Category: Joe Biden

Biden administration wants the financial sector to face up to climate risk

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Commodity Futures Trading Commission to create a new ‘climate risk unit,’ joining initiatives at Treasury, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve 

A growing number of federal regulators are pushing corporate America to reckon with the cost of climate change, arguing that global warming poses significant peril not only to the environment but to the U.S. economy. 

On Wednesday, Rostin Behnam, the acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will announce that he is establishing a Climate Risk Unit to focus on the role of complex financial derivatives in understanding and pricing climate-related hazards. That follows a request on Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission for public input on how to require companies to disclose “consistent, comparable, and reliable information on climate change” risks to investors.

The moves come as President Biden’s administration is pledging to slash greenhouse gas emissions and after 2020 set a U.S. record for billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. There were 22 extreme weather events last year, ranging from tropical cyclones to drought, that cost taxpayers, businesses, investors and homeowners a combined $95 billion, according to the federal government. Continue reading.

The IRS has sent out 90 million stimulus payments. Here’s how to check when yours will arrive.

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Got a prepaid debit card with your stimulus payment? You can avoid fees when you access the money.

The Internal Revenue Service told financial institutions to expect roughly 90 million direct deposits amounting to $242.2 billion on March 17 in the initial distribution of the American Rescue Plan stimulus payments, according to a banking industry group.

Following the deposits, the IRS mailed an additional 150,000 checks amounting to $442 million, with a pay date of March 19, according to the Independent Community Bankers of America, based on a briefing from the IRS.

“Additional batches of payments will be sent in the coming weeks with the vast majority sent by direct deposit,” the group said in an online update to banking members. “Payments will also be sent through the mail as a check or debit card.” Continue reading.

Migrants are not overrunning U.S. border towns, despite the political rhetoric

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SAN ANTONIO — The way many Republicans describe it, President Biden has thrown open the border between Mexico and the United States so that anyone who wants to come into the country can do so, illegally or legally.

Former president Donald Trump accused Biden of “recklessly eliminating our border, security measures, controls, all of the things.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) says Biden has rushed to implement “open border policies.” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) says the new president “sent a message around South and Central America that our border is open.”

But many of those who live along the border in Texas say that while there has been a dramatic increase in the number of migrants caught crossing illegally, the border itself has been heavily restricted for nearly a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading.

Republican attorneys general threaten key element of the $1.9 trillion stimulus

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The GOP officials are asking the Biden administration to clarify a $350 billion program to help cities, counties and states in financial need

Twenty-one Republican state attorneys general on Tuesday threatened to take action against the Biden administration over its new $1.9 trillion coronavirusstimulus law, decrying it for imposing “unprecedented and unconstitutional” limits on their states’ ability to lower taxes.

The letter marks one of the first major political and legal salvos against the relief package since President Biden signed it last week — evincing the sustained Republican opposition that the White House faces as it implements the signature element of the president’s economic policy agenda.

The attorneys general take issue with a $350 billion pot of money set aside under the stimulus, known as the American Rescue Plan, to help cash-strapped cities, counties and states pay for the costs of the pandemic. Congressional lawmakers  Continue reading.

Pelosi on infrastructure: ‘Hopefully we will have bipartisanship’

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“Building roads and bridges and water supply systems and the rest has always been bipartisan … except when [Republicans] opposed it with the Democratic president,” the speaker said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday signaled hopefulness that Republicans would get on board with major infrastructure and jobs legislation but was unsure whether her GOP colleagues would accept or obstruct President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Following an almost party-line passage of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package last week, Democrats are staring down the odds of winning Republican support on a host of administration priorities, including infrastructure and immigration. The fact that the American Rescue Plan passed without Republican support underscores the tricky legislative hurdles Democrats will have to navigate with slim majorities in both chambers.

“Building roads and bridges and water supply systems and the rest has always been bipartisan, always been bipartisan — except when [Republicans] opposed it with the Democratic president as they did with President Obama, and we had to shrink the package,” Pelosi told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” when asked whether she’d be able to keep Democrats united behind a package and garner Republican support. Continue reading.

Guzman receives Senate confirmation to lead SBA

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Confirmation comes amid pressure to get pandemic aid to the smallest businesses

The Senate voted 81-17 Tuesday to confirm Isabel Guzman, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Small Business Administration.

As SBA administrator, Guzman will oversee the remaining disbursements from the Paycheck Protection Program, a forgivable loan program that was a lifeline to small businesses hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The Small Business Administration has overseen two pandemic-related programs that will dole out more than $1 trillion to our nation’s small businesses, nonprofits, and religious institutions,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor. The agency will also play a major role as the economy recovers, he said. Continue reading.

Senate confirms William Burns to be next CIA director after Cruz lifts hold

The Senate on Thursday confirmed William Burns to be President Joe Biden’s CIA director, approving his nomination with no objections after Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz lifted his hold.

The Senate cleared Burns’ nomination by voice vote on the floor Thursday.

Biden tapped Burns as CIA director in January, turning to a longtime diplomat who was deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration and held foreign service posts for more than three decades. He will become the first leader in the CIA’s history whose lifelong experience comes from the State Department. Continue reading.

Senate confirms Becerra in tight vote with just one GOP defection

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The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed Xavier Becerra as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services by a 50-49 vote.

Republicans were nearly unanimous in their opposition to Becerra, the current attorney general of California. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was the only Republican to vote in favor of his confirmation. 

Collins previously cited Becerra’s commitment to rural health care, and a shared goal of lowering drug prices among her reasons for supporting him. Continue reading.

Jen Psaki Brilliantly Rips GOP For Their Hypocritical Concern The Relief Bill Will Have On The Deficit

President Joe Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki shut down Republican’s concern for the deficit by hurling a question right back at the GOP for their hypocrisy.

A reporter addressed Psaki at a recent press briefing, saying the GOP argued this was the sixth package and already added to a “deficit that’s already a trillion dollars this year alone.”

The reporter asked:

“What do you say to that criticism, that ultimately this type of a sweeping piece of legislation will be a drag on the economy down the line?”

“Well, I would say to them we’re in the midst of twin crises, from the pandemic to an economic downturn that is impacting tens of millions of people in this country,” she began. Continue reading.

New EPA administrator: ‘Science is back’

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In his first interview as the nation’s top environmental official, Michael Regan says he is focused on restoring morale at the agency, combatting climate change and lifting up communities burdened by pollution

Michael Regan has bold aspirations, and a long to-do list, as President Biden’s newly confirmed Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

He wants to hasten the nation’s shift to cleaner forms of energy, make transformational investments in communities battered by decades of pollution, and improve air and water quality around the country. But to accomplish any of that, the 44-year-old administrator said Monday, he must first help the EPA get its groove back.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, starting with rebuilding the staff morale and getting all of our staff back to feeling as if they matter, their voices matter,” Regan said in his first interview after being sworn in last week. “We really have to restore the scientific integrity and the utilization of data, of facts, as we move forward and make some very important decisions.” Continue reading.