U.S. Senate wrangles over $2,000 stimulus checks, defense veto as deadline looms - Reuters News

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will grapple on Tuesday with whether to increase payments to Americans reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and override President Donald Trump's veto of a $740 billion defense bill, two measures set to lapse if lawmakers fail to act before a new Congress takes office on Sunday.

Democrats, with help from Trump's Twitter feed, are pushing for a vote on the additional money, a step they believe could give them an advantage in two Georgia runoff elections next week that will determine which party controls the Senate under President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration.

The bill faces a tough path in the Republican-led Senate, with many Republicans pointing to hundreds of billions of dollars in added costs of COVID-19 relief.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to speak on the chamber floor at Noon (1700 GMT).

A combined $892 billion bipartisan coronavirus relief package and $1.4 trillion spending bill that Trump signed into law on Sunday contains $600 checks for people hit hard financially by a pandemic that has infected more than 19 million Americans and killed over 333,000.

The Democratic-led House of Representatives on Monday approved the increase in direct payments to $2000.

Trump's signing of the package staved off a U.S. government shutdown but he also pushed for the stimulus checks. He reasserted that demand on Tuesday, tweeting: "$2000 for our great people, not $600! They have suffered enough from the China Virus!!!"

Separately, the House on Monday voted to override the president's veto of the defense policy bill by 322-87. If the Senate seconds the House action, the bill becomes law. It would be the first veto override of Trump's presidency, which ends on Jan. 20 when Biden takes office.

A Senate vote on the defense bill veto had been expected on Wednesday but could be delayed until the weekend by political wrangling over the stimulus money.

With the New Year's Day holiday on Friday and a new Congress due to be sworn into office on Sunday, lawmakers have only a short time to act.

SENATE RESISTANCE

Final passage of the COVID aid increase in the Senate would require 60 votes and the backing of a dozen Republicans.

The Joint Tax Committee, a congressional panel that tracks federal spending, estimated on Monday that Trump's $2,000 checks would cost $463.8 billion.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio voiced early support for the increase. "I agree with the president that millions of working class families are in dire need of additional relief, which is why I support $2,000 in direct payments," he said in a statement late on Monday.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also welcomed it.

"The House just took a strong, bipartisan vote to pass $2,000 checks," Schumer said on Monday.

"I'll move to pass the bill in the Senate. Workers, families and people are crying out for help. Every Senate Democrat is for this relief. Senate Republicans should not stand in the way."

Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, who has championed higher direct payments to Americans, threatened late on Monday to block the Senate from moving quickly to override Trump's veto of defense bill until McConnell agrees to allow a vote on the $2,000 checks.

"This week on the Senate floor Mitch McConnell wants to vote to override Trump's veto of the $740 billion defense funding bill and then head home for the New Year," Sanders said on Twitter.

"I'm going to object until we get a vote on legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class."

U.S. 20-metro area year-on-year home price increase for Oct was biggest since June 2014 - Reuters

Dec 29 (Reuters) -

·         US OCTOBER 20-METRO AREA HOME PRICES +7.9 PERCENT (CONSENSUS +6.9 PERCENT) FROM YEAR AGO VERSUS +6.6 PERCENT IN SEPTEMBER-- CASE-SHILLER

·         US OCTOBER HOME PRICES IN 20 METRO AREAS +1.6 PERCENT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED (CONSENSUS +1.0 PERCENT) VERSUS REVISED +1.4 IN SEPTEMBER- S&P/CASE-SHILLER

·         US OCTOBER 20-METRO AREA HOME PRICES NON-ADJUSTED +1.3 PERCENT VERSUS REVISED +1.3 PERCENT IN SEPTEMBER -S&P/CASE-SHILLER

·         CASE-SHILLER 20-METRO AREA YEAR-ON-YEAR HOME PRICE INCREASE WAS BIGGEST SINCE JUNE 2014

·         US OCTOBER HOME PRICES IN 10 METROPOLITAN AREAS +7.5 PERCENT FROM YEAR AGO VERSUS +6.2 PERCENT IN SEPTEMBER - S&P/CASE-SHILLER

·         US OCTOBER HOME PRICES IN 10 METRO AREAS +1.6 PERCENT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED VERSUS REVISED +1.4 PERCENT IN SEPTEMBER- CASE-SHILLER

·         US HOME PRICES IN 10 METRO AREAS NON-ADJUSTED +1.4 PERCENT IN OCTOBER VERSUS +1.3 PERCENT IN SEPTEMBER - S&P/CASE-SHILLER

·         OCTOBER CASE-SHILLER NATIONAL HOME PRICE INDEX +8.4 PERCENT FROM YEAR AGO, +1.7 PERCENT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED FROM SEPTEMBER, +1.4 PERCENT NON-ADJUSTED

German exports down more than 12% this year due to pandemic - BGA - Reuters News

BERLIN, Dec 29 (Reuters) - German exports shrank by at least 12% this year as demand from the United States and Britain collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic while Asia remained the only bright spot for Europe's largest economy, the BGA trade association said on Tuesday.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed us back five years when it comes to trade - and at the same time it has catapulted us five years into the future in terms of digitalisation," BGA President Anton Boerner said.

German exports to the United States, its largest foreign sales market outside the European Union, fell by 16% and exports to Britain tumbled by 18.5%.

"The only bright spots are China and Asia, their importance continued to increase during the pandemic," Boerner said.

But it remained to be seen how a China-backed agreement among fifteen Asia-Pacific economies to form one of the world's largest free trade blocs would change demand for European goods in coming years, Boerner cautioned.

China is likely to overtake France and the United States this year to become number one destination for German exports by value for the first time as German companies double down on the resurgent Asian giant. (Full Story)

European officials said on Monday that China and the EU are likely to clinch a deal this week that would give EU firms better access to the Chinese market, improve competition conditions and protect EU investment in China. (Full Story)

The BGA president urged European policy makers to overcome differences in trade policies with the United States and find new common ground with President-elect Joe Biden.

Exports could grow by up to 13% next year, said Boerner, warning, however, that forecasts were tricky due to the unpredictable nature of coronavirus pandemic developments.

Boerner said it was unlikely that exports, an important driver of overall growth in Germany, would hit pre-crisis levels before 2022, adding, that could happen in the first or second quarter of that year.