Shutdown Ends as Trump Signs Spending Bill; Trump-Epstein Ties Back in Spotlight
On today's podcast:1) President Trump signed legislation to end the longest government shutdown in US history, marking the official conclusion to a 43-day impasse that halted food aid to millions of households, canceled thousands of flights and forced federal workers to go unpaid for more than a month. Trump’s signature means the government can begin to resume normal operations, with federal workers expected back on the job starting Thursday. However it could still take days, or even weeks, for the federal bureaucracy to fully restart and dig out of the backlog after being closed since October 1st. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters Wednesday he anticipated it could take as long as a week to start lifting flight restrictions at major airports.2) Democrats have returned to pressing President Trump on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, highlighting a selection of emails in which the late financier and convicted sex trafficker suggested the president knew of his activities. A congressional committee on Wednesday released some 20,000 pages of documents, pivoting attention away from the ongoing government shutdown and forcing the White House to respond to an issue that has frustrated the president and drawn scrutiny from parts of his base. The new information came the same day that a new House lawmaker was officially sworn into office. Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, immediately signed a petition forcing a vote on legislation to compel the Justice Department to release files on Epstein.3) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy implored European Union allies to overcome their divisions on the use of frozen Russian assets, saying fresh funding is critical for his war-battered economy to stay in the fight against Moscow. The EU has postponed until December a decision on tapping the Russian state assets to provide €140 billion ($162 billion) in loans to Ukraine, which needs new funding by early next year. Russia’s invasion has dragged well into its fourth year as Zelenskiy’s government deals with a battered economy and exhausted fighting forces in Europe’s worst conflict since World War II. With US funding halted, European governments have vowed to step up assistance to fend off a new threat from the Kremlin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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House to Return for Shutdown Vote; Trump to Host Finance CEOs at White House
On today's podcast:1) The US House of Representatives will be back at work Wednesday for the first time in 53 days to vote on a bill that would end the longest government shutdown record. The legislation would relieve the sharpest pain points, including delayed SNAP benefits, air travel chaos and government worker furloughs. But it won’t address the main trigger for the shutdown: the expiration of Obamacare premium subsidies that prompted Democrats to block a government funding bill in the first place. The small group of centrist Democrats who broke ranks with their party to end the shutdown won a promise from Senate Majority Leader John Thune that he’ll allow a vote on extending the subsidies - but no guarantees are in place. While some moderate Senate Republicans want to see the subsidies extended with conditions, like an income cap or minimum monthly payment, leading GOP voices on health-care policy are starting to pitch on alternative plans.2) President Trump will host financial industry executives for dinner Wednesday at the White House, according to two officials familiar with the plans, the latest effort by the administration to bring the country’s business elite behind his policies. JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon is among the attendees, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to detail the president’s plans. Nasdaq’s Adena Friedman was also among the chief executive officers invited, along with Goldman Sachs Group’s David Solomon, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Morgan Stanley’s Ted Pick, according to people briefed on the event. The dinner comes as Trump faces rising political pressure on the economy and affordability — issues that anchored Democratic electoral wins in New Jersey and Virginia last week.3) Advanced Micro Devices - Nvidia's closest rival in AI chips - predicts accelerating sales growth over the next five years, driven by strong demand for its data center products. Annual revenue growth will average more than 35% over the next three to five years, Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su said Tuesday at a company event in New York. AMD’s AI data center revenue will increase by an average of 80% over the same period, she said. The stock rallied in extended trading Tuesday after executives also said adjusted profit will reach more than $20 a share and operating margin will exceed 35% in that time frame. AMD updated investors on its long-term outlook amid increasing concern that the massive spending on new computer systems for artificial intelligence work can’t continue at the current elevated levels.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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US Shutdown Nears End as Senate Passes Deal; Trump Teases India Trade Pact
