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The Hill
4 hours ago
- Business
- The Hill
FHFA chief takes aim at Fed
The Big Story The overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is waging an online battle to force out Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, shattering norms along the way. © The Associated Press Over the span of 24 hours, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte has written or shared more than a dozen posts on social media calling for Powell's resignation and sharing the rationale for doing so. Along the way, he's throwing his politically independent agency into a partisan battle. 'I am calling for Federal Reserve Chairman, Jay Powell, to resign,' Pulte wrote in a Thursday post on social platform X, which he pinned to the top of his profile. In another post in response to The Hill's reporting, Pulte said he was doing so '[b]ecause he is hurting Americans and hurting the mortgage market, which I am responsible for regulating.' The campaign against Powell began shortly before the Fed announced Wednesday, as was widely expected, it would keep interest rates unchanged for another month. President Trump has raged against Powell and the Fed for not cutting interest rates by levels only seen during economic crises, even though the unemployment rate remains close to historic lows. I've got more here. Welcome to The Hill's Business & Economy newsletter, I'm Sylvan Lane — covering the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads Key business and economic news with implications this week and beyond: Sports betting company DraftKings launching PAC DraftKings, a sports betting company, said Wednesday it filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to create a corporate political action committee (PAC). US Steel, Nippon Steel finalize 'historic partnership' U.S. Steel said Wednesday it finalized its merger with Japan's largest steelmaker, Nippon. Trump signs order extending TikTok ban deadline President Trump signed an executive order Thursday extending the deadline for TikTok's parent company to divest the popular video sharing app by 90 days. The Ticker Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: In Other News Branch out with more stories from the day: Trump extends TikTok ban deadline for a third time, without clear legal basis WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to keep TikTok running … Good to Know Business and economic news we've flagged from other outlets: What Others are Reading Top stories on The Hill right now: Michelle Obama on being 'glad' she didn't have a son: 'He would've been a Barack Obama' Michelle Obama says she's 'so glad' she never had a son — because he would've been a kiddie clone of her husband. Read more Senate GOP leader faces pushback after members blindsided by Trump bill Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is facing strong pushback from members of the GOP conference over the Finance Committee's piece of President Trump's tax and spending bill, which largely ignores GOP senators' concerns about Medicaid cuts and the quick phaseout of clean-energy … Read more What People Think Opinions related to business and economic issues submitted to The Hill: You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Instead of defending budget bill, GOP touts one that doesn't exist
If you don't have anything nice to say, just make something up instead. That's the strategy Republican politicians have adopted in hopes of selling their regressive, unpopular budget bill to voters, as an even harsher version of the legislation now makes its way through the Senate. The One Big Beautiful Bill is already deeply underwater, voter-wise. Multiple polls now show that about twice as many Americans oppose the bill as support it. This should not be a surprise, given that this legislation is effectively a mash-up of multiple past GOP initiatives that, individually, had each been among the worst-polling major bills in recent history.
Wall Street Journal
5 hours ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
America's Big, Beautiful Land Sale
Uncle Sam owns nearly half of the land west of the Rockies, and GOP lawmakers want to give states and businesses a tiny piece of the action. Selling a small amount of federal land would raise revenue and spur development, so why are some Republicans trying to protect the government's hoard? The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee announced a plan last week to sell public land as part of the GOP's reconciliation bill. The proposal designates about 258 million acres of land—40% of federal holdings—as potentially available for sale. It directs the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to sell up to 3.3 million acres from these designated zones. The areas up for sale would exclude land with dedicated uses such as national parks and monuments, and land previously leased for mining, energy production and other activities. The plan directs federal agencies to prioritize selling land that is near existing roads or suitable for home-building. Agencies would consult governors before auctioning land in their states, and state and local governments would have the right to make an offer before private bidders. The selloffs would put unused resources in the hands of owners who commit to invest. The available land includes areas that are sometimes used for cattle grazing, but ranchers and other users would have ample time to comment before these parcels are sold. The sales would also raise money to offset tax cuts in the rest of the bill.
