Closing summary
That’s a wrap on the US politics blog for today, thanks for your company. Please join us again tomorrow.
Here’s what we followed:
- The Federal Reserve announced a 0.75% rise in interest rates, the fourth this year, pushing up the cost of mortgages, credit cards and car loans. Fed chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference the rise was “essential” to curb runaway inflation.
- The US has offered Russia a deal aimed at bringing home jailed Americans Brittney Griner, a professional basketball player, and security expert Paul Whelan. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he expected to speak with his counterpart in Moscow shortly, for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
- A bill pledging support for human trafficking victims passed the House, with 20 Republicans voting against. They included Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who is the subject of a justice department investigation involving sex with a 17-year-old girl.
- Gun manufacturers pocketed more than $1bn over a decade from the sales of AR-15 military-style weapons, as hundreds of Americans died in mass shootings. Carolyn Maloney, Democratic chair of the House oversight committee, told a hearing the gun industry was “profiting off the blood of innocent Americans.”
- Joe Biden tested negative for Covid-19 and returned to work in-person after a five-isolation to give an address in the White House Rose Garden. The president warned that the pandemic was resurgent and urged Americans to get vaccinated and boosted.
- House Democrats introduced a bill to establish term limits for supreme court justices, after an unprecedented term in which federal abortion rights were overturned and threats emerged from the right-wing panel to same-sex marriages and contraception.
- The justice department has centered its criminal inquiry over the January 6 insurrection to Donald Trump’s personal conduct as he fought to stay in office after his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, per the Washington Post.
A press conference explaining this afternoon’s 0.75% rise in interest rates has just wrapped up, after an hour, with Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s final words attempting to offer comfort to Americans paying the price of soaring inflation:
We know that inflation is too high. We understand how painful it is, particularly for people who are living paycheck to paycheck, and spend most of that paycheck on necessities such as food and gas, and heating their homes and clothing and things like that.
We do understand that that those people suffer the most. The middle class and better off people have some resources where they can absorb these things, but many people don’t have those resources.
So you know, it is our job, it is our institutional role. We are assigned uniquely and unconditionally the obligation of providing price stability to the American people. And we’re going to use our tools to do that.
US moves to free Griner, Whelan from Russia
The US has offered Russia a deal aimed at bringing home jailed Americans Brittney Griner, a professional basketball player, and security expert Paul Whelan, the Associated Press reports.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday he expected to speak with his counterpart in Moscow shortly, for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
The Biden administration has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. https://t.co/BgwOCabNxs
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 27, 2022
His statement marked the first time the US government has publicly revealed any concrete action to secure the release of Griner, who was arrested on drug-related charges at a Moscow airport in February and testified Wednesday at her trial.
Blinken did not offer details on the proposed deal, which the AP says was offered weeks ago.
The elephant in the room, until a reporter asked about it during the question and answer session following Jerome Powell’s statement, was whether there was going to be a recession in the US, as some analysts have predicted but others, including Joe Biden, have attempted to discount.
The Federal Reserve chair said he did not think a recession was inevitable:
Price stability is really the bedrock of the economy and nothing works in the economy without price stability. We can’t have a strong labor market without price stability for an extended period of time.
We need a period of growth below potential in order to create some slack so that supply can catch up. We also think that there will be, in all likelihood, some softening in labor market conditions. Those are things we expect and are probably necessary if we are able to get inflation back down to 2%.
We’re trying to do just the right amount. We’re not trying to have a recession, and we don’t think we have to.
I do not think the US is currently in a recession. The reason is there are too many areas in the economy that are performing too well, the labor market in particular.
Updated
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell says he’s sympathetic to American families struggling with soaring prices at supermarket checkouts, gas stations and elsewhere:
Although prices for some commodities have turned down recently, the earlier surge in prices of crude oil and other commodities that resulted from Russia’s war on Ukraine has boosted prices for gasoline and food creating additional upward pressure on inflation.
My colleagues and I are acutely aware that high inflation imposes significant hardship, especially on those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing and transportation.
