House Dems Upbeat on Holding BBB Vote as Moderates Await Final CBO Scoring
Deere strikers vote today | Yellen on debt hike | Inflation in U.S., U.K. rises | U.S./Japan trade
In Today’s Digital Newspaper
Market Focus:
• Treasury Sec. Yellen again raising red flag about need to boost debt limit
• Biden to soon announce Fed head pick, but confusing over exact timing
• Bullard: Fed ought to ‘go in a more hawkish direction in the next couple of meetings’
• U.S. gov’t dramatically underestimated job growth this summer
• Federal gov’t about to back mortgages of nearly $1 million for first time
• U.K. inflation for October surged to the highest in a decade
• Nurses winning raises worth thousands of dollars a year from hospitals
• Germany suspended approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline
• EIA view on tapping SPR: Benefit would be short-lived
• Interior to auction Gulf oil, gas leases today.
• Vancouver, Canada’s largest port, was virtually isolated by a storm and landslides
• Bitcoin briefly fell below $59,000 to its lowest price this month
• Ag demand update
• Price rebound overnight
• Ukraine not planning more wheat export
• Canadian wheat acreage to climb sharply amid higher prices
• Waiting on cash direction, preparing for Cattle on Feed
• Rough day for pork cutout
Policy Focus:
• Hoyer upbeat on BBB vote this week
• Spanberger: BBB Act must be ‘fully paid for’
• Farm Bureau comes out against BBB
Afghanistan:
• Taliban’s top diplomat warned of an Afghan refugee exodus
Biden Administration Personnel:
• Senate confirms Bonnie as undersecretary
• Senate clears Phillips to join FERC
• USTR nominees expected to clear Senate panel
• Sen. Rubio places holds on the nominations U.S. ambassadors to China and Spain
• Former Pentagon official to spearhead new security partnership with Australia & Britain
China Update:
• Biden admin. to announce diplomatic boycott of next year’s Olympics in Beijing
• White House : U.S. and China agreed to hold talks on nuclear-arms controls
Trade Policy:
• Vietnam eliminates U.S. wheat import tariff
• EU seeking to ban imports of foods from areas at risk of deforestation
• U.S. trade officials meeting this week with counterparts in Japan, South Korea & India
• U.S., Japan to move ahead on new trade partnership
• USTR Tai hopes for beef safeguard resolution
Energy & Climate Change:
• In rapidly aging Japan, older adults now use more diapers than babies do
Coronavirus Update:
• White House to spend billions expanding Covid vaccine manufacturing in U.S.
• Pfizer applies for U.S. approval of its Covid pill
• N.Y. City will allow people to celebrate New Year's Eve in Times Square, with caveat
Congress:
• When will Congress complete action this year?
• House to vote today on whether to censure GOP Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
• GOP Rep. Katko unperturbed by effort to push him out of a minority leadership post
Other Items of Note:
• Striking Deere workers will vote today on third contract offer
• Iran resumes production of parts for advanced centrifuges
• Staples Center renamed Crypto.com Arena
MARKET FOCUS
Equities today: Global stock markets were mixed in overnight trading. The U.S. stock indexes are pointed to mixed openings. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers — the only publicly owned, not-for-profit major pro sports team in the U.S. — are selling stock for the sixth time in the franchise's 102-year history. Asian equities finished mostly lower despite the rise in US markets Tuesday. The Nikkei fell 119.79 points, 0.40%, at 29,688.33. The Hang Seng Index was down 63.70 points, 0.25%, at 25,650.08. European equities are narrowly mixed in early action, with the Stoxx 600 up 0.1% and regional markets down 0.3% to up 0.1%.
U.S. equities yesterday: The Dow rose 54.77 points, 0.15%, at 36,142.22. The Nasdaq gained 120.01 points, 0.76%, at 15,973.86. The S&P 500 was up 18.10 points, 0.39%, at 4,700.90.
