Archive by Author

Biden huddles with Pelosi and Schumer on inflation

President Biden on Wednesday met with Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at the White House to discuss ways to combat inflation, an issue weighing heavily on Democrats heading into November’s midterms.

The three leaders “discussed their plans for fighting the global problem of inflation that is affecting every major economy, such as bringing down prescription drug and energy costs, and adding to the historic deficit reduction we have accomplished,” according to a White House readout of the call.

The meeting comes as the White House and congressional Democrats face pressure to bring down prices, and gas prices in particular.

Biden on Wednesday sent a letter to seven major oil executives chiding them for making large profits amid the spike in gas prices and demanding they take actions to boost the supply of gasoline, diesel and other refined products on the market to help ease the burden on American consumers. 

The Labor Department announced last Friday that the consumer price index (CPI), a closely watched gauge of inflation, rose 1 percent in May alone and 8.6 percent over the past 12 months. Experts were concerned not only by how high prices rose, but also by how many goods and services saw rapid price growth in May.

In response, the Federal Open Market Committee, the panel of Fed leaders responsible for setting monetary policy, hiked its baseline interest range Wednesday by 0.75 percentage points. The decision came after Fed leaders — including Chairman Jerome Powell — signaled for weeks that the Fed would hike rates by 0.5 percentage points this month.

Source: TEST FEED1

NFL commissioner to testify at Commanders workplace misconduct hearing

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is set to testify before the House Oversight and Reform committee as it investigates allegations of a workplace misconduct against the Washington Commanders and team owner Dan Snyder. 

NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told The Hill on Wednesday that Goodell plans to testify virtually to the panel on June 22.

The Washington Post first reported the news. 

Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), chair of the panel’s economic subcommittee, sent a letter to Goodell and Snyder earlier this month, inviting them to testify at a hearing before the committee. 

Snyder sent a letter to the committee on Wednesday declining to testify at the hearing, citing due process concerns and the committee’s refusal to push back the hearing’s date.

Snyder’s attorney, Karen Patton Seymour, also noted that the committee declined to provide Snyder and his team with information about some of the allegations made against him by a former employee.

“Mr. Snyder remains willing to continue cooperating with the Committee but is unable to attend the June 22 hearing given the Committee’s disregard for due process,” a source close to the owner told The Hill earlier on Wednesday.

The committee launched its initial investigation into the team in October based on allegations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct within the Commanders’ organization.

The probe followed the resignation of former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, whose email chain with then-Commanders President Bruce Allen was leaked to the public, containing racist, homophobic and misogynistic language. 

The house panel also sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission in April detailing evidence that the Commanders and Snyder engaged in a series of financial improprieties. This led to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) and District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine (D) launching a separate investigation into the NFL franchise.

In a statement responding to Snyder’s letter, a spokesperson for the committee told the Hill that the panel “intends to move forward” with its scheduled hearing.

The league launched its second investigation into the team earlier this year after former cheerleader and marketing manager Tiffani Johnston, while speaking at a House Oversight roundtable discussion on the matter, accused Snyder of sexually harassing her during a work-related dinner.

The Commanders, formerly known as the Redskins and Washington Football Team, has been owned by Snyder since 1999. He and the team have denied both the allegations of sexual harassment and financial improprieties.

Source: TEST FEED1

Confederate flag-toting man, son convicted in Capitol riot

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday convicted a Confederate flag-toting man and his son of charges that they stormed the U.S. Capitol together during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, to obstruct Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden delivered the verdict from the bench after hearing two days of testimony without a jury for the trial of Kevin Seefried and his adult son, Hunter.

McFadden convicted both Delaware men of a felony count: obstruction of an official proceeding, the joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College that day.

The judge also convicted the Seefrieds of misdemeanor charges that they engaged in disorderly conduct and illegally demonstrated inside the building. But he acquitted Hunter Seefried of other misdemeanor charges for clearing a shard of glass from a broken window at the Capitol.

They will remain free pending separate sentencing hearings in September.

McFadden, whom President Donald Trump nominated for the court in 2017, presided over two previous bench trials for Capitol riot defendants. He acquitted one of all charges and partially acquitted another.

Widely published photographs showed Kevin Seefried carrying a Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol after he and Hunter Seefried, then 22, entered the building through a broken window.

McFadden rejected the defense argument that Kevin Seefried never intended to interfere with the congressional proceedings.

