Tag: Joe Biden

Biden announces end to US support for offensive operations in Yemen

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President Biden on Thursday announced an end to U.S. support for offensive operations in the Saudi Arabia-led war in Yemen.

“This war has to end,” Biden said during an address at the State Department. “And to underscore our commitment, we are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arm sales.”

Biden also confirmed he has appointed veteran diplomat Timothy Lenderking as his special envoy to Yemen, saying Lenderking will work with the United Nations and “all parties to the conflict to push for a diplomatic resolution.” Continue reading.

With clean sweep, Biden’s Pentagon chief clears out Trump picks

New Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made a clean sweep of the Pentagon’s Trumpified advisory boards.

The final weeks of Donald Trump’s term were quite busy, and not just because the Republican spent an inordinate amount of time plotting against his own country’s democracy. He also made more than a few personnel moves at the Pentagon.

Indeed, in his first big decision after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, the outgoing president fired then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper. As regular readers may recall, in the weeks that followed, Trump proceeded to oust a series of Pentagon officials while appointing unqualified loyalists to series of Defense boards and panels.

It was widely assumed that President Joe Biden’s team would show the Trump acolytes the door. Yesterday, new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did exactly that, making a clean sweep of the Pentagon’s Trumpified advisory boards. Continue reading.

Study group recommends Biden delay Afghanistan withdrawal

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The Taliban has not met conditions that would warrant a full U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan by May, a congressionally mandated panel said in a report released Wednesday, recommending the Biden administration instead refocus on the conditions of the withdrawal as agreed to last year and work to extend the impending deadline.

The Afghanistan Study Group “believes that it will be very difficult, and perhaps impossible, for those conditions to be achieved by May 2021, when the agreement states that troops should be withdrawn,” the report said. 

“Achieving the overall objective of a negotiated stable peace that meets U.S. interests would need to begin with securing an extension of the May deadline,” the report continued, adding that “the United States must elevate the importance of the conditions allowing the withdrawal of U.S. troops.” Continue reading.

Senate GOP laying amendment traps for budget debate

‘Vote-a-rama’ mostly for messaging purposes, but could drag out into the wee hours of Friday morning

Senate Republicans began arming themselves with a slew of amendments Wednesday to slow down work on a budget resolution that Democrats need to produce a filibuster-free pandemic relief package.

Laying the groundwork for a prolonged “vote-a-rama” on the Senate floor this week, Republicans filed over 400 amendments by Wednesday evening as they protested a Democratic decision to use the budget reconciliation process to skirt GOP opposition.

“Senate Republicans will be ready and waiting with a host of amendments to improve the rushed procedural step that’s being jammed through,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in floor remarks earlier in the day. Continue reading.

GOP relief plan would not return economy to pre-pandemic levels: study

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The COVID-19 relief proposal put forth by a group of 10 Senate Republicans would not return the U.S. economy to pre-pandemic levels, according to a study released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution.

The same study found that President Biden’s relief plan would boost growth to rates seen before the pandemic took hold.

Researchers at Brookings analyzed both the $618 billion GOP proposal and Biden’s $1.9 trillion pitch and found that the Republican plan would boost gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.6 percent in the last quarter of this year and 0.8 percent in the same three-month period of 2022, a significant boost over current estimates. Continue reading.

Lindsey Graham under fire for blocking Merrick Garland’s Senate confirmation

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Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was accused Tuesday of exercising “the last vestiges of power” by obstructing—again—Senate confirmation of Merrick Garland.

President Joe Biden last month tapped Garland—whose 2016 nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court was blocked by the then-Republican controlled Senate—to be U.S. attorney general.

Graham (R-S.C.) is able to exert the control over the new nomination even though his party no longer controls the chamber, as Politico explained Monday: Continue reading.

House Democrats clear path for Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill

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NOTE: This article is provided free for all to read by The Washington Post.

Democratic legislators paved the way Wednesday evening for a party-line approval of President Biden’s anticipated $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill.

The House vote cleared the path for the Senate to pass the relief package with a simple majority, which is likely to take place later in the week and would allow Democrats to write the bill into law and ultimately pass it without the need for Republican votes.

The plan includes a wide range of actions, including $1,400 checks, extended unemployment benefits and an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, as well as funneling $160 billion for vaccines and testing. Continue reading.

Biden’s Pandemic Relief Package Is Popular — But GOP Obstruction Isn’t

Senate Republicans, who have promised to block a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package proposed by President Joe Biden, say that Democrats’ use of budget reconciliation to pass Biden’s plan would be a betrayal of Biden’s Inauguration Day promise to unify the country.

But a spate of polls released in recent days shows that Biden’s coronavirus relief package, as well as the executive orders he signed in his first days in office, have broad support from Americans all along the political spectrum.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released Monday afternoon found that 74 percent of American adults support Biden’s proposal to provide $2,000 relief checks to Americans. Continue reading.

West Virginia’s GOP Governor Urges Passage Of Biden’s Covid-19 Relief Bill

West Virginia’s Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Monday endorsed a large economic stimulus bill, arguing that federal lawmakers have “got to move” on legislation.

In an interview with CNN host Poppy Harlow, Justice said he sided with approving Biden’s package over waiting for a “bipartisan bill” with less money, saying GOP efforts to trim down the bill were ill-timed.

“What we need to do is we need to understand that trying to be, per se, fiscally responsible at this point in time, with what we’ve got going on in this country … if we actually throw away some money right now, so what?” Justice said. Continue reading.

Mayor Pete becomes Secretary Pete, with a fan club and unusual celebrity status

Pete Buttigieg takes the reins at DOT and brings his Twitter army with him.

Pete Buttigieg will be the next Transportation secretary, bringing his political celebrity and legion of super fans to a mammoth agency that’s not used to headlines — unless they’re jokes about “Infrastructure Week.”

After four years of leadership under former President Donald Trump’s Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, a Washington, D.C., insider who was notoriously unavailable to reporters, DOT has a new leader who made near-daily appearances on cable TV even before the Senate confirmed him in an 86-13 vote Tuesday.

The one-time presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Ind., has fielded questions during cable TV appearances on everything from impeachment to the former administration’s transgender military ban, serving as what amounts to a surrogate for President Joe Biden’s policies writ large. Continue reading.