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Joe Biden argued that ‘America is on the move again’ in his first address to Congress, on the eve of his 100th day in office. The president, flanked by two women – Vice-President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – for the first time in US history, addressed the coronavirus pandemic, the 6 January assault on the Capitol, plans to raise the minimum wage, police reform, climate change and historic levels of investment in the country. Due to social distancing measures, only 200 people, mainly politicians, attended rather than the usual 1,600 guests
President pushes ambitious families and jobs plans, calling for a ‘blue-collar blueprint’ to rebuild America
Joe Biden argued that “America is on the move again” in his first address to Congress, where he unveiled a sweeping $1.8tn package for families and education and pitched his “blue-collar blueprint” to re-build America.
Flanked by two women – Vice-President Kamala Harris and House speaker Nancy Pelosi – for the first time in US history, the president gave his speech on the eve of his 100th day in office as the country continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Joe Biden will also speak about gun violence during tonight’s speech, according to USAToday. On the presidential campaign trail, Biden pledged to reinstate the assault weapons ban and create a voluntary gun buyback program.
A White House official told the newspaper that Biden will talk about gun violence as an epidemic, which he has done in the past, and urge Congress to reinstate a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
The president’s plea appears to echo a similar one made by Obama at the State of the Union in 2013, two months after Sandy Hook, in which he told Congress victims of gun violence — many of whom were seated in the room — “deserve a vote.” Biden presided over the Senate chamber when a gun safety package failed to pass two months later.
Despite the uphill battle, Democrats are heeding the president’s call. Last week Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., reintroduced a bill to remove protections for manufacturers and sellers from consumer negligence lawsuits and allow victims of gun violence to pursue legal recourse. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a key Democrat leading gun control efforts, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper last week that he’s made calls to almost half the Republican caucus “asking them to keep an open mind.”
The Guardian’s voting rights reporter, Sam Levine, has an alarming story this morning on Republican efforts to make it harder to vote in Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office:
Even as attacks on voting rights have escalated in recent years, the Republican effort since January marks a new, more dangerous phase for American democracy, experts say.
The president’s handling of the Covid pandemic and the economic crisis have drawn praise but questions remain over issues such as immigration and the filibuster
For Democrats it has been a hundred days of sweeping legislation, barrier-breaking appointments and daring to dream big. For Republicans, a hundred days in the political wilderness.
The party that just four years ago controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress now finds itself shut out of power and struggling to find its feet. As Joe Biden forges ahead with ambitions to shift the political paradigm, Republicans still have a Donald Trump problem.
Senate Democrats are pushing Biden to admit more refugees into the US.
Biden’s announcement earlier this month that he would not increase refugee admissions from the record low cap of 15,000 that Donald Trump set before leaving office. After intense pushback from advocates and Democratic lawmakers, Biden said he’d increase the cap by 15 May.
US president Joe Biden has said that getting vaccinated is a 'patriotic duty' for everyone in the US and he urged people to continue efforts to bring the pandemic under control.
'Do not let up now, keep following the guidance and go get vaccinated now,' he said.
Biden also spoke about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxing its guidelines on mask-wearing for Americans. He said it was now possible for vaccinated Americans to go to the park for a picnic without having to mask up
Sources say new CDC guidance relates to outdoor mask-wearing
Democratic president promises ‘new normal’ by Fourth of July
The Supreme Court accepted what will be a closely watched gun rights case today –it could have a major impact on gun rights across the country.
Here’s more from the AP:
The case marks the court’s first foray into gun rights since Justice Amy Coney Barrett came on board in October, making a 6-3 conservative majority.
The justices said Monday they will review a lower-court ruling that upheld New York’s restrictive gun permit law. The court’s decision to take on the case follows mass shootings in recent weeks in Indiana, Georgia, Colorado and California and comes amid congressional efforts to tighten gun laws.
"The outlook does not look good for gun safety laws at the Supreme Court...the Court could issue a radical Second Amendment ruling that jeopardizes future progress as well as lifesaving gun laws already on the books." @GiffordsCourage says in a statement.
Republican Alaska lawmaker Lora Reinbold is banned from Alaska Airlines flights, after she has repeatedly refused to wear a mask. Masks can help protect other people from exposure to Covid-19 and other illnesses, if worn properly.
The ban is a major problem for the lawmaker, because Alaska Airlines operates the only flight to and from the capital, Juneau. Instead, she had to make a 14-hour trek to get to work
We have notified Senator Lora Reinbold that she is not permitted to fly with us for her continued refusal to comply with employee instruction regarding the current mask policy,” airlines spokesman Tim Thompson told the Anchorage Daily News.
“This suspension is effective immediately, pending further review. Federal law requires all guests to wear a mask over their nose and mouth at all times during travel, including throughout the flight, during boarding and deplaning, and while traveling through an airport,” he said.
Biden’s solution to the myriad crises is an ambitious economic agenda that promises to ‘own the future’ by expanding the role of government in American life
On the 50th day of his presidency, Joe Biden marched into the Oval Office and took a seat behind the Resolute desk, where the massive, 628-page American Rescue Plan awaited his signature. Across the room hung a portrait of Franklin D Roosevelt, a nod to the transformative presidency Biden envisions for a nation tormented by disease, strife and division.
President called Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday to inform him US would make designation on 106th anniversary of the genocide
Joe Biden has become the first US president declare formal recognition of the Armenian genocide, more than a century after the mass killings by Ottoman troops and opening a rift between the new US administration and Ankara.
