Category: Business

(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who says he wants to hike taxes on the rich, set off alarm among some critics about a potential exodus of wealthy people bent on keeping their money out of government coffers.

As the warning goes, a tax increase at the top could drive away affluent New Yorkers and undercut revenue meant to fund proposals like universal child care, free city buses and publicly owned grocery stores.

John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of grocery chain Gristedes, told the Free Press in June he may “consider closing our supermarkets and selling the business” in the event of a Mamdani victory. Neil Blumenthal, the co-founder and co-C.E.O of eyewear company Warby Parker, said, “I will never move from New York, but there’s a lot of other people that will and are leaving New York.”

Even Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who ultimately endorsed Mamdani, warned in an interview in June about the possible departure of the wealthy set. “I don’t want to lose any more people to Palm Beach,” Hochul told local outlet PIX 11, underscoring her opposition to a tax increase.

Studies show a race for the exits of this type is highly unlikely, experts at Northwestern University, as well as research organizations the EU Tax Observatory and the Tax Foundation, told ABC News.

Similar tax increases in states like California have typically pushed out a small number of wealthy people, the experts said, but the vast majority stay put for reasons that hold true across income brackets: They like where they live, and want to remain close to friends, family and professional networks.

“There is tax-induced mobility. It’s not non-existent but it’s very small,” Quentin Parinello, policy director at the Northwestern University as well as research organizations the EU Tax Observatory and the Tax Foundation, told ABC News.

“In New York and other big metropolises, people want to be somewhere they can go to the theater, they can have business opportunities, they can hire talent,” Parinello added.

Mamdani says he will put forward a 2 percentage point tax increase for residents making more than $1 million, which would raise the tax rate for high earners in New York City from roughly 3.9% to 5.9%.

The mayor-elect has also proposed hiking the corporate tax rate from 7.5% to 11.5%, which would put New York in a tie with New Jersey for the highest state corporate tax rate nationwide.

“These things together raise about $9 billion, which more than pays for our economic agenda,” Mamdani told ABC’s “Good Morning America” this month.

When asked whether he is concerned the taxes could drive job creators out of New York, Mamdani said: “What I’ve heard from a number of business leaders is that the affordability crisis is also affecting their ability to attract and retain talent. The city’s inability to provide child care means that businesses often have to provide stipends for that child care.”

Both tax measures would require state legislation bearing Hochul’s signature.

Studies from researchers at Stanford University, the Treasury Department and the non-partisan Fiscal Policy Institute show minimal departures among the rich in response to tax increases.

Researchers at Stanford University and the Treasury Department in 2016 examined tax records belonging to all million-dollar earners in the U.S. over a 13-year period, finding “tax flight is occurring but only at the margins of statistical and socioeconomic significance.”

In 2023, the Fiscal Policy Institute examined movement among high earners in the aftermath of a New York state income tax hike two years earlier.

“There is no statistically significant evidence of tax migration in New York,” the study found.

“Movement of rich people on the basis of tax differentials is relatively small,” Jeffrey Winters, a professor of equality development and globalization studies at Northwestern University who studies high earners, told ABC News. “It’s very common for them to threaten to move. The risk is grossly overstated.”

Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the non-partisan Tax Foundation, voiced opposition to Mamdani’s proposed tax hike, saying the policy risks a gradual erosion in the high-earner tax base and revenue losses that would accumulate over time.

“The city won’t empty out if taxes rise, but on the margin you expect some people to move,” Walczak told ABC News.

“That hurts the city and the state because these individuals are already paying a lot of taxes and creating a lot of jobs,” Walczak added.

Winters, of Northwestern University, said the focus on wealthy residents risks overlooking the cost-of-living challenges that force low- and middle-income New Yorkers to move elsewhere.

“We are worried about the outflow of the very wealthiest people in major cities like New York when in fact the biggest outflow of people is among those who can’t afford even the basics of staying there,” Winters said.

