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☆ Premarket stocks: The FDIC could ask big banks to clean up $23 billion mess
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

While regional and mid-sized banks are behind the recent turmoil, it appears that large banks may be footing the bill. Ultimately, that means higher fees for bank customers and lower rates on their savings accounts. The law also gives the FDIC the authority to decide which banks shoulder the brunt of that assessment fee. Passing it on: Regardless of who’s charged, the fees will eventually get passed on to bank customers in the end, said Isaac. In 2021, Wall Street was estimated to be responsible for 16% of all economic activity in the city.

☆ Sen. Elizabeth Warren announces re-election bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Megan Lebowitz | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., announced Monday that she would be seeking a third term in office. The announcement also featured appearances by Democratic allies from Massachusetts, including Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and fellow Sen. Ed Markey. “Elizabeth is my partner in the Senate, and I have seen this perpetual energy machine up close,” Markey said. President Joe Biden won Massachusetts by nearly 34 percentage points in 2020 and Warren won re-election in 2018 by 24 points. I’m running for Senate,” Warren said on Meet the Press in April 2022.

☆ In just a few minutes this week, Powell changed everything on market's view of interest rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell testifies before a House Financial Services hearing on "The Federal Reserve's Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 8, 2023. That changed after Powell's appearance, during which he cautioned that if inflation data remains strong, he expects rates to go "higher than previously anticipated" and possibly at a faster pace than a quarter point at a time. Basically, it was the January inflation data plus signs that the labor market remains remarkably strong despite the Fed's efforts to slow it down. Brusuelas is among those who think the Fed should accelerate its inflation battle with a half-point rate hike. However, he said policymakers could be swayed by a potentially softer jobs report and inflation data next week that reverses course and shows price increases abating.

☆ Giving babies $1,000 at birth is an 'unprecedented opportunity for financial security,' Ayanna Pressley and Cory Booker say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Cory Booker urged the Treasury Department to support their "Baby Bonds" legislation. "This policy would provide every child in America with unprecedented opportunity for financial security," Pressley and Booker wrote in their letter. They cited reports from Columbia University and Morningstar that found Baby Bonds would "substantially" close the racial wealth gap. When we introduce baby bonds, this gap narrows to 71% for Black families and 67% for Hispanic families." Along with Pressley and Booker, other Democratic lawmakers have been stressing the benefits of Baby Bonds over the past year.

☆ 126 Democratic lawmakers reaffirm to Biden that they think his student-loan forgiveness plan is legal — and they 'expect the legal challenges to the plan will fail'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

126 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Biden expressing support for his student-debt relief plan. GOP lawmakers have continued to challenge the legality of his plan. Since Biden's debt relief plan was announced, many Republican lawmakers attacked that relief as unfair, costly, and an overreach of executive authority. Some Republicans have also recently introduced legislation to end the student-loan payment pause and block Biden from canceling student debt broadly. "The President has the legal authority to cancel student debt," Missouri Rep. Cori Bush wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

☆ AOC says there's still hope for Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan if the Supreme Court rules against it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AOC said Biden "should be prepared to respond" to whatever the Supreme Court rules on student-debt relief. The White House has maintained it does not have a backup plan and is confident Biden's relief will prevail. Some other Democratic lawmakers have also said the focus right now should be on voicing the legality of Biden's current debt relief plan. Still, the White House has previously said that it is not deliberating a backup plan right now if the Supreme Court strikes down the relief. And there is no current backup plan, or anything like that.

☆ The US economy has been 'more than fine' without your student debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Her story shows the extra juice that delaying — or as some would argue, canceling — student debt can provide to people's lives and the economy as a whole. "If we cancel student debt, what that really means is the federal government is choosing not to collect payments from debtors on the debt that's already issued," Steinbaum said. Biden's student loan bailout will cost every taxpayer, even those who never went to college, at least $2,500." But to be clear, we don't have the most concrete data about the effects of student loan relief — since, well, it hasn't been done. Do you have a story to share about student debt?

☆ Student-loan payments will resume this year — and it could happen with or without debt relief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Miguel Cardona reiterated that student-loan payments will resume this year. It will happen 60 days after June 30, or 60 days after the Supreme Court issues a decision on Biden's debt relief. Oral arguments on Biden's plan to cancel student debt concluded on Tuesday. This means that student-loan payments could resume in September at the latest, and as of now, that could happen even if the Supreme Court strikes down Biden's debt relief plan. Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley told Insider on Tuesday that she will push for payments to remain on pause until borrowers get relief.

☆ Biden's administration made a 'powerful defense' of its student-loan forgiveness plan before the Supreme Court, education secretary says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court concluded oral arguments on Biden's student-debt relief on Tuesday. The Supreme Court will make a decision on the legality of Biden's plan by June. In the hours leading up to arguments, advocates, Democratic lawmakers, and borrowers rallied outside the Supreme Court to voice their support for Biden's plan. The Supreme Court needs to apply the letter of the law, and we need to get this done." Now, all eyes turn to the Supreme Court, which is expected to make a final decision on the legality of Biden's plan by June.

