Tag: Joe Biden

Biden Republicans? Some in GOP open to president’s agenda

RALEIGH, N.C. — Jay Copan doesn’t hide his disregard for the modern Republican Party.

A solid Republican voter for the past four decades, the 69-year-old quickly regretted casting his 2016 ballot for Donald Trump. When Trump was up for reelection last year, Copan appeared on roadside billboards across North Carolina, urging other Republicans to back Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Nearly three months into the new administration, Copan considers himself a “Biden Republican,” relieved by the new president’s calmer leadership style and coronavirus vaccine distribution efforts. Copan is the type of voter Biden is counting on as he pushes an agenda that’s almost universally opposed by Republicans in Washington. Continue reading.

White House races clock to beat GOP attacks

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President Biden is facing a ticking clock as he seeks to shepherd a massive infrastructure bill through Congress that is his next big legislative priority.

The complicated set of policy proposals funded in part by hiking the corporate tax rate and closing other loopholes divides Democrats and is likely to have unified GOP opposition.

It’s being offered as Biden rides a wave of momentum following the successful passage of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, and the quick rollout of vaccinations that has helped keep his approval ratings high. Continue reading.

Biden eyes bigger US role in global vaccination efforts

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The Biden administration is taking initial steps toward an expanded role in global COVID-19 vaccination efforts, while stopping short of sharing excess doses on a wide scale.

The federal government has been amassing doses, growing its supply into what will likely become a surplus as the rest of the world struggles with shortages.

In fact, the U.S. has purchased enough vaccines to immunize every adult in the country three times over. Aid groups now say it’s past time to start giving away the surplus. Continue reading.

Democrats see political winner in tax fight

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As President Biden races ahead with a mammoth plan to bolster the nation’s infrastructure, Democrats are gambling they’ll get a political boost from an accompanying proposal: the tax hikes designed to defray the massive costs.

Biden on Wednesday outlined a slate of tax reforms aimed at raising $2.5 trillion — much of it from large corporations — to underwrite the new infrastructure spending. The proposal was quickly roasted by Republicans, who have long portrayed Democrats as the party of higher taxes and are now warning that Biden’s plan would hurt small businesses and kill American jobs.

Yet national polls have consistently revealed that tax hikes on corporations and other wealthy taxpayers enjoy strong support among a broad array of voters, including independents. And some Democrats are practically drooling at the prospect of bringing that debate to the national stage to highlight the GOP’s resistance to a popular concept. Continue reading.

Biden announces commission to study expanding the Supreme Court

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President Biden will sign an executive order Friday that creates a bipartisan commission to study a number of Supreme Court reforms, including expanding the number of seats on the court, the White House said.

Why it matters: The six-month commission, promised by Biden throughout the 2020 election, will provide an analysis of the principal arguments surrounding the divisive subject. Progressives are pushing for more seats after former President Trump appointed three justices to the court.

Context: Biden has not said definitively whether he supports adding seats to the court, though his congressional allies — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — have advocated for additional seats as a response to Republicans quickly filling former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat during an election year. Continue reading.

Biden $1.5T budget proposes major hike in social programs

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President Biden on Friday proposed a $1.5 trillion annual budget for fiscal 2022, $118 billion higher than the regular 2020 appropriations, featuring a significant 16 percent boost in nondefense spending.

The $769 billion nondefense budget, which covers government departments such as Transportation, Health and Human Services, Justice and Education, is a $105.7 billion increase from the current level.

Administration officials, who say that the government has underinvested in domestic spending for years, noted that it would be roughly in line with the 30-year nondefense average of 3.3 percent of gross domestic product. Continue reading.

“Enough prayers”: Biden issues 6 executive orders to curb gun violence

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Calling America’s longstanding addiction to firearms, and the innumerable bodies left in its wake, an “epidemic,” President Biden on Thursday unveiled his administration’s first steps toward curbing gun violence, describing it as an “international embarrassment.” 

“It has to stop,” he declared in a Rose Garden address, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

During his remarks, the president also took a swipe at the perpetual inaction of Congress in the wake of each successive incident of gun violence. “They’ve offered plenty of thoughts and prayers,” he said. “But they have passed not a single new federal law to reduce gun violence.” Continue reading.

Biden-GOP infrastructure talks off to rocky start

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President Biden’s bid to secure bipartisan support for his $2.25 infrastructure package is off to a rocky start.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a close Biden ally, says there will be only one month set aside to hammer out a deal with Republicans and right now it’s nowhere near to happening.

Biden is already sniping with key moderates such as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Continue reading.

Economist Paul Krugman: Republicans have no meaningful objections to Biden’s infrastructure plan — they simply ‘want him to fail’

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Having recently signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief/economic stimulus package — President Joe Biden is now promoting an ambitious infrastructure plan. Many Republicans, not surprisingly, are railing against the plan. Liberal economist Paul Krugman discusses their opposition this week in his Times column, stressing that Republicans have no meaningful objections to it — they simply want to see Biden fail as president.

“Republicans have been having a hard time explaining why they oppose President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan,” Krugman explains. “Their real motives aren’t a mystery. They want Biden to fail, just as they wanted President Barack Obama to fail, and will once again offer scorched-earth opposition to anything a Democratic president proposes. And they’re especially opposed to public programs that might prove popular, and thereby help legitimize activist government in voters’ minds.”

Because “laying out those true motives” would not “play well with the electorate, Krugman writes, Republicans are “looking for alternative attack lines”—for example, arguing that “most of the proposed spending isn’t really infrastructure.” Continue reading.

How Biden stimulus bill will target homelessness

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The president wants to get 130,000 people off the street in the next 12 to 18 months.

Housing Secretary Marcia L. Fudge on Thursday unveiled nearly $5 billion in new grants to states and local governments across the country for rental assistance, the development of affordable housing and other services to help people experiencing or on the verge of homelessness.

The infusion of money to reduce homelessness, part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that President Biden signed last month, is the latest example of how the administration is using the American Rescue Plan to enact a sweeping anti-poverty agenda amid the pandemic.

“Let me be clear,” Fudge said. “These funds could not come at a more critical time.” Continue reading.