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(NEW YORK) — Starbucks baristas are set to walk off the job in dozens of U.S. cities on Thursday, aiming to galvanize public support and pressure the company on “Red Cup Day,” the coffee giant’s annual holiday promotion.

More than 1,000 Starbucks workers will go on strike at about 65 stores scattered across states as far-flung as California, Texas and Pennsylvania, Starbucks Workers United (SWU), the union representing the workers, told ABC News in a statement.

Union members say Starbucks has failed to make new proposals on key issues like staffing levels and pay since the labor group rejected a company offer in April. The workers also seek to resolve hundreds of allegations over illegal labor practices, including claims of retaliation targeting union members.

“We’re turning the Red Cup Season into the Red Cup Rebellion. Starbucks’ refusal to settle a fair union contract and end union busting is forcing us to take drastic action,” Amos Hall, a barista at a store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told ABC News in a statement.

In a statement to ABC News, Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson downplayed the scale of the anticipated strike and faulted the union for what she described as a refusal to bargain with the company.

“We are disappointed that Workers United, who only represents around 4% of our partners, has voted to authorize a strike instead of returning to the bargaining table. When they’re ready to come back, we’re ready to talk,” Anderson said.

“Any agreement needs to reflect the reality that Starbucks already offers the best job in retail, including more than $30 an hour on average in pay and benefits for hourly partners,” Anderson added.

Anderson contested the union’s characterization of the impasse in negotiations, saying the union brought an incomplete proposal to its members for the ill-fated vote in April.

Starbucks Workers United said it represents more than 12,000 unionized baristas at over 600 stores. The company provided ABC News with a lower estimate, saying the union counts 9,500 members at about 550 locations.

In February 2024, Starbucks Workers United and Starbucks announced they would work on a “foundational framework” to reach a collective bargaining agreement for stores. Negotiations began in April of that year.

Within months, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol took the helm of the company, vowing to rejuvenate performance after a years-long spell of sluggish sales.

The company recently reported U.S. same-store sales over three months ending in September had been flat, snapping a streak of six consecutive quarters of decline. Same-store sales is a measure of revenue generated at existing locations over time.

“The plan is working,” Niccol said on a conference call with analysts last month. “We have more work to do, we’re building momentum.”

Meanwhile, the company and the union have yet to strike a deal on a contract. The average length of time before a new union signs its first contract is 409 days, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis in 2021. Roughly 625 days have passed since Starbucks and the union announced a mutual commitment to reach an agreement.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor relations professor at Cornell University, said the strike on Thursday marked an effort to pressure Starbucks and jumpstart negotiations.

“Starbucks workers are striking and engaging customer support to get Starbucks back to the table. They may also need to again mount a large campaign with investors and other stakeholders to convince Starbucks that reaching a first contract is in the company’s best interest,” Bronfenbrenner told ABC News in a statement.

 

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(WASHINGTON) — The longest government shutdown in U.S. history could end as soon as Wednesday, ultimately putting hundreds of thousands of federal employees back to work, funding food stamps and smoothing out major travel disruptions.

The reopening averts a recession that may have come to pass in the event of a prolonged shutdown lasting weeks or months longer, analysts told ABC News.

A return of federal-worker backpay and the resumption of SNAP benefits, meanwhile, is set to undo most of the economic damage incurred by the shutdown, the analysts said. Still, they added, the two-month continuing resolution passed by the Senate risks future losses if a second shutdown begins early next year.

The shutdown arrived at a delicate moment for the nation’s economy, as a hiring slowdown raises fears of a recession and inflation proves difficult to fully contain.

“If the government opens up and people get back to work, this will prevent what might otherwise have been a pretty serious downturn in the economy,” Gerald Epstein, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, told ABC News. “Come January, we could be in this same mess again.”

The Senate on Monday passed a short-term government funding bill and sent it to the House, where a vote could come as early as Wednesday. The bill would fund the government through Jan. 30 and provide funding for some government agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Economic damage during the government shutdown centers primarily on unpaid government workers, who have foregone or limited spending, with negative consequences for nearby businesses, some economists said.

