Daily Digest for February 26, 2021 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Michael Olson |
Good morning,
Snow might not be the only thing melting away in Minnesota. The state’s budget deficit could fade soon, too.
State finance officials release a new economic forecast Friday. There’s wide expectation it’ll be far sunnier than the last one in December, which showed a projected shortfall of $1.3 billion for the coming two years.
This sets the parameters for lawmakers as they build the next two-year budget.
MPR News Brian Bakst reports, the economic outlook is stronger for several reasons.
House to vote on virus bill; arbiter says wage hike a no-go Democrats are ready to push a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package through the House on Friday, despite a setback that means a minimum wage boost is unlikely to be in the final version that reaches President Joe Biden.
Militia official: U.S. strike in Syria kills 1, wounds several A U.S. airstrike in Syria targeted facilities belonging to a powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group, killing one of their militiamen and wounding a number of others, an Iraqi militia official said Friday.
With one move, Congress could lift millions of children out of poverty The COVID-19 relief bill working its way through Congress is full of big ideas to help people. But there's one idea that's so big, it was politically unthinkable not that long ago.
President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers want to fight child poverty by giving U.S. families a few hundred dollars every month for every child in their household — no strings attached. A kind of child allowance.
If this proposal survives the wrangling in Congress and makes it to Biden's desk, experts say it could cut child poverty nearly in half.
The idea even has some bipartisan support. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, of Utah, has pitched his own, smaller version of a child allowance.
Got story ideas or a question for MPR News? Let me know molson@mpr.org |
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