On The Money — White House extends student loan pause

The Biden administration is stepping in to make sure student debtors aren’t caught off guard. We’ll also look at the Supreme Court’s ruling on former President Trump’s tax returns and the impact of inflation on Thanksgiving.

But first, take a look at the seven Republicans most likely to challenge Trump for the GOP nomination.

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Student loan payment paused until June 2023

The Biden administration on Tuesday extended the pandemic-era federal student loan payment pause and interest accrual until no later than June 2023 while the administration faces legal challenges to its debt forgiveness plan.

“I’m confident that our student debt relief plan is legal. But it’s on hold because Republican officials want to block it,” President Biden said in a statement. “That’s why @SecCardona is extending the payment pause to no later than June 30, 2023, giving the Supreme Court time to hear the case in its current term.”

The background: The latest extension into next year will give the Supreme Court time to decide whether it will rule on allowing the program to continue.

• The payment pause will end “no later than June 30, 2023,” Biden said, because payments will resume 60 days after the Education Department is permitted to implement the program or the litigation is resolved, which should come before the end of June, when the Supreme Court term typically concludes.  
  

• Loan payments were first put on hold in March 2020 under former President Trump at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to give individuals relief from paying their student loan bills.

The Hill’s Alex Gangitano has the latest here.

LEADING THE DAY

Supreme Court declines to shield Trump tax returns from Congress

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an emergency appeal from former President Trump seeking to shield his tax returns from House Democrats, capping a multiyear legal battle and paving the way for the release of his tax returns.

The order — which had no noted dissents — was in response to an appeal Trump filed with the Supreme Court late last month after a lower court declined to reverse its ruling mandating that he turn over his tax records to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The upshot:

• House Democrats have been seeking the records for years, saying they need to probe how the IRS conducts its routine presidential audits, while Trump’s attorneys have argued the matter is purely political. 
  

• While the order from the Supreme Court is a win for House Democrats, it’s unclear how useful it will be for them. It’s not clear how quickly the IRS would turn over the records, and House Republicans are expected to withdraw the request when they take over in January.

The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch breaks it down here.

TALKING TURKEY

Thanksgiving inflation gobbles up budgets

High inflation is hitting the Thanksgiving spread.

Food prices rose almost 11 percent over the 12 months ending in October, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI), while groceries, which exclude restaurants, specifically were 12.4 percent more expensive from the same time a year ago.

And some Thanksgiving staples are even more expensive thanks to a combination of costly setbacks for farmers and food processors.

• Prices for poultry were up almost 15 percent annually in October, according to the Labor Department, thanks in part to a recent outbreak of avian flu. 
  

• Premade baked goods, baking mixes and frozen desserts were also at least
  15 percent more expensive last month than a year ago.

Sylvan explains why here.

SEEING RED

Investor home purchases drop record amount in the third quarter

Investor home purchases fell by a record amount in the third quarter, outpacing the overall decline in home sales nationwide.

• A new report from the real estate company Redfin found that companies bought around 65,000 homes in the third quarter of 2022, which is down 30 percent from a year earlier.  
  

• Investor activity dropped the most in single-family home purchases, falling by 32.3 percent year over year in the third quarter.

The reduction in investor purchase activity corresponds with a decline in home sales that was fueled by high prices and soaring mortgage rates amid a series of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve targeting growing inflation.

The Hill’s Adam Barnes has more here.

Good to Know

NFL quarterback Tom Brady and NBA star Steph Curry are among a group of celebrities under investigation by a Texas regulator for possible violations of securities laws related to their promotion of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Joe Rotunda, the director of enforcement for the Texas State Securities Board, told Bloomberg in an interview on Monday that the board is reviewing payments that Brady, Curry and others received to publicize their support for FTX, what disclosures they made and their accessibility to retail investors.

Other items we’re keeping an eye on:

• The Justice Department on Tuesday sued five individuals and 11 firms allegedly behind a timeshare fraud scheme that scored more than $90 million from victims. 
  

• Shareholders for a firm seeking to merge with Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) voted on Tuesday to extend the deadline to combine with the parent company of former President Trump’s social media site Truth Social.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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