Roundup: LABI leadership / COVID-19 aid vote / Consumer spending

Fresh faces: At its membership meeting Thursday in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry formally announced its officers and board of directors for 2021, along with the members of the 2021 LABI Emerging Leaders Council, a group of distinguished entrepreneurs and young professionals. Terry Baugh, chief financial officer of D&J Construction Company LLC will serve as chair of LABI for 2021. Christel C. Slaughter, CEO, SSA Consultants, will serve as the board’s vice chair. See LABI’s announcement, LABI’s announcement, which includes the rest of the leadership, lineup and board members. 

Party line: Democrats are ready to push a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package through the House today, despite a setback that means a minimum wage boost is unlikely to be in the final version that reaches President Joe Biden. The relief bill would provide millions of people with $1,400 direct payments. It contains billions of dollars for vaccines and COVID-19 testing, schools, state and local governments, the ailing restaurant and airline industries and emergency jobless benefits while providing tax breaks to lower earners and families with children. Read the full story. 

Rise in shopping: Bouncing back from months of retrenchment, America’s consumers stepped up their spending by a solid 2.4% in January in a sign that the economy may be making a tentative recovery from the pandemic recession. This morning’s report from the Commerce Department also shows that personal incomes, which provide the fuel for spending, jumped 10% last month, boosted by cash payments most Americans received from the government. See the report.