(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve is set to announce on Wednesday whether it will impose another interest rate hike, the central bank’s latest move in a months-long fight that has eased inflation but risks plunging the U.S. into a recession.
The Fed has put forward a string of borrowing cost increases as it tries to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. economy into a downturn and putting millions out of work.
At a meeting in December, the Fed raised its short-term borrowing rate a half-percentage point, pulling back from three consecutive 0.75% increases and signaling confidence that sky-high inflation could be brought down to normal levels.
Economists expect the Fed to continue softening its approach with a 0.25% rate hike on Wednesday.
The decision comes weeks after a government report showed that inflation slowed in December, marking six consecutive months of easing price increases.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% over the year-long period ending in December, which amounts to a significant slowdown from a summer peak but remains more than triple the Fed’s target inflation rate of 2%.
Cooling inflation has spurred optimism that the U.S. economy may avert a recession. In a report on Monday, the International Monetary Fund projected that U.S. economic growth would slow this year but that the U.S. could still avoid a downturn.
Further, government data last week showed that the U.S. economy grew robustly at the end of last year, defying concerns about an imminent recession.
Still, most economists expect a recession later this year, as interest rate hikes weigh on the economy, according to a survey released by Bloomberg last week. Forecasters expect gross domestic product to fall over the second and third quarters of this year, the survey found.
Growing evidence suggests the Fed’s rate hikes have put the brakes on some economic activity.
Home sales fell for the 11th consecutive month in December, reaching their lowest rate since November 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell in December, ending the typically busy holiday shopping season with a whimper. Year-over-year retail sales dropped by about 1% last month, extending a nearly identical fall in November.
So far, however, the labor market has proven resilient, buoying the hopes of policymakers seeking to cool prices without causing significant job losses.
In December, employers added 233,000 jobs and wages grew a strong 4.6% compared to a year earlier.
(DONETSK REGION, Eastern Ukraine) — Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukrainian positions in eastern Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin presses for gains on the battlefield ahead of the one-year anniversary of the war towards the end of this month.
Ukrainian and Russian forces remain locked in a brutal battle in and around the eastern city of Bakhmut.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian army said its positions in that area had been shelled 151 times during the previous 24 hours. Russian claims that its forces had surrounded the city were denied by Ukrainian officials.
However, Russia has also started a more sustained assault to the south on another frontline town called Vuhledar, according to both Ukrainian and Western officials.
Images circulating on social media show that the town has been pummeled by Russian artillery and Western officials said Russia had made “creeping gains” in that area.
Russia’s offensive in Vuhledar, they thought, could be an attempt to force the Ukrainians to move resources away from the battle in Bakhmut.
“It’s a devastating First World War-like environment” Western officials told journalists at a briefing on Tuesday, adding that both sides were sustaining “really heavy casualties.”
Medics at a Ukrainian army field hospital situated a few miles from the frontlines in eastern Ukraine told ABC News last Thursday that they are currently receiving “dozens of casualties” every day.
As Russia attempts to push forward, it has recently enjoyed some “tactical successes” in eastern Ukraine, according to Western officials.
However, the officials claimed there is still broad “parity” between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the battle zone and argued that Russia still does not have the means to commit significant additional resources into the fight to tip the balance.
That said, Ukraine and its Western allies are in a race against time.
The U.S. and its NATO partners are working to get new weaponry, including advanced Western tanks into Ukraine.
More than a hundred German-made Leopard 2 tanks and British Challenger 2 tanks could take “months” to reach the battlefield, say officials.
Ukrainian forces are also potentially more vulnerable to Russian attacks now because some of its best soldiers are resting and training on new Western weaponry ahead of a likely Ukrainian offensive in the coming weeks or months.
The Russians are also preparing for an “imminent offensive,” said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in one of its recent reports, stating that its assessment came from “western, Ukrainian and Russian sources.”
However, the uptick in Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine did not mean a major Russian offensive was already underway, Western officials told journalists.
If Russia wants to launch a successful offensive, it will need to mobilize more soldiers, via a fresh draft, the officials claimed.
“The Russians’ ability to supply their troops and provide appropriate logistics to their forces in the battle zone limits their ability to change the course of the conflict,” they told reporters on Tuesday.
(WASHINGTON) — When President Joe Biden sits down with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in the Oval Office Wednesday, he says he’ll tell the GOP leader: “Show me your budget; I’ll show you mine.”
The highly anticipated meeting, the first the two men will hold since McCarthy narrowly won the speakership last month, comes amid an ongoing standoff over the national debt limit.
The president told reporters Monday that would be his message for McCarthy, who has insisted on budget cuts in exchange for Republican support to lift the debt ceiling — and avoid a catastrophic default.
The White House has repeatedly said it would not negotiate with Republicans — that the stakes for the U.S. economy were too high, and that the limit had been raised 74 times before, including with Republican support under then-President Donald Trump.
But on Tuesday, the president suggested he was open to talking. Asked if he would negotiate with the speaker during Wednesday’s meeting, which is scheduled to take place at 3:15 p.m., Biden responded simply, “Show me his budget.”
The president has long cast himself as a dealmaker, eager to sit down with Republicans to reach bipartisan agreements. At a fundraiser in New York on Tuesday, Biden referred to McCarthy as “a decent man.”
But he has also lambasted congressional Republicans as “extreme” and said McCarthy had given in to that faction to take control.
“Look at what he had to do,” the president said Tuesday. “He had to make commitments that were just absolutely off the wall for a speaker of the House to make in terms of being able to become a leader.”
Responding to Biden’s comments at the fundraiser, McCarthy said, “apparently he doesn’t understand.”
“I’m looking forward to sitting down with the president negotiating for the American public — the people of America — on how we can find savings,” McCarthy said.
When asked if he planned to make Biden a specific offer, McCarthy said, “I think we’re gonna sit down and negotiate.”
That public posturing was only the latest salvo launched between the two men.
Earlier Tuesday, McCarthy told reporters that he was “willing to sit down” with Biden “and finally get this done long before the debt limit hits its point that we have to get something done.”
“Because why would you put the economics of America in jeopardy?” he said. “Why would you play political games?”
McCarthy has noted he and Biden had “met many times prior to him being president,” although “not as often as being president.”
He said Tuesday the White House should “say they’re willing to negotiate, because the only irresponsible way is to play a political game and say, we’re not going to talk about it. It sounds pretty childish to me.”
Earlier in the day, top White House officials wrote in a memo that Biden planned to pose two questions to McCarthy during the meeting.
The president is expected to ask McCarthy if he will “commit to the bedrock principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations” and whether he agrees with “former presidents, including Presidents Trump and Reagan, that it is critical to avoid debt limit brinksmanship,” according to the memo, which was first obtained by ABC News.
The authors of the memo — the president’s top economic adviser, Brian Deese, and the director of the White House budget office, Shalanda Young — noted Biden planned to release a budget on March 9. They challenged McCarthy to do the same.
“It is essential,” they wrote, “that Speaker McCarthy likewise commit to releasing a budget, so that the American people can see how House Republicans plan to reduce the deficit – whether through Social Security cuts; cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) health coverage; and/or cuts to research, education, and public safety – as well as how much their Budget will add to the deficit with tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations, as in their first bill this year.”
In response, McCarthy wrote in a statement Tuesday: “Mr. President: I received your staff’s memo. I’m not interested in political games. I’m coming to negotiate for the American people.”
Republicans in the House have insisted on deep spending cuts in exchange for their cooperation on raising the debt ceiling.
The Republican Study Committee, which represents the largest group of Republicans in the House, previously called for revisions to Social Security and Medicare, including raising the age for Medicare to 67 and Social Security to the age of 70 for younger workers.
But McCarthy recently said any cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be “off the table.”
McCarthy pointed to the “Commitment to America” plan presented by Republicans before the midterms, which he said “strengthens” Medicare and Social Security. The White House has accused McCarthy of being “evasive” on his plan for government spending.
Pressed on what he meant by “strengthen” and whether he would seek to raise the retirement age — McCarthy said: “No, no, no. What I’m talking about Social Security, Medicare, you keep that to the side.”
“I want to find a reasonable and a responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling but take control of this runaway spending,” McCarthy said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed support for McCarthy.
“We’re all behind Kevin,” he said Tuesday. “Wishing him well in the negotiations.”
Meanwhile, the White House has repeatedly said Biden will not negotiate or compromise by tying a debt limit increase to spending cuts, with the administration pointing to the bipartisan history of the ceiling being increased by both parties over the years.
“Attempts to exploit the debt ceiling as leverage will not work,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last month. “There will be no hostage taking.”
Earlier this month, McCarthy made it clear he was holding firm.
“For the president to say he wouldn’t even negotiate — that’s irresponsible. We’re going to be responsible. We’re going to be sensible, and we’re going to get this done together. So the longer he waits, the more he puts the fiscal jeopardy of America up for grabs,” McCarthy told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott last month. “We should sit down and get this done and stop playing politics,” he added.
The debt limit doesn’t allow government spending on new programs — instead it allows the U.S. to borrow any money it needs to pay for the nation’s existing bills.
The federal government hit the current debt ceiling, about $31.4 trillion, earlier this month prompting the Treasury Department to step in with “extraordinary measures” which will allow the nation to avert a catastrophic default until June.
“President Biden will ask Speaker McCarthy to publicly assure the American people and the rest of the world that the United States will, as always, honor all of its financial obligations,” the memo stated.
(WASHINGTON) — Republicans on Wednesday will take their first opportunity of the new Congress to illustrate what they call a protracted migration crisis across the southwestern border caused by overly lax policies of the Biden administration.
“How many illegal aliens will cross the southern border this month?” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who will lead a committing hearing, asked on Twitter last week.
To answer Jordan’s question: The number of illegal border crossings has recently declined, a data point that undermines the GOP narrative. This past week, according to the Department of Homeland Security, the pace of border apprehensions dropped to the lowest rate since February 2021 — to about 5,000 per day. That’s down from levels as high as 8,000 to 9,000 in December, according to DHS, and sources tell ABC News the downward trend continues to hold for now.
Regardless, Republicans are expected to continue deriding the administration over its latest efforts to pair a border crackdown with new, narrow pathways for certain migrants to seek relief.
A group of mostly-GOP led states has sued the administration over its latest parole program expansion which allows up to 30,000 vetted migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela to apply for temporary parole and a chance to seek more permanent humanitarian relief. Democrats have long supported pathways for asylum seekers with some saying more can be done to support those fleeing violence.
“We need to establish a safe and orderly way for people to be able to get processed and, and be able to seek asylum,” said Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, a member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, which is planning its own border hearing later in February.
Along with the parole programs, Mexico has agreed to accept the return of up to 30,000 migrants from those four countries. For now, the administration is relying on the controversial Trump-era order under Title 42 of the U.S. health code which allows for the rapid expulsion of migrants from the border.
“I believe that expansion of Title 42 is something that is being implemented in order to slow Republican political attacks on immigrants and on the administration,” Casar said. “I think that’s a mistake.”
Whether Title 42 is in fact expanded will depend on migrants continuing to attempt unauthorized border crossings. Given the message sent by an enhanced enforcement posture, combined with the opportunity to seek admission away from the border, the declines seen so far in January are an encouraging sign for the Biden administration.
Wednesday’s hearing will feature Judge Dale Lynn Carruthers of Terrell County, Texas, who has likened the historic level of unauthorized migration across the southwest to an “invasion.”
Far-right extremists have towed a similar line. Authorities documented anti-immigrant motivations and “invasion” rhetoric in connection with 2019 El Paso Walmart shooter Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 people and wounded dozens more. Crusius said he traveled to El Paso to stop what he called “the Hispanic invasion” of Texas.
Another committee witness, Mark Dannels, Sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, has called the Biden administration’s approach to immigration policy “open borders by design” regardless of the continued implementation of Title 42.
Despite progress made to reduce illegal crossings, a growing number of migrants have been turning to the seas — showing up in south Florida. Seasonal weather patterns and storms in the Caribbean can slow migration temporarily and may indicate a false sign of progress.
This week the Biden administration announced the upcoming formal end of the COVID-19 health emergency. After attempting to repeal Title 42 border expulsion order, the Biden administration has been blocked by groups of GOP-led states from fully repealing the emergency policy.
The broader end of the government’s pandemic emergency declaration could serve as another attempt at rescinding the policy that has received significant criticism from the left. Immigrant advocates deride the administration for continuing to implement a program which allows for the sharp curtailment of humanitarian protections for migrants across Central and South America fleeing targeted violence.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Tyre Nichols’ family will gather in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday for his funeral, weeks after the 29-year-old died following a violent encounter with Memphis police officers caught on body camera.
The graphic footage of Nichols’ traffic stop and beating was released to the public on Friday and sparked nationwide outrage. Nichols, a young father who loved skateboarding, died on Jan. 10.
“This video illustrates exactly what happened on those streets that night. This also justifies our son showing that he was no threat to them,” Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, told ABC News Live. “We needed the public to see it so that they could make their own judgment.”
Five officers involved in the Jan. 7 traffic stop have been fired and arrested on charges including second-degree murder.
Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said, “I just feel like my son was sent here on an assignment. His assignment was fulfilled and God took him home.”
“That’s what keeps me going, because I’m not going to stop until I get justice by my side,” she said.
Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Memphis for the funeral. Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, and George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, will also be in attendance.