The Hill
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Majority of Republicans support same-sex marriage, new polling shows
A majority of surveyed Republicans say they support same-sex marriage, according to new data from a trio of polling firms. In the poll, provided exclusively to The Hill, 56 percent of Republicans say they agree that same-sex couples should have the right to marry each other, while 42 percent say they disagree. When given a neutral option, GOP respondents are more evenly divided — with much of the support shifting to the third option: 43 percent disagree, 40 percent agree, and 17 percent say they are neutral. Americans, overall, broadly agree that same-sex couples should have the right to marry: 72 percent of respondents agree, and 26 percent disagree. When Americans are presented with a neutral option, 61 percent of respondents agree, 24 percent disagree, and 15 percent say they are neutral. The June 2025 survey — conducted on behalf of Project Right Side and Centerline Liberties by polling groups Redbud Consulting, Echelon Insights and National Research — comes 10 years after the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling granted the federal right to same-sex marriage. The poll shows Republicans are split on whether they approve of the decision, with a slightly larger share saying they disapprove, at 51 percent, than approve, at 48 percent. But given a neutral option, that trend flips: 41 percent of Republican respondents say they approve, 37 percent say they disapprove, and 22 percent say they neither approve nor disapprove. Among Americans overall, 68 percent of those surveyed approve of the decision, and 30 percent disapprove of the decision. When given a neutral option, 63 percent approve, 22 percent disapprove, and 15 percent say they're neutral. The poll includes data suggesting opposition to same-sex marriage perhaps is not as fervent as it once was. Supporters of same-sex marriage are more likely to say the issue is important to them, at 59 percent, compared with 41 percent who say the issue isn't important to them. This 18-point gap narrows to 6 points among opponents of same-sex marriage: 53 percent of those surveyed say it's an important issue to them, and 47 percent say it's not. Respondents are also more likely to say that, throughout their lifetimes, they have become more supportive of same-sex marriage, at 31 percent, than more opposed, at 13 percent. The vast majority of respondents, at 57 percent, say their views have not changed. The pollsters point to the latest data to suggest same-sex marriage is no longer 'a divisive political issue' and is instead 'an accepted social norm'— one that they say is not worth litigating on the campaign trail. 'The data is clear: engaging in efforts to roll back recent gains is not a winning political issue,' Alex Lundry, co-founder of Redbud Consulting, said in a statement about the poll. 'In fact, there is a clear pathway forward for Republicans to continue growing their coalition, finding common ground on religious liberty, and ensuring the law judges all citizens based solely on their individual merit, nothing more, nothing less,' Lundry added. The poll was conducted May 27-June 1, 2025, and included 800 registered voters. The margin of error is 3 percentage points. A recent Gallup poll showed different results. In the May 2025 poll, GOP support for same-sex marriage fell to 41 percent — its lowest point since 2016, when 40 percent supported same-sex marriage. The poll also showed Republicans and Democrats were more divided on the issue than at any point in the last 30 years, with 88 percent of Democrats supporting same-sex marriage.
