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Infrastructure is next on the Biden agenda
Mar 29, 2021

Infrastructure is next on the Biden agenda

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The push for COVID relief legislations was very partisan in the end. This time around, the White House is hoping to get congressional Republicans on board. Plus, what could be the first jobs report to show a real restart in hiring for the U.S. economy. And, Texans may soon have fewer electricity providers to choose from if some of the state’s smaller companies fail in the wake of February’s winter storm.

Segments From this episode

What to expect from Friday's jobs report, the first since many places in the U.S. moved toward reopening and the latest COVID relief package passed

“Economists are expecting big numbers,” Julia Coronado, founder and president of MacroPolicy Perspectives said. “The consensus is close to 650,000 jobs [added], so it’s the first restarting of hiring, like real hiring, after we got delayed and sort of flattened out during the winter by the resurgence of the virus.” At the same time, jobless claims are still historically high. Coronado says a boost in jobs created for the month of March would be great news, but we’re still down roughly 10 million people compared to those who were working before the pandemic. “It’s a long road to go even if we start seeing really great numbers.”

Big Texas energy companies may become more powerful after historic winter storm

Mar 29, 2021
Consolidation in the Texas energy sector could make a few companies "too big to fail," some say.
Several inches of snow blanketed most of Texas on Feb. 15. In the Denver Heights neighborhood of San Antonio, residents woke up to rolling blackouts that eventually turned into a multiday outage.
Dominic Walsh

Music from the episode

Hard Times Paramore

The team

Victoria Craig Host, BBC
Stephen Ryan Senior Producer, BBC
Jonathan Frewin Producer, BBC
Daniel Shin Producer
Jay Siebold Technical Director
Brian Allison Engineer
Meredith Garretson Morbey Senior Producer
Erika Soderstrom Producer
Rose Conlon Producer
Alex Schroeder Producer