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In Photos: World Bank, IMF leaders convene for annual meetings
This year’s meeting emphasized the effects of tariffs and artificial intelligence on the economy.
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IMF projects stronger-than-expected global economy, cautions against ‘premature’ conclusions on tariff shock
The IMF released its latest World Economic Outlook amid escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
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Senate debates merit of Patent Eligibility Restoration Act
The bill would expand patent eligibility for innovations in sectors including medicine and software.
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Senate hearing on Biden-era censorship shifts to debate on Trump administration threats, Kimmel suspension
“This hearing is a farce,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said. “We are not focusing on the imminent threat to the First Amendment, the beating heart of democracy.”
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Government shutdown leaves policymakers, economists in the dark on ‘jobs Friday’
The government shutdown halted nonessential services across several agencies, including the production of economic data by the BLS. That meant a delay in September’s employment report.
read moreLawmakers, witnesses convene amid government shutdown to debate reform of cryptocurrency tax code
WASHINGTON – The Senate Finance Committee debated the fairness and transparency of current cryptocurrency tax policy on Tuesday, seeking to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda of global leadership in the industry.
The hearing proceeded on the first day of the government shutdown, prompting pushback from Democrats who criticized the Republican majority for diverting attention from the funding lapse.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) expressed concern that the Committee convened to “discuss anything other than this Republican shutdown and stopping Donald Trump from throwing 15 million people off their health care.”
Warren acknowledged the hearing’s purpose of improving clarity on cryptocurrency tax regulation and plugging “crypto tax loopholes.”
Increased transparency and reform on taxation of digital assets drew bipartisan support at both yesterday’s Finance Committee hearing and the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee’s session held in July.
Jason Somensatto, director of policy at the Coin Center, advocated for “rules that align crypto transactions with comparable activities under the law” as opposed to “special treatment.”
One of the main burdens companies and consumers experience with respect to cryptocurrency is its treatment as property by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), rather than traditional currency. When a consumer uses cryptocurrency even for small transactions, such as to buy a coffee, it “triggers a complex taxable event,” according to Somensatto.
“This is comparable to tax obligation every time you send an email or a text message,” Somensatto said.
Vice President of Tax at Coinbase Lawrence Zlatkin explained a possible resolution to this matter in his testimony, citing the de minimis exemption. The rule permits the exclusion of low-value transactions from capital gains taxation.
“The Code already includes a de minimis rule for foreign currency,” Zlatkin said. “Digital assets should be treated the same way.”
Somensatto and Zlatkin’s statements on simplifying cryptocurrency transactions via the de minimis rule garnered mixed reactions from lawmakers.
In his opening remarks, Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said that “lingering tax uncertainty also makes the U.S. a less attractive place to do business and invest.”
Warren, on the other hand, called into question the fairness of this rule and requested clarification from Andrea S. Kramer, founding member of ASKramer Law, LLC.
“If someone bought $300 worth of gold, or $300 worth of Apple stock, would they be required to report any income they made from those transactions?” She added, “If crypto investors get this de minimis exemption would they pay less in taxes than traditional stockholders for precisely the same kinds of transactions?”
Kramer responded affirmatively to both questions.
“Every one of these special rules tilts in the same direction—and that is for anyone investing in crypto to pay less than the equivalence elsewhere in the financial system,” Warren argued.
In an interview with Medill News Service, Warren reiterated that crypto lobbyists are “not spending money to get the same rules,” but rather, “they’re spending money to get special treatment.”
Annette Nellen, who chairs the Digital Assets Tax Task Force at the American Institute of CPAs, acknowledged the necessity of tracking transactions for the “sake of compliance.” At the same time, she urged Congress and the Treasury to “consider the need to minimize the tax administrative burden and to maximize the amount of clarity for taxpayers, tax practitioners, and the IRS.”
Aligning with President Trump’s priority for the “United States to lead the global digital currency revolution,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) emphasized the importance of swift action on clarifying digital asset tax laws and that “guessing will stall growth” of U.S. advancement.
On congressional action regarding cryptocurrency, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins noted “uncertainty” and “tax efficiencies” in the space but “commends Congress for looking into and addressing these issues.”
Trump tariff delays cause market uncertainty, experts say
WASHINGTON — Tariff uncertainty and delays have become the norm under the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump announced a 100% import tax on pharmaceutical drugs Sept. 25. He also proposed levies on select kitchen cabinets, upholstered furniture and trucks that same day.
The tariffs were set to take effect on Wednesday, but the White House released a memo on Tuesday pushing the implementation date to Oct. 14.
Such a postponement came as no surprise to Tinglong Dai, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. Dai said he’d be more shocked if the tariffs were implemented on time.
“Trump Always Chickens Out — it’s not just a joke,” he said, referring to TACO, an acronym associated with previous tariff delays.
Although Trump aims to increase domestic manufacturing through these levies, Dai said the proposals are often impractical for producers, causing delays in implementation. Building new factories, for instance, comes at the cost of disrupting established supply chains.
It’s also unclear to which firms some tariffs apply, as evident in Pfizer’s drug pricing deal with Trump on Tuesday.
The agreement, a three-year exemption from the proposed 100% tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs in exchange for more investment in U.S. manufacturing, leaves the door open for other pharmaceutical companies to avoid import taxes.
“In general, the policies are not fully thought out in terms of the details of how they’ll be implemented,” American University economics department chair Kara Reynolds said.
