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Unsettled leadership could hurt federal disaster response

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

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

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

Trump digs into trade abuse with two orders

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 […]

What does it take to get security clearance?

Mar 30, 2017
Presidential hires get to cut into the line, which can take years to get through.
Ivanka Trump participates in a listening session with manufacturing CEOs in the State Dining Room of the White House.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Congressional Budget Office weighs in on the next 30 years

Mar 30, 2017
If you want to be loved, you don’t go to work for the Congressional Budget Office. The non-partisan agency’s job is to make economic projections and provide Congress with all sorts of budget data. Data that fails to account for all sorts of possibilities and invariably makes somebody unhappy. The agency earned the wrath of […]

Looming budget fight could slow GOP push for tax reform

Mar 28, 2017
Following the collapse of the House GOP health plan, President Trump and congressional Republicans say they will now pivot to tax reform. But they have got some serious heavy lifting to do before they get there. The appropriations bill passed last November expires at the end of April. With Republicans divided, the GOP may now […]

Executive order will discount the cost of carbon pollution

Mar 28, 2017
The White House says it will try to roll back a host of climate initiatives from the Obama administration. These are rules that apply to power plants and coal mines, for instance. But also look out for a sweeping attempt to undercut the government’s way of measuring climate pollution. Right now, federal agencies have to […]

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Health insurers weigh choice of offering plans on Obamacare exchanges in 2018 or pulling out

Mar 27, 2017
What now? That’s the question after House Republicans last week failed to pass a repeal-and-replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Over the weekend President Trump predicted the ACA will “explode.” One way that could happen is if more insurers drop out of state and federal exchanges in 2018. They’re worried […]

Trump’s son-in law to head new American Innovation office with an old concept

Mar 27, 2017
Kushner will try to marry private-sector efficiency with government bureaucracy.

Weekly Wrap: Health care bill falls apart. Now what?

Mar 24, 2017
Leigh Gallagher of Fortune and Sudeep Reddy of Politico join us to discuss the week’s business and economic news. This week, they talk about the GOP’s health care bill falling apart and what comes next now that President Donald Trump shifts focus on tax reform.   
President Donald Trump asked Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to withdraw the Republican health care bill moments before a vote.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images