Tag: President Biden

Fox News Attacks Biden For Implementing Fox’s Own Vaccine Policy

National Memo logo

Fox News is turning the White House’s upcoming push for COVID-19 vaccinations among the federal workforce into just another front in its right-wing culture war and campaign to undermine public health — even though Biden’s upcoming policy will be seemingly identical to Fox’s practices in its own offices.

To be exact, federal workers would reportedly be given the choice of either showing proof of vaccination or instead submitting to regular testing. This policy will in fact be very similar to what is already going on at Fox News’ own offices, under a program called the “Fox Clear Pass” in which employees who provide their vaccine information are allowed to bypass daily health screenings. But Fox hosts have railed against the possibility of vaccine passports as “segregation,” “medical Jim Crow,” and “East German-style ‘show me your papers.'”

And in Fox’s telling, the upcoming policy is an insult to regular people across America — who are now being dubbed “unvaccinated Americans” — and an effort to dominate them. (Just to be clear, over 60 percent of the adult U.S. population has been fully vaccinated by now.) Continue reading.

As smoke blankets Minnesota, Walz prepares to meet with Biden to discuss wildfires

Star Tribune Banner

Today’s virtual meeting comes amid some of the worst air quality ever recorded in Minnesota. 

As Minnesotans toiled in dramatically smoky, dangerous air Thursday, Gov. Tim Walz prepared to discuss the nation’s growing wildfire crisis with President Joe Biden and several other governors.

The virtual meeting Friday comes as the state faces a worsening drought and one of the worst air quality crises it has ever recorded. On Thursday, much of the state, including the metro area, was enveloped in air so smoky that it blocked out the sun. An air quality alert was in effect for most of state until 3 p.m. Friday, and wildfire smoke is likely to cause problems beyond that, experts warn.

Biden and the governors, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, will discuss efforts to strengthen wildfire prevention and responses and hear firsthand about the burgeoning wildfire crisis, White House officials said. Continue reading.

Aid bill for Capitol security, Afghan refugees headed to Biden’s desk

Roll Call Logo

Vote of 416-11 in House came hours after 98-0 Senate vote

Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Thursday to approve a $2.1 billion spending bill meant to shore up their own safety in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, reimburse the National Guard for a monthslong activation to secure the complex and relocate Afghans who helped the U.S. government during the war.

The 416-11 House vote Thursday afternoon clears the measure for President Joe Biden’s signature with just days to spare before the Capitol Police and National Guard are expected to face funding shortfalls related to the insurrection by pro-Trump rioters.

House passage came just hours after the Senate’s 98-0 vote. Though lawmakers in that chamber gave the measure a strong bipartisan vote, House members weren’t entirely pleased with the final product or that it took the Senate about two months to approve its version after the House acted on an earlier version. Continue reading.

Biden proposes rule to strengthen ‘Buy American’ requirements

The Hill logo

President Biden announced a new proposed rule that aims to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical goods and increase the threshold for products to qualify as American-made as part of his commitment to bolstering the number of products made in the U.S. 

In January, Biden signed an executive order to launch a government-wide initiative to increase the use of federal procurement to support American manufacturing. 

The proposed rule was announced ahead of Biden’s remarks on Wednesday on the importance of American manufacturing, buying products made in America and supporting good-paying jobs for American workers at a manufacturing facility in Lower Macungie Township, Pa.  Continue reading.

GOP sees debt ceiling as its leverage against Biden

The Hill logo

Senate Republicans plan to demand big spending reforms in exchange for their support of legislation to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, seeking leverage to rein in President Biden’s plan to pump trillions of dollars into the economy.

GOP senators are reviving demands they made in 2011, the last time there was a political standoff over raising the debt limit, but it’s a risky move.

The 2011 debt limit was solved at the last moment, and a subsequent downgrading of the nation’s creditworthiness by S&P triggered a stock market crash. Continue reading.

Biden, pulling combat forces from Iraq, seeks to end the post-9/11 era

Washington Post logo

President Biden on Monday announced that the United States will wrap up its combat mission in Iraq by year’s end, his latest effort to push American diplomacy past a post-9/11 worldview and shift its focus away from terrorism and the Middle East and toward threats like China and cyberwarfare.

Welcoming Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to the Oval Office, Biden promised ongoing support for democracy in Iraq, including elections this fall, but he said the military mission there will change.

“Our role in Iraq will be . . . just to be available to continue to train, to assist and to help, and to deal with ISIS as it arrives, but we’re not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission,” Biden said, referring to the Islamic State terrorist group. Continue reading.

WATCH: Biden leaves conservative reporter speechless after bringing up the GOP’s QAnon problem

Raw Story Logo

A blunt-talking President Joe Biden shut down a conservative reporter on Thursday night who asked if Democrats are defunding police departments — firing back with a question about a QAnon claim that left the reporter grasping for an answer.

As Biden walked across the South Lawn, he engaged with Shelby Talcott from the conservative Daily Caller following his town hall event in Cincinnati. The exchange went like this, according to White House transcripts:

“Mr. President, can you clarify what you said about no — that there’s no — no one in the Democratic Party is anti-police”‘ Talcott asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Biden replied before adding, ” I said that that — that is not the Democratic Party’s position. I’m the Democratic Party; I am President. So is the Speaker of the House and so is the –- the Majority Leader. We are not defunding the police.” Continue reading.

Senate GOP brags about poll showing Biden is more popular than they are

American Independent logo

A new Politico/Morning Consult shows President Joe Biden is faring much better than Republicans.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated a poll on Wednesday, suggesting it was proof that Americans are unhappy with President Joe Biden. But that survey showed him with a majority approval rating — well above their own levels of support.

The committee, which is the official campaign arm of the Senate Republican minority, put out a press release titled, “NEW POLL: Majority of Americans Disapprove of Biden’s Amnesty and Open Borders Agenda.” Citing a Politico/Morning Consult survey released Wednesday, it observed that “only 39% of voters approve of Biden’s handling of immigration and a whopping 50% disapprove.”

“As the Biden administration continues to bungle the response to the crisis they created at the Southern Border, Joe Biden’s approval rating on immigration continues to free fall,” the press release claimed. “It takes a stunning level of incompetence to have numbers this bad.” Continue reading.

Voters Overwhelmingly Support Biden Infrastructure Plan As GOP Plots Obstruction

National Memo logo

A day after Senate Republicans blocked debate on a bipartisan infrastructure deal, a new poll shows about two-thirds of American voters back the framework.

On Thursday, Navigator Research released a survey of 1,000 registered voters, finding 66 percent supported the plan — agreed upon in June by President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators — which would invest $579 billion in transportation, broadband, and water system infrastructure. That framework was backed by 86 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of independents, and a 46 percent plurality of Republicans.

Although 11 Republican senators agreed on the outlines of a deal in June, every single one of them — and the entire GOP caucus — voted on Wednesday to filibuster a motion to start debate on the bill. Because the motion required a three-fifths supermajority vote, the Democratic majority was stymied in its attempt to even take the plan up for consideration. Attempts to salvage an agreement are ongoing. Continue reading.

Republicans invoke ‘policy secession’ to ‘nullify’ Biden’s victory in GOP states: analysis

Raw Story Logo

Republican-controlled state legislatures are going hard to the far right, explained Ron Brownstein on Thursday.

Brownstein, a senior editor at The Atlantic and CNN political analyst, was interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR’s “Fresh Air.”

Gross said, “you describe this pattern of red state, very conservative legislation as remaking the country? So can you expand on that? How do you think it’s remaking the country or trying to?” Continue reading.