On The Money — Presented by Citi — Pelosi’s pressure cooker

Happy Thursday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: digital-staging.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Today’s Big Deal: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is dialing up efforts to get her caucus behind President Biden’s agenda. We’ll also look at divides over the vaccine mandate and new jobless claims.

But first, a congressional football update.

For The Hill, I’m Sylvan Lane. Write me at slane@digital-staging.thehill.com or @SylvanLane. You can reach my colleagues on the Finance team Naomi Jagoda at njagoda@digital-staging.thehill.com or @NJagoda and Aris Folley at afolley@digital-staging.thehill.com or @ArisFolley.

Let’s get to it.

Dem leaders amp up pressure on holdouts

House Democratic leaders are escalating the pressure on lawmakers still withholding their support for President Biden’s economic agenda, racing against the clock to pass a massive social benefits bill Thursday night. 

The state of play: 

• A handful of House moderates are still balking at some of the policy provisions contained in the massive $1.75 trillion package of safety net benefits and climate programs that Biden has sought to pass for months. 
• The concerns surround issues as diverse as immigration, emissions and tax cuts for high-income regions around the country.
• There was also an 11th-hour snag on an effort to reduce prescription drug prices — a topic the negotiators had thought was resolved.
• Pelosi and other party leaders are fighting to win over those reluctant lawmakers.

Mike Lillis and Scott Wong tell us more here.

 

A MESSAGE FROM CITI

Tackling the startup world’s gender, race and ethnic funding gap.

With our $200 million Impact Investment Fund we are seeking opportunities to invest in businesses that are led or owned by women and minority entrepreneurs, helping to create equitable access to venture capital funding.

LEADING THE DAY

JCT releases score for House social spending bill

Tax-increase provisions in House Democrats’ latest version of their social spending package would raise nearly $1.5 trillion over 10 years, Congress’s tax scorekeeper said Thursday.

The analysis from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) comes as House Democrats are hoping to pass the bill as soon as this week.

• JCT estimates that the corporate and international tax provisions in the bill would raise about $814 billion. 
• These provisions include a minimum tax on the profits of large corporations, an excise tax on stock buybacks and changes to the international tax provisions in Republicans’ 2017 tax law.
• Another $640 billion in revenue would be raised by tax increases on high-income individuals, JCT said, including provisions to create a surtax on multimillionaires’ income and to strengthen a tax on investment income created by ObamaCare.

JCT’s score does not include revenue raised by providing the IRS more money for enforcement, or savings from drug pricing changes. But the Treasury Department does, and it estimated that the IRS investments would raise $400 billion. It also said that the prescription drug provisions would produce about $250 billion in savings. Naomi breaks it down here.

LAYOFFS LAY LOW

Jobless claims fall to 269K, hitting new post-lockdown low

New claims for unemployment insurance fell to a post-lockdown low during the final week of October, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department.

• In the week ending Oct. 30, initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 269,000, a decline of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 283,000. 
• New weekly claims have reached the lowest total since March 14, 2020, when roughly 225,000 Americans filed first-time jobless aid applications shortly before the U.S. locked down to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Claims have fallen steadily through October after plateauing in September as employers scramble to meet strong consumer demand. While the emergence of the delta variant in late July derailed the labor market, the economy was largely able to avoid layoffs and is poised to see a recovery in job growth after two disappointing months.

I have more here.

Business groups split over Biden mandate

Business interests are divided over President Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate, with some groups applauding pro-business changes to the final rule and others arguing that it will disrupt the holiday shopping season.

The rule, issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Thursday, will require businesses with 100 or more employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing by Jan. 4.

• Large corporations and their trade groups aggressively lobbied administration officials to influence the final rule. 
• OSHA’s decision to exempt remote workers from the mandate, delay its implementation until next year and leave the cost of testing to workers, not employers, are wins for business groups.
• But other groups, particularly retailers, are less positive, stating that the requirements will impede the upcoming holiday shopping season that is already being ravaged by supply chain issues and workforce shortages.

Karl Evers-Hillstrom explains here.

A MESSAGE FROM CITI

Tackling the startup world’s gender, race and ethnic funding gap.

With our $200 million Impact Investment Fund we are seeking opportunities to invest in businesses that are led or owned by women and minority entrepreneurs, helping to create equitable access to venture capital funding.

 

Good to Know 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) argued Thursday that passage of both pieces of President Biden’s sweeping economic agenda is an “absolute, bare minimum” for fighting inflation.

Here’s what else we have our eye on:

• Progressives are declaring victory ahead of a possible vote Thursday on President Biden’s social spending and climate package, while saying they shouldn’t be blamed for their party losing the governor’s race in Virginia.
• The U.S. trade deficit hit a record high of $80.9 billion in September as American exports fell sharply while American imports continue to climb.

 

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.{mosads}