WASHINGTON — Two years ago, Janet L. Yellen co-signed a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urging him not to move forward with plans to relax oversight of big financial firms, warning that doing so could threaten the stability of America’s financial system. The plea by Ms. Yellen, who was joined by Ben Bernanke, another […]
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The next year, she got a part in “The Echo,” a low-budget horror movie, but the film’s director later said she was only cast after her first husband, the Beverly Hills lawyer Ronald Richards, wrote a check. “We put $50,000 into the film, and I still had to audition for the role!” Ms. Linton said […]
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“Republicans are in grave danger if they continue to do the very swamp crap the president ran against,” Representative Chip Roy of Texas said in an interview, noting that it made it harder to run against Democrats as socialists when “establishment Republicans are passing massive spending and programs they then complain about.” Mr. Roy said […]
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Focused first on the general election and then on baseless attempts to reverse its outcome, Mr. Trump has largely been sidelined from the negotiations, instead dispatching Mr. Mnuchin as his main emissary. During a private meeting with top Republicans and top Democrats to discuss the emerging relief deal, Ms. Pelosi at one point pressed Mr. […]
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WASHINGTON — As Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, rang in 2020 in Florida, where he was celebrating his son’s wedding, his work life seemed to be entering a period of relative calm. President Trump’s public attacks on the central bank had eased up after 18 months of steady criticism, and the trade war […]
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WASHINGTON — Tucked away in the 5,593-page spending bill that Congress rushed through on Monday night is a provision that some tax experts call a $200 billion giveaway to the rich. It involves the tens of thousands of businesses that received loans from the federal government this spring with the promise that the loans would […]
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The meeting, according to one senior administration official, was intended to “take stock of the intelligence, the investigation and the actions being taken to remediate” the attack. Absent from that description was any preparation for imposing a cost on the attacker. Mr. Trump did not attend the meeting. Both President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and […]
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As markets melted down in March, the Federal Reserve unveiled novel programs meant to keep credit flowing to states, medium-sized businesses and big companies — and Congress handed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin $454 billion to back up the effort. Nine months later, Senate Republicans are trying to make sure that those same programs cannot be […]
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Other measures of economic activity have likewise slowed in recent weeks, and applications for unemployment benefits have surged. For the millions of Americans already relying on jobless benefits, the situation could be even more dire if two programs that expand and extend the unemployment insurance system expire after next week without congressional action. Republicans have […]
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WASHINGTON — Jump-starting negotiations with days to spare, the White House on Tuesday offered Democrats a $916 billion pandemic stimulus proposal that would meet their demand to provide some relief to state and local governments and include liability protections for businesses that have been a top priority of Republicans. The offer from Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury […]
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We all knew that Donald Trump would react badly to defeat. But his refusal to concede, the destructiveness of his temper tantrum and the willingness of almost the entire Republican Party to indulge him have surpassed even pessimists’ expectations. Even so, it’s very unlikely that Trump will manage to overturn the election results. But he’s […]
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WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin broke sharply with the Federal Reserve this week, choosing to end a variety of programs aimed at helping markets, businesses and municipalities weather the pandemic and asking the central bank to return the funds earmarked to support those efforts. Mr. Mnuchin said his decision was driven by a deference […]
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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is spending his last few months in office trying to undermine President-elect Joe Biden and the American economy. Witness Thursday’s decision to end a set of Federal Reserve lending programs established early this year to contain the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The programs are emergency backstops for various kinds […]
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ImageTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in the Oval Office. On Thursday, he went against the wishes of the Fed, choosing not to extend several joint Treasury-Federal Reserve lending programs.Credit…Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times Imagine a divorced couple that simply can’t get along. They share custody of the children, but have completely different visions of how […]
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WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he does not plan to extend several key emergency lending programs beyond the end of the year, a decision that could hinder President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ability to use the Federal Reserve’s vast powers to cushion the economic fallout from the virus. Mr. Mnuchin on Thursday said […]
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WASHINGTON — A political fight is brewing over whether to extend critical programs that the Federal Reserve rolled out to help keep credit flowing to companies and municipalities amid the pandemic-induced recession. The dispute has the potential to roil financial markets, which have calmed significantly since the Fed announced in March and April that it […]