The service begins at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 01, 6:11 AM EST
Memphis bridges to be lit up for Tyre Nichols
Two bridges in Memphis will be lit red and gold Wednesday night in honor of Tyre Nichols’ favorite football team, the San Francisco 49ers.
Feb 01, 5:23 AM EST
Vice President Harris to attend
Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Memphis, Tennessee, to attend Tyre Nichols’ funeral.
Nichols family attorney Ben Crump said Nichols’ parents spoke with Harris on the phone for over 30 minutes.
Harris and Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, “spoke exclusively, and during this emotional time, the Vice President was able to console Ms. Wells and even help her smile,” Crump said in a statement on Tuesday.
Principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton said Tuesday, “When President Biden spoke with Mr. Nichols’ families last week, he told them that he was going to be making the case to Congress to pass the George Floyd justice and policing act.”
Dalton added the administration’s usual caveat that Biden has basically maxed out his executive authorities on the issue, and that Congress needs to act to effect further change.
“President Biden is committed to doing everything in his power to ensure our criminal justice system lives up to the promise of fair and impartial justice, equal treatment and dignity for all,” she said.
“We need Congress to come together and take action to ensure our justice system lives up to its name,” she added.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Two of the former Memphis police officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols were previously reprimanded for not filing required paperwork after forcibly arresting individuals, ABC News has learned.
ABC News obtained personnel records for Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith, all of whom were fired from the Memphis Police Department last month before being arrested and charged with several felonies, including second-degree murder.
The records show Mills failed to submit a “Response to Resistance” form after using force to assist other officers with arresting a woman in 2019. According to the case summary, the woman was apparently drunk and resisting arrest, so Mills “grabbed [her] by the arms, taking her down to the ground.” He then “placed her arms behind her back and another officer put handcuffs on her,” the case summary stated. Mills later received a written reprimand for not filling out the “Response to Resistance” form, according to the records.
The records show Haley also failed to submit a “Response to Resistance” form after using force to assist other officers with arresting a woman in 2021. According to the case summary, Haley “grabbed [her] by the arm and turned her around to be handcuff (sic) as she resisted arrest.” He then “helped another officer with putting [her] in the backseat of a squad car,” the case summary stated. The woman blamed one of the other officers on scene for dislocating her shoulder during the encounter. Haley later received a written reprimand for not filling out the “Response to Resistance” form, according to the records.
Haley, Mills, Bean, Martin and Smith were involved in the traffic stop that allegedly led to Nichols’ death last month. Nichols was arrested in Memphis on the evening of Jan. 7, after officers attempted to make a traffic stop for reckless driving near the area of Raines Road and Ross Road, according to separate press releases from the Memphis Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A confrontation unfolded as the officers approached Nichols, who ran away. Another confrontation occurred when the officers pursued Nichols and ultimately apprehended him, police said.
After the incident, Nichols “complained of having a shortness of breath” and was transported by ambulance to Memphis’ St. Francis Hospital in critical condition, according to police.
Due to Nichols’ condition, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office was contacted and TBI special agents were subsequently requested to conduct a use-of-force investigation, according to the TBI.
Nichols “succumbed to his injuries” on Jan. 10, the TBI said.
Local, state and federal authorities continue to investigate the Jan. 7 traffic stop and Nichols’ death.
Video of the incident, comprised of footage from the city’s surveillance cameras and the former officers’ body-worn cameras, was made public last Friday. The graphic video, which shows the officers beating Nichols, has sparked nationwide outrage.
According to a preliminary independent autopsy commissioned by Nichols’ family and released by their lawyers, he suffered from “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.”
Neither the independent autopsy report nor official autopsy report have been publicly released.
Bean, Haley, Martin, Mills and Smith were part of the SCORPION Unit, an acronym for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods launched in 2021 by the Memphis Police Department. The goal of the unit was created to address violent crimes in the city in a 50-person unit that operates seven days a week. According to the Memphis Police Department, the five former officers violated policies for use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid. Other officers are under investigation for department violations as well.
All five were booked into Shelby County Jail on Jan. 26. Bonds were set at $350,000 for Martin and Haley, and $250,000 for Bean, Mills and Smith, according to a TBI press release. Online jail records show they have since been released after posting bond.
Mills’ lawyer, Blake Ballin, and the attorney for Martin, William Massey, told reporters last month that their clients were “devastated” about the charges and will be pleading not guilty. Although there have been no public announcement of other defense attorneys representing the officers, Ballin and Massey told reporters that all former officers are currently represented.
A funeral for Nichols will be held in Memphis on Wednesday.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — A mountain lion attack just 40 miles south of San Francisco has left a young child in an unknown condition at a local trauma center.