Powell pointed to a “robust” jobs market, with unemployment near a 50-year low, strong consumer demand and recent reductions in gas prices.
But he said the Fed needed to maintain a tight rein on the economy in order to reduce inflation, and hinted that more rate rises – beyond the four already announced this year – will be likely in the coming months and into next year.
He did, however, suggest the aggressive pace of the interest rate rises will decrease:
It likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increase. While we assess how our cumulative policy adjustments are affecting the economy and inflation.
Updated
Powell: Rate rise 'essential' to curb inflation
Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, has spoken about the 0.75% rise in interest rates announced this afternoon. He said the move was essential because “inflation is much too high.”
Powell said:
My colleagues and I are strongly committed to bringing inflation back down. And we’re moving expeditiously to do so.
We have both the tools we need and the resolve it will take to restore price stability on behalf of American families and businesses.
As my colleague Dominic Rushe explains here, the US central bank is aggressively raising rates at levels unseen since the mid-1990s as it struggles to tamp down soaring prices, which rose by an annual rate of 9.1% in June, the fastest inflation rate since 1981.
When mortgage rates, car loans and credit cards are more expensive, the theory goes, people are less inclined to spend, and inflation comes down.
Powell added:
The economy and the country have been through a lot over the past two and a half years and have proved resilient.
It is essential that we bring inflation down to our 2% goal, if we are to have a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all.
Updated
The Federal Reserve’s just-announced decision to increase interest rates by three-quarters of one percent, the fourth rise this year, was not entirely unexpected, as my colleague Dominic Rushe explains:
With the US economy teetering on the edge of a recession and inflation running at a four-decade high, the Federal Reserve announced another three-quarter of a percentage point increase in its benchmark interest rates on Wednesday, the second such increase in just over a month.
The US central bank is aggressively raising rates at levels unseen since the mid-1990s as it struggles to tamp down soaring prices, which rose by an annual rate of 9.1% in June, the fastest inflation rate since 1981.
The hike, the Fed’s fourth this year and the third consecutive one to be larger than usual, comes as central banks worldwide seek to calm price rises with higher rates.
So far the rate rises appear to have done little to rein in rising prices and the costs of everything from food and rent to gas remain high. The Fed will not meet again until September, at which point more economic data will be available, and its decision committee should be better able to see if its policy is working.
One important measure of the economy will be made public on Thursday, when the commerce department releases its latest survey of gross domestic product (GDP) – a broad measure of the cost of a wide range of goods and services across the US economy. Many economists are expecting growth to have slowed for the second quarter in a row – a guide used by many to declare a recession.
Recessions are, however, officially declared by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a research group that uses a broad range of measures including jobs growth to decide when the US economy is shrinking. The NBER often makes its announcement well after a recession has begun, as it assesses other economic factors.
Jobs growth remains strong – the US added 372,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate stayed low at 3.6%.
But, for many, two months of declining GDP is a strong indicator that the economy is in a recession. Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies and senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, pointed out this week that all of the last 10 recessions in the US have been preceded by two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.
Read the full report:
Updated
US Federal Reserve announces three-quarter-point interest rate increase
As expected, the US Federal Reserve has increased interest rates by 0.75% in an attempt to cool raging inflation.
We’ll have more details soon...
Federal Open Market Committee statement: https://t.co/vwSnKyty12 #FOMC
— Federal Reserve (@federalreserve) July 27, 2022
Updated
20 Republicans oppose support for human trafficking victims
A bill pledging support for human trafficking victims has passed the House, with 20 Republicans voting against.
They include Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who is the subject of a justice department investigation involving sex with a 17-year-old girl who once traveled with him, and several other close allies of former president Donald Trump.
20 Republicans just voted NO on a bill to support human trafficking victims. Among the no votes are accused human trafficker Matt Gaetz, insurrectionist Paul Gosar, & self-described "Christian Nationalist" MT Greene.
