On The Money — Musk’s latest multi-billion-dollar venture

After a week of speculation and surprise, Elon Musk struck a deal to buy Twitter, adding the social media platform to his vast portfolio of investments.

We’ll also look at the Senate advancing one of President Biden’s Fed picks and the dueling political narratives about the economy. 

But first, there was Lightning at the White House today.

Welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Musk secures $44 billion deal to buy Twitter

Twitter on Monday reached an agreement to sell itself to Elon Musk for approximately $44 billion, leaving one of the world’s richest men in control of one of the most influential social media platforms. 

The price per share agreed to in Monday’s deal is higher than the roughly $48 that the company was trading at before Musk first announced his stake, but significantly lower than the $70 shares were trading at last year. 

• Musk has said that he views the acquisition of Twitter as a way to protect free speech, declaring during a conference earlier this month that the offer was “not a way to sort of make money.” 
• He’s been less clear, however, about how Twitter is inhibiting free speech or how his leadership might facilitate dialogue. 

Twitter employees have reportedly been divided by the news, with many feeling frustrated by the lack of information they have gotten from management. 

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement on Monday.  

“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.” 

The Hill’s Chris Mills Rodrigo has the details here. 

Read more: Republicans praise Musk’s Twitter acquisition; Democrats skeptical 

VICE TO MEET YOU

Senate advances Brainard to final confirmation vote 

The Senate on Monday advanced President Biden’s nominee to serve as the Federal Reserve Board’s No. 2, teeing her up for final confirmation votes as soon as this week. 

Senators voted 54-40 to end debate on Lael Brainard’s nomination to be Fed vice chair, with several Republicans crossing party lines to support her nomination.

• Brainard, a Democrat, has served on the Fed board since 2014 after a stint with the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. Biden nominated her to serve as the Fed’s No. 2 in November, defying pressure from progressives to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell with Brainard. 
• If confirmed, Brainard would be just the second woman to serve as Fed vice chair since the modern central bank was established in 1914. 

The Senate appears to be on track to confirm Brainard and four of Biden’s five nominees to the Fed as soon as the end of the week. Along with Brainard, the Senate is expected to confirm Powell for another term as Fed chair and Davidson College professor Philip Jefferson to serve as a Fed governor. 

Sylvan breaks it down here. 

BORROWERS IN DEFAULT

Democrats press Education Dept over plans to help borrowers in default 

Democrats are pressing the Department of Education for more information about plans to address the status of borrowers in default once federal student loan payments resume in the coming weeks. 

The agency earlier this month said it would allow borrowers with paused loans to receive a “fresh start” when resuming payments “by eliminating the impact of delinquency and default and allowing them to re-enter repayment in good standing.” 

• The agency said the move would be carried out as part of its efforts to help borrowers transition more “smoothly” into repayment, after federal student loan payments and interest accrual were paused for more than two years under a pandemic freeze. 
• In their inquiry to the Education Department about its plans to provide relief to defaulted borrowers as well as access to repayment plans suited to needs, the lawmakers listed multiple questions for more information. Those questions include how many borrowers the department expects will benefit from the “fresh start” program and how many borrowers are expected to remain in good standing after six months. 

Aris has more here. 

INFLATION ELECTION?

Republicans, Democrats push dueling economic narratives ahead of midterms 

In an economy that’s seeing both surging growth and debilitating inflation, Democrats and Republicans are telling very different stories about the overall economic picture ahead of midterm elections later this year. 

• For Republicans, the message is simple: inflation, inflation, inflation. Consumer prices have risen 8.5 percent since last year, with wholesale prices climbing more than 11 percent, and Republicans are hammering the point home. 
• Data released this week by analytics company Quorum shows that in nearly 10,000 mentions of inflation in official statements from lawmakers since the beginning of this year, Republicans used the term nearly eight times as often as Democrats. 

It also shows that the ten lawmakers who use the term most frequently are all from the GOP. Leading the pack are Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) with 148 mentions, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) with 118 mentions and Jason Smith (R-Mo.) with 113 mentions. 

The Hill’s Tobias Burns has more here. 

Good to Know

Toyota has ended its pause on PAC donations to Republican lawmakers who objected to certifying the 2020 election results in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. 

Toyota Motor Corp. was one of the top corporate PAC donors to GOP objectors in the months following the Capitol attack but decided to pause its donations to those lawmakers last July amid public scrutiny. Last month’s donations reveal that the company has reversed course again. 

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

• In a housing market with mortgage rates hitting 5 percent and real estate investment companies looking to take advantage of surging rent prices, home ownership is becoming increasingly difficult for Black Americans, who have long faced discriminatory practices. 
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday gave its first full approval for a COVID-19 treatment for children under 12. 
• Most states that have legalized marijuana for recreational consumption now take in more tax revenue from pot sales than from alcohol sales, according to a new analysis. 
• Members of the first all-private trip to the International Space Station have successfully returned to Earth this week. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow. 

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