Justice Department to rescind some ADA guidance for businesses: Updates
Editor's Note: This page is a summary of news on Trump tariffs, the economy and mass layoffs for Wednesday, March 19. For the latest news, view our file for Thursday, March 20.
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced actions it said would mitigate cost-of-living concerns by rescinding 11 pieces of guidance to "streamline" compliance for businesses with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The withdrawal of "unnecessary and outdated guidance will aid businesses in complying with the ADA by eliminating unnecessary review and focusing only on current ADA guidance," the department said in a release. "Avoiding confusion and reducing the time spent understanding compliance may allow businesses to deliver price relief to consumers."
The action came on a day interest rates and oil executives were taking center stage amid President Donald Trump's high-stakes gamble to remake the U.S. economy by levying tariffs on imported goods and firing thousands of federal workers to trim the cost of government.
Trump will host top oil executives at the White House to discuss his plans to boost domestic energy production against a backdrop of falling crude prices and looming trade wars. Trump the candidate had vowed to boost already record U.S. oil production and cut energy prices to combat inflation.
With an eye on inflation, the Federal Reserve stood pat Wednesday and held its key interest rate steady at 4.25% to 4.5% while forecasting future cuts.
Trump’s aggressive tariffs are projected to drive inflation and slow economic growth. That presents a conundrum for the Fed, which usually raises rates, or keeps them high, to ease inflation − but cuts interest rates to strengthen a stagnating economy. The Fed forecast on future rate cuts could tip its thinking on where the economy is headed in the coming months.
Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have not dismissed the possibility of a recession, although Bessent said Tuesday that the economy is performing better than the media is suggesting and there is no reason to expect a recession.
Developments:
∎ Despite Trump telling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday that the U.S. would help bring back home the thousands of Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia during the war, the Trump administration has defunded a project tracking those abducted minors.
∎ Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, the top two Republicans leading the Pentagon-oversight committees in Congress, issued a rare joint statement expressing alarm about potential military-command changes that may include the U.S. giving up its role as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe. A four-star U.S. general has filled the position since its creation in 1950.
∎ Pete Marocco, a Trump political appointee who helped oversee the teardown of the U.S. Agency for International Development as a senior official at the Department of Government Efficiency, will take a leadership role at the dismantled entity as head of foreign assistance, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
∎ Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said Wednesday he will resign immediately after more than four years leading the national passenger railroad corporation, saying he wanted to make sure "Amtrak continues to enjoy the full faith and confidence of this administration." Reuters reported Gardner was asked to resign.
∎ Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told the country's parliament the EU will take a strategic approach in imposing reciprocal tariffs on the ones Trump says will go into effect in early April. “Obviously there has to be a comprehensive response to any tariffs that would be announced on April 2, and the EU will be allowing a bit of time after April 2 before it responds,'' he said.
Judge allows DOGE takeover of Institute of Peace building
A federal judge said Wednesday she won't block the DOGE takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace building but wants another hearing on the case. The Washington-based nonprofit sued Trump and DOGE after the Elon Musk-led group barged into the USIP headquarters with armed police officers and replaced its leadership in a tense encounter earlier this week.
“I have to say I am offended on behalf of the American citizens,” U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said of DOGE's actions, adding that USIP staff had been treated “abominably.” But she said USIP had failed to meet the high bar to get a temporary restraining order.
Howell's ruling caps days of conflict between USIP, an independent agency founded by Congress in 1984 to promote conflict prevention and resolution globally, and DOGE agents seeking to slash its workforce. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said USIP had not complied with Trump's staff-reduction order from February.
USIP officials have repeatedly asserted the institute is not under the jurisdiction of the executive branch.
Justice Department says ADA action is in response to Trump memo
The Justice Department said it was withdrawing guidance to streamline ADA compliance for U.S. businesses in response to Trump’s presidential memorandum, “Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis.”
The Jan. 20 memorandum described the regulatory demands put in place by the Biden administration and called on heads of all executive departments and agencies to take appropriate actions to lower the cost of living throughout the country, the department said in a release.
The department said it was also raising awareness about tax incentives for businesses related to their compliance with the ADA.
