LiveNewsWatch

Category: US Economy

  • Americans Are Hurting as Shutdown Disrupts Airports and Grocery Stores

    Americans Are Hurting as Shutdown Disrupts Airports and Grocery Stores

    Millions of Americans are in limbo as a result of the longest federal government shutdown in US history, which is causing worries about an impending economic crisis. Travelers were frustrated as thousands of flights were delayed and over a thousand were canceled on Friday. As President Donald Trump’s administration continues to fight in federal court to refuse to pay full benefits for November, many who depend on food stamps were left in a precarious situation.

    Federal employees who have been unpaid for weeks claimed they had run out of alternatives and that their bills were due. There is no end in sight to the shutdown because Congress is at a standstill, with minority Democrats adhering to their demands for health insurance financing and majority Republicans still lacking the 60 votes required to pass a government funding plan in the Senate.

     The “wheels came off” in compromise negotiations with Democrats, South Dakota Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Friday.  He instructed senators to stay in Washington so they could cast ballots this weekend. In an effort to put more pressure on the GOP to reach a compromise, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stated that Democrats would consent to end the shutdown in exchange for an additional year of increased Affordable Care Act subsidies.

    One of Trump’s senior economic officials raised the alarm on Friday due to growing worries about the potential harm the closure may have to the economy as a whole. Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, stated on Fox Business that the shutdown’s economic effects are “far worse” than first anticipated “because it’s gone on for so long.”

    Travelers Face Widespread Flight Cancellations and Delays

    Hassett remarked, “Who knows how bad the economy could be this quarter if we go another month or so.” More than a thousand flights were canceled at 40 major airports as a result of the Federal Aviation Administration’s 4% domestic flight restriction, which went into effect on Friday. Additional cuts are planned for the weekend owing to staffing shortages for air traffic controllers.

    Major airports, such as those in Washington, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Newark, were seeing significant delays as a result of understaffed control towers in addition to the cancellations. CNN was informed by travelers nationwide that they were afraid their plans will be disrupted.

    Americans Are Hurting as Shutdown Disrupts Airports and Grocery Stores
    US People Are Hurting as Shutdown Disrupts Airports, Grocery Stores Source: Web

    On Saturday, Alicia Leva was scheduled to tie the knot in South Florida. However, Leva said she witnessed travel arrangements quickly falling apart because over half of her visitors were from all over the nation. “I was just really nervous when I learnt about the flight delays,” she remarked. Leva was still grieving her initial vision of the couple’s special day, but she didn’t want to compare her wedding problems to those of others who have been severely impacted by the government shutdown.

    Mounting Pressure on Federal Workers Sparks Concerns

    Lisa Morales, a nurse who works at a military post in El Paso, Texas, stated that while she was able to pay her rent in October and November, she is now unable to continue working for free. She stated that without a monthly cheque, she is unsure of how she will pay for her car and insurance, petrol, groceries, dog food and utilities this month.

    She claimed that if the closure doesn’t end soon, she doesn’t know where she will live and that her landlord won’t cooperate. “Because we continue to report to work, we are not eligible for unemployment benefits,” Morales stated, adding, “If the government stays closed this month, I will have to look for another job.”

  • US Treasury’s Bessent Confirms China’s Approval of TikTok Transfer Agreement

    US Treasury’s Bessent Confirms China’s Approval of TikTok Transfer Agreement

    The United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Thursday that China had authorized the transfer agreement for the TikTok app, which allows users to record short videos. He said he expected the deal to proceed in the upcoming weeks and months, but he did not provide any other information.

    “In Kuala Lumpur, we finalized the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval, and I would expect that would go forward in the coming weeks and months, and we’ll finally see a resolution to that,” he said on “Mornings with Maria” on Fox Business Network after President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

    The meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was praised as “amazing” and “12” on a 10-point scale. However, the deal that the two leaders achieved seems to be little more than a tenuous truce in a trade war that has yet to tackle its underlying reasons.

