The U.S. Senate held hearings on Wednesday over a landmark bill to revamp voting rights at the federal level. The House had passed the For the People Act some weeks ago. Now, without eliminating the filibuster it would be nearly impossible for Democrats to ensure passage in the Senate, especially considering the assault on voting rights is being spear headed by the opposition party. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer denounced the attacks in unflinching terms on the Senate floor. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell countered by claiming there were no voter suppression efforts and implying that Democrats were trying to cheat. 

Meanwhile Axios reported on Wednesday morning that, “People close to [President Joe] Biden tell us he’s feeling bullish on what he can accomplish, and is fully prepared to support the dashing of the Senate’s filibuster rule to allow Democrats to pass voting rights and other trophy legislation for his party.” Additionally, the President apparently, “loves the growing narrative that he’s bolder and bigger-thinking than President Obama.” 

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday testified before the Senate Banking Committee on the economic recovery from the devastation of the pandemic. Referring to the rock-bottom interest rates he has maintained Powell said, “the recovery is far from complete, so, at the Fed, we will continue to provide the economy the support that it needs for as long as it takes.” Ms. Yellen took a measured approach in backing direct aid to jobless Americans saying that, “While unemployment remains high, it’s important to provide the supplementary relief.” She added that in the longer run “we do have to raise revenue to support permanent spending that we want to do.” Meanwhile Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib introduced an innovative piece of legislation to provide monthly $2,000 payments to all Americans until the pandemic ends and then $1,000 a month for a year following that. Her Automatic BOOST to Communities (ABC) Act would be funded by the U.S. Mint to produce $1 Trillion platinum coins to cover the costs. Although never before done, the idea is possible and legal.

March 24 is Equal Pay Day. The National Committee on Pay Equity defines it as the date that, “symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.” The group Fair Wage released a report on the wages of tipped workers to mark the day called Tipping Point: How the Subminimum Wage Keeps Incomes Low and Harassment High. Focused on women workers in the restaurant industry the report covers, “the prevalence of sexual harassment among tipped workers, its connection to tipped workers’ subminimum wage, and the consequences faced by survivors, including retaliation by employers for reporting.” Conditions for tipped workers were even worse during the pandemic the report found.

The New York Times this week published videos that it...