Trump Threatens ‘Radical Left’ Universities

By Yuval Rosenberg

Trump Threatens Tax-Exempt Status and Funding for ‘Radical
Left’ Universities

President Trump on Friday continued to put
pressure on American schools, charging that "too
many" universities are about "radical left indoctrination" rather
than education. As a result, the president said, he was instructing
the Treasury Department to "re-examine" the tax-exempt status and
funding of universities. Most colleges and universities are exempt
from taxes as 501(c)(3) organizations.

In a pair of tweets sent while on his way to events in Florida,
Trump said: "Too many Universities and School Systems are about
Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education. Therefore, I am telling
the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status...
and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act
Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not
Indoctrinated!"

Earlier in the week, Trump had
threatened to cut federal funding from schools if
they don't reopen this fall.

What Trump is doing: "This is an old issue for
conservatives that the president is now tapping into as part of his
broader culture war conversation he's been stoking in recent days
and weeks," Peter Baker of The New York Times
said.

What Trump could do: "It would fall to the IRS, a bureau
of the Treasury Department, to conduct the review that Trump
described. However, federal law prohibits the IRS from targeting
groups for regulatory scrutiny ‘based on their ideological
beliefs,’" The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant reports.

Bloomberg’s Jordan Fabian further explains: "Trump’s power to
drastically alter universities’ tax exemption is limited, but he
could make policy changes that could hurt their bottom lines. For
example, the Treasury Department could make changes through
regulations, such as the Unrelated Business Income Tax, which
pertains to profits earned through a part of the school that is not
substantially related to the non-profit or educational part of the
university."

Universities also rely on federal research grants and
they’ll need emergency coronavirus response funds, which the
administration reportedly may be able to curtail, but broader
changes would require congressional action, which is highly
unlikely.

Quote of the Day: Pelosi Calls $1 Trillion for
Covid Relief an 'Interesting Starting Point'

"So, a trillion dollars is okay, that is an interesting
starting point, but it doesn't come anywhere near. … And let me say
another thing about trillions. The Fed is spending trillions of
dollars to shore up the stock market. That may be a good thing to
do. We think we should spend trillions of dollars to shore up
America's workers, and there is a path that is a good investment,
that is stimulus, that keeps people from losing their jobs and
helps people get jobs by being a stimulus and having consumer
confidence, spending, injecting demand into the economy, job
creating. "

– House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at a press
conference Thursday, on Trump administration and GOP
calls to limit the cost of the next coronavirus relief bill to

$1 trillion.

June Deficit Soars to $863 Billion, Nearly Matching 2019 Total:
CBO

The federal budget deficit in June totaled $863 billion, the
Congressional Budget Office estimated
this week. That’s up from $8 billion in the same month last year
and nearly matches the fiscal gap for all of fiscal year 2019,
which was $984 billion.

The surging deficit is the result of the coronavirus
pandemic, as federal spending more than tripled compared to June
2019 and tax revenues plunged 28%.

Outlays by the Small Business Administration (SBA) rose
from $80 million to $511 billion because of the
Paycheck Protection Program created to help small companies weather
the pandemic and maintain payrolls. SBA spending accounted for
almost half of the government’s $1.1 trillion in total outlays.

Spending on unemployment insurance jumped from $2 billion
in June 2019 to $116 billion last month, with more than half of the
increase stemming from the $600 increase in weekly benefits
authorized by Congress in March. Those enhanced payments are set to
expire this month.

Tax revenues fell as a result of declines in wages and
diminished economic activity as well as the administration’s
decision to delay the deadline for quarterly estimated taxes from
June 15 to July 15, the CBO said.

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the deficit
totaled $2.7 trillion, CBO estimated, compared with $747 billion
over the same period last year.

Total outlays have risen by 49%, while receipts have
fallen by 13%. Revenues for the first six months of the year were
6% higher than the same period last year, but receipts over the
last three months plunged by 40% compared to 2019, in large part as
the result of the tax filing deadline being pushed back from April
15. CBO expects that much of the deferred revenue will be collected
later this year or in future years.

From April through June, the deficit was an estimated $2.0
trillion, compared with $56 billion for the same period last
year.

Drug Giants Partner in Fund to Create New Antibiotics

Twenty of the largest drugmakers on Thursday
announced they would create a new $1 billion fund
to provide short-term backing to biotech startups developing
antibiotics to treat drug-resistant infections. The fund, created
in partnership with the World Health Organization with funding from
companies including Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Roche AG, will
invest in roughly two dozen companies that have identified
promising drugs, with the aim of bringing two to four antibiotics
to market within a decade.

Chart of the Day: The Growth of Medicare Advantage

Total enrollment in Medicare Advantage, the Medicare
program that offers health plans from private insurers, has grown
by more than 30% since 2017 — and has nearly doubled over the last
decade, according to government data cited in a
report released Thursday by the Better Medicare
Alliance, a non-profit advocacy group that says its mission is to
support Medicare Advantage. Enrollment in Medicare Advantage is
projected to increase to nearly 51% of total Medicare enrollment by
2030, the report says.

Have a good weekend and stay safe!
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