US Politics

Potential rival or running mate? Kristi Noem, the governor denying Trump a face on Mount RushmoreSouth Dakota Republican says monument is ‘special just the way it is’, while speculation grows she is trying to broaden her national appeal Donald Trump’s rough summer continues. Hammered by the January 6 committee, his influence ebbing and possible prosecution looming, now the former US president must face the death of a long cherished dream.No, Trump’s face will not be carved into Mount Rushmore.Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, home to the hallowed national memorial, has ruled out any additions to the 60-foot-tall (18-metre) faces of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.Noem first told the story of Trump’s wish to be immortalized on Mount Rushmore in 2018. On Thursday, speaking with reporters in Washington, she recounted again her first meeting with Trump in the Oval Office when she was a member of Congress.Trump photo with Rittenhouse reveals ‘Mount Trumpmore’ sculptureRead more“I said, ‘Mr President, I’m Kristi Noem, I’m from South Dakota. South Dakota is the home of Mount Rushmore. You should come visit it sometime.’ And he said, ‘Oh, did you know that it is my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?’ And I was surprised by that. We laughed and chuckled about it.”But asked on Thursday by the Guardian if Trump’s dream of being carved into the monument could be realised even after his involvement in the January 6 insurrection, Noem replied: “I don’t think we’re adding any faces to Mount Rushmore any time soon. It is pretty special just the way it is.“I don’t think anybody has ever claimed that any of our leaders were perfect. Every one of us has flaws but we still have leaders that led us through challenging times. Remembering that history is incredibly important.”Noem is widely seen as a potential rival – or running mate – for Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. This week she published a memoir, Not My First Rodeo: Lessons from the Heartland, and delivered speeches to the Heritage Foundation thinktank and National Conservative Student Conference in Washington.At the latter event she was accompanied by former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, apparently working for her again after a brief hiatus, and she held an informal conversation with reporters where questions included the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that guaranteed a woman’s right to abortion.A trigger law took effect banning abortion in South Dakota except to save the life of a pregnant woman. Some conservatives in the state legislature wanted to go further but Noem has proved hesitant, fuelling speculation that she is softening her position around the edges to broaden her national appeal.On Thursday she said she had no objections to women traveling out of state to get an abortion elsewhere. “I don’t know of any legislators that are seriously pursuing that and I’m certainly not. And to be clear, even in South Dakota, if they were to get an abortion, even though the law doesn’t allow it, a woman would never be prosecuted. It would be the doctor that facilitated it and knowingly broke the law and not the women.”Most Americans do not want Biden or Trump in 2024, poll findsRead moreBut Noem gave little solace to those who fear the supreme court’s rightwing majority could next go after the right to same-sex marriage. “I’ve never supported gay marriage as far as the legality of it in our state. For me, a lot of my faith has to do with that and the legal documentation of that. But I do know that a lot of people are still continuing to have those discussions.”Noem, the first woman to hold the governor’s office in South Dakota and up for reelection this year, resisted significant lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic and accused other state governors of having “overstepped their authority”. In her address to the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, she also lambasted Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.“He, out of anybody in this country, should never be given one minute of airtime ever again for the devastation that he has wrecked on so many families,” she said. “He has wiped out their livelihoods, he has destroyed kids’ education – we have kids that forever will struggle because they’ve been forced to wear masks that has hurt their development. It is a tragedy what that man was allowed to do to the United States of America.”Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, has repeatedly hit back at his rightwing critics in kind.Last year he told the New York Times: “‘Fauci has blood in his hands’ – are you kidding me? Here’s a guy whose entire life has been devoted to saving lives, and now you’re telling me he’s like Hitler? You know, come on, folks. Get real.”TopicsRepublicansUS politicsDonald TrumpSouth DakotanewsReuse this content More

Pro-Israel group pours millions into primary to defeat Jewish candidateAipac says Democrat Andy Levin, a self-described Zionist, is insufficiently pro-Israel – alarming some because much of the money comes from wealthy Trump donors It is in Andy Levin’s nature to pick fights.The forthright Detroit congressman and former trade union leader has built a political career on confronting big oil, the gun industry and anti-abortion campaigners.But as the scion of a distinguished Jewish political dynasty, a committed Zionist and the former president of his synagogue, Levin has been stung by the largest pro-Israel lobby group’s campaign to paint him as an enemy of the Jewish state because he has spoken up for the Palestinians.The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has spent more than $4m to defeat Levin in next Tuesday’s Democratic primary for a congressional seat in north-western Detroit with a twin strategy to discredit him within the city’s sizable Jewish community while funