Short Takes – 5-27-23

Biden says debt deal ‘very close’ with default deadline now set at June 5. APNews.com article. Pull quote: “The later “X-date,” laid out in a letter from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, set the risk of a devastating default four days beyond an earlier estimate. It came as Americans and the world uneasily watched the negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the U.S. economy into chaos and sap world confidence in the nation’s leadership.”

Biden Administration Dusts Off Contingency Plan if Debt-Ceiling Deadline Passes. WSJ.com article. Pull quote: “Under the backup plan created for a debt-limit breach, federal agencies would submit payments to the Treasury Department no sooner than the day before they are due, the people familiar with the talks said. That would represent a change from the current system, in which agencies may submit payment files well before their due dates. The Treasury Department processes them on a rolling basis, often ahead of the deadlines. Some payments are already sent to the department one day early, one person said.”

Sinema joins debt ceiling negotiations: Axios. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) has joined debt ceiling negotiations to try to help the sides reach an agreement on permitting reform, people familiar with the matter told Axios Saturday.”

BREAKING White House and G.O.P. Strike Debt Limit Deal to Avert Default. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “The tentative deal also claws back some unspent money from a previous pandemic relief bill, and reduces by $10 billion — to $70 billion from $80 billion — new enforcement funding for the I.R.S. to crack down on tax cheats. It includes measures meant to speed environmental reviews of certain energy projects.” Bill text due late Sunday for House vote on Wednesday.

The Last Big Weapon on Ukraine’s Wish List. ForeignPolicy.com article. Pull quote: “Some members of Congress and U.S. officials think the deliveries of ATACMS [Army Tactical Missile System] to Ukraine could be decisive in putting Russian troops, ships, and bases on occupied Ukrainian soil at risk. After Ukraine first began raking Russian lines with High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, it received from the United States last year, cutting supply lines, knocking out command posts, and crashing weapons depots, enemy troops began to move out of range and hunker down.”

Why the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season is especially hard to predict. ScienceNews.org article. Pull quote: “There’s little consensus among other groups’ predictions, in part due to the uncertainty of what role El Niño will play. On April 13, Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, announced that it anticipated a below-average season, with just 13 named storms, including six hurricanes. On May 26, the U.K. Meteorological Office announced that it predicts an extremely busy hurricane season in the Atlantic, with 20 named storms, including 11 hurricanes, of which five could be category 3 or greater. The long-term average from 1991 to 2020 is 14 named storms.”

El Nino seen posing larger risk for robusta coffee, less to arabica. Reuters.com article. A real weather issue. Pull quote: “The weather phenomenon, which disrupts rainfall and temperature patterns, could further tighten supplies and raise prices of robusta, which has a higher caffeine content than arabica and is largely used to make instant coffee.”