Rep. Greg Casar on Texas Abortion Ban, State of the Economy
For women living in Texas, access to abortion services is non-existent and for providers, they run the risk of facing felony charges. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas, 35th District) told Cheddar News that he hopes Texas can once again be a springboard for abortion rights.
"There's also real reason for hope here in Texas because abortion rights for the country started in Texas. In fact, an Austinite, Sarah Weddington, when she was in her 20s, sued district attorney Henry Wade and won the case Roe v. Wade here in Texas and bought abortion rights to the whole country," he said.
In the interim, organizations like Planned Parenthood have stepped up to provide women-in-need with support, funding and transportation to out-of-state abortion providers.
Casar also talked to Cheddar News about the state of the economy, and the surge in layoffs across various sectors, in particular. He said the introduction of more unions in order to boost employee protections in the city of Austin is one way to protect Americans in the broader job market.
"The only thing that has been able to balance inequality in this country's history in a really powerful way has been the union movement and its so important whether you're Black, white, or Brown, young or old, the union movement is resurging and that can change our economy for the better regardless of who is in the White House, regardless of who controls Congress," he said.
When it comes to protecting American dollars in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, he said assessing executives' lobbying goals could help avoid future financial collapses.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