Many federal employees deemed non-essential have been furloughed without pay during the shutdown, while others, such as air traffic controllers, have been forced to work unpaid. In recent shutdowns, the total number of furloughed workers amounted to about 800,000 people, the Bank of America Institute found.

The loss of worker pay has caused considerable economic damage, amounting to a loss of 0.8% or $55 billion of annualized gross domestic product in the current quarter, Gregory Daco, chief economist at accounting firm EY, told ABC News. For reference, the economy grew by an average annualized rate of 1.6% over the first half of 2025, meaning the shutdown wiped away growth equivalent to about half of that achieved over a preceding six-month period.

“There’s a benefit to us having this very large U.S. employer now paying its workers again. That’s going to help,” Erica Groshen, a senior economics adviser at Cornell University and former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics under President Barack Obama, told ABC News.

An interruption of SNAP payments this month and major air-travel disruptions have also hindered the economy. Approximately 42 million recipients depend on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, which in turn fuel business for local grocers. More than 3 million passengers fly each day, and about one of every five of those travel for business, meaning disruptions hinder output at companies across the economy, some analysts said.

“There was growing disruption of air travel,” Daco said. “That’s an important part of the economy.”

The end of the government shutdown would also allow the federal government to resume the collection and release of key government data, including monthly inflation and hiring reports closely watched by policymakers, Groshen said.

The Federal Reserve is set to issue a decision on the level of interest rates early next month.

“When we get the government up and running again, we will reduce the uncertainty under which many decisions are being made,” Groshen said.

The end of the government shutdown will quickly reverse most of the economic damage, since furloughed workers are expected to spend backpay and SNAP recipients will likely rush to address any household food shortage, Jeffrey Campbell, an economics professor at Notre Dame University and a former senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, told ABC News.

Some federal workers likely took out loans to fill the gap in pay, meaning the resolution will allow them to pay back creditors and smoothly sustain typical spending levels, Campbell added.

“Everybody understood that workers who showed up to work would eventually be paid,” Campbell said. “That prevented damage from happening.”

While several economists warned of a possible recession in the event of a continued shutdown, Campbell downplayed that possibility, saying the economy would likely have remained relatively unscathed.

A recession, he said, would have been “an unlikely event piled on top of another unlikely event.”

The 60-40 vote in the Senate in support of reopening the government included three full-year appropriations bills, including funding for SNAP benefits. But government funding would expire on Jan. 30, leaving open the possibility of a second shutdown.

Some analysts warned that a potential repeat of the shutdown could put the U.S. on the brink of another round of economic disruption.

“The crisis isn’t over,” Epstein said. “This is just a pause.”

ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey and Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Stocks closed markedly higher on Monday after the Senate voted hours earlier to advance a potential deal on the government shutdown, which has weighed on economic output and cast uncertainty over markets for well over a month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 380 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 2.2%.

Lawmakers in a rare Sunday session cleared a key hurdle toward potentially reopening the government by advancing a short-term funding bill by a razor-thin vote of 60-40, just meeting the threshold for it to pass.

Stocks rebounded on Monday after major indices registered a loss over the previous week, a rare blemish that hadn’t happened in four weeks prior.

The economy has shown some signs of strain during the shutdown.

A report on Friday revealed a decline in shopper attitudes in November, leaving consumer sentiment at its lowest point since 2022, University of Michigan data showed.

The survey came days after data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed Americans’ household debt levels have reached a record high.

Those developments could hold significant stakes for the wider economy, since consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

Still, markets have proven resilient over a turbulent year marked by fluctuating tariffs, stubborn inflation and a slowdown of hiring. The tech giants have defied these headwinds, buoyed in part by an investment boom in artificial intelligence.

The S&P 500 has soared 14% in 2025, while the Dow has climbed 10%. The Nasdaq has surged 19%.

The Senate reconvened on Monday to continue working toward ending the federal government shutdown, which is now in its 41st day.

There are still some procedural measures necessary for the Senate to pass a deal on the government shutdown and send it for potential approval in the Republican-controlled House.

