logo
Labor Department Skirts Senators' Questions on Inflation Data

Labor Department Skirts Senators' Questions on Inflation Data

A group of Democratic senators pressed the Labor Department in June over concerns about missing data in the survey behind the government's official inflation statistics. On Thursday, a Labor official wrote back without answering most of their questions.
The Labor Department said in a letter seen by The Wall Street Journal that the government is 'committed to providing accurate, timely, and impartial economic statistics,' but it didn't respond in the letter to specific questions that the senators had posed. A Labor Department representative declined to comment.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Boeing expected to fly 777-9 for first time in nearly five years, Air Current editor says
Boeing expected to fly 777-9 for first time in nearly five years, Air Current editor says

Yahoo

time9 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Boeing expected to fly 777-9 for first time in nearly five years, Air Current editor says

(Reuters) -Boeing is expected to conduct the first flight of its 777-9 jet in about five years as early as August 5, Air Current editor Jon Ostrower said on Monday in a post on X, citing two people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not independently verify the report. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Texas Governor Orders Arrest of Democrats Who Left State to Block Redistricting Vote
Texas Governor Orders Arrest of Democrats Who Left State to Block Redistricting Vote

Yahoo

time9 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Texas Governor Orders Arrest of Democrats Who Left State to Block Redistricting Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the arrest of Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block a controversial vote on new congressional maps. PATH Train Service Resumes After Fire at Jersey City Station Chicago Curbs Hiring, Travel to Tackle $1 Billion Budget Hole Seeking Relief From Heat and Smog, Cities Follow the Wind Mayor Asked to Explain $1.4 Billion of Wasted Johannesburg Funds 'Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans,' Abbott said in a statement Monday. 'I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans.' The governor's move followed a vote by the remaining lawmakers in the Texas House of Representatives to authorize arrest warrants, which don't carry any criminal charges and can't be enforced across state lines. Republican lawmakers proposed a redistricting plan last week that Democrats describe as a gerrymander designed to give more seats in the US Congress to the GOP. The unusually timed revamp of Texas' congressional districts mushroomed into a national spectacle over the weekend with the Democrats' departure. President Donald Trump has pushed the revamp as a way to bolster Republican power in the 2026 midterm elections. In response, Democratic governors such as California's Gavin Newsom and New York's Kathy Hochul have discussed retaliating with new maps of their own. 'This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,' Gene Wu, the Democratic leader in the Texas House, said at a news conference in Illinois after leaving the state. 'We're not walking out on our responsibilities; we're walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent.' By exiting the state, Democrats left the Texas House short of the minimum number of lawmakers required to hold votes. They will be fined $500 a day due to a rule adopted in 2021 after the caucus broke quorum over voting legislation. That year, Republicans issued arrest warrants for absent members in a bid to compel them to return from Washington. While some Democrats fought the warrants in court and secured temporary orders blocking their arrest, those orders were ultimately overturned by the Texas Supreme Court. This year, there are two weeks left in a special session of the state legislature. Lawmakers were also set to address issues including last month's deadly floods in central Texas. 'Leaving the state does not stop this House from doing its work. It only delays it,' said House Speaker Dustin Burrows. Earlier, Abbott cited the Texas attorney general's view that a district court may decide if the legislators' departure amounts to an abandonment or forfeiture of an elected office, a ruling that the governor said would empower him to 'swiftly' remove them from office. He added that the Democratic lawmakers may have committed felonies with the move. He said he directed state authorities to investigate them for potential violations including bribery. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the Republican nomination for US Senate, said he supported the speedy arrest of 'jet-setting runaways' who left the state during the legislative session. 'This is cowardice and dereliction of duty, and they should face the full force of the law without apology,' Paxton said in a tweet. Democrats fired back at Abbott by casting doubt on whether he could legally remove them from office or have them charged with felonies. Many have gone to the Chicago area, with others journeying to Boston and Albany, New York. 'There is no felony in the Texas penal code for what he says,' Jolanda Jones, a Texas state representative and Democrat, said Monday at a news conference in Albany with New York Governor Kathy Hochul. 'He's trying to get sound bites and he has no legal mechanism.' Hochul called the Texas redistricting effort a 'blatant power grab.' 'We are at war and that's why the gloves are off,' she said. She called for disbanding New York's bipartisan redistricting committee, which draws the state's congressional map every ten years. But lawmakers would have to amend the state constitution to redistrict out of schedule, Hochul said, making it impossible to establish new maps by the 2026 midterm elections. The US Justice Department sent a letter to Texas officials in July arguing that four of the state's congressional districts were racially gerrymandered. All four seats cited were won by Democrats last year. Trump then called on Texas Republicans to push through redistricting to help defend the party's slim majority in the US House in next year's midterm elections. Republicans currently control 25 of the state's 38 seats in the US House, or about 66%. Trump won 56% of the votes in Texas in last year's presidential election. The state typically revamps its congressional maps every 10 years based on new census information. It most recently redistricted in 2021 after a data delay caused by the pandemic. Those maps were already considered favorable toward Republicans and spurred lawsuits. Chris Turner, one of the Democratic lawmakers who left Texas, said the exodus would draw attention to the redistricting and show what's at stake. 'We cannot do this in perpetuity and no one is suggesting that we would,' Turner said on Bloomberg Television. 'I expect ultimately this fight is going to be decided in the courts.' Standing Ovation More than two decades ago, Democrats fled to neighboring states in a bid to foil a redistricting effort. The move was unsuccessful. This time, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the US House, told MSNBC that his party will 'respond from coast to coast and at all points in between to this effort to steal the midterm elections.' Many of the Texas Democrats are sheltering in hotels near Chicago, said Reid McCollum, the party chair in DuPage County in Illinois. 'They are welcome in the western suburbs as long as they need to be here,' he said. 'We will hide them in our basements.' A handful of the Texas lawmakers were in Boston this week for a national conference of state legislators. Fellow Democrats from across the country gave them a standing ovation at a luncheon Monday that also featured remarks from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Two Texas representatives from the Houston area, Armando Walle and Ana Hernandez, said they planned to join their colleagues in Chicago once they leave the conference. They said they intended to stay out of Texas at least until the special session ends August 19. Both said they rushed to arrange pickups and drop-offs for their kids to attend school and sports practices while they're out of state. Hernandez said she ran out to a store in Boston to buy new clothing. Asked about the threat of arrest, Walle said, 'come and take it' — a defiant phrase from a commonly used flag in Texas that features a cannon and has its roots in the state's successful rebellion against Mexico in the 1830s. 'Our constituents expect us to fight,' he said. 'They don't expect us to lie down. I'm not worried about any legal or political ramifications because the people have elected us to do what we're doing today.' --With assistance from Greg Ryan, Isis Almeida and Miranda Davis. (Updates with bribery probe in 11th paragraph.) AI Flight Pricing Can Push Travelers to the Limit of Their Ability to Pay Government Steps Up Campaign Against Business School Diversity What Happens to AI Startups When Their Founders Jump Ship for Big Tech How Podcast-Obsessed Tech Investors Made a New Media Industry Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Tariffs Starting to Slow Growth: Morgan Stanley's Zezas
Tariffs Starting to Slow Growth: Morgan Stanley's Zezas

Yahoo

time9 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Tariffs Starting to Slow Growth: Morgan Stanley's Zezas

Michael Zezas, Morgan Stanley's head of U.S. public policy research, says that over the next two to three months, we need to look carefully at inflation, labor data, as well as, product-by-product breakdowns to understand how the economy is absorbing tariff actions. He speaks to Romaine Bostick and Scarlet Fu on "The Close." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store