SHERROD BROWN

Cryptocurrency tycoons are emerging as new power players in American politics.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s appearance before a Senate committee took an unexpected and tense detour into the abortion debate Tuesday when senators questioned her about the potential impact of an abortion ban on the American economy.

President Biden urged Congress to make swift work on the Bipartisan Innovation Act, a multibillion dollar investment in the U.S. semiconductor industry.

A bipartisan bill to raise asset limits for SSI beneficiaries could be the first step in updating the outdated federal benefits program, Sen. Sherrod Brown said.

“Hillbilly Elegy” author JD Vance has won Ohio’s contentious and hyper-competitive GOP Senate primary, buoyed by Donald Trump’s endorsement in a race widely seen as an early test of the former president’s hold on his party.

Supplemental Security Income benefits for the disabled, blind and elderly have strict asset limits. Now, two senators want to raise those caps.

The first multistate contest of the 2022 midterm election season takes place Tuesday.

"Shut up, Lindsey!" Sen. Sherrod Brown replied, while another person chided Graham, telling him there were "no cameras" in the room.

Democrats selecting their nominee for governor in Ohio have a choice between a two-woman ticket and a man-led ticket endorsed by feminist icon Gloria Steinem.

President Joe Biden says he plans to nominate Michael Barr to be the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman of supervision.

As the Federal Reserve intensifies its efforts to tame high inflation, its top officials are casting their aggressive drive in a new light: As a blow against economic inequality.

The Senate on Tuesday agreed to consider the nomination of Lisa Cook for a position on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors on a 50-49 party-line vote.

The Senate Banking Committee has approved Jerome Powell’s nomination to a second four-year term as chair of the Federal Reserve.

Sen. Joe Manchin says he opposes the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to a key position on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

Dems are nervous that Fed blockade could expand to other nominees, possibly including SCOTUS.

An analysis of 40 major metro areas revealed unequal levels of investor activity, with southern cities and Black neighborhoods disproportionately affected

Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee skipped Tuesday's meeting, denying Democrats the quorum needed to advance Biden nominees.

Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) questions Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on the CARES Act, at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, September 28, 2021. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said Tuesday afternoon that the committee will delay its votes on five of President Joe Biden's nominees to the Federal Reserve. This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee boycotted a vote on President Joe Biden’s five nominees to the Federal Reserve, delaying indefinitely the confirmation of Chair Jerome Powell to a second four-year term.

Senate Republicans intensified their fight against one of President Joe Biden's nominees to the Fed when they threatened to boycott a committee vote.

How far the Federal Reserve can go to compel banks to consider the consequences of climate change in their lending policies could take center stage at a Senate hearing Thursday on the nominations of Sarah Bloom Raskin and two economists to the Fed’s influential Board of Governors.

The prospect of another weak minority government comes as Portugal is trying to boost its tourism-dependent economy which has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic

Democrat Tim Ryan wasn’t onstage when two of his competitors in Ohio’s U.S. Senate contest came together Thursday night for an unconventional debate, but his stature in the race featured prominently.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that high inflation is a serious threat to the Fed’s goal of helping put more Americans back to work, and said the Fed will raise rates more than it now plans if needed to stem surging prices.

High inflation is taking a toll on American families.

Here are five important things that happened in the crypto space last week.

The year appeared poised to end on an especially ignominious note for Democrats Friday, with Manchin upending Democrats’ domestic policy plans and Sinema standing in the way of rules changes needed to pass voting rights legislation.

Democrats are hoping that Congress is nearing the finish line in its seven-month trek on President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion social and environment package.

Sen. Sherrod Brown told CNBC that he's spoken to the Biden administration about Cordray possibly serving as the Fed's vice chair for supervision.

Some Democrats have begun saying out loud what others are saying privately — that Joe Biden’s political standing is so weak less than a year into his presidency that he may not be able to win reelection in 2024 if he were to run again.

Years-long battle over prescription drug prices reaches apex as industry spends tens of millions to alter plan.

