Month: April 2025

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its advance estimate for first quarter gross domestic product (GDP), which found the U.S. economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.3% in the first quarter, which runs from January through March.

The first quarter’s 0.3% contraction was slower than the 2.4% GDP growth recorded in the fourth quarter. The quarterly contraction was the first since the first quarter of 2022. The decline in GDP was attributed primarily to an increase in imports, which count as a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, as well as a decrease in government spending. Those shifts were partially offset by increases in investment, consumer spending and exports.

The 41% surge in imports was driven by consumer goods, primarily pharmaceutical goods, medicines and vitamins; and by capital goods like computers and parts.

Consumer spending rose 1.8% with gains for both services (+2.4%) and goods (+0.5%), as increases in spending on services were widespread and led by healthcare, housing and utilities. Within spending on goods, a 2.7% increase in nondurable goods was partly offset by a 3.4% decrease in durable goods.

Business investment rose 21.9% in the first quarter after it posted a 5.6% decline in the fourth quarter. Nonresidential investment was up 9.8% in the quarter, led by a 22.5% increase in equipment spending.

Disposable personal income was 2.7% in the first quarter, up from 1.9% in the fourth quarter.

Personal saving as a percentage of personal income was 4% in the first quarter, up from 3.7% in the fourth quarter – though it’s down from 5.4% in the first quarter of 2024.

Government spending was down 1.4% in the first quarter led by a 5.1% drop in federal government expenditures. Federal spending on national defense activities was down 8%, while nondefense spending declined just 1%. State and local government spending rose by 0.8%, the slowest growth since the second quarter of 2022.

On April 23, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order (“EO”) entitled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” which aims to “eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible.”

First recognized under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) by the U.S. Supreme Court in Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971), disparate impact liability provides that a policy or practice that is facially neutral and applied without discriminatory intent may nevertheless give rise to a claim of discrimination if it has an adverse effect on a protected class, such as a particular race or gender.  Disparate impact liability has also been recognized under fair housing laws and in other contexts.

The EO characterizes disparate impact liability as creating “a near insurmountable presumption of unlawful discrimination . . . where there are any differences in outcomes in certain circumstances among different races, sexes, or similar groups, even if there is no facially discriminatory policy or practice or discriminatory intent involved, and even if everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.”  The EO further states that disparate impact liability “all but requires individuals and businesses to consider race and engage in racial balancing to avoid potentially crippling legal liability” and “is wholly inconsistent with the Constitution.”

To that end, the EO, among other things:

• directs all executive departments and agencies to “deprioritize enforcement of all statutes and regulations to the extent they include disparate-impact liability,” including but not limited to Title VII;
• orders the Attorney General, within 30 days of the EO, to report to the President “(i) all existing regulations, guidance, rules, or orders that impose disparate-impact liability or similar requirements, and detail agency steps for their amendment or repeal, as appropriate under applicable law; and (ii) other laws or decisions, including at the State level, that impose disparate-impact liability and any appropriate measures to address any constitutional or other legal infirmities”;
• orders the Attorney General and the Chair of the EEOC, within 45 days, to “assess all pending investigations, civil suits, or positions taken in ongoing matters under every Federal civil rights law within their respective jurisdictions . . . that rely on a theory of disparate-impact liability, and [] take appropriate action” consistent with the EO;
• orders all agencies, within 90 days, to “evaluate existing consent judgments and permanent injunctions that rely on theories of disparate-impact liability and take appropriate action” consistent with the EO;
• orders the Attorney General, in coordination with other agencies, to “determine whether any Federal authorities preempt State laws, regulations, policies, or practices that impose disparate-impact liability based on a federally protected characteristic such as race, sex, or age, or whether such laws, regulations, policies, or practices have constitutional infirmities that warrant Federal action, and [] take appropriate measures” consistent with the EO; and
• orders the Attorney General to initiate action to repeal or amend regulations contemplating disparate impact liability under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race, color, and national origin discrimination in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

The EO also orders the Attorney General and the Chair of the EEOC to “jointly formulate and issue guidance or technical assistance to employers regarding appropriate methods to promote equal access to employment regardless of whether an applicant has a college education, where appropriate.”

This EO is the latest evidence of shifting enforcement priorities by the federal agencies tasked with enforcing civil rights laws, including the EEOC.  The ultimate scope of the EO’s impact remains to be seen, particularly as it relates to the potential for preemption of disparate impact liability under state or local anti-discrimination laws.  Congress has the authority to amend any federal statutes to specifically address a disparate impact theory of liability, and the courts will continue to have the ultimate say on whether and to what extent such a theory is cognizable under particular statutes.

The Federal Reserve Board and the FDIC have imposed a total of $250 million in civil penalties on Discover Financial Services for overcharging merchants on interchange fees and failing to tell them, the agencies said in separate consent orders.

The Fed issued its consent order, which included a $100 million civil penalty, on Friday. The FDIC said in a separate consent order that Discover bank — which is owned by Discover Financial Services — agreed on Tuesday to pay a $150 million civil penalty.

Within 60 days Discover is required to submit a plan to better oversee its interchange fee practices, the Fed order said. The consent order requirements were imposed by the Fed as a condition to its approval of Capital One’s $35 billion acquisition of Discover.

Over the course of nearly two decades Discover charged merchants commercial interchange fees for cards that were used for ordinary consumer spending, the order said. Commercial interchange fees are higher than consumer fees, according to the order.

The Riverwoods, Illinois-based bank and credit card issuer began overcharging merchants in 2007 and the practice continued through 2023, the Fed said.

Discover classified about five million consumer credit cards as commercial credit cards at the end of 2022 and 98% of those cards were misclassified, the Fed said in the filing.

The Fed’s order doesn’t say how much merchants were overcharged. The FDIC order requires Discover to make restitution to merchants and merchant acquirers of at least $1.23 billion. The initial FDIC order was disclosed in July 2023.

“For approximately 17 years, the Bank misclassified millions of consumer credit cards as commercial, resulting in higher interchange fees for transactions processed on the Discover network,” the FDIC said in Friday press release.

In July, Discover agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle a class action lawsuit over card misclassification.

“Discover has since terminated these practices and is repaying those fees to affected customers,” the Fed said.

About 3.6 million babies were born in the US in 2024, according to a new report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fertility rate last year – 54.6 births for every 1,000 women of reproductive age – increased less than 1% from the record low in 2023, hovering well below rates from years earlier.

The US fertility rate has been trending down for decades, with a particularly steep dip after the Great Recession of 2008. An uptick in 2021 spurred theories about a Covid-19 “baby bump,” but the rate quickly returned to its more consistent downward pattern.

Experts say that year-to-year movement in the fertility rate tends to be incremental and that a single year of change – such as this year’s slight increase – does not indicate a shift in the long-term trend.

But the latest provisional data, published Wednesday by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, also shows that births continue to shift to older mothers. The fertility rate was highest among women in their early 30s in 2024, with more than 95 births for every 1,000 women ages 30 to 34.

Wisconsin Republicans are reviving bills that would make wide-ranging changes to unemployment benefits and prevent local communities from establishing guaranteed income programs.

Both plans cleared a state Assembly committee on party line votes last week and are scheduled for votes by the full Assembly on Tuesday.

The unemployment benefits changes would rename Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance program “reemployment assistance” and add requirements for eligibility. Under the proposal, a person would have to make direct contact with potential employers, expanding the current requirements that a person search for work every week that they collect unemployment insurance.

It would also require a person to more regularly check in with the Department of Workforce Development and require them to take part in employment workshops or trainings.

The proposal to ban guaranteed income programs would bar communities from handing out direct and no-strings-attached cash payments to residents. Guaranteed income programs are generally backed by progressive groups and do not require a person to meet requirements, such as looking for or holding employment.

During a debate in the Assembly Committee on Public Benefit Reform, Rep. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, argued that both proposals would “really go to protecting the integrity of these systems, and that’s important if we want them to be sustainable going into the future.”

Both bills are supported by Wisconsin Independent Businesses and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, as well as the conservative lobbying group FGA Action.

Should the bills pass the full Assembly on Tuesday, they would also need to pass the Senate and be signed by Gov. Tony Evers to become law.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld Gov. Tony Evers’ partial budget veto that extended a temporary school funding increase by 400 years.

