Category Archives: Biden administration

Biden’s $2tn infrastructure plan ‘needs to be changed’, says key Democrat Manchin – live

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That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

The Guardian’s Abené Clayton reports:

The bankruptcy trial for the National Rife Association (NRA) kicked off this morning, and for the first time embattled CEO Wayne LaPierre and other NRA executives will be testifying about the organization’s finances in open court.

Good morning. Today is the first day of the @NRA’s trial in bankruptcy court. For those of you who can’t wait, here are some disturbing excerpts from Wayne LaPierre’s deposition (filed over the weekend). #nrabankruptcytrial

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Fauci hits back at rightwing criticism and says attacks on him ‘bizarre’

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Scientist forced to defend himself from attacks by Trump allies and says ‘I can’t be bothered with getting distracted’

Anthony Fauci has described attacks on him from Republicans as “bizarre”, after a barrage of criticism from senior GOP figures.

Related: ‘There is a solution’: a Covid survivor’s life-or-death battle for Medicare for All

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Republicans claim Biden $2tn infrastructure plan a partisan tax hike

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  • President proposes environmental measures and tax rises
  • Mississippi governor cites Green New Deal, a GOP bogey

Republicans opposed to Joe Biden’s proposed $2tn infrastructure bill claimed on Sunday that it was effectively a partisan tax hike that allocated too much money to electric vehicles and other environmental initiatives.

Related: Florida faces 'imminent' pollution catastrophe from phosphate mine pond

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Biden’s cabinet meeting proves the reality TV presidency wasn’t renewed

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Biden’s first full cabinet meeting was a return to the staid old way of doing things – not worshipping the president like Trump’s cabinet

Poor old Joe Biden. He might have won the electoral college and the popular vote but he’ll never feel the love of his underlings like Donald Trump did.

The former president’s first full cabinet meeting in June 2017 remains an unparalleled opera of oleaginousness. Secretary after secretary all but flung themselves at his feet, sang songs of praise and paid homage to the divine emperor of the universe.

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Hopes rise of breakthrough on US return to Iran nuclear deal

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Statement following talks sparks optimism that unexpected progress has been made

A potential breakthrough in the apparently deadlocked efforts to bring the US back into the nuclear deal with Iran is on the horizon after secret diplomatic talks in Frankfurt this week.

The joint commission, the body that brings together the existing signatories to the deal, will meet virtually on Friday to discuss the outcome of Monday’s meeting amid growing optimism that unexpected progress has been made.

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Biden announces ‘once-in-a generation’ $2tn infrastructure investment plan – video

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Joe Biden unveiled what he called a 'once-in-a-generation' investment in American infrastructure, promising the nation his $2tn plan would create the 'strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world'. Biden’s proposal to the nation still struggling to overcome the coronavirus pandemic would rebuild 20,000 miles of roads and highways and repair the 10 most economically significant bridges in the country. Biden added other projects would confront the climate crisis, curb wealth inequality and strengthen US competitiveness

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Climate talks will test Biden’s pledge to make global heating a priority

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Summit is designed to revive a US-convened forum of the world’s major economies that previous administrations had allowed to lapse

President Joe Biden is doubling down on his reset of his predecessor’s environmental policies by inviting Russian president Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping of China to the first big climate talks of his administration next month aimed at increasing cooperation to fight global heating.

The Leaders Summit on Climate talks, scheduled to be held virtually on 22 and 23 April, are an opportunity for the US to shape, hasten and deepen global efforts to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuel pollution, administration officials told the Associated Press.

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Joe Biden condemns Georgia voting law: ‘This is Jim Crow in the 21st century’ – live

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The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

Activists in Georgia vowed on Friday to keep up an aggressive campaign to pressure Republicans over their support for the law restricting voting access, saying they were undeterred by its final passage through the legislature.

Related: 'Jim Crow in the 21st century': Biden denounces Georgia Republicans over new voting law

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, argued the Georgia law restricting voter access underscored the need to pass the For the People Act.