And it’s consumers who bear the brunt of changing price levels that arise from tariffs, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said in a press conference Wednesday.
“It’s terrible for the markets, but more importantly, it hurts people,” Aguilar said.
Former World Trade Organization chief economist Robert Koopman said firms tend to invest less in volatile environments. And decreased investment worsens consumer confidence.
So while tariffs do not cause recessions, they often contribute to less consumer spending, Koopman said.
“That uncertainty is probably worse than the tariffs themselves,” he said.
There’s also uncertainty in the reasons behind certain tariffs. The Trump Administration justifies most of them under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, a law that allows restrictions on imports threatening national security.
Recent proposals push the limits of that authority, Brookings senior fellow Elena Patel said.
“It’s a stretch of the imagination to understand how kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities affect national security,” said Patel, who also co-directs the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
Dai said tariff announcements on seemingly arbitrary goods brands the U.S. as a “reckless” country that does not consider economic policy consequences.
Trade partners will turn to different markets instead, he said. This isolates the U.S. and undermines Trump’s intent to turn the nation into a manufacturing hub.
“Overnight, we have really lost that brand, being an economic power,” Dai said.
But he sees a silver lining in Trump’s lengthening list of tariffs despite looming economic consequences.
“As he keeps surprising consumers and also manufacturers, I think his ability to surprise the market is going to be less and less because we have seen this before,” Dai said.
Kimmel show fallout prompts concerns over free speech, FCC influence in broadcasting
WASHINGTON – Jimmy Kimmel returned to the air Tuesday night after Disney-owned ABC suspended the late-night show following his remarks on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr’s threats to the network.
In his opening monologue, Kimmel thanked fans and fellow talk-show hosts, including Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jon Stewart. He also made note of the support received from politicians such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), stating “it takes courage for them to speak out against this administration, and they did.”
Kimmel’s nearly weeklong suspension sparked intense backlash across the political spectrum and concerns over press freedom.
In a statement to Medill News Service, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) stated that “the Trump administration tried to silence a critic by abusing federal power, and a major network caved.”
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) speaking at a press conference organized by Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Calif.) outside the Jimmy Kimmel Live! studio in Hollywood. (Courtesy of the Office of Rep. Chu)
“That only changed because millions of Americans spoke out in defense of our constitutional right to free expression,” Chu said.
Disney’s decision on Sept. 17 to suspend the show indefinitely followed Carr’s comments on “The Benny Show,” a right-wing podcast. Carr called Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk the “sickest behavior I’ve seen yet” and stated “these companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Hours before ABC pulled the plug on Kimmel, local television station owners Nexstar and Sinclair announced that they would be pre-empting Jimmy Kimmel Live! with other programming.
Nebraska Republican Representative Don Bacon said in a statement that “the threats FCC Chair Carr made were a mistake” and “the Constitution does protect our speech from government restrictions,” but noted that “ABC and its affiliates have every right to make their own determinations.”
Kimmel’s suspension is another example of the Trump administration’s willingness to pressure media companies and take legal action against them. In December, ABC agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump for $15 million. In July, Paramount announced a $16 million settlement over the editing of a CBS News “60 Minutes” interview, a month before the FCC approved its $8 billion merger with media company Skydance.
Most recently, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the New York Times, accusing the media platform of being a “leading, and unapologetic purveyor of falsehoods” against the President.
Trump’s efforts at media suppression have called into question the press’s ability to exercise free speech. But, according to Brent Skorup, a legal fellow at the Cato Institute, broadcasters are subject to different limitations.
“The Supreme Court held decades ago that, essentially, broadcasters do not have the full First Amendment rights that most media have,” Skorup said. “Because they use spectrum and are licensed by the FCC, it can investigate, including fail to renew and reject, license applications.”
Skorup noted that while Carr’s comments were a “violation of free speech norms,” the FCC is “fairly free to scrutinize content” under current law.
Carr later reiterated that Kimmel’s suspension was a result of programming decisions made by media companies.
ABC brought Kimmel back on air on Sept. 23, but the show did not run on Nexstar and Sinclair-owned stations.
Nexstar, which owns nearly 30 ABC-affiliated stations, is currently awaiting FCC approval on a roughly $6 billion merger with another local television station owner, TEGNA.
According to Skorup, there is a “long practice” of merging companies being sensitive to FCC concerns.
“Nexstar has to get approval from the FCC for the merger, and they actually have to get an exception to the current cap on ownership of stations,” said Stuart Benjamin, a professor of law at Duke University, specializing in the First Amendment.
“The concern is if [Nexstar] doesn’t do what Brendan Carr wants, then maybe the FCC doesn’t raise the caps or delays raising the caps by a couple of years,” Benjamin said. “And if you delay long enough, then you effectively prevent the transaction from happening.”
Skorup says Kimmel’s suspension could prompt wider conversation about free speech rules with respect to broadcasting, noting he’d “welcome” a lawsuit that would reevaluate those rules.
“It would be a great thing for the Supreme Court to recognize broadcasters as full-fledged members of the media with full First Amendment rights,” Skorup said. “But, for the parties who are in the best position to sue, like broadcasters, no regulated party is eager to sue the agency that licenses them.”
SALT debate lies ahead for Congress as high-tax state residents and reps look for tax relief
Before tax accountant Jack Hahne moved from Atlanta to New York City in 2022, the state and local tax deduction cap, commonly known as the SALT deduction cap, hardly concerned him.
“I was making a little bit less money, so it wasn’t something I was particularly concerned about because it wouldn’t really impact me very much,” Hahne said.