“I find that he knew what he was doing,” McFadden said.

The judge described Kevin Seefreid as the “prime mover” in their decision to go to Washington on Jan. 6. McFadden said Hunter Seefried’s guilt on the obstruction charge was a “closer question,” but the judge ultimately concluded that the son engaged in “aggravated conduct” that supported a conviction.

“Hunter Seefried showed a pattern of deception and minimization of his actions” when an FBI agent interviewed him after the riot, McFadden said.

FBI agents said they did not find any evidence linking Kevin Seefried or his son to any far-right extremist groups. Kevin Seefried told an agent that he did not view the Confederate flag as a symbol of racist hate.

The trial included the first public testimony of Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman, who has been lauded for his bravery during the Jan. 6 attack by a mob of Trump supporters. Goodman led a group of rioters away from the Senate chamber as senators and then-Vice President Mike Pence were being evacuated. He also directed Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, to turn around and head away from the mob.

Goodman encountered Kevin Seefried before the mob chased the officer up a set of stairs, a harrowing episode captured on video. The officer said the elder Seefried cursed at him and jabbed at him with the base end of his flagpole three or four times without making contact with him.

Another Capitol police officer who confronted the mob near the Senate chamber recalled that Kevin Seefried asked, “Why are you protecting them?”

“I assumed he was talking about Congress,” Officer Brian Morgan testified.

The Seefrieds were not charged with assaulting any officers.

Neither defendant testified at their trial.

The father and son traveled to Washington from their home in Laurel, Delaware, to hear Trump’s speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. They were among the first rioters to approach the building near the Senate Wing Door, according to prosecutors.

After watching other rioters use a police shield and a wooden plank to break a window, Hunter Seefried used a gloved fist to clear a shard of glass in one of the broken windowpanes, prosecutors said. But the judge found that two other rioters had destroyed the window before Seefried cleared the shard.

McFadden convicted the Seefrieds of four misdemeanor charges: entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

The judge acquitted Hunter Seefried of three other misdemeanor counts: destruction of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with physical violence against property, and acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building.

The Seefrieds, who waived their right to jury trial, were the first Capitol riot defendants to get a bench trial on a felony charge.

In April, McFadden acquitted New Mexico resident Matthew Martin of misdemeanor charges that he illegally entered the Capitol and engaged in disorderly conduct after he walked into the building.

In March, McFadden acquitted a New Mexico elected official, Couy Griffin, of engaging in disorderly conduct but convicted him of illegally entering restricted Capitol grounds. McFadden is scheduled to sentence Griffin on Friday.

Also on Wednesday, a bench trial concluded for Jesus Rivera, a Pensacola, Florida, man charged with four riot-related misdemeanors. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she intends to issue a written verdict later this week, according to Guy Womack, an attorney for Rivera.

McFadden has criticized prosecutors’ handling of Capitol riot cases. He suggested that the Justice Department has been unjustly tougher on Capitol riot defendants compared with people arrested at protests against police brutality and racial injustice after George Floyd’s 2020 murder by a Minneapolis police officer.

More than 800 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack. Juries have unanimously convicted five Capitol riot defendants of all charges. More than 300 other defendants have pleaded guilty to riot offenses, mostly misdemeanors. Approximately 100 others have trial dates in 2022 or 2023.

Source: TEST FEED1

Ginni Thomas emailed with John Eastman: report

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, emailed with Trump campaign lawyer John Eastman in correspondence obtained by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Citing three people involved in the committee’s investigation, the Post reported the emails’ existence while saying its sources declined to provide further details about the communications.

Eastman, a conservative law professor, crafted two memos for the Trump campaign in the lead up to Jan. 6 outlining a strategy to block certifying the election results.

Trump and Eastman’s efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to not certify the Electoral College votes are expected to be a central focus of the committee’s hearing on Thursday afternoon.

Ginni Thomas’s attempts to overturn the election results have drawn fierce criticism from Democrats. The Post reported on Friday that Thomas emailed 29 Arizona state lawmakers to help reverse President Biden’s win in the state.

Thomas’s involvement in the efforts has raised ethical questions over her husband’s role in deciding cases related to the election and Jan. 6. Justice Thomas has argued his decisions are entirely separate from his wife’s activism.

The Hill has reached out to the Supreme Court and Ginni Thomas for comment.

A federal judge last week ordered Eastman to turn over another batch of 159 documents subpoenaed by the panel. The same judge in March previously ordered Eastman to turn over documents to the committee.

