Republican lawmakers have railed against President Joe Biden’s spending packages from the beginning of his term. Throughout negotiations on Biden’s massive stimulus plan, I wrote about how GOP voters took little heed. 

That’s quickly changing. 

• Republican support for Biden’s infrastructure package dropped 10 percentage points in a week, to 25 percent, according to a new Morning Consult/Politico poll. 
• Backing among Republicans for corporate taxes to pay for infrastructure took a sharper dive (13 points) from the week prior. 
• Infrastructure: What’s in a name? Voters largely agree with Biden’s expanded definition of the term. 

Read more takeaways here.

• Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing that as much as $1 trillion a year in taxes could be going uncollected due to fraud, mistakes and insufficient resources to properly carry out collections. He said that the expansion of cryptocurrencies and foreign-source income, and outside research that projects a $7.5 trillion tax gap over the next 10 years, means that the IRS has almost surely undercounted such losses in the past. (The Wall Street Journal) 
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development is beginning to restore “key parts” of an Obama-era rule that required cities to address residential segregation to obtain access to federal funds, and another one that addresses unintended discrimination, according to two notices posted by the Office of Management and Budget. The rules were revoked under Ben Carson, former President Donald Trump’s HUD secretary. (Politico)
• The day after President Joe Biden invited lawmakers from both parties to the White House to discuss the infrastructure package, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) acknowledged at a weekly party lunch that Democrats could use the reconciliation process to adopt the plan, according to party aides. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), said that the party will “likely” rely on reconciliation, but said that Democrats should “first do everything we reasonably can to negotiate bipartisan bills with the other side.” (The Washington Post)
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. profit in the first quarter nearly quintupled, to $14.3 billion, as the bank released $5.2 billion it had set aside to cover loan losses during the coronavirus pandemic. Revenue for the country’s largest bank reached $32.27 billion, a 14 percent increase from the year-ago period. (The Wall Street Journal)

Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Maintains Support From About 3 in 5 Voters, but Republican Backing Takes a Sharp Dive
Morning Consult

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The Biden Administration Is Quietly Keeping Tabs on Inflation

Jim Tankersley, The New York Times

Even before President Biden took office, some of his closest aides were focused on a question that risked derailing his economic agenda: Would his plans for a $1.9 trillion economic rescue package and additional government spending overheat the economy and fuel runaway inflation? To find the answer, a close circle of advisers now working at the White House and the Treasury Department projected the behaviors of shoppers, employers, stock traders and others if Mr. Biden’s plans succeeded. 

Hundreds of Companies Unite to Oppose Voting Limits, but Others Abstain

David Gelles and Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times

Amazon, BlackRock, Google, Warren Buffett and hundreds of other companies and executives signed on to a new statement released on Wednesday opposing “any discriminatory legislation” that would make it harder for people to vote. It was the biggest show of solidarity so far by the business community as companies around the country try to navigate the partisan uproar over Republican efforts to enact new election rules in almost every state. 

U.S. Chamber Urges Lawmakers to Oppose Democratic-Backed Voting Bill

Alexa Corse, The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged senators to oppose a sweeping Democratic-backed voting-overhaul bill, saying it would impose onerous restrictions on political advocacy by corporations and other associations. The Chamber said Tuesday that it would send a “key vote alert” to senators laying out its opposition to the proposed For the People Act and called for bipartisanship in making any voting changes.

It’s Not Just You: Many Are Placing Bets on Summer Travel

Quoctrung Bui and Sarah Kliff, The New York Times

On March 11, President Biden gave the country a preliminary timetable for returning to normalcy. In a prime-time address, he directed states to make all adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. “A July 4 with your loved ones is the goal,” he said.

Biden moves to leverage corporate America’s falling out with GOP

Anita Kumar and Christopher Cadelago, Politico 

The business community doesn’t dislike President Joe Biden’s proposal to hike corporate taxes to pay for a massive $2 trillion-plus infrastructure plan. They detest it.

States Were Told They Can’t Use U.S. Covid-19 Aid to Cut Taxes. They Sued.