The Democratic-controlled House passed the election reform legislation earlier this month.

We saw it in Georgia last night. We see it across the country.

A concerted, nationwide, and racist effort by Republican state legislatures to limit the right of American citizens to vote.

The #ForThePeople Act is a priority of this Congress to fight this and renew Democracy. pic.twitter.com/E0TFJ68dqv

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Gun reform laws eluded Biden in 2013. Could this showdown with the NRA be different?

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The Sandy Hook shooting failed to convince Congress to enact more regulations. In the wake of recent shootings, calls for reform have begun

Within hours of 10 people being gunned down at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado on Monday – the second such bloody rampage in seven days – the calls had begun for Congress to tighten up America’s notoriously slack firearms laws.

John Hickenlooper, a Democratic US senator from Colorado who was governor of the state at the time of the Aurora cinema shooting that killed 12 people in 2012, opined that “our country has a horrific problem with gun violence. We need federal action. Now.”

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Haiti deportations soar as Biden administration deploys Trump-era health order

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There have been more ‘Title 42’ expulsions in the space of a few weeks than during an entire year of Trump’s administration, report says

The Biden administration has so far deported more Haitians in a few weeks than the Trump administration did in a whole year, with the use of a highly controversial Trump-era public health order denying asylum seekers basic legal rights, according to a new report.

The report, The Invisible Wall, due to be published on Thursday by a coalition of immigrant rights groups, focuses on Title 42, part of the 1944 Public Health Service Act invoked a year ago by the Trump administration as grounds for summary expulsion of migrants because of the supposed health risk they posed during the Covid pandemic.

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‘It will save lives’: Joe Biden calls for gun reform after Colorado shooting – video

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In his first remarks on the supermarket shooting in Boulder, Colorado, that killed 10 people on Monday, Joe Biden called on Congress to move quickly to toughen the country's gun laws, asking lawmakers to close the loopholes in the background checks system and ban assault weapon and high-capacity magazines. Biden homed in on closing what is known as the Charleston loophole – a provision in federal law that gives a gun seller discretion on whether to proceed with a sale if the FBI fails to determine within three business days if a buyer is eligible to purchase a gun

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Biden calls on Congress to pass assault weapons ban after Boulder shooting – live

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President also urges Senate to pass bills to close background checks loopholes

Earlier, while he was touring the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute in Columbus, Biden was asked if he thinks he has the political capital to get gun control measures passed through the Senate.

“I hope so,” he said, his fingers crossed per the White House press pool report.

.@POTUS crosses his fingers as he's asked about the possibility of gun control legislation, during a tour of the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio. pic.twitter.com/qMZ3soPuGJ

Hours after America's second mass shooting in a week, Sen. John Kennedy downplays the gun problem by noting that "we have a lot of drunk drivers in America that kill a lot of people. We ought to try to combat that too ... the answer is not to get rid of all sober drivers." pic.twitter.com/BvqhNvuWRJ

Getting vaccinated and following public health guidelines are patriotic duties, Biden said.

“We need all Americans to keep washing their hands, stay socially distanced, wearing their masks,” he said. “Get vaccinated, when it’s your turn. It’s a patriotic responsibility.

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Joe Biden strikes new tone but Mexico remains US’s wall against migrants

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As senior US officials arrive in Mexico for talks experts say deal to send Covid vaccine shows that migrants are still a bargaining chip

Joe Biden took office promising to put a friendlier face on US immigration policy. He put an end to a scheme requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico, promised to restore the US asylum system and pledged to spend $4bn on addressing the root causes of migration in Central America.

But as ever-increasing numbers of unaccompanied minors arrive at the US southern border and create a domestic political crisis for the US president, he is turning to a tactic used by his predecessors – including Donald Trump: outsourcing immigration enforcement to Mexico.

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Relaxing US Covid rules could cause ‘another avoidable surge’, warns CDC director – live

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Dr Rochelle Walensky pleads with Americans to remain vigilant about taking precautions to limit spread of coronavirus

Kamala Harris also told reporters that she plans to visit the US-Mexican border at some point, although she will not be doing so today.

