WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.s. President Joe Biden is expected on Wednesday to call for temporarily suspending the 18.4-cents a gallon federal tax on gasoline, a source briefed on the plan told Reuters on Tuesday.
Biden said Monday he was considering whether to call for a pause in the tax, as the United States struggles to tackle soaring gasoline prices and inflation. A gas tax holiday faces significant opposition in Congress, including among many Democrats. The plan was reported earlier by Punchbowl News.
The White House, which said Biden will deliver remarks on gas prices at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, declined to comment.
High gasoline prices pose a significant political problem for Biden and congressional Democrats as they struggle to maintain their slim control of Congress in November's midterm elections.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, on Tuesday called on Biden to support suspending the gas tax saying "getting this done will offer real, immediate relief without compromising the federal government's ability to make infrastructure investments."
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chair Peter DeFazio, a Democrat, said "suspending the federal gas tax will not provide meaningful relief at the pump for American families, but it will blow a multi-billion-dollar hole in the highway trust fund."
Republicans are widely opposed to the gas tax suspension. In February, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell ridiculed a suspension backed by some Democrats, saying "they've spent an entire year waging a holy war on affordable American energy."
Biden has pulled on numerous levers to try to lower prices, including a record release of barrels from U.S. strategic reserves, waivers on rules for producing summer gasoline, and leaning on major OPEC countries to boost output.
Fuel prices have been surging around the world due to a combination of rebounding demand, sanctions on oil producer Russia after its invasion of Ukraine and a squeeze on refining capacity. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation".
On June 11, the price of U.S. gasoline averaged more than $5 a gallon for the first time, data from AAA showed. It was $4.97 on https://gasprices.aaa.com Tuesday.
Adjusting for inflation, the U.S. gasoline average was still below June 2008 highs of around $5.41 a gallon, according to U.S. Energy Department figures.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Eric Beech and Christopher Cushing)
(Reuters) -Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday on news of a plan by U.S. President Joe Biden to cut fuel costs for drivers and amid concerns over a potential economic recession after recent central bank rate hikes, which also weighed on equities. Brent crude futures were down $4.62, or 4%, at $110.03 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell $4.96, or 4.5%, to $104.56 by 1040 GMT. Oil prices often move in tandem with stocks, which also took a hit as investors assessed how interest rate hikes designed to cool soaring inflation might stall an economic recovery as pandemic restrictions have eased.
A recount has confirmed U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar defeated progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros by a razor-thin margin, the Texas Democratic Party said on Tuesday, following a high-profile Democratic primary battle focused on abortion rights. The election in a district along the U.S.-Mexico border was a rematch between Cuellar, a moderate who has held the seat since 2005, and Cisneros, a 29-year-old attorney who failed to unseat him in 2020 but forced him to a runoff following this year's March primary. Cuellar edged Cisneros by a scant 289 votes out of more than 45,000 cast, or 0.6%, according to unofficial results from an electronic recount in nine counties.
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Monday as the recent selloff in risk-sensitive assets paused and ahead of domestic data this week that could show inflation climbing to a new multi-decade high. The Canadian dollar was trading 0.2% higher at 1.30 to the greenback, or 76.92 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of 1.2979 to 1.3038. "The CAD has recently suffered from a steep deterioration in risk sentiment in markets amid building recession fears and unpredictability over the Fed's (U.S. Federal Reserve) future policy path," strategists at Scotiabank, including Shaun Osborne, said in a note.
ROSEBUD, South Dakota (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday she still views two quarters of negative growth as a good rule of thumb to indicate a recession, but believes it is possible to bring down inflation while maintaining full employment. "A shorthand of two quarters of negative growth has typically worked, and so a lot of people think of it that way," Yellen told reporters during a visit to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe reservation in South Dakota when asked how she would measure a recession.
World stock markets and oil prices hit the skids on Wednesday as the persistent palpitations about rising interest rates and recessions struck again, while the Japanese yen hit a fresh 24-year low against a seemingly unstoppable U.S. dollar. The enthusiasm that had given Wall Street its best day in over a month on Tuesday was suddenly gone as Europe opened 1.5% lower and Brent crude prices plunged 4% [.EU][O/R] following what had also been a downbeat Asian session. Fired-up dollar bulls weren't taking any prisoners either on bets that the head of the Federal Reserve, Jay Powell, will reiterate to Washington later the need to jack up U.S. rates hard and fast.
