Tag: Biden White House

‘Loser’ Trump needled by Lincoln Project in brutal new ad highlighting Tom Brady snub

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On Friday, the anti-GOP conservative group the Lincoln Project launched a new online ad mocking former President Donald Trump over NFL star Tom Brady’s refusal to associate with him.

“Tom Brady, great, great friend of mine,” said Trump in the opening of the clip. “Unbelievable winner.”

“Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough,” said the narrator, echoing a former quote from Trump himself. “You know, winners just like being around other winners. Not just to talk about how great winning is, because it is great. But to make fun of the losers. Locker room talk. Perfect example? Tom Brady.” The ad then cut to Brady making fun of Trump’s election loss at the White House with President Joe Biden. Continue reading.

‘Maybe you have that information to provide?’: Jen Psaki expertly dismantles reporter’s pro-Trump anti-vaxx claim

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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday politely explained to a reporter insisting anti-vaxx Trump voters are refusing to get inoculated because the former president allegedly did not get enough “credit” for the vaccine.

The reporter wanted to know if the White House would “consider highlighting or acknowledging, in a greater way,” Trump’s “role in creating the vaccines,” as a means “to assure the rural voters who still support President Trump and are hesitant to get the vaccine.”

Psaki was not buying the reporter’s claims, which did not appear to be based on any facts. Continue reading.

Senate Democrats, White House agree on $3.5 trillion budget package

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Biden headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for sales pitch; Warner says plan is ‘fully paid for’

Top Senate Democrats and White House officials reached agreement late Tuesday on an overall spending target of $3.5 trillion for a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation package that Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said will fund “every major program” President Joe Biden proposed in his economic plans.

Biden will come to the Capitol Wednesday to help Schumer and Budget Committee members pitch the spending target to the broader Senate Democratic Caucus over lunch. In a key selling point for his fellow centrists Democrats, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner told reporters the plan will be “fully paid for.”

The $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, combined with $579 billion new spending in a bipartisan infrastructure bill that is still being drafted, will bring the total new spending on infrastructure, climate, child care, education and paid leave programs to $4.1 trillion. That figure “is very, very close to what President Biden asked us for,” Schumer said. “Every major program that President Biden has asked us for is funded in a robust way.” Continue reading.

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

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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.

White House official throws GOP senators’ words back in their faces after Republicans fake outrage

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The White House has agreed to a sweeping, bipartisan compromise on infrastructure with at least 11 Republican senators saying they are in favor of the deal — but already, many Republicans are complaining because of President Joe Biden’s comment that he would only sign the bill if paired with a reconciliation bill that can be passed with Democratic votes alone.

The problem for Republicans, however, is that passing a reconciliation bill alongside the bipartisan bill was always on the table — and in fact some Republicans even suggested they were fine with Biden pursuing such a strategy.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who unsuccessfully headed up the first round of infrastructure talks, said that “we know that they have that option, we used that option in 2017,” and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said “My advice to the White House has been, take that bipartisan win … and then if you want to force the rest of the package on Republicans in the Congress and the country, you can certainly do that.” Continue reading.

Senators say White House aides agreed to infrastructure ‘framework’

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Senators involved in bipartisan negotiations say they and White House officials have agreed to an infrastructure “framework,” and they’ll meet with President Biden Thursday to brief him. 

“Republicans and Democrats have come together, along with the White House, and we’ve agreed on a framework and we’re gonna be heading to the White House tomorrow,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters after a meeting Wednesday. 

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), another member of the group, confirmed the White House officials in the meeting signed off on the framework and that they “came to an agreement.” Continue reading.

White House announces allocation plan for 55M more global vaccine doses

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The White House on Monday announced where the U.S. would send 55 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated for other countries.

The Biden administration had already committed these doses as part of a pledge to allocate 80 million by the end of June, and an initial 25 million doses, announced earlier this month, have “begun shipping,” the White House said. 

Officials gave more details Monday on where the remaining 55 million doses would be headed and the timeline for their shipment.  Continue reading.

Khan sworn in as chairwoman of FTC in surprise White House move

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Chopra’s nomination to lead CFPB awaits Senate action

Antitrust scholar and Big Tech critic Lina Khan was sworn in as chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday after President Joe Biden unexpectedly elevated her to the agency’s top post.

Khan, 32, was confirmed by the Senate to serve as a commissioner Tuesday. She’ll take the agency’s reins from acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a Democrat appointed by former President Donald Trump.

With the addition of Khan the commission now has a 3-2 Democratic majority. Democrat Rohit Chopra is expected to leave the commission soon. He has been nominated by Biden to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Biden could have used his departure to nominate a chairperson for the FTC, making Khan’s elevation a surprise. Continue reading.

Biden White House video highlights infrastructure nightmare in Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky: ‘We deserve roads and bridges’

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it abundantly clear that his goal is to do everything he can to obstruct President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, and that includes coming out against Biden’s infrastructure proposals. The Biden White House, meanwhile, has launched a video series that shows why an infrastructure bill is desperately needed, and the first video in the series addresses infrastructure problems in McConnell’s state: Kentucky.

Journalist Daniel Desrochers, reporting for Kentucky.com on June 14, explains, “As moderate Democrats and Republicans have been at loggerheads in coming up with an agreement on how much money to allocate to fixing roads, bridges and drinking water — among other projects — the White House made videos highlighting the lack of broadband access and clean drinking water in Eastern Kentucky. One follows Danielle Adams of Pikeville as she heads into town to get online when her wi-fi goes down in her home. In the other, BarbiAnn Miner in Martin County shows off the dirty tap water in her kitchen sink and some of the decrepit roads and bridges in Martin County.”

In the video, Miner says, “People talk about: Eastern Kentucky is poor, and they don’t really have anything. Well, how are we ever going to have anything if our government won’t invest in our infrastructure?…. We’re people too. We’re American citizens. And we deserve access to clean, affordable drinking water…. We deserve roads and bridges.” Continue reading.

White House to Democrats: Get ready to go it alone on infrastructure

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White House officials told House Democrats Tuesday to get ready to go it alone on infrastructure if bipartisan talks founder, setting the stage for party leaders to tap an obscure budget procedure to move President Biden‘s top domestic priority without Republican support.

Huddling in person in the Capitol for the first time since the COVID-19 crisis hit, members of the House Democratic Caucus were briefed by Steve Ricchetti, a top adviser to Biden, and Shalanda Young, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, who said they would give Senate negotiators seven to 10 days to reach a bipartisan agreement, according to Democrats in the meeting.

If no deal is reached in that time, the officials said, Democrats will gauge the progress of those talks and charge ahead with a partisan package if need be. Continue reading.