Tag: Texas

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Raj Subramaniam, the Indian-American CEO of global transportation giant FedEx, has been presented with the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest civilian award given by India to persons of Indian origin and Indian diaspora. Subramanian, 55, was presented with the award by India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu at a ceremony at the India House on Saturday, April 15 since he could not travel to India early this year to receive the award. The other awardee, Darshan Singh Dhaliwal, was also present at the event. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo along with senior officials of the Biden Administration and several hundred Indian Americans were present at the event. Subramanian is the president and CEO of FedEx Corporation, one of the world’s largest transportation companies. His international leadership experience and keen business insights have contributed immensely to the success of FedEx.
(Source: PTI)

The vote came despite a veto threat from Biden, and overwhelming disapproval from Democrats in the House and Senate, who maintain that Congress should raise the debt limit without spending cuts or other conditions

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): House Republicans on Wednesday, April 26, approved a bill that would raise the debt ceiling, slash federal spending and repeal President Biden’s programs to combat climate change and reduce student debt, defying Democratic objections in a move that inched the United States closer to a fiscal crisis.

Ignoring repeated warnings that the GOP’s brinkmanship could unleash vast economic turmoil, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) muscled his narrow, quarrelsome majority toward a 217-215 vote, accelerating a high-stakes clash with the White House with as few as six weeks remaining before the government could default.

For House Republicans, the outcome marked a realization of a risky wager they placed after assuming a majority this January: They bet they could use the debt ceiling, the legal limit on how much money the country can borrow to pay its bills, as political leverage. Since Congress must pass a new law to raise or suspend the cap, the GOP seized on the possibility of a looming fiscal doomsday to try to extract policy concessions from Biden.

“The sad part here is, now the Democrats need to do their job,” McCarthy said immediately after the vote. “The president can no longer ignore [it] by not negotiating.”

Reacting to the vote, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement the bill had “no chance of becoming law,” pointing to the president’s position that the debt ceiling should be raised without conditions to prevent any harm to the U.S. economy. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, held firm in their own refusal to consider such a measure: Earlier in the day, Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) took to the chamber floor to blast the GOP for “hostage-taking” and fault the party for bringing the government “dangerously closer to defaulting.”

Repeatedly, Republicans lifted the limit without conditions under President Donald Trump — while Democrats, who abhorred Trump’s policies, still supplied their votes in a bid to protect the country’s economic standing. With Biden, however, GOP leaders justified their new ultimatums by pointing to the nation’s roughly $31 trillion in debt, an imbalance to which both parties have contributed meaningfully.

It still took a series of late-night compromises with restive moderates and conservatives before McCarthy could pass the legislation, earning the cheers of his conference once the gavel sounded on the vote. But with no bipartisan resolution in sight — and no plans for McCarthy and Biden to meet — the final tally only raised the odds that a divided, gridlocked Washington could stumble into an unprecedented fiscal catastrophe.“It is no secret the circus is in town this week,” charged Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, at a news conference earlier Wednesday. “Every minute wasted on Speaker McCarthy’s empty gesture is a minute we get closer to default.”The Republican proposal, dubbed the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, would raise the borrowing limit into next year — either until the government incurs another $1.5 trillion in arrears, or through the end of March 2024, whichever occurs first. Republicans coupled the increase with aggressive caps on federal spending, rolling back the budgets for key agencies to the levels adopted in the 2022 fiscal year and then limiting future growth to 1 percent annually for the following decade.

In total, these and other cuts are expected to save the government roughly $4.8 trillion over the next 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which analyzed the legislation earlier this week. Republicans have promised to focus those cuts on federal health care, education, science and labor programs, while sparing defense. The party’s measure also would repeal Biden’s recent accomplishments, including a bevy of tax credits meant to spur the adoption of electric vehicles and other clean technologies. It would end the president’s plan to waive up to $10,000 from millions of borrowers’ student loan debts. It would limit the power of federal agencies to issue regulations on a wide array of industries. And it would impose a raft of new rules on low-income families that receive federal benefits, including food stamps and Medicaid, requiring them to work longer hours in exchange for help — or risk losing aid entirely.

“It’s not wild, and it’s not reckless. It is responsible to do that. You can raise the debt ceiling, you can pay your bills, and you can protect the future for our children,” said Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Budget Committee, who led the party in floor debate.

What is the debt ceiling?
It’s a restriction Congress has put on how much money the federal government can borrow to pay its bills, which has been in place since 1917. Because the government usually spends more than it takes in, Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling fairly frequently to pay for its operations. (Sort of like a credit card bill.)
What is a default?
If Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, the government can’t borrow and might not be able to pay its bills on time (like bond interest). That’s called a default, and it’s never happened before on this scale (though the U.S. got close in 2011). It would likely tip the U.S. into a recession and shake the global economy.
Why does the U.S. keep raising the debt limit?
Congress needs to raise the debt ceiling so the U.S. can keep issuing bonds, which investors around the world buy because they’re seen as a safe and reliable investment. In turn, the government can fund projects from the military to social programs.
Why is raising the debt limit a fight?
Until recently, it was routine for Congress to raise the debt ceiling. Since 1960, Congress has intervened 78 times to change it in some way. But it has become a political battle because it is one of the few must-pass bills, so lately Republicans have seen it as an opportunity to make demands.

