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Democrats believe health care is an issue that resonates with a majority of Americans as they demand an extension of subsidies in exchange for their votes to reopen the shuttered U.S. government. But it is also one of the most intractable issues in Congress and a real compromise amid the government shutdown will not likely be easy, or quick.There are some Republicans in Congress who want to extend the higher subsidies, which were first put in place in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of people who receive their insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces are set to receive notices that their premiums will increase at the beginning of the year. But many GOP lawmakers are strongly opposed to any extension and see the debate as a new opportunity to cut back on the program altogether.“If Republicans govern by poll and fail to grab this moment, they will own it,” wrote Texas Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican, in a letter published in the The Wall Street Journal over the weekend. He encouraged senators not to go “wobbly” on the issue.“The jig is up, the pandemic is over and my colleagues shouldn’t blink in any other direction,” Roy wrote.Republicans have been railing against the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, since it was enacted 15 years ago. But while they have been able to chip away at it, they have not been able to substantially alter it as a record 24 million people are now signed up for insurance coverage through the ACA, in large part because billions of dollars in subsidies have made the plans more affordable for many people.Now, some of them see the Democrats’ fight as their chance to revisit the issue putting Republican congressional leaders and President Donald Trump in a complicated position as the government shutdown enters its seventh day and hundreds of thousands of federal workers are going unpaid.“I am happy to work with Democrats on their Failed Healthcare Policies, or anything else, but first they must allow our Government to reopen,” Trump wrote on social media Monday night, walking back earlier comments saying there were ongoing negotiations with Democrats. Waiting for the other side to blink Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has repeatedly indicated that Republicans are open to extending the subsidies, with reforms, if Democrats would reopen the government. But he has refused to negotiate until that happens and has suggested Trump will be key to the eventual outcome.Thune told reporters Monday “there may be a path forward” on ACA subsidies, but stressed, “I think a lot of it would come down to where the White House lands on that.”Many GOP senators argue the only path forward is to overhaul the law. “The whole problem with all of this is Obamacare,” said Florida Sen. Rick Scott.Most House Republicans agree, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has been noncommittal on discussions.“Obamacare is not working,” Johnson said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We’re trying to fix it.”Democrats believe that public sentiment is on their side and argue that Trump and Republicans will have to come to the negotiating table as people who are enrolled in the program, many of whom live in Republican districts and states, are notified that their rates will increase.“All I can tell you is the American people feel very deeply about solving this health care crisis,” Schumer said after the Senate rejected a House-passed bill to reopen the government for the fifth time Monday evening. “Every poll we have seen shows they want us to do it, and they feel that the Republicans are far more responsible for the shutdown than we are.” Bipartisan talks face difficulties With leaders at odds, some rank-and-file senators in both parties have been in private talks to try to find a way out of the shutdown. Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota has suggested extending the subsidies for a year and then phasing them out. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, has suggested pushing ahead with a group of bipartisan spending bills that are pending and a commitment to discuss the health care issue.But many Democrats say a commitment isn’t good enough, and Republicans say they need deeper reforms leaving the talks, and the U.S. government, at a standstill.Maine Sen. Angus King, an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, voted with Republicans to keep the government open. But he said Monday that he might switch his vote to “no” if Republicans do not “offer some real solid evidence that they are going to help us with this crisis” on health care.Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said his party is “not budging,” however. “First and foremost, before we can talk about anything, they need to reopen the government.” Some Republicans urge action on health care Still, some Republicans say they are open to extending the subsidies even if they don’t like them as it becomes clear that their constituents will face rising costs.“I’m willing to consider various reforms, but I think we have to do something,” said Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. He said Congress should address the issue “sooner rather than later” before open enrollment begins Nov. 1.Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she is “not a fan” of Obamacare but indicated she might vote to extend it.“I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district,” she posted on social media Monday evening. Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Are you ready to hand over control of your portfolio to artificial intelligence? Fahad Hassan, cofounder and CEO of AI-powered wealth management platform Range, thinks you should seriously consider it. Hassans five-year-old company is introducing Rai, a new proprietary AI wealth advisor that, he believes, will give a huge swath of American households access to the sophisticated advice and planning that was traditionally only accessible to those with sky-high net worths. Rai is the first product, the first AI agent, that we believe can do the work of human advisors just as well, if not better, Hassan says. And while plenty of other fintech companies have rolled out or otherwise introduced AI tools to help with wealth planning in recent years, Hassan says that Rai is different for a couple of key reasons. [Image: Range] First, Rai has access to more and better data than other tools, Hassan says. Ranges customers who use Rai can connect dozens of accounts (real estate information, retirement and investments, restricted or private stock holdings, etc.). That gives the tool a broader picture of an individuals financial status. Second, Rai has been rigorously trained against regulatory standardsthat is, its designed to pass the sorts of exams that human advisors would need to pass, which are administered by organizations like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Not only that, but that level of sophistication also allows Rai to continuously self-improve and learn as it goes. But Hassan says that Rai goes yet another step further. It can take action against your money, such as file your taxes, develop an estate plan, and more, he says. Those sorts of actions, which would traditionally require that customers enlist an accountant or an attorney, can now be done in-house by Rai, potentially saving users huge amounts of money. We can provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in value in 10 seconds, Hassan says. You dont need to wait for a human anymore. More Waymo than Uber? If this sounds something like Robinhood for wealth advisories, Hassan says thats not quite the goal. We think of this as Waymo, not Uber, he adds. Uber democratized access to ride-sharing and connected drivers with riders. It may be more helpful to think of Rai as connecting you with a ride, and doing the driving. Its a one-stop shop, and you can access it without the relationship-building processcountry club lunches, tee times, or whatnotthat human advisors traditionally use to build their client bases. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Range most recently raised $28 million in a November 2024 round led by Cathay Innovation, 10X Group, Brave Capital, Gaingels, and others, according to data from PitchBook, for a total raised to date of $40 million. Of course, whether or not people adopt Rai, like they did Robinhood or other financial tools, has yet to be seen. If they do, the tool could potentially shake up a lucrative yet traditionally walled-off branch of financial services for more households. It’s the speed and granularity that the companys leadership believes will make a difference. Rai analyzes your complete financial picture in secondsevery account, every asset, every opportunity, said David Cusatis, Range’s cofounder and CTO, in a statement. We built proprietary technology to deliver recommendations that no human advisor could match at this speed and scale.
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E-Commerce
Dainty fashion darling Sandy Liang is bringing her playful, delicate designs to the masses. The New York City-based designer, who until now has had a small retail footprint and big fashion clout, is releasing a limited collection with Gap (big footprint, big clout). The collection is anchored by core Gap and Sandy Liang categories, like denim and outerwear, including a precious pair of carpenter jeans with bow stitching on the pocket, a faux fur half zip in a Bambi-inspired print, and two heavy-weight fleece hoodies glamified with the Sandy Liang logo or her signature bow. Baby and toddler styles are also available for the first time. Prices range between $15 and $268. The collection will be available starting October 10. Prior to this collaboration, you could only buy a Sandy Liang piece in two places: on her website, or in her Orchard Street boutique in New York Citys Lower East Side. Now, you’ll be able to get the collab pieces on the Gap website, and at select U.S. and global Gap stores (until they sell out). [Photo: Gap] The collection gives Gap fashion cachet, Liang access to a huge new audience, and the rest of us easier access to Liangs covetable, girlish pieceswhich typically have a pricing floor of several hundred dollars under her own high-end label. That cachet-by-association is important to Gap because it establishes its authority in the fashion space by targeting a new audience with in-the-know fashion taste. The aim is to win over the tastemakers and conversation starters who later adopters look to for cultural signals, gain cultural relevancy, and then become a driver of cultural conversation itself. The Sandy Liang partnership brings fashion credibility through her lens, Gap brand president and CEO Mark Breitbard says. And it’s indicative of Gaps broader partnerships strategy. What you can see is that we have a reason for each, Breitbard says, referring to Gaps recent collaborations. There is a story behind each. There it’s a real true marriage of their brand and our brand in each, and it’s something that continues to bring energy. [Photo: Gap] Core memories This collection started with Liangs mood board of creative inspirations: Nancy Myers, herself as a kid in the ’90s, and phrases like Gap kids for adults, and Gap adults for kids. All of her designs started from this tensile idea of creating the most serious baby clothes possible, and the silliest, most fun adult clothes ever. I really wanted to play with that dynamic of kids things for adults and adult things for kids because when I was a kid going to the Gap stores, so much of that time being in the physical Gap stores was spent fantasizing about what my adult closet would look like, what the adult Sandy would like from this collection, Liang says. With that lens, she then took some of her favorite Sandy Liang pieces and reinterpreted them for everyday wearability and comfortability in the Gap way. Liang describes the collection as one