion debt limit increase with various time frames attached. Perry said referring to a debt limit hike. Hern did not respond directly when asked whether House Republicans would pare back funding for some federal law enforcement, such as the FBI, as former President Donald Trump has urged.

☆ Congressional Democrats bash Ron DeSantis for alienating Florida job creator Disney World in service of a 'flailing presidential campaign'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Warren Rojas | Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ron DeSantis's Tuesday swing through DC, calling it ill-timed, his political resume goofy, and his ongoing fight with Walt Disney World a devastating vanity project. Walt Disney World has roughly 80,000 employees in Florida and is the state's biggest tourist attraction. The Florida governor wasn't being offered much cover by Florida Republicans on Capitol Hill. When another reporter asked whether DeSantis had gone too far by threatening Disney with state prisoners for neighbors, Scott claimed ignorance. "Ron DeSantis is out campaigning outside of the state of Florida and picking fights with Mickey Mouse," Fried said.

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