The Evening: Economy Contracts, Senate Stalemate, Burn Down the Mission and More
July 30, 2020
Economy Contracts at Record Rate
The economy contracted at a record rate last quarter and July setbacks for the jobs market added to signs of a slowing recovery as the country faces a summer surge in coronavirus infections, as the WSJ reports.
Senate Stalemate
With federal unemployment benefits expiring on Friday the Senate became bogged down in partisan fighting and prepared to leave town without a resolution to the crisis, as Politico reports.
Pompeo: “Tide is Turning” in Dealings with China
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted today the “tide is turning” in dealings with China, citing international support for Washington’s policies even as he expressed “dismay” at the number of countries supporting Beijing’s new security law for Hong Kong, as Reuters reports.
CSIS Executive Education
Rolling applications are still open for the CSIS and Syracuse University’s joint Executive Master’s in International Relations, a first-of-its-kind degree allowing working professionals in the nation’s capital to benefit from the strengths of the #1 graduate school in public affairs and the #1 think tank in the United States.
Video Shorts
Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Testify,” "What's Happening," "Preview," and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!
In That Number
9.5%
U.S. gross domestic product—the value of all goods and services produced across the economy—fell at a seasonally and inflation adjusted 32.9% annual rate in the second quarter, or a 9.5% drop compared with the prior quarter. The figures were the steepest declines in more than 70 years of record-keeping.
Source: WSJ
Critical Quote
“Never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions, and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time, and we’ll find a way to do that again this Nov. 3"
— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
iDeas Lab
Smalls farms where cotton is hand-picked still dominate the industry in Southern Xinjiang. A new CSIS Brief from Amy Lehr explores forced labor in the region and what opportunities exist to eliminate Xinjiang-linked forced labor from Western supply chains.
The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and multimedia.
Optics
(Photo credit: Alyssa Pointer/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.) Barack Obama speaks during the funeral of Representative and Civil Rights leader John Lewis.
Recommended Reading
“The Tactics and Targets of Domestic Terrorists,” by CSIS’s Seth Jones, Catrina Doxsee, and Nicholas Harrington.
This Town Tomorrow
At 10:00 a.m., CSIS's International Security Program (ISP) hosts Representative Anthony Brown (D-MD), vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, for a webinar on diversity and leadership in the armed forces as the nation reckons with the aftermath of George Floyd's murder.
Also at 10:00 a.m., CSIS's Project on Prosperity and Development (PPD) will host Kimberly Reed, president and chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, for a conversation about the growing role of foreign export credit agencies in global development.
Later, at 11:00 a.m., tune in to another ISP webinar with Kathleen Hicks. She will be speaking with General James C. McConville, chief of staff of the U.S. Army, about the Army's strategy toward the Indo-Pacific.
Video
The CSIS Korea Chair today held the latest installment of its Capital Cable Series, featuring Cho Taeyong, a current member of the National Assembly of Korea and a former vice minister of foreign affairs, about the U.S.-South Korea alliance and inter-Korean relations. Watch the event here.
Podcasts
In the debut episode of Pekingology, CSIS's Jude Blanchette unpacks the future of China's capitalist system with Julian Gruin, assistant professor of transnational governance at the University of Amsterdam.
Listen on Apple Podcasts & Spotify.
Smiles
Since you all loved the Elton John jam from yesterday, let’s go with one more . I’ve never seen footage of Elton so stripped down; he’s accompanied only by drums and bass as you can see. And the sound is so organic.