Tag: Biden administration

Biden to unveil major new spending plans as Democrats eye bigger role for government

Washington Post logo

The president is set to tout key components of an infrastructure overhaul and the early contours of his 2022 budget

President Biden this week is set to begin sketching out his plan to commit trillions of dollars toward upgrading the country’s ailing infrastructure, fighting climate change and bolstering federal safety net programs, as Democrats try to usher in a new era of bigger government — and spending — in the aftermath of the coronavirus.

The forthcoming proposals reflect a broader political shift underway in Washington, where Democratic leaders have sought to capitalize on their 2020 election victories to advance once dormant policy priorities and unwind years of budget cuts under administrations past.

But Biden’s aggressive agenda also may test his stated support for bipartisanship — after passing his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan without any Republican support — as well as the public’s willingness to embrace the sizable tax increases on wealthy families and profitable companies that may be necessary to help finance the burst in federal spending. Continue reading.

Biden administration fires most Homeland Security Advisory Council members

Washington Post logo

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas fired most members of the department’s independent advisory council on Friday, a purge that included several allies of former president Donald Trump and veteran officials who served under both parties.

Former Department of Homeland Security officials and advisory board members who worked under Democratic and Republican administrations said they could not remember so many members being dismissed at once, as the general practice of past administrations was to allow appointees to serve out their terms before replacing them.

The council is unpaid and includes leaders from state and local government, law enforcement, the private sector and academia who advise the agency on issues such as immigration, terrorism, crime and national disasters. Members serve one- to three-year terms and meet about four times a year. Continue reading.

Scoop: Trump allies target Biden picks with Big Tech ties

Axios logo

Escalating the GOP’s push against Big Tech, Trump allies are targeting Biden nominees who worked for — or even advised — Apple, Amazon, Google or Facebook.

Driving the news: The Center for American Restoration, a think tank formed by Trump-era Office of Management and Budget director Russ Vought, wrote a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican senators Friday urging them to reject nominees with Big Tech ties.

The big picture: Powerful factions on both the left and right are uniting around a similar goal: Keep tech influence out of the Biden administration. Continue reading.

Biden puts Harris in charge of border crisis

Axios logo

President Biden is putting Vice President Harris in charge of addressing the migrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border, senior administration officials announced on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Just as President Obama tasked Biden with fixing the U.S. economy after he assumed office in 2009, Biden is putting his own vice president in charge of a problem threatening to overshadow the new administration’s successful launch.

  • Harris will lead efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) to manage the flow of unaccompanied children and migrant families arriving at the border in numbers not seen since a surge in 2019.

How Trump Created The ‘Border Crisis’ — And How Biden Can Fix It

National Memo logo

In 2014, the Obama administration was faced with a surge in unaccompanied minors from Central America showing up at our border and seeking asylum. In an effort to reduce the number of kids trekking across Mexico, it created a program to let them apply for asylum in their home countries. Some 13,000 did, helping to ease the rush. 

You can guess what happened next. Donald Trump became president and acted on his twin beliefs: anything that Barack Obama did was bad, and anything that helped foreigners was worse. He killed the program, and soon the number of Central American kids crossing over began to grow. By the spring of 2019, his administration was faced with its very own crisis at the border.

His Department of Homeland Security responded with harsh measures — separating children from parents in large numbers, expelling children from Central America into Mexico and forcing asylum seekers to remain for months in Mexico in squalid camps. Continue reading.

Biden allies eye two-step strategy on infrastructure

The Hill logo

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a key ally of President Biden, and several White House advisers want Congress to first move a smaller infrastructure bill in hopes of securing a bipartisan win before trying to address more ambitious goals on climate change and health care in a subsequent measure.

They are aiming to secure at least one big bipartisan accomplishment before Democratic and Republican lawmakers return to their trenches to battle over elements of Biden’s agenda that energize progressives and anger conservatives.

However, it remains to be seen if GOP legislators will join forces with Democrats and give Biden a bipartisan victory knowing the next step is to pass a massive partisan bill with a simple majority vote under the budget reconciliation process. Continue reading.

New shootings plunge Biden, Congress into gun control debate

The Hill logo

President Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to enact meaningful gun reforms after the second mass shooting in under a week, plunging Washington back into a familiar debate where lawmakers have stalemated in recent years.

Eight people in the Atlanta area and 10 people in Boulder, Colo., were killed in the most recent shootings, but there was little sign it would move the needle in Congress — even as political leaders who back gun reforms noted the United States is the only country in the world that continually suffers from mass shooting events.

There had been no mass shooting in a year as much of the country stayed home from work and school during the pandemic, a fact noted ruefully by former President Obama. Continue reading.

Rachel Levine becomes first transgender official confirmed by Senate

Axios logo

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Rachel Levine as assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Why it matters: Levine is the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The vote was 52-48.

Background: Levine, who is a graduate of Harvard and Tulane Medical School, has helped lead Pennsylvania’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She previously served as the state’s physician general. Continue reading.

Senate confirms Young as deputy budget director

The Hill logo

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Shalanda Young as the White House’s deputy budget director, even as plans to fill the top spot remain on hold.

Young, a former staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, was confirmed by a vote of 63-37.

Many Republicans who initially supported Young’s confirmation as the No. 2 at the Office of Management and Budget withdrew their support after an initial round of confirmation hearings, citing objections to her support for repealing the Hyde Amendment in her written responses. Continue reading.

‘Sitting on their hands’: Biden transition officials say Trump officials delayed action on child migrant surge

Trump officials didn’t increase capacity for child migrants despite warnings, Biden transition officials say. “They were sitting on their hands,” one said.

WASHINGTON — In early December, the Biden transition team and career government officials began sounding an alarm on the need to increase shelter space for the large number of migrant children expected to soon be crossing the border, but the Trump administration didn’t take action until just days before the inauguration, according to two Biden transition officials and a U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions.

“They were sitting on their hands,” said one of the transition officials, who does not currently work for the Biden administration and spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It was incredibly frustrating.”

The Biden transition team made its concerns about the lack of shelter space known to Trump officials both at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security, laying out the need to open an influx shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas, and to issue what’s known as a “request for assistance” that would start the process of surveying new sites for expanded shelters, according to the transition officials. Continue reading.