One-Week CR Passed – The Senate approved a one-week continuing resolution to keep the federal government open to Friday, December 23 (Roll Call). Appropriations committee leaders sent final spending allocations to twelve subcommittees to prepare a huge omnibus spending package to be unveiled Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Defense: The Senate has sent the $858-billion National Defense Authorization Act to President Biden’s desk for signature, NPR reports. The bill is $45 billion, or about 5% more than Biden’s request, and includes a provision rescinding a 2021 provision requiring troops to be vaccinated for the coronavirus unless they have a religious or medical exemption, Roll Call says.
The bicameral NDAA, passed by the House December 8, is about 10% higher than last year’s defense bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
--TL
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(November’s annual Consumer Price Index eased to 7.1%, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Scroll down with the center-column trackbar for details.)
Fed Hikes Key Interest Rate by Half-Point – The Federal Reserve increased its key short term rate Wednesday by 0.5 percentage points, its seventh increase of the year and following three straight 0.75-point hikes, in its effort to curb inflation (AP). The rate now ranges from 4.25% to 4.5%, highest in 15 years.
More to Come: The Fed further signaled another 0.75-point increase would come before it holds the rate steady at 5-5.25% through the end of 2023. High interest rates seem to be taking hold, with the Consumer Price Index having eased from a high of 9.1% in June to 7.1% in November, though there are still fears the U.S. economy is heading for a recession to potentially spoil the Fed’s efforts for a “soft landing.”
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Appropriations, (Almost) Just in Time – Congress has until December 16 to pass a Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill to avoid a federal government shutdown, but that won’t happen by midnight Friday. The House and Senate were expected to pass a stopgap spending bill Wednesday to extend the deadline right up to Friday, December 23, and there is a lot of bipartisan support – at least among more seasoned Republican senators – to assure it will happen just before Christmas, extending funding to next September.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) issued a statement late Tuesday, per Roll Call that negotiators had “reached a bipartisan, bicameral framework that should allow us to finish an omnibus appropriations bill that can pass the House and Senate and be signed into law by the president.”
Senate Appropriations ranking member Richard Shelby (R-AL) and House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released similar statements, and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told WBUR public radio’s Here & Now that shutting down the government and restarting it to make a point (or political points) is costlier than negotiating with the majority Democrats.
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Respect for Marriage Act Signed – We’d be remiss in failing to mention President Biden not just signing, but celebrating the Respect for Marriage Act Tuesday at the White House. The bipartisan bill protects same-sex marriage and interracial marriage from the Supreme Court after last summer’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Among the bill’s compromises made to assure bipartisan support is that it assures same-sex marriages are recognized in all states, but does not require all states to legalize same-sex marriage ceremonies, according to Jezebel.
Republican Senators who Voted ‘Yay’: Per The New York Times, the Republicans who voted with Democrats to assure passage of the Respect for Marriage Act are Roy Blunt (MO), Richard Burr (NC), Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Susan Collins (ME), Joni Ernst (IA), Cynthia Lummis (WV), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Dan Sullivan (AK), Rob Portman (OH), Mitt Romney (UT), Thom Tillis (NC) and Todd Young (IN).
--TL
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November CPI Eases to 7.1%
(WED 12/13/22)
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in November the Labor Department reports, to an annual rate of 7.1%. The Washington Postdescribes the rate, down from 7.7% in October, as “another sign of inflation easing.” It is the smallest increase since December 2021, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics says.
Food, up 0.5%, and shelter, up 0.6%, more than offset a 1.6% decrease in energy prices, according to the BLS. Economists were expecting a monthly increase of 0.3%, compared to the actual increase of 0.1%, MSNBC’s Morning Joe reports.
Gas Prices: AAA says the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $3.245 Tuesday morning. That’s down from an all-time high of $5.016 per gallon just last June 14.
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Bro Currency or Crypto-Ponzi? – In other business/economic news, the Securities and Exchange Commission has accused FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried of defrauding investors. SBF was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in the Bahamas, where cryptocurrency firm FTX is headquartered. Up to 1 million investors in FTX may be harmed by the firm’s collapse, The Washington Post reports.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa