Lloyd Austin Unveils New $2.3BN Aid While Hosting Ukraine's Defense Chief

 We wrote in early June that the White House is planning to announce new Ukraine arms and funding packages about every two or three weeks, drawing from Biden's $60 billion in recently approved total funding. In mid-May there was a package unveiled at $275 million, followed in the first week of June with another $225 million package.

It is not only consistency of these rollouts that is set to increase, but apparently the size of each, given that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said that the US will soon announce a whopping more than $2.3 billion in new military aid for Ukraine.

"This package under presidential drawdown authority will provide new air defense interceptors, anti-tank weapons, and other critical munitions from US inventories," Austin explained in a meeting with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov as they met at the Pentagon.

"It will also enable the United States to procure more Patriot and NASAMs air defense interceptors, which will be provided on an accelerated timeline by the resequencing of deliveries for some foreign military sales," he added.

A chunk of this is also expected to utilize the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which authorizes the US government to purchase from the US defense sector.

Tuesday's announcement appears in response to Ukraine officials renewing their calls for NATO and Western partners to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, given that unrelenting Russian airstrikes continue to decimate the electricity grid, resulting in nationwide blackouts.

Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Goncharenko told AFP at the start of this week, "I don’t understand why NATO doesn’t deploy Patriot systems along the Polish border."

"After all, Russian missiles have already entered Polish and Romanian airspace. This would protect the borders of Poland and Romania, and this would create a safe zone in the west and south of Ukraine," he added.

But Washington has already taken significant steps toward prioritizing getting Kiev the anti-air defenses it needs, having days ago confirmed that all Patriot missile supplies which were destined for other countries will now be re-routed for Ukraine. The Biden administration says that US partners have shown patience and understanding after this move.

The US has also lately signed a decade-long commitment to train Ukraine's armed forces as well as engage in intelligence-sharing. The Biden administration further declared it will work on building a "bridge" toward Ukraine's eventual entry into NATO.

NATO's escalation has come piecemeal, even as there has been little serious effort toward getting the two warring sides to the negotiating table. Only in the last several weeks have there been murmurings out of Kiev that it's time for some kind of negotiations, given how poorly Ukraine forces are fairing on the front lines. But the most dangerous recent escalation has been the US giving a greenlight for US weapons to be used in cross-border attacks inside Russian territory.

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/lloyd-austin-hosts-ukraines-defense-chief-pentagon-unveils-new-23bn-aid

Hunter Biden has joined White House meetings as he stays close post-debate

 Hunter Biden has joined meetings with President Joe Biden and his top aides since his father returned to the White House from Camp David on Monday evening, according to four people familiar with the matter. 

The president’s son has also been talking to senior White House staff, these people said.

While he is regularly at the White House residence and events, it is unusual for Hunter Biden to be in and around meetings that his father is having with his team, these people said. They said the president’s aides were struck by his presence during their discussions. 

Hunter Biden was found guilty last month by a jury in a federal court in Delaware on gun-related charges. He remains under indictment for tax-related felonies, which he has pleaded not guilty. Shortly after the jury found him guilty, Hunter Biden returned to his home in California.

One of the people familiar with the matter said Hunter Biden has been closely advising his father since the family gathered this past weekend at Camp David after Thursday’s debate. This person said Hunter Biden has "popped into" a couple of meetings and phone calls the president has had with some of his advisers.

Another person familiar with the matter said the reaction from some senior White House staff has been, “What the hell is happening?”

Asked to comment, White House spokesman Andrew Bates said: “Hunter came back with the President from their family weekend at Camp David and went with the President straight into speech prep,” referring to Biden’s preparation with aides for remarks on the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity. 

Hunter Biden’s presence in and around his father’s meetings comes amid questions about whether Joe Biden should continue his re-election campaign.

NBC News has reported that Hunter Biden is among the president’s immediate family members urging him to stay in the race. He is at the White House this week to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday with the Biden family, two people familiar with his plans said. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/hunter-biden-white-house-meetings-president-debate-rcna159975

Fed Paid Banks And Funds $400 Billion Over 2 Years For Sitting On Cash

 by Petr Svab via The Epoch Times,

The banking industry has benefited from the Federal Reserve’s measures to control inflation.

