Apples to apples, the Senate GOP infrastructure proposal is smaller than it appears

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“These figures are what you would consider regular appropriations-plus. So it’s baseline-plus.”

—Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), remarks at a news conference, April 22

The headlines were almost all universally the same — some variation of “GOP Counters Biden With $568 Billion Infrastructure Plan.” Just about every news report suggested that the headline-number offered for the Senate Republican plan was comparable to President Biden’s $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan.

But toward the end of the news conference announcing the Republican counteroffer, Capito made the comment above. She added, “When you hear the $115 billion [Biden is] dedicating to roads, that’s in addition. So we are going to have to square the figures for you better.”

Long ago, The Fact Checker used to be a federal budget reporter. From experience, we learned that the numbers announced at news conferences often needed to be scrubbed carefully. Capito’s reference to “baseline-plus” made our ears perk up a bit. Continue reading.

Biden’s climate plan doesn’t ban meat. But baseless claims left Republicans fuming: ‘Stay out of my kitchen.’

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This past weekend, a cadre of Republican critics raised the alarm that President Biden would take hamburgers and steaks off the menu as part of his new plan to combat climate change.

“To meet the Biden Green New Deal targets, America has to, get this, America has to stop eating meat,” Larry Kudlow, a former White House economic adviser to Donald Trump, said on Fox Business on Friday. “No burger on July 4. No steaks on the barbecue.”

But Biden’s plan doesn’t include any call to limit meat-eating. Instead, conservative ire was sparked by a Daily Mail article that baselessly speculated about measures that could accomplish Biden’s goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Continue reading.

Biden Created More Jobs in First Two Months Than Any President in History

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Tomorrow, April 29th, will mark President Joe Biden’s 100th day in office. To commemorate this, the DFL Party will spend the week highlighting various accomplishments of the start of Biden’s presidency. 

When President Biden took office, he did so in an economic recession brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and Donald Trump’s horrendous mismanagement of it. Thanks to his strong vaccination program and investment in the American people President Biden and his administration created more new jobs in the first two months than any president in history

Additionally, the Biden administration extended – on a bipartisan basis – the loan program for small businesses hard hit by the pandemic and provided relief to 4 million small businesses struggling to keep their doors open.

Continue reading “Biden Created More Jobs in First Two Months Than Any President in History”

Lindsey Graham ignores Trump to slam Joe Biden as a ‘fraud’ and a ‘very destabilizing president’

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Joe Biden, President Biden

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace challenged Graham, who had recently called Biden’s presidential campaign a “fraud.”

“You have said this week that you believe that Biden’s campaign was a fraud on the country,” Wallace pointed out, “because of how differently he is governing.”

Wallace went on to observe that Biden’s actions as president have mirrored his campaign rhetoric. Continue reading.

The Memo: Biden tries to flip the script on taxes

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President Biden’s plan to increase taxes on wealthy Americans is reigniting one of the fiercest divides in politics: How much should the government do, and who should foot the bill?

The president faces a fierce battle to get his infrastructure plan enacted, and he can’t depend on unified backing even from his own party.

Biden this week will propose a massive boost to social infrastructure spending on things such as paid leave, child care and tuition-free community college. Continue reading.

Biden recognizes Armenian genocide

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President Biden on Saturday formally declared that the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire more than a century ago was “genocide,” a move that is likely to exacerbate tensions with Turkey.

In doing so, Biden is fulfilling a campaign promise and becoming the first sitting president since Ronald Reagan to use the term “genocide” to describe the mass killings that occurred during the 20th century at the end of World War I.

“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. Continue reading.

Younger Voters Favor Biden And Democrats By Historic Margins

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A new poll of younger voters reveals that they strongly back President Joe Biden and the Democratic congressional majority, while more than two-thirds of them disapprove of congressional Republicans.

For 21 years, the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School has surveyed young Americans through its Harvard Youth Poll. The results of its spring 2021 poll, released Friday, reveal adults under age 30 “overwhelmingly approve of the job President Biden is doing, favor progressive policies, and have faith in their fellow Americans.”

Three-fifths of voters aged 18-29 approve of Biden’s overall job performance, 59 percent to 38 percent — slightly higher even than President Barack Obama’s numbers in the institute’s 2009 poll. Continue reading.

Joe Biden Delivers Financial Relief to the American People

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Thursday, April 29th will mark President Joe Biden’s 100th day in office. To commemorate this, the DFL Party will spend the week highlighting various accomplishments of the start of Biden’s presidency. Today, the party is highlighting Biden’s successful efforts to provide economic relief to the American people.

On March 11th, after less than two months in office, President Biden signed his American Rescue Plan into law, putting money in Minnesotans’ pockets and alleviating poverty. A low or middle-income family of four will get $5,600 in direct payments. 

Over 85% of households in Minnesota received $1,400 stimulus checks. That includes more than 3,462,000 adults and 1,296,400 children in Minnesota – the largest direct payment to date. Nationwide, 66 million kids have benefited from the American Rescue Plan’s child tax creditBiden’s efforts are projected to cut child poverty in half while pulling millions of adults out of poverty.

Continue reading “Joe Biden Delivers Financial Relief to the American People”

Biden touts jobs from tackling climate change, including some ‘we haven’t even conceived of yet’

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President Biden expressed hope Friday that even geopolitical foes such as the United States and Russia can cooperate on climate change as he closed out a two-day virtual summit of world leaders that he hosted from the White House.

In earlier remarks, Biden touted the new jobs that the effort could produce, including in “fields we haven’t even conceived of yet,” and stressed the importance of ensuring that workers who “thrived in yesterday’s and today’s industries have as bright a tomorrow in the new industries.” View the post here.

100 Days, 200 Million Shots in Arms

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DFL Party celebrates President Biden’s ongoing success in the battle against 

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – This week, specifically Thursday, April 29th, will mark President Joe Biden’s 100th day in office. To commemorate this, the DFL Party will spend the week highlighting various accomplishments of the start of Biden’s presidency. Today, the party is highlighting Biden’s successful efforts at battling COVID-19.

When Joe Biden took office, he announced the ambitious goal of delivering 100 vaccine million shots in the arms of the American people by the 100th day of his presidency. Biden met that goal after just 58 days in office, so he increased it to 200 million

Last week, Biden exceeded that goal as well. As things stand, more than 200 million vaccine doses have been distributed across the U.S. and over half of all eligible Minnesotans and Americans overall have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Continue reading “100 Days, 200 Million Shots in Arms”