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LONDON — Like much of the developing world, Pakistan was alarmingly short of doctors and medical facilities long before anyone had heard of Covid-19. Then the pandemic overwhelmed hospitals, forcing some to turn away patients. As fear upended daily life, families lost livelihoods and struggled to feed themselves. On the other side of the world […]
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WASHINGTON — Optimism faded on Friday for a pre-election breakthrough on a stimulus measure to stabilize a shaky pandemic-era recovery, as negotiations between leading congressional Democrats and the White House limped past yet another self-imposed milestone with no deal and no resolution in sight. In what has become something of a familiar pattern of high […]
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WASHINGTON — President Trump cast doubt on Wednesday on the prospects of a bipartisan, multitrillion-dollar stimulus deal before Election Day, as Senate Republicans continued to balk at an emerging compromise they called too costly and politically fraught. Even as Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and top White House officials said that they were continuing to narrow […]
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WASHINGTON — As companies furloughed millions of workers and stock prices plunged through late March, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered a glimmer of hope: The government was about to step in with a $4 trillion bazooka. The scope of that promise hinged on the Federal Reserve. The relief package winding through Congress at the time […]
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WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, privately told Republican senators on Tuesday that he had warned the White House not to strike a pre-election deal with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a new round of stimulus, moving to head off an agreement that President Trump has demanded but most in his party oppose. Mr. […]
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WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, privately told Republican senators on Tuesday that he had warned the White House not to strike a pre-election deal with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a new round of stimulus, moving to head off an agreement that President Trump has demanded but most in his party oppose. Mr. […]
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JERUSALEM — Diplomats from the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday made their first official trip to Israel since the countries normalized relations in August, and the two sides signed pacts deepening their ties, including allowing their citizens to travel from one country to the other without visas — Israel’s first such waiver with an Arab […]
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WASHINGTON — In late September, a Nobel Prize-winning economist emailed Dr. Scott W. Atlas, a White House coronavirus adviser, in what he saw as a last-ditch effort to persuade the Trump administration to embrace a sharp increase in testing and isolating infected patients. The plan, meant to appeal to a president who has complained that […]
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WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit soared to a record $3.1 trillion in the 2020 fiscal year, official figures showed on Friday, as the coronavirus pandemic fueled a surge in spending and a drop in tax receipts brought by households and businesses struggling with economic shutdowns. The federal government spent $6.55 trillion in 2020, while […]
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WASHINGTON — President Trump clashed with his own party on Thursday over a stimulus package to stabilize the economy, calling for a big-spending plan of the kind envisioned by Democrats even as the top Republican leader declared that such a measure had little support within the party. Mr. Trump declared he “would go higher” than […]
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WASHINGTON — Republicans revolted on Saturday over President Trump’s efforts to resuscitate bipartisan stimulus talks with a $1.8 trillion offer to Democrats, balking at what they called an exorbitantly costly plan in the latest sign of steep obstacles to any deal before the election. Even as Democrats held out for more concessions over funding and […]
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WASHINGTON — The White House moved aggressively on Friday to revive stimulus talks that President Trump had called off just days earlier, putting forward its largest offer for economic relief yet as administration officials and embattled Republican lawmakers scrambled to avoid being blamed by voters for failing to deliver needed aid ahead of the election. […]
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WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, the bipartisan stimulus talks were off, abruptly ended by a series of indignant tweets by President Trump. On Wednesday, there was a glimmer of hope when he suggested he might reconsider, and top negotiators haggled privately by phone over possible legislation. By Thursday, the president performed a complete about-face and suggested […]
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WASHINGTON — House Democrats pushed through a $2.2 trillion stimulus plan on Thursday that would provide aid to families, schools, restaurants, businesses and airline workers, advancing a wish list with little chance of becoming law as negotiations with the Trump administration failed to yield a bipartisan agreement. Even as Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted there was […]
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WASHINGTON — On at least one issue, most of Washington agrees: The Postal Service needs an intervention. A constellation of forces, including the 2008 recession and punishing retiree obligations, have pushed the agency to a point of financial distress for some time, inviting a flood of proposals for how to turn its trajectory around. The […]
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