The lawsuit, decided Friday by the Supreme Court, was filed in March 2024 by two taxpayers from Green Bay and Kimberly. They asked justices to declare the Wisconsin Constitution forbids governors from striking individual digits in spending bills to create a new year and doesn’t authorize legislation to be extended by more than what legislators intended.

Writing for the majority,  Justice Jill Karofsky said the court is “acutely aware” the 400-year school funding increase “is both significant and attention-grabbing.”

“However, our constitution does not limit the governor’s partial veto power based on how much or how little the partial vetoes change policy, even when that change is considerable,” said Karofsky.

Karofsky said the plaintiffs in the case never asked the court to overrule past decisions upholding various partial vetoes. A governor’s partial veto powers are limited, she wrote, when it comes to vetoing individual letters to create new words. But in the case at hand, Evers vetoed individual numbers to create a new number.

“In short, the plain language of the constitutional text permits striking numbers written out with digits,” Karofsky said.

Karofsky laid out options for state lawmakers upset with the ruling. She said they could address the 400-year funding increase in the next state budget, which is currently being drafted. She also referenced multiple ongoing efforts to amend the state constitution to restrict governors’ veto powers.

Lastly, Karofsky said lawmakers can exclude funding appropriations from bills they write “to avoid the governor’s partial veto.”

GOP legislative leaders, who have pledged to pass a tax cut before taking up the budget, have held off introducing a plan after talks with Governor Tony Evers on a possible compromise, according to multiple GOP sources.

Sources first told WisPolitics earlier this week that Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu relayed to his caucus the delay was a sign of good faith as those talks continue.

“If we want to get one signed this time after watching what occurred before, we can certainly draw a contrast, but I prefer to get a bill signed by the governor,” the Rochester Republican said. “We are hoping to see if there’s some kind of middle ground between where the governor would like to reduce taxes and where we’d like to reduce taxes. But let’s hope we can find one.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is fast-tracking review for a Canadian energy firm’s plan to build a $750 million tunnel for its oil and gas pipeline on the bottom of the Great Lakes.

The decision comes after President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a notice Tuesday that the project will be subject to emergency permitting procedures in line with the order, shortening the timeline for review.

The project would replace a roughly 4-mile stretch of Enbridge’s pipeline that’s vulnerable to rupturing in the Straits of Mackinac. Line 5 runs 645 miles and carries up to 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids daily from Superior to Sarnia, Ontario.

The project has been under review for five years, and the agency previously said it would issue a draft environmental review this year and a final decision in 2026. Under emergency permitting procedures, Corps Detroit district office regulatory chief Shane McCoy said it’s still working with Enbridge to determine new timelines, but he expects a draft environmental impact statement will be issued around June.

“All of the review is still being used in the analysis. It’s under the emergency orders. However, the timelines associated with our coordination and conducting those reviews are truncated,” McCoy said.

The Corps received more than 17,000 public comments during its initial review. The emergency procedures fast-track the process under the National Historic Preservation Act and other federal regulations.

Katie Otanez, Detroit district office regulatory project manager, said it’s still evaluating requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act under the emergency process when asked whether public hearings may be eliminated.

The emergency procedures allow 15 days for public input once the agency’s draft is released. The Army Corps could issue a decision 30 days after a final environmental impact statement is issued, but it’s unclear when that may be. The agency said the process will result in a “legally defensible and well-informed” decision on the project.

Consumer spending was stronger than expected in March as demand remained high, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

The advanced estimate of retail sales showed an increase of 1.4% on the month, higher than the 0.2% increase in February. The year-over-year rise was 4.6%, according to numbers adjusted for seasonality but not prices, while the monthly increase was the biggest since January 2023.

Excluding autos, the numbers also were stronger than expected, with sales up 0.5%. Motor vehicle and parts dealers reported a surge of 5.3% in sales.

Aside from the big move in auto-related sales, sporting goods, hobby and music stores saw a 2.4% increase, while building material and garden stores rose 3.3%. Food service and drinking places were up 1.8%, while gasoline stations reported a 2.5% decline as prices fell during the month.

Yesterday, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) announced that 19 organizations have received nearly $3.2 million in Small Business Development Grants (SBDG) to uplift small business development in local communities across the state. The SBDG Program provides grants to local communities and organizations to directly invest in small businesses and small business creation, including bolstering Main Streets, supporting youth entrepreneurship, improving infrastructure, providing technical assistance, and more.