On tap today (see detailed list of events and reports below):
• U.S. housing starts are expected to rise to an annual pace of 1.58 million in October from 1.555 million one month earlier. (8:30 a.m. ET)
• Canada's consumer price index for October is out at 8:30 a.m. ET.
• Federal Reserve speakers: New York’s John Williams at a U.S. Treasury-market conference at 9:10 a.m. ET, Cleveland’s Loretta Mester at a financial stability conference at 11:20 p.m. ET, governor Christopher Waller on stablecoins at 12:40 p.m. ET, San Francisco’s Mary Daly at a U.S. Treasury-market conference at 12:40 p.m. ET, Chicago’s Charles Evans on the economy and monetary policy at 4:05 p.m. ET, and Atlanta’s Raphael Bostic on assistance for vulnerable renters at 4:10 p.m. ET.
Bullard: Fed ought to “go in a more hawkish direction in the next couple of meetings.” Ian appearance on Bloomberg TV, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the central bank should speed up its reduction of monetary stimulus in response to a surge in U.S. inflation. “I think it behooves the committee to go in a more hawkish direction in the next couple of meetings so we are managing the risk of inflation appropriately,” Bullard, who votes on monetary policy in 2022, said.
President Biden said he’ll decide on the next Fed chairman this week. It’s down to either re-appointing Jerome Powell or replacing him with Fed governor Lael Brainard. Powell has public backing from several Democratic and Republican senators, including most Republicans on the Banking Committee and key moderate Democrat Jon Tester of Montana. Still, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he has no doubt the Senate would confirm either candidate. However, However, the Wall Street Journal reports the White House said Biden would make his decision before Thanksgiving next week, which suggests that the announcement might happen next week.
U.S. could default by Dec. 15 if Congress doesn’t lift the debt limit, the Treasury Department warned, not Dec. 3 as previously predicted. Some private analysts predict a later timeline. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told congressional leaders on Tuesday that she has “a high degree of confidence” that her department will be able to finance the government through Dec. 15. But “there are scenarios,” she wrote, that would leave the government without enough cash beyond that date. Yellen concluded her letter Tuesday with a plea to leaders on Capitol Hill: “To ensure the full faith and credit of the United States, it is critical that Congress raise or suspend the debt limit as soon as possible.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said his party won’t help Democrats avert the next debt limit cliff, after 11 GOP senators ended up voting last month to raise the nation’s borrowing limit by $480 billion. Instead, McConnell insists that Democrats use the budget reconciliation process, which they’re using to pass Biden’s sweeping safety net bill, to act alone on the debt limit.
Yellen made clear in her letter the new deadline is tied to payment obligations created by the $550 billion infrastructure bill signed into law by President Joe Biden on Monday. That will require the Treasury to transfer $118 billion to the Highway Trust Fund within one month of the law’s enactment, which would be Dec. 15. The Treasury has since last month been using so-called extraordinary measures to help avoid running out of cash. The department said earlier this month that it had used up $182 billion of around $369 billion in cash made available through such measures. Lawmakers enacted a short-term boost to the debt limit last month, aiming to give enough space to coincide with a separate deadline, of Dec. 3, for regular annual funding of federal government agencies.
— U.S. gov’t dramatically underestimated job growth this summer. In the most recent four months with revisions, June through September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported it underestimated job growth by a cumulative 626,000 jobs — that’s the largest underestimate of any other comparable period, going back to 1979.
— Federal gov’t is about to back mortgages of nearly $1 million for the first time. The maximum size of home-mortgage loans eligible for backing by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are expected to jump sharply in 2022, a reflection of the rapid appreciation in home prices nationally over the past year. The increase may make it easier and cheaper for some borrowers to buy a home, particularly in more expensive areas of the country, but the higher limits are also likely to elevate debate about how big of a mortgage is too big to be backed by the government.