“We were left with a very challenging situation. Let’s get these kids out of [Customs and Border Protection] custody and get them into [Health and Human Services] custody,” the vice-president said, per a pool report.

Kamala Harris is visiting a coronavirus vaccination site in Jacksonville, Florida, as part of the “Help is Here” tour to advertise the benefits of the relief bill.

After landing in Jacksonville, the vice-president took a few questions from reporters about the pandemic and the situation at the US-Mexican border.

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US defense secretary Austin visits Afghanistan as exit deadline looms

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  • Surprise visit and meeting with President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul
  • Trip comes ahead of 1 May deadline to bring US troops home

Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defense, made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, meeting President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul.

Related: Afghan peace summit includes just one female delegate

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Kamala Harris sidesteps question of her role to take Biden’s message on the road

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Aides and allies say it is too early to define the vice-president’s portfolio but she is unlikely to be confined to just one subject area

White House aides and allies stress it’s still too early to define the type of portfolio Kamala Harris will have as vice-president. They bristle at the suggestion that Harris would be confined to one project or focus on just one subject area, as some previous vice-presidents were pegged to do.

But over the last week, the former California senator has once again taken on an increasingly familiar mantle: top surrogate for promoting the Biden administration’s agenda.

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‘A similar challenge’: how Joe Biden echoes Kennedys on US foreign policy

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The president does not just share Irish roots with John, Robert and Ted Kennedy – he also wants to lead America in the world

It was a popular Washington sport: find the past president who best explained Donald Trump. There was a touch of Andrew Jackson’s populism, a dash of Richard Nixon’s skulduggery, a sprinkling of Ronald Reagan’s myth-making. But now all that is over, who are the closest matches to Joe Biden?

Related: Lucky review: how Biden beat Trump – and doubters like Obama and Hillary

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‘Blindsided’: Biden faces tough test in reversing Trump’s cruel border legacy

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As unaccompanied children reach the US, Republicans seek political gain. The White House has a fight on its hands

Lauded for his human touch, Joe Biden is facing an early political and moral test over how his government treats thousands of migrant children who make the dangerous journey to America alone.

Related: Is there a crisis at the border? Advocates in Texas say it's 'political manipulation'

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Will a chilly meeting in Anchorage set the tone for US-Chinese relations? | Emma Graham-Harrison

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Openings of summits are often dull affairs, but the tense exchanges in Alaska hint at turbulent times ahead

In a protracted, unplanned public spat in Anchorage late on Thursday, China and America’s top diplomats traded barbs for over an hour in front of astonished journalists.

The openings to diplomatic summits are usually dull and carefully choreographed, a showcase for the world’s cameras before the doors close and the real talks begin.

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Biden and Harris head to Georgia to meet community leaders after Atlanta shooting – live updates

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President and vice president will also visit the CDC while in Georgia

Joan Biskupic, CNN’s legal analyst has an interesting piece this morning arguing that the Supreme Court’s conservatives want to topple abortion rights – but can’t seem to agree on how. She writes:

The aims of individual justices, based on their recent writings, range from reversing Roe v. Wade to forbidding clinics from challenging restrictions on behalf of women to relaxing the standard that states must meet to limit women’s access to the procedure.

New internal tensions in the age-old controversy have emerged, as the six Republican-appointed justices on the right wing diverge on curtailing precedent and more sharply clash with the court’s three remaining Democratic-appointed liberals. The justices could move a step closer to their next chapter as they meet privately on Friday to consider whether to take up Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Nina Lakhani reports for us today from Texas, asking is there a crisis at the border?

After four years of racist, chaotic, anti-immigration policies by the Trump administration – as well as growing desperation fuelled by the pandemic and extreme climate events – the number of people seeking to enter the US is rising.

Related: Is there a crisis at the border?: a look at both sides of the immigration argument

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