A potential resolution of the government shutdown would restore jobs and backpay for thousands of federal employees, which is expected to provide a jolt for the U.S. economy.

The federal government would also resume the collection and release of key government day in the event of shutdown deal, allowing investors to observe monthly inflation and hiring reports.

The Federal Reserve is set to issue a decision on the level of interest rates early next month. The central bank has slashed interest rates a quarter of a percentage point at each of its last two meetings.

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(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump over the weekend vowed to provide each American a $2,000 dividend to be distributed from what he said was tariff revenue.

“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” the president wrote on social media Sunday, in part.

Within hours, however, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cast doubt on the plan, saying the payout could merely refer to tax savings enshrined by Trump’s signature domestic spending measure.

A tariff dividend may come “in lots of forms,” Bessent told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday, adding that he had not spoken with Trump about the proposal.

The idea of a potential tariff dividend – reminiscent of pandemic-era stimulus checks – has raised questions about who would qualify and what to make of the Trump administration’s mixed signals about the proposal. Some economists questioned whether the dividend is achievable with available tariff funds.

Here’s what to know about the proposed $2,000 tariff dividends.

What is a dividend?

The term “dividend” typically describes a payout to individual shareholders, funded by a company’s profits.

In this case, the concept functions in a similar fashion, indicating payouts to Americans that are funded by tax raised by Trump’s far-reaching tariffs.

The proposal mirrors the three stimulus checks mailed to Americans during the pandemic, two of which were authorized by Trump. Those three payments totaled as much as $3,200 per tax filer, as well as $2,500 per child, according to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a watchdog established by Congress.

What did Trump say about a potential $2,000 tariff dividend?

Trump announced the policy proposal in a brief message on social media on Sunday morning, focused on tariff-related tax revenue.

“People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price. 401k’s are Highest EVER,” the president wrote. “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”

The message did not specify who would qualify for the payout or how the policy would operate.

Who would qualify for the $2,000 dividend?

It is not clear who would qualify for the payout, though Trump said the measure would exclude “high income people.”

The pandemic-era stimulus checks enacted by Trump were made available to individuals bringing in as much as $75,000 per year and couples earning up to $150,000. Beyond those benchmarks, higher earners were eligible for smaller payments.

Last year, median U.S. household income was $83,730, the Census Bureau found.

Did Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cast doubt on the dividend checks?

Hours after Trump’s announcement, Treasury Secretary Bessent appeared to throw cold water on the likelihood of tariff-related dividend checks.

On Sunday, Bessent suggested the $2,000 savings may instead be rooted in tax cuts previously enshrined by Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill legislation, which he signed into law on July 4.

“It could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president’s agenda. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility on auto loans. Those are substantial deductions that are being financed in the tax bill,” Bessent told ABC News’ “This Week” Sunday.

“The real goal of tariffs is to rebalance trade and make it more fair,” Bessent added.

The dueling remarks from Trump and Bessent come days after the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether a president has the constitutional authority to unilaterally levy tariffs. Arguing on behalf of the Trump administration, Solicitor General John Sauer downplayed the revenue-raising component of the policy, saying the tariffs do not encroach upon the taxing power afforded to Congress under the Constitution.

“The fact that [the tariffs] raise revenue is only incidental,” Sauer told the justices.

Has the U.S. raised enough tariff revenue to fund $2,000 checks?

If Trump were to make the dividend payments available to anyone earning $100,000 or less, the policy would reach about 150 million Americans, amounting to roughly $300 billion in dividends, Erica York, a policy expert at the Tax Foundation, said in a post on X.

As of Sept. 30, the federal government had generated $195 billion in tariff-related revenue, according to the Treasury Department.

By that math, the estimated $300 billion cost of the dividend check proposal would far exceed the amount of currently available tariff revenue.

When factoring in only revenue generated by Trump’s new levies and deducting some negative budgetary impact from those policies, York estimated net tariff revenues of only $90 billion, falling even shorter of the $300 billion required.