Kate Davidson, The Wall Street Journal

A last-minute provision added to the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package last month is leading to a showdown between states and the Treasury Department over the limits of the federal government’s fiscal authority. The package, known as the American Rescue Plan, provided $195 billion for state governments to help offset soaring costs related to the pandemic and plug budget holes stemming from the economic downturn. 

New York Democrats Push Repeal of Cap on Local Tax Deductions

Joseph De Avila, The Wall Street Journal

More than a dozen New York Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. House leadership Tuesday asking for a full repeal of the cap on state and local tax deductions, adding pressure to negotiations over the Biden administration’s proposed infrastructure plan. The administration has called for paying for its infrastructure package by raising taxes on corporations.

The IRS is looking to send $1.3 billion in refunds for people who didn’t file a 2017 return

Michelle Singletary, The Washington Post

While millions of people still wait and worry about when their stimulus payments will be delivered, there’s a group of folks who could receive some much-needed money from another source — if only they would file a three-year-old tax return. The IRS says it has unclaimed income tax refunds worth more than $1.3 billion for an estimated 1.3 million taxpayers who never got around to filing a federal return for 2017.

IRS to roll out payments for $3,000 child tax credit in July

Tal Axelrod, The Hill

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will start sending monthly payments to families from the new $3,000 child tax credit starting in July.  IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig confirmed the timeline during congressional testimony Tuesday, telling the Senate Finance Committee that “If we end up not being on track for some unforeseen situation, we will advise you and the committee.”

Consumer prices move higher as White House, Fed monitor inflation

Hamza Shaban, The Washington Post

Consumer prices moved 2.6 percent higher in March compared with a year ago, fueled by a strengthening economy and comparisons to last spring when the coronavirus pandemic set off unprecedented upheaval. The consumer price index, which measures the change in what customers pay for goods and services such as groceries, clothing and gas, climbed 0.6 percent from February to March, the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday.

Fed Is Taking On a Racist Legacy in the Field of Economics

Catarina Saraiva, Bloomberg

As the pandemic slammed the Black community and amplified the conversation around racism in America, the economics profession grappled with an uncomfortable truth: that its historical roots and practices today are mired in systemic racial bias. Last summer, the shock of George Floyd’s death and other instances of police brutality ignited a national debate about inequality. 

Goldman Sachs reports record results that top the Street amid booming investment banking

Thomas Franck and Hugh Son, CNBC

Goldman Sachs on Wednesday blew past analysts’ expectations with record first-quarter net profits and revenues on strong performance from the firm’s equities traders and investment bankers. Shares of the New York-based bank rose 2% following the release, which showed that Goldman’s first-quarter revenues more than doubled on a year-over-year basis.

A $1.2 Million Bank Error Buys a House, and an Arrest, Officials Say

Neil Vigdor, The New York Times

It was the type of windfall that investors pine for with every rally on Wall Street: $1,205,619.56 had inexplicably ended up in the brokerage account of a 911 dispatcher in Louisiana in February. But the next day, when Charles Schwab tried to recover the money it had deposited in error into the account of Kelyn Spadoni, the authorities said, about a quarter of the funds were already gone.

Mastercard Rewrites Rules for Banks Backing Pornography Sellers

Jennifer Surane, Bloomberg

Mastercard Inc. is updating the requirements it sets for banks that process payments for sellers of adult content. The banks will now have to ensure that sellers require “clear, unambiguous and documented consent” in adult content, the payments network said in a blog post Wednesday.

Wells Fargo investing in two Black-owned Georgia banks

Michael E. Kanell, The Atlanta-Journal  Constitution

Wells Fargo is investing in five Black-owned banks, including two in Georgia, the company said Tuesday. The company has pledged to invest up to $50 million in minority-owned institutions. 

