Special master in court; Electoral Count Act reform; interest rate increase

On Sept. 21, 2022, a special master has addressed his role in reviewing documents seized at Mar-a-Lago; the House of Representatives is set to vote on a Electoral Count Act reform proposed by Jan. 6 House Committee members, and the Federal Reserve is expected to announce an interest rate hike once again.

Special master first court hearing – The special master appointed to review the documents seized at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence made his first court appearance on the matter. Judge Raymond Dearie pressed Trump’s lawyers to say whether they plan on asserting that the classified records found at the residence were declassified by trump. Dearie said there is “little time to complete the tasks” on his plate as special master before the court-mandated deadline of Nov. 30.

“We got a lot to do in a relatively short time,” Dearie said, noting that he was aware there are 11,000 documents to review. “I don’t know what that means in my workflow.”

Electoral Count Act reform vote today – The House is set to vote on a bill that would close potential loopholes to the Electoral Count Act. This includes specifying that the vice president’s role presiding over the count is only ceremonial and each state can only send one certified set of electors. The bill was written by Jan. 6 House Committee members Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

In a Sunday op-ed, Lofgren and Cheney said they will propose reforms “to protect the rule of law and ensure that future efforts to attack the integrity of presidential elections can’t succeed.”

Federal Reserve expected to hike interest rate – It has happened several times this year already and is expected to happen again as inflation has remained at 40-year highs. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise its key short-term rate by 75 basis points to the 3.00%-3.25% range, the highest level in 14 years. As inflation persists, this likely won’t be the last rate hike. Economists expect the rate to push 4% by the end of the year.