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Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, when everyone in Washington is Irish or wants to be.
President submits FY 2024 budget
“Is this a joke?” House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) asked Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen at a hearing this morning.
Appropriations deadlines loom while rules change
Things were already a little frantic on Capitol Hill this week, even before House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger announced deadlines for member requests for fiscal year 2024.
House Financial Services schedules first markup
On Tuesday, the House Financial Services Committee will meet in person to mark up fourteen bills, including several bipartisan measures.
The House of Representatives was extremely busy this week
The House of Representatives was extremely busy this week, packing in hearings before a two-week break that begins as we write this. The Senate (traditionally a more deliberative body — just ask them) also held hearings this week, but they’ll be a little busier next week.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it . . . the Wizard?
At this writing, it’s hard to know how seriously to take the Chinese surveillance balloon that’s currently hovering at 60,000 above the center of the continental United States. It is, of course, an unacceptable violation of US airspace, as Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said earlier today. And it’s already caused Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel his plans to visit Beijing.
White House calls for “Renters Bill of Rights”
This week the White House announced an array of executive branch actions designed to empower and protect renters, in conjunction with the publication of its Blueprint for a Renter Bill of Rights, a white paper compiled by the Domestic Policy Council and the National Economic Council. While the white paper does not have the force of law, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Department of Justice (DOJ), and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) simultaneously announced their own initiatives to identify and prevent abuses in the rental housing sector.
Treasury begins “extraordinary measures” to avoid government insolvency
Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen sent another letter to Congressional leadership yesterday to describe her actions in response to US sovereign debt reaching its statutory limit.
The truth is out there
Some good news from the James Webb Space Telescope this week: they’ve found their first confirmed exoplanet, a mere 41 light-years away from Earth. It’s almost the same size as Earth, but don’t start packing yet. Although this planet’s star is considerably cooler than our sun, it’s a few hundred degrees warmer than Earth, and any atmosphere it has could be 100% carbon dioxide.
Happy New Year
Greetings from the nation’s capital, where the 118th Congress has not yet quite begun.
Not with a bang but a whimper
The 117th Congress continues to push itself — drag itself? — toward the finish line, its original adjournment date (yesterday) left in the freezing rain.
GR’s lobbyists among top “hired guns”
Congratulations to our own Doyle Bartlett, Chris McCannell, and Blair Hancock, named among Washington’s top lobbyists in the annual list published by The Hill.
Tis the season
The National Christmas Tree is lit, and holiday receptions have begun in Washington, but Congress has a daunting amount of work to do between now and the end of the year.
Republicans to take House majority, Democrats hold Senate
We know a lot more than we did at this time last week, even if a few of the 2022 election outcomes remain uncertain. Republicans will control next year’s House of Representatives, having secured 218 seats so far. Democrats have won 212 seats.
Special Edition: 2022 Midterm Election Recap
By now you’ve undoubtedly seen innumerable reports and hot takes on the 2022 midterm elections which many had expected would usher in a wave of new Republican legislators, especially in the US House of Representatives. The states of Florida and Texas got that red wave, but most of the rest of the country remains purple, with the occasional flash of bright blue or red.
Counting down to Election Day
Congress is still in recess, but we’re checking in quickly before our post-Election Day issue on November 10 (Thursday, since Friday is Veterans Day). Washington’s work continues even when the legislature is not in session . . .
Treasury seeks comment on federal cyber insurance
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month — not that every month shouldn’t be — and the Department of the Treasury is worried about the adequacy of cyber insurance.
Shelter from the storm
Our hearts and minds are with our friends and colleagues in the path of Hurricane Ian. Those in Florida can find state resources here, and can apply for assistance from FEMA here.
Faster payments don’t require cryptocurrency, says Liang
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang discussed the Biden Administration’s vision for how digital assets might fit into a faster, more efficient payments system at a Brookings Institution webinar yesterday.
When an irresistible force meets an immovable object . . .
you might wind up with the rings of Saturn, according to a modeling study published by MIT astronomers this week. Once upon a time, they posit, Saturn had another large moon — they’re calling it “Chrysalis” — that drifted too close to the planet.