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Just In | The Hill 

The GOP-led House of Representatives on Thursday will again hold a vote for its new Speaker, as the first contested election for the leadership role in a century continues.

So far, the vote remains about Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) who has been backed by most Republicans, but not enough for a majority of the body.

McCarthy hasn’t been able to reach the 218 votes needed to win the Speaker’s gavel as Democrats have remained united behind Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

With the Republicans’ narrow majority in the chamber — and no Democrats backing McCarthy — he can only afford to lose four GOP votes. Possible absences could lower the threshold, as could votes of “present,” the latter a choice a McCarthy opponent could make other than an explicit “no” vote.

Neither appeared to be the case on Tuesday. The one vacant seat — held by the late Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), who won reelection in November — isn’t enough to change the total votes needed.

Without any clear alternative candidate among the Republicans, today’s outcome remains uncertain.

The vote is scheduled to begin at noon ET.

Watch the live video above.

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Just In | The Hill 

In 2022, we saw the latest evidence that large, authoritarian countries are fracturing the global balance of power. This brave new world requires U.S. legislators to integrate more geopolitics into international and financial economic policymaking.

Lawmakers and regulators must ensure that cryptocurrency and digital assets do not weaken the West and strengthen authoritarian regimes. But other policy areas require trade officials to actively map out how to pursue national security and domestic policy goals in the least trade-restrictive ways.

The merits of an open, competitive marketplace are inescapable. Walking this tightrope won’t be easy. Yet the balancing act is exactly what is needed to propel U.S. and global economic growth and innovation and strengthen America’s foothold as a global superpower.

Here are three big things U.S. policymakers need to watch:

First, national security will be a dominant theme in economic policy. The war on terror seems to be in the review mirror, and great power rivalries with China, Russia and Iran are taking center stage. Policymakers will need to discern legitimate national security concerns from rank protectionism. A Chinese company that reports to the Chinese Communist Party building a U.S. 5G network is a legitimate security concern. Domestic milk producers’ calls for putting import taxes back on infant formula (while there is still a shortage) is simple protectionism.

If Congress and the White House are unwilling or unable to make the distinction, the U.S. economy will suffer for it. Our trading partners (allies and rivals alike) will see a green light for their own worst instincts and domestic cronyism. We saw beggar-thy-neighbor protectionism spread several years ago, to the detriment of economic opportunities in the United States and around the world.

For instance, consider the protectionist rules in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on consumer tax credits for electric vehicles. To be eligible for a tax credit, various critical minerals must be sourced from the United States, North America or a free-trade agreement partner. Battery components will eventually have to be sourced only from North America.

Given the president’s recent comments about “glitches” in the IRA that need to be worked out, it appears either that protectionism was not on the administration’s radar or that it looked the other way. Either is concerning. And it happened in the face of evidence of the economic harm that recent protectionist policies have caused, and evidence of the costly unintended consequences of local content requirements.

Second, be more concerned with growing the pie and less concerned about how to slice it. Growth and innovation in a relatively open international marketplace have delivered meaningful gains in buying power for all American households over the years.

We pay for things with money, but we pay for money with our time. When we compare ourselves to our parents’ or grandparents’ generations (and not to our next-door neighbor), we can see vast improvements in our wellbeing. It cost $239.95 in 1966, or about two working weeks, to buy a dishwasher. Today, a standard dishwasher costs about two working days of income. Economic growth, marketplace competition and innovation, fueled by free trade, have enabled these improvements.

Third, cryptocurrency and shadow banking can undermine the strength of the U.S. dollar. There is an economic freedom aspect to acknowledge here, not least that people living under repressive governments might benefit from blockchain assets beyond the reach of a secret police. But there is also a trade-off to be aware of for Western governments.

As with trade, national security ramifications may be in play. The regimes in Russia and China would love a robust and stable cryptocurrency independent from Western central banks. Russia has already been able to avoid some sanctions by using cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Beijing, if it invades Taiwan and gets hit by similar sanctions, would also be able to do so. Money beyond the West’s reach makes it easier for weapons to get into our enemies’ hands, hackers or ransomware to take down our companies and governments, and for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime to keep up atrocities against the Ukrainians. Make no mistake, we’ll need to find answers as cryptocurrencies upend the status quo.

Economic policy is increasingly geoeconomics. It will be messy and complicated. Calls for special treatment will grow. But the simple rules still apply: Protect the freedoms we hold dear and strive for national security and domestic policy goals in the least trade-restrictive ways.

Christine McDaniel is a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

​Finance, Opinion, cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency regulation, US-China relations Read More 

Just In | The Hill 

Story at a glance

More members of Congress identify as Protestant than the general U.S. population.

Only one member of Congress, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), identifies as religiously unaffiliated. 

Data are based on lawmakers’ responses to the CQ Roll Call survey.

The number of lawmakers who identify as Christian serving in the 118th Congress outpaces that of the general U.S. population, as more Americans move away from both Christianity and, more broadly, religious affiliations altogether. 

That’s according to a new report from Pew Research Center which found nearly 90 percent of the incoming Congress identifies as Christian, compared with 63 percent of the U.S. population. 

Data showed that the lawmakers are also more likely to identify as Protestant than the general population, at 57 percent vs 40 percent, respectively. Newly-elected members were more likely than returning members to identify as Protestant, responses from CQ Roll Call show. Pew researchers based their report on the survey, which assesses the demographic characteristics of congressional members. 

Similarly, Catholics account for 28 percent of the incoming Congress, though only 21 percent of the U.S. population identifies as Catholic.

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The findings come alongside a decades-long decline in Americans who identify as Christian. Pew data show that the total has decreased from 89 percent in the early 1970s to just over 70 percent in the late 2010s. During that time period, more Americans also reported having no religious affiliation with totals rising from 6 percent to 22 percent. 

These trends were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a decline in church membership, attendance, and belief in God, survey data show. 

Despite these changes, the rate of Christian members in Congress has largely remained the same over the years. Ninety-one percent of Congress identified as Christian in the 1979-1980 Congress, compared with 88 percent today. 

By party affiliation, 99 percent of incoming congressional Republicans describe themselves as Christians. Around 76 percent of Democrats said the same.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) is the only current member of Congress who identifies as religiously unaffiliated. Twenty members of Congress have unknown religious affiliations, as they declined to provide the information for the CQ survey. 

Still, the representation of some faiths outpaces or is equal to the general population. Jewish members make up a slim majority of non-Christian Congress members, researchers found. In the incoming Congress, six percent of lawmakers identify as Jewish compared with two percent of the U.S. population. 

Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists are about equally represented in Congress as they are throughout the country, representing around 1 percent or less in each group. 

​Arts & Culture, Changing America, Diversity + Inclusion, Enrichment, Respect, Christianity, congress, Protestant, Religion Read More