Category: Joe Biden

Harris emerges as main GOP foil on campaign trail

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Republicans on the campaign trail are zeroing in on Vice President Harris as their political target of choice as the midterm battle draws closer.

The attacks against Harris come as Republicans have struggled to define President Biden, who enjoys higher approval ratings than his vice president and who has largely managed to sidestep any major controversies so far.

Harris, on the other hand, has drawn intense and persistent criticism over everything from her handling of the surge of migrants from Central America to her recent suggestion that voter ID laws make voting “almost impossible” for people in rural areas. Continue reading.

Russia’s most aggressive ransomware group disappeared. It’s unclear who made that happen.

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Just days after President Biden demanded that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia shut down ransomware groups attacking American targets, the most aggressive of the groups suddenly went off-line early Tuesday.

The mystery is who made it happen.

The group, called REvil, short for “Ransomware evil,” has been identified by U.S. intelligence agencies as responsible for the attack on one of America’s largest beef producers, JBS. Two weeks after Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin met in Geneva last month, REvil took credit for a hack that affected thousands of businesses around the world over the July 4 holiday. Continue reading.

Senate Democrats, White House agree on $3.5 trillion budget package

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Biden headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for sales pitch; Warner says plan is ‘fully paid for’

Top Senate Democrats and White House officials reached agreement late Tuesday on an overall spending target of $3.5 trillion for a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation package that Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said will fund “every major program” President Joe Biden proposed in his economic plans.

Biden will come to the Capitol Wednesday to help Schumer and Budget Committee members pitch the spending target to the broader Senate Democratic Caucus over lunch. In a key selling point for his fellow centrists Democrats, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner told reporters the plan will be “fully paid for.”

The $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, combined with $579 billion new spending in a bipartisan infrastructure bill that is still being drafted, will bring the total new spending on infrastructure, climate, child care, education and paid leave programs to $4.1 trillion. That figure “is very, very close to what President Biden asked us for,” Schumer said. “Every major program that President Biden has asked us for is funded in a robust way.” Continue reading.

Biden rips Trump’s ‘big lie’ in voting rights address

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President Biden on Tuesday decried inflammatory and false claims from former President Trump and his allies about the 2020 election and broader efforts to restrict access to the ballot in a major speech on voting rights.

Biden blasted efforts from Trump and others to sow doubt about the election months after it concluded, which have spurred action from GOP-led state legislatures to push new elections laws that would limit absentee voting and make it more difficult for certain groups to vote.

“It’s clear, for those who challenge the results or question the integrity of the election, no other election has ever been held under such scrutiny or such high standards. ‘The big lie’ is just that, a big lie,” Biden said at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Continue reading.

The bogus GOP claim that Biden is responsible for higher gasoline prices

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“As millions of Americans travel this holiday weekend, they are feeling the cost of Biden’s policies at the pump. Gas prices are at their highest level in 7 years.”

— Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, in a tweet, July 3

“Nowhere are Americans feeling the pain more than at the pump. Gasoline prices have spiked about 70 cents per gallon since President Biden was inaugurated. They will only continue to climb.”

— Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), in a Fox News opinion article, July 2

“Average gas price: June 2020: $2.21 June 2021: $3.07 President Biden’s economy!”

— Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), in a tweet, June 21

It’s that time of year again: Gasoline prices have spiked, and politicians are trying to make political hay.

The Fact Checker has had to deal with this faux issue for decades. We wrote about it in 1996 when then-Sen. Bob Dole campaigned for president and urged a repeal of the 4.3 cent gasoline tax because gasoline then was on track to reach $1.31 a gallon. We wrote about it in 2000 when gas prices appeared to have popped to the highest level ever. We wrote about it in 2012 when Republicans misleadingly complained that gasoline prices had doubled in President Barack Obama’s term.

And here we are again. President Biden has been president for only six months, and somehow his policies have already led to high gasoline prices. Continue reading.

Biden’s best ally in his push to upgrade infrastructure for climate change? Climate change.

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Even if our planet were exactly the same as it was in 1950, key elements of the United States’ infrastructure are in need of repair. Highways need to be resurfaced or rebuilt. Bridges need to be reinforced. Public transit needs to be overhauled. Communications systems need to be upgraded.

But the planet is not exactly the same as it was 70 years ago. It is far hotter and its atmosphere and its oceans are more densely packed with carbon dioxide. The effects of this heat are myriad. One effect is, obviously, that temperatures are hotter than they used to be. That heat warms the oceans, causing them to expand and rise and causing them to store more energy that can power major storms. Warmer air also holds more moisture, meaning that storms over land result in more precipitation.

The combination of higher oceans and more rain increases the likelihood of flooding at the coasts. At the same time, that increased surface-level heat more rapidly strips away moisture, leading to deeper, longer droughts. Continue reading.

What you need to know about the new monthly child tax credit payments

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Millions of families will start to receive monthly payments from the IRS on Thursday, following the enactment of President Biden’s coronavirus relief law that included an expansion of the child tax credit.

The $1.9 trillion relief measure from March increases the credit amount for 2021 and directs the IRS to make periodic advance payments of the credit through the end of the year so that families receive funds in installments rather than in a lump sum when they file their tax returns in 2022.

Democrats say the expanded tax credit will help to substantially reduce child poverty, and the monthly payments will help families cover important expenses as they occur. Many Democratic lawmakers want to pass legislation later this year to make the one-year expansion of the credit permanent. Continue reading.

Vacancies remain in key Biden administration positions

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The Biden administration is working to move past the pandemic without a permanent leader for the agency that authorizes drugs and vaccines. Democrats are decrying Republican-led efforts to restrict the right to vote, but President Biden has yet to nominate a solicitor general to represent the government on voting rights and other issues that could come before the Supreme Court.

And the Office of Management and Budget has only an acting director, even as the president seeks a sweeping budget resolution in Congress that would enable his “human infrastructure” plan to pass, one of his top goals.

Biden and his aides consistently tout their “whole of government” approach to solving pressing problems, but several key agencies across the government still have no permanent leaders. As the president approaches six months in office, some of those positions have direct involvement in addressing the crises Biden promised to prioritize at the start of his administration: the pandemic, the economy, climate change and racial inequity. Continue reading.

White House says Biden warned Putin on ransomware attacks

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President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the U.S. would take action to “defend its people” against ransomware attacks, per a White House readout of the call on Friday. 

The big picture: The call comes after a Russia-linked group is believed to be behind an attack on software provider Kaseya, the latest in a mass of ransomware attacks impacting U.S. companies. 

What they’re saying: “I made it very clear to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation coming from his soil — even though it’s not sponsored by the state — we expect him to act. And we’ve given him enough information to act on who that is,” Biden said on Friday afternoon. Continue reading.