Over the past two years, the U.S. central bank paid out more than $400 billion to banks and money market funds in interest payments and other transactions meant to curb lending to fight inflation, based on data published by the Fed as of July 1.

After a rate hike spree in 2022 and 2023, the central bank now pays 5.4 percent annual interest on “reserves” - any money a bank leaves parked at the Fed overnight.

The banks, on the other hand, haven’t necessarily passed on the windfall to its customers, as deposit rates remain very low compared to the rates banks receive from the Fed.

Customers would often have to utilize less convenient tools, such as Certificates of Deposit (CD), to access rates comparable to what the Fed currently pays.

The Fed has been authorized by Congress to pay interest on reserves and has done so since 2008.

For many years, the interest was only about 0.1 percent as the Fed was keeping rates near zero. In 2022, however, inflation spiked to 9 percent annual rate, prompting the Fed to rapidly raise the rates.

Interest on reserves creates a strong incentive for banks to only lend at rates higher than what the Fed offers since leaving deposits in their Fed accounts requires virtually no work and no risk.

The Fed is using this mechanism to tighten credit, depress demand, and thus ease price inflation pressure. Constraining lending also reduces the amount of dollars in circulation because banks de facto create new money as they issue loans. The new money then leaves circulation when the loans are repaid.

Another mechanism is called “reverse repurchase agreement” or reverse repo, where the Fed sells treasuries with an agreement to buy them the next day for a slightly higher price. The price difference is expressed by the Fed as an annual rate and is affected by Fed’s rate hikes too, currently standing at 5.3 percent.

That’s less than the interest on the reserves, but it provides better cash flow for it pays every day, while the interest on reserves is paid every two weeks. Also, reverse repos are open not just to banks, but also to money market funds.

Reverse repos have dropped from a peak of over $2.5 trillion on Dec. 30, 2022, to some $660 billion on June 28.

Interest on reserves and reverse repos have cost the Fed about $3.5 billion a week, based on the weekly averages of reserve balances at the Fed and daily reverse repo volumes.

It’s technically not a problem for the Fed to pay hundreds of billions in interest since it can create new money electronically. New dollars, however, increase inflation pressure.

Since its peak in mid-2022, price inflation dropped significantly, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the past year, however, it has remained above 3 percent—above the Fed’s 2 percent target rate. An alternative measure of price inflation published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis has posted somewhat lower figures—2.6 percent for May—which is still above Fed’s target.

Markets are expecting the Fed to start lowering the rates later this year, perhaps in September, though the cuts are expected to be gradual, perhaps a quarter of a percentage point every six weeks.

Americans may have noticed the high interest rates in mortgages and car loans, but also in interest offered by banks on deposits.

Some smaller banks now offer high-yield savings accounts with interest above 5 percent.

Of the four largest banks - JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citi Bank, and Wells Fargo - only one appears to currently offer a similar type of high-yield account.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fed-paid-banks-and-funds-400-billion-over-2-years-sitting-cash

Biden expected to hold call with Democratic governors as concerns mount

 President Joe Biden is planning to hold a video call with Democratic governors, likely on Wednesday, as he attempts to tamp down growing concerns about his ability to serve a second term following a devastating debate performance last week.

The details of that call are still being hashed out, according to three sources familiar with planning. One of the sources, a person with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign, said they had received communication about a call likely happening on Wednesday.

The Biden campaign declined to comment.

The potential call comes a day after Democratic governors huddled by phone, according to two Democratic sources, to discuss the path party's path forward after the debate. The call with governors Monday afternoon, organized by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, involved no staff members or White House or Biden campaign staff. Pritzker, who was critical to landing the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, was on the call, too. 

The governors expressed their concerns following the president’s poor debate performance.

“There isn’t a strategy someone is suggesting and there’s a concern about what’s coming next. What’s the president going to do to counter the impression left by the debate?” one of the sources said.

The source said everyone on the call is still supporting the Biden campaign.

"What everybody needs is reassurance. No one said we need to go another direction,” this person said.

