11 Apr 2024

House Speaker Mike Johnson negotiating with White House to advance Ukraine aid

by | posted in: Politics | 0

By STEPHEN GROVES (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is negotiating with the White House as he prepares for the treacherous task of advancing wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel through the House, a top House Republican said Thursday.

House Republican Leader Steve Scalise told reporters that Johnson had been talking with White House officials about a package that would deviate from the Senate’s $95 billion foreign security package and include several Republican demands. It comes after Johnson has delayed for months on advancing aid that would provide desperately needed ammunition and weaponry for Kyiv, trying to find the right time to advance a package that will be a painful political lift.

“There’s been no agreement reached,” Scalise said. “Obviously there would have to an agreement reached not just with the White House, but with our own members.”

Johnson, R-La., is being stretched between a Republican conference deeply divided in its support for Ukraine, as well as two presidential contenders at odds over the U.S.’s posture towards the rest of the world. President Joe Biden has repeatedly chastised Republicans for not helping Ukraine, saying they are doing the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin and hurting U.S. security. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate, has said he would negotiate an end to the conflict as he tries to push the U.S. to a more isolationist stance.

The Republican speaker is set to travel to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Friday to meet with Trump and has been consulting him in recent weeks on the Ukraine funding to gain his support — or at least prevent him from openly opposing the package.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican who often works closely with House lawmakers, said this week he and Trump have spoken with Johnson “in depth” about how to advance Ukraine aid. It is not clear whether Trump would lend any political support, but Mullin said he was hoping to get the former president behind the package, especially now that Johnson’s job is at stake.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, has threatened to try to oust Johnson as speaker and warned that advancing funding for Ukraine would help build her case that GOP lawmakers should select a new speaker.

Meanwhile, Johnson has been in conversations with the White House about legislation that would structure some of the funding for Kyiv as loans, pave the way for the U.S. to tap frozen Russian central bank assets and include other policy changes.

Johnson has also been pushing for the Biden administration to lift a pause on approvals for Liquefied Natural Gas exports. At times, he has also demanded policy changes at the U.S. border with Mexico.

“This becomes a more dangerous world with Russia in Kyiv,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican who supports aiding Ukraine. “So we’re just got to find a the smart way to get a bill passed that we can get out and back to the Senate.”

Still, Johnson is facing a practically open rebellion from a group of hardline House conservatives who are dissatisfied with the way he has led the House. With a narrow and divided majority, Johnson has been forced to work with Democrats to advance practically any major legislation.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday that the “only path forward” for the House was a vote on the Senate’s national security package. He also suggested that Democrats would help Johnson hold onto the speaker’s gavel if he did so.

While Democrats have pressured Johnson to put the Senate package to a vote, they also may be divided on a vote as a growing number oppose sending Israel offensive weaponry while it engages in a campaign in Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians.

The Biden administration, which would administer any military funding, has issued stern warnings to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that future U.S. support depends on the swift implementation of new steps to protect civilians and aid workers.

“If we want to prevent handing Putin a victory in Europe, the House should do the right thing for democracy and pass the Senate’s aid package now,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech Thursday.

___

Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro contributed.

11 Apr 2024

Sarah Green Carmichael: The ‘Great Wealth Transfer’ is a delusion

by | posted in: Society | 0

The Great Wealth Transfer sounds like a heist film or a game show. It’s neither.

It’s a (rather morbid) shorthand for the massive amount of money boomers are expected to leave to their millennial kids — making those adult children the “richest generation in history,” according to some headlines. This, we’re told, will help solve the student debt crisis; allow cash-strapped 30- and 40-somethings to finally get into the housing market; and even help them make up for lost time on saving for retirement. Thanks for the parting gift, Mom and Dad!

I don’t buy it.

“The typical boomer is not in a position to leave any money at all,” says Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist, one-time Bloomberg Opinion columnist and author of the new book, “Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy.” Historically, about three out of four parents have intended to leave something to their kids, as she noted in a 2020 column. But according to data from the Federal Reserve, only about one out of four kids actually receive an inheritance — and the odds are even lower if you’re not white. Generous intentions run into hard math.

True, as a group, boomers are holding on to a huge sum — maybe as much as $90 trillion, or half the wealth in the country. So perhaps this time will be different. But I doubt it.

One thing distorting the averages: There are an awful lot of baby boomers. (The clue’s in the name.) They account for about 20% of the population, with people over 65 making up a bigger share of the U.S. than at any point since the government began keeping track a century ago.

The impressive-sounding averages are also distorted by the massive wealth at the top. According to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances, back in 2016 the average late-career couple had saved about $243,000 for retirement. Not too shabby. But the median number tells a different story: just $21,000.