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) July 27, 2022
When people show you who they are—believe them the first time. pic.twitter.com/EjAzuuFER4
Interim summary
Here’s where we are on a busy Wednesday, as we await the announcement from the Federal Reserve of a US interest rate hike:
- Gun manufacturers pocketed more than $1bn over a decade from the sales of AR-15 military-style weapons, as hundreds of Americans died in mass shootings. Carolyn Maloney, Democratic chair of the House oversight committee, said the gun industry was “profiting off the blood of innocent Americans.”
- Joe Biden tested negative for Covid-19 and returned to work in-person after a five-isolation to give an address in the White House Rose Garden. The president warned that the pandemic was resurgent and urged Americans to get vaccinated and boosted.
- House Democrats introduced a bill to establish term limits for supreme court justices, after an unprecedented term in which federal abortion rights were overturned and threats emerged from the right-wing panel to same-sex marriages and contraception.
- The justice department has centered its criminal inquiry over the January 6 insurrection to Donald Trump’s personal conduct as he fought to stay in office after his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, per the Washington Post.
House Democrats have introduced a bill to establish term limits for supreme court justices, after an unprecedented term in which the highest court produced a series of deeply conservative rulings upending American law.
In June, a court dominated 6-3 by Republican appointees overturned the right to abortion. It also issued consequential rulings on gun control, the environment and other controversial issues.
The Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act (Term), would establish 18-year terms for supreme court justices and establish a process for the president to appoint a new justice every two years. After an 18-year term, justices would be retired from active judicial service.
If the bill were to take effect, the nine justices now on the court would essentially be forced into senior status in order of reverse seniority, as jurists were appointed under the new mechanism.
Supreme court justices are currently appointed for life. The US stands alone as the only advanced democracy that does not have either a fixed term or a mandatory retirement age for judges on its highest court.
“Regularizing appointments every two years will ensure a supreme court that is more representative of the nation, reflecting the choices of recently elected presidents and senators,” Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat who introduced the bill, said in a statement.
“Term limits for supreme court justices are an essential tool to restoring a constitutional balance to the three branches of the federal government.”
The bill is unlikely to pass. Republicans have vigorously shot down any attempts to change the makeup of the supreme court. Even if the measure passed the Democratic-controlled House, it would probably die in the Senate, where it would need the vote of 10 Republicans in addition to all Democrats to overcome the filibuster.
Some Democrats in Washington are publicly fuming over the party’s decision to boost a Republican congressional candidate in Michigan who has questioned the 2020 election result.
The outcry escalated after Axios reported that Democrats plan to spend $425,000 to air an ad ahead of Michigan’s primary, highlighting the conservative bona fides of John Gibbs, who is challenging the incumbent Republican, Peter Meijer.
In his first term in Congress, Meijer was one of 10 House Republicans to support impeaching Donald Trump after the January 6 attack.
The 30-second ad is styled as an attack ad against Gibbs but has dog-whistle themes designed to appeal to GOP voters.
Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat on the January 6 committee, said there was nuance in considering whether to boost election deniers.
While he said he understood the argument that it was “categorically wrong” to boost election deniers, he also made a case for why it was appropriate to intervene.
“In the real world of politics, one can also see an argument that if the pro-insurrectionist, election-denier wing of the Republican caucus is already dominant, then it might be worth it to take a small risk that another one of those people would be elected, in return for dramatically increasing the chances that Democrats will be able to hold the House against a pro-insurrectionist, election-denying GOP majority,” he told Axios.
On Tuesday, the day Mike Pence and Donald Trump both spoke in Washington, a former member of their administration poured scorn on Pence’s attempt to portray himself as a potential Republican presidential nominee, and competitor to Trump, in 2024.
Speaking on CNN, Miles Taylor said: “If you want to know what the Mike Pence vice-presidency was like, Mike Pence is a guy with an erect posture and flaccid conscience. He stood up tall but he did not stand up to Donald Trump.”
Taylor was chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security when he wrote a famous column for the New York Times under the name “Anonymous”. He then wrote a book, A Warning, expanding on his insider’s account of Trump White House dysfunction.
