Tag: U.S. economy

Breaking precedent, White House won’t release formal economic projections this summer that would forecast extent of downturn

Washington Post logoBreaking precedent, White House won’t release formal economic projections this summer that would forecast extent of downturn

White House officials have decided not to release updated economic projections this summer, opting against publishing forecasts that would almost certainly codify an administration assessment that the coronavirus pandemic has led to a severe economic downturn, according to three people with knowledge of the decision.

The White House is supposed to unveil a federal budget proposal every February and then typically provides a “mid-session review” in July or August with updated projections on economic trends such as unemployment, inflation and economic growth.

Budget experts said they were not aware of any previous White House opting against providing forecasts in this “mid-session review” document in any other year since at least the 1970s. Continue reading.

House passes bill to grant flexibility for small business aid program

The Hill logoThe House on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation to provide struggling small businesses with more flexibility while using loans provided through the Paycheck Protection Program, in the latest effort by lawmakers to help limit the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The bill passed easily by a vote of 417-1.

The legislation, authored by Reps. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), expands the terms of the loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was created by the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package that Congress and the Trump administration enacted in late March.

But lawmakers say that additional changes to the program are needed following complaints from small businesses that they’re not able to take advantage of the loans under the current terms. Restaurants and hair salons, for instance, largely still face coronavirus-imposed safety restrictions and aren’t in a position to rehire all their employees in the time currently required to qualify for loan forgiveness. Continue reading.

Tenants fear mass evictions as moratoria expire

The Hill logoTenants are afraid mass evictions will take place in the coming weeks as eviction moratoria across the country begin to expire.

As the coronavirus pandemic began to take a grip on the country in March, dozens of states passed eviction moratoria that protect tenants from being removed from their homes. But landlords in most states are still able to file eviction notices, meaning some tenants only have until the day their state’s eviction orders expire until they have to leave their homes.

In Texas, where the pause on eviction proceedings ended on May 19, a local CBS affiliate found that landlords in North Texas had filed at least 1,111 eviction petitions between March 16 and early May. Continue reading.

Congressional Republicans Condemn Small-Town America To Fiscal Ruin

Kevin Smith, the mayor of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, feels abandoned by the federal government. On Easter Sunday, a storm hit his city of 10,000, one of the poorest in the state. It knocked out power for most residents; those who’d used SNAP benefits to stock their refrigerators saw their groceries spoil. Streets flooded. Sewers overflowed. In the thick of a pandemic, debris blocked roads to the hospital.

His city faces a loss of up to 30 percent in revenue because of the coronavirus, but doesn’t qualify for direct federal stimulus funding, which is reserved for those with populations of 500,000 or more. So at a time when his city needs infrastructure the most, he is weighing cuts and layoffs.

Smaller cities and towns, already reeling from the pandemic and the resulting financial crisis, face natural disasters like spring floods and the approaching hurricane season, additional blows exacerbated by climate change. Meanwhile, they’ve been left behind as federal coronavirus relief efforts favor larger cities. The House of Representatives passed another stimulus bill this month that allocates $188 billion for local governments, including smaller towns. It has little chance of passing the Senate. A separate bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate would provide emergency assistance for local budgets. Continue reading.

Running America ‘Like A Business’ Is A Road To Ruin

The coronavirus pandemic has changed much about American politics and society—but not everything. One constant is that Republicans believe a lot of stupid things about how to run a country. Correction: Who knows what they actually believe. Is it better if they’re lying rather than deluded? Either way, Republicans definitely say a lot of stupid things.

One of their longest-standing vapidities is the hoary, cockeyed notion that government should be run like a business. Trump has said this, as has his supremely unqualified son-in-law Jared Kushner, and so did Mitt Romneyduring his 2012 presidential run, just to name a few.

That idea has always been about as true as the impeached president’s assessment of just about any subject he’s ever spouted off on, but it’s especially untrue in the middle of the most dire public health crisis our country has faced in a century. Unfortunately for the American people, there’s little evidence that Trump has backed away from it. Continue reading.