Eastman had cited attorney-client privilege as reason for keeping the documents from the committee, but the judge invoked the crime-fraud exception, which forfeits protection from disclosure if an attorney “more likely than not” aided in a criminal or fraudulent enterprise.

Source: TEST FEED1

Ocasio-Cortez accuses Democratic NYC council speaker of 'movie-villain type of decision-making'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the recent actions of New York City Council speaker Adrienne Adams “movie-villain type of decision-making” in a social media post on Tuesday.

Ocasio-Cortez posted an Instagram story to discuss “what it actually looks like when politics gets dirty,” accusing the speaker of taking funding away from children’s after school programs. 

“The mayor and the city council speaker decided that they wanted their budget right now. The budget had absolutely unconscionable cuts to education, housing services and a lot more,” Ocasio-Cortez explained. 

“How do you actually get that? Well, you create a psychological environment and a political environment that is extremely hostile to dissent,” she continued, adding that the speaker “took away funding the local Boys & Girls Club and their after school programs” for her political gain.

“That is like movie-villian type of decision making, right there. Like why are we bringing kids into this?” she asked. 

The Hill has reached out to Adams for comment. Adams’ office told the New York Times that the programs in question did receive some discretionary funding, as well as other city funds.

The funding in question is part of a $101 billion budget deal passed this week. Over $41 million of that funding is discretionary and controlled by Adams, according to the Times.

The Boys & Girls Club wanted to receive $150,000 in city funding; however, it only got half of that, the newspaper noted.

Only six members voted against the budget, including Democrats Tiffany Cabán, Alexa Avilés, Sandy Nurse, Chi Ossé, Charles Barron and Kristin Richardson Jordan. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Who is Michael Luttig, who testifies Thursday before the Jan. 6 panel?

Former federal judge J. Michael Luttig will testify on Thursday before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol about his role as an informal adviser to then-Vice President Pence.

Thursday’s hearing is expected to focus on Trump and his allies’ efforts to pressure Pence to reject the will of the voters on Jan. 6. Luttig will appear as a witness alongside Greg Jacob, Pence’s chief legal counsel.

Luttig, a former judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appointed by George H. W. Bush, became prominently connected to Jan. 6 when Pence cited his legal reasoning in a letter that day detailing why he would not reverse the outcome of the election.

“More recently, as the former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge J. Michael Luttig observed, ‘[t]he only responsibility and power of the vice president under the Constitution is to faithfully count the Electoral College votes as they have been cast,’ adding ‘the Constitution does not empower the vice president to alter in any way the votes that have been cast, either by rejecting certain votes or otherwise,’” Pence wrote in the letter.

Before being in Pence’s orbit, Luttig had a long career as a conservative lawyer.

He worked in the Reagan administration in the Office of White House Counsel for about a year. Luttig later clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia when Scalia sat on a federal appeals court and for then-Chief Justice Warren Burger.

In the George H.W. Bush administration, Luttig served as assistant attorney general overseeing the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel.

Bush later nominated him as a federal appeals judge in April 1991, and George W. Bush reportedly considered nominating Luttig to the Supreme Court.

Luttig has also spent time in the private sector, serving as general counsel and senior vice president for Boeing for 13 years before resigning in May 2019.

Less than two years after his resignation, Pence’s inner circle solicited Luttig’s help as the vice president faced increasing pressure from Trump to overturn the election results on Jan. 6.

Luttig told PBS Frontline in a two-hour interview about his views on the 2020 election and that he first became involved after receiving a call from Richard Cullen, Pence’s personal lawyer and Luttig’s longtime friend, on the evening of Jan. 4.

“Do you know John Eastman?” Cullen asked Luttig, referring to Trump’s campaign lawyer who was pressuring Pence to reject the Electoral College votes.

Eastman was Luttig’s former law clerk.

“Well, Richard, you can tell the vice president that I said that he has no such authority at all,” Luttig said in response, he told PBS.

Luttig told PBS on the morning of Jan. 6 that he continued to speak with Cullen, who asked Luttig to get his “voice out to the country.”

They eventually decided Luttig would write a Twitter thread explaining his views. He published the thread at 9:53 a.m. on Jan. 5, and Pence cited it the next day in his letter.

Luttig also told PBS he spoke with Pence on the phone on Jan. 7, the day after the riot.

