Economy

WASHINGTON - Representatives of the U.S. maritime industry asked Congress for an emergency bailout Friday as they described how coronavirus is hurting ports and shippers. They are expecting their revenue to drop by as much as one-quarter below normal levels... Read More

WASHINGTON - In an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion, the House on Thursday passed legislation providing struggling small businesses with greater flexibility in using coronavirus relief loans. The bill, which amends the Paycheck Protection Program enacted in March, passed by a vote... Read More

WASHINGTON - Medical and social welfare witnesses told a congressional committee Wednesday that ethnic minorities need an increased effort to protect them from the devastation of coronavirus. They are dying or losing their jobs in some locations at almost twice... Read More

WASHINGTON - The economy is in crisis, but not everyone is feeling it the same way. One of the hardest-hit sectors is America’s small businesses. Over 99% of the nation’s 28.7 million firms are small and medium-sized businesses which contribute... Read More

WASHINGTON - District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday the city will lift its stay-at-home order on Friday and begin phase one of its reopening process. The details of Bowser's announcement are available here. The mayor said though new... Read More

WASHINGTON - Both the New Democrat Coalition and the Problem Solvers Caucus endorsed legislation on Tuesday intended to make the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program work better for more businesses across the country. Since its creation in the very first... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan bill introduced in both the House and Senate this week would create a flexible, $4,000 skills training credit for workers who have lost their job due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Skills Renewal Act affords these... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate has left town for its annual Memorial Day recess with no agreement in sight on a fourth coronavirus economic relief bill and a schedule that suggests a new stimulus won't be done until July. Last week,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the nine weeks since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic reached 38.6 million last week, just as states across the nation began to take decisive steps to reopen their... Read More

Vermont’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott announced a $400 million coronavirus relief package on Wednesday that taps into some of the $1.25 billion in funding the state received through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. In March, Congress... Read More

WASHINGTON - Unemployment among the nation's travel sector workers has reached 51% heading into the Memorial Day weekend, as Americans continue to refrain from resuming their normal lives in the face of the slowly easing coronavirus pandemic, according to data... Read More

WASHINGTON - Would you be willing to take a cruise right now? How about attending a live sporting event? Or staying in a hotel? Perhaps flying? A new survey of the travel and leisure attitudes of Americans found that more... Read More

The natural world has gotten a boost from the coronavirus pandemic.  With fewer cars on the roads and planes in the sky, the world has benefited from clearer skies and an unprecedented decline in carbon emissions.  Daily CO2 emissions decreased... Read More

The number of women running America's largest corporations has reached a record high with 37 of the companies on this year's Fortune 500 being led by female CEOs, Fortune magazine announced on Monday. The Fortune 500, which ranks America's largest... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan, bicameral effort is underway to provide hundreds of billions in funding to state and local governments reeling from the budgetary hit they've taken due to the coronavirus outbreak. The House bill introduced Monday by Reps. Josh... Read More

LOS ANGELES — With the coronavirus-induced shock to the economy crippling businesses of all sizes and leaving millions of Americans out of work, homelessness in the United States could grow as much as 45% in a year, according to a... Read More

WASHINGTON — Two months after lawmakers lamented public health officials’ inability to contact air travelers arriving in the U.S. who may have been exposed to the coronavirus, the federal government and airlines are still at odds over who should take... Read More

WASHINGTON — House Democrats are plowing ahead with a Friday vote on a $3 trillion-plus coronavirus relief measure, arguing the urgency to act outweighs concerns among rank-and-file lawmakers that the “bold” package described by party leaders isn’t bold enough. Several... Read More

WASHINGTON - The National League of Cities is calling on the Senate and White House to embrace a new coronavirus relief bill introduced in the House on Tuesday that allocates $375 billion for the nation's smaller cities, towns, counties and... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of House lawmakers on Tuesday urged Congress to provide funding for the U.S. automobile industry in future coronavirus stimulus packages. “America’s motor vehicle industry must remain the heart of our nation’s manufacturing capability,” wrote the... Read More

The arrival of COVID-19 has provided a nuclear-level stress test to the American health care system, and our grade isn’t pretty: at least 80,000 dead, 1.3 million infected and 30 million unemployed; nursing homes, prisons and meatpacking plants that have... Read More

RIO DE JANEIRO — It seemed like Silvanah Lima was finally getting ahead. Born and raised in Brazil’s drought-ridden northeast, she moved with her partner to Rio de Janeiro in 2018, in search of work. He was hired as a... Read More

WASHINGTON — Residents of lower-income states that voted for President Donald Trump got bigger stimulus checks in general than those in wealthier coastal enclaves that tend to back Democrats, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service. The demographics of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, told a Senate panel on Tuesday there could be "really serious" consequences to states and cities across the United States reopening their economies too quickly. He told the Senate... Read More

It was cold and rainy in Taylorville, Illinois as Rep. Rodney Davis answered his phone to discuss the new normal that comes with living through a pandemic. As Davis spoke, his wife Shannon was working as a practicing nurse at... Read More

WASHINGTON — The White House blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from issuing specific guidance for U.S. day cares, restaurants, churches, theaters and other businesses to reopen from the coronavirus outbreak out of concern the recommendations were too... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record. The figures are stark evidence of the damage the coronavirus... Read More

Many governors across the U.S. are disregarding or creatively interpreting White House guidelines for safely easing restrictions and letting businesses reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, an Associated Press analysis found. The AP determined that 17 states did not meet a... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. private sector employers cut 20.2 million jobs from their payrolls in April, a stunning sign of just what the coronavirus outbreak has done to the economy in a relatively short time. In a report released Wednesday, ADP,... Read More

WASHINGTON — Top Trump administration health officials repeatedly ignored warnings in January and February about the need for masks and other protective equipment to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak, according to a detailed whistleblower complaint from a senior scientist ousted... Read More