Technically, the United States reached the $31 trillion debt ceiling in January, prompting the Treasury Department to begin taking what it calls “extraordinary measures” to prevent the country from defaulting. But those accounting moves are only temporary solutions meant to buy more time for Congress to act — though exactly how long they have before the deadline, known in Washington as the “x-date,” remains unclear.

The Treasury Department has warned a default is possible as soon as June, while the CBO has said it could be as late as September. Lawmakers had been counting on the later date until a series of recent updates — including a report from analysts at Goldman Sachs issued last week — said they could not rule out an early summer deadline as a result of unexpected changes in federal tax revenue.

No matter the timeline, economists widely agree that the consequences of inaction could be stark: A default would devastate the U.S. economy, which already finds itself on the precipice of recession, resulting in millions of job losses and substantial swings in the stock market. Even the mere prospect of such a calamitous fiscal event threatens to exact a severe toll: When Republicans seized on the debt ceiling for political leverage in 2011, for example, the tumult triggered a downgrade in the government’s credit rating, costing taxpayers more than $1 billion in higher interest costs. In recent weeks, though, Republicans appeared to shrug off the potential ramifications. Setting the stage for the House debate, McCarthy took his message last week directly to the New York Stock Exchange, where the Dow Jones industrial average fell by about 2,000 points more than a decade ago amid a series of summer battles over the debt ceiling. The speaker pledged that his majority would not allow the government to default, even as he told an increasingly skittish Wall Street that debt ceiling negotiations offered an “opportunity to examine our nation’s finances.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Over a million students in Virginia can now learn about Sikhism as the US State voted in favor of new social studies standards on Thursday that will include Sikhi, or the Sikh faith, in the school curriculum for the first time ever.

The Virginia State Board of Education voted in favor of the new History and Social Science Standards of Learning.

The new standards will give more than a million students in Virginia an opportunity to learn about the Sikh community, the Sikh Coalition said.

Virginia is now the 17th in a growing list of US states that have worked with the Sikh Coalition to include accurate information about Sikhs in their public-school social studies standards, according to a statement.

Utah and Mississippi were the 15th and 16th States in the US to include information about Sikhism, Sikh practices, and traditions in their social studies syllabi.

“After more than two years of engagement alongside the local ‘sangat’, this change will help to ensure that Sikhi can be taught in classrooms across the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Harman Singh, Sikh Coalition senior education manager. “Inclusive and accurate standards are an important first step to combat bigotry and to reduce bullying, and they benefit all students by increasing cultural competency,” he said.

In its statement, the Sikh Coalition noted that the new social studies standards come with serious and well-documented flaws, and there are many communities that are not represented as they should be. “We continue to fight for not just the Sikh community, but all groups whose histories should be taught accurately,” said the statement. Sikhism is one of the largest religions in the world and the members of the community have contributed to American society for over 125 years in the fields of civil rights, politics, agriculture, engineering, and medicine.
(Source: PTI )