Moreover, depending on how the Supreme Court may rule regarding Trump’s legal authority to levy tariffs, the White House may be forced to return tens of billions of dollars in revenue to importers who paid the tax, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found.

In theory, however, the Trump administration could promise to pay the dividend from anticipated tariff revenue. The Treasury Department has forecast $3 trillion in tariff revenue over the next decade. Should the Trump administration choose that route, the dividend payments would add the federal debt, which currently stands at over $38 trillion, according to the Treasury Department.

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(NEW YORK) — Stocks rose in early trading on Monday after the Senate voted hours earlier to advance a potential deal on the government shutdown, which has weighed on economic output and cast uncertainty over markets for well over a month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 240 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 climbed 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 1.6%.

Lawmakers in a rare Sunday session cleared a key hurdle toward potentially reopening the government by advancing a short-term funding bill by a razor-thin vote of 60-40, just meeting the threshold for it to pass.

Stocks rebounded on Monday after major indices registered a loss over the previous week, a rare blemish that hadn’t happened in four weeks prior.

The economy has shown some signs of strain during the shutdown.

The Senate is scheduled on Monday to reconvene at 11 a.m. ET to continue working toward ending the federal government shutdown, which is now in its 41st day.

There are still some procedural measures necessary for the Senate to pass a deal on the government shutdown and send it for potential approval in the Republican-controlled House.

A potential resolution of the government shutdown would restore jobs and backpay for thousands of federal employees, which is expected to provide a jolt for the U.S. economy.

The federal government would also resume the collection and release of key government day in the event of shutdown deal, allowing investors to observe monthly inflation and hiring reports.

The Federal Reserve is set to issue a decision on the level of interest rates early next month. The central bank has slashed interest rates a quarter of a percentage point at each of its last two meetings.

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Tesla shareholders awarded CEO Elon Musk a pay package on Thursday that could grant the tech entrepreneur nearly $1 trillion in compensation over the next decade.

The pay package would make Musk the best-compensated CEO ever recorded. According to a securities filing in September, Musk would rake in roughly $900 billion over the duration of the agreement.

The full compensation would only be delivered if Musk vaults the company from its present value of $1.1 trillion to $8.5 trillion, a figure that exceeds the current combined market values of Meta, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet, the filing says.

The compensation package also includes a set of production goals, including one million Robotaxis in commercial operation and the delivery of one million humanoid robots over the next 10 years, according to the securities filing.

Before Tesla released the results of the shareholder vote, some major shareholders said they had voted down the proposal. Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund said Tuesday that it had voted against the pay package, raising concerns about its scale and potential risks.

“While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr. Musk’s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk consistent with our views on executive compensation,” Norges Bank Investment Management, the manager of the fund, said in a statement.

(NEW YORK) — Musk, considered the world’s richest person, currently boasts a net worth of about $504 billion, according to Forbes. If he were to receive the full pay package, Musk would become the world’s first-ever trillionaire.

The pay package could also increase Musk’s ownership stake in Tesla to as much as 29%. Musk has long pursued a larger ownership stake.

“We are at a pivotal juncture in Tesla’s history, and the proposals the Special Committee has carefully designed and the Board has put forward will help determine Tesla’s future,” the company’s website said earlier this week. “If you believe, like us, that Elon is the CEO that can make our ambitious vision a reality, vote NOW.”

Online voting among shareholders closed at 11:59 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

The company’s new compensation package arrives as Musk’s previous payment plan remains in legal limbo.

Last year, a Delaware judge twice struck down a $50 billion pay package for Musk put forward by the company in 2018.

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery, which litigates corporate governance litigation for companies incorporated in Delaware, initially declared that the negotiations surrounding the package had been inappropriate, due to a lack of independence among board members and problematic influence by Musk over those negotiations.

In a second ruling, McCormick decided that an additional shareholder vote on the compensation package — even if made with full knowledge of the initial problems surrounding the negotiation of the agreement — could not undo those problems. Musk has appealed the ruling.