Companies are buying back their shares at a near-record pace as lawmakers weigh a new tax.

Senate Democrats are fractured over whether to support Saule Omarova, Biden's indicated choice to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

During the recent standoff over the nation's debt limit, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell showed just how far he'll go to stop President Joe Biden’s agenda.

A 2% tax on stock buybacks is among corporate tax proposals to pay for President Biden's spending plan. Would it slow or stop share repurchases?

The Senate has narrowly approved President Joe Biden’s pick to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, giving the bureau a director who is likely to embrace an aggressive “watchdog” role.

Resistance to the potential renomination of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell intensified this week, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren becoming the first senator to publicly oppose Powell and many progressive groups pushing for some alternative leader at the Fed.

Sanders is now the strongest progressive voice urging a no vote. Sen. Elizabeth Warren echoed his comments to reporters: "We had a deal."

About 8 million people collect monthly checks for the aged, blind and disabled. But those benefits haven't been updated in years. Congress could change that.

Congressional Democrats are weighing a raft of taxes that would target CEO pay and big U.S. companies that buy back shares.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) are calling on President Biden to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell with someone more focused on "eliminating climate risk and advancing racial and economic justice," according to a joint statement reported by Politico.Driving the news: Powell's term will end in early 2022, though some economists have said Biden will likely reappoint him.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic in

Some Supplemental Security Income benefits have not been updated in years. Why there’s a push to include program reforms in the budget package on Capitol Hill.

Millions of Americans face being forced from their homes with the midnight Saturday expiration of a moratorium on evictions during the pandemic.

A national eviction moratorium is set to expire after President Joe Biden and Congress failed to extend it.

Bill Hwang's nonprofit saw its assets jump by over $100 million just two years prior his office set off a market meltdown.

The Biden administration will allow a nationwide ban on evictions to expire Saturday.

Lawmakers appeared unconvinced cryptocurrencies would make a good solution to the existing and very flawed financial system.

Senators and the White House are locked in intense negotiations to salvage a bipartisan infrastructure deal.

Lawmakers racing to seal a bipartisan infrastructure deal early this coming week are hitting a major roadblock over how much money should go to public transit.

Organizations representing long-term care facilities are urging lawmakers working on a bipartisan infrastructure plan to avoid dipping into COVID-relief funds to help pay for the roughly $600 billion in new spending sought for the public works buildout.

​​President Joe Biden invoked Franklin Delano Roosevelt several times as he has implemented sweeping anti-poverty measures to tackle record unemployment and economic turmoil. Hoping to model his legacy on the President who helped the nation climb out of the Great Depression, Biden has spent $1.9 trillion so far on stimulus checks, the expanded child tax credit, and enhanced unemployment insurance, among other relief measures. “Disabled people and the poorest of the poor haven’t had really any help in years,” says Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

President Joe Biden just can’t quit Ohio — even if it rejected him in last year’s election.

Many Democrats are wary about the GOP sucking up time on infrastructure, similar to what happened with the Obamacare talks a decade ago.

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos GettyDemocrats think the newly created Child Tax Credit program—which began sending out monthly benefit checks to tens of millions of families this week—could be the most impactful policy victory of the Joe Biden era.It could also be the key to keeping Congress and the White House in Democratic hands.As congressional Democrats craft another multi-trillion-dollar package to solidify their economic agenda, some lawmakers are trying to set up a lengthy

For anyone worried about surging prices for everything from food and gas to airplane tickets and clothes, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s message in two days of congressional hearings this week was straightforward: Just give it more time, and those price gains should slow, or even reverse.

An economic rebound, rising wages and declining unemployment weren't enough to spare Fed Chairman Jerome Powell from gripes in the Senate.

The Biden stimulus benefit is the US's inaugural version of guaranteed income geared to children. Millions could get direct payments every month.

The photos showed a shattered glass table, overturned furniture and debris strewn across an office floor.

