News and updates

Here is a selection of news articles the Office of Federal Relations is reading this week.

Well, That Didn’t Work Out the Way It Was Supposed To – After calling for a snap election that was intended to enhance their control of the British Parliament ahead of the “Brexit” negotiations, the Conservatives in Britain suffered quite a set-back as they lost their majority.  The Tories will now form a new government in partnership with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland.  Read more about it here, here, and here.

Infrastructure Update: Can He Accomplish That? The White House announced that this week — the same week that the former FBI director testified in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee — would be “infrastructure week.” It was to be a week dedicated to taking concrete steps forward on improving our nation’s roads, bridges, airports, broadband reach and more. But how far has the Trump administration gotten this week? Have they made progress in coming through on the campaign promises Trump made, namely the promise of a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure over 10 years? Read/listen to more from the Washington Post.

Senate Moderates on Healthcare: We’re Close – Moderate Republicans on Thursday said they were getting closer to supporting an emerging Senate health package but are continuing to press for a slower phaseout of the Medicaid expansion than the House-passed bill set out. Read more from Roll Call.

$34 B Would Make College Afforable – A new report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), a group comprised of heads of statewide governing boards, proposes state and federal support should increase by $34 billion per year to make college financially accessible for all. Read more on Time. 

Job Openings Hit Record Highs – U.S. job openings surged to a record high in April and employers appeared to have trouble finding suitable workers, pointing to a tightening labor market that could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month. The Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, published on Tuesday also suggests that a recent moderation in job growth could be the result of a skills mismatch rather than easing demand for labor. Read more on Reuters.

H-1 B Visas – The White House has been quietly working with the Justice Department on overhauling the H-1B program to better adhere to the administration’s “Buy American, Hire American” order, sources told Politico Playbook. Read more from Politico. 

Timeline: How Comey Came to Testify – It was less than a year ago that then-FBI Director James B. Comey delivered mixed news for the Democratic Party’s nominee for president —Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified material was, “extremely careless,” but he would not bring charges against her in the case. After that, he’s had quite the year: drawing fire from all sides, and eventually getting fired by President Donald Trump last month in the heat of a major investigation into potential relationships between Trump’s campaign and Russians who were actively interfering in the U.S. election. Read more from Roll Call.