The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear President Joe Biden’s bid to reinstate his plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt after it was blocked by a lower court in a challenge by six states that have accused his administration of exceeding its authority.

The justices deferred taking action on Biden’s request to lift an injunction issued on Nov. 14 by the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocking the program, but said in a brief order that they would hear arguments in the case in their session that runs from late February to early March.

The challenge to the Democratic president’s policy was brought by Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina. Five of those six states are Republican governed while the other, Kansas, has a Republican attorney general.

The policy faces another legal hurdle as the administration contests a separate Nov. 10 ruling by a federal judge in Texas deeming the program unlawful. A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put that decision on hold, and the administration has said it plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

Biden announced in August that the U.S. government would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. Students who received Pell Grants to benefit lower-income college students will have up to $20,000 of their debt canceled.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden promised to help debt-saddled former college students, but his program has drawn opposition from Republicans. Biden’s administration has said that more than 26 million borrowers have applied for loan relief and 16 million applications have been approved for discharge if allowed by the courts.

The White House and a spokesperson for Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, a Republican whose office is taking the lead on the challenge, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in September calculated that the debt forgiveness program would cost taxpayers about $400 billion.

The state challengers said the federal government overstepped its authority to order debt cancellation under a 2003 law called the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, which can “waive or modify” student financial assistance during war or national emergency.

Biden’s administration justified its plan based on the economic harms inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about rising debt delinquency and lower earnings, particularly among lower-income Americans. Biden and his predecessor, Republican former President Donald Trump, had invoked the law to pause student loan repayments. Biden on Nov. 22 extended the repayment pause to no later than next June 30 to give the Supreme Court time to decide the case.

A federal judge dismissed the challenge brought by the states for lacking legal standing, but the 8th Circuit subsequently blocked the program while it hears an appeal by those challengers.

Biden’s administration took the dispute to the Supreme Court, saying the 8th Circuit decision leaves borrowers “uncertain about the size of their debt and unable to make financial decisions with an accurate understanding of their future repayment obligations.”

The states urged the court to reject Biden’s request, calling his program a “pretext to mask the president’s true goal of fulfilling his campaign promise to erase student-loan debt.”

Liberal media outlets like the New York Times and MSNBC claimed former President Donald Trump ordered audits of former FBI chiefs James Comey and Andrew McCabe for political payback. According to the Internal Revenue Service’s internal watchdog, that’s not true.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration determined that the IRS randomly selected Comey and McCabe for audits of their tax returns from 2017 and 2019 as part of a program the IRS uses to refine its technology, according to a report released Thursday. The watchdog found no evidence of malfeasance on the part of Trump or any Trump-appointed officials.

It’s the latest media-propelled narrative disproved by federal watchdogs. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general exonerated border patrol agents who were accused in the liberal media of whipping Haitian migrants as they crossed into the United States from Mexico. The Justice Department’s inspector general debunked the infamous Steele dossier, which the media cited as evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

The audits of Comey and McCabe, which the New York Times reported on July 6, fed the narrative that Trump sought revenge on Comey and McCabe for opening an investigation into his campaign in 2016. According to the Times, Comey and McCabe were subject to “intensive” audits of their tax returns from 2017 and 2019. The paper followed up with an analysis of the audits and determined that there was a “minuscule” chance that the audits were random.

Breaking News: James Comey and Andrew McCabe, former FBI officials who Donald Trump wanted prosecuted, were both subjected to rare, intensive IRS audits. https://t.co/0TiHYvn7Uy

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 6, 2022

Comey and McCabe said they believed they were targeted for the audits.

“Maybe it’s a coincidence or maybe somebody misused the IRS to get at a political enemy. Given the role Trump wants to continue to play in our country, we should know the answer to that question,” Comey said.

“The revenue agent I dealt with was professional and responsive,” McCabe said. “Nevertheless, I have significant questions about how or why I was selected for this.”

Michael Schmidt, the Times reporter who broke the story, said in an MSNBC interview that because of Trump’s “continued harping” on Comey and McCabe, “it’s hard on the face of it to simply accept that this is random.”

Schmidt and MSNBC host Chris Hayes further suggested that then-IRS commissioner Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee, may have had a hand in the audits. Schmidt noted that Rettig had supported Trump’s argument to withhold the release of his tax returns during the 2016 campaign. He also said that Rettig “owns two properties at a Trump property in Waikiki, Hawaii.”

“Because of Donald Trump’s continued harping on these two individuals, it’s hard on the face of it to simply accept that this is random,” says @nytmike on the IRS audits of James Comey and Andrew McCabe. https://t.co/uQnXM3hfcn

— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) July 8, 2022

But according to the watchdog report, Rettig was appointed months after the audit program that selected Comey and McCabe started. Rettig told the inspector general’s team that he had no discussions with the Trump administration regarding the audit program.

CNN, too, pushed the conspiracy theory that Trump was behind the audits. Pundit Chris Cilizza wrote that “it’s *very* hard to see the audits of former FBI officials as coincidence.” McCabe, a CNN law enforcement analyst, told CNN’s Don Lemon it was “scary to be targeted” in an audit.

Comey’s and McCabe’s claims to have been unfairly targeted by the federal government marks an ironic twist given their mishandling of the investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. Both signed off on surveillance warrants against a Trump campaign adviser that were based on faulty information from the Steele dossier. The Justice Department’s inspector general found that the FBI failed to verify information in the dossier, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign, before using it as part of the investigation into the Trump campaign.

Trump fired Comey on May 10, 2017, after Comey publicly testified that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign. McCabe was fired from the FBI in 2018 after the Justice Department’s inspector general found that he lied to federal investigators about his role in a leak of information about a bureau investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

The post FACT CHECK: IRS Watchdog Destroys Media Claim That Trump Ordered Audits of James Comey and Andrew McCabe appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

In a last-minute bid to shape the composition of the U.S. Senate, fossil fuel energy industry interests are planning to infuse $1.5 million into Georgia in support of Herschel Walker, the Republican facing off with Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., in the runoff on December 6.

The infusions of cash, designed largely for get-out-the-vote efforts, are detailed in documents tied to Run Herschel Run, a super PAC, and the Empowerment Alliance, a nonprofit that says it is devoted to policies to “secure America’s energy independence and, with it, Americans’ prosperity, freedom, and security.”

The effort reflects the consensus view that voter drop-off in the last Georgia runoff after the 2020 election led to Republican defeat, an outcome the outside groups hope to change for the election next week.

“Republicans lost both US Senate runoffs in 2021 because the Republican coalition that voted in November did not turnout in January,” notes a slide deck prepared by the Run Herschel Run political action committee. “Tens of millions of dollars were spent on television ads, but comparatively little on the vital ‘ground game’. This effort fills that gap in 2022 while others still focus on TV.”

The Empowerment Alliance is registered in Kentucky and does not disclose its donors. But the group, launched in 2019, hardly hides its affiliation with the oil, gas, and energy utility industries. The Empowerment Alliance promised when it launched to push a national campaign to promote natural gas while battling renewable energy-focused policies such as the Green New Deal.

Matthew Hammond, the executive director of the group, was previously the president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and a registered lobbyist for fracking interests. The Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog group, published documents that show close financial ties, through surrogate groups, between the utility giants Duke Energy, American Electric Power, and Entergy to the Empowerment Alliance.

The alliance did not respond to a request for comment.

The Empowerment Alliance plans to contribute $1.5 million out of a planned $11 million budget for the Run Herschel Run super PAC, a group that is spearheading an independent effort to elect Walker, according to the leaked documents.

Spending records show the PAC has retained Majority Strategies to engage in direct marketing in opposition to Warnock.