Brown said proposed changes to Ohio's election laws and voting rights are a knee-jerk reaction to Donald Trump's "abject lie" about the 2020 election.

The White House is making clear that President Joe Biden is opposed to letting the federal gasoline tax rise at the rate of inflation to help pay for an infrastructure package that a bipartisan group of 21 senators is trying to craft.

The Biden stimulus benefit has deep Democratic support, but Senate moderates could slash the expanded child tax credit. Manchin hasn't weighed in.

Three Democratic members of Congress are asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the foster care experience of Ma'Khia Bryant that preceded the 16-year-old's fatal police shooting in Ohio. U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, along with U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, penned a letter last week on behalf of Bryant's parents, asking the federal agency to look into the teen's experience through the foster care system.

Big banks are facing a new reality in Washington: Democrats control all levers of power and they are not shy about their intentions to ratchet up the pressure on the sector.

The industry was blamed for the Great Recession and has spent most of the past year trying to appear more helpful to struggling borrowers.

Bank bosses were grilled by US lawmakers over worker pay and overdraft fees during the pandemic.

The CEOs of the six biggest U.S. banks have appeared before Congress, eager to lay out their support for struggling consumers and small businesses.

The CEOs of the nation's biggest banks kick off two days of congressional testimony on Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee.

One Ohio U.S. Senate candidate has been circulating a who’s-done-more-for-Donald Trump scorecard.

President Joe Biden couldn’t get everything he wanted into his own $1.8 trillion families plan.

President Joe Biden will call for free preschool for all three- and four-year-old children as part of his American Families Plan.

Ten liberal senators are urging President Joe Biden to back India and South Africa’s appeal to the World Trade Organization to temporarily relax intellectual property rules so coronavirus vaccines can be manufactured by nations that are struggling to inoculate their populations.

The Senate has approved President Joe Biden’s choice to lead a key agency overseeing Wall Street.

Gary Gensler was confirmed to lead the SEC on Wednesday. He promised to tackle bitcoin regulation, "gamification" of trading and board diversity.

The letters are the first response from Congress that hint at a possible investigation.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic chairman of the powerful Senate Banking Committee, is setting his sights on Archegos Capital Management after the fund's recent losses sent shockwaves through markets. "Once again, investment banks put profits first and enabled risky derivatives trading that resulted in billions of dollars in losses," Brown said in a statement to CNBC on Wednesday. "We must make sure our financial watchdogs work together to protect the financial system and our economy. The committee has jurisdiction over the world's largest banks and regularly engages with the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who is also a member of the banking committee, told CNBC on Tuesday that the "Archegos' meltdown had all the makings of a dangerous situation."

As the government pushes millions of $1,400 stimulus checks out the door, some Americans could come up empty handed. The issue prompted Capitol Hill lawmakers to enter into a crossfire of sorts on Thursday over whether or not those checks can be garnished, as some looked to change the policy. That's after the Treasury Department and IRS announced on Wednesday that 90 million checks have gone out thus far by direct deposit. To remedy that, Brown called for the passage of a bill he proposed alongside fellow Democrats Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. However, efforts to pass that legislation were blocked by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.Toomey argued that it was too late the change the legislation, and that altering the rules could protect husbands or fathers who refuse to pay alimony or child support.

The Federal Reserve says it will restore capital requirements for large banks that were relaxed as part of the Feds efforts to shore up the financial system during the early days of the pandemic. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve says it will restore capital requirements for large banks that were relaxed as part of the Fed’s efforts to shore up the financial system during the early days of the pandemic. But the SLR, unlike other bank capital requirements, doesn't take risk into account. Bank lobbyists argue that without an extension of the exemption, large banks will be less likely to hold Treasury securities. “We are also confident that the thousands of community banks that are not subject to the SLR requirements would be happy to accept deposits that large banks may reject,” they said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., leaves the chamber just after the Senate narrowly approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Senate passage sets up final congressional approval by the House next week so lawmakers can send it to President Joe Biden for his signature. Ad“Lessons learned: If we have unity, we can do big things,” Schumer told The Associated Press in an interview after the vote. The outcome “gives us optimism about doing more big things in the future — because it worked,” he said. He and Schumer spoke often as the Senate leader steered the pandemic aid to approval.

