Tag: President Biden

Senate Republicans take step to revive debt ceiling brawls with White House

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The non-binding vote is a sharp pivot from their hands-off approach during the Trump administration

Senate Republicans on Wednesday signaled they might oppose any future increase to the debt ceiling unless Congress also couples it with comparable federal spending cuts, raising the specter of a political showdown between GOP leaders and the White House this summer.

Republican lawmakers staked their position after a private gathering to consider the conference’s operating rules this session, issuing what GOP leaders described later as an important yet symbolic statement in response to the large-scale spending increases proposed by President Biden in recent months.

“I think that is a step in the right direction in terms of reining in out-of-control spending,” Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) told reporters after the meeting. Continue reading.

Biden announces small business tax credits for vaccine PTO

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President Biden on Wednesday called on all employers to provide workers paid time off to get vaccinated or recover from COVID side effects, and said he’ll include a paid tax credit for small businesses that do so.

Why it matters: The Biden administration sees workplaces as highly influential in making shots more convenient for working adults who are in high-risk industries.

  • 43% of working adults are currently vaccinated, compared to more than 80% of seniors, per federal data. Continue reading.

American Jobs Plan Update

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The American Jobs Plan is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure, and position the United States to out-compete China.

This week, the White House released both state-by-state and issue based fact sheets that highlight the urgent need in every state across the country for the investments proposed by President Biden in the American Jobs Plan. The fact sheets highlight the number of bridges and miles of road in each state in poor condition, the percentage of households without access to broadband, the billions of dollars required for water infrastructure, among other infrastructure needs.  

Fact Sheets by State can be viewed here.

Biden’s presidency isn’t splashy, but Republicans still dislike all the ripples

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Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) offered an odd criticism of President Biden this week.

“The president is not doing cable news interviews,” Cornyn said on Twitter. “Tweets from his account are limited and, when they come, unimaginably conventional.”

That latter point is obviously true, particularly when contrasted with his immediate predecessor, Donald Trump. Asked about Cornyn’s remarks, White House press secretary Jen Psaki offered a sharp response: “I can confirm the president of the United States does not spend his time tweeting conspiracy theories.” Continue reading.

Voters Like Biden Infrastructure Plan; G.O.P. Still Sees an Opening on Taxes

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A Times poll shows large majorities back spending on roads, ports, broadband and more. But Republicans aim to make corporate tax increases the issue.

President Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan has yet to win over a single Republican in Congress, but it is broadly popular with voters nationwide, mirroring the dynamics of the $1.9 trillion economic aid bill that Mr. Biden signed into law last month.

The infrastructure proposal garners support from two in three Americans, and from seven in 10 independent voters, in new polling for The New York Times by the online research firm SurveyMonkey. Three in 10 Republican respondents support the plan, which features spending on roads, water pipes, the electrical grid, care for older and disabled Americans and a range of efforts to shift to low-carbon energy sources.

That support is essentially unchanged from a month ago, when SurveyMonkey polled voter opinions on a hypothetical $2 trillion Biden infrastructure package, despite Republican attacks since the president outlined his American Jobs Plan in Pittsburgh at the end of March. And there is near-unanimous support for the plan from Democrats, whose confidence in the nation’s economic recovery has surged in the first months of Mr. Biden’s administration. Continue reading.

U.S. imposes sweeping sanctions targeting Russian economy

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The Biden administration announced it will sanction dozens of Russian officials and entities, expel 10 diplomats from the U.S., and set new restrictions on buying Russian sovereign debt in response to the massive SolarWinds hack of federal agencies and interference in the 2020 election.

Why it matters: The sweeping acts of retaliation are aimed at imposing heavy economic costs on Russia, after years of sanctions that have failed to deter an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian President Vladimir Putin.

Details: The administration formally accused Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of carrying out the SolarWinds hack, which Microsoft President Brad Smith has called “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen.” The intelligence community said it has “high confidence” in the assessment. Continue reading.

Biden lays out plan for Afghanistan withdrawal

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President Biden on Wednesday laid out his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and end America’s longest war by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that spurred the conflict.

“War in Afghanistan was never meant to be a multigenerational undertaking,” Biden said during a speech delivered in the Treaty Room of the White House, where former President George W. Bush announced the start of the war. “It’s time to end the forever war.”

Biden’s deadline, if adhered to, would bring to a close a chapter of U.S. history that saw the deaths of more than 2,300 troops and has cost the country as much as $1 trillion. Continue reading.

Biden to say he won’t pass along ‘responsibility’ of Afghanistan War

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President Biden on Wednesday will say that he is refusing to pass the responsibility of America’s longest war to a fifth president as he lays out his plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

Biden will call for an end to the 19-year war while pledging continued U.S. assistance to Afghanistan and support for peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result,” Biden will say, according to excerpts of prepared remarks released by the White House. Continue reading.

A pair of misleading GOP attacks on Biden’s infrastructure plan

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President Biden has proposed a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, to be financed mainly by increases in corporate taxes. Here’s a guide to two misleading talking points that have already emerged.

“This is a massive social welfare spending program combined with a massive tax increase on small-business job creators.”

— Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” April 11

Politicians on both sides of the aisle often sing the praises of small businesses. But we were rather surprised to see Wicker claim that increasing the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent would be a burden on small businesses. (Before the 2017 tax law, the corporate rate was 35 percent. Biden argues that the reduction was too steep.)

Wicker’s staff noted that Biden’s tax plan does not include a carve-out for small businesses, so “any business, including a small business, that files as a C-corporation would see their tax rate increase from 21 percent to 28 percent,” an aide said. The aide pointed to a National Federation of Independent Business report that cites “federal taxes on business income” as the third most severe issue facing small-business owners, with 20 percent of respondents finding federal taxes on income to be a “critical” issue in operating their businesses.

Biden will withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021

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President Biden will withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan over the coming months, U.S. officials said, completing the military exit by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that drew the United States into its longest war.

The decision, which Biden is expected to announce Wednesday, will keep thousands of U.S. forces in the country beyond the May 1 exit deadline that the Trump administration negotiated last year with the Taliban, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters Tuesday under rules of anonymity set by the White House.

While the Taliban has promised to renew attacks on U.S. and NATO personnel if foreign troops are not out by the deadline — and said in a statement it would not continue to participate in “any conference” about Afghanistan’s future until all “foreign forces” have departed — it is not clear whether the militants will follow through with the earlier threats given Biden’s plan for a phased withdrawal between now and September. The Taliban has conducted sputtering talks with the Afghan government, begun under the Trump deal, since last fall. It was also invited to an additional high-level inter-Afghan discussion in Turkey later this month. Continue reading.