After Facebook unveiled plans for its own cryptocurrency, Congress members including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, and fellow committee member Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) called for the tech company to testify and push pause on the project.
Why it matters: Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency project is ambitious, but hinges on regulatory approval if it wants to enable users to convert the currency to and from fiat money.
Katie Gorka was named a spokeswoman for Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, NBC reports.
Why it matters: Gorka is the spouse of former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka. Both have been vocal in their controversial views on Islam and counterterrorism. The White House continues to harden its immigration staff ahead of the election, in an appeal to Trump's base.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dismissed the idea of reparations for descendants of slaves on Tuesday, arguing that nobody currently living today is responsible for what happened and that the U.S. has tried to rectify the past by fighting the Civil War, enacting civil rights legislation and electing an African-American president.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) plans to combat child care costs and inequality with the Universal Child Care and Early Learning plan, which would be paid for through her "Ultra-Millionaire Tax."
Driving the news: Warren, who first announced the proposal in February, brought forth corresponding legislation with Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) on Tuesday.
2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar outlined her priorities for the first 100 days of her potential presidency in a Medium post Tuesday.
The big picture: The Minnesota senator outlined a huge list of steps to enact her vision for America, encompassing a range of topics from climate change to manufacturing to foreign aid. The document, which is short on plans to execute her vision, differs from some of her 2020 opponents, who have tried to stand out from the pack by publishing lengthy single-issue proposals targeting hot-button issues.
The White House considered the "legality of demoting" Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in February, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The big picture: This, according to anonymous sources, reportedly took place after Trump discussed firing Powell last year following frustrations with the central bank's interest rate increases, per another Bloomberg scoop. Toward the end of 2018, Trump briefly mused about whether he could replace Powell with Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor and aide to President George W. Bush.
President Trump attacked European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi in a Tuesday tweet after he signaled that he may lower interest rates as soon as next month, causing the euro to drop against the dollar.
The big picture: Trump has been waging a war with his own central bank, blurring the lines of the Federal Reserve’s political independence by calling on it to cut interest rates. Now, Trump is picking a fight with the ECB, one of the major central banks that has hinted at easing monetary policy as the global economy slows. The Fed is one of the few that has yet to make that pivot, though speculation abounds that it may indicate this week that a rate cut is coming.
New polling by Firehouse Strategies and 0ptimus finds that in three critical 2020 states, Ivanka Trump has a higher net favorability among likely general election voters than her father does.
Why it matters: Ivanka, a presidential adviser who'll be in Charlotte on Tuesday to co-chair the second American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting, can be a surrogate in tough states.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden defended at the Poor People's Campaign Presidential Forum in Washington, D.C., Monday his approach of working with Republicans to achieve a consensus, CNN first reported.
Details: Biden said in response to a question from MSNBC's Joy Reid, "I know you're one of the ones who thinks it's naive to think we have to work together. The fact of the matter is, if we can't get a consensus, nothing happens except the abuse of power by the executive. Zero."
New York lawmakers narrowly passed a bill Monday that's designed to give undocumented immigrants the right to a driver's license, WKBW reports.
Details: Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed into law the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Luis Sepúlveda, soon after it passed 33 to 29, per the New York Times. That's just 1 more vote than the minimum required.
President Trump tweeted Monday night that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will begin deporting "millions" of undocumented migrants next week.