FILEIn this file photo from Oct. 6, 2020, Jane Timken, the Chairwoman of the Ohio Republican Party, speaks at the Hamilton County Board of Elections during early voting in Norwood, Ohio. (AP Photo/Aaron Doster, File)COLUMBUS, Ohio – Republican Josh Mandel, a Marine veteran and former state treasurer, says he will make a third run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, taking a pro-Trump message in a bid for the seat being vacated by the GOP’s Rob Portman. AdMandel abruptly abandoned his last Senate campaign in January 2018, citing unspecified health issues being experienced by his then-wife, Ilana. He personally backed her takeover of the state party four years ago from a state chair allied with then-Gov. He has about $4.3 million remaining in his Senate campaign account, and about $500,000 in a leadership PAC.

An open Senate seat in Ohio has set off a round of jockeying among ambitious Democrats and a spirited debate over who is best poised to lead a party comeback in a one-time battleground that has been trending Republican. While Acton and Ryan are believed to be the furthest along in their deliberations, several politicians who are Black are also eyeing the seat. The group is working to recruit a Black candidate for the Senate seat, he said. AdStill, Ryan got a boost Saturday when Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, declared on Twitter that she was “all in” for a Ryan Senate candidacy. For some Ohio Democrats the cautionary tale is 2018, when a group of female gubernatorial candidates all ceded their ambitions to former Obama administration consumer chief Richard Cordray, who lost the race.

The SEC took a deregulatory tilt under chair Jay Clayton, a former Wall Street lawyer appointed by President Donald Trump. The populist strain recalls the anger fueling the Occupy Wall Street movement over the big bank bailouts that Congress brought in response to the financial crisis. At least two of them have closed out January's trading with losses of more than 40%, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News. Politicians and critics said Robinhood changed the rules of the road midway through, in favor of Wall Street firms who were still able to trade these shares. Wall Street brokerages, big banks and other financial companies were already expecting the Biden administration to be tougher on them than the Trump regime.

A major hedge fund losing money gets the attention of Wall Street. Wall Street does not want to get steamrolled on this short-squeeze game again. "As long as people believe fundamentals matter, they are going to be selling short stuff like GameStop." She noted that restrictions and even outright bans on short selling are not unheard of: Europe instituted a short-selling ban when the pandemic started. The SEC could also clamp down on naked short selling, the illegal practice of selling short stocks without first borrowing the security.

Rob Portman, R-Ohio, speaks to members of the media outside a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Portman said Monday, Jan. 25 that he won't seek reelection and plans to end a career in federal government spanning more than three decades. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)CINCINNATI – Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a fiery Donald Trump supporter, won't run to succeed Ohio Sen. The former star college wrestler's style doesn't reflect that of Portman, a career establishment Republican with a reputation for bipartisanship. AdTrump rewarded Jordan, 56, for his steady support by giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom before leaving office this month.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)WASHINGTON – Housing secretary nominee Marcia Fudge told senators Thursday that she would take “extraordinary actions” to prevent people from losing their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fudge championed homeownership as a classically American “ticket to the middle class” and endorsed federal financial assistance to expand the ranks of minority homeowners. And we are in extraordinary times,” said Fudge, speaking remotely from Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. Fudge also endorsed direct federal financial assistance to help prospective minority homeowners with the down payment on a mortgage. When Kennedy asked her directly whether she believed Republicans cared about Black Americans, Fudge tersely answered, “I do, some, yes.”Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, defended Fudge.