Since the insurrection, Luttig has also been a vocal advocate for reforming the Electoral Count Act.

In a February 2022 guest essay in the New York Times, Luttig called the statute “plainly unconstitutional,” arguing reforms are needed to “shore up our faltering democracy.”

“Nothing in the Constitution empowers Congress to decide the validity of the electoral slates submitted by the states,” he wrote. “In fact, the Constitution gives Congress no role whatsoever in choosing the president, save in the circumstance where no presidential candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes cast.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Defense & National Security — A ‘pivotal moment’ in Ukraine

The Biden administration announced another $1 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, help that comes as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said it was “a pivotal moment” in Kyiv’s fight with Russia. 

We’ll detail what’s in the latest package and the United States’ message for other Western nations, plus the new defense spending proposal from House Democrats and more on the White House’s next step with its controversial Saudi meeting.  

This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

Austin warns of ‘pivotal moment’ in Ukraine war

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday said Kyiv faces “a pivotal moment” in its fight with Russia, highlighting recent military aid sent to Ukraine by Western allies while pressing countries to send even more. 

Ukraine is currently struggling to keep Russia from laying claim on its easternmost region and industrial heartland, known as the Donbas, and has ramped up its pleas for more Western help with heavy weapons. 

“Everyone here is acutely aware of the dangers that Ukraine faces as Russia renews its reckless assault on the Donbas,” Austin said at a news conference in Brussels, after meeting with officials from nearly 50 countries that gathered for the third meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. 

A new package: The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a new $1 billion security assistance package to Ukraine that will include artillery, coastal defense weapons and ammunition to bolster its military in its nearly four-month war with the Kremlin.  

• At the news conference, Austin said that the package would include guided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HMARS) munitions, 18 more howitzers, tactical vehicles and 36,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition.   
• Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on Wednesday, thanked Washington for the lethal aid but stressed that Ukrainian forces “urgently need more heavy weapons delivered more regularly.”  

Austin said other countries have also pledged to send more heavy weapons, including Germany, which is sending three multiple-launch rockets systems; Slovakia, which is giving Kyiv helicopters and rocket ammunition; and Canada, Poland and the Netherlands, all of which are sending more artillery. 

Keep it up: While speaking to Western officials earlier, Austin urged nations to not lose steam in supporting Ukraine as it is facing “a pivotal moment on the battlefield.”  

Russia has changed tactics and is increasingly using long-range fire to try to overwhelm Ukrainian positions, Austin explained. “So, we must intensify our shared commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense. And we must push ourselves even harder to ensure that Ukraine can defend itself, its citizens and its territory.” 

In defense: Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who spoke alongside Austin, defended the number and type of weapons the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine, arguing that “no singular weapons system ever, quote unquote, turns the balance.” 

Read the full story here 

House Dems to propose $802B defense policy bill

Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee are expected to propose an $802.4 billion top line for the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a committee aide told to The Hill. 

• The top line, which was first reported by Bloomberg, includes a $772.5 billion discretionary top line for the Department of Defense, a figure largely in line with what President Biden requested for defense spending.
• It also includes $29.5 billion for the Department of Energy and another $400 million for other defense-related activities outside of the Department of Defense.
• The top line does not include $11 billion in national defense spending outside of the committee’s jurisdiction and other adjustments, the aide said. 

The committee is scheduled to consider the defense bill next week before it heads to the House floor. These numbers are subject to change as the committee amends the bill during the markup process. 

What the GOP wants: Republicans have been pushing for defense spending that is between 3 to 5 percent above inflation. 

Meanwhile…: The Senate Armed Services Committee was scheduled to markup its version of the NDAA on Wednesday and may continue into Thursday if needed. 

The House Appropriations Committee released its proposed defense spending bill on Tuesday, which includes $761.68 billion for the Pentagon. The committee also released a $314 billion military construction and veterans affairs bill — of which $15.1 billion is set aside for military construction projects. 

The committee is scheduled to mark up both bills next Wednesday. 

Read more here

White House moves forward with Saudi meeting

The White House is moving forward with a controversial meeting between President Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a dramatic U-turn from the president’s campaign pledge to make the kingdom’s government a “pariah” on the world stage. 

