WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, April 28, 2022

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1/ Biden asked Congress for $33 billion in additional funding for military, economic, and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and “its fight for freedom.” The funding request includes more than $20 billion in military and security assistance, $2.6 billion to support the deployment of American troops and equipment to the region, and $1.9 billion for cybersecurity and intelligence support, as well as $8.5 billion in economic assistance for the Ukrainian government to provide basic economic support. “Investing in Ukraine’s freedom and security is a small price to pay to punish Russian aggression, to lessen the risk for future conflicts,” Biden said. The request is more than twice the size of the $13.6 billion package approved last month and intended to last until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. “The cost of failing to stand up to violent aggression in Europe has always been higher than the cost of standing firm against such attacks,” Biden said. “That is as it always has been, and as it always will be. America must meet this moment, and do its part.” The House, meanwhile, passed legislation allowing Biden to use a World War II-era law to quickly supply weapons to Ukraine on loan. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Associated Press)

2/ The U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank for the first time since 2020. In the first three months of 2022, gross domestic product in the U.S. declined at a 1.4% annualized rate. Economic forecasts had projected growth of roughly 1%. Last year, the U.S. economy grew by 5.7% – the fastest pace since 1984. Biden blamed the contraction on “technical factors,” citing the Omicron wave of the coronavirus, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, companies with stockpiled inventories from 2021, and a jump in imports with a drop in exports. Consumer spending, however, grew at a 2.7% annual rate in the first quarter despite the Omicron wave, which limited spending on restaurants and travel in January. Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the economy. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press)

3/ Senior Trump administration officials overruled Pentagon officials in 2020 to award a $700 million pandemic relief loan to a struggling trucking company. A report released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis describes career employees at the Defense Department concluding that the trucking company Yellow didn’t qualify for the pandemic...

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