The groups plan to target the nearly half million voters who voted for Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and declined to support Walker in the general election last month. The internal budget for the group lists $1 million for direct contact with voters door-to-door, $500,000 for telemarketing, $4 million for digital advertisements, and $5 million for traditional mail advertisements.

The Empowerment Alliance President Brooke Bodney notes in one of the documents that her organization has identified 136,000 mid- to low-propensity voters who lean Republican, voted in the last runoff and general election, and care about energy issues.

The PAC’s pre-runoff disclosure filing shows a $50,000 donation from Javaid Anwar, the owner of Texas oil company Midland Energy. The bulk of the funding for Run Herschel Run may not be known until after Georgia has selected a senator. As OpenSecrets has noted, so-called pop-up super PACs involved in the runoff only have to file disclosures for donors through November 16, and many will not have to disclose donors until after the election is already over.

Earlier this year, the Affordable Energy PAC, a group that ran in “parallel” to the Empowerment Alliance, raised over $1 million for election-related purposes, largely to boost the campaign of J.D. Vance, who triumphed in his Senate race in Ohio. The Affordable Energy Fund maintains close ties to the Empowerment Alliance. The fund retained a consulting firm run by James Nathanson, a Republican consultant who served as the alliance’s first executive director.

“Vote Affordable Energy. Vote JD Vance,” read one of the mailers that went to Ohio voters. The group features similar messaging against Warnock on its website.

The Empowerment Alliance’s blunt talk disparaging renewable energy may face headwinds in Georgia. The dark-money group has sharply mocked the growing adoption of electric vehicles, and has sneered at the “ongoing electric vehicle push from the Biden Administration” as “just another slogan masquerading as policy.”

But electric vehicles have proven popular election-season issues for voters in Georgia.

Both Kemp and Warnock have regularly touted the success in bringing electric vehicle projects, including a $5.5 billion Hyundai factory to build electric cars and a $5 billion Rivian electric truck plant, manufacturing facilities that are set to bring thousands of jobs to the state.

The post Fossil Fuel-Funded Super PAC Eyes $11.5 Million Spending Operation for Herschel Walker in Final Days appeared first on The Intercept.

The universe always manages to make things right, albeit rather slowly sometimes. We seem to be inundated with bad news, and it is time to celebrate some good news. The Democrats voted in new leadership, and it is leadership the party has never seen or experienced. As New York Times wrote: “For the first time in congressional history, [the leadership] includes no white men.” Hakeem Jeffries is, of course, taking over the role Nancy Pelosi held for so long, making him the first Black in history to hold the role. The number 2 and 3 leaders are also part of the historical moment, with Katherine Clark elected as whip, and Pete Aguilar as chairman of the party caucus. This is such exciting news, and as the Times reported, it was a celebration.

The Times called the mood “jubilant,” as lawmakers chanted Pete Aguilar’s childhood nickname “Petey Pie,” which was bestowed by his grandmother. Yet another rep, Terri Sewell of Alabama, led a “call and response” for Hakeem Jeffries. It is definitely a step in the right direction for Democrats. Certainly, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and Dick Durbin have been fantastic leaders, but in this turbulent climate, new leadership is good and necessary. We will likely see gridlock from a divided Congress, but if Senator Warnock can pull out his runoff, we will see more of President Biden’s historical judicial nominees take the bench.

It is past time for leader and judges to reflect the rest of the country. No offense against white men, but others are perfectly able to lead, and it is time to let them do so. It is interesting that none of the new leaders were challenged, though the Times reported that Adam Schiff had considered running for minority leader. He ended up stepping aside to allow for the historic election of Jeffries. Ted Lieu commented that “Democrats are in array, Republicans are in disarray,” and they are, as Kevin McCarthy is scrambling to find support for his desired leadership position. He neither deserves nor needs to lead. Ted Lieu pointed out the obvious, that Democrats now have a Black man, a white woman, and a Latino man leading the party, which he said: “reflects the beautiful diversity of America.” Lieu also will become a “first” as the first Asian American to become vice chairman of the Democratic caucus. These elections reflect our world as it should be, and virtually everyone in Congress is behind these new leaders. That will serve them well as they prepare to do battle with a Republican majority Congress that has already shown it has no interest in serving the people but is looking for revenge.