On today's podcast:1) A record-setting 41-day US government shutdown is on a path to end as soon as Wednesday after the Senate passed a temporary funding measure backed by a group of eight centrist Democrats. The Senate’s 60-40 vote Monday comes amid escalating flight disruptions, food aid delays and frustrations in a federal workforce that has mostly gone without pay for more than a month. The Republican-controlled House must still approve the spending package, which keeps most of the government open through Jan. 30 and some agencies through Sept. 30. But Speaker Mike Johnson said he expects it will pass quickly.2) Air travel disruptions mounted across the US as lawmakers pushed to end the federal government shutdown, with an air traffic controllers’ union warning of “the erosion of safety” as the critical workers missed their second-straight full paycheck. Almost 2,100 flights were canceled as of 6:15 p.m. in New York on Monday, according to data compiled by aviation analytics firm Cirium. That’s about 8.2% of the day’s 25,735 scheduled flights. Chicago O’Hare International Airport had the most cancellations, with nearly 25% of its scheduled flights scrapped. Over 16% of services in and out of Boston Logan Airport were scrubbed, as were 15% of trips at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport. The growing fallout stems from the Federal Aviation Administration’s directive to reduce flight capacity by 10% at the roughly 40 busiest US airports, a bid to alleviate what US aviation officials have said are signs of strain in the nation’s airspace system.3) President Trump said he “at some point” would reduce the tariff rate on Indian goods, saying the US was getting “pretty close” to a trade deal with New Delhi. The comments were the latest signal of a possible thaw in the trade dispute that has soured the relationship between Washington and New Delhi. Earlier this year, Trump slapped additional tariffs on India’s exports to the US in part to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil, raising the rates on many Indian goods to 50%. That added tensions to an already contentious negotiation over what the US has cast as India’s high levies and other barriers on American goods.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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15:42
Senate Advances Plan to End Shutdown; Trump Teases $2000 Tariff Dividend
On today's podcast:1) Democrats entered the shutdown seeking to renew tax credits to stave off insurance premium price hikes and to show voters they have the stomach for hardball negotiations in President Trump’s Washington. As the record-long shutdown neared its end more than a month later, they failed to achieve either. A group of eight Democrats on Sunday broke with the rest of their party — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — to vote with Republicans to advance a bill to re-open the government on the impasse’s 40th day. That plan doesn’t include the extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies that Democrats staked their shutdown fight on. They did get a pledge for a separate vote on the health-care tax credits in the coming weeks, but the prospects of Democrats landing a win from that endeavor are far from certain.2) More than 10,000 flights in the US were delayed or canceled on Sunday as snowy weather in Chicago added to the stress for airlines coping with a third day of US government-mandated restrictions on air travel. The bottlenecks were worst at New York’s airports, where federal officials imposed ground stops and ground delays to meter traffic. At LaGuardia Airport, more than half of departures were delayed, compared with 36% at Newark Liberty International Airport and 32% at John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to FlightAware. By late afternoon, 8,100 flights were delayed and 2,300 were canceled nationwide. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport also faced hundreds of delays and cancellations as a winter storm threatened the airport, a major hub for United Airlines Inc. and American Airlines. About 190 flights were canceled at Delta Air Lines Inc.’s home base at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.3) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Trump’s suggestion that Americans may receive a tariff “dividend” of at least $2,000 could come via the tax cuts passed in his signature economic policy bill earlier this year. Bessent was asked on ABC’s This Week about a social media post by Trump earlier Sunday that derided people who oppose tariffs and said a “dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.” Trump has been stepping up his defense of his tariffs regime since the Supreme Court on Nov. 5 heard arguments for a suit to get them thrown out. Several justices seemed skeptical, raising the possibility many of the levies could be overturned, forcing more than $100 billion in refunds and taking away a centerpiece of his second term.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Daybreak Weekend: Disney Earnings, Portugal Web Summit, China Singles’ Day
Bloomberg Daybreak Weekend with Host Nathan Hager take a look at some of the stories we'll be tracking in the coming week. In the US – a look ahead to earnings from Walt Disney and Paramount-Skydance. In the UK – a look ahead to Portugal’s Web Summit. In Asia – a look ahead to China Singles’ day. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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