    The agreement unveiled Thursday, which calls for China to resume buying soybeans, halt its export restrictions on rare earths for a year, and reduce U.S. tariffs on China by 10%, essentially restores relations to the pre-tit-for-tat escalation period that preceded Trump’s “Liberation Day” offensive.

    So, China will appropriately resolve TikTok-related concerns with the United States, the Commerce Ministry of China stated in a statement earlier Thursday. According to a Chinese official, “the Chinese side will work with U.S. side to properly address issues related to TikTok.” ByteDance, a Chinese company that owns TikTok, did not immediately respond.

    Bytedance Ownership Breakdown

    After the U.S. Congress approved a bill in 2024 requiring TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the service’s U.S. assets by January 2025, the status of the 170 million-user app has been unclear for more than 18 months. On September 25, Trump issued an executive order stating that the plan to sell TikTok’s U.S. business to a group of American and international investors satisfies the national security conditions outlined in the 2024 law. He also authorized the investors 120 days to finalize the deal.

    Additionally, he postponed the law’s implementation until January 20, 2026. According to Trump’s order, the new joint venture will be in charge of the algorithm’s functioning and the U.S. company’s security partners will retrain and oversee it. As per the deal on TikTok’s U.S. operations, ByteDance has appointed one of the seven board members for the new company; the other six positions are occupied by Americans.

    US Treasury’s Bessent Confirms China’s Approval of TikTok Transfer Agreement
    US Treasury Secretary Confirms China’s Approval of TikTok Transfer Deal Source: Web

    Furthermore, if ByteDance didn’t sell its U.S. assets, it would possess less than 20% of TikTok U.S. in order to meet the legal requirements that mandated the company shut down by January 2025.

    As part of ByteDance’s plan to sell U.S. assets of the short video app, U.S. Representative John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China, stated this month that a license arrangement for the use of the TikTok algorithm would raise “serious concerns.”

  • Pentagon Accepts $130 million Anonymous Trump Ally Donation to Fund Troops

    Pentagon Accepts $130 million Anonymous Trump Ally Donation to Fund Troops

    The Defense Department revealed Friday that the Trump administration intends to use a $130 million donation from a President Donald Trump loyalist who wishes to remain anonymous to pay military personnel during the government shutdown. The money was received under the department’s “general gift acceptance authority,” according to a statement released by chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell to CNN. “The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the cost-of-Service members’ salaries and benefits.”

    The action is a dramatic break from government practice, which has hitherto relied on congressionally authorized public funds to fund the military. Additionally, it immediately sparked inquiries regarding the identity of the contributor and the reasons behind sending the government the nine-figure cheque. It’s unlikely that the $130 million donation will have a significant effect on paying the salaries of the approximately 1.3 million active-duty military personnel, which comes to about $100 per service member.

    On Friday, appropriators from both parties of Congress stated that they were still waiting for an explanation from the administration regarding the details of the donation. Democrats also questioned its legality, arguing that the Pentagon’s cited gift acceptance authority only allows gifts for a few specific uses, like supporting military schools, hospitals, and cemeteries, or helping injured soldiers or the families of those killed or injured in the line of duty.

    Offset a Lapse in Appropriations

    Donations from foreign governments or organizations may also be subject to further, stricter regulations. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the leading Democrat on the Senate’s defense budget subcommittee, said in a statement that using anonymous donations to finance our military raises serious concerns about whether our own troops are in danger of being literally bought and paid for by foreign powers.

    Additionally, budget experts questioned whether the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from utilizing federal monies in excess of what has been allotted to them, would be violated if the donation were used to pay military personnel. During the shutdown, Democrats have repeatedly charged the administration with breaking that rule, notably when it decided to fire thousands of government employees.

    “The Antideficiency Act makes it clear that private contributions cannot be used to make up for a lapse in appropriations,” said Bill Hoagland, a senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former Senate GOP budget aide. “The law is very clear, so I think they could accept it, but they couldn’t use it for that purpose,” Hoagland told CNN.

    Pentagon accepts $130 million anonymous Trump ally donation to fund troops
    Pentagon Receives $130 million Anonymous Trump Ally Donation to Pay U.S. Military Source: Web

    In an effort to address military shortages, Trump praised the $130 million donation on Thursday, claiming it came from “a friend of mine.” Declining to reveal the donor’s identity, he said, “He doesn’t really want the recognition.”

