 Happy Wednesday and welcome back to On The Money. I'm Sylvan Lane, and here's your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. See something I missed? Let me know at slane@thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N. Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@thehill.com, vneedham@thehill.com, njagoda@thehill.com and nelis@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @VickofTheHill, @NJagoda and @NivElis. THE BIG DEAL-- Pelosi tells Trump no State of the Union on Tuesday as shutdown talks stall: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday she will block President Trump from delivering the State of the Union address in the House chamber until the government reopens, rejecting the president's demand to deliver the speech on Jan. 29. In a letter to Trump, Pelosi said she would not move forward with the legislative steps needed for the address to happen in the House chamber. "The House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president's State of the Union address in the House chamber until government has opened," she wrote. By refusing to schedule a vote on the resolution, Pelosi is preventing Congress from meeting in a joint session for the purpose of hearing Trump's address. The Speaker said she would invite the president to deliver his speech "on a mutually agreeable date" but only "when government has been opened." The Hill's Jordan Fabian has the latest here. Risks for Pelosi: The move is fraught with risk for Pelosi amid calls from some rank-and-file Democrats to take steps toward ending the shutdown. - Trump accused Pelosi of caving to the "the super-left Democrats, the radical Democrats," by nixing his speech, adding "what's going on in that party is shocking."
- But many others in her party support her willingness to take a stand against Trump and Democratic lawmakers quickly began lining up in support of Pelosi's decision.
Political harm for Trump: President Trump's approval rating has fallen to 44 percent among registered voters in the latest Hill-HarrisX public opinion survey, its lowest point since the partial government shutdown began in December. - The new poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday, found that 56 percent of respondents disapproved of Trump's performance as president. That's up from 53 percent on Dec. 26 and 55 percent on Jan. 9.
- Trump's approval rating in the poll was 47 percent on Dec. 26 and 45 percent on January 9 in polls conducted by Hill-HarrisX.
Federal workers protest on Capitol Hill: Federal workers gathered Wednesday at the Hart Senate Office Building to protest the ongoing government shutdown, which has left hundreds of thousands of them without pay. The workers held 33 minutes of silent protest, or one minute for each day the shutdown has lasted. They also held paper plates with messages written on them such as "open the government" and "federal workers are going hungry." The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the AFL-CIO helped organize the protest and later led a march to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) state office (not his suite just off the Senate floor). Twelve protesters were arrested after camping outside of McConnell's office, chanting "stop the shutdown," "we need a paycheck," "we want to work" and "where is Mitch?" And, of course, lawmakers got no closer to a deal: The House passed a Democratic-backed package of six appropriations bills Wednesday that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. But McConnell has refused to hold Senate votes on House-passed bills unless Trump approves, and on Wednesday batted down a fourth attempt from Democrats to vote on a funding bill form the lower chamber. The Senate is scheduled to vote on two bills Thursday to reopen the government. The first would provide $5.7 billion in funding for Trump's border wall and extend legal protections to some immigrants who came to the country illegally, for three years. If that bill fails, the Senate will move to a three-week continuing resolution (CR) to fund the rest of the government through Feb. 8. Neither bill is expected to become law.
LEADING THE DAY White House braces for steeper economic toll of shutdown: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has asked federal agencies to provide lists of key programs that could be endangered if the partial government shutdown drags on until March or April, an administration official confirmed on Wednesday. Mulvaney has asked for the information by Friday, a request that was first reported by The Washington Post. - The request is one of the clearest signs yet that the White House is preparing for a shutdown of indefinite length that could have a significant impact on the economy.
- Officials appear to be worried about the effect on government services. Around 800,000 employees have either been furloughed or are working without pay, but there is also concern about food-stamp benefits, farm programs and the operations of the federal court system.
- Walk-outs among Transportation Security Administration workers have caused long security lines at major airports, which has generated national media coverage. The problem could become worse this week, when workers are set to miss a second paycheck.
And President Trump's chief economist said Wednesday that the partial government shutdown could wipe out an entire quarter of gross domestic product (GDP) growth if it lasts until the end of March. Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), said Wednesday that the U.S. economy could see little to no growth in the first quarter of 2019 if the shutdown continues. "It is true that if we get a typically weak first quarter and then have an extended shutdown that we could end up with a number that's very, very low," Hassett told CNN on Wednesday, the 33rd day of the shutdown. When asked if the U.S. could see no growth at all in the first quarter, Hassett said, "Yes, we could," if the shutdown lasted until the end of March. The CEA has projected 1.7-percent annualized GDP growth for the first quarter but estimated that each week of the shutdown could shave 0.1 percentage points off that total. At that rate, the GDP growth would fall 1.2 percentage points by the end of March. GOOD TO KNOW - Business Roundtable, which represents the chief executive officers of major U.S. companies, is urging Congress and the White House to end the partial government shutdown as concerns grow about the funding lapse's impact on the economy.
- The European Union said Wednesday that it will retaliate with nearly $23 billion in tariffs if President Trump puts taxes on imported EU cars and auto parts.
- The New York Times reports that "America's corporate leaders are shrugging off a monthslong trade war, a protracted government shutdown and other looming economic threats, projecting that revenue growth in 2019 will be strong largely on the assumption that President Trump will reach a deal with China."
- House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff and Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters have begun discussions about how to coordinate oversight of Deutsche Bank, according to Politico.
ODDS AND ENDS | 
沒有留言:
張貼留言