But Hahne could no longer be indifferent following his move to a state with a much higher tax burden. His cost of living expenses and salary rose in New York, as he expected. But when he sat down to file his taxes, he realized he could only deduct $10,000 of his state and local taxes from his taxable income.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Trump administration’s sweeping tax bill, placed a $10,000 cap on the state and local taxes that taxpayers could deduct from their taxable income. If this cap did not exist, Hahne’s itemized deductions, eligible expenses that could be written off his taxable income, would be greater than the standard deduction, which was a flat amount he could deduct.
With the SALT deduction cap enacted, Hahne would not benefit from itemizing his taxes: The cap pushed his potential itemizations under the standard deduction amount, which stood at $14,600.
From Hahne’s calculations, without a SALT deduction cap, he would have saved about $300 out of the $29,000 he paid in taxes last year.
“It’s not something that is a huge impact immediately,” Hahne said. “As I plan to get married, settle down, have kids and all that … it is something that is going to become more and more of an issue for me just as I plan out my life going forward.”
The debate over SALT has been heating up among high-tax state residents and lawmakers because the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is set to expire at the end of 2025. During Trump’s 2024 election campaign, he pledged to repeal the same cap he signed into place, but the future of SALT is anything but certain.
SALT Caucus Republicans have taken up a key role in the tax debate as the reconciliation process is underway. These lawmakers hold the power to stall the passage of any tax policy sought by the rest of the GOP. In late February, House Republicans allocated $4.5 trillion for tax cuts in their budget resolution but it is unclear how SALT reform will fit into the broader tax cuts.
Future changes in SALT policy would dictate which parts of the nation would receive a sizable percentage of the allocated tax cuts. If the cap increased, many residents of high-tax states would experience a drop in their tax burden. However, this change may come at the expense of other tax or spending cuts nationally, or increase the budget deficit.
Who’s impacted by the SALT cap?
The SALT deduction cap became a cornerstone issue for many New York, New Jersey and California lawmakers. They have expressed frustration that middle-class residents of high-tax states are bearing the burden of the cap.
“This clearly impacts the middle class, the working class so that’s why we’re focused (on it),” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a member of the SALT Caucus, said to Medill News Service.
Only 10% of taxpayers opted for itemized deductions in 2020, according to the Tax Policy Center. State and local taxes fall under the umbrella of itemized deductions.
However, the changes to SALT policy impacted a much broader group of Americans than just those currently filing for the deduction.
The number of people who took itemized deductions, consequently the SALT deduction, significantly fell after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed. The act doubled the standard deduction and capped the SALT deduction, making itemized deductions less profitable for more Americans. In the 2020 tax year, 90% of taxpayers opted to take the standard deduction compared to only 70% of taxpayers in 2017, the year before the changes went into effect, according to the Tax Policy Center.
Critics of SALT deductions still argued that only the wealthiest Americans faced significant tax hikes because of the cap.
“There’s pretty minimal to no benefit for those in the bottom 60% of incomes nationally. So it is sort of distributed more to the upper-income groups,” said Garrett Watson, the director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation.
Those most likely to be affected by the change fall in the upper-income thresholds. High-tax states’ residents and representatives argued, however, that there is a significantly different definition of who qualifies as middle class versus wealthy in different states.
“Wealth is a very subjective thing because in my district if you’re a police officer married to a nurse, you’re making $250,000 or $300,000 a year,” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), who is a co-chair of the SALT Caucus, said to Medill News Service. “Where we live on Long Island, the houses are so expensive, the taxes are so high that you’re really just a middle-class person … whereas if you’re making $250,000 or $300,000 a year in Oklahoma, you belong to a country club and you live in a gated community.”
Shaker Nelanuthala, an IT project manager and volunteer for Suozzi’s campaign, faced the scenario that Suozzi described. Nelanthala, who lives on Long Island, said his household earned an annual income of approximately $200,000, putting him in the top 20% of wage earners nationally, according to The Washington Post.
For Nelanthala, who described himself as upper-middle class, the SALT deduction cap had hurt him significantly. He lost $25,000 in deductions to his taxable income.
“The middle-income people, they’re the ones that are basically getting impacted a lot,” Nelanthala said. “When you add up (taxes), it is a significant amount.”
What is the impact on the budget?
Raising the SALT deduction cap would not be costless for the federal government. If the federal government decided to double the cap to $20,000, federal tax revenue would decline by approximately $225 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Tax Policy Center. The loss in revenue would be even greater if Congress decided to eliminate the cap, allowing for unlimited SALT deductions. This lost revenue would amount to approximately $1.2 trillion.
Advocates against raising the cap argued that changing the SALT policy could come at the expense of other tax cuts.
“By definition, each additional dollar that Republicans are giving to high-income taxpayers in these high-tax areas is $1 less that can go to keeping America’s business tax code competitive, incentivizing investment and jobs coming back to America, to keeping tax rates low for all taxpayers, for keeping the Child Tax Credit reforms,” said Adam Michel, the director of tax policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. “If these salt members extract a large dollar value for whatever they need on the SALT cap, it means you get less of all the sort of pro-growth generally applicable non-tax cuts.”
Andrew Wilford, a senior policy analyst at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, argued that Congress should instead focus on “broad-based” tax reform that “benefits taxpayers broadly” rather than a “very small group of wealthy taxpayers.”
Is it fair for high-tax states?
The debate over SALT corresponded with a fight over whether these high state tax rates were justified.
For most Republicans, regardless of their take on SALT, these high-tax, often Democratic-leaning states behaved recklessly with their tax rates.
For pro-SALT Republican representatives, the past SALT deductions acted as relief for their constituents from these high-tax rates.
“My mayor and governor keep hammering taxpayers to death. … This really is a problem created by the city and state,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), who is a member of the SALT Caucus, to Medill News Service. “We’re doing what we can to try to provide some relief on the federal level.”
Conservative advocates against SALT argued the cap acted as a check on state governments, pushing them to lower their taxes rather than “subsidizing” their tax bill.
“It’s almost like a discount on your state tax bill. That’s something that enables and encourages states to increase their taxes because they’re able to tell their wealthiest residents that they can just write it off at the federal level,” Wilford said.
However, the notion that low-tax red states had previously subsidized high-tax blue states is misleading.
William Gale, the co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, agreed the SALT deduction cap mainly hurt high-income taxpayers in high-tax states. He said the policy, however, heightened a disparity between the amount that high-tax, Democratic-leaning states give to the federal government compared to how much they received back in federal spending.
“The blue states do pay more, and this exacerbates that imbalance,” Gale said.
States such as New York, New Jersey and California received less federal funds from the federal government than they paid in 2021, according to the Washington Post, which is not indicative of a subsidy from red states. Additionally, from 2018 to 2022, blue state taxpayers contributed nearly 60% of all federal tax receipts but received only 53% of all federal contributions to states, according to Time.
Local advocates for SALT argued that, because of the federal imbalance in spending, state and local spending has become integral for the wellbeing of local communities.
“Local taxation is so unique because those dollars go straight back into the community, and folks can really see the benefit,” said Dante Moreno, the manager for legislative advocacy for the National League of Cities. “State and local control … is very much in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. There is supposed to be an amount of state and local control, especially because (the governments) are the most beholden to our constituents.”
There is little evidence that states and localities have shifted their tax policies because of the 2017 SALT deduction cap. However, some tax policy experts are concerned that if a cap became permanent, states may opt to lower their taxes, which could hurt the most vulnerable communities reliant on state and local programs.
“If that limitation on state revenues then affects what states can spend, then you have to look at who benefits from the state spending,” Gale said. “If you think about what the state spends money on its education and health care and transportation and stuff like that, then you can at least form a judgment that some groups that benefit from education and health might end up being hurt by the cap.”
The future of SALT?
The House passed a budget resolution on Feb. 25, 2025, that included $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the next 10 years. Yet, the plan for future tax cuts has not been finalized since the budget is currently being debated in the Senate and Congress has not decided how tax cuts will be allocated.
It remains unclear how the SALT Caucus will manage to squeeze their relief in, given that the president placed significant pressure on Congress to extend his 2017 tax cuts, which would cost $4.2 trillion over the next 10 years alone, according to the Treasury Department.
However, considering the slim Republican margin in the House, the SALT Caucus may have an oversized impact in the debate over tax cuts. The Republicans cannot afford to lose many votes on a tax bill if the Democrats remain united, with a slim 218-213 majority.
Some SALT Caucus Republicans vowed to vote against any bill with insufficient changes to the cap.
“Without a fix to the cap on SALT, I will not support a tax (bill),” Lawler said to Medill News Service. “So it will be part of the final package.”
A penny for your thoughts: what’s next for the one-cent coin?
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump proposed removing the penny from U.S. circulation in February.
The one cent coin costs the U.S. Mint about 3.7 cents to make. Will discontinuing the coin contribute to higher costs and inflation or save the government millions of dollars?
Watch the video report here:
Strategic bitcoin reserve signals Trump administration’s increased loyalty to cryptocurrency industry
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump made a promise to the cryptocurrency entrepreneurs that they have not forgotten: a pledge to be the first “crypto president.”
Last week, Trump took his latest in a string of actions to align himself with the digital asset industry by establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve in an executive order.
“I promised to make America the bitcoin superpower of the world and the crypto capital of the planet,” Trump said at the White House cryptocurrency summit. “We’re taking historic action to deliver on that promise.”
A strategic bitcoin reserve would consist of bitcoin that the federal government seized, according to the executive order. Under the order, the U.S. government would not purchase any more cryptocurrency. To further expand the reserve, the Trump administration authorized the Department of Treasury and Commerce to find other ways to acquire additional bitcoin where no tax dollars would be spent, instead of direct market purchases.
The reserve’s creation signaled a shift in U.S. policy toward bitcoin. Previously, the Treasury sold seized bitcoin rather than holding onto it. By choosing to keep the digital asset, the U.S. government increased its current stake in cryptocurrency and cemented the administration’s allegiance to the industry.
While Trump’s bitcoin policy was in line with what the industry previously advocated for, not all pro-cryptocurrency lawmakers were overjoyed about the reserve.
Early last week, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Majority Leader Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) launched a bipartisan Congressional Crypto Caucus, intending to boost U.S. leadership in cryptocurrency innovation. But despite Torres’ pro-cryptocurrency stance, he said he was “skeptical” about the federal government creating a cryptocurrency reserve.
“I do see blockchain as an emerging technology that has the potential to transform our society for good, but there are two visions of blockchain,” Torres said to Medill News Service. “There’s blockchain as a computer, and then there’s blockchain as a casino. I’m skeptical about blockchain as a casino, and I feel like Donald Trump is promoting speculation that’s going to do more harm than good.”
However, Congressional advocates for the reserve saw it as serving a significant economic purpose and predicted that it would serve as a hedge against inflation.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), a former blockchain entrepreneur, expressed he was not concerned about bitcoin’s volatility, and instead, worried about the dollar’s devaluation with inflation.
“I’m concerned about the dollar’s volatility,” Moreno told Medill News Service. “A dollar is worth a lot less today than it was five years ago, and bitcoin is worth a lot more today than it was five years ago.”
The claim that bitcoin can act as a hedge against inflation faced scrutiny, however. The cryptocurrency’s value is based solely on speculation, making it a volatile asset.
Other supporters of the government holding onto bitcoin argued the reserve could help reduce the national debt. However, the order specified that the U.S. will not sell the bitcoin within the reserve.
George Selgin, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said any future attempt by the U.S. government to sell the bitcoin would face strong opposition from the industry. This is because a mass cryptocurrency sell off by the government would tank bitcoin’s value.
Selgin voiced concerns about a strategic reserve’s fate because of the U.S. government’s reluctance to sell in the future. He said the reserve may end like the U.S. gold reserve, which Selgin argued did not serve any economic purpose since former President Richard Nixon effectively eliminated the gold standard.
“The bitcoin people are also comparing the reserve to the gold reserve, but they’re trying to make a positive comparison,” Selgin said. “There’s a more valuable negative comparison because the gold reserve no longer serves any economic purpose either.”
Sec. of Labor nominee backtracks on former pro-union stance
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor backpedaled her previous support for repealing right-to-work laws. Senators pressed nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former GOP congresswoman, about a pro-union bill she co-sponsored during her time in the House.
More than half of states have right-to-work laws, which prohibit private companies from requiring employees to enter a union as a condition of hiring. The 2021 Protecting the Right to Organize Act would have repealed 28 states’ right-to-work laws, much to the dismay of some GOP senators.
Now poised to head the U.S. Department of Labor, Chavez-DeRemer backpedaled her pro-union stances during the hearing. In response to several senator’s questioning, Chavez-DeRemer stated she no longer supports the section of the PRO Act that would have repealed right-to-work laws on the state level.
“I believe our labor laws need to be updated and modernized to reflect today’s workforce and the business environment. As a member of Congress, the PRO Act was the bill to have those conversations.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who represents a right-to-work state, has been lobbying behind the scenes to deny her nomination due to her previous co-sponsorship of the PRO Act. The bill passed the House in 2021 but failed to gain GOP support in the Senate.
“The PRO Act wasn’t just about organizing or enabling unions to organize, which they already have the right to do, the PRO Act was about overturning right-to-work laws in 26 states, half the country,” he said.
The bill would also ban corporations from union-busting practices such as compelling workers to view anti-union materials.
Samantha Sanders, the Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy at the Economic Policy Institute, said, “I was I guess kind of disappointed but not that surprised to hear that coming out of the hearing, especially because Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer does have a record of, at least in the past, having supported some pretty bold legislation that would be good for unions and would boost workers’ wages.”
Members of the Teamster Union attended Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination hearing on Feb. 19, 2025. (Josh Sukoff/MNS)
The daughter of a lifelong Teamsters member, the Oregon congresswoman is also a small-business owner and former mayor of a fast-growing suburb in the Portland metropolitan area. Now in President Trump’s orbit, Chavez-DeRemer is distancing herself from her past pro-union stance.
“In my district, unions aren’t the enemy of small businesses, they’re a partner. Small businesses benefit from the presence of unions. As a small business owner, I know this better than most,” Chavez-DeRemer said in a 2024 reelection ad.
Chavez-DeRemer recognized she was no longer an Oregon representative. If confirmed, she said she will commit to allowing Congress to write and enforce the laws as Labor Secretary.
“I will not be that lawmaker anymore,” she said in response to Sen. Cassidy.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, implored the nominee to support working-class Americans.
“You will have to make a choice,” Sen. Sanders said. “Will you be a rubber stamp for the anti-worker agenda of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other multi-billionaires…or will you stand with working families all over the country?”
Several Democratic senators expressed concerns over handing over sensitive labor data to billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency allies. A federal judge on Tuesday denied a request by over a dozen states to block Musk allies from accessing information systems at the Labor Department and other federal agencies needed to fire federal workers.
As Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) left the hearing, he said, “As of now, I haven’t been supportive of Trump’s cabinet nominees as long as this lawlessness effort that we’ve seen underway continues on.”
When pressed by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) about whether she would follow a Trump directive to violate labor laws, Chavez-DeRemer said, “I do not believe that the President is going to ask me to break the law.”
President Trump last week suggested that his administration could not be held liable for breaking any laws if they move in the country’s interests.
“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” he wrote in a now archived post on Truth Social and Musk’s X.
As he left the hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) reaffirmed his support for the nominee.
“And as I just reminded my Republican colleagues, she is the president’s choice to lead the labor department.”
Digital asset industry advocates against ‘regulation by enforcement’
WASHINGTON – House Republicans pressed to overhaul how the Securities and Exchange Commission regulates cryptocurrency at a hearing Tuesday, aligning themselves with the pro-cryptocurrency agenda President Donald Trump championed during the first few weeks of his administration.
The changes Republicans seek would create a new regulatory framework preferred by the cryptocurrency industry. Supporters of the overhaul said that past policies were “regulation by enforcement.” Cryptocurrency companies and owners have said previous regulations were outdated and did not match the developing nature of the technology.
This call from Republicans comes as Trump has enthusiastically embraced the crypto community, even releasing his own meme coin days before he assumed office. Just two days after being sworn in, Trump issued an executive order to establish a working group responsible for drafting new regulatory policy, signaling his determination to make the U.S. a hub for the cryptocurrency industry.
During the hearing, many Democratic lawmakers argued the modifications would put constituents at risk of fraud.
“The stories (about cryptocurrency) that stick with me the most are not on social media posts, they’re the ones I hear in my community,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said. “Like the college student whose digital wallet had been drained and they don’t know who to turn to for help.
Rep. Pressley also told the story of an older constituent who was tricked into losing his money by an individual pretending to be his grandchild asking to set up a crypto access account.
“These stories and many more are the heartbreaking reality of crypto scams,” Pressley said.
However, Republican representatives reiterated that revising the regulatory framework would benefit both consumers and cryptocurrency companies by increasing transparency and facilitating an environment for technological growth.
“This lack of regulatory clarity not only hurt American investment but also impacted everyday Americans,” Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) said. “The Biden administration’s approach opened the door to bad actors and left consumers vulnerable to fraud.”
Several witnesses – which included executives from the Crypto Council for Innovation, Kraken Digital Asset Exchange, and Paypal – said the current regulatory framework had prompted many digital asset companies to move their operations overseas to other countries with friendlier policies.
“Other major jurisdictions have recognized we are in a race to the top in harnessing and benefiting from this new technology,” said Ji Hun Kim, the president and acting CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation. “These jurisdictions are delivering exactly what the U.S. digital asset industry has been requesting: Regulatory clarity through a thoughtful, tailored regulatory regime that recognizes the potential of digital assets.”
Kim said the industry hopes to work alongside regulators to enhance clarity and boost U.S. leadership within the digital asset field. Kim and the other industry executives pushed for regulatory reforms during the hearing. One change would be to clarify whether cryptocurrencies count as securities, like stocks or bonds, or commodities, like grains or gold. That would clarify which agency would oversee cryptocurrency, they said.
Democratic representatives, however, expressed concern over the potential consequences of aligning the governmental regulations with the digital asset companies’ requests. Specifically, they emphasized the volatility of cryptocurrencies.
“I have deep concerns about opening the floodgates for non-bank companies to our payment system or for Fed accounts,” Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) said. “Allowing crypto companies free rein could put pensions, retirement accounts, and other typically safe investment accounts at risk. The next crypto crash could have disastrous effects on the wider economy.”
Timothy Massad, the director of the Digital Assets Policy Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, affirmed the Democratic lawmakers’ notion that these policy changes could result in “a lot of consumer harm.”
Massad said that while there had been calls for “clarity” from the digital asset industry, there could be both bad rules and clarity simultaneously. He said the lack of a strong regulatory framework for the industry resulted in fraud, and he urged the committee to craft a stronger policy that “encourages responsible development of this technology.”
Industry advocates disputed that consumers would suffer from the proposals supported by Trump and congressional Republicans.
Jennifer Schulp, director for Financial Regulation Studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told Medill News Service before the hearing that “clarity” on the business side of the industry would go “hand in hand” with clarity for consumers on what they are buying.
“Having a tailored disclosure regime for crypto securities would allow buyers to know the information that they’re entitled to and to get more standardized information from the projects that are issuing tokens,” Schulp said. “There’s benefits, not just for the companies, but there should be benefits for investors as well.”
Published in conjunction with 
Fed to hold rates steady, entering wait-and-see mode
WASHINGTON – After three consecutive rate cuts, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced Wednesday the Fed will hold the federal funds rate constant at 4.25-4.50%.
During its first meeting of 2025, the Fed decided it would not act amidst “somewhat elevated” inflation and a “strong” economy as evidenced by the low unemployment rate.
“Right now, we feel like we’re in a very good place. Policy is well positioned. The economy is in quite a good place,” Powell said.
The Fed’s decision to hold rates comes after data from the Labor Department’s December Jobs Report showed a solid labor market, with jobs increasing by 256,000 and the unemployment rate falling to 4.1%. The Consumer Price Index, a general measure of inflation, rose to 2.9% in December. However, the core Consumer Price Index, an inflation measure that excludes volatile food and energy prices, fell to 3.2%.
Before September, the rates stood at 5.25-5.50%, the highest level in two decades, as the Fed worked to reduce inflation. The Fed had since cut rates by a full percentage point during its past three meetings when inflation showed signs of falling towards the Fed’s 2% goal and the labor market exhibited signals of weakness.
In response to the question of a March rate cut, Powell hinted that the committee did not “need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance.” He noted that inflation was on a “slow and sometimes bumpy” road. Powell said, however, that inflation did not need to fall to the Fed’s target before the committee cut rates again.
Powell faced questioning about whether the Fed would resist President Donald Trump’s demand that the Fed and Powell lower rates if Trump brought down oil prices. Powell reaffirmed the committee acts independently and that he had not communicated directly with Trump about his demands.
“Lots of research shows that’s the best way for a central bank to operate,” Powell said about the Fed’s independent role from the rest of the government. “That will give us the best possible chance to achieve these goals for the benefit of the American people. That’s always what we’re going to do, and people should have confidence in that.”
The meeting came at a time of high policy uncertainty. Powell mainly withheld comment on Trump’s actions as president. Recent executive orders from Trump regarding issues such as immigration, tariffs and regulatory policy had been at the center of economic debates on inflation and the job market. Trump critics have argued his tariffs and immigration policies could have an inflationary effect.