Reviewing the book in the Guardian, world affairs editor Julian Borger said: “It fails to answer the question that hangs over almost every page: why heed the counsel, however urgent, of someone who is not prepared to reveal who they are?”
Having identified himself as a conservative opponent of Trump, Taylor is now attached to think tanks including Business for America and Renew America Movement.
In Washington on Tuesday, Pence spoke to the Young America Foundation before Trump spoke at the America First Policy Institute. Pence also announced a memoir, So Help Me God, to be published in November.
He said the book would deal with the “severing” of his relationship with Trump over Trump’s demand that Pence refuse to certify electoral college results in key states in Trump’s 2020 defeat by Joe Biden.
The House oversight committee hearing today grilling firearms company chief executives comes as Democrats attempt to pass additional gun-control legislation, including a ban on assault weapons.
A House committee advanced the assault weapons ban last week, but it remains unclear whether the full chamber will approve the proposal.
Several House Democrats have indicated they do not support the ban, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi can only afford to lose four votes if every Republican opposes the bill.
The House Democratic caucus chair, Hakeem Jeffries, expressed confidence that the ban would ultimately pass, although the timing of a final vote has not yet been set.
“I expect that, if the assault weapons ban hits the floor, that it will pass, and I personally and strongly support it,” Jeffries said Wednesday.
Joe Biden signed one gun-control bill last month, in the wake of the tragedies in Uvalde and Buffalo. But many Democrats argued that the compromise bill, which expanded background checks for the youngest firearm buyers and provided more funding for mental health resources, did not go far enough to address gun violence.
After testing negative this morning for Covid-19, Joe Biden used his return to in-person working in the White House Rose Garden to talk up his administration’s accomplishments against the pandemic, and press Americans to get vaccinated and boosted.
The president, 79, appeared lively and was making jokes as he made his reappearance following a five-day isolation:
There’s rumbling from my staff, saying ‘Oh, he’s back’. Thanks for sticking around. Hello, everyone.
Biden went on to warn of the raging BA.5 variant, but pointed out that his administration had made testing freely available, everyone five and older was eligible for a vaccination, and that billions of dollars were spent on improved ventilation in schools and public places.
Masks, he said, offered an “extra layer of protection”, especially indoors:
Thankfully... my symptoms were mild, my recovery was quick and I’m feeling great. The entire time I was in isolation, I was able to work to carry out the duties in the office and without any interruption. It’s a real statement on where we are in the fight against Covid-19.
But the reality is that BA.5 means many of us are still going to get Covid even if we take the precautions. That doesn’t mean we’re we’re doing anything wrong.
Unfortunately, this Covid still with us. And it has been for two and a half years. But our fight against Covid is making a huge difference.
Biden’s address was short, and narrowly focused on the pandemic. He ended with an appeal to politicians to pass his currently stalled Covid relief funding request:
My friends in Congress, let’s keep investing in these vaccinations, treatments, tests and more so we can help making them available to Americans on a permanent basis. I say permanent basis as long as they are needed. Let’s keep moving forward safely.
Biden returns to White House duty after Covid infection
Joe Biden, who this morning tested negative after a five-day Covid-19 isolation, is at the podium of the White House Rose Garden, urging Americans to continue the fight against the pandemic.
Looking, and sounding, much improved after his illness, the 79-year-old president emerged in a suit and wearing trademark aviator sunglasses.
He thanked his doctor and medical team for their care, and urged Americans to get vaccinated and boosted:
Unfortunately, this Covid is still with us. And it has been for two and a half years.
Every person five and over should get a booster shot. If you’re over 50, you should get two. I did.
Biden, who has been working remotely, tested negative last night and again this morning, according to an earlier update from his physician Kevin O’Connor.
The doctor said Biden had completed a five-day course of the antiviral Paxlovid, was no longer taking Tylenol and would wear a mask around others for the next 10 days.