Ex-JPMorgan Broker Accused of Bilking Grandma Gets Trading Ban

Tom Schoenberg, Bloomberg

A former JPMorgan Chase & Co. financial adviser accused of trading his wealthy grandmother’s assets without her knowledge has been barred from working as a broker by the industry’s watchdog, according to information on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s website. Evan Schottenstein, without admitting or denying the findings, agreed to the sanction after Finra concluded he wasn’t complying with its investigation into whether he committed misconduct while managing about $80 million for Beverley Schottenstein when she was a client of JPMorgan for nearly five years.

$50K of student loan forgiveness would wipe out federal debt for 36M, new data shows

Michael Stratford, Politico 

More than 36 million Americans would have their federal student loans completely erased if the Biden administration were to accede to progressive demands to cancel up to $50,000 per borrower, according to new data from the Education Department. The federal data was released on Tuesday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who requested the information from the agency earlier this month.

U.S. money market funds, advocates, stake out positions as crackdown looms

Pete Schroeder and Michelle Price, Reuters

Market participants this week staked out their positions on how to fix systemic risks in the $4.9 trillion U.S. money market fund industry, in what is shaping up to be the first big fight for U.S. President Joe Biden’s financial regulators. After taxpayers bailed them out for the second time in 12 years during the pandemic-induced turmoil in March 2020, money market funds – a key source of short-term corporate and municipal funding – are facing a regulatory reckoning which could potentially change the industry beyond all recognition.

Credit Suisse Sells $2 Billion of Archegos-Linked Stocks

Drew Singer et al., Bloomberg

Credit Suisse Group AG unloaded about $2 billion of stocks tied to the Archegos Capital Management blowup in the second such block sale since the bank wrote down the bulk of its exposure in the first quarter. The stock offerings included Discovery Inc. and Iqiyi Inc., adding to some $2.3 billion worth of shares tied to the debacle that the bank sold last week, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Billions in Covid-19 Aid Is Slow to Reach Renters and Landlords

Christine Mai-Duc and Dan Frosch, The Wall Street Journal

Overwhelmed state and local authorities are grappling with how to allocate $25 billion in federal rental relief, leaving many tenants and landlords waiting weeks or months for their share. Before the pandemic, Orange County, Calif., spent less than $1 million a year on rental assistance for tenants at risk of eviction.

Coinbase CEO to Take Crypto Exchange Public After Bringing Bitcoin to Masses

Paul Vigna, The Wall Street Journal

Brian Armstrong is poised to become one of the richest people in the world after Coinbase Global Inc. goes public Wednesday.Coinbase, co-founded by Mr. Armstrong in 2012, runs the largest bitcoin exchange in the U.S. and is set to become the first major  cryptocurrency-focused company to go public in the country.

Gary Gensler has a full agenda as he gets set to take over the SEC

Bob Pisani, CNBC

The Senate is likely to confirm Gary Gensler as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission either Wednesday or later this week, and crypto assets — including bitcoin — are likely high on his agenda. With Democrats in control of all three major branches of government, and the SEC commissioners now with a 3-2 Democratic majority, Gensler is likely to face calls from progressives to act on several fronts, including ESG, the Gamestop fallout, the Archegos fiasco, payment for order flow, fiduciary obligations, and especially regulations around securities in the crypto space, including a bitcoin ETF.

Black Americans Are Embracing Stocks and Bitcoin to Make Up for Stolen Time

Akayla Gardner, Bloomberg

They’ve heard it all before. Set a budget. 

Bitcoin Trades Near $64,000 as Focus Turns to Coinbase Debut

Yakob Peterseil, Bloomberg

Bitcoin breached the $64,000 level for the first time as traders turned their attention to Coinbase Global Inc.’s public debut. The token was volatile during the morning, trading up 1.4% at $64,100 as of 9:54 a.m. in London. 

Don’t Fear Cryptocurrencies. Manage Them.

Brian Feinstein and Kevin Webach, The New York Times

Since last fall, cryptocurrencies — digital tokens that represent money, stored on completely decentralized networks of public digital ledgers — have boomed. It’s led to a bullish frenzy among those who see them as a generational wealth-creation opportunity or view themselves as the eventual survivors of an inflation-driven collapse of traditional currencies like the U.S. dollar.