Tag: Joe Biden

Biden’s best ally in his push to upgrade infrastructure for climate change? Climate change.

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Even if our planet were exactly the same as it was in 1950, key elements of the United States’ infrastructure are in need of repair. Highways need to be resurfaced or rebuilt. Bridges need to be reinforced. Public transit needs to be overhauled. Communications systems need to be upgraded.

But the planet is not exactly the same as it was 70 years ago. It is far hotter and its atmosphere and its oceans are more densely packed with carbon dioxide. The effects of this heat are myriad. One effect is, obviously, that temperatures are hotter than they used to be. That heat warms the oceans, causing them to expand and rise and causing them to store more energy that can power major storms. Warmer air also holds more moisture, meaning that storms over land result in more precipitation.

The combination of higher oceans and more rain increases the likelihood of flooding at the coasts. At the same time, that increased surface-level heat more rapidly strips away moisture, leading to deeper, longer droughts. Continue reading.

White House says Biden warned Putin on ransomware attacks

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President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the U.S. would take action to “defend its people” against ransomware attacks, per a White House readout of the call on Friday. 

The big picture: The call comes after a Russia-linked group is believed to be behind an attack on software provider Kaseya, the latest in a mass of ransomware attacks impacting U.S. companies. 

What they’re saying: “I made it very clear to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation coming from his soil — even though it’s not sponsored by the state — we expect him to act. And we’ve given him enough information to act on who that is,” Biden said on Friday afternoon. Continue reading.

Trump seethed at ‘ultimate betrayal’ after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on 2020 win: report

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Former President Donald Trump was reportedly enraged last year when then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted out congratulations to President Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 election.

Forward reports that journalist Michael Wolff’s new book, titled “Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency,” claims that Trump felt personally betrayed by Netanyahu’s call, even though it is custom for American allies to congratulate incoming presidents on their victories.

“It was startling to aides, however much they were anticipating an eruption, that Trump’s wrath fell on Bibi Netanyahu,” Wolff writes, according to Forward. “There was his belief that he had singularly done more for Israel than any American president — and that therefore he was owed. And now sold out.” Continue reading.

Biden fires head of Social Security Administration

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President Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from the Trump administration, after Saul refused a request to resign from his position.

A White House official confirmed that Saul’s employment was terminated. The move was first reported by The Washington Post.

David Black, Saul’s deputy who was also appointed to the position by former President Trump, resigned at Biden’s request, the official said. Continue reading.

Non-competes, banks and farms: Five key elements of Biden’s executive order

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President Biden’s sweeping executive order on competition targets industries from banking and airlines to technology and health care, declaring war on corporations over anti-competitive practices. 

It aims to encourage innovation and competition, and boost the U.S. economy, through dozens of consumer-focused and worker-focused provisions.

Here are five key elements of the president’s massive executive order. Continue reading.

Biden orders agencies to look at hospital consolidation, costs of drugs and hearing aids

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Order supports Trump mandate on price transparency

The wide-ranging executive order President Joe Biden signed Friday includes plans to boost market competition in health care and other industries.

The order, which White House officials have promoted throughout the week, touches on issues ranging from prescription drug prices to hospital and insurance consolidation, in a combination of policy directives that also incorporates priorities shared with the Trump administration.

“What we’ve seen over the past few decades is less competition and more concentration that holds our economy back. We see it in big agriculture and big tech and big pharma and the list goes on,” Biden said before signing the executive order at the White House Friday. 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.

Biden says U.S. has accomplished its primary objectives in Afghanistan as he defends troop withdrawal amid Taliban gains

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President Biden said Thursday that the country had accomplished its objectives in Afghanistan of killing Osama bin Laden and undercutting al-Qaeda’s ability to launch more attacks on the United States as he defended his decision to bring a 20-year war to an end.

Biden, during a White House speech, was defiant in the face of gains by the Taliban since he announced a planned U.S. troop withdrawal in April and said the Afghan people needed to dictate their own future.

“We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build,” Biden said. Continue reading.

Pew’s Validated Post-Election Poll Details Biden’s 2020 Win

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Overall participation in the 2020 election among U.S. adults rose seven points from 2016 to reach 66 percent last year. A new analysis of validated voters from Pew Research Center (which provides a bigger, more reliable sample than exit polls) built on several of the 2020 trends that have already been reported. Here’re some of the key takeaways:

New 2020 Voters

One in 4 voters in 2020, or 25 percent, had not voted in 2016. About six percent of those new 2020 voters turned out in 2018, spiking participation in that midterm election. And voters who turned out in 2018 after skipping the 2016 presidential election were about twice as likely to back Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020.

But the 19 percent of new voters who came out in 2020 after skipping both 2016 and the midterms divided up almost evenly among Biden and Trump, 49 percent-47 percent. However, what was most notable about that group of new 2020 voters was the age disparity, writes Pew: Continue reading.

Try and try again: GOP tests out myriad attacks on Biden

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Republicans are testing out a myriad of attacks against President Biden, trying to turn public opinion against a popular president among key sectors of the electorate in hopes of boosting their chances in the 2022 midterm elections and beyond.

Republicans have blamed Biden’s economic agenda for rising inflation and criticized him over the flow of migrants at the southern border. They have also recycled attacks from the 2020 election, raising questions about Biden’s mental fitness and trying to tie him to the “defund the police” movement and the left wing of the Democratic party.

The approach has prompted criticism among some who say Republicans need to adopt a more unified message. Republicans also fret that some of the criticisms of Biden aren’t believable and say the party needs to focus on more credible attack lines. Continue reading.