Chicago Tribune
5 hours ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
ICE raids and their uncertainty scare off workers and baffle businesses
WASHINGTON — Farmers, cattle ranchers and hotel and restaurant managers breathed a sigh of relief last week when President Donald Trump ordered a pause to immigration raids that were disrupting those industries and scaring foreign-born workers off the job. 'There was finally a sense of calm,'' said Rebecca Shi, CEO of the American Business Immigration Coalition. That respite didn't last long. On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin declared, 'There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine (immigration enforcement) efforts. Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.'' The flipflop baffled businesses trying to figure out the government's actual policy, and Shi says now 'there's fear and worry once more.' 'That's not a way to run business when your employees are at this level of stress and trauma,' she said. Trump campaigned on a promise to deport millions of immigrants working in the United States illegally — an issue that has long fired up his GOP base. The crackdown intensified a few weeks ago when Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, gave the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a quota of 3,000 arrests a day, up from 650 a day in the first five months of Trump's second term. As labor costs rise, AI is learning to farmSuddenly, ICE seemed to be everywhere. 'We saw ICE agents on farms, pointing assault rifles at cows, and removing half the workforce,'' said Shi, whose coalition represents 1,700 employers and supports increased legal immigration. One ICE raid left a New Mexico dairy with just 20 workers, down from 55. 'You can't turn off cows,'' said Beverly Idsinga, the executive director of the Dairy Producers of New Mexico. 'They need to be milked twice a day, fed twice a day.'' Claudio Gonzalez, a chef at Izakaya Gazen in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo district, said many of his Hispanic workers — whether they're in the country legally or not — have been calling out of work recently due to fears that they will be targeted by ICE. His restaurant is a few blocks away from a collection of federal buildings, including an ICE detention center. 'They sometimes are too scared to work their shift,' Gonzalez said. 'They kind of feel like it's based on skin color.' In some places, the problem isn't ICE but rumors of ICE. At cherry-harvesting time in Washington state, many foreign-born workers are staying away from the orchards after hearing reports of impending immigration raids. One operation that usually employs 150 pickers is down to 20. Never mind that there hasn't actually been any sign of ICE in the orchards. 'We've not heard of any real raids,'' said Jon Folden, orchard manager for the farm cooperative Blue Bird in Washington's Wenatchee River Valley. 'We've heard a lot of rumors.'' Jennie Murray, CEO of the advocacy group National Immigration Forum, said some immigrant parents worry that their workplaces will be raided and they'll be hauled off by ICE while their kids are in school. They ask themselves, she said: 'Do I show up and then my second-grader gets off the school bus and doesn't have a parent to raise them? Maybe I shouldn't show up for work.'' The horror stories were conveyed to Trump, members of his administration and lawmakers in Congress by business advocacy and immigration reform groups like Shi's coalition. Last Thursday, the president posted on his Truth Social platform that 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.' It was another case of Trump's political agenda slamming smack into economic reality. With U.S. unemployment low at 4.2%, many businesses are desperate for workers, and immigration provides them. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, foreign-born workers made up less than 19% of employed workers in the United States in 2023. But they accounted for nearly 24% of jobs preparing and serving food and 38% of jobs in farming, fishing and forestry. 'It really is clear to me that the people pushing for these raids that target farms and feed yards and dairies have no idea how farms operate,' Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association, said Tuesday during a virtual press conference. Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, estimated in January that undocumented workers account for 13% of U.S. farm jobs and 7% of jobs in hospitality businesses such as hotels, restaurants and bars. The Pew Research Center found last year that 75% of U.S. registered voters — including 59% of Trump supporters — agreed that undocumented immigrants mostly fill jobs that American citizens don't want. And an influx of immigrants in 2022 and 2023 allowed the United States to overcome an outbreak of inflation without tipping into recession. In the past, economists estimated that America's employers could add no more than 100,000 jobs a month without overheating the economy and igniting inflation. But economists Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson of the Brookings Institution calculated that because of the immigrant arrivals, monthly job growth could reach 160,000 to 200,000 without exerting upward pressure on prices. Now Trump's deportation plans — and the uncertainty around them — are weighing on businesses and the economy. 'The reality is, a significant portion of our industry relies on immigrant labor — skilled, hardworking people who've been part of our workforce for years. When there are sudden crackdowns or raids, it slows timelines, drives up costs, and makes it harder to plan ahead,' says Patrick Murphy, chief investment officer at the Florida building firm Coastal Construction and a former Democratic member of Congress. ' We're not sure from one month to the next what the rules are going to be or how they'll be enforced. That uncertainty makes it really hard to operate a forward-looking business.' Adds Douglas Holtz Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of the conservative American Action Forum think tank: 'ICE had detained people who are here lawfully and so now lawful immigrants are afraid to go to work … All of this goes against other economic objectives the administration might have. The immigration policy and the economic policy are not lining up at all.''
