Category: Federal
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Federal Register weekly update: New year, new significant rules
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. The Federal Register kicked off 2021 by publishing 1,736 pages during the week of Jan. 4 to Jan. 8. Over the same period…
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U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases December 2020 unemployment data
On January 8, 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its unemployment data for December 2020. The unemployment rate for December was 6.7%, the same rate that was reported for November 2020. The year’s highest unemployment rate was recorded in April 2020 at 14.8%; the year’s lowest reported rate was 3.5% in both…
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U.S. Small Business Administration relaunches Paycheck Protection Program
On Friday, January 8, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) would make another round of loans available to new and some existing borrowers on January 11. Congress allocated $284 billion to the program in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which President Donald Trump (R) signed into law on December 27, 2020. The PPP, which Congress first authorized…
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U.S. Senate returns 37 federal judicial nominations to president
On January 3, 2021, the United States Senate returned the nominations of 37 individuals to the president at the sine die adjournment of the 116th Congress. On the same day, President Donald Trump (R) resubmitted 17 judicial nominations to the Senate. The list of returned nominations included 22 nominees for the U.S. district courts, three…
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U.S. Supreme Court releases argument calendar for February, March
The U.S. Supreme Court has released its argument calendar for February and March of the 2020-2021 term. The court will hear eight hours of oral argument in eight cases between February 22 and March 3. So far, the court has agreed to hear 48 cases during its 2020-2021 term. February 22, 2021 Trump v. Sierra…
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Trump has appointed second-most federal judges through December 31 of a president’s fourth year
Donald Trump has appointed and the U.S. Senate has confirmed 234 Article III federal judges through December 31, 2020, his fourth year in office. This is the second-most Article III judicial appointments through this point in all presidencies since Jimmy Carter (D). The Senate had confirmed 261 of Carter’s appointees at this point in his…
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Democrats win control of U.S. Senate
Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate following two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5. Jon Ossoff (D) defeated David Perdue (R) in the regular runoff election. Raphael Warnock defeated Kelly Loeffler (R) in the special runoff election. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, Ossoff had 50.3% of the vote to Perdue’s 49.7%. Perdue was…
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Warnock wins Georgia’s U.S. Senate special election runoff, outcome of regular election runoff not yet determined
As of 8:30 a.m. ET on Jan. 6, one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate runoff elections had been called. Raphael Warnock (D) was projected as the winner of the special runoff election with 50.6% of the vote to incumbent Kelly Loeffler’s (R) 49.4%, according to unofficial results available as of Wednesday morning. In the regular…
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Georgia’s two U.S. Senate runoff elections too close to call as of midnight on Jan. 6
Voters in Georgia decided runoffs in two U.S. Senate elections on Jan. 5. As of 12 a.m. EST Wednesday, both races were considered too close to call. In the regular election, Sen. David Perdue (R) led Jon Ossoff (D) by fewer than 2,000 votes, with both candidates receiving 50.0% of the vote. In the state’s…