Democrats need to continue to show their interest in serving the people. As the Times reported, Democrats share a commitment to “young people, seniors, immigrants, veterans, the poor, the sick, the afflicted, the least, the lost and the left behind.” Those are the very people who need strong leadership, and the Democrats have put that in place. Now, we are charged with supporting them in this fight.

The post The new generation of Democratic Party leadership appeared first on Palmer Report.

Biotech firm Roivant Sciences (ROIV.O) on Thursday launched a company with Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) focused on an experimental bowel disease treatment, as the drugmakers seek to tap into a multibillion dollar market.

The drug, RVT-3101, was originally developed by Pfizer, which will hold a 25% stake in the new business, with Roivant holding the majority interest.

The deal hands over the development of the drug to the new company, along with commercial rights to the treatment in the United States and Japan for no upfront payment. Pfizer will hold commercial rights outside of the two countries.

SVB Securities analyst David Risinger says the deal shows how Pfizer is prioritizing research spending for its oral ulcerative colitis drug, etrasimod, which holds a near-term blockbuster opportunity.

Etrasimod, which Pfizer had acquired as part of its $6.7 billion deal for Arena Pharmaceuticals in 2021, succeeded in a second late-stage study earlier this year.

Both partners will pay a mid-single digit royalty to each other in respective territories, said Roivant Chief Executive Matt Gline. He added that data from the induction portion of the ongoing study will be shared in a matter of “weeks to a month”.

The new unit also has an option to develop and co-commercialize a second antibody therapy for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases with the U.S. drugmaker.

Both therapies under the deal are antibodies which work against the TL1A protein, the excess presence of which has been linked to inflammatory diseases.

RVT-3101 could represent a nearly $15 billion commercial opportunity in the United States for Roivant as a treatment for both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, said Risinger.

Pfizer has also licensed its inflammatory autoimmune disease drug brepocitinib to Roivant in exchange for a 25% stake in another jointly held company called Priovant.

Shares of Roivant rose nearly 9.6% to $5.87.

Bomb disposal experts defused a letter bomb at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid on Thursday, the sixth such device sent to high-profile targets in a wave that prompted Spain to step up security and vow not to be deterred from supporting Ukraine.

The campaign began with a package sent to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Nov. 24, spurring Madrid to tighten security around public buildings. Since Wednesday, similar devices were also sent to the defence ministry, an air force base, a weapons manufacturer and the Ukrainian embassy – where a security officer was slightly injured.

Defence Minister Margarita Robles, who was visiting the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Thursday and met her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, said the letter bombs would not deter Spain from supporting Ukraine’s “just cause”.

“What must be very clear is that none of these deliveries or any other violent action will change the clear and firm commitment of Spain, NATO countries and the European Union to support Ukraine,” she said.

The latest package was intercepted at the U.S. Embassy by security officials and was later detonated in a controlled explosion by Spanish police.

On Wednesday, a package addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador to Spain detonated at the country’s embassy as a security official investigated it, causing minor injuries to his hands and a concussion. Security has now been stepped up around embassies as well.

Later on Wednesday, Instalaza, an arms manufacturer in Zaragoza, northeastern Spain, that has sent more than 1,000 C90 rocket launchers to Ukraine, received another package. On Thursday, an air force base housing a European Union satellite centre, Spain’s defence ministry and the U.S. Embassy also received packages.

Pedro Rodriguez, professor of international relations at Comillas University, said the letter bombs were designed to draw maximum attention.

“Regardless of the perpetrator, individual or organised, what we have here is an attempt to make noise. It starts small and gradually increases the number of targets,” he said, adding that he believed the bombs were not the work of an individual

UKRAINE POINTS FINGER AT MOSCOW

After the package sent to the Ukrainian embassy detonated, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered all of Kyiv’s embassies abroad to “urgently” strengthen security.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, appeared to blame Russia.