Committee: gun makers earned over $1bn from AR-15s
Gun manufacturers made more than $1bn from sales of AR-15-style guns over the past decade, as hundreds of Americans perished in numerous mass shootings.
The revelation came during during a House committee meeting on Wednesday into the profits and practices of weapons makers.
Carolyn Maloney, the New York Democrat who chairs the committee, said sales tactics employed by the manufacturers were “deeply disturbing, exploitative and reckless.”
Maloney added:
In short, the gun industry is profiting off the blood of innocent Americans.
She said the guns were often marketed to young men as a way to prove their masculinity. The committee found five major gun makers took in more than $1bn in 10 years from the sale of AR-15-style firearms, which have been used in the vast majority of mass shootings.
Smith & Wesson alone brought in more than $125m last year.
The House hearing marked the first time in nearly two decades that CEOs of leading gun manufacturers testified before Congress about their business practices.
But the executives deflected responsibility for the recent spate of mass shootings, instead blaming individual bad actors and policy failures to prevent violent crime.
“These acts are committed by murderers,” said Marty Daniel, chief executive of Daniel Defense. “The murderers are responsible.”
Christopher Killoy, president and CEO of Sturm, Ruger & Company, similarly argued it was wrong to blame the “inanimate object” of a firearm for deaths caused by gun violence.
“I hope the American people are paying attention today,” Maloney said.
“It is clear that gun makers are not going to change unless Congress forces them to finally put people over profits.”
Updated
Gun company executive backs out of hearing
Executives from major gun companies appeared before a House committee Wednesday, facing aggressive questioning from lawmakers about their organizations’ responsibility for recent mass shootings in the US.
The witnesses included Christopher Killoy, president and chief executive of Sturm, Ruger & Company; and Marty Daniel, CEO of Daniel Defense. Mark Smith, president and CEO of Smith & Wesson Brands, refused an invitation to appear.
“Mr Smith promised he would testify but then he went back on his word, perhaps because he did not want to take responsibility for the death and destruction his company has caused,” said Carolyn Maloney, the New York Democrat who chairs the oversight committee.
“But the time for dodging accountability is over.”
Maloney said she would subpoena documents from Smith & Wesson executives to discover more about the gun industry’s business practices.
The committee also played a video of testimonials from families who had been impacted by recent mass shootings, including the massacre at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and the white supremacist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
“These people are demanding answers and accountability from the gun industry,” Maloney said. “I intend to get both today.”
Updated
It’s a rare day in US politics that doesn’t feature news of Donald Trump in some way or form, and today is no exception: the former president now finds himself at the absolute center of the justice department’s criminal inquiry into his January 6 insurrection, per the Washington Post.
According to the newspaper, quoting four sources it says are “familiar with the matter”, prosecutors are asking witnesses close to Trump directly about actions he took to remain in office following his 2020 election defeat by Joe Biden.
Trump’s scheming, including a plan to substitute fake electors to falsely certify he won key states, was examined closely in recent public hearings by the House panel looking into the insurrection.
But, the Post says, “the degree of prosecutors’ interest in Trump’s actions has not been previously reported, nor has the review of senior Trump aides’ phone records.”
Equally worrying for the twice-impeached, one-term former president are comments by attorney general Merrick Garland on NBC last night promising “justice without fear or favor” for anybody interfering with the peaceful transition of power from one administration to another.
Trump returned to Washington DC yesterday for the first time since leaving office last year (you can read my colleague David Smith’s sketch on Trump’s irony-free address to a conservative summit here).
Read the full story:
Biden negative for Covid-19, returns to in-person working
Joe Biden has emerged from his five-day isolation after testing negative for Covid-19 early on Wednesday, the White House has announced.
He is scheduled to speak from the Rose Garden at 11.30am.
Back to the Oval.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 27, 2022
Thanks to Doc for the good care, and to all of you for your support. pic.twitter.com/Cfzn1zAKJF
According to an update from physician Kevin O’Connor, the president’s “symptoms have been steadily improving, and are almost completely resolved.”