The competitive Small Business Development Grants range from $50,000 to $250,000 and were awarded to local and regional economic development organizations, municipalities, and counties to support small business development and creation. The organizations will pass 100 percent of the SBDG funds on to small businesses.

The 19 grant recipients include:

City of Beaver Dam | $50,000 – The city of Beaver Dam will use the funds to expand their existing Downtown New Business Recruitment Grant to provide $5,000 to brick-and-mortar businesses in the city for lease and mortgage payments, operating expenses, and building repairs and improvements.

Villages of DeForest and Windsor | $250,000 – The villages of DeForest and Windsor are partnering to create a small business grant program to provide grants to businesses for repairs or upgrades to existing commercial properties.

Door County Economic Development Corporation | $225,000 – The organization will use the funds for the Door County Small Business Façade and Property Improvement Program, which offers grants to help rehabilitate and upgrade commercial buildings. The program allows business owners to enhance the appearance and functionality of their businesses.

Eagle River Revitalization Program Inc. | $250,000 – Eagle River will use the funds for the Eagle River Impact Grant, which will resolve vacancies, blight, and underused property and encourage entrepreneurship. Grants can be used for façade improvements, building and infrastructure rehabilitations, building transformations, or new commercial space development.

City of Fond du Lac | $215,000 – Funds will be used to supplement and expand the city of Fond du Lac’s small business programs, including the Building Improvement Grant, Catalytic Project, Building Security Grant Program, Downtown Fond du Lac New Business Grant, and Downtown Fond du Lac Experience Generator Grant. These programs address exterior façade renovations and lighting improvements and provide startup funds.

Green County Development Corporation | $60,000 – Green County will use the funds to establish a two-pronged project to encourage entrepreneurship and create long-term small business support. The Youth Entrepreneur Program will provide workshops, mentorship, and funding opportunities to students. Funds will also be used to establish a small business revolving loan fund.

Iowa County | $125,000 – Iowa County will use the funds to support small businesses through its Business Boost Initiative, which has a tiered grant structure to assist with both large and small business expenses, including development, expansion, and physical infrastructure improvements.

Juneau County Economic Development Corporation | $250,000 – Juneau County will use the funds to create a series of five grant programs related to entrepreneurial development, leadership, patents, startup support, and profitability investments.

City of Kiel | $60,000 – The city of Kiel will use the funds to supplement its façade revolving loan fund, which will support growing local, small businesses by providing low-interest loans for building improvements and financial support.

City of Ladysmith | $250,000 – The city of Ladysmith will use the funds to expand its Business Renovation Program, which provides grants to new and existing businesses for permanent property improvements. It will also create the Down Payment/Rent Assistance Program to assist startup businesses with down payments or the first three months of rent.

Lafayette County | $90,000 – Lafayette County will use the funds to expand its existing Launch Lafayette County Grant, which is a competitive grant program that supports business building improvements and aims to enhance the visibility and prominence of Lafayette businesses.

Marquette County | $50,000 – Marquette County will use the funds to provide small businesses with grants to advertise their products and services online. The program includes technical assistance to educate businesses on how to advertise online, evaluate previous advertisements, and create a marketing plan.

City of Medford and Village of Gilman | $120,000 – The city of Medford will create the FIX-IT Grant, which will support business improvements for façade, interior, exterior, inclusiveness, and teardown. The city of Medford has partnered with the village of Gilman, and grants will be available to businesses in both municipalities.

Milwaukee County | $200,000 – Milwaukee County will use funds to create the Bridge Building Small Business Grant Program, which will provide businesses with grants to purchase or lease commercial spaces or expand operations in their current space.

City of Ripon | $240,000 – The city of Ripon will use the funds for the WRNC (Waupun, Ripon, North Fond du Lac, and Campbellsport) Business Opportunity Fund, which will promote the growth and sustainability of small businesses in these communities.

Vernon County | $150,000 – Vernon County will use the funds for the Elevate Vernon Program, which will provide technical assistance and grants of up to $10,000. The grants can be used for marketing, branding, equipment, building improvements, signage, software, hardware, staff training, or consulting.