The incident occurred at approximately 6:50 p.m. Tuesday on the 1000 block of Tunitas Creek Road in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County — which is located about 40 miles west of San Jose, California, and 40 miles south of San Francisco.
Officials from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that they were “dispatched to a report of a mountain lion attack and we can confirm a child was transported to a local trauma center after the attack,” according to a statement posted on social media.
Authorities say the child was conscious when they were transported to the hospital but did not elaborate on their condition.
“Our coastal community has endured so much these past few weeks,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement responding to the incident. “Our entire agency is saddened of this news and sends many warm wishes to the child for a speedy and full recovery. Our thoughts are with the family at this time.”
Chad Conover, a neighbor of the family whose child was attacked by the mountain lion, told ABC News’ San Francisco station KGO-TV that the situation surprised him.
“They were pretty calm when I pulled up, they’re my neighbors so I asked them if they were okay,” Conover told KGO following the attack. “They said everybody’s fine, but they had to talk to fish and game, and a warden pulled up right as I pulled out. Typically the mountain lions avoid people, so it’s not often you hear about an attack on a human.”
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife are also currently investigating the reported attack and the status of the mountain lion involved is unknown.
(WASHINGTON) — Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to announce her run for president in the coming weeks, sources familiar tell ABC News.
The announcement is likely to come mid-February, and invitations are expected to be sent to her supporters in the coming days, according to sources familiar.
Haley, who served as former President Donald Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, previously said she would not run against Trump.
The former governor has since backed away from those comments, calling for a new generation of leadership.
Just days ago, Trump told reporters he recently received a phone call from Haley.
“She called me and said she’d like consider it and I said you should do it,” Trump told reporters over the weekend.
ABC News has reached out to Haley’s team for comment.
(OMAHA, Neb.) — A man armed with an AR-15-style rifle was shot and killed by police after opening fire in a Target store in Nebraska, authorities said.
No injuries were reported among employees and shoppers at the Omaha store, police said.
Law enforcement officers responded to multiple reports of an active shooter at the west Omaha Target around noon local time on Tuesday, the Omaha Police Department said.
“The first arriving officers went into the building, confronted the suspect and shot him dead,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday.
The suspect, who was described as a white man estimated to be in his 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Schmaderer said the man entered the store armed with the gun and “plenty of ammunition” and began firing rounds. Police received more than two dozen 911 calls for an active shooter at the store, and multiple shell casings were found at the scene, police said.
The suspect had 13 loaded magazines, according to the police department.
It is unknown at this time if the suspect was firing at anybody, Schmaderer said.
No civilian injuries were reported after police conducted several sweeps of the store, Schmaderer said. A Target spokesperson also confirmed in a statement that all guests and workers had “safely evacuated the store.”
Omaha police thanked “brave” Target employees who recently underwent active shooter training and “assisted in getting shoppers out of the store.”
The store will be closed until further notice, the Target spokesperson said.
“We are partnering with the Omaha PD as we learn more,” the spokesperson said.
(NEW YORK) — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has teamed up with the American Heart Association (AHA) on its latest initiative promoting CPR training.
Hamlin announced the partnership on his Instagram on Tuesday, citing how CPR saved his life earlier this month when he collapsed on the field after suffering cardiac arrest.
“Excited to be teaming up with @american_heart in a BIG way!” the Bills safety wrote to his 1.8 million followers.
“I want to thank everybody for the love and support over these past few weeks,” Hamlin said in the video. “As you know, CPR saved my life earlier this year on the field and CPR could easily save your life or someone you love.”
Called the “Damar Hamlin 3 for Heart Challenge,” the challenge teaches people how to perform hands-only CPR.
According to the American Heart Association and Hamlin, the steps are: go to heart.org/3 and watch a video that teaches people how to administer hands-on CPR, donate to the AHA to fund CPR education and training, and share the challenge with three people by tagging them with the hashtag #3forHeart.
In his post, Hamlin tagged former first lady Michelle Obama, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
Hamlin, 24, suffered a cardiac arrest on the field on Jan. 2 at Paycor Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals during Monday Night Football, team officials said at the time. Medical professionals immediately rushed to give him aid on the field and restarted his heart.
Hamlin was hospitalized in the critical care unit at UC Medical Center and was on a ventilator after the incident. His breathing tube was removed and he was released after nine days.
On Saturday, Hamlin thanked fans, the Buffalo Bills, the UC Medical Center, Buffalo General Hospital, and his family and friends for their support as he recovers from cardiac arrest.
“I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of all the love, all the support and everything that’s just been coming in my way,” Hamlin said in a video.
