Inside the First Flight of the Qatari-Gifted Air Force One

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Alex Ossola (0:34)

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh says the inflation outlook is improving.

Kevin Warsh (0:37)

Expectations of inflation over the first four months, first four weeks of this period, they've come down. Inflation risks have come down.

Alex Ossola (0:47)

But won't say if the central bank should lift rates. Plus, President Trump takes his maiden flight on the new Air Force One plane that was gifted by Qatar.

And the signature trade agreement between the US., Canada and Mexico is in doubt. It's Wednesday, July 1st. I'm Alex Ossola for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

Federal Reserve Chairman, Kevin Warsh, said today that the risks of higher inflation have receded in his first weeks on the job. He sees that as evidence that markets have already grasped his hard line on prices. Warsh was speaking at a conference of central bankers in Portugal. He's long argued that the Fed should say less about its outlook for the economy. And today, he sidestepped questions about future rate decisions and brushed aside complaints that investors need a clearer sense of how the Fed would adjust as the outlook changes.

Kevin Warsh (1:44)

There has been a tendency, and I take plenty of blame from this The O8 crisis, where we were trying to suppress volatility, where we thought we needed to spoon feed markets to get out of that.

That was the right policy for a crisis. It is not the right policy for the time that we have now.

Alex Ossola (2:00)

Markets are anticipating a rate increase later this year, though interest rate futures are still expecting a hold at the next meeting later this month.

It's July 1st, the start of a new month and a new quarter. There are several government programs that kick off today, plus at least one with a future that's in doubt. First, we've got education grants. A growing number of students are enrolling in trade schools instead of a four-year college degree. Now, the financial aid system is catching up with them. Starting today, Pell Grants, the federal financial aid used for college, are available for short-term vocational programs. These workforce Pell Grants are an effort to get more people training for jobs that have been hard to fill for years like paramedics and HVAC specialists. For more, I'm joined now by journal reporter, Lauren Weber.

Lauren, this expansion was part of President Trump's big, beautiful bill that Congress passed last year. What was the thought or the goal behind this?

Lauren Weber (2:53)

The goals were two-pronged. On the one hand, it's to make this kind of training more accessible. It's also designed to help employers because for many of these roles, they've had shortages, it's been hard to hire people. So the idea is that students are on the path to a well-paid in-demand career and also that employers can fill the open jobs that they have.

Alex Ossola (3:14)

The idea of expanding federal scholarships for vocational programs has been discussed in Congress for a long time. Why did it take so long to get to this place where they're actually doing it?

Lauren Weber (3:24)

A huge roadblock was the issue of how do we make sure that this money is only going to high quality programs?

You have colleges, universities, they have to go through a whole accreditation process. You do have accreditation for trade schools and for community colleges, but it's a little bit more of a wild west in terms of making sure that there are high quality standards. So there was a lot of negotiation among legislators about making sure that there are guardrails around the quality of the programs that are going to be eligible for this money.

Alex Ossola (3:55)

How much can someone who applies for one of these grants expect to get?

Lauren Weber (3:59)

That's another place where this differs from the typical Pell grants. So for a four-year college degree, students are eligible for up to around $7,400 a year. For the workforce Pell grants, the Congressional Budget Office did some projections, and they're expecting that grants will be around $2,200.

This is for an 8- to 15-week program, so it makes sense that they're less.