The U.S. lost a stunning 22 million jobs in March and April at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with only about half of those numbers returning in the following seven months. With weekly jobless claims remaining high, voters might want to know more about what former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump intend to do on the issue of labor.
Biden has pledged to do whatever it takes to help jobs recover through direct stimulus payments. His plan includes funding for state and local governments to keep essential workers on their payrolls and federal payouts to supplement state unemployment checks.
Meanwhile, Trump favors tax cuts and deregulation to stimulate the economy but concedes that another infusion of cash stimulus is likely needed. The president also extended federal unemployment benefits for six weeks after they were set to expire in July but at a lower rate of $300 a week, half the amount of the earlier benefit.
Both candidates support tax incentives for manufacturers to keep jobs at home. Biden even proposes tax penalties for those businesses that ship manufacturing jobs overseas with the intention of selling finished products back into the U.S.
Whoever wins the election in November faces a daunting task, with millions still out of work, consumer spending slowing down, and a resurgence in coronavirus cases adding to the economic woes.
No fingerprints or DNA turned up on the baggie of cocaine found in a lobby at the White House last week despite a sophisticated FBI crime lab analysis, and surveillance footage of the area didn’t identify a suspect, according to a summary of the Secret Service investigation obtained by The Associated Press. There are no leads on who brought the drugs into the building.
Kamala Harris, who made history as the first woman or person of color to serve as vice president, has made history again by matching the record for most tiebreaking votes in the Senate.
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee accused the agency of targeting conservatives, suppressing evidence that Covid-19 came from a lab leak and abusing its surveillance powers.
The Biden administration calls it a “student loan safety net.” Opponents call it a backdoor attempt to make college free. And it could be the next battleground in the legal fight over student loan relief.
Nearly 30,000 people in Mississippi were dropped from the state's Medicaid program after an eligibility review that the government ended during the pandemic.
Members of a deeply conservative Amish community in Minnesota don't need to install septic systems to dispose of their “gray water,” the state Court of Appeals ruled Monday in a long-running religious freedom case that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