Tales of boomer wealth have also been inflated by rising home prices — again, particularly for those in the top 10%. But home prices aren’t the same as home equity. Many boomers have significant debt on their homes. Some are still paying off their original mortgage. Others have borrowed against their homes to put cash in their pockets, either with a reverse mortgage, home equity loan or cash-out refinance. That will leave less money to pass on to their heirs.

Even boomers who have dutifully socked money away for decades may find that retirement costs more than they anticipate.

Most Americans retire five years earlier than expected, according to a recent Transamerica survey due to layoffs, health problems, or the need to care for an ailing partner or elderly parent. They’re left with less time to earn and more years to cover.

Another nasty reality: Health care costs are much higher for people over age 65 than they are for younger people. The majority of one’s health care spending happens after retirement. And Medicare doesn’t cover dental or vision care, because in the U.S. health care “system,” teeth and eyes are a bit like checked luggage or an in-flight meal — an optional upgrade for those who choose to splurge.

According to KFF, only half of people over 65 have saved any money for a home health aide ($60,000 a year) or nursing home ($100,000 a year). Neither are covered by Medicare. And Medicaid only kicks in if all your savings have run out.

Our focus should be on shoring up elders’ finances — particularly around health-care and long-term care costs — not ghoulishly dreaming of how we’ll spend their money when they’re gone.

To be sure, the richest boomers will have plenty to leave to their heirs. But it’s unclear how much of a difference that will make. Those millennials probably don’t have college loans, already got parental help to buy a house, and maybe even have grandma paying for child care or tuition costs. For them, the great wealth transfer is already underway — and has been for some time.

And given the increasing life expectancy of the richest Americans, the big money isn’t likely to change hands until millennials are close to retirement themselves. They can’t live their whole working lives as if that late-life windfall is a sure thing — it’s too risky, says Anne Lester, former head of retirement solutions at JPMorgan and author of the new book, Your Best Financial Life: Save Smart Now for the Future You Want.

All these factors, taken together, should be enough to put the kibosh on dreams of a society-transforming intergenerational wealth transfer.

In fact, a significant share of older adults are experiencing a wealth transfer in the other direction, accepting money from their adult children. According to a survey by the AARP, a third of adults in midlife (millennials and Gen X) are giving money to their parents to pay for basics like groceries, housing and health care. Most say supporting their parents is a strain on their own finances. But Mom and Dad have run out of money. What else are they going to do?

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11 Apr 2024

Prince’s band the Revolution to play First Avenue for the first time in seven years

by | posted in: News | 0

The Revolution, the band that helped Prince attain worldwide success in the ’80s, will return to First Avenue June 21 and 22 for their first shows at the Minneapolis nightclub since 2017.

Tickets for the June 22 concert are $99 — with a $199 VIP option adding early entry, a limited edition signed poster and an exclusive commemorative merch item — and go on sale at 11 a.m. Friday through Axs. There is a four ticket limit for general admission and two ticket limit for VIP and all tickets are non-transferable. Ticketholders must download the Axs app to use the tickets and the entire party must enter the venue together.

Tickets for the June 21 concert are part of admission to the annual Celebration event at Paisley Park, which runs June 20 through 24. It includes a series of panels, tours, a screening of “Purple Rain” and performances from Morris Day, New Power Generation and others. Tickets are $600 (general admission) and $1,200 (VIP) and are available via paisleypark.com.

More than a dozen different musicians backed Prince in his early days, and he started calling them the Revolution after printing the name backward on the cover of his fifth album, “1999.”

The Revolution’s lineup playing First Avenue features the musicians who performed with Prince on the 1984 “Purple Rain” soundtrack and film: Wendy Melvoin (guitar, vocals), Lisa Coleman (keyboard, vocals), Mark “Brownmark” Brown (bass), Robert “Bobby Z.” Rivkin (drums) and Matt “Dr. Fink” Fink (keyboards).

Prince and the Revolution collaborated on two more albums, “Around the World in a Day” and “Parade.” But tensions between Prince and the band led the Revolution to break up after the 1986 tour ended. They reunited, without Prince, for a 2003 concert organized by Sheila E. and a 2012 benefit gig at First Avenue.

After Prince died in April 2016, the band got back together again that September and played three nights at First Avenue. They spent the next three years touring both North America and Europe and also played Rock the Garden and the Basilica Block Party.

The Revolution’s most recent performance was at the Grammy Awards tribute to Prince in 2020.

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11 Apr 2024

More aid is supposed to be entering the Gaza Strip. Why isn’t it helping?

by | posted in: News | 0

By JULIA FRANKEL (Associated Press)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Under heavy U.S. pressure, Israel has promised to ramp up aid to Gaza dramatically, saying last week it would open another cargo crossing and surge more trucks than ever before into the besieged enclave.

But days later, there are few signs of those promises materializing and international officials say starvation is widespread in hard-hit northern Gaza.

Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said this week she accepted “credible” reports that famine is now occurring in the area and urged Israel to take further steps to expedite humanitarian aid shipments.

Power’s remarks echoed those of U.S. President Joe Biden, who said on Wednesday that Israeli efforts to increase aid were “not enough.”

While Israel says it has dramatically increased the number of aid trucks entering the territory, U.N. workers report only a slight uptick — possibly because they count trucks differently.

Here’s what we know about the aid entering Gaza, and why discrepancies in reporting persist:

HOW MUCH AID IS ENTERING GAZA?

Israel says that since Sunday it has transported an average of 400 trucks a day into Gaza and that aid is now piling up on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, one of two major crossings into the territory.

But Juliette Touma, communications director for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said that while aid workers have noticed a slight increase in the amount of aid entering Gaza, it’s nothing close to the surge Israel is claiming.

On Monday, UNRWA says 223 trucks of aid passed. On Tuesday, that number hit 246. On Wednesday, it was down to 141.

Meanwhile, only trickles of aid are reaching northern Gaza.

WHAT HAS ISRAEL PROMISED?

After Biden said last week that future American support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel doing more to protect civilians and aid workers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a series of steps. Biden spoke out after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers delivering food to the strip.

Netanyahu pledged to immediately re-open Israel’s Erez crossing into northern Gaza — a pedestrian crossing destroyed by Hamas when it stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. Netanyahu also said he would allow Israel’s port in Ashdod to process aid shipments and increase Jordanian aid packages through another land crossing.

But Israeli officials this week dropped the plan to open Erez. Instead, they say a new crossing will be built, though it is unclear when it will open. The Ashdod port, meanwhile, is not yet accepting aid shipments and Gaza aid groups report no significant increase in trucks received at their warehouses.

Before the latest Israel-Hamas war, some 500 trucks carrying food, fuel and other supplies entered Gaza daily. That was supplemented by fish and produce farmed within the territory.

Even that was barely enough in a crowded territory whose economy has been battered by a 17-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. The blockade, meant to keep Hamas from arming, restricted the flow of goods in and out of Gaza and contributed to widespread poverty and unemployment.

Scott Anderson, the acting director of UNRWA in Gaza, said the low levels of aid since the war started have compounded an existing, pre-war nutrition deficit in the territory.

“You have to remember, this was not a nutrition-rich environment before the war. The resilience was not there,” said Anderson.

WHY IS THERE A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE UN AND ISRAEL’S NUMBERS?

Israel and the U.N. count trucks arriving in Gaza differently.

Israel counts every truck it inspects and allows to pass into Gaza, according to Shimon Freedman, a spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli defense body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs.

At the Kerem Shalom crossing, once the trucks pass into Gaza, the pallets of aid they are carrying are deposited in a 1-kilometer-long (a half-mile) zone for Palestinian drivers to pick up.

UNRWA only counts the trucks, driven by a Palestinian contractor, returning from that zone, Anderson said.

He also said that sometimes the trucks arriving from Israel are not fully loaded. Palestinian drivers on the Gaza side of the crossing load their trucks fully before passing through the gate — something that could further account for truck count differences.

WHAT IS SLOWING AID TRANSFER?

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Getting from Israeli inspection, through the corridor and past the gate into Gaza takes time — and is made more arduous by the way Israel uses the Kerem Shalom crossing, Anderson said.

Since the war began, Israel has kept the crossing partially closed, Anderson said. Palestinian drivers must also wait for the incoming trucks to be unloaded — further narrowing the window of time allowed for pickup.

Aid inspected by Israel sometimes sits overnight, awaiting pickup. The U.N. says it stops all operations at 4:30 p.m. for safety purposes due to a breakdown in public order and airstrikes at night. UNRWA says they used to use local Palestinian police to escort aid convoys, but many refused to continue serving after airstrikes killed at least eight police officers in Rafah. Israel says armed Hamas fighters have tried to siphon off aid.

COGAT denied allegations that they restrict the crossing’s hours or limit movement of trucks to pick up aid and blamed the U.N. for the backup, saying the agency does not have enough workers to move aid to warehouses for timely distribution.

WHAT HAPPENS MOVING FORWARD?

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday night that increasing aid efforts is a top priority.

“We plan to flood Gaza with aid and we are expecting to reach 500 trucks per day,” said Gallant. He did not specify a time frame for reaching that goal.

But even if Israel meets its goal, slowdowns at the crossings and convoy safety concerns may continue to hamper distribution. The U.N. has called for a return to prewar procedures — with additional terminals open and a significant amount of commercial goods, in addition to humanitarian aid, able to pass through.

“Gaza has become very quickly dependent on relief handouts,” Touma said. “The market has been forced to shut. This is not sustainable.”