Category: Joe Biden

Top Biden ally pleads with him to scrap filibuster for election reform

Politico logo

Rep. Jim Clyburn said it’s time for the president to embrace more aggressive changes to the Senate rules.

After months of setbacks and gridlock on voting rights, one of President Joe Biden’s top allies in Congress is calling for him to support amending the Senate filibuster.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) told POLITICO Biden “should endorse” the idea of creating a carveout to the legislative filibuster in the Senate for legislation that applies to the Constitution. In effect, the reform would make it possible for Democrats to pass their sweeping elections reform bill and another bill reauthorizing key sections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act with just Democratic support.

It’s a sentiment the congressman says he’s shared with White House counselor Steve Ricchetti and Office of Public Engagement Director Cedric Richmond as well. “I’ve even told that to the vice president,” Clyburn said. Continue reading.

Biden fires head of Social Security Administration

The Hill logo

President Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from the Trump administration, after Saul refused a request to resign from his position.

A White House official confirmed that Saul’s employment was terminated. The move was first reported by The Washington Post.

David Black, Saul’s deputy who was also appointed to the position by former President Trump, resigned at Biden’s request, the official said. Continue reading.

Non-competes, banks and farms: Five key elements of Biden’s executive order

The Hill logo

President Biden’s sweeping executive order on competition targets industries from banking and airlines to technology and health care, declaring war on corporations over anti-competitive practices. 

It aims to encourage innovation and competition, and boost the U.S. economy, through dozens of consumer-focused and worker-focused provisions.

Here are five key elements of the president’s massive executive order. Continue reading.

The Justice Department sounds the alarm about Trump’s insinuations that he’ll be ‘reinstalled’

AlterNet Logo

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is raising concerns about the possible violence that could erupt as a result of the dangerous falsehoods currently being perpetuated about former President Donald Trump and his allies

According to CNN, Trump and a number of his allies are spreading a conspiracy theory about the possibility of him being reinstated next month. Since there is no constitutional mechanism that would allow for such action to be taken, the claim is nothing more than a misguided falsehood. The DOJ believes it will only lead to an angry, violent response from Trump’s loyal base.

During a court hearing, Marine Corps veteran Alex Harkrider, who is facing charges for his alleged participation in the Capitol riots requested that the judge allow for his ankle monitor to be removed. The DOJ expressed concern about doing so amid possible backlash from Trump’s base in the wake of the latest claims.  Continue reading.

Biden orders agencies to look at hospital consolidation, costs of drugs and hearing aids

Roll Call Logo

Order supports Trump mandate on price transparency

The wide-ranging executive order President Joe Biden signed Friday includes plans to boost market competition in health care and other industries.

The order, which White House officials have promoted throughout the week, touches on issues ranging from prescription drug prices to hospital and insurance consolidation, in a combination of policy directives that also incorporates priorities shared with the Trump administration.

“What we’ve seen over the past few decades is less competition and more concentration that holds our economy back. We see it in big agriculture and big tech and big pharma and the list goes on,” Biden said before signing the executive order at the White House Friday. Continue reading.

Civil rights leaders find meeting with WH ‘encouraging’ amidst voting rights battle

The Hill logo

President Biden met with civil rights leaders for almost two hours on Thursday as part of a broader effort by his administration to focus on voting rights, a key part of his agenda that has struggled to overcome the roadblock that is the evenly split Senate. 

The civil rights leaders emerged from the meeting, which included discussions on voting rights legislation and police reform, describing the U.S. as in a state of emergency. 

They cited restrictive voting laws imposed this year in states such as Georgia and Florida, and a recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld Arizona’s voting restrictions. Continue reading.

Biden says U.S. has accomplished its primary objectives in Afghanistan as he defends troop withdrawal amid Taliban gains

Washington Post logo

President Biden said Thursday that the country had accomplished its objectives in Afghanistan of killing Osama bin Laden and undercutting al-Qaeda’s ability to launch more attacks on the United States as he defended his decision to bring a 20-year war to an end.

Biden, during a White House speech, was defiant in the face of gains by the Taliban since he announced a planned U.S. troop withdrawal in April and said the Afghan people needed to dictate their own future.

“We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build,” Biden said. Continue reading.

Psaki dismisses MTG over Nazi comparison

Politico logo

“We don’t take any of our health and medical advice from Marjorie Taylor Greene,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the White House would not “take any of our health and medical advice from Marjorie Taylor Greene,” a response to the Georgia lawmaker’s remark a day earlier comparing the Biden administration’s vaccination campaign to Nazis.

Greene (R-Ga.) on Tuesday called efforts by the Biden White House to vaccinate more Americans against Covid-19 a “political tool” and likened the administration’s on-the-ground push to a Nazi paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung, often referred to as “brownshirts.”

“People have a choice, they don’t need your medical brown shirts showing up at their door ordering vaccinations,” Greene wrote in response to a video of President Joe Biden describing a plan to offer vaccines door-to-door. “You can’t force people to be part of the human experiment.” Continue reading.

Russia ‘Cozy Bear’ Breached GOP as Ransomware Attack Hit

Russian government hackers breached the computer systems of the Republican National Committee last week, around the time a Russia-linked criminal group unleashed a massive ransomware attack, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The government hackers were part of a group known as APT 29 or Cozy Bear, according to the people. That group has been tied to Russia’s foreign intelligence service and has previously been accused of breaching the Democratic National Committee in 2016 and of carrying out a supply-chain cyberattack involving SolarWinds Corp., which infiltrated nine U.S. government agencies and was disclosed in December.

It’s not known what data the hackers viewed or stole, if anything. The RNC has repeatedly denied that it was hacked. “There is no indication the RNC was hacked or any RNC information was stolen,” spokesman Mike Reed said. Continue reading.

The stimulus helped these Trump voters pay rent and bills. But they blame it for a range of economic ills.

Washington Post logo

WOODSFIELD, Ohio — Dennis Beckett wasn’t even sure he wanted to cash his stimulus check, especially after he received a letter from President Biden announcing its arrival. Beckett, a retired pipe fitter, owns 25 firearms and staunchly opposes the president’s call for restrictions on high-capacity magazines.

After thinking about it for a few days, Beckett finally decided to use the money to fix up his century-old home, recently purchased for $30,000.

But even as the stimulus makes his renovation possible, Beckett also blames it for the rising cost of the construction materials he needs. “Ever since January 20th, everything has shot up,” Beckett said, referring to the day Biden was inaugurated. “Just look at gas — it’s $3 a gallon, when it had been $1.79.” Continue reading.