for your inner child, which is also a core driver of her own label. She recalls being a student at New York Citys Parsons School of Design, where she says she was taught to find a particular subject and sketch a collection from that. For me, being instructed to do that just felt so emotionless and not personal, she says. Instead, the inspiration for her senior thesis came from a capability of the iPhone, which had just come out a few years earlier. Liang recalls scrolling through her iPhone photo albums, which had become an instant and unlimited pool of inspiration. I remember being like, why can’t I just reference the moments that I’m finding in life? asked Liang, originally from Queens. Whether it be this Chinatown grandma or my grandma’s blanket or this floral motif I found in this random store. So that’s why personal memories influenced me so much. And its how her brand story originated. [Photo: Gap] Bows, stars, and frills: childhood motifs as brand emblems The Sandy Liang label is known for particular motifs: bows, stars, and rhinestones, girly details that stem from her own childhood doodles. These appear in small, premium garment details in the collection, like star grommets on the jeans and work pants, star zipper pulls, eyelet trim on an athletic black tracksuit, bow stitching on the pockets, and bows on the back of the trench and a navy work trouser. In combination, these design elements create a garment that is comfortable, sporty, easy, but also just like the slight hit of that was unexpected, she says. (See the zip-up hoodie with fur trim, for instance.) [Photo: Gap] The star motif is something that I’ve been doing a lot with my own collection, says Liang. Again, it goes back to childhood emblems that I always reference back to. It felt right for Gap, obviously because childhood memories are such a big influence on the collection. On a practical level, star was also the perfect size to put on a ball cap in the classic Gap font. [Photo: Gap] The recurring bow motif, meanwhile, is kind of born out of this fascination with princesses and crowns and that sort of thing, says Liang. Growing up, I was a bit of a tomboy and I felt insecure to lean more into the pink, girly side. Now that I’m an adult, what I’ve been trying to do is always fulfill my inner child. So I’m doing all the things that I wish I had. All her design references come down to core memories and are interpreted through the eyes of childhood. Her interest in the ’90s is because thats when she was a kid. Rather than referencing it in a literal sense, she references her memories of what the adults were wearing in the ’90s and what it felt like to be a kid in the ’90s and less so real references, she says. It’s more like the energy and feeling. [Photo: Gap] The opposite of a trend forecaster Her consistent use of childhood motifs has led content creators to missassociate her with ephemeral TikTok trends that bubble up over the years, which the chronically online might remember: like balletcore and girlhood. Who What Wear claimed Liangs ballet references were one of many to emerge following MiuMius fall/winter 2022 show. Last year, Marie Claire put Sandy Liangs spring/summer 2024 collection within the popularizing catch-all of the girlhood aesthetic. However this is purely coincidental. The idea of childhood, or girlhood for her, has been driving her brand since it was founded in 2014. Her Mary Jane pointe shoes ended up in a lot of #balletcore roundups, but it had actually been in production for two years prior. That trend may be in the internets dustbin, but the shoe is still a core shorthand for Sandy. In fact, you can get it on a Sandy Liang x Gap sweater. [Photo: Gap] I literally am the opposite of a trend forecaster. I’m just trying to find what makes me happy and inspires me, whether it’s a TV show or being a mom right now, or whatever, she says. I had no idea what ballet core even meant. That’s just the timing of life. A similar coincidence of timing happened with bows, an internet microtrend which outlets like the Guardian and Harpers Bazaar say Liang popularized and was associated with balletcore and hashtags like #girlhood. I just happened to really love bows and satin, she says. The conflation was really funny for me because none of it’s intentional and none of it’s me trying to play a part. Or even being with Girlhood. That is something that I identify with, but it’s not a new thing for me. It’s something that’s always driving me, but it’s the thing right now, so people like to associate that. The internet is just so crazy. [Photo: Gap] Girlhood forever Once again, the bow trend if there ever was one, is overbut the bow as a core symbol of the Sandy Liang brand lives on. Today, you can find it stitched onto a pocket of Sandy Liang x Gap jeans, and its these kinds of recurring visual symbols and related aesthetic tensions of practicality and frivolity and adlthood and girlishness that appeal to Liangs core customers year over year. And with this release, Liang will likely have many more customers on her hands. [Photo: Gap] The Sandy Liang hoodies also show how Gap is improving the quality of its overall product lines. They have a boxy contemporary fit but also a weighty hand feel that led me to inquire about the fleece make itself. The company told me it expanded its fleece assortment last fall to include heavyweight (400 grams per square meter) and extra heavyweight, (650 grams per square meter) its most premium fleece offerings to date. The Sandy logo hoodie is extra heavyweight, and the bow hoodie is heavyweight, which establishes quality in addition to exclusivity as a limited drop. It also released the classic Arch Logo hoodie in extra heavyweight fleece this month. Collaborations can also create leads for Gaps core brand: 20% of consumers who made a collab purchase also added a Gap item to their cart, the company told me in September. So just maybe, the fashion set will buy into Gap, too.
Category:
E-Commerce
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