On The Money — Employers respond to Roe
Companies are responding to Friday’s stunning Supreme Court decision by implementing measures to help employees get access to legal abortion services.
We’ll also look at how the decision could impact data privacy protections. Plus: We’ll dive into new home sales data and examine another massive crypto theft.
Welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Subscribe here.
Companies rush to cover abortion travel costs
Several of the nation’s largest companies are willing to reimburse employees who travel out of state to legally access abortion services.
Businesses will face increasing pressure to offer that benefit after the Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that will lead to abortion bans in at least 13 states.
Most companies already cover abortion care in their health plan, but a number of major employers expanded their benefits to include travel costs after Texas enacted harsh abortion restrictions earlier this year. Friday’s ruling has already prompted more employers to join in.
- Disney and Meta are among large U.S. employers who reacted to Friday’s ruling by telling their workers that they would reimburse costs to travel out of state for an abortion.
- Amazon, Starbucks and Microsoft announced similar policies shortly after the Supreme Court’s draft decision was leaked last month.
- A handful of companies slammed the court’s decision, indicating that not all companies will remain silent on the issue that corporate America has long avoided.
Karl has more here.
HOME SWEET HOME
New home sales rose in May despite higher mortgage rates
New home sales jumped unexpectedly in May, according to data released Friday by the Census Bureau, defying a spike in mortgage rates and falling consumer sentiment to recover from an April downturn.
- Sales of new homes rose 10.7 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 696,000 — the total number of homes that would have been sold over a 12-month period at the pace set last month.
- Economists expected sales to decline in May after dropping 16 percent in April.
While sales plunged 51.1 percent in the Northeast and fell 18.3 percent in the Midwest last month, sales rose 12.8 percent in the South and soared 39.3 percent in the West.
Economists expected new home sales to drop for the second consecutive month under the weight of rising interest rates. The Fed’s series of rate hikes has pushed the interest rate on a 30-year mortgage to an average of 5.2 percent in May, according to Freddie Mac, boosting pressure on potential buyers already coping with prices near record highs.
Sylvan breaks down what happened here.
MYOB
Roe v. Wade reversal spurs Democrats’ call for data privacy protections
Supporters of proposals offering protections around data that could provide information about people seeking abortions are pushing for swift action after the Supreme Court’s Friday decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
As Democrats weigh responses to the 6-3 court decision that will trigger abortion bans in 13 states, and likely lead to severe restrictions in others, supporters of key data privacy proposals said it is urgent to ensure Americans’ location, search and call data isn’t used to target people seeking abortion care.
- Without additional protections, users’ location, search and calling data can be easily accessed and shared with law enforcement in ways that could be used to target people seeking abortions, especially in states that ban or severely restrict abortion access.
- Democrats introduced a couple of proposals aimed at giving users more data protections in recent weeks, following the leak of a draft majority opinion in May that indicated the court was prepared to strike down Roe v. Wade.
The Hill’s Rebecca Klar has more on this here.
CRYPTO HEIST
Hackers stole $100 million in latest crypto theft
Harmony, a California-based crypto firm, announced on Thursday night that hackers have stolen $100 million worth of cryptocurrency from one of its blockchain bridges.
The company said on Twitter that it has partnered up with law enforcement and forensic specialists to try to identify the hackers and retrieve the stolen funds.
- In a blog post, the company said its team has attempted to reach out to the hacker with an embedded message sent to the culprit’s crypto wallet address.
- The theft is the latest crypto hack to occur in the last two months. The federal agency identified the hackers behind the theft as the Lazarus Group, which has been associated with the North Korean government.
Read more about this here from The Hill’s Ines Kagubare.
Good to Know
The U.S. is experiencing a chaotic summer travel season and lawmakers in Washington are hoping to ease the burden on airport workers by introducing legislation to boost their pay.
A group of Democratic lawmakers introduced the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act and it aims to force all airport hubs to raise worker wages or risk losing access to federal funds. It includes many frontline travel workers like cleaners, wheelchair agents, baggage handlers, security personnel and more.
Here’s what else have our eye on:
- Abortion pills are likely to become the next major front of the fight over reproductive healthcare in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
ON TAP NEXT WEEK
Monday
- The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation hosts a discussion on antitrust and inflation at 10 a.m.
Tuesday
- The House Financial Services subcommittee on oversight and investigations holds a hearing “Where Have All the Houses Gone? Private Equity, Single Family Rentals, and America’s Neighborhoods” at 12 p.m.
Wednesday
- The House Financial Services Committee holds a hearing “Boom and Bust: Inequality, Homeownership, and the Long-Term Impacts of the Hot Housing Market” at 12 p.m.
Thursday
- The House Financial Services Task Force on Financial Technology holds a hearing “Combatting Tech Bro Culture: Understanding Obstacles to Investments in Diverse-Owned Fintechs” at 12 p.m.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you next week.
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