• Plans for the meeting, slated to occur next month during Biden’s trip to the Middle East, triggered criticism in Washington, where some argued it sent the wrong signal when it comes to human rights abuses and for the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 
• The White House itself left the meeting out of an official statement making it public on Tuesday, which also mentioned that Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia came at the invitation of Saudi King Salman. 
• A senior administration official confirmed Monday night that the president would meet with Crown Prince Mohammed while in Saudi Arabia but emphasized that it would take place alongside “dozens” of other Gulf leaders. 

More details: Meanwhile, the Saudi Embassy in a statement offered more substantive details about plans for the meeting between Biden and the crown prince, saying the two would hold “official talks” about the bilateral relationship and a range of issues. 

Among those issues will be global energy supply. High gas prices exacerbated by sanctions on the Kremlin as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine have vexed the Biden administration, which has turned to countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to boost the global supply in an effort to bring down prices. 

Biden and other leaders in the Middle East are also expected to broach Iran, the war in Yemen, and growing relations between Israel and its Gulf and Arab neighbors. 

Read the full story here

JAN. 6 PANEL TO FOCUS ON TRUMP PRESSURE CAMPAIGN ON PENCE

The relationship between former President Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence will take center stage at the Jan. 6 committee’s third hearing as it examines the “pressure campaign on Vice President Pence driven by the former president.”

“Tomorrow’s hearing is going to focus on former President Trump’s attempts to pressure former Vice President Pence to unilaterally change the results of the election in the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6,” a select committee aide told reporters.

“Even as advice was swirling around the White House saying that this scheme was illegal, it was totally baseless, the president nevertheless continued publicly to apply pressure on Mike Pence,” the aide added, something that “directly contributed to the attack on the Capitol. And it put the vice president’s life in danger.” 

The committee has already shown video of a noose brought to the Capitol that day, and relayed that when Trump was informed about chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,” he reportedly responded, “maybe our supporters have the right idea.”

Read more here.

ON TAP TOMORROW

• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will hold a press conference at the conclusion of the NATO defense ministerial at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium  
• The National Defense Industrial Association will hold its 2022 Human Systems Conference at 8 a.m.   
• Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova will speak at the Center for Strategic and International Studies at 9 a.m. 
• The Center for Strategic and International Studies will host a virtual discussion on “Korea-Japan Relations and Trilateral Cooperation,” with former National Security Council Director for East Asia Christopher Johnstone, at 9:45 a.m.  
• The Center for Strategic and International Studies will also hold a webcast talk on “Assessing Russia’s War in Ukraine,” with former Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Michael Vickers, at 10 a.m.  
• The Hudson Institute will host a virtual discussion on “Regaining Decision Advantage: Overhauling Joint All-Domain Command and Control to Bolster U.S. Deterrence,” at 12 p.m. 

HOUSE 

• The House Appropriations’ Homeland Security subcommittee will markup its Fiscal Year 2023 bill at 9 a.m. 
• The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol will hold a hearing on “the January 6th Investigation,” with testimony from Greg Jacob, former chief counsel to the vice president, at 10 a.m.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Biden to send another $1 billion weapons package to Ukraine 
• Navy fires five leaders in less than a week 
• Jan. 6 panel to focus on Trump pressure campaign on Pence 
• Crowley, DesJarlais find common ground: Their sons’ Naval Academy graduation 
• Taiwan says Chinese attack would hit global economy harder than Ukraine war 
• The Hill: Opinion: Navy’s Red Hill debacle is both a warning and an opportunity 
• The Hill: Opinion: Unblocking the Black Sea for Ukrainian grain

That’s it for today. Check out The Hill’s Defense and National Security pages for the latest coverage. See you tomorrow!

VIEW THE FULL VERSION HERE

Source: TEST FEED1

On The Money — Why the Fed went off script and hiked rates faster

The Federal Reserve delivered its biggest interest rate hike in nearly 30 years on Wednesday and we’ll explain how we got here. We’ll also look at President Biden’s plea to oil companies and a new attempt to bring down shipping costs. 

But first, find out why COVID-19 cases have hit a plateau. 

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. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Fed hikes rates by 75 basis points

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it would hike interest rates this month at the fastest pace in nearly 30 years after a discouraging May surge in inflation. 

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the panel of Fed officials responsible for setting interest rates, said it would raise the bank’s baseline interest rate range to 1.5 to 1.75 percent, an increase of 0.75 percentage points.  

The background: The Fed’s unusually large interest rate hike follows a tumultuous four-day stretch for financial markets.  

• Stocks have plunged, bond yields have skyrocketed and cryptocurrency values have collapsed in the wake of an alarming increase in price growth last month.  
• The Labor Department announced Friday that the consumer price index (CPI), a closely watched gauge of inflation, rose 1 percent in May alone and 8.6 percent over the past 12 months — far exceeding the expectations of economists.  

Sylvan explains here. 

MAY INFLATION DRIVING RATE HIKE

The Fed was already on track to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points in June following an identical hike in May and a 0.25 percentage point hike in March. While Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other top bank officials left the door open to a larger or smaller hike, they made clear they expected another 50 basis point hike to be the best path forward.  

“When I offered that guidance at the last meeting, I did say it was subject to the economy performing about in line with expectations,” Powell said during a Wednesday press conference.  

Powell said after the Fed’s last rate hike in May — an increase of 0.5 percentage points — that identical hikes were likely on the way in June and July if the economy held up as Fed officials expected. But the release of surprisingly high inflation data on Friday and subsequent polls of where consumers expected inflation to end up convinced Fed officials to hike rates faster. 

“Since then, inflation has again surprised to the upside, some indicators of inflation expectations have risen and inflation projections for this year have been revised up notably. In response to these developments, the committee decided on a larger increase in the target range at today’s meeting.” 

Sylvan has more from Powell’s presser here.

LEADING THE DAY

Biden presses oil companies to boost gasoline supply 

President Biden is demanding top oil executives boost the supply of gasoline, diesel and other refined products on the market to combat rising prices.   

Biden told the executives in a letter this week that historically high profit margins for refining oil into gasoline and diesel were “not acceptable” during a time of war and called on the companies to work with his administration to address price increases caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to copies of the letter shared with The Hill. 

• Biden is directing Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to convene an emergency meeting on gas prices with industry leaders in the coming days and warned that he is prepared to use his emergency powers to increase refinery output and capacity. 
• The president also asked the companies to explain why they reduced refining capacity and how they plan to address current challenges.  

The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant has more here.

SCRUTINIZING SHIPPERS

New shipping legislation targets supply chain bottleneck 

Legislation aimed at curbing the power of the container shipping industry, which has seen prices increase tenfold during the pandemic, breezed through the House Monday and could head to the Oval Office for a signature as soon as this week. 

The administration is hoping the law, which is designed to slash the bargaining power of container shipping companies and their industry alliances, will address a critical bottleneck in global supply chains — an issue economists widely believe is a key factor driving inflation.  

• But experts caution that supply chain fixes for inflation can be elusive and that tinkering with the logistical channels that deliver bargain manufactured goods based on cheap labor from Asia can have unexpected consequences.  
• Supply chains over the last few decades have been pared down to minimize costs and generally don’t bother developing and maintaining the infrastructure that can accommodate big swings in demand.  

Tobias Burns explains here.

PASS THAT 

Democrats eye marijuana bill as vehicle for justice measures 

Senate Democrats are eyeing a cannabis banking bill that has bipartisan support as a potential vehicle for long-sought restorative justice measures.   

Prominent Democrats have been pushing to pass the SAFE Banking Act, which would enable legally operating cannabis firms to use banking services, as part of a larger China competition package being conferenced in both the House and Senate. The bill was included in House Democrats’ competition bill passed earlier this year, but not in the bipartisan Senate-passed version.  

• Supporters of the banking bill say it’s urgently needed to stop a surge of violent robberies targeting cash-only pot dispensaries. But the measure, which has passed the House six times in recent years, has had trouble securing passage in the Senate due to resistance from both sides of the aisle, though for different reasons.   
• Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told The Hill that Democrats are working to add social equity measures to the bill, which is backed by members of both parties. But SAFE Banking advocates worry that adding too many new provisions to the bill could hurt chances of garnering enough Republican support. 

Check out more here from Karl and Aris.

Good to Know

The House began consideration of more than $1 trillion in proposed government funding for the coming fiscal year, as Democratic leadership set their sights on passing all of the chamber’s annual appropriations bills before recess in August.  

Appropriators moved on Democratic-backed funding proposals for a variety of areas like defense, security for the U.S. Capitol, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), child nutrition programs and veterans affairs, among others.  