☆ Over 500 students are at the Supreme Court to plug Biden's student-loan forgiveness because the 'economic mobility of over 40 million Americans is dependent on the survival of this program'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Over 500 students are flooding the Supreme Court on Tuesday to support student-debt relief. The Supreme Court will hear arguments and likely make a final decision on the relief in May or June. Today, over 500 students have gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court to fight back against any attempt to restrict such freedom. "Our government must relieve borrowers of the crushing weight of student debt which will keep an entire generation from reaching their full potential," he continued. All eyes now turn to the conservative-majority Supreme Court, which will likely make a final ruling on Biden's debt relief in May or June.

☆ Ayanna Pressley says it's not time for a student-debt relief backup plan yet, as a conservative-majority Supreme Court decides whether Biden's plan is legal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Ayanna Pressley told Insider it's not the time for a backup plan on student-debt relief. The Supreme Court concluded oral arguments on the cases challenging Biden's debt relief on Tuesday. The Supreme Court needs to apply the letter of the law, and we need to get this done." Pressley was among a group of Democratic lawmakers who voiced support for student-debt relief outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning. "Even this far-right Supreme Court should be able to recognize that these claims against student debt relief are baseless and politically-motivated.

Since the start of the pandemic, Americans have been able to access free weekly credit reports. "Even when consumers are successful in having their complaint addressed, complaints call into question the underlying data contained in consumers' credit reports," the report read. Navigating the credit reporting system in the United States requires skill and often a good deal of patience. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who chaired the panel at the time, said during the hearing that a public credit reporting agency "would be a major upgrade over today's broken, biased credit reporting system." Consumer advocates stress that not only should credit reports be easily accessible but that Americans should be able to scrutinize the information contained in credit reports.

☆ Ex-Twitter employee tells AOC the platform changed its content moderation policy to accommodate Trump's racist 'go back' tweets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former top Twitter official said the social network bent its rules for Trump's 2019 racist tweet. "So much for bias against right-wing on Twitter," Ocasio-Cortez said, concluding the line of questioning. The recommendation had been for Trump's tweets to be labeled but allowed to remain on the platform since he was a public figure. Twitter was repeatedly criticized for allowing Trump's tweets to stand. Following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, the social network banned the president "due to the risk of further incitement of violence."

☆ Fact Check-Fabricated Ayanna Pressley tweet claiming IQ is a measure of whiteness shared online
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Rep. Pressley never tweeted this.”A Twitter advanced search did not reveal any such post published via Pressley’s official Twitter account (archive.is/wip/5bhz5). Archived versions of her Twitter account saved on June 17, 2021, similarly, do not reveal the tweet (here). An archive of Pressley’s deleted tweets saved via ProPublica's Politwoops does not reveal any such deleted post first published on June 15, 2021 (here similar archive of Pressley’s deleted Twitter posts saved via Polititweet does not reveal the post (here). Google advanced search does not reveal any media articles reporting on the purported tweet, and instead, reveals iterations of the image shared via meme sites such as iFunny (archive.is/wip/sHwuX). No such tweet was published by Rep. Pressley.

☆ AOC says chaos in the GOP House shows that the Squad is pretty reasonable in comparison
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed the ongoing chaos in the Republican Party. She said it showed the group of progressives she's a member of is reasonable in comparison. The GOP has failed to elect a House speaker during three days of voting, paralyzing Congress. "The more days that this goes on the more this truly starts to have a corrosive impact on our country," Ocasio-Cortez said. The group have regularly clashed with Democratic Party leadership on issues including the Green New Deal and expanded Medicare provisions.

What credit scores don't captureLenders have always needed a way to determine a borrower's creditworthiness, and credit scores were a faster, easier way to do so. "If you look at credit scores from the perspective of other social actors, like policymakers or consumer advocates, why someone does or does not repay might start to have more bearing on how you make sense of credit scores," says Kiviat. The credit scoring system can also reflect and even worsen existing racial and wealth inequality. However, the credit scoring and reporting systems can function imperfectly, leaving many of the most marginalized without credit scores or with poor credit scores. Furthermore, policymakers have been considering how to make it easier for people to access their credit scores and resolve mistakes on their credit reports.

☆ Biden's student-loan forgiveness might not be doomed if the Supreme Court strikes it down — he could take another legal path
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Some advocates and lawmakers argue the Higher Education Act can be used to cancel student debt. "I believe it probably would have been better for him to use the Higher Education Act of 1965," Weiss said. The Higher Education Act as an alternativeSome Democratic lawmakers and experts argue that the authority to cancel student debt has always existed under the Higher Education Act. Legal experts have also voiced support for the Higher Education Act. The Education Department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on whether it is considering pursuing alternative routes to debt relief, including via the Higher Education Act.