He said before the Fed can begin to make a “plausible assessment” of the policies’ implications, the committee needs to see the policies fully implemented.
Some economists believe these factors will be critical for the Fed to consider at future meetings.
“I think both (immigration and tariffs) will be important to decision-making going forward,” said Donald Kohn, a Senior Fellow for Economic Studies at Brookings.
Kohn said a crackdown on immigration will both reduce the workforce and simultaneously reduce the demand for certain goods and services, and it was unclear what the impact will be on prices. As for tariffs, he said they tend to raise prices for consumers but the dollar could strengthen as a result, which may partially offset price increases. Kohn noted the Fed would likely keep a close eye on this balance.
While investors and economists waited attentively for today’s meeting, the Fed’s move was expected.
“They are in wait-and-see mode, to collect more evidence about whether the downward drift in inflation resumes, how strong the labor market proves to be, and what economic policies the Trump Administration actually implements,” wrote David Wilcox, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Director for US Economic Research at Bloomberg in a statement to Medill News Service.
Commerce Nominee Lutnick defends Trump tariffs, promises to divest from business interests
WASHINGTON – Howard Lutnick, billionaire CEO and co-chair of the Trump/Vance transition team, vowed to use his position as commerce secretary to implement the new administration’s tariff policies in a confirmation hearing Wednesday.
Vice President JD Vance introduced the nominee, stating, “This is a person who on a world stage will say more and do more and convince businesses that America is back, that America is growing and thriving.”
If confirmed, Lutnick will lead an agency that has an enormous influence on business, science, and technology promotion. He is one of more than a dozen billionaires tapped by President Donald Trump to serve on his cabinet. Senators on both sides of the aisle made clear their discomfort with his ties to Wall Street.
For 42 years, Lutnick has worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, rising through the ranks to become the CEO and amass a personal fortune. The company was located in the World Trade Center and lost 658 employees, including Lutnick’s younger brother, on Sept. 11, 2001.
Senators pressed Lutnick about whether he would be able to truly separate from his business.
When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) probed him on ethics concerns, Lutnick committed to divesting within 90 days of his confirmation and to cooperate with the ethics agreement.
“So my plan is to only serve the American people. So I will divest and I will sell all of my interests, all of my business interests, all of my assets, everywhere,” Lutnick said.
As the head of the Commerce Department, Lutnick would oversee the implementation of President Trump’s economic and trade agenda, including enforcing the tariff plan that Trump campaigned on. During the hearing, Lutnick expressed a preference for “across the board” tariffs to maintain fairness in international trade.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) raised questions about how Trump’s tariff plan would impact Michigan, a center of American manufacturing. U.S. companies would have to pay higher prices for parts used in their products and could face hostile market conditions abroad.
Lutnick defended Trump’s tariffs.
“I think a thoughtful tariff policy that drives domestic manufacturing is fundamental to American workers, especially the workers of Michigan,” Lutnick stated.
Under questioning, Lutnick said he had “no interest” in dividing up the agencies within National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is part of the Commerce Department. Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term, called for a split. NOAA oversees the National Weather Service and manages American fisheries.
Lutnick had promoted cryptocurrency, specifically Tether, a type of cryptocurrency.
Lutnick fielded questions from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) on his connection to Tether, stating that he personally does not own Tether, and that his company Cantor Fitzgerald had no equity in Tether other than 1:1 backing.
After the hearing, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), said he was satisfied with Lutnick’s answers, especially on the issue of cryptocurrency.
“I was concerned about, you know, how his various things such as Tether have been shown to facilitate corrupt activities. And he was pretty direct that we just have to build in and use AI to allow government to be able to rapidly find out not only where that money went, but how it was used, who they gave it to, and begin to follow that whole chain of information,” Hickenlooper said.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), however, expressed concern over Lutnick’s performance and his willingness to uphold the law while working under President Donald Trump.
“Well, he wouldn’t answer my question about opposing an illegal or unconstitutional order from Mr. Trump, and that’s deeply troubling. He says that Mr. Trump would never give an unlawful order, which we know he just did last week.”
Trump meme coin presents volatile investment alongside ethics concerns
Friday night Ogle’s head pounded, so much so that he swore off working for the rest of the night. Then, a friend messaged him that President Donald Trump just launched a cryptocurrency. He decided to invest big in the coin and, ignoring his headache, stayed up until the early hours of the morning watching the coin surge.
“I put probably 50% of my entire portfolio worth of cash into it,” said Ogle, a crypto security expert who uses an alias but refuses to give his name for safety reasons. “By the next day, I made more money than I’ve ever made in my life in one day.”
Like many other people, Ogle was drawn to Trump’s latest business venture, the crypto meme coin $TRUMP. He launched it three days before taking the highest office in the land.
“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE. It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!” Trump wrote on Truth Social a few hours after releasing the cryptocurrency.
The meme coin’s market capitalization rose to over $14 billion by Sunday as many Americans rushed to buy it as an investment opportunity or to show support for the incoming president. However, the coin became the center of a national debate over the ethics of Trump launching a coin right before he took office.
The coin’s price started at less than $10 and quickly surged above $70 early Sunday morning. The price held relatively steady from Tuesday to Thursday, moving up and down in the $35-45 range. As of Thursday morning, the coin was valued at approximately $38 and has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion.