— U.K. inflation for October surged to the highest in a decade, according to this morning’s data, putting further pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates at its next meeting. Consumer prices rose 4.2% from a year ago in October, driven by energy prices and the impact of broad-based supply shortages across the economy. That was the fastest pace since November 2011 and up sharply from 3.1% in September. Economists and the BOE had expected 3.9%. Energy prices were the key driver of higher inflation. Economists expect consumer prices to rise further in the coming months before subsiding in 2022's second half.
Eurozone inflation rose 4.1% from a year earlier in October, the biggest increase in 13 years, statistics agency Eurostat said.
— Nurses are winning raises worth thousands of dollars a year from hospitals, the latest employer reckoning with a tight labor market. The average annual salary for registered nurses, not including bonus pay such as overtime, grew about 4% in the first nine months of the year to $81,376. The nation’s $1 trillion hospital sector is among the U.S. economy’s largest to be squeezed by upheaval across its workforce and strong demand for services following rollout of vaccines and an economic rebound.
Market perspectives:
• Outside markets: The U.S. dollar index has weakened slightly ahead of U.S. trading, with the euro and British pound both firmer against the greenback. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note has eased slightly, trading just under 1.64%, with a mixed tone to global government bond yields. Gold and silver futures have risen ahead of U.S. economic data, with gold trading above $1,865 per troy ounce and silver above $25.20 per troy ounce.
• Crude oil futures have continued under modest pressure ahead of U.S. trading, with US crude around $80.25 per barrel and Brent around $82 per barrel. Futures were down in Asian trading, with U.S. crude down 51 cents at $80.25 per barrel and Brent down 42 cents at $82.01 per barrel.
• Germany suspended approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline intended to transport natural gas directly to Germany from Russia. The decision sent Europe’s gas prices soaring, with the price of U.K. natural gas futures soaring more than 17% on Tuesday, amid concerns that Europe will run short of gas this winter. A German regulator (Bundesnetzagentur) said the owners of the pipeline had failed to file the necessary paperwork. The German regulator, the Federal Network Agency, which oversees essential infrastructure, said that Nord Stream 2 AG had failed to file the proper paperwork to establish the subsidiary. EU rules require gas producers to be legally separate from entities transporting fuel. Once the subsidiary has met the necessary bureaucratic requirements, an evaluation can begin anew. The action means that the recently completed pipeline will not begin supplying gas to Germany anytime soon. Reports note the delay will likely push the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline past its scheduled date in January and possibly into late spring, especially when paired with Ukrainian companies’ recent inclusion in the pipeline’s certification process.
• EIA view on tapping SPR: Benefit would be short-lived. Releasing crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) would only provide a “short-lived” benefit via lowering gasoline prices, according to acting Energy Information Administration (EIA) Administrator Stephen Nalley. “Our analysis shows that it’s generally short-lived—a couple of months—and that typically the other dynamics in the market would overtake any decrease in price,” Nalley told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in a session focused on what is impacting energy prices. He noted that releasing 15 million barrels to 48 million barrels of oil from the SPR would lower crude prices by around $2 per barrel, the equivalent of 10 cents per gallon for gasoline. Tapping the SPR is being mulled by the Biden administration with several lawmakers pushing the administration to take the action in a bid to drive down gasoline prices. But the prospect of the U.S. and China tapping emergency oil reserves in a coordinated move to bring down fuel prices spooked traders and sent oil futures lower. China is reportedly open to the request but hasn’t made any commitments. Crude has eased after hitting a seven-year high last month, and traders are trying to figure out the market’s likely trajectory into 2022.
• Interior to auction Gulf oil, gas leases today. The Department of Interior will auction oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico today, the first such sales undertaken by the Biden administration. Expectations are that 29 companies will be bidding on 307 oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The auction was originally scheduled for March but was put on hold after the Biden administration issued a moratorium on oil and gas lease sales. The sale today is a result of a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Louisiana decision which reversed the moratorium. Royalty rates of 18.75% will apply to most leases, with shallow-water tracts to have a 12.5% royalty.
