Treasury on new financial sanctions:
“On a daily basis, Russian financial institutions conduct about $46 billion worth of foreign exchange transactions globally, 80 percent of which are in U.S. dollars. The vast majority of those transactions will now be disrupted.”
Wow. Sen. Schatz asks Powell if the White House has ever communicated with him about rates.
Very long awkward pause.
Powell says probably not appropriate for him to comment on conversations with other government officials.
Republicans say the extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits is discouraging some people from returning to work.
Economists who’ve studied the payments say there’s no evidence that more generous benefits are affecting job-finding.
Treasury also imposed “full blocking” sanctions on VTB, Russia’s second-biggest bank:
“This will sever a critical artery of Russia’s financial system. By imposing these sanctions, assets held in US financial institutions will be instantly frozen and inaccessible to the Kremlin.”
“Within 30 days, OFAC is requiring all U.S. financial institutions to close any Sberbank correspondent or payable-through accounts and to reject any future transactions involving Sberbank or its foreign financial institution subsidiaries,” Treasury says.
Trump on the federal debt: "We were starting to, prior to the plague, we were starting to get that number down."
"We were getting ready to pay off debt ... large chunks of debt."
That is 100% not true.
Sberbank (the largest financial institution in Russia) holds the largest market share of savings deposits in the country, is the main creditor of the Russian economy and is deemed by the government of Russia to be a systemically important financial institution …
Went to the car dealership today.
The older salesman asked me if I had heard of this chip shortage, then gently tried to explain how it affects something called supply and demand, bless his heart.
The House passed a bill Monday night that significantly scaled back the paid sick-leave program it had tried to enact days earlier.
Democrats and admin officials billed it as a technical corrections bill.
w/ @nataliewsj @siobhanehughes
Grassley says he will vote YES on Yellen "given her qualifications."
"That's not to say, however, that I do not have concerns, but they're policy concerns."
A sign she will breeze through confirmation.
The lapse in the $600 weekly jobless payments could have a huge impact on the broader economy.
How big? Researchers estimate a one-month expiration could cause consumer spending to fall 4.3% — more than the entire decline during the Great Recession.
Pelosi says $600 UI payments should be tied to the jobless rate, shrink as economy improves. (More on that idea here: google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.…)
She cites Yale study we reported on that found no evidence the payments are discouraging people from working: wsj.com/articles/is-60…
...@senatemajldr Mitch McConnell not to delay, but to instead focus full time on approving my outstanding nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett. Our Economy is doing very well. The Stock Market is at record levels, JOBS and unemployment...