This was not Trump’s first time actively participating in the crypto universe. Trump and his family members, including his youngest son Barron, backed World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance project. A presale for the token launched on Oct. 15, 2024, and investors cannot trade it yet.
Ogle also acted as an adviser for World Liberty Financial and he noted the token had not gotten much traction until $TRUMP skyrocketed last week.
Ogle said that he decided to invest in $TRUMP, not as a mode of political support but as an investment opportunity.
“I couldn’t care less about the political statement. I’m certainly not supporting Trump via purchasing a meme coin,” he said
He said that among the crypto community, there were initially concerns that Trump’s new token would be a cash grab scheme; however, worries subsided after Trump kept several promises he made to crypto fanatics, including pardoning Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht had been serving a life sentence for crimes including distributing narcotics. Ulbricht’s website accepted bitcoin to pay for drugs.
The release of the coin less than 72 hours before Trump’s inauguration sparked criticism about the political ethics of the business.
Aaron Scherb, senior director for legislative affairs at Common Cause, a group whose mission is “holding public officials accountable,” expressed concern over the lack of uniform regulation around the cryptocurrency industry and said the Trump coin was no exception.
“The cryptocurrency industry, in general, has been a wild west with next to no accountability and an anything-goes approach,” Scherb said.
He noted that even if there was nothing outright illegal about Trump’s coin, it certainly “looks and smells bad” and seemed like an attempt to line his own pockets.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said the Trump coin was released as a novelty, not as a tool for investment.
“It was, as I understand, released for its entertainment value. … To the extent that that was made clear to people who would purchase it, I’m OK with it. If it had been released as an investment vehicle, I might feel differently,” Lummis said.
Lummis had been a vocal advocate for the growth of cryptocurrency in the U.S. This Tuesday, she met with Eric Trump to discuss the Federal government building a strategic bitcoin reserve.
When asked about whether she would support a crypto reserve for another type of coin, including $TRUMP, Lummis affirmed it should only be bitcoin.
“Bitcoin is unlike any other digital asset. It doesn’t have a founders group, and it’s scarce, and always will be. So I think we should limit it to bitcoin,” she said.
Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent pushes for tariffs and tax cuts during hearing
WASHINGTON–Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent started his confirmation hearing testimony Thursday by recounting growing up with financial hardships in Little River, South Carolina.
“My life has been an only-in-America story that I am determined to preserve for future generations,” he said.
Senate Democrats, however, fixated on Bessent’s more recent past, as the now-wealthy Wall Street investor took the stand in front of the Senate Finance Committee. Bessent previously worked for George Soros, a hedge fund mogul and key donor for Democrats, and eventually became his fund’s chief investment officer. Bessent later went on to start the investment firm Key Square Capital Management.
Democrats focused much of their questions on Bessent’s beliefs on tariffs, tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and government spending.
If Bessent is confirmed as secretary of the Treasury, he would be a key figure in carrying out President-elect Donald Trump’s second-term economic agenda. He would serve as the chief financial officer for the U.S. government, responsible for advising the president and his cabinet on domestic and global economic and tax policy. He would be instrumental in determining U.S. fiscal policy – giving Bessent a key voice in the national debt and tariffs debate.
Bessent, throughout the hearing, underscored his desire to extend the tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He stated, in a response to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), that “there’s no income level” that should have tax cuts discontinued.
Several Democrats, during the hearing, stressed that these tax cuts served the wealthiest Americans most.
Bessent argued that the tax cuts would be paid for with economic growth they sparked and cutting unnecessary spending.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) disputed that the tax cuts would pay for themselves, “While the benefit went to the richest people in America, the cost is being borne by the children of working people all over this country.”
GOP senators mainly used their questions to establish support for the nominee. They did not bring up Bessent’s past campaign contributions to prominent Democrats, including Barack Obama’s presidential run and Hillary Clinton’s campaign for Senate. The vast majority of Bessent’s political contributions were to Republican political action committees in the past three years, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. He gave nearly $4 million to Republican groups since the start of 2022.
However, Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) asked pointed questions about how Bessent would act as the chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which is a committee that reviews foreign investments.
Young pressed Bessent if he would commit to an “impartial review” of the Nippon Steel acquisition of U.S. Steel if it reappeared before the committee.
Bessent initially echoed Trump’s statement he, like President Joe Biden, would have also blocked the deal. After pushback from Young, Bessent affirmed the committee would conduct an impartial review of the deal if it is reopened.
Democrats also repeatedly brought up concerns about Trump’s plan to impose widespread tariffs. Ranking Member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) claimed the implementation of tariffs would hurt small businesses and working families “with additional taxes on practically everything.”
During the hearing, Bessent disputed the notion that tariffs would be a burden on small businesses and working families. He advocated for tariffs by outlining three benefits: a tool to remedy unfair trade practices, a revenue raiser and leverage for negotiations.
During his testimony, Bessent repeatedly said he would seek to cut spending. He stated that the U.S. had a spending problem, not a revenue problem. While Bessent pledged not to touch Social Security during the hearing, Democrats expressed concerns that a reduction in spending would hurt programs such as Medicaid.
Bessent is on a likely path to confirmation with no Republican senator signaling during the hearing they will vote against him. However, many Democratic senators still seemed cynical of the nominee due to his wealth and his policy promises.
“In a Trump economy, the winner circle is small and it is dominated by the ultra-wealthy,” Wyden said. “Trump and his advisors are indifferent to the problems (working people) face.”
Medill Today | Wednesday, October 30, 2025