• Vancouver, Canada’s largest port, was virtually isolated by a storm and landslides which severed roads and railways. Several people are missing; an untold number of buried cars have yet to be recovered. This summer a heatwave killed 500 people elsewhere in British Columbia and last week a tornado touched down in the province for the first time in 50 years.
• Bitcoin briefly fell below $59,000 to its lowest price this month as cryptocurrencies broadly retreated.
• Ag demand: South Korea purchased 64,000 MT of optional origin corn. Algeria purchased at least 600,000 MT of optional origin milling wheat. Egypt tendered Wednesday afternoon to buy an unspecified amount of wheat from multiple origins, with results expected later today.
• NWS weather: Strong and gusty winds across the northern Plains will gradually moderate as deep storm in southern Canada weakens and moves away... ...Some wintry precipitation is forecast for northern New England tonight ahead of a warm front... ...A cold front will bring a around of rain through the eastern U.S. for the next couple of days followed by colder temperatures and lake-effect snow/rain over the Great Lakes... ...Tropical moisture will bring some enhanced rainfall across southern Florida on Thursday.
Items in Pro Farmer's First Thing Today include:
• Price rebound overnight
• Ukraine not planning more wheat export
• Canadian wheat acreage to climb sharply amid higher prices
• Waiting on cash direction, preparing for Cattle on Feed
• Rough day for pork cutout
POLICY FOCUS
— Top Dem on BBB: “We’re going to get it done this week.” That’s what House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday. Hoyer said that the House will “be able to pass the massive climate and families legislation by the end of the week and then break for Thanksgiving.” Hoyer said, “I hope to vote on it as soon as Thursday, but perhaps on Friday. We’re going to get it done this week.” But he acknowledged the vote timing could slip into Saturday.
But the issue of the coming Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score of Build Back Better (BBB) is still a key issue. In an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) was asked about the fate of the Build Back Better Act (BBB) in the House. Spanberger said, “There’s a group of individuals, myself included, who wanted to know the full scope of the this bill in terms of what the CBO score is, what the bill is going to cost, before we ultimately take a vote. It’s about ensuring that we as legislators are making responsible, informed decisions. I think for many people that’s not necessarily going to be a deal breaker. There’s so much in this bill that is incredibly value. ... But...we have to know what it is we will ultimately be passing. We’ve been talking about a bill that’s fully paid for. It’s important that it be fully paid for.”
Democrats are still waiting for scoring from CBO on several major committee titles of the legislation, including the sections covering the Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees.
— Farm Bureau comes out against Build Back Better (BBB). The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has come out against the social infrastructure/Build Back Better (BBB) package, declaring in a letter (link) to members of the House of Representatives that while some portions of the bill would benefit agriculture, “the massive amount of spending and tax increases required to pay for the plan outweigh the gains we would see in rural America.” The AFBF also criticized the way the package has been compiled, pointing to a lack of bipartisan involvement. “The agriculture industry and the committees of jurisdiction have held to a long tradition of bipartisanship that we have seen erode over this past year,” the group said. “We hope this does not negatively impact future farm policy discussions.”
The Farm Bureau criticized provisions that would boost fines and penalties for violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. They noted those who make mistakes trying to navigate the complex rules and regulations in these areas should not become sources of funding. “Farm Bureau does not condone bad actors when it comes to appropriately managing safety, the seasonal workforce, and employee pay on the farm, fines associated with OSHA, FLSA, or MSPA violations should not be determined based on their ability to serve as a pay-for in a partisan legislative process,” they stated. “If enacted, these provisions could put well-meaning farmers and ranchers out of business.”
Noting inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions still being seen, the group said, “After watching months of contentious, partisan debate surrounding the Build Back Better Act, Farm Bureau can only stand in opposition to the legislation.”