The update notes:
President Biden completed his five-day course of [the antiviral] Paxlovid 36 hours ago. As of this morning, he has completed five full days of isolation. He remains fever-free and he has discontinued any use of Tylenol.
Yesterday evening, and then again, this morning, he tested negative for the Sars-CoV2 virus by antigen testing.
Given these reassuring factors, the president will discontinue his strict isolation measures.
The memo notes he will continue to wear a well-fitting mask for the next 10 days when he is around others.
Biden tested positive for the virus last Thursday, and continued to work in isolation with his dog, Commander, for company.
On Monday, he hosted a virtual roundtable with leaders of the US semiconductor industry, at which he said he was feeling much better, but apologized for coughing and having a raspy voice.
You can read Dr O’Connor’s update here.
Updated
Democrats clash over gun reforms, police funding
Democratic leaders in the House are facing resistance from progressive members over efforts to push through gun reforms before the chamber takes off for its six-week August break. But it’s not what it seems.
A hearing of the oversight committee this morning, at which gun industry executives will testify about their policies and huge profits, has brought the dispute into better focus.
According to Punchbowl News, Democratic leadership’s attempt to package gun controls, including an assault weapons ban and bill authored by California congressman Adam Schiff to eliminate civil liability protections for manufacturers, with police funding measures, has upset members of both the Black and progressive congressional caucuses.
It’s not that they don’t want more rigid gun laws in the wake of recent massacres in New York, Texas and elsewhere. They do. But Punchbowl says the fact that some of the police funding proposals haven’t been worked through committee is causing “uproar”, and raising doubts that anything will get passed.
Here’s what Washington congresswoman and progressive caucus chair Pramila Jayapal told Punchbowl:
We want to act on public safety bills that unify the caucus and would like to move forward on the bills that have broad support in the Dem caucus... For the other bills to move forward, people feel strongly that there needs to be strong accountability language before [members] would look at them.
There is some time to figure those things out, but for now, we are supportive of moving the assault weapons ban and the Schiff bill separately, and any bills that have broad support of the entire caucus.
Joe Biden had been poised last week to ask Congress to support his $37bn crime prevention plan, including funding to help US police departments hire and train an additional 100,000 officers, but the announcement was shelved by the US president’s Covid-19 diagnosis.
The House Democratic caucus is meeting this morning, Punchbowl says, in an attempt to salvage the situation, while the rules committee sits this afternoon to discuss Schiff’s bill, and the assault weapons proposal authored by David Cicilline of Rhode Island.
Meanwhile, my colleague Joan E Greve will take a look at this morning’s oversight committee hearing, entitled Examining the Practices and Profits of Gun Manufacturers, shortly.
Updated
Good morning, and welcome to the midweek edition of the US politics blog. Guns, and the huge profits made by weapons manufacturers, are up for discussion in the House this morning when the oversight committee hears testimony from industry executives.
It’s part of the Democratic majority’s push for tighter gun laws, including an assault weapons ban in the wake of recent massacres in New York and Texas, but it appears to be running into trouble with progressive members.
They’re for more rigid restrictions, but upset that leadership is attempting to package gun control bills with police funding proposals, some of which haven’t gone through committee.
We’ll have more on that coming up, plus coverage from the hearing.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
- There’s more focus on the justice department’s criminal inquiry into the January 6 insurrection, with the overnight revelation by the Washington Post that the investigation is now directly targeting former president Donald Trump’s actions as he tried to cling on to power.
- The Federal Reserve is expected to announce at lunchtime it’s hiking interest rates by up to 0.75%, an attempt to cool raging inflation by making borrowing more expensive.
- The Chips bill, providing about $52bn for the beleaguered semiconductors industry in the US, is set for final approval in a bipartisan Senate vote, a big win for Joe Biden and Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer.
- Biden has a light schedule with no public appearances. On his to-do list: a Covid-19 test that, if negative, will see the president return to work in-person after contracting the virus last week.
- White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will give her daily press briefing at 3pm.