Warning comes after lack of new funding pledges at virtual summit attended by 40 world leaders and hosted by White House
Rich countries have failed to provide the financial assistance needed for the developing world to cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of climate breakdown, poorer nations have warned, after a US summit of world leaders ended with few new funding promises.
The failure leaves billions of people at risk from the worsening ravages of extreme weather, as poor countries struggle with the Covid-19 crisis and rapidly mounting debt.
John Kerry dismissed a question on whether he was concerned about Republican opposition to Joe Biden’s climate proposals.
The president’s special envoy for climate noted that many policies can be implemented through executive orders, combined with cooperation from the private sector.
John Kerry, Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate, said Donald Trump’s policies “destroyed” America’s credibility on the world stage when it comes to addressing climate change.
The former secretary of state noted that today, which is Earth Day, marks five years since he signed the Paris climate agreement in New York, with his granddaughter on his knee.
The Biden administration on Thursday pledged to slash US greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% from 2005 levels by 2030, a new target it hopes will spur other big emitter countries to raise their ambition to combat climate change. The goal, unveiled at the start of a two-day climate summit hosted by President Joe Biden, comes as the United States seeks to reclaim global leadership in the fight against global warming after former president Donald Trump withdrew the country from international efforts to cut emissions.
After nearly two decades of fighting, Biden has declared that the war in Afghanistan is coming to an end. The President plans to officially close the chapter by the anniversary of Sept. 11 this year, the New York Times reports.
But, it still remains unclear what that means for 40 remaining detainees still imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay. Layers for two of the prisoners reportedly told federal judges this week that their clients could not be held after the war ends and filed motions for their release.
One of the detainees, Khalid Qassim, 44, is a Yemeni man who has been held without trial at Guantánamo for nearly 19 years; he was captured in late 2001 or early 2002 and is being held as a Qaeda trainee who “may have fought for the Taliban in or near Kabul and Bagram, Afghanistan, before fleeing to the Tora Bora mountains in late 2001.”
The other, an Afghan named Asadullah Haroon Gul, who is about 40, was captured in 2007 by Afghan forces and turned over to the United States military. A basis for holding him is his past affiliation with a militia that made peace with the Afghan government in 2017, essentially breaking with the Taliban.
The House has passed legislation to curb presidential power to institute travel bans like those Trump imposed to limit entry into the US from predominantly Muslim countries.
The National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act (or the NO BAN Act), which prevents presidents from issuing future orders based on religion, requires bans to be temporary, and will give Congress more oversight, passed the house 218-208.
The Muslim Ban was always wrong, needless, and cruel and failed to live up to the requirements laid out by the Supreme Court. Religious bans have no place in our country or our laws and today, we are voting to make sure this never happens again. pic.twitter.com/njTtTEBuiU
Although the travel ban has been reversed, we must ensure that no future presidents abuse their power through executive action. That’s why I voted in support of the NO BAN Act. No president should have the authority to discriminate against migrants based on their religion.
Virtual summit on Thursday will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Biden took office
China’s President Xi Jinping will attend a US-led climate change summit on Thursday at the invitation of President Joe Biden, in the first meeting between the two leaders since the advent of the new US administration.
Biden has invited dozens of world leaders to join the two-day virtual summit starting on Thursday, after bringing the US back into the 2015 Paris agreement on cutting global carbon emissions.
US president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris have spoken of the need to dismantle systemic racism during an address to the nation following the guilty verdict in Derek Chauvin’s murder case. 'Today, we feel a sigh of relief', Harris said. 'Still, it cannot take away the pain. A measure of justice isn’t the same as equal justice.' Biden said 'such a verdict is also much too rare', adding that saying systemic racism is 'a stain on our nation’s soul'
Sequestered jury in Minneapolis began deliberations on Monday
National guard to assist Washington police in event of protests
Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, said earlier today that he spoke to Joe Biden about the trial.
“He knows how it is to lose a family member,” Floyd told the “Today” show. “He was just letting us know that he was praying for us and hoping that everything would come out to be okay.”
“He was just letting us know that he was praying for us and hoping that everything would come out to be OK.” -Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, on his phone conversation with President Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/OUEp6Lvbhw
Joe Biden addressed the Derek Chauvin murder trial moments ago in the Oval Office, as he prepared to meet with leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
The president confirmed he spoke to George Floyd’s family yesterday, as the jury began its deliberations. Biden noted he wanted to wait to contact them until after the jury was sequestered.
After phone call with George Floyd's family, President Biden says he is "praying the verdict is the right verdict," adding that he is only speaking out because the jury is sequestered. https://t.co/zstpyxCqRkpic.twitter.com/RcrACo79DU
Former state department career staff urge president to dismantle pay-for-play operations and to prioritize gender parity
Joe Biden is coming under pressure from former state department career staff to match the diversity of his cabinet and senior administration positions in foreign postings – and to reform the longstanding practice in the US of rewarding political supporters with plum ambassadorial jobs.
More than three months into his first term, Biden’s foreign diplomatic slate remains open, with only one top ambassador – Linda Thomas-Greenfield, to the United Nations, nominated and confirmed.
President condemned by progressives and advocacy groups despite ending ban on arrivals from Somalia, Syria and Yemen
Facing swift blowback from fellow lawmakers and aid groups, the White House on Friday said that Joe Biden plans to lift his predecessor’s historically low cap on refugees by next month, after initially moving only to expand the eligibility criteria for resettlements.