In a statement accompanying the letter, AFBF President Zippy Duvall said, “We appreciate House efforts to protect farmers and ranchers by leaving key tax provisions untouched. Thousands of small businesses, however, would still be affected by tax increases, forcing them to pass increased costs to families across the nation.” It is not likely that the group’s opposition will sway many Democratic lawmakers to oppose the package, but they do raise a concern relative to the potential for the lack of bipartisanship in developing the plan could mark the debate on the next farm bill.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) expressed his thanks AFBF's stance on BBB, tweeting, "We appreciate @FarmBureau lending it's powerful voice to this debate. They are correct: 'the massive amount of spending and tax increases required to pay for the plan outweigh the gains we would see in rural America.'"
AFGHANISTAN
— Taliban’s top diplomat warned of an Afghan refugee exodus if the U.S. continues to block the release of some $9 billion of the country’s assets.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PERSONNEL
— Senate confirms Bonnie as undersecretary. The Senate voted 76-19 Tuesday to confirm Robert Bonnie as undersecretary for farm production and conservation at USDA. Bonnie currently serves as the department’s deputy chief of staff and senior adviser for climate. As undersecretary, he now will oversee programs involving crop insurance, conservation, commodities, and disasters.
— Senate clears Phillips to join FERC. The Senate Tuesday evening confirmed Willie Phillips to be a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on a voice vote. The addition of Phillips to the energy regulator would give Democrats a three-to-two majority on the regulatory panel, breaking what at times have been deadlocked decisions by FERC. Phillips was approved for a term that runs until June 2026. It is not year clear when he will be sworn in. FERC’s next regular monthly meeting is scheduled for Thursday (Nov. 18).
— USTR nominees expected to clear Senate panel. The Senate Finance Committee votes today on two nominees for posts at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The panel is expected to approve the nominations of María Pagán for deputy USTR in Geneva and Christopher Wilson for chief innovation and intellectual property negotiator at USTR.
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has placed holds on the nominations of Nicholas Burns and Julissa Reynoso Pantaleón to serve as U.S. ambassadors to China and Spain, a release says. Burns has failed “to understand the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party,” said Rubio, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Rubio said Reynoso Pantaleón is a “Castro sympathizer” and wouldn’t pressure Spain to increase pressure on authoritarian regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
— U.S. named former Pentagon official James Miller to spearhead its new security partnership with Australia and Britain, meant to counter China’s growing might in the Pacific.
CHINA UPDATE
— Biden administration is planning to announce this month a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Olympics in Beijing — a snub over China’s human rights record that will nonetheless let American athletes compete, according to the Washington Post (link).
— White House said that the U.S. and China agreed to hold talks on nuclear-arms controls — though the date, format and range of discussions must still be negotiated. The U.S. has recently professed alarm at the pace at which China is developing nukes. The two countries also agreed to reduce visa restrictions on one another’s journalists.
TRADE POLICY
— Vietnam eliminates U.S. wheat import tariff. The government of Vietnam will eliminate a 3% tariff on U.S. wheat imports effective Dec. 30. The Southeast Asia nation was the lone remaining Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) country applying a tariff on U.S. wheat imports but not on those from Canadian and Australian wheat. Vietnam represents a "potential growth market" for the U.S., said Steve Mercer, vice president of communications at U.S. Wheat. The 97 million population nation imported more than 500,000 metric tons of U.S. hard red spring, soft white, hard red winter and soft red winter wheat valued at $129 million in the 2020-2021 marketing year. Vietnam imports an average of 4 million metric tons of wheat per year.
— EU seeking to ban imports of foods from areas at risk of deforestation, in a landmark regulation designed to protect the world’s most vulnerable forests. Virginijus Sinkevicius, the EU’s commissioner for the environment and oceans, told the Financial Times that Brussels would target six agricultural products — beef, soybeans, palm oil, coffee, cacao and timber — in a draft anti-deforestation law due to be published today. The regulation would force companies to prove that products they sold into the EU’s single market did not contribute to legal and illegal deforestation or forest degradation through agricultural use. “This regulation showcases our global responsibility and that the EU is walking the talk,” said Sinkevicius.
