Ok everyone: here are twelve pieces of good economic news worth highlighting. We considered presenting these in a "Twelve Days of Christmas" format, but decided to spare you the extended dad joke and just focus on the positive economic news. Hope these will bring holiday cheer!
2: USPS Does Not Expect Any Delays As Shipping Deadline Approaches (a major concern my constituents have brought up many times) foxbusiness.com/features/usps-…
3: The efforts of @POTUS' Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force continue to help ease supply chain problems, with major continued progress reported by ports, shippers and retailers. whitehouse.gov/nec/briefing-r…
7: New report from @JECDems: Six Months of Advance CTC Payments Have Dramatically Reduced Childhood Poverty and Improved Family Finances jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/…
Congress must extend this crucial lifeline to American families.
11: Inflation is eating into wage gains, it's a real problem for the millions of Americans hardest hit by rising prices. But we have a bill that will help them: it's called the Build Back Better Act. Read more about BBB helps fight inflationary pressures:
One additional note: it takes time to compile economic data, which means many of these reports are pre-Omicron. We don't know yet what effects the winter Covid wave will have on the economy, but @POTUS is taking steps to strengthen the federal response:
The resurgent Omicron wave of Covid is causing record numbers of new cases in our region. This is scary to many of us, especially after so much time and effort fighting the virus.
But there ARE things all of us can do right now to make ourselves and our communities safer--
I'll repeat the one you've heard about most because it is the most important: get your two doses, but if you already got them, you NEED your third dose (the booster). @edyong209 has a good, simple way to think about this: assume you are now less protected. theatlantic.com/health/archive…
You need the added level of protection that the third shot, the booster dose, provides against Omicron.
We also need to up our testing and masking game when we are indoors. When you can’t test, high quality masks (n95, kn95, kf94) give better protection.
"GOP Attacks Biden Over Pandemic Response While Fighting Key Tools To Curb The Virus" cnn.com/2021/12/02/pol…
Republicans are quick to blame President Biden for everything that goes wrong, even when they are making things worse on purpose. Ask them how they would improve the situation if they were in charge and their answers are pathetically bad
And it turns out the Republicans are absolutely wrong here.
"But the vaccine mandates have, in fact, proven to be successful in increasing immunization rates, which is one the most effective and life-saving tools to fight the virus."
Republicans’ plan to shut down the government on purpose to sabotage our pandemic response is extraordinarily cynical and dangerous.
The government runs out of funding in two days, but rather than work with us to prevent a shutdown, key Republicans in both chambers are instead announcing they want a shutdown to undermine vaccination efforts -- as the potential threat from omicron looms. politico.com/newsletters/pl…
Vaccines are vital to fight this pandemic and keep Americans healthy. Countering vaccination efforts at what may be one of the most critical moments of the pandemic could have disastrous consequences for the American people and the recovering U.S. economy.
In 2017 Republicans tried to strip health care from millions, then cut taxes for the rich without paying for it, all on party line votes. They had total control of government, but still needed our help raising the debt ceiling.
We helped raise the debt limit when Republicans had total control of government in 2017 because the alternative - refusing to pay America's bills - would have caused a default that wrecked the economy.
That's something neither party should be willing to risk for any reason.
McConnell's claim Democrats are governing "alone" is a lie. The Senate-passed infrastructure bill was negotiated with Republicans, McConnell even voted for it. McConnell is also once again blocking legislation with bipartisan support from even getting a vote, as he famously does.
Robert MacLean’s response to the killing of Bijan Ghaisar shows that he is the wrong person for this job, and I urge the Department of the Interior’s leadership to reconsider his appointment. My statement: beyer.house.gov/news/documents…
Secretary Haaland’s efforts to strengthen community trust and ensure reform after last summer’s violent crackdown on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square are admirable and necessary. I worry the task force will not achieve these ends if it is led by Director MacLean.
I have not forgotten that Mr. MacLean refused for years to answer questions from community leaders and Members of Congress, including me, about the shooting of an unarmed man, Bijan Ghaisar, in my district by two officers who served under him in the U.S. Park Police.