Owl Rock had previously turned to Akin Gump, according to a lobbying disclosure report, but terminated that agreement in June. The team advocating for Owl Rock includes people who used to work with Sens. Before Biden became president, Owl Rock hired Sidley Austin, another law firm, for lobbying. One of its lobbyists working on the Owl Rock account is former Republican Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois. Owl Rock is a direct lending platform with a focus on middle market companies.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)CINCINNATI – Ohio Sen. “Our country is very polarized,” Portman said, adding that former President Donald Trump did not help with the polarization. “Both in his words before the attack on the Capitol and in his actions afterward, President Trump bears some responsibility for what happened,” Portman said. “And right now the kind of candidate that’s going to come out of a Ohio Republican primary is not going to be that kind of candidate. “Yeah, sure, some people are mad at him,” said Ohio Republican strategist Ryan Stubenrauch.

Thousands had gathered that day as Congress voted to formally certify President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in November. Hawley and Cruz led objections in the Senate to Biden’s victory, despite the widespread recognition that the effort would fail. And both senators used their objections for political fundraising,” the Democratic senators said in their letter. Cruz helped force a vote on Biden's victory in Arizona, while Hawley helped force one on Biden's victory in Pennsylvania. “This latest effort is a flagrant abuse of the Senate ethics process and a flagrant attempt to exact partisan revenge."

Sen. Sherrod Brown — Wall Street's incoming regulator in a Democratic Senate — on Tuesday outlined his priorities for the U.S. economy and the financial industry in the coming months. As chair, I'm going to make it about workers and their families and what matters to their lives," Brown said during a media briefing. "Under Senate Republicans, we've had government intervention to put its thumb on the scale for corporations at every turn." We're going to put the dignity of work at the center of everything we do in this committee." "This is up to President Biden, what he wants to do with 13(3)," Brown said.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to be transportation secretary reacts to his nomination as Biden looks on during a news conference at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. – President-elect Joe Biden has introduced his one-time Democratic primary rival Pete Buttigieg as his nominee for transportation secretary, saying the 38-year-old can be “a new voice" in the fight against economic inequality, institutional racism and climate change. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet position. Emanuel was mentioned as a potential candidate for several Biden Cabinet posts but drew strong backlash from progressives. Biden’s selection of Buttigieg for transportation secretary drew praise from LGBTQ rights groups.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to be transportation secretary, speaks after Biden announced his nomination during a news conference at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. – President-elect Joe Biden introduced onetime Democratic primary rival Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday as his nominee for transportation secretary, saying the 38-year-old can be “a new voice" in the fight against economic inequality, institutional racism and climate change. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet position. Emanuel was mentioned as a potential candidate for several Biden Cabinet posts but drew strong backlash from progressives. Biden’s selection of Buttigieg for transportation secretary drew praise from LGBTQ rights groups.

Some progressives, meanwhile, see Tanden's nomination as a test of whether the left will challenge Biden, who ran as a moderate, over funding for social programs. Sanders has not commented publicly on Tanden's nomination, but other liberal senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio have expressed their support. Friends and allies say that the fuss over her online persona is a distraction from her credentials and deep experience with large-scale policy making. Tanden, 50, has said her values reflect personal experience with the government programs she would play a key role in supporting. The first wave of Republican criticism of Tanden mentioned none of her professional or personal experience, instead focusing on her aggressive Twitter hand.

"You appear to be trying to sabotage our economy on the way out the door," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told Mnuchin during a hearing Tuesday. Powell and Mnuchin worked closely together on the rescue funding package but are on opposite sides of whether the funding should continue. Mnuchin said the remaining $455 billion should be returned to the Treasury and deployed for direct cash injections for the economy. Mnuchin said he wanted to "thank Chairman Powell, because he has been a terrific partner in everything we've done." Powell later noted that "we've done a lot and we've really appreciated the working relationship we had with Treasury on the facilities."

– President-elect Joe Biden's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget is quickly emerging as a political battle that could disrupt his efforts to swiftly fill out his administration. He called her “maybe (Biden's) worst nominee so far" and “radioactive.”Potential Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was less hostile, telling reporters, “Let's see what happens." But like all of Biden's nominees, Tanden has little margin for error as she faces confirmation in a closely divided Senate. At OMB, Tanden would be responsible for preparing Biden’s budget submission and would command several hundred budget analysts, economists and policy advisers with deep knowledge of the inner workings of the government. That would allow them to pass special budget legislation that could roll back Trump’s tax cuts, boost the Affordable Care Act and pursue other spending goals.

