Category: Joe Biden

Biden recommits US to Paris climate accord

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President Biden on Wednesday took action to have the U.S. rejoin the Paris climate accord, following through on a campaign pledge to recommit to the Obama-era agreement on his first day in office.

The move reverses former President Trump’s withdrawal from the pact. For several months, the U.S. was the only country in the world that wasn’t a party to the accord.

“A cry of survival comes from the planet itself, a cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear,” Biden said in his inaugural address, listing “a climate in crisis” as one of the many challenges facing the U.S. Continue reading.

Biden releases national COVID strategy, will order agencies to use Defense Production Act

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President Biden released his national strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic Thursday, which will include using the Defense Production Act (DPA) and other powers to speed up the manufacturing of testing and vaccine supplies and other items needed to fight COVID-19. 

The Trump administration had resisted calls to release a comprehensive plan to fight COVID-19, instead deferring significant authority to the states. The plan released by the Biden administration Thursday aims to instill confidence in the U.S. pandemic response by accelerating the vaccine rollout, boosting testing and access to treatments and protecting those at most risk, including communities of color.

“For almost a year now, Americans could not look to the federal government for any strategy, let alone a comprehensive approach to respond to COVID,” said Jeff Zients, Biden’s COVID-19 response coordinator.  Continue reading.

Biden urges Americans to join together in appeal for unity

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Joe Biden, in his first address as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, made an appeal for unity and sought to turn the page on the divisions of the Trump era.

Unity, he said from the West front of the U.S. Capitol, is necessary in order to contain the coronavirus pandemic, restore the U.S. economy, address the effects of climate change, deliver racial justice and mend deep divisions that were laid bare over the last four years. 

“To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity,” Biden said. Continue reading.

Biden to extend eviction moratorium through March

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The executive action is expected to shield millions from losing their homes

On his first day as president, Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order extending a freeze on evictions nationwide through the end of March, a move aimed at shielding millions of renters struggling during the pandemic.

Biden officials said the new president will on Wednesday approve a raft of executive actions to address issues ranging from immigration to the public health crisis caused by the pandemic.

As part of this Day One action, Biden is expected to sign orders to extend the eviction moratorium and to pause student loan interest payments, while pushing Congress to approve the $1.9 trillion economic relief plan he unveiled last week. Continue reading.

‘Right on schedule’: GOP backers of tax cuts for the rich resume deficit-mongering hours before Biden inauguration

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Just 24 hours before the inauguration of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, Republican senators who did not hesitate to approve unpaid-for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and bloated Pentagon budgets over the past four years suddenly rediscovered their concern for the rising deficit and national debt Tuesday as Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen made the casefor a robust coronavirus relief package.

Republican lawmakers have been signaling a return to their hypocritical deficit-mongering for months, leading some to warn of a conscious GOP effort to impose crippling austerity on the incoming Biden administration in the name of “fiscal responsibility.”

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) hinted in that direction during Yellen’s confirmation hearing Tuesday, using his time to lament the “massive amount of debt that we continue to rack up” and complain that Congress appears “to have no concern” about the problem. In 2017, Thune was one of 51 Republican senators to vote yes on the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which blew a massive hole in the deficit and disproportionately benefited the rich and large corporations. Continue reading.

Biden, frequent commenter on inaugural addresses, finally gets his own

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The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter’s insights

Following Bill Clinton’s first inaugural address, Joe Biden had a few thoughts about how Clinton did. “This guy really does represent a whole new generation of leadership, and he made that clear,” he told CNN.

Four years earlier, Biden had assessed George H.W. Bush’s inaugural address, saying the 1989 speech “makes you proud, proud that you are an American.”

Ronald Reagan in 1985? “A brilliant speech,” in Biden’s view. Continue reading.

Senate confirms Austin to lead Pentagon under Biden

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The Senate has approved President Biden’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, paving the way for retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to make history as the nation’s first Black secretary of Defense.

The Senate confirmed Austin in a 93-2 Friday morning vote, giving Biden his second Cabinet member two days after his inauguration.

Presidents typically have key national security nominees confirmed on Inauguration Day, but a combination of factors — including the Trump administration delaying the transition, control of the Senate being up in the air until the Georgia runoffs in early January and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — meant Biden only got one confirmed on his first day: Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. Continue reading.

The Financial Minefield Awaiting an Ex-President Trump

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Baseless election fraud claims and the Capitol riot have compounded already-looming threats to his bottom line. And the cash lifelines he once relied on are gone.

Not long after he strides across the White House grounds Wednesday morning for the last time as president, Donald J. Trump will step into a financial minefield that appears to be unlike anything he has faced since his earlier brushes with collapse.

The tax records that he has long fought to keep hidden, revealed in a New York Times investigation last September, detailed his financial challenges:

Many of his resorts were losing millions of dollars a year even before the pandemic struck. Hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, which he personally guaranteed, must be repaid within a few years. He has burned through much of his cash and easy-to-sell assets. And a decade-old I.R.S. audit threatens to cost him more than $100 million to resolve. Continue reading.

DNI nominee Haines: Spy agencies will speak ‘truth to power’ under Biden

New spy chief-designate can repair airplanes and cars, studied physics

Avril Haines, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to become the director of national intelligence, told senators on Tuesday that she would restore the nonpartisan nature of the office and focus on transparency and analytic rigor.

Haines was appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to head the office, which was created after the 9/11 attacks when investigations found that the CIA and the FBI had failed to share intelligence with each other.

In the four years since President Donald Trump took office, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence changed hands three times, with four directors overseeing the efforts of 18 different intelligence agencies spread across civilian and military departments. Its most recent annual budget was slightly over $85 billion. Continue reading.

Acceptance on Behalf of the United States of America

I, Joseph R. Biden Jr., President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the Paris Agreement, done at Paris on December 12, 2015, do hereby accept the said Agreement and every article and clause thereof on behalf of the United States of America.

Done at Washington this 20th day of January, 2021.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.