“We have instructions from the ministry in Ukraine that given the situation we have to be prepared for any kind of incident… Russian activities outside the country,” he told Spanish television station TVE on Wednesday.

Russia invaded Ukraine nine months ago in what it calls a “special military operation” that Kyiv and the West describe as an unprovoked, imperialist land grab.

Spain has sent or committed to send military and humanitarian equipment to support Ukraine in the conflict, including surface-to-air missile launchers, a battery of six light howitzers, ammunition and body armour and light weapons as well as offering its airmen training in air defence in Spain.

On Thursday, the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Spain posted a statement condemning “any threat or terrorist act” in relation to the five letter bombs, “particularly directed at a diplomatic mission”.

The delivery of letter bombs across the Spanish capital caused road closures and traffic chaos around major diplomatic and public buildings.

Speaking before the latest package was found at the U.S. Embassy, Spain’s deputy interior minister said early indications suggested the first five packages were sent from within Spain.

Rafael Perez, the junior minister responsible for security, told a news conference that the homemade devices were sent in brown packages containing a flammable powder and tripwire that would generate “sudden flames” rather than an explosion.

The packages were addressed to the heads of the institutions they were sent to.

One device had been kept intact for investigative purposes, Perez said, while the others were detonated by the security forces in controlled explosions.

Perez said it did not yet appear necessary to convene the security committee that would evaluate stepping up Spain’s terrorist threat level, already at the second-highest level following Islamist attacks around Europe over the past decade.

A source close to the investigation said that while the devices were homemade, “they were not something anyone could make”, and investigators were now seeking to trace their contents to their origin.

Another source involved in the judicial investigation said the large envelopes all had the same typeface and appeared to have come from the same sender. They contained an “electrical ignition mechanism” and a substance similar to gunpowder, the source said.

The postal service has been told to screen all letters addressed to high-profile institutions, he added.

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Wall Street was mixed on Thursday as a selloff in Salesforce weighed on the Dow, while traders digested U.S. data that suggested the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes are working.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 surged over 3% on optimism the Fed might moderate its campaign of interest rate hikes.

U.S. manufacturing activity shrank for the first time in 2-1/2 years in November as higher borrowing costs weighed on demand for goods, data showed, evidence the Fed’s rate hikes have cooled the economy.

As well, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.3%, the same as in September, and over the 12 months through October the index increased 6.0% after advancing 6.3% the prior month.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the PCE price index rose 0.2%, one-tenth less than expected, after gaining 0.5% in September.

“On a normal day, the package of data this morning would be pretty risk-on, but after the rally yesterday, I think it’s not quite good enough to push another leg higher,” said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at Baird.
Wednesday’s rally drove the S&P 500 index (.SPX) above its 200-day moving average for the first time since April after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it was time to slow the pace of interest rate hikes.

Traders now see a 79% chance the Fed will increase its key benchmark rate by 50 basis points in December and a 21% chance it will hike rates by 75 basis points.

Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) tumbled 9.4% after the software maker said Bret Taylor would step down as co-chief executive officer in January.

Dollar General Corp (DG.N) fell 8.1% after the discount retailer cut its annual profit forecast, while Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) shed 6.3% after the membership-only retail chain reported slower sales growth in November.

In afternoon trading, the S&P 500 was down 0.09% at 4,076.38 points.

The Nasdaq gained 0.14% to 11,483.66 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.59% at 34,384.99 points.

Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, nine declined, led lower by financials (.SPSY), down 0.91%, followed by a 0.75% loss in real estate (.SPLRCR).

A report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 225,000 for the week ended Nov. 26.

Investors now await nonfarm payrolls data on Friday for clues about how rate hikes have affected the labor market.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX) by a 1.1-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 30 new highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 90 new highs and 59 new lows.