The draft law, which will need to be approved by EU governments and the European parliament, comes weeks after more than 100 world leaders promised to end global deforestation by 2030 at the U.N. COP26 summit.
The six products account for around 19% of commodity imports into the EU, with the ban designed to reduce the impact of European consumer demand on the world’s forests and indigenous communities.
— Top U.S. trade and commerce officials are meeting this week with their counterparts in Japan, South Korea and India — but not China — as the Biden administration seeks to build stronger economic ties with friendly nations in Asia. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have a series of meetings to discuss issues from supply-chain resilience to the digital economy to pandemic response. Such efforts reflect President Biden’s pledge to work more closely with allies and friendly nations to better confront challenges stemming from China’s expanding economic influence in the region.
— U.S., Japan to move ahead on new trade partnership; USTR Tai hopes for beef safeguard resolution. The US and Japan will cooperative closely on trade issues ahead and will set up the U.S./Japan Partnership on Trade, according to a statement from U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai after meeting with Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu.
The new effort will see the two countries hold regular meetings starting in 2022 to “advance a shared agenda of cooperation” and “address bilateral trade issues of concern to either side.”
A readout of the session also noted that Tai “expressed her strong hope for a quick and positive resolution to the current beef safeguard consultations between the U.S. and Japan.” That refers to consultations required under the U.S./Japan Trade Agreement that took effect in 2019 that requires negotiations between the two if safeguard provisions were triggered by shipments of U.S. beef to Japan. That happened earlier this year, prompting a rise in tariffs on imports of U.S. beef.
Tai also discussed the Biden administration’s plans for an Economic Framework in the Indo-Pacific region.
ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
— In rapidly aging Japan, older adults now use more diapers than babies do. One town is recycling used diapers into fuel pellets. The amount of adult diapers entering the waste stream in Japan has increased by nearly 13 %, to almost 1.5 million tons annually, in the last five years, according to data from the environment ministry. It is projected to grow a further 23% by 2030, when those 65 and older will represent close to a third of the population. Link to details via the NYT.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
— Summary: Global cases of Covid-19 are at 254,544,810 with 5,118,092 deaths, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. case count is at 47,311,015 with 765,913 deaths. The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center said that there have been 443,374,199 doses administered, 195,435,688 have been fully vaccinated, or 59.54% of the U.S. population.
— White House plans to spend billions expanding Covid vaccine manufacturing in the U.S. and boosting supplies in the developing world. The goal is to produce at least one billion vaccine doses a year beginning in the second half of 2022, two top advisers to President Biden said.
— Pfizer applies for U.S. approval of its Covid pill. The drugmaker wants Paxlovid to be used to treat at-risk unvaccinated people; it could become available within weeks, and the U.S. has already agreed to buy enough to treat 10 million people.
— New York City will allow people to celebrate New Year's Eve in Times Square, as long as they're fully vaccinated.
CONGRESS
— When will Congress complete action this year? Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), asked when he thought Congress would be wrapped for the year, guessed: “New Year’s Eve.”
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) was overheard whistling as he left the Capitol after a vote on Monday night. Asked by The Hill if he was whistling a Christmas carol, Moran confirmed that it was “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” but warned that the next line in the song is “if only in my dreams.”
— The House is expected to vote today on whether to censure Republican Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and strip him of committee posts after he posted an anime video to his Twitter and Instagram accounts showing him appearing to kill Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and attacking President Biden. Republicans will retaliate against Democrats if they win the majority in 2023, say some observers. GOP lawmakers mention Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Maxine Waters (Calif.) among those who would be in danger of being removed from their panels by a GOP majority.
— Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) says he’s unperturbed by an effort to push him out of a minority leadership post on the House Homeland Security Committee as punishment for bucking his party to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this month. “It would be nice if people spent more time worrying about the issues instead of trying to take out their colleagues,” Katko told Bloomberg Government yesterday. His Democratic counterpart, Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), also said he hopes “cooler heads will prevail.”
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE
— Striking Deere workers will vote today on a third contract offer that would raise the base productivity pay about 4%.
— The Staples Center, home to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, will be renamed the Crypto.com Arena after a cryptocurrency brokerage paid to sponsor the venue.
— Iran has resumed production of parts for advanced centrifuges at a site that the U.N.’s atomic-energy agency has been unable to monitor, presenting a new challenge for the Biden administration as it prepares for nuclear talks. Centrifuges are used to spin enriched uranium into higher levels of purity either for civilian use or, at 90% purity, for nuclear weapons. Western diplomats say the renewed work could allow Iran to start secretly diverting centrifuge parts if Tehran chose to build a covert nuclear-weapons program, although they say there is no evidence at this point that it has done so.
EVENTS AND REPORTS
Wednesday, Nov. 17
· Federal Reserve. Fed Governor Christopher Waller, New York Fed President John Williams, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic scheduled to speak.
· USDA nominations. Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the nominations of Chavonda Jacobs-Young to be Agriculture undersecretary for research, education and economics; and Margo Schlanger to be an assistant Agriculture secretary.
· Trade policy and agriculture. House Agriculture Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee hearing on "Trade Policy and Priorities."
· U.S./China report. U.S./China Economic and Security Review Commission event for the release of the 2021 Annual Report to Congress.
· U.S. supply chain challenges. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on "Industry and Labor Perspectives: A Further Look at North American Supply Chain Challenge."
· Trade and climate change. Peterson Institute for International Economics (virtual discussion on "What happened at COP26 and how can trade help save the climate?"
· Treasury markets. Federal Reserve Bank of New York virtual 2021 U.S. Treasury Market Conference, with remarks from Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Brian Smith, New York Fed President John Williams, SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Treasury Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang, and Rostin Behnam, acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
· Cybersecurity and government. Final day of the SC Media virtual 2021 SC Gov conference, with Puesh Kumar, acting principal deputy assistant Energy secretary in the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response, participating in a discussion on "Protecting critical infrastructure through public-private partnership."
· Fish and Wildlife nominee. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the nomination of Martha Williams to be director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
· Fusion energy research. House Science, Space and Technology Energy Subcommittee hearing on "Fostering a New Era of Fusion Energy Research and Technology Development."
· Afghanistan. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "Afghanistan 2001-2021: U.S. Policy Lessons Learned."
· Preventing ransomware. House Homeland Security Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Innovation Subcommittee and Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee joint hearing on "A Whole-of-Government Approach to Combating Ransomware: Examining DHS's Role."
· FCC, FTC nominations. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on the nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel to be a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission; Alvaro M. Bedoya to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission; and other posts.
· The U.S. and global Covid vaccines. House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on "U.S. Role in Global Covid-19 Vaccine Equity."
· U.S./Canada energy. United States Energy Association virtual discussion on "What's Working: The Canadian-American Energy Relationship."
· Global water strategy. Agency For International Development teleconference on United States Global Water Strategy 2017-2022.
· Crypto currencies. Joint Economic Committee hearing on "Demystifying Crypto: Digital Assets and the Role of Government."
· Border security and trade. Senate Homeland Security Governmental Operations and Border Management Subcommittee hearing on "Federal Government Perspective: Improving Security, Trade, and Travel Flows at the Southwest Border Ports of Entry."
· Economic report. Housing Starts
· Energy reports. EIA Petroleum Status Report | Weekly Ethanol Production | Genscape ARA weekly crude inventory | China output data for oil products (October)
· USDA reports. ERS: Rural America at a Glance: 2021 Edition NASS: Broiler Hatchery