In Monday's call, the governors suggested to Walz that they would like to have a call with Biden, which ultimately is what led to tomorrow’s expected call.

“Democratic governors are some of the President and Vice President’s most proactive and vocal supporters because they’ve seen how the Biden-Harris Administration’s accomplishments are directly benefiting their residents," another person familiar with the Monday call with governors said in a statement. "The Biden/Harris team is in constant communication with the governors and their teams, including about yesterday’s meeting.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/biden-call-democratic-governors-concerns-mount-rcna159996

'Fauci on RFK Jr.: ‘I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but it’s not good’'

 Former White House COVID-19 response lead Dr. Anthony Fauci went after independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday, recalling a prior meeting where Kennedy railed against vaccines.

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, has long pushed the disproven theory that vaccines are connected to autism and cause some diseases. Fauci shared in a podcast interview with CNN’s David Axelrod about when the pair met to discuss vaccines in the early Trump administration.

Kennedy was giving a presentation to Fauci, lobbying to be named the head of a White House commission investigating vaccine safety.

“The first slide I remember he showed is that ‘It has been shown that vaccinations are responsible for the following diseases,’ and he gave every disease in the world,” Fauci said. “For the next 40 minutes or so, he showed slide after slide after slide that day that make no sense at all.”

Fauci recalled tracking down Kennedy after the meeting and attempting to talk some sense into him.

“We were walking out of the room at the [National Institutes of Health], I went over to and I said, ‘Bobby, I believe you care about children, and you care that you don’t want to hurt them,” Fauci said. “‘But you got to realize that from a scientific standpoint, what you’re saying does make no sense.’”

Kennedy went on to write a book about Fauci in 2021, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” which attacks Fauci for his leadership of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and his work leading the country’s early COVID response. Fauci said the book claims he was “responsible for killing so many people with vaccines.” 

“I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but it’s not good,” Fauci said of Kennedy.

Kennedy is the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine activist, and he has criticized both President Biden and former President Trump for their response to the COVID pandemic and advocacy for the COVID vaccine.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4751459-fauci-criticizes-rfk-jr/

Florida officials issue dengue fever alert

 Local health officials have issued a dengue fever alert in the Florida Keys after discovering two cases were locally acquired.

The Florida Health Department issued the mosquito-borne illness alert in Monroe County, where officials said there have been two reported cases of locally acquired dengue fever — meaning that those dengue virus infections (DENV) were not associated with any travel.

Dengue viruses are transmitted through bites from mosquitoes typically found in tropical and subtropical climates. With climate change causing increased temperatures across the globe, dengue cases have been on the rise worldwide.

Monroe County includes the islands of the Florida Keys, which are a popular summer tourist destination. State health officials said the Florida Health Department in Monroe County is working with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District to conduct surveillance and prevention efforts in response, including door-to-door mosquito inspections and mosquito treatments.

The alert was issued June 29, just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned the public of a heightened risk of dengue virus infections in the U.S. this year. CDC data shows 2,241 dengue cases have been reported in the U.S. states and territories so far this year.

The only cases that have been locally acquired in the continental U.S. are in Florida, which has reported six. Puerto Rico has reported 1,484 locally acquired cases, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have reported six.

The other cases in the U.S. have been associated with travel, according to the data.

The CDC said about 1 in 4 people infected with dengue virus will become symptomatic, resulting in mild or severe cases. A mild case can include aches, pains, nausea, vomiting, fever or a rash.

The CDC said about 1 in 20 people will get a severe case of dengue, which is a medical emergency that can result in shock, internal bleeding or death.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4751865-florida-dengue-fever-alert/

First House Democrat publicly calls on Biden to withdraw from 2024 race

 Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) on Tuesday became the first House Democrat to publicly urge President Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race following his poor performance at last week’s debate.

Doggett — who has served in the House since 1995 — said he had hoped the debate against former President Trump would “provide some momentum” to turbocharge Biden’s poll numbers.

That, however, did not come to fruition, he said.

“Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies,” Doggett said in a statement.

“I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson,” Doggett added. “Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw. President Biden should do the same.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4751939-lloyd-doggett-biden-withdraw-presidential-race/