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Day 694: "That time is now."
Today in one sentence: The House is expected to pass a temporary spending measure tonight that would fund the government through through Dec. 23 and avert a shutdown; the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a point – the highest level in 15 years – and signaled that rates still have a "ways to go"; the Republican congressman who suggested that Trump declare martial law in a text message to Mark Meadows said his only regret is that he misspelled the word "martial"; the Trump Organization was found to have been “willfully disobeying” four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders during a criminal contempt trial held in secret last year; and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the Department of Public Safety for a list of transgender individuals in the state..
1/ The House is expected to pass a temporary spending measure tonight that would fund the government through through Dec. 23 and avert a shutdown. The weeklong stopgap bill will give Congress more time to finalize the full-year spending package, called an omnibus, which would fund the federal government through the 2023 fiscal year, ending Sept. 30. The omnibus measure is expected to total around $1.7 trillion. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a point – the highest level in 15 years – and signaled that rates still have a “ways to go.” The 50 basis points hike, which increases rates to a range of 4.25-4.5%, is smaller than the previous four 75 basis-point increases, and comes after the latest figures showed inflation running at its slowest annual rate in nearly a year. “We made less progress than expected on inflation,” Chair Jerome Powell said, adding “it’s good to see progress, but let’s just understand we have a long ways to go to get better price stability.” The Fed, however, now expects to raise rates as high as 5.1% next year before cutting rates to 4.1% in 2024 – a higher level than previously indicated. Inflation, meanwhile, is expected to end 2022 at 5.6% and fall to 3.1% next year. (Associated Press / NPR / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Republican congressman who suggested that Trump declare martial law in a text message to Mark Meadows said his only regret is that he misspelled the word “martial.” On Jan. 17, 2021, Ralph Norman urged Meadows to have Trump declare “Marshall Law” to prevent Biden from taking office. When asked about his text message, Norman replied: “Well, I misspelled ‘martial’.” The White House, meanwhile, accused Norman of pushing “MAGA conspiracy theories” and “violent rhetoric.” (HuffPost / The Guardian / Mediaite)
4/ The Trump Organization was found to have been “willfully disobeying” four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders during a criminal contempt trial held in secret last year. In December 2021, a New York judge found the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp in criminal contempt for failing to respond to multiple grand jury subpoenas for documents in a timely fashion. “There comes a time when a court must enforce its authority,” New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote. “In this matter, that time is now.” He imposed a $4,000 fine. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNN)
5/ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the Department of Public Safety for a list of transgender individuals in the state. In June, Paxton’s office requested information on Texans who changed their gender on state documents within the past two years. The department concluded that the data could not be “accurately produced” and didn’t provide any information to Paxton’s office. (Washington Post)
A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
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