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

• President Biden on Wednesday announced plans to send another $1 billion security assistance package to Ukraine that will include artillery, coastal defense weapons and ammunition to help the country fight off Russian forces. 
• Republican lawmakers are targeting a proposed Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule requiring public companies to enhance their reporting of “ESG” information related to the environment, social impact and corporate governance. 
• Ford is recalling 2.9 million U.S. vehicles over concerns they could roll away after drivers move the gear shift into the park position. 
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday introduced legislation targeting the sale of location data by third-party data brokers. 

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 tomorrow.

VIEW THE FULL VERSION HERE

Source: TEST FEED1

Hillicon Valley — Musk floats super PAC

Elon Musk said on Wednesday he is contemplating starting a super PAC to support moderate candidates.

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday introduced a legislation aimed to ban the sale of location data by third-party data brokers.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

Musk predicts fall ‘red wave,’ teases political funding

Elon Musk on Wednesday said he is considering creating a moderate super PAC to support centrist candidates.

Musk said on Twitter that he might establish a “Super Moderate Super PAC” to back candidates from both parties with moderate views. 

The tech billionaire also predicted a “massive red wave in 2022.” 

• He has said previously that he considers himself a moderate and would not classify himself as a Democrat or Republican.
• But he said on a podcast last month that he would vote for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections in November after having “overwhelmingly” voted for Democrats throughout his life. He said the Democratic Party is overly controlled by unions and later called it the “party of division & hate.” 

Read more here.

Dems push to ban location data sales

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday introduced legislation targeting the sale of location data by third-party data brokers.

• The Health and Location Data Protection Act would ban companies in the shadowy multibillion-dollar industry from selling or transferring sensitive data.
• The Federal Trade Commission would be given $1 billion over 10 years to promulgate and enforce rules on data brokers. State attorneys general and individuals would also be allowed to sue for violations of the new law. 

The data broker industry has come under renewed scrutiny in light of the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing abortion bans in several states to take effect. 

Read more here.

MORE TROUBLE FOR KLOBUCHAR’S BILL

Four Senate Democrats asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to revise a key antitrust bill that they said could “supercharge harmful content online” as written.  

• In a letter Wednesday, Sens. Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.) and Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) said they support the overall goal of the bill to rein in the power of tech giants.
• However…the lawmakers said it could lead to unintended consequences that would limit companies’ ability to moderate violative content. 

Their letter comes as Klobuchar and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the lead sponsors of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, push for a floor vote this month on the bipartisan bill. It advanced out of the Judiciary Committee earlier this year with bipartisan support.

The bill would ban dominant tech platforms from preferencing their own products and services over rivals’. As written, the legislation would likely apply to Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta. 

Read more here.

New Times editor weighs in on Twitter use

Joe Kahn, who this week became the executive editor of The New York Times, said journalists should “step back” from using social media to complain about leadership at their outlets or get into arguments with critics online.

• “What we’ve done is, a few weeks ago we put out our own sort of restatement of our approach to Twitter, which many of us spent quite a bit of time thinking through. And I’m glad we did it,” Kahn told Vanity Fair this week.
• “I think it’s time for people to put that particular platform into a bit more perspective, and frankly, to take a step back from an overreliance on Twitter as a place to vet grievances with your own news organization.”

Kahn had been asked about a recent controversy at The Washington Post, one of the Times’s top competitors, involving the suspension and firing of multiple high-profile staffers who engaged in behavior on social media the Post said it would not tolerate.

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Antitrust populism would shift US from free market to managed economy 

Notable links from around the web: 

Facebook and Anti-Abortion Clinics Are Collecting Highly Sensitive Info on Would-Be Patients (Reveal and The Markup / Grace Oldham and Dhruv Mehrotra) 

Inside a Corporate Culture War Stoked by a Crypto C.E.O. (The New York Times / Ryan Mac and David Yaffe-Bellany) 

A Ragtag Band of Hackers Is Waging Cyberwar on Putin’s Supply Lines (Bloomberg / Ryan Gallagher) 

🔭 Lighter click: “Cosmic Reef” 

One more thing: RIP

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will no longer support Internet Explorer after 27 years of service.

• The tech company announced its decision a year ago, pushing its users to switch to its latest browser known as Microsoft Edge, which was launched in 2015. 
• “Not only is Microsoft Edge a faster, more secure and more modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but it is also able to address a key concern: compatibility for older, legacy websites and applications,” Sean Lyndersay, general manager of Microsoft Edge Enterprise, wrote in a 2021 blog post. 

Read more here.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

VIEW THE FULL VERSION HERE

Source: TEST FEED1