    A White House spokesperson directed inquiries to the Pentagon and Treasury regarding the donor’s name and any connections to foreign organizations or interests.  After that, the Pentagon forwarded those inquiries back to the White House. A request for comment was not immediately answered by Treasury. In addition to calling the donation “anonymous,” the Pentagon did not answer inquiries about whether it intended to inform Congress of the specifics of its use.

  • Trump Says He May Seek $230 mln in Compensation from US Justice Department

    Trump Says He May Seek $230 mln in Compensation from US Justice Department

    The U.S. President Trump is requesting that the Justice Department compensate him roughly $230 million for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter. They also stated that senior department officials who supported him or those close to him may eventually approve any settlement.

    In American history, there has never been a situation like this. Federal law enforcement followed Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, who ultimately won the election and took control of the administration that now has to investigate his claims. Additionally, it is the most glaring illustration to date of the possible moral dilemmas that could arise from placing the president’s former attorneys in charge of the Justice Department.

    Mr. Trump filed concerns via the administrative claim procedure, which frequently serves as a prelude to legal action. According to people familiar with the case, the first claim, filed in late 2023, seeks damages for a variety of alleged rights abuses, including the F.B.I. and special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering and potential ties to the 2016 Trump campaign.

    Since the claim has not been made public, they talked under the condition of anonymity. Furthermore, the F.B.I. is accused of violating Mr. Trump’s privacy in the second complaint, which was filed in the summer of 2024, by searching his Florida home and club, Mar-a-Lago, for classified materials in 2022. Additionally, it charges him with mishandling confidential documents after he left office, which is an act of malicious prosecution by the Justice Department.

    Awfully Strange to Make a Decision

    “I was damaged very greatly and any money I would get, I would give to charity,” the president remarked when questioned about the matter at the White House following the publication of this piece. “That decision would have to cross my desk, and I’m the one who makes the decision,” he continued. “It’s really weird to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”

    According to attorneys, there are unquestionable ethical issues with the president’s legal arguments. Bennett L. Gershman, a professor of ethics at Pace University, called it a travesty. “The ethical dilemma is so fundamental and basic that a law professor is not necessary to explain it.”

    “And then to have people in the Justice Department decide whether his claim should be successful or not,” he continued, adding that those individuals are the ones who will determine whether he succeeds or fails. It’s strange, almost too unbelievable to be true.

    Trump Says He May Seek $230 mln in Compensation from US Justice Department
    President Trump Says He May Seek $230 mln in Damages from U.S. DOJ Source: Web

    The president also appeared to recognize that point last week in the Oval Office when he made a passing reference to the matter while standing by Attorney General Pam Bondi, her deputy Todd Blanche, and F.B.I. director Kash Patel. The deputy attorney general, in this case Mr. Blanche, is one of two individuals who can approve such a settlement in accordance with Justice Department standards.

    When he became president, Mr. Trump said, “I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and I said, I’m sort of suing myself.” “It sort of looks bad, I’m suing myself, right?” he continued. Thus, I’m not sure. However, that was a really powerful and strong lawsuit.

    Lawsuits are not strictly administrative claims. In order to determine whether a settlement may be made without filing a lawsuit in federal court, these complaints are first sent to the Justice Department using a document known as a Standard Form 95. A person may file a lawsuit in court if the department formally denies the claim or chooses not to take action. However, in this case, that is unlikely to happen because Trump is already essentially negotiating with his subordinates.

    Taxpayers usually pay for compensation. According to two people with knowledge of the president’s legal claims, he anticipated to be compensated by the federal government but had not received it.

    In the second claim, Merrick B. Garland, who was then the attorney general, Christopher A. Wray, who was then the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Jack Smith, who was the special counsel looking into Mr. Trump at the time, were accused of “harassment” meant to influence the election results. “President Trump spent tens of millions of dollars defending the case and his reputation as a result of this malicious prosecution,” the claim stated.