•A federal judge will consider Biden’s request today to block Texas’ SB8 abortion law, one of several lawsuits filed (WaPo).
•Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for COVID-19, but has no symptoms and has been vaccinated since January, the AP reports.
Spending on Goods and Services, Income, Rose in August – Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) rose by 0.8%, or $130.8 billion, in August, after an 0.1% drop in July, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Friday. Disposable Personal Income (DPI) was up 0.1%, or $18.9 billion.
Accounting for Inflation, Real PCE was up 0.4%, with goods up 0.6% and services up 0.3%, and Real DPI actually fell 0.1%, the BEA says. The PCE price index was up 0.4%. Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index rose 0.3% in August.
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Biden Their Time – President Biden signed the temporary spending bill that keeps the federal government’s lights on to December 3, yesterday, after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, separated out a hike in the debt ceiling that would have expired in December 2022. The Senate then passed the bill 65-35, and the House of Representatives passed it 254-173, (per Roll Call).
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Pelosi Promises BIF Vote Today – Yes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, withheld a vote Thursday on the $1.2-trillion bi-partisan infrastructure bill (BIF) and says she plans to bring it to the floor before the end of the day today. Last-minute talks “hit a wall” before midnight Thursday, according to Roll Call. One immediate result is that highway and transportation funding is suspended, resulting in the furlough Friday of Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration employees, The Hill reports.
No indication whether Pelosi is close to any sort of deal that would satisfy her party’s progressives in the House. Could Pelosi subvert the prog Dems? Numbers are against her, as the Congressional Progressive Caucus counts 95 House members, while the moderate Problem Solvers Caucus has 56 members, 28 of whom are Republicans.
One of the Problem Solvers, Rep. Fred Upton, R-MI, is confident Pelosi can pass the BIF before Schumer can reach some sort of compromise in the Senate that satisfies Manchin and Sinema, while also keeping Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, in-check.
“I don’t think we’re going to go home until we get it done,” Upton told NPR’s Morning Edition.
Under Pressure: Schumer is under pressure today to get Manchin and Sinema on board with negotiations over the $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation bill – which most prominently goes by the name “human infrastructure,” and is more formally, President Biden’s Bring Back Better plan.
Whereas Manchin told reporters yesterday that he gave Schumer his “final offer” of $1.5 trillion last summer, Sinema has enigmatically refused to tell anyone her ceiling price.
New Deal vs. Supply Side: Manchin says anything more than $1.5 trillion smacks of “entitlement culture,” which jibes with our take that the Biden budget agenda – Bidenomics – amounts to an attack against nearly 40 years of Supply Side/Laffer Curve Reaganomics (which was, in turn an assault on FDR’s New Deal Keynesianism).
If progressive Democrats want to get more than $1.5 trillion passed, Manchin suggested, they ought to go out and get more progs elected – which of course would take effect only after November 2022 midterms (and not coincidentally, about the time Schumer’s failed proposal to raise the debt limit would have expired). Most pundits expect Republicans to win that one, and potentially take back both the Senate and the House. And pro-Trump Republicans expect a large share of those GOP majorities thanks to a concerted effort in next year’s primaries.
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Potential Relief for Anti-Vaxxers? – If you can’t get everyone on board to prevent, there’s now a potential cure. Drug manufacturer Merck says it has an experimental version of a COVID-19 pill that cuts the risk of hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus in half, The Washington Post reports. If administered early in the infection the pill can cut the risk of a mild to moderate case from becoming something worse. The patient must take the pill twice a day for five days.
Merck plans to ask for emergency authorization as soon as possible.
Note: Merck’s breakthrough “could make a huge difference, especially in parts of the world where it’s hard to get vaccines,” WaPo concludes. No, they’re not talking about Florida. What’s more, this is not some sort of panacea: it reduces hospitalizations and deaths. Not the sorts of things that anyone really want.
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Everyone Talks About the Weather — Wildfires, hurricanes, flood and droughts will become more severe in the next five years, say 55% of adults surveyed by Morning Consult. Not surprisingly, there is a gulf between Democrats who think so — 69% -- and Republicans — 38% -- but it should be noted that 54% of independents think it will be the case.
When asked who they trust on the subject of climate change, scientists came out #1, with 36% saying they trust them “a great deal” and 34% “somewhat.” Environmental groups (24% and 37%, respectively) and the EPA (22% and 39%) come in second and third.
Note: One of the refrains that has been heard from Biden and his associates on the topic of COVID-19 has been “follow the science.” Seems that when it comes to climate change people believe in that. Those who have a fantastical sense of what reality is appear to be losing significance on important matters.
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House Committee Advances Marijuana Legislation – Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, and Tom McClintock, R-CA, joined Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee in a 26-15 vote approving a bill to decriminalize and deschedule marijuana, per Roll Call. The committee vote came after a two-day markup in which the panel also approved a bi-partisan measure to lower drug prices.
The marijuana legislation is based on a bill Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, sponsored in 2020 that passed the House, but stalled in the Senate, then controlled by the GOP. In July, Sen. Chuck Schumer proposed similar legislation, though such a bill’s prospects on the Oval Office resolute desk are less clear, as President Biden has endorsed de-criminalization, but not full legislation, Roll Call says.
Happy 97th Birthday — To Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash