Tag: Biden administration

U.S. strikes Iran-backed militia facilities in Syria

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The United States on Thursday carried out an airstrike against facilities in Syria linked to an Iran-backed militia group, the Pentagon announced.

The state of play: The strike, approved by President Biden, comes “in response to recent attacks against American and Coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats to those personnel,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement.

What they’re saying: “The proportionate military response was conducted together with diplomatic measures, including consultation with Coalition partners,” Kirby said. Continue reading.

FDA authorizes Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

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The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday issued an emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot coronavirus vaccine.

Why it matters: The authorization of a third coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. will help speed up the vaccine rollout across the country, especially since the J&J shot only requires one dose as opposed to Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-shot vaccines. 

  • Unlike Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s shots, the J&J vaccine can also be stored at refrigerator temperatures for three months, making it easier to transport. 
  • White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said on Wednesday that J&J will have 3 million to 4 million doses ready for distribution. Continue reading.

Buttigieg makes equity a top priority for DOT

As Transportation secretary, Buttigieg is making the fight against systemic racism a centerpiece of his job.

Criticized during his 2020 presidential bid for not adequately addressing systemic racism when he was mayor of South Bend, Ind., Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has now made the fight against that issue a centerpiece of his new job.

Buttigieg talks about the issue frequently. On Feb. 4, Transportation Equity Day — the birthday of Rosa Parks — he sent four tweets on the topic. He’s talked about it on MSNBC and CNN. Last week, he talked about it on a Zoom call with the African American Mayors Association.

In his appearances, Buttigieg is repentant for the federal government’s role in building a federal transportation system that frequently cut through Black and brown neighborhoods in order to build freeways, often cutting off Black and brown populations from economic opportunity. Continue reading.

Biden administration preparing to sanction Russia for SolarWinds hacks and the poisoning of an opposition leader

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The Biden administration is preparing sanctions and other measures to punish Moscow for actions that go beyond the sprawling SolarWinds cyber­espionage campaign to include a range of malign cyberactivity and the near-fatal poisoning of a Russian opposition leader, said U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The administration is casting the SolarWinds operation, in which government agencies and private companies were hacked, as “indiscriminate” and potentially “disruptive.” That would allow officials to claim that the Russian hacking was not equivalent to the kind of espionage the United States also conducts and to sanction those responsible for the operation.

Officials also are developing defensive measures aimed at making it harder for Russia and other sophisticated adversaries to compromise federal and private-sector computer networks, said the officials, several of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. Continue reading.

Jill Biden picks up where she left off

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First lady Jill Biden is picking up where she left off four years ago.

The former second lady has eased into her new role as first lady by reviving the Obama-era military families program Joining Forces, bringing baked goods to National Guard troops protecting the U.S. Capitol, appearing in a Super Bowl public service announcement with the family dogs encouraging people to wear masks and staging hearts on the White House North Lawn for Valentine’s Day. 

She has held various virtual engagements to showcase her advocacy for military families, students and community colleges and will appear in her first one-on-one broadcast interview later this month.  Continue reading.

Back in Paris pact, US vows no more sidelining of climate

The United States officially returned to the Paris global climate accord on Friday, and President Joe Biden and other U.S. leaders declared the nation could not afford to sideline the growing climate crisis again.

“We can no longer delay or do the bare minimum to address climate change. This is a global existential crisis, and all of us will suffer if we fail,” Biden told European leaders at a Munich security conference by video Friday.

“We’re back,” Biden said, renewing assurances the U.S. was back in global initiatives at large.

Officially, President Donald Trump’s removal of the nation from the worldwide global climate pact stood for only 107 days. It was part of Trump’s withdrawal from global allegiances in general and his often-stated but false view that ongoing global warming was a laughably mistaken take by the world’s scientists. Continue reading.

A Last-Minute Deal Between A Trump Official And ICE’s Union To Hamper Biden’s Policies Has Been Rejected

A whistleblower had alleged that the agreement gave the union powers to “indefinitely delay” President Joe Biden’s immigration policy changes.

A last-minute agreement Trump officials signed with the union for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers that could have undercut sweeping policy changes has been rejected by the Biden administration.

The move on Tuesday sets the stage for a possible showdown between President Joe Biden and ICE’s union, which endorsed former president Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Earlier this month, a whistleblower alleged that Ken Cuccinelli, a top Trump administration official, had abused his authority by entering into a set of agreements that granted the union “extraordinary power and benefits” and allowed it to “indefinitely delay changes to immigration enforcement policies and practices.” Continue reading.

Biden indicates he’s open to negotiation on $15 minimum wage

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Comments come as attention turns to passing $1.9 trillion relief bill on Capitol Hill

President Biden indicated Tuesday that he’s open to negotiation on his proposal for a $15 minimum wage, a centerpiece of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill that’s emerged as a flash point as congressional Democrats push the legislation forward.

Biden suggested he could be open to a longer phase-in than the current plan of five years in Democrats’ legislation. He also argued that phasing gradually up to $15 could be beneficial while having less potential impact on business owners.

He made the comments in response to a small-business owner at a town hall hosted by CNN in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Continue reading.

With Trump Gone, Security Agencies Can Confront Violent Far Right

President Joe Biden’s administration is expanding new grants from the Department of Homeland Security to target and prevent right-wing domestic terrorism after years of such efforts being effectively stymied by Donald Trump — and the department is ramping up its plans to combat what experts say is the greatest terrorist threat facing America today.

According to an NBC report, although the department’s Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism prevention originally directed some funding to these grants toward the end of Trump’s time in office, Biden’s new plan expands upon the funding available, which will include more than $500,000 allocated toward American University to study the “growing threat of violent white supremacist extremist information.”

DHS, which in 2019 founded the Office for Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention to prevent violent political extremism, is expected to continue to receive more funding from Congress during the Biden administration. Grants awarded from this office go toward state and local law enforcement efforts in combating domestic terrorism. Continue reading.

CDC releases guidelines on safely reopening schools

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School reopenings should be contingent on community transmission rates and should be a priority over restaurants and other nonessential businesses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Friday.

Why it matters: America’s educators have been calling on the health agency to issue clear and useful guidance for schools, following mixed signals sent by the Trump administration last year. 

The state of play: K–12 schools should close only after all other mitigation measures in the community have been employed, and the first to reopen when they can do so safely, the guidance says.  Continue reading.