Tesla announced a 12% jump in revenue over the third quarter in October, snapping a streak of two consecutive quarters of falling sales.

Still, earnings fell short of analysts’ expectations, causing a drop in the stock price. Overall, shares of Tesla have climbed about 16% this year, putting them roughly in line with a jump in the S&P 500 over that period.

Musk’s work as a “special government employee” with the Trump administration, which ended in May, set off demonstrations at Tesla dealerships worldwide in protest of his effort to slash government spending as leader of the Department of Government Efficiency.

On an earnings call in June, Musk fielded a question about his control of the company, which a Morgan Stanley analyst said was 13%.

“As I mentioned before, I think my control of Tesla should be enough to ensure that it goes in a good direction, but not so much control that I can’t be thrown out if I go crazy,” Musk said in jest.

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(NEW YORK) — Exercise equipment company Peloton is voluntarily recalling approximately 833,000 exercise bikes due to a potential issue specific to the bike’s seat post, the company announced Thursday.

According to the company announcement, the recall affects “certain Original Series Bike+ models manufactured from December 2019 through July 2022 for sale in the U.S. and Canada.”

“The Original Series Bike+ seat post can break during use, posing a potential fall and injury risk to consumers,” the company stated.

Peloton said it has so far received three reports of Original Series Bike+ seat posts breaking “out of approximately 833,000 units sold in the U.S.”

“Peloton has received no reports of a seat post breaking, out of 44,800 units sold in Canada,” it added.

According to a recall announcement on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website, the affected bikes were sold at Peloton and Dick’s Sporting Goods stores nationwide, as well as online at Peloton, Dick’s, Amazon and eBay from January 2020 to April 2025. The bikes retailed for approximately $2,495, according to the agency.

The CPSC also stated that of the three broken seat post reports Peloton received, two included “reports of injuries due to a fall.”

Peloton said Thursday that impacted users should stop using the recalled bikes and contact Peloton for a replacement seat post.

The replacement seat post is a CPSC-approved solution, a Peloton spokesperson told ABC News.

Both the company and the CPSC noted the new seat posts can be self-installed.

The affected bikes bear the model number PL02 and serial numbers beginning with the letter “T,” according to Peloton. The serial number can be found “inside the front fork, behind the front fork, or behind the flywheel,” the company said.

In a statement to ABC News, the Peloton spokesperson said, “The integrity of our products and our Members’ well-being are our top priorities. We are taking this opportunity to make replacement seat posts available to all affected Bike+ users and we encourage them to contact us to receive the redesigned seat post as soon as possible.”

Peloton previously voluntarily recalled over 2 million bikes, Bike Model PL01, in 2023, warning that the bike seat post assembly could break and cause users to fall.

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(NEW YORK) — Travelers with plans to fly amid the government shutdown are searching for refund policies related to flight delays or cancellations, as well as information on what resources are available to them if a booking is significantly impacted by the continued ripple effects and possible airspace closures.

Here’s what travelers facing potential snafus need to know in order to rebook or get a refund with ease.

Refund policies for flight delays or cancellations

The Department of Transportation set out new rules regarding refunds last year, which are required by law for purchased airline tickets and fees for related services, making them automatic, prompt, in the form of the original payment and for the full amount.

According to the policy, travelers also have the option to accept alternative arrangements or travel credits if their original travel is impacted.

“If you chose to take a significantly delayed/changed flight or an alternative flight offered by the airline, you are not entitled to a refund under DOT rules,” the department’s website notes.

Canceled flights

A ticketed passenger is “entitled to a refund if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel,” the DOT website states.

Experts say travel insurance is crucial: Here’s how it actually works

Clear disruption definitions

The DOT website currently states that consumers are also “entitled to a refund if the airline significantly delays a flight or significantly changes a flight and the consumer chooses not to travel.”

“Significant disruptions” are clearly defined across all airlines as a delay of three hours or more for domestic flights and six hours or more for international flights.

