On The Money: Yellen to Congress: Raise the debt ceiling or risk ‘irreparable harm’ | Frustration builds as infrastructure talks drag

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THE BIG DEAL—Yellen to Congress: Raise the debt ceiling or risk ‘irreparable harm’: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged congressional leaders Friday to raise the federal debt limit as soon as possible or risk “irreparable harm to the U.S. economy and the livelihoods of all Americans.”

In a Friday letter, Yellen warned that the Treasury Department is unable to project how long it could stave off a potentially catastrophic default on the national debt if Congress does not either raise or suspend the debt ceiling before Aug. 1. 

“In recent years Congress has addressed the debt limit through regular order, with broad bipartisan support,” Yellen wrote. “I respectfully urge Congress to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible.”

The background:  A two-year deal to suspend the debt limit expires on July 31, and Congress is unlikely to reach another agreement to lift it before then.

• The debt ceiling does not increase or reduce government spending, but sets a cap on how much debt the government can take on while paying for obligations already approved by Congress and the president. 
• Even so, Senate Republican leaders said this week there will not be enough Republicans to support a debt ceiling increase or suspension if it is not tied to debt reduction measures. 
• Democrats have refused those requests, arguing that the GOP is holding the economy hostage to partisan demands.

While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated this week that the Treasury likely has until October or November before hitting the end of the road, Yellen said it could happen soon after Congress returns from recess in the middle of September. I explain here.

LEADING THE DAY

Frustration builds as infrastructure talks drag: Tempers are starting to flare on both sides of the aisle as bipartisan infrastructure talks drag on and negotiators face the prospect of missing an informal self-imposed deadline of Monday for getting a deal.

• Some Democrats are accusing Republicans of slow-walking the negotiations and reopening negotiating items that were believed to be solved.
• Republicans say Democrats are being unreasonable in some of their demands, such as an insistence on tens of billions of dollars in new funding for transit and broad authority for local governments to decide how to spend infrastructure funds.

The timeline: A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators who have been working with the White House for months to fill out a $1.2 trillion, eight-year spending proposal say they’re on track to get it done next week, but frustrations are starting to mount as a final deal eludes them.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton tells us more here.

Federal appeals court finds CDC eviction moratorium unlawful: A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exceeded its authority by temporarily halting evictions amid the pandemic.

In an unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that the agency had overreached with its eviction moratorium, which is set to expire at the end of July.

• The CDC order, originally enacted in September 2020 and subsequently extended by Congress and President Biden, aims to protect cash-strapped tenants who would face overcrowded conditions if evicted.
• But in its Friday ruling, the court rejected the CDC’s two-pronged argument that the eviction freeze was within its authority, or that Congress authorized the measure after the fact as part of its COVID-19 relief legislation.

The upshot: It was not immediately clear what practical impact would result from the ruling, which affirmed a March decision by a federal judge in Tennessee and blocked enforcement of the eviction freeze throughout the Western District of Tennessee.

• The Supreme Court last month voted 5-4 to reject an emergency request from a separate group of landlords who also sought to have the eviction ban lifted. 
• Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was among the majority, indicated that he believed the CDC had exceeded its authority in enacting the moratorium, and said Congress would need to pass new legislation for the CDC to lawfully push the moratorium past July 31.

The CDC said when extending the moratorium in June that it would not likely renew it again in August, and today’s ruling would make that even more complicated. But the agency is facing new pressure from progressives and housing advocates.

Ocasio-Cortez calls on CDC to extend eviction ban: In a Friday statement, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) urged the Biden administration to prevent the CDC’s ban on most evictions from expiring, saying “reckless it’s” to allow the ban to lapse with a fraction of the $46 billion in federal rental aid actually in the hands of tenants, landlords and utilities companies.

I’ve got more here.

ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Tuesday:

• The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on the implementation and enforcement of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) at 9:30 a.m.
• A House Financial Services subcommittee holds a hearing on central bank digital currencies at 10 a.m.
• The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on cryptocurrencies at 10 a.m.
• A Senate Banking subcommittee holds a hearing on student loan borrowers and federal pandemic repayment protections at 3 p.m.

Wednesday:

• The House Financial Services Committee holds a markup of pending legislation at 10 a.m.
• The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on building on bipartisan retirement legislation at 10 a.m.
• The Federal Open Market Committee announces its July monetary policy decision at 2 p.m. followed by a press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m.
• The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on the U.S. food supply chain at 2:30 p.m.

Thursday:

• The Select Committee on the Climate Crisis holds a hearing on financing climate solutions and job creation at 9 a.m.
• The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on interest rate caps at 10 a.m.

GOOD TO KNOW

• An U.S.-based digital commerce company has agreed to pay the Treasury Department $1.4 million as part of a settlement for more than 2,000 apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs, the agency said in a statement on Friday.
• Republicans and business groups are sniping at President Biden over remarks at a town hall event Wednesday night in which he told a restaurant owner struggling to hire workers that his business “is really going to be in a bind for a little while.”
• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) is pushing businesses to require their employees be vaccinated as the delta variant of COVID-19 drives up cases around the country.

ODDS AND ENDS

• A newly conducted analysis predicts that sales of electric vehicles will outpace combustion vehicles by 2036 in the United States.
• Longtime Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta is joining Huawei as the embattled Chinese telecom company ramps up its efforts under the Biden administration.