House Democrats hope to pass the latest version of a coronavirus relief package scheduled for a vote on Friday, and while 68 percent of Americans, including 37 percent of Republicans, support the $1.9 trillion package, it is still seeing a backlash from some GOP members of Congress.
Of those contesting the bill in its current state is Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo. 8th District), who claims it does not provide enough funds to support efforts in fighting COVID-19.
"This one could be bipartisan if you actually had the stimulus checks and the health care spending to crush the virus, but instead, if you take out the stimulus checks out of this package, more than half of the $2 trillion will not even be spent until the year '22 or after," Smith alleged.
As it stands, the bill includes $1400 stimulus checks, $20 billion for vaccine funding, and a $15 federal minimum wage hike that would help some 900,000 Americans escape poverty, according to the Congressional Budget Office. However, for Smith and some of his GOP colleagues, the change to the minimum wage should remain off the table, stating that such decisions should be left up to states and not dictated by the federal government.
"Thirty-one million Americans, senior citizens, who live solely on fixed income from their social security checks, when you raise the minimum wage to $15, that increases the cost of goods that they have because they're not getting an increase," he claimed, arguing that some would eventually have to make tough spending decisions such as on rent, food, or medicine.
Notably, Smith's home state of Missouri, in a 2018 initiative, did vote to raise its own minimum wage to $12 by 2023. The congressman said that he supported the effort and explained that the "government that's closest" to the people should have the final say.
While the Missouri representative doesn't back the current version of the bill, he said he does support more individual stimulus payments.
"In December I voted for $2,000 direct stimulus checks to the American taxpayers, and I'll tell you, the other five packages were bipartisan," Smith said.
However, regarding the House bill as a whole, the congressman accused it of being a "slush fund" for those closest to President Biden and historically Democratic states. "Look at all the money going to blue states such as California and New York. It's unacceptable," he said. "The money needs to go to the American people, but instead it's hurting the American working class."
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