☆ Biden extends the student-loan payment pause for another 6 months at most as his debt relief remains blocked in court
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Biden just announced an extension of the student-loan payment pause no later than June 30, 2023. It comes as the debt relief remains blocked in federal courts. Biden's administration recently asked the Supreme Court to revive the debt relief. "Student debt cancellation will change and save lives, and no eligible borrower should have to pay a dime on their student loans until they receive the up to $20,000 in student debt cancellation they were promised by President Biden." At this point, it's unclear whether the Supreme Court will decide to revive the debt relief or dismiss the administration's appeal.

☆ Democratic Rep. who signed withdrawn letter on Ukraine said nobody told them it was getting released: CNN
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A controversial letter went out without those who signed it knowing, per a Rep. who spoke to CNN. 30 progressive Democrats signed a letter urging diplomacy with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Unnamed aides to other members of Congress told CNN the same thing. In withdrawing the letter, Jayapal said it "was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting." The anonymous member who said that Jayapal's office did not check back with signatories before the letter's release told CNN that the "timing is terrible."

☆ Biden's Education Department will test the application for student-loan forgiveness with 'members of the general public' before it officially goes live
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Education Department is testing its student-loan forgiveness application with some members of the general public. It also affirmed it will not cancel any student debt before October 23. This new information comes in a legal filing defending debt relief from GOP-led lawsuits. The Education Department said that while around 8 million borrowers would automatically be eligible for debt relief, the majority would have to apply through an application that was set to become available in early October. The Education Department has affirmed that the process will be "smooth and simple," and borrowers will not need to upload any documents to verify their incomes.

☆ Young Black activists are done waiting their turn for political office. They're taking on the 'John Lewis generation' of elder lawmakers who they say are out of touch.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Elvina Nawaguna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

Most members of the Congressional Black Caucus are twice as old as the median Black person living in the US. The Congressional Black Caucus, a powerful voice for Black Americans, is significantly older than those it speaks for. Clay had replaced his father, William Lacy Clay Sr., a civil-rights icon and founding Congressional Black Caucus member who had represented the area since 1969. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesThe Congressional Black Caucus is reckoning with a leftward shift it's struggled to embrace. A spokesperson for the Congressional Black Caucus did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ This map shows how many people in each state could benefit from Biden's student loan forgiveness
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

President Joe Biden's recently announced student debt forgiveness could impact states differently. The estimated share of a state's population that is eligible for student loan forgiveness varies across the US. Insider looked at how many people could be eligible for student loan forgiveness after adjusting by population. As The Columbus Dispatch reported, over 94% of student loan borrowers in Ohio could be eligible for this student loan relief. Even in the states where Republicans have opposed Biden's debt relief, millions of borrowers could benefit.

☆ Meet a government worker who regrets refinancing her student debt because she didn't know it would block her from federal loan forgiveness: 'I never would have done that'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Tanya Burnett, a federal government worker, refinanced her student debt into private loans in 2016. She wasn't aware at the time that doing so would block her from Biden's recent federal loan forgiveness. In 2016, Burnett started paperwork to qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which forgives student debt for government and nonprofit workers after ten years of qualifying payments. It also meant taking her federal loans to a private lender. She's certainly not the only one who refinanced, and now, cannot take advantage of Biden's one-time blanket debt relief.

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday passed a package of police funding and public safety bills, legislation that will help vulnerable Democrats blunt GOP campaign attacks that they want to “defund the police” and are ignoring rising crime. John Minchillo / AP fileThe passage of four policing and safety bills came after some last-minute, intraparty drama earlier in the day. Had they followed through, it would have derailed the entire package and dealt Democrats an embarrassing blow on a major campaign issue before the midterms. The Gottheimer bill, which easily passed 360-64, would provide grants to local police departments with fewer than 125 sworn officers. While there is Senate support for some of the House-passed bills, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has no plans to bring a policing package to the floor before the Nov. 8 midterm election.

☆ 22 GOP state governors are trying to block Biden's student-loan forgiveness even though millions of their residents could benefit
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

22 GOP state governors urged Biden to withdraw his student-loan forgiveness plan. Millions of borrowers would likely qualify for the debt cancellation in the 22 GOP-led states. In 11 states, over 1 million borrowers are projected to be eligible for the loan forgiveness, per the data, with California leading the list at 3.5 million borrowers. Since Biden announced his relief, Republicans have been pushing back on the policy — some have even expressed intent to block the loan forgiveness in court. "Nearly 20 million borrowers will have their entire balances discharged, others will benefit from lower balances and lower payments."

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