A.M. Edition for May 20. Republican leaders plan to meet with President Trump Tuesday morning in order to shore up support for their tax bill, ahead of a potential House vote on Wednesday. Plus, an administration u-turn means construction of a massive wind farm in New York is back on. And WSJ reporter Te-Ping Chen explains how some companies in the trades sector are targeting high-school students to fill staff shortages. Azhar Sukri hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the significance of President Trump's tax bill?
What we've seen from a lot of employers in recent years is this feeling of, look, we can't find the talent we need out on the market. So we kind of have to grow our own.
It's Tuesday, May the 20th. I'm Azhar Sukri for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Luke Vargas. Here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. House Republicans are on course to vote midweek whether to pass President Trump's agenda of tax cuts and spending reductions.
The party remains deeply divided over key issues such as state and local taxes and Medicaid. To give his so-called big, beautiful bill a push, people familiar with the matter say Trump is planning to speak to the broader House Republicans' conference on Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill.
Congressional reporter Olivia Beavers says the bill is a key priority for Trump, with GOP members even calling it legacy-defining.
Chapter 2: Why is the House divided over the tax bill?
This bill is extremely important for Republicans to get passed. It includes President Trump's top priorities from the border, from his promises about energy to even taxes, no tax on tips, extending his tax cuts from his first administration. And so this is all wrapped up in one big, beautiful bill.
They tried to put it all into one bill with the hopes that it would be more successful in terms of pulling a very kind of disparate wing party together to get this through.
The newly accelerated timeline for the bill means the House Rules Committee is planning to meet shortly after midnight tonight to try to send the package to the House floor for a vote on Wednesday. Last night, House Speaker Mike Johnson sounded optimistic about reaching an agreement.
I've seen lots of conjecture out there, but I wouldn't put much stock in that. I told all the members on a conference call this morning that this is a consensus-building operation. It's been a bottom-up process.
According to our reporting, there are still four GOP holdouts. Mike Johnson can only afford to lose three votes in order for the bill to pass. Construction on the massive Empire Wind energy project off the coast of New York is back on after an abrupt about-face by the Trump administration.
The project, run by Norwegian energy group Equinor, was halted a month ago, sending a chill through the renewable energy industry. Here's our climate change reporter, Ed Ballard.
So it was always expected that the flow of new offshore wind projects would pretty much dry up with Trump in charge. But the sector was really rocked by the suspension of the Empire Wind project because it was already so far advanced. Approvals were granted last year and Equinor had invested $2.5 billion as of March.
So folks were really worried that other already approved projects might be cancelled as well.
However, Ed says that worst-case scenario now seems less likely.
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Chapter 3: What changes are happening with the Empire Wind project?
This will probably give other kinds of investors more confidence to invest in energy projects because the idea that the government could cancel projects that are already well into construction is a deterrent against committing capital.
Equinor credited lobbying by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other politicians and labor groups for the reversal. The company plans to start operations at Empire Wind in 2027. Turning to markets now, and Australia's central bank has cut interest rates for the second time this year.
The economy is generally in a good place, thanks to easing inflation, but the central bank did warn of the potential impact of Trump's trade policies. As we've reported on this show before, those tariffs are already taking a toll on the Chinese economy, where policymakers today cut its benchmark lending rate by a further 10 basis points in a bid to stimulate domestic demand.
Shares of Chinese EV battery giant contemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL, have soared on their Hong Kong market debut. The company raised $4.6 billion in the secondary listing, making it the world's largest equity offering so far this year. Its shares are already listed in Shenzhen. And biotech firm Regeneron has agreed to buy 23andMe out of bankruptcy.
Regeneron is paying $256 million for the DNA testing company, a steep fall from the $6 billion valuation at 23andMe's peak in 2021. The acquisition raises privacy concerns. as Regeneron will take control of millions of people's genetic information. Regeneron said it would ensure compliance with 23andMe's privacy policy, which will be reviewed by a court-appointed ombudsman.
Coming up, with a shortage of skilled trades workers, we'll hear why companies are offering big money at high schools to find future hires. That story and more after the break.
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The shortage of skilled workers like plumbers, roofers and welders has been a global headache for developed countries for some time. But now, journal reporter Terping Chan says some US employers may have found a solution, pitching high school students on their workplaces.
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Chapter 4: How are companies addressing the skilled trades worker shortage?
And Teping, what do the students that you spoke to make of all this? Is it working?
Chapter 5: What strategies are being used to attract high school students to trades?
Chapter 6: What are the economic implications of Trump's trade policies?
It is substantial. It's going to vary, of course, depending on where in the economy you're looking. But certainly you talk to any number of employers ranging from auto dealerships to manufacturers, and they're really struggling to hire folk and to find qualified folk. It's, of course, become even more of an issue as we have seen so many more baby boomers retiring.
And we see the average age in a lot of these industries really having crept up a lot. And some serious questions over how many young workers are going in to replace them. And in some cases, it might look like, say, in a manufacturing sense, not being able to run a line because somebody's out sick. Or maybe someone's on vacation for a week and you stop production for a week.
So the consequences can be really substantial. And the challenges to hiring are very real.
And so they are targeting a really young workforce to replace them.
What we've seen from a lot of employers in recent years is this feeling of, look, we can't find the talent we need out on the market. So we kind of have to grow our own. And what that looks like might be going into high schools to start recruiting, to try and create partnerships with local schools to see if they can get kids working part time, gain some exposure, all kinds of different strategies.
But yes, absolutely. We are seeing more businesses try and turn in that direction as a hiring strategy.
And what is it about a younger workforce that they're seeing is beneficial?
One thing that you'll hear a lot of employers emphasize is that today's trades jobs are not the same ones that they were 10 or 20 years ago. They are much more tech infused. They require a lot more fluency with computers, with programming. And so not only is there an imperative to recruit often from jobs,
high schools or other kinds of labor pools that maybe they might not traditionally have hit given the overall worker shortage. But also it can be really advantageous to do so because they're ultimately looking for workers that have a high degree of comfort using tech. And that kind of facility is not always something you're going to get with older workers.
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