The daily business briefing: December 20, 2019
1.
The House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the renegotiated deal intended to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, handing President Trump a bipartisan victory a day after impeaching him. The 385-41 vote came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) secured concessions, including strict labor standards and environmental provisions. Pelosi said the revised deal was "light years" ahead of the one the Trump administration worked out with Canada and Mexico. Republicans also rallied behind the agreement, eager to deliver a key 2016 campaign promise of Trump, who repeatedly bashed NAFTA as a U.S.-job killer because it encouraged companies to move jobs to Mexico where labor is cheaper. "Another promise made, another promise kept," said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The deal goes to the Republican-controlled Senate next. [The Associated Press]
2.
The Senate on Thursday passed the $1.4 trillion spending deal needed to prevent a partial government shutdown when current funding expires at midnight Friday. The legislation, which the House approved earlier in the week, will keep government agencies funded through September. President Trump is expected to sign the deal, separated into security and domestic spending packages, in time to meet the deadline. The package includes a military and civilian federal worker pay raise and repeal of three health-care taxes intended to help pay for the Affordable Care Act. It also keeps border wall funding at $1.37 billion, far below the $8.6 billion the Trump administration had sought. A showdown over the wall funding resulted in a government shutdown at the end of last year. [CNN]
3.
U.S. stock index futures fluctuated between slight losses and gains early Friday after rising to fresh records on Thursday. Stocks got a lift Thursday when Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was certain the U.S. and China would sign their "phase one" trade deal in early January. If finalized, the agreement include tariff relief and increased purchases by China of U.S. agricultural goods, reducing damage from the trade war between the world's two largest economies. The news partially overshadowed mixed economic data, and helped to offset the potential of market fallout from the House vote to impeach President Trump. [CNBC]
4.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is putting his Brexit bill to a vote in Parliament on Friday in the first test of his new parliamentary majority. The House of Commons agreed to his plan in principle in October, but rejected his effort to rush it through so he could stick with the old deadline for leading the U.K. out of the European Union. The clash with the opposition Labour Party over the timing led to a general election last week that gave Johnson a larger 80-seat majority to break the deadlock. If Johnson's bill is approved, both chambers of Parliament will hold further debate in early January, with final approval that could result in the U.K. leaving the EU on Jan. 31. [CNBC]
5.
The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bill seeking to discourage robocalls by toughening enforcement and making phone companies give customers free tools to block scammers. The House approved the measure earlier this month. President Trump is expected to sign the legislation. The bill would expand preventive efforts being pushed by the Federal Communications Commission and state attorneys general. Maureen Mahoney, policy analyst for Consumer Reports, said the measure was a good start in cracking down on the billions of scam calls Americans get every week, but cautioned that "robocalls are not going to disappear overnight." [The Associated Press]
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