Axios Re:Cap

Vice President Kamala Harris this week went on her first foreign trip since taking office, visiting Guatemala and Mexico to address what she refers to as the root causes of mass migration, after the U.S. saw the largest number of border apprehensions in 20 years. Axios Re:Cap speaks with Juan Gonzalez, special assistant to President Biden and National Security Council Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere, about what Harris accomplished, criticisms of her trip and what happens next on U.S. immigration policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal authorities this week announced that they successfully traced and recovered most of the Bitcoin that had been paid by Colonial Pipeline to a ransomware gang called DarkSide, following last month’s hack that had shut off gasoline supplies to much of the East Coast. Axios Re:Cap digs into the battle between law enforcement and crypto hackers, including what it means for future ransomware attacks and how ransomware has become a global industry of its own, with Gurvais Grigg, a 23-year FBI veteran who now serves as public sector CTO at crypto firm Chainlysis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Saturday, Democrats in America’s largest city will be asked to begin picking their nominee for mayor, a person whose influence is certain to extend beyond the five boroughs. But the voting system is different than anything New York City has used before, and there still isn’t a frontrunner. Dan digs in with Dana Rubinstein, a metro desk reporter with the New York Times, to learn more about the candidates, why crime and policing have become the top issue and what to watch heading into Saturday.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate Democrats and Republicans today are expected to overwhelmingly pass a $247 billion spending package focused on competing with China on technology.  Dan is joined by California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna, who cosponsored this bill and who has been concerned about this issue and the ramifications for the U.S. of falling behind since he first campaigned for office. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

West Virginia’s two Senators, Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Shelley Moore Capito, each have disproportionate power to determine America's legislative future, including on voting rights and infrastructure. Dan digs into West Virginia’s moment at the center of America’s political world with Axios congressional reporter Alayna Treene. Plus, Axios space reporter Miriam Kramer joins to discuss Jeff Bezos’s announcement that he’ll go to suborbital space on a Blue Origin rocket. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s jobs report showed that the U.S. economy added 577,000 jobs in May, which was a very strong number but below what many had been expecting. Dan unpacks the report with Axios business reporters Courtenay Brown and Felix Salmon, who go below the headline numbers and explain what it all means for President Biden’s big spending plans. Plus, we discuss Facebook's decision to ban former President Trump for another two years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. housing prices are soaring, due to a combination of ultra-low interest rates, sky-high lumber prices and a supply-and-demand imbalance brought on by the pandemic. But with the federal foreclosure moratorium just lifted, things could soon change. Dan speaks with Jeremy Wacksman, COO of real estate tech company Zillow, to better understand what the boom means for consumers and the country, and how long it might last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the second time in as many months, a major part of America’s infrastructure has been held for ransom by cybercriminals. This time is was a hack of JBS, the nation’s largest beef producer, which was forced to take its largest processing facilities offline. Dan speaks with Laura Reiley, The Washington Post’s business of food reporter, about why the country’s meat supply chain is vulnerable, domino effects from the hack and what it all means for consumer prices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Friday announced that U.S. employers are allowed under federal law to require that workers get coronavirus vaccinations. Dan goes deeper with Carol Miaskoff, the EEOC's acting legal counsel, to learn more about the new guidance, how it interacts with state laws against such requirements and whether further guidance could be coming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America’s small business community is recovering from the pandemic, but large swathes of it haven’t yet recovered. That was the message yesterday from U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabel Guzman, testifying in front of a House Financial Services subcommittee. Dan speaks with Guzman for the final of our six part America's Business Comeback series, about which small businesses still need help and what the SBA plans to do about it. Plus, the recovery view from Reckless Records' Matt Jencik in Chicago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most small business stories from the pandemic are about about pivoting or perishing, but there's also been an unexpected surge in new small business creation. One example is Agua Bonita, a canned beverage company that launched last year after both of its co-founders were laid off. Dan talks with Agua Bonita co-founder Kayla Castañeda and Techstars founder David Cohen about what it was like for startups over the past 14 months and what recovery means for businesses that didn't even exist before COVID-19. Plus, a conversation with Wall Drug proprietor Rick Hustead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buford Highway is a 10-mile stretch near Atlanta that's home to over 1,000 immigrant-owned small businesses. It's a constellation of home-away-from-homes, particularly for Asian and Latino communities. Dan speaks with Lily Pabian, executive director of the We Love Buford Highway nonprofit, about how the pandemic, the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and the nearby spa murders impacted Buford Highway's small business community. Plus, Dan is joined by Ryan Reese, a fishmonger at Pike Place Market in Seattle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the U.S. economy was staring into the pandemic abyss in March 2020, Congress passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that included the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to quickly get forgivable loans to small businesses, so they could keep workers on payrolls. Dan digs into the creation and roll out of the PPP, from the multi-day negotiations and late night phone calls to estimations of how many businesses it helped, with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Plus, Dan is joined by First Ave CEO Dayna Frank from Minneapolis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Floyd's murder, one year ago today, and the surge of support for Black own-small businesses that followed "had an unprecedented impact," according to Shelly Bell, CEO of Black Girl Ventures. Dan speaks with Bell in the second of its six-part series America's Business Comeback, about what 2020 meant for Black-owned small businesses and where things stand today. We also share the first of our conversations with proprietors of some of America's most iconic small businesses, starting with Frank Olivieri of Pat's King of Steaks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shopping centers are where national chains rub elbows with mom and pops. Dan kicks off a new special series on America's business recovery by speaking to JP Morgan Chase Institute Co-President Chris Wheat, shopping center landlord Adam Ifshin, plus several of his tenants in an Allen, Texas property called The Villages, to understand what happened over the past year and where things stand today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices