U.S. economy crushes predictions: 196K new jobs in March
Nearly 200,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy last month — a figure that greatly surpassed expectations.
US News
Trump gives little comfort to carmakers by swapping border closure for tariffs
The U.S. auto industry, which risked losing access to Mexican suppliers if President Trump closed the southern border, received scant comfort when he walked back the threat in favor of tacking tariffs onto vehicles and parts.
Senate goes nuclear to speed up Trump nominees
Unable to work out a bipartisan deal to speed up Trump administration nominees, the Senate Republican majority changed the chamber’s rules on Wednesday to shorten debate time over the objections of Democrats.
McConnell to Trump: We’re not repealing and replacing ObamaCare
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told President Trump in a conversation Monday that the Senate will not be moving comprehensive health care legislation before the 2020 election, despite the president asking Senate Republicans to do that in a meeting last week.
Senate ready to speed up confirming judges over objections from Democrats
Senate Republicans this week are poised to make good on a monthslong threat to change the rules in order to speed up confirming President Trump’s judicial nominees.
U.S. disaster aid won’t cover crops drowned by Midwest floods
The Black Hawk military helicopter flew over Iowa, giving a senior U.S. agriculture official and U.S. senator an eyeful of the flood damage below, where yellow corn from ruptured metal silos spilled out into the muddy water.
‘We’ve never seen anything like this’: As Trump threatens to close border, migrants overwhelm Texas cities
Under a bridge connecting the U.S. with Mexico, dozens of migrant families cram into a makeshift camp set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The families are there because permanent processing facilities have run out of room.
What deficit? House hopes to advance bill next week lifting spending caps
House Democrats next week hope to advance a two-year proposal that would raise caps on defense and domestic spending that were put in place in 2011 to reduce the debt.
U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to stop NSA’s mass data collection
Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill on Thursday that would end the collection of Americans’ phone records by the National Security Agency in an effort to undo a widely criticized security measure passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
House votes to condemn Trump’s transgender military ban
The House passed a resolution formally condemning the Trump administration’s transgender military ban in a 238-185 vote on Thursday.
Republicans won’t act on Obamacare repeal until White House delivers proposal
Republicans in Congress are giving President Trump the cold shoulder as he pushes them into another risky political battle to replace Obamacare, insisting they won’t act until the White House delivers a detailed proposal.
Trump Signs First Directive to Prevent EMP Attacks Against US
President Trump is taking an unprecedented step to protect America’s electrical grid with a new executive order to prevent electromagnetic pulse attacks (EMP).
Supreme Court warily weighs partisan gerrymandering
The Supreme Court appeared convinced Tuesday that congressional maps drawn by two state legislatures were overly partisan, but worried whether judges themselves should be the ones to remedy the long-simmering issue.
Republican-led US Senate Rejects Green New Deal
The Republican-led Senate Tuesday night voted against consideration of the Democratically-supported New Green Deal — the outline of an ambitious plan to get the U.S. off climate-changing fossil fuels.
Pentagon approves $1B transfer for 57 miles of border wall projects
The Pentagon has signed off on $1 billion for the U.S Army Corps of Engineers to support the Homeland Security Department and Customs and Border Protection in constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, the Department of Defense announced Monday.
Democrats demand full Mueller report; Trump says that’s OK with him
President Donald Trump said Monday that the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report ‘wouldn’t bother me at all’ as congressional Democrats clamored for the Justice Department to release the entire document and not just the summary from Attorney General William Barr.
Mueller report summary released, showing no proof Trump team conspired with Russia
Attorney General William Barr on Sunday released the “principal conclusions” of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s completed Russia probe in a bombshell four-page letter to Capitol Hill lawmakers, which stated definitively that Mueller did not establish evidence that President Trump’s team or any associates of the Trump campaign had conspired with Russia to sway the 2016 election — ‘despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.’
Mueller report is blow to U.S. Democrats’ plans to probe Trump
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russia in the 2016 election is a serious blow to Democrats who had hoped Mueller’s report would boost their own wide-ranging probes into Trump’s business dealings.
Catastrophic Midwestern flooding costing farmers $1 billion and counting
Catastrophic flooding across the central Midwest has wiped out livestock and probably will prevent farmers from planting this spring.
Federal Reserve Says No Rate Hikes, 2.1% GDP Growth In 2019
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concluded its meeting at 2 PM ET today and announced that the Federal Reserve would not raise fed fund rates. The revised dot plot—which records individual committee members’ projections for where interest rates will be at year-end—indicated that the Fed will pause any further rate hikes until 2020.