Tag: President Biden

Poll: Voters Credit Democrats, Not Republicans, On Rescue Plan

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Since the passage of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, Republicans have attempted to take credit for the legislation — despite the fact that not a single one voted for it.

Now, a new poll shows these efforts have overwhelmingly failed.

A poll this week by Invest in America shows that voters credit Biden and Democrats for the relief provided by the American Rescue Plan by a 49-point margin, with 48% of Republicans saying the same.

Other recent polls by Vox and Data for Progress show that 62 percent of voters were in favor of passing the expansive American Rescue Plan when contrasted with a smaller, more targeted relief proposed by GOP lawmakers — including nearly 50 percent of Republicans. Continue reading.

GOP Governors Who Opposed Rescue Plan Will Still Take $55 Billion

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Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is highlighting her staunch opposition to the American Rescue Plan in her reelection campaign messaging as a way to attract potential supporters and obtain their contact information. But like other governors who have attacked President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan, she has not turned down the huge financial infusion her state will receive from it.

“I stood alongside 21 other Republican Governors to OPPOSE President Biden’s plan to use YOUR taxpayer dollars to bail out blue states like CA, NY, and IL,” Reynolds tweeted on Thursday. “Will you sign your name alongside side mine to tell Biden you OPPOSE his blue state bailout?”

The tweet links to a petition that contains required fields for email addresses and phone numbers and the disclaimers “Paid for by the Kim Reynolds for Iowa Committee” and “By providing your phone number, you are consenting to receive calls and texts, including automated calls and texts, to that number.” Continue reading.

Rick Scott says the public has ‘buyer’s remorse’ over Biden. The public disagrees.

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President Joe Biden’s approval ratings remain high.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) claimed on Tuesday that the American public has “buyer’s remorse” for electing President Joe Biden and Democratic majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. But polls show the exact opposite.

In a Fox Business interview, Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, tasked with regaining a GOP majority in 2022, said, “I think the American public are fed up” with Democrats and that Biden isn’t doing what he promised.

“They want a secure border. They want our schools open. They don’t want tax increases. They want us to support law enforcement,” he opined. “The Democrats are on the opposite side of all those issues. I think in the ’22 election, people are gonna have a lot of buyer’s remorse.” Continue reading.

Biden Shreds Republican Deficit ‘Concern’ At Press Conference

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After Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, liberal economist and New York Timescolumnist Paul Krugman predicted that the GOP “budget hawks” who had been silent during the Trump years would suddenly rediscover fiscal conservatism. And sure enough, now that Biden is president, Republicans are attacking him for increasing the United States’ federal deficit. 

Biden addressed GOP grandstanding about the deficit during a news conference on Thursday, pointing out that Republicans in Congress weren’t worried about the deficit when they passed the costly Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017.

Biden said of Republicans, “Did you hear them complain when they passed the close-to-$2-trillion Trump tax cut, with 83 percent going to the top one percent? Did you hear them talk about that at all?” Continue reading.

White House press gets blowback for ignoring major issues in Biden’s first press

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Although Joe Biden has been speaking to members of the media during his two months in the White House, he didn’t hold his first formal press conference as president until Thursday. Biden, during the conference, discussed subjects including the legislative filibuster, voting rights, his re-election plans, foreign policy toward China and North Korea, and migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

But White House reporters are receiving some criticism for the important things that they didn’t ask Biden about.

The Washington Post’s Karen Attiah listed some of the issues that White House reporters either ignored or downplayed: Continue reading.

Biden warns GOP he could back gutting filibuster

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President Biden on Thursday signaled he is open to making significant changes to the legislative filibuster in the Senate if it continues to be a roadblock to passing legislation on key agenda items like voting rights.

Biden, in his first formal press conference since taking office, reiterated his belief that the Senate should go back to the talking filibuster, which requires senators to hold the floor in order to block legislation.

He acknowledged the current system is being “abused in a gigantic way,” and indicated he may be willing to support exceptions to the filibuster or changing the rule entirely.  Continue reading.

Biden’s new goal is 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations in first 100 days

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President Biden on Thursday announced an updated goal to administer 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations in his first 100 days in office during his first press conference.

During his first official press briefing, Biden laid out his new target after the U.S. reached his original goal of 100 million vaccinations on Friday, the president’s 59th day in office. 

“That’s right: 200 million shots in 100 days,” Biden said. “I know it’s ambitious, twice our original goal. But no other country in the world has even come close, not even close to what we are doing. I believe we can do it. Continue reading.

Polls Show Massive Support For Biden’s Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Plan

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President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing a plan for somewhere between $3- and $4 trillion in American infrastructure improvements. While Congressional Republicans are again making noise about opposing it, a new poll finds wide support for many of its likely components.

A survey by Data for Progress and the pro-infrastructure group Invest in America, released Tuesday, found that 57 percent of American likely voters believe now is the time for a big investment, while just 35 percent believe it is not.

When told of the basics of a $4 trillion infrastructure plan, voters backed it 69 percent to 22 percent. Even Republicans supported it 50 percent to 42 percent. Continue reading.

Biden puts Harris in charge of border crisis

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President Biden is putting Vice President Harris in charge of addressing the migrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border, senior administration officials announced on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Just as President Obama tasked Biden with fixing the U.S. economy after he assumed office in 2009, Biden is putting his own vice president in charge of a problem threatening to overshadow the new administration’s successful launch.

  • Harris will lead efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador) to manage the flow of unaccompanied children and migrant families arriving at the border in numbers not seen since a surge in 2019.

Biden urges Congress to pass assault weapon ban

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President Biden on Tuesday called on Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and to close loopholes in the background check system after a gunman killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo.

“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act,” Biden said in remarks at the White House following Monday’s shooting. “We can ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country once again. I got that done when I was a senator. … We should do it again.”

Biden called on the Senate to “immediately pass” two House-passed bills that would expand background checks for firearm sales, noting that both passed the Democratic-controlled lower chamber with some Republican support. One of the bills would close the so-called Charleston loophole by extending the initial background check review period from three to 10 days. The bill is linked to the 2015 shooting in Charleston, S.C., in which a white supremacist killed nine Black Americans at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. Continue reading.