Congress headed toward unemployment showdown

The Hill logoA debate over whether to extend enhanced unemployment benefits is emerging as a significant obstacle to getting a deal on another round of coronavirus relief legislation.

With the national unemployment rate expected to creep toward 20 percent in the months ahead, the fight over whether to boost benefits for Americans who lose their jobs or to keep benefits lean to motivate laid-off employees to rejoin the workforce is set to become a defining issue ahead of the election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says that Senate Republicans don’t have any interest in extending the $600 federal increase to state unemployment benefits that was a core component of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. Continue reading.

Reopening reality check: Georgia’s jobs aren’t flooding back

A month after easing lockdown restrictions, the state is still seeing a steady stream of unemployment claims, economic data shows.

Georgia’s early move to start easing stay-at-home restrictions nearly a month ago has done little to stem the state’s flood of unemployment claims — illustrating how hard it is to bring jobs back while consumers are still afraid to go outside.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits have remained so elevated that Georgia now leads the country in terms of the proportion of its workforce applying for unemployment assistance. A staggering 40.3 percent of the state’s workers — two out of every five — has filed for unemployment insurance payments since the coronavirus pandemic led to widespread shutdowns in mid-March, a POLITICO review of Labor Department data shows.

Georgia’s new jobless claims have been going up and down since the state reopened, rising to 243,000 two weeks ago before dipping to 177,000 last week. The state cited new layoffs in the retail, social assistance and health care industries for the continued high rate of jobless claims that have put it ahead of other states in the proportion of its workforce that has been sidelined. Continue reading.

Trump won’t stop encouraging radical mobs — because they like him

‘People can’t get enough of this. Great people!’

Donald Trump praised angry mobs protesting against pandemic safety measures and harassing a local journalist in a Saturday tweet, calling them “Great people!”

Kevin Vesey, a local TV reporter in Long Island, New York, was coveringa protest by a group of Trump supporters who oppose social distancing on Thursday. Attendees held signs containing messages including “Hang Fauci, Hang Gates, Open up all our states” and “Fake news destroys lives.”

“I’ll probably never forget what happened today. I was insulted. I was berated. I was practically chased by people who refused to wear masks in the middle of a pandemic,” he tweeted, as shared his report on their event. Continue reading.

McConnell to Trump: Next coronavirus bill must be under $1 trillion

Axios logoDuring a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stressed to President Trump that the next coronavirus relief package cannot exceed $1 trillion, and should be narrowly focused on getting money in people’s hands immediately, sources familiar with the meeting tell Axios.

The big picture: Senate Republicans’ backlash against House Democrats’ $3 trillion bill has been so severe that it has eased pressure on McConnell to act instantly on a “phase 4” bill, and McConnell is focused on ensuring that the next bill is much smaller.

Details: McConnell told Trump the bill needs to be tailored toward short-term economic relief and create incentives for people to get back to work.

  • He said he worries that additional unemployment payments will discourage people from working, and instead suggested supplementing some workers’ paychecks. Continue reading.

Top White House economic adviser expresses uncertainty about recovery despite Trump’s confidence

Washington Post logoIn Washington Post event, Larry Kudlow says he sees some glimmers of hope but acknowledges that labor market weakness could drag on for months

The White House’s top economic official expressed uncertainty on Thursday that America’s economy would swiftly rebound from the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, striking a more cautious tone about the recovery than President Trump has in recent days.

Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, said there are some “small glimmers of hope” and voiced optimism about a dramatic improvement this summer. But he emphasized the coronavirus still poses a unique and unpredictable threat to the nation’s economy and that the overall picture appears bleak.

“Look, it’s really hard to model a virus, a pandemic, the likes of which we have not seen for 100 years,” Kudlow said at a Washington Post Live event. “The numbers coming in are not good. In fact, they are downright bad in most cases. But we are seeing some glimmers, perhaps … there’s a lot of heartbreak here. There’s a lot of hardship here. There’s a lot of anxiety here. It’s a very difficult situation.” Continue reading.