Mar 31, 2017

03/31/2017: Disaster relief is uncertain under Trump

Members of FEMA's Colorado Urban Search and Rescue team check on residents who did not evacuate before Hurricane Ike's arrival September 14, 2008 in Galveston, Texas. Scott Olson/Getty Images

More than a dozen major disasters — mudslides, floods, a huge bridge collapse in Atlanta this week — have hit the U.S. since President Donald Trump took office. There are a few federal agencies in charge of cleanup and relief, but it's not yet clear how they'll change in this new administration. For example, FEMA doesn't have a director yet, even as Trump has proposed hundreds of millions in cuts. Plus: A Federal Reserve governor visits West Virginia and the latest on Trump's executive orders. And, as always, we'll wrap up the week in business and economic news.

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Weekly Wrap

Weekly Wrap: Executive orders and international trade

by Molly Wood

Mar 31, 2017

Wrapping up the week's business news with Catherine Rampell and Nela Richardson.

US President Donald Trump and US Vice President Mike Pence stand alongside Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as he speaks about Trump signing executive orders on trade policies in the Oval Office of the White House.

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

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Trump digs into trade abuse with two orders

by Mitchell Hartman

Mar 31, 2017

President Trump issued two executive orders dealing with trade today. One will start a 90-day clock for the Commerce Department to report back on countries unfairly subsidizing their exports to the U.S. That’s called dumping. Second, the administration will look into whether countervailing duties imposed by the U.S. when it finds another country is dumping are […]

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What Trump territory thinks about the Fed — and raising interest rates

by Nancy Marshall-Genzer

Mar 31, 2017

Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell wanted to see the economy of Trump voters firsthand.

Allie Herrington is a student at a job-training program in Morgantown run by a nonprofit called West Virginia Women Work. She says training programs are a great investment of federal money.

Nancy Marshall-Genzer

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Unsettled leadership could hurt federal disaster response

by Jed Kim

Mar 31, 2017

FEMA still lacks a permanent chief.

Last summer, a few thousand acres of forest burned in the foothills above Duarte, northeast of Los Angeles.

Jed Kim/Marketplace

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Senate blocks states from creating retirement plans

by Adam Allington

Mar 31, 2017

The Senate narrowly passed a plan to roll back a program used by states and local governments to create individual retirement accounts for workers not covered by an employer account. The program is already underway in several states, including California, Oregon, Maryland, Connecticut and Illinois. It’s an odd position Republicans now find themselves in — […]

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More than a dozen major disasters — mudslides, floods, a huge bridge collapse in Atlanta this week — have hit the U.S. since President Donald Trump took office. There are a few federal agencies in charge of cleanup and relief, but it’s not yet clear how they’ll change in this new administration. For example, FEMA doesn’t have a director yet, even as Trump has proposed hundreds of millions in cuts. Plus: A Federal Reserve governor visits West Virginia and the latest on Trump’s executive orders. And, as always, we’ll wrap up the week in business and economic news.