Previously, the duration that constituted a significant delay varied across most airlines. Some considered 90 minutes to be significant, while others considered it to be upward of four hours.

Baggage delay refunds

If a bag is delayed for more than 12 hours (or 15-30 hours for international flights), travelers are eligible for refunds on bag fees.

“To calculate how many hours your bag has been delayed, use the time you were given the opportunity to deplane from a flight at your final destination airport as the beginning of the delay and the time you picked up the bag from the arrival airport or the bag was delivered to a location that you and the airline have agreed on as the end of the delay,” the DOT website states.

In order to receive the baggage fee refund, passengers must file a “mishandled baggage report” with their airline, the agency states.

Refunds for unfulfilled ancillary services

If airlines don’t deliver on ancillary services such as Wi-Fi or lounge access, travelers can request refunds for those services.

Airlines are required to provide live customer service communication channels around the clock, whether through live chat or phone support.

Department of Transportation response to travel impacts amid shutdown
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday that his department might be forced to shut down airspace in certain parts of the country if the government shutdown, now in its 35th day, continues into next week.

“You will see mass flight delays. You’ll see mass cancelations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers,” he said.

Air traffic controllers are considered essential workers and are exempt from being furloughed during the shutdown. More than 13,000 air traffic controllers are expected to work without pay for the duration of this current shutdown, according to the DOT.

The agency has said it will continue to share operational updates amid the federal shutdown, despite the lapse in funding. Airport updates, including information on delays, closures and ground stops, can be found on the agency’s website.

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(WASHINGTON) –The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, opting for its second interest rate cut this year in an effort to jumpstart the flagging labor market.

The widely expected move delivers a lowering of interest rates sought by President Donald Trump, though the size of the cut falls short of the major drawdown called for repeatedly by the president.

The policy marks the first interest rate adjustment since the outset of a weekslong government shutdown that threatens to cool economic activity, all the while sharply restricting the release of gold-standard federal data prized by Fed policymakers.

In a rare exception, the U.S. government issued an inflation report last week showing a continued acceleration of price increases, which may complicate the Fed’s attempt to revive the labor market.

Inflation has picked up in recent months while hiring has slowed, posing a risk of an economic double-whammy known as “stagflation.”

Those economic conditions have put the Federal Reserve in a bind, since the central bank must balance a dual mandate to keep inflation under control and maximize employment.

“Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated. The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment rose in recent months,” the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), a policymaking body at the Fed, said in a statement on Wednesday.

If the Fed raises interest rates as a means of protecting against tariff-induced inflation, it risks tipping the economy into a downturn. On the other hand, if the Fed lowers rates to stimulate the economy in the face of a hiring slowdown, it threatens to boost spending and worsen inflation.

Last month, the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate a quarter of a percentage point, opting for its first interest rate cut this year. The federal funds rate stands between 3.75% and 4%, preserving much of a sharp increase imposed in response to a pandemic-era bout of inflation.

Last month, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), a policymaking body at the Fed, projected two additional quarter-point rate cuts over the remainder of the year. By contrast, Trump has called for rate cuts totaling as much as 3 percentage points.

Trump has carried out a pressure campaign at the Fed with little precedent.

In recent months, Trump moved to fire one member of the Fed’s board of governors and secure Senate confirmation for another. Both officials were among the 12 policymakers who cast votes on last month’s interest-rate decision, though their status remained uncertain days before the Fed meeting. They both stand poised to cast votes again on Wednesday.

Stephen Miran, a top White House economic advisor who joined the Fed last month, cast the lone vote in favor of a larger half-point rate cut.

Trump attempted to fire board member Lisa Cook, who sued Trump over her attempted ouster, saying the decision violated her legal protections as an employee at the independent federal agency. Trump said he removed Cook over mortgage fraud allegations against her.

Federal law allows the president to remove a member of the Fed board “for cause,” though no president has attempted such a removal in the 112-year history of the central bank.

Last month, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring the Fed to let Cook continue serving in her role as a governor of the Federal Reserve System as her lawsuit moves through the courts.

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