NASHVILLE (TIP): Indian American lawmaker in the Tennessee House of Representatives Sabi “Doc” Kumar, who voted to expel two African Americans from the statehouse for staging a protest demanding strict gun-control laws, has accused one of the two Black legislators of hurling a racial slur at him.
Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled from the House on April 6 after they demonstrated calling for an assault weapon ban and other gun-control measures. A third Democrat, Representative Gloria Johnson, who is white, narrowly escaped the expulsion, raising concerns about race as the motivating factor for the ouster of the two Black lawmakers.
Three lawmakers took part in the protests on March 30, three days after a shootout in a Nashville suburb that claimed seven lives. A former student shot and killed six people, including three students and three teachers at the Christian Covenant School in the suburbs of Nashville on March 27. The shooter, a 28-year-old former student of the school, was shot and killed by police.
According to a media report, “More than 1,000 peaceful protestors rallied around Tennessee’s state Capitol” demanding “more restrictive gun laws” and many “made their way into the Capitol in a demonstration,” but no “demonstrators broke into the Capitol, no one was arrested or injured, and no property was damaged.”
But the house proceedings were halted “when three elected Democratic representatives stood at the podium with a bullhorn to lead protestors in the galleries in calls for gun reform,” the media reported.
The expulsion created a nationwide storm, with top Democrats and civil rights leaders accusing Republicans of racism. “[The] expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent,” President Joe Biden said in a statement issued by the White House. “Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.”
During the debate in the statehouse, Jones told Indian American Sabi “Doc” Kumar of putting “a brown face on white supremacy.”
Responding to Jones’ charge, Kumar said accused the Democrat of being a racist.  He said, “[I am an immigrant. Everybody knows I have been in this country for 53 years. I have never encountered a racial slur. I’m really not aware that any of that applies to me. I live a good life, yet you, on tape, called me a brown face.”
Kumar said Jones, who was “sitting a row or two ahead” of him, shoved his finger in his face and said, “Kumar, they will never accept you.”
The Indian American lawmaker said, “you said it twice. It is disappointing that you have insulted this body; you have insulted your colleagues, you have insulted … the House of Representatives in the state of Tennessee. You have insulted our speaker; you have personally insulted me.”
On Friday, Kumar went on TV news channel and doubled down on his attack on Jones where he said “I have been here for 53 years, and I have practiced surgery. I’ve lived in Tennessee for 46 years, and people have been extremely kind to me. I was really surprised and that these things should not happen, especially in a place where people are constantly guarding the values in such a way that discrimination and racism does not occur.”
Terming the shooting as “unfortunate,” he said that “it is the grace of the Covenant Presbyterian Church that, instead of saying six people were killed, they count the shooter among those and said seven people died. That is the community that we live in. That is the community that Nashville is, and people included the shooter among the casualties.”
He accused the Democratic lawmakers of inviting people and mobilizing “schools to bring thousands of children in and create a situation that it became about them,” when there should have been healing within the community and discussion “on what can we do to avoid such violence within our society.”
He added, “It was not about any solutions it was not about sympathy and mourning and other things that needed to be done… They took it as an opportunity for political purposes to demonstrate and mobilize the people against the current administration. Then, in addition to that, not only were they satisfied with making it all about themselves, they went on to basically commandeer the House. They walked into the well of the main area within the House of Representatives, disrupted the function, started mobilizing and shouting and creating chaos within the House of Representatives, to the point that business could not be conducted. They took the place hostage, and that is not the purpose. And the idea was again to achieve that time of mourning, a time of healing and go on to think [of] solutions. And it’s a frequent thing, let’s do something. Okay, let us take time to do something but not make it about themselves.”
Kumar, a retired surgeon, is the only non-White member of the Republican caucus. In the statehouse, he represents District 66. Known as “Doc,” he ran unopposed to win a fifth term last November. He currently serves as the Chairman of the House Insurance Committee.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said it would increase enforcement in the area of digital asset transactions and listed transactions. The federal agency identified certain transactions to have high-risk issues in noncompliance and vowed to ramp up enforcement in those transactions.
“The IRS tracks many known, high-risk issues in noncompliance, such as digital asset transactions, listed transactions and certain international issues. These issues arise in multiple taxpayer segments, and data analysis shows a higher potential for noncompliance,” the tax agency wrote in its newly-released funding plan (pdf).
“We will prioritize resources to increase enforcement activities, including criminal investigation as appropriate,” the agency added.
According to the plan, the IRS will develop an information platform to support digital asset reporting and analytics tools to increase digital asset compliance in the fiscal year 2024, which is between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024.
Digital assets include convertible virtual currency, cryptocurrency, stablecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other digital representations of value, according to the IRS website.
The IRS treats digital assets as property and requires taxpayers to report taxable gains or losses from digital asset transactions.As it’s difficult to identify the owners of digital assets, U.S. judges allow the IRS to use “John Doe summons” to seek the identities of taxpayers of interest.
Individuals Earning $400,000 or More Targeted
The IRS released details Thursday on how it plans to use an infusion of $80 billion for improved operations, pledging to invest in new technology, hire more customer service representatives, and expand its ability to audit high-wealth taxpayers.The plan lays out the specifics of how the IRS will allocate the $80 billion of funding—from fiscal year 2024 to 2031—that was approved through legislation.
Some improvements have been long expected, such as bringing more paper-based systems online and answering taxpayers’ phone calls promptly. Others are more ambitious: continuing to explore ways to create a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system, for example.
Janet Yellen
After Congress passed legislation for the funding last summer, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen directed the IRS to develop a plan outlining how the tax agency would overhaul its technology, customer service, and hiring processes. Her memo sent instructions to IRS leadership not to increase audit rates on people making less than $400,000 a year annually. During a call with reporters, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the plan “is heavily driven by the fact that we need to make technology investments that will improve productivity, which will mean that over time the number of employees and the mix of employees at the IRS will change.”
Officials are promising not “to raise audit rates on small businesses and households making under $400,000 per year, relative to historic levels.” The report says more than half of the new money—$45.6 billion—will be devoted to pursuing high-wealth individuals and companies.
“Given the size and complex nature of these tax filings, this work often requires specialized approaches, and we will make these resources available,” the report said. “We will use data and analytics to improve our understanding of the tax filings of high-wealth individuals.”