Mediaboss Marketing

Happy Thursday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Todays Big Deal: Progressive Democrats want leaders to go broad and dare Republicans to let popular programs expire. Well also look at a sharp decline in jobless claims and climate concerns.

But first, congrats to the woman who found a giant diamond in a state park!

For The Hill, Im Sylvan Lane. Write me at slane@thehill.com or @SylvanLane. You can reach my colleagues on the Finance team Naomi Jagoda at njagoda@thehill.com or @NJagoda and Aris Folley at afolley@thehill.com or @ArisFolley.

Lets get to it.

Left doubles down on aggressive strategy

Emboldened progressives are doubling down on their aggressive strategy after an early victory over centrists, suggesting they see that approach as a winner in the intraparty fight.

Liberal lawmakers in the House and Senate are calling for social safety net programs to be as universal as possible, pushing back against centrist Sen. Joe Manchins (D-W.Va.) calls for programs to be means-tested and targeted toward the lowest-income households.

They also want programs that provide benefits to families to start as quickly as possible, rather than have a delayed start date in an effort to minimize the price tag.

The background:

They argue that priorities such as child care and education will be popular with the public, so lawmakers will feel pressure to extend any temporary programs once they begin.

"If given a choice between legislating narrowly or broadly, we strongly encourage you to choose the latter, and make robust investments over a shorter window," Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) leadership said in a letter to Pelosi Wednesday.

Naomi Jagoda and Scott Wong have more here.

LEADING THE DAY

Jobless claims fall below 300k for first week since lockdowns

New weekly claims for jobless aid sunk to a pandemic low last week, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department, falling below 300,000 for the first time since COVID-19 shattered the economy.

While job growth fell off sharply in August and September amid surging cases of COVID-19, the continued decline in jobless claims this month suggests businesses have been able to avoid widespread layoffs. I explain why here.

UNBREAK THE CHAIN

What you need to know about the supply chain bottlenecks

Supply chain snarls and labor shortages are driving prices higher and creating shortages as the economy struggles to adapt to a new phase of the coronavirus pandemic.

After slashing prices and laying off workers at the onset of COVID-19, manufacturers, suppliers and retailers have struggled for months to meet the quick rebound in demand unleashed by unprecedented federal aid and highly effective coronavirus vaccines.

While the Biden administration is scrambling to ease the problem, Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at audit and tax firm RSM, warned that only time will fully normalize supply lines.

At this point there's not much that the federal government can do to what can accurately be described as a behavioral shock, Brusuelas said.

Heres what you need to know about the supply chain challenges.

TOXIC CLIMATE

Moderates split over climate plans in Democrats' spending package

Climate change provisions in a sprawling Democratic spending package are dividing moderates, creating major obstacles to getting the legislation across the finish line.

Key aspects of the House package would make sweeping changes to address climate change, through tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles, a fee on methane emissions from oil and gas, and a program that seeks to switch electricity to clean energy sources through a combination of grants and fines.

But the divisions among moderates largely reflect regional interests, underscoring the challenges to getting the moderate wing of the party on board with the multitrillion-dollar spending package. Naomi and Rachel Frazin have more here.

Good to Know

Prices charged by producers rose at a slightly slower rate in September despite supply chain snarls and shortages that have driven up manufacturing and shipping costs.

Heres what else have our eye on:

Go here to see the original:
On The Money Progressives play hard ball on Biden budget plan | TheHill - The Hill