Tag: Biden administration

‘Russia is up to its old tricks’: Biden battling COVID-19 vaccine disinformation campaign

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WASHINGTON – The Biden administration said Monday it is taking steps to combat Russian disinformation aimed at undermining confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer Inc. and other Western companies.

“We will fight (the disinformation) with every tool we have,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing on Monday.

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that four publications, all serving as fronts for Russian intelligence, have targeted Western-produced COVID-19 vaccines with misleading coverage that exaggerates the risk of side effects and raises questions about their efficacy. Continue reading.

Early in Biden’s presidency, GOP shows the places they’ll go

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If you listened to the Republican Party over the past week, it might have been easy to think that the core planks of its platform were defending a deceased children’s author, a decades-old children’s toy — and a subspecies of human that went extinct 40,000 years ago.

That’s because GOP leaders have been vociferously protesting a decision to stop publishing Dr. Seuss books that include racially stereotyped images; the removal of “Mr.” from the Mr. Potato Head brand; and President Biden’s characterization of ending mask mandates as “Neanderthal thinking.”

Amid debate over one of the most expensive stimulus packages in American history and turmoil over the global pandemic, many Republicans have been focused on what they view as “cancel culture” run amok. Continue reading.

Biden turns focus to next priority with infrastructure talks

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President Biden is starting to look beyond coronavirus relief to his next legislative fight, preparing to lay out a recovery package that makes significant investments in rebuilding U.S. infrastructure. 

Biden met with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for over an hour on Thursday afternoon, his second bipartisan meeting with the group over the past month. 

The president is expected to lay out his “Build Back Better” recovery plan sometime after the Senate passes its $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which the chamber took up on Thursday and could pass by the weekend. While the White House has been mum on details of the recovery plan, it’s likely to at least partly mirror the $2 trillion infrastructure and climate proposal he laid out on the campaign trail and include a hefty investment in infrastructure to spur job creation. Continue reading.

Klobuchar leads call for Biden to prioritize Violence Against Women Act programs in budget

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Biden was sponsor of measure in 1994 when it became law

Senate Democrats are urging President Joe Biden to provide strong backing for the Violence Against Women Act in his fiscal 2022 budget request, in light of increased reports of domestic violence during the pandemic and lack of supplemental funding for the law’s programs. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., along with 26 other Senate Democrats sent a letter to Biden on Friday, asking the president to prioritize support for Justice Department programs that provide services for survivors of gender-based violence in his fiscal 2022 budget request to Congress.

“We are very concerned that, as a result of the pandemic, cases of domestic violence and sexual assault have increased in communities across the country. Local law enforcement report more domestic violence-related calls and rape crisis centers are seeing increased need for services,” the senators wrote. “The pandemic has also made it more difficult for service providers to respond to the increased need for crisis intervention, legal services, and transitional housing.” Continue reading.

Texas family detention centers expected to transform into rapid-processing hubs

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The Biden administration is preparing to convert its immigrant family detention centers in South Texas into Ellis Island-style rapid-processing hubs that will screen migrant parents and children with a goal of releasing them into the United States within 72 hours, according to Department of Homeland Security draft plans obtained by The Washington Post.

The plans show the Biden administration is racing to absorb a growing number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border amid shortages of bed space and personnel. Republicans and some Democrats fear that relaxing detention policies will exacerbate a surge that is already straining the Biden administration.

Russell Hott, a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, notified staff of the rapid-processing plan in an email Thursday that said arrivals by unaccompanied minors and families this year “are expected to be the highest numbers observed in over 20 years.” Continue reading.

Reversing Trump, Interior Department Moves Swiftly on Climate Change

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WASHINGTON — As the Interior Department awaits its new secretary, the agency is already moving to lock in key parts of President Biden’s environmental agenda, particularly on oil and gas restrictions, laying the groundwork to fulfill some of the administration’s most consequential climate change promises.

Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico, Mr. Biden’s nominee to lead the department, faces a showdown vote in the Senate likely later this month, amid vocal Republican concern for her past positions against oil and gas drilling. But even without her, an agency that spent much of the past four years opening vast swaths of land to commercial exploitation has pulled an abrupt about-face.

The department has suspended lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico under an early executive order imposing a temporary freeze on new drilling leases on all public lands and waters and requiring a review of the leasing program. It has frozen drilling activity in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, delayed Trump-era rollbacks on protections of migratory birds and the northern spotted owl, and taken the first steps in restoring two national monuments in Utah and one off the Atlantic coast that Mr. Trump largely dismantled. Continue reading.

Neera Tanden withdraws nomination for Office of Management and Budget director

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Neera Tanden withdrew her name from nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget after several senators voiced opposition and concern about her qualifications and past combative tweets, President Biden announced Tuesday.

Why it matters: Tanden’s decision to pull her nomination marks Biden’s first setback in filling out his Cabinet with a thin Democratic majority in the Senate.

What they’re saying: “I have accepted Neera Tanden’s request to withdraw her name from nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget,” Biden said in a statement.

  • “I have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel,” he added. Continue reading.

Biden: US will have vaccine for all adults by end of May

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President Biden on Tuesday said that the United States will have enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all American adults for the coronavirus by the end of May, crediting a “stepped-up process” under his administration.

Biden made the announcement while outlining a partnership between Merck and Johnson & Johnson to produce the latter’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine.

“We’re now on track to have enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May,” Biden said in remarks Tuesday afternoon at the White House. “When we came into office, the prior administration had contracted for not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America. We rectified that.” Continue reading.

FCC approves broadband stipend for low-income families hit by pandemic

Federal Communications Commission will give out $50 to $75 per month to low-income families and people laid off because of the pandemic

The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to establish a program that will provide a $50 monthly stipend for broadband internet access to individuals struggling during the pandemic.

The stipend, provided by the new Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, will increase to $75 per month for people living on tribal lands, and includes a one-time, $100 discount on a computer or tablet.

Congress created the program last December and included $3.2 billion for it in the fiscal 2021 omnibus spending package. Individuals who qualify for the program include those who lost their jobs or were furloughed because of the pandemic and low-income families, including recipients of Medicaid, food stamps and free or reduced school lunch. Pell Grant recipients also qualify. Continue reading.

U.S. releases report finding Saudi prince approved Khashoggi operation

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Driving the news: The White House also announced sanctions on entities implicated in the murder, though not on MBS directly. Officials also announced a new “Khashoggi ban” under which individuals accused of harassing journalists or dissidents outside their borders can be barred from entering the U.S. 

Why it matters: The grisly October 2018 murder of Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul sparked worldwide outrage and calls for the U.S. to fundamentally reevaluate its relationship with the Gulf kingdom.

  • Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines pledged in her Senate confirmation hearing to comply with a law passed by Congress in 2019 that required ODNI to release the names of the Saudi officials believed to be responsible or complicit in Khashoggi’s killing within 30 days. Continue reading.