We have another Infrastructure Week on the schedule and if you had "the filibuster isn't racist" on your 2021 BINGO card, you win a prize. Here's more about what is and isn't expected in the Washington Week Ahead.
(ANOTHER) INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK: The proverbial joke in Washington is actually, really happening in Pittsburgh on Wednesday when President Joe Biden takes to the stage to pitch his infrastructure plan. The White House has downplayed leaks so far, but we can expect that he'll try to sell the American people on $3-4 trillion in federal spending on "hard infrastructure" like planes, trains, and automobiles and "soft infrastructure" like free community college and universal Pre-K. The bill will not garner much Republican support and Democrats are planning to move forward with another budget reconciliation proposal.
CRICKETS ON CAPITOL HILL: The week of Spring Recess and all through the House, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The Senate gaveled out of its chamber with care in hopes that legislative business would all disappear.
Yes, I did write a poem about next week in Washington. But it pretty much sums up where things are: Congress is in recess for two weeks and that means exactly nothing will be happening on the legislative front. Don't expect much from the president either. He's clearly in no rush to do anything on gun control or immigration, saying "timing is everything." In other words, not now.
BESSEMER UNION BATTLE: The vote on whether to unionize the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama wraps up on Monday, just days before Biden heads north to the union town of Pittsburgh to pitch the country on tons of good, union jobs as part of his infrastructure plan. But the union fight is already here and it's happening in a state that is historically anti-union. Whether or not Amazon's warehouse does unionize or not, the conversation about union jobs and unions, in general, is going to be an ongoing one, especially as the Democratic Senate will likely force a vote on the pro-union PRO Act despite having no Republican support — if they can get the votes in their own party.
Inflation in the U.S. is only getting hotter. The 12-month inflation rate for December 2021 was the highest in nearly 40 years - continuing the trend seen at the close of 2021.
The Consumer Price Index increased 7% in the 12-month period ending in December, marking the fastest increase since 1982. Scott Wren, Senior Global Market Strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, joined Cheddar's Movers for more.
If President Biden runs for re-election in 2024, he may not have anyone to debate. The Republican National Committee sent a letter to the commission on presidential debates, saying the RNC will require candidates to pledge not to participate in those general election debates. Paris Dennard, RNC national spokesperson, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Student loan collection company Navient agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in debt and paid more than $140 million in other penalties to settle a lawsuit over abusive lending practices. Josh Shapiro, the attorney general of Pennsylvania who led negotiations in the settlement, joined Cheddar to go over the details of the company's predatory lending. "What Navient would do is charge [borrowers] these exorbitantly high rates, even though they knew people couldn't pay them or they would likely default on them," he explained.
The January 6 committee has subpoenaed four tech giants for more information on what they did and didn't do leading up to last year's deadly Capitol insurrection. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit were asked to assist the investigation in August, but the committee says their responses have been 'inadequate.' Craig Timberg, a national technology reporter at the Washington Post, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell for more details about the subpoenas, why this is happening now, and how it might impact social media companies moving forward.
With the Australian Open set to begin on Monday, Novak Djokovic is once again being threatened with deportation from Australia after his visa was briefly reinstated and revoked again over alleged discrepancies. Djokovic’s team will sit for an Immigration hearing on Saturday.
Makena Kelly, politics reporter at The Verge, joins Cheddar News to discuss what's next for net neutrality as Biden's other nominee for the FCC, Gigi Sohn, awaits votes from the committee and Senate.
Jewell Jackson McCabe, chair of the Keep Love Alive Campaign and founder of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and Marvin Owens, chief engagement officer of Impact Shares and former senior director of Economic Development at the NAACP, join Cheddar News to reflect on racial issues still prevalent in America.
Hagar Chemali, Host of 'Oh My World' on Youtube and Former Spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the UN, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to share her expert insight into what the future of diplomacy could look like as the Russia-Ukraine crisis deepens.
Markets opened higher on the first trading day of the new year as investors continue to watch inflation and the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the U.S. Frances Newton Stacy, Optimal Capital Dir. of Strategy/Market Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