The department identified 11 pieces of guidance for withdrawal, many of which stemmed from the COVID pandemic, such as questions about mask requirements and whether the ADA applies to outdoor restaurants and pop-up shops. Others included earlier guidance about gathering input from customers with disabilities or best practices for hotels serving guests with disabilities.
Musk undeterred by legal roadblocks
A federal judge has blocked Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from firing any more USAID employees or terminating USAID contracts, writing that efforts to shut down the aid organization were probably unconstitutional.
Last week federal judges in California and Maryland ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of probationary government employees whose terminations were also part of Trump and Musk's grand plan to shrink government.
Musk remains undeterred by the legal hurdles, calling for impeachment of judges who defy the administration and remaining resolute in his claim that the country is at risk of "going bankrupt due to corruption and waste." Musk posted video on X of his interview on Fox News.
"If we don't do something about it, the ship America is going to sink," Musk said. "And we are all on that ship."
Economist warns of 'recession by design'
Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi says the recession risks remain less than 50% but are "uncomfortably high and they're rising." Zandi, speaking on CNN's "Early Start with Rahel Solomon," said Trump could push the economy into recession if he continues to impose the broad-based tariffs scheduled to kick in next month and keeps them in place for several months. Zandi said the economy was strong two months ago and there is no need to revamp it.
"This would be a really weird recession, right?" Zandi said. "I mean, it's recession by design.... So I suspect the president and the administration at some point will say, 'OK, enough already.'"
Next tariffs could involve trillions of dollars in imports
The Trump administration already has raised tariffs on hundreds of billions in imports from China, Mexico and Canada. The next round, due to be announced April 2, will involve duties on “trillions” of dollars in imports from around the world, the Washington Post reported, citing a person familiar with internal planning.
Exactly how the new tariffs will work has spurred extensive discussions involving Vice President J.D. Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others, according to the Post.
Trump has defended the tariffs as crucial to returning manufacturing to the U.S. and to draw concessions from other countries. He and top administration officials have shrugged off the slumping stock market and even a possible recession as short-term medicine that might be needed to provide the U.S. economy with long-term health.
Support for federal workers declined in last few years
Support for federal employees has slipped in recent years. A 2022 Pew survey found confidence in career civil servants has declined: 52% of Americans express a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in these workers, down from 61% in 2018.
From the conservative grassroots Tea Party to the MAGA movement, Americans have long expressed resentment about the government's power over their daily lives. Over time, federal employees and their civil service perks have come to personify taxpayer frustration with government waste and excess.
“Federal workers have nearly guaranteed employment, higher salaries, student loan relief, better insurance and a pension,” one person wrote on Reddit. “They also treat the rest of us like peasants.” Read more here.
− Jessica Guynn and Bailey Schulz
Government moves to rehire fired workers
The Trump administration was scheduled to continue the process of reinstating over 24,000 recently fired probationary workers following a pair of orders from federal judges last week that found the terminations illegal. The reinstatements, spanning 18 departments, were outlined in a filing Monday by the Department of Justice in federal court in Maryland after a judge asked for a report on efforts to reinstate the employees.
The administration, which is appealing the rulings, said reinstatement would be a long and laborious process. All employees offered reinstatement to full duty would need to be onboarded again in their departments. This would include retraining, filling out human resources paperwork, obtaining new security badges, reenrolling in benefits programs, reinstituting applicable security clearances and receiving government-furnished equipment. And they could be fired again in the weeks ahead. Read more here.
− Joey Garrison
Tariffs 101: Who pays for them?
Tariffs can apply to exports but are are primarily levied on imports, typically to protect industries in the country levying them. Tariffs make imports more expensive, thus making local goods cheaper by comparison. Tariffs also can provide income that can be used to support local industries, fund public programs or cover government expenditures.
And they can serve as bargaining tools to win concessions from trading partners.
"While tariffs may seem to penalize foreign producers by making their goods or services less competitive, the reality is that U.S. consumers and businesses ultimately bear the cost," the Wilson Center scholars Diego Marroquín Bitar and Valeria Moy write in a "Tariffs 101" analysis.
Contributing: Paul Davidson; Reuters