Twelve Arkansas lawmakers have tested positive for the virus over the past month, the second largest known outbreak in a state legislature. After at least four dozen Mississippi lawmakers tested positive in the largest outbreak in a legislature, where masks were encouraged but not required for lawmakers. Twelve Arkansas lawmakers have tested positive for the virus over the past month, the second largest known outbreak in a state legislature. But legislative leaders acknowledged that individual legislators couldn't be forced to wear masks. House Republicans in Ohio have also rejected efforts to require that lawmakers wear masks at the Statehouse, and a statewide mask mandate issued by GOP Gov.

Mnuchin on Friday, Nov. 20 denied that he is trying to limit the choices President-elect Joe Biden will have to promote an economic recovery by ending several emergency loan programs being run by the Federal Reserve. Mnuchin said his decision was based on the fact that the programs were not being heavily utilized. “We're not trying to hinder anything,” Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview. Private economists argued that Mnuchin's decision to end five of the emergency loan facilities represents an economic risk. In his letter to Powell, Mnuchin said that he is requesting that the Fed return to Treasury the unused funds appropriated by Congress.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz recently weighed in on a viral video that showed his colleagues arguing over face masks. On Monday, Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, was called to speak on the Senate floor. He began by asking Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, to "please wear a mask as he speaks." "I don't wear a mask when I'm speaking, like most senators," Sullivan said. "He wears a mask to speak — when nobody is remotely near him — as an ostentatious sign of fake virtue.

Powell said that a highly anticipated lending program the Fed is creating for small businesses should be operating by the end of the month. And in a turnaround, Mnuchin said the Treasury is now prepared to absorb some losses in that program, which is funded by Treasury. They include the $660 billion small business lending facility, known as the Paycheck Protection Program, as well as $46 billion in grants to airlines and $454 billion to support the Feds lending. Yet the Fed's program will make it easier for governments to borrow in the municipal bond market. Mnuchin, pressed about those issues and about opening the loan program to more nonprofits, said his department was considering making changes.

Former presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) want to help Americans avoid these unnecessary fees. Although federal regulators have encouraged banks to waive overdraft fees during the current health crisis, the two senators sent letters to 15 banks on Friday, urging them to stop charging overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees while the coronavirus pandemic has so much of the country shut down and millions of Americans are out of work. Banks typically charge overdraft fees when you overdraw your checking account. "That includes making sure they can keep their money in their own pockets and out of the hands of banks to cover fees and small overdraft amounts." The letters to banks come on the heels of a bill Booker and Brown introduced last month that would bar banks, credit unions and other financial institutions from charging overdraft fees until the coronavirus crisis is over.

Lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Treasury to protect recipients of direct payments from having their money seized by debt collectors. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and Josh Hawley, R-Mo urged the Treasury to exert its ability to protect individuals from having their direct payments seized or "garnished" from debt collectors. The bill calls for one-time direct payments of up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for couples, with $500 added for every child. Senators Hawley and Brown propose that the Treasury could apply rules protecting social security and other federal payments from private debt garnishment to the direct payments. "If Treasury fails to take action, the CARES Act direct payments are at risk of being seized by debt collectors.

About half of Americans report the coronavirus pandemic is already having a negative effect on their income. For these individuals, and those vulnerable before the outbreak, one $35 overdraft charge can lead to financial free fall," Booker said in a statement. Why overdraft fees can be expensiveBanks typically charge overdraft fees when you overdraw your checking account. The proposed bill would not only block banks and financial institutions from charging overdraft fees. Their guidance included waiving overdraft fees, along with out-of-network ATM fees, late payment charges on credit cards and loans and early withdrawal penalties on CDs.