After the recent energy sector-wide selloff has driven ENB stock down, its dividend yield looks even more attractive at around 6.6%. The post Why Enbridge Stock Just Posted its Biggest Weekly Loss in Over 2 Years appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
Rogers (TSX:RCI.B)(NYSE:RCI) and Quebecor (TSX:QBR.B) came to a deal regarding Freedom Mobile that could lead to the approval of the Shaw (TSX:SJR.B)(NYSE:SJR) deal. The post Freedom Mobile Deal: What Should Long-Term Investors Think? appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal officials and tribal nations have formally reestablished a commission to oversee land management decisions at a national monument in Utah — among the first such joint governance agreements signed by Native Americans and U.S. officials. Leaders from agencies including the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service met with representatives from five tribal nations Saturday to sign a document formalizing the Bears Ears Commission, a governing body tasked with da
Microsoft Corp on Tuesday said it would stop selling technology that guesses someone's emotion based on a facial image and would no longer provide unfettered access to facial recognition technology. Since at least last year, Microsoft has been reviewing whether emotion recognition systems are rooted in science. "These efforts raised important questions about privacy, the lack of consensus on a definition of 'emotions,' and the inability to generalize the linkage between facial expression and emotional state across use cases, regions, and demographics," Sarah Bird, principal group product manager at Microsoft's Azure AI unit, said in a blog post.
Lockheed Martin said on Wednesday it could deliver first F-35 fighter jets to Germany in 2026 and expects more orders for the aircraft in Europe as Greece and the Czech Republic have expressed significant interest. "You'll hear more about it soon," J.R. McDonald, the vice president of F-35 business development at Lockheed Martin, told journalists at a news conference at the ILA Berlin Air Show trade fair. At the same time, the first F-35 aircraft Germany has ordered to replace its aging Tornado fleet in 2025-2030 could be delivered from 2026 depending on the outcome of talks with the government in Berlin, McDonald said.
Canada relies on Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd to move products like crops, oil, potash, coal and other manufactured goods to ports and the United States. The company had offered a 10% improvement to wages over three years, but Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Reilly said that had been rejected by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). IBEW did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
TOKYO (AP) — Global shares declined Wednesday as markets shrugged off a Wall Street rally and awaited congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. European benchmarks fell in early trading after shares in Asia finished lower, including in Japan, Australia, South Korea and China. U.S. futures were also down. France's CAC 40 lost 1.9% in early trading to 5,853.92, while Germany's DAX dove 2.3% to 12,989.70. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.2% to 7,066.66. U.S. shares were set to drift
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed concern Monday about rising food prices caused in part by the war in Ukraine and said he will serve as secretary of agriculture when he takes office to prepare for a possible emergency. Marcos Jr. and Vice President-elect Sara Duterte take office June 30 after winning landslide victories in May 9 elections. They will inherit daunting problems, including a coronavirus pandemic-battered economy, soaring inflation,
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(Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear UnitedHealth Group Inc's challenge to a government rule requiring private insurers that administer federally funded Medicare plans to return potentially billions of dollars in overpayments they receive based on incorrect diagnoses. UnitedHealth said in a statement that it would continue to comply with federal rules and "remain focused on providing high quality and affordable healthcare to millions of seniors." The 2014 rule applies to so-called Medicare Advantage insurance plans, which are funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) but administered by private insurers like UnitedHealth.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday depicted former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny”” Balwani as an instrumental accomplice in a fraud hatched by his secret lover, former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes. In turn, his lawyers depicted him as a loyal soldier who tried to save the blood-testing company. “Mr. Balwani is not a victim, he is the perpetrator of the fraud,” prosecutor Jeffrey Schenk said near the end of his 3 1/2-hour closing argument before a jury in a San Jose, Calif
World stock markets and oil prices hit the skids on Wednesday as the persistent palpitations about rising interest rates and recessions struck again, while the Japanese yen hit a fresh 24-year low against a seemingly unstoppable U.S. dollar. The enthusiasm that had given Wall Street its best day in over a month on Tuesday was suddenly gone as Europe opened 1.5% lower and Brent crude prices plunged 4% [.EU][O/R] following what had also been a downbeat Asian session. Fired-up dollar bulls weren't taking any prisoners either on bets that the head of the Federal Reserve, Jay Powell, will reiterate to Washington later the need to jack up U.S. rates hard and fast.
Recent implosions in the cryptocurrency markets indicate that long-warned-about dangers of decentralised digital money are now materialising, the Bank for International Settlements has said. The BIS, the global umbrella body for central banks, sounded the warning in an upcoming annual report, in which it also urged more effort in developing appealing central bank digital currencies. BIS general manager Agustin Carstens pointed to recent collapses of the TerraUSD and luna 'stablecoins', and a 70% slump in bitcoin, the bellwether for the crypto market, as indicators that a structural problem exists.
Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (the "Company" or "ReconAfrica") (TSXV: RECO) (OTCQX: RECAF) (FSE: 0XD) and its joint venture partner NAMCOR (the state oil company of Namibia) are pleased to announce completion of the second phase of seismic (761 km) and commencement of the first seismically defined, initial four well drilling program with the first well 1819/8-2 ("8-2") scheduled to spud on or before June 25, 2022.
Cineplex (TSX:CGX) stock has been in a world of pain, but with compelling catalysts ahead, should investors look to buy right now? The post Cineplex Stock: A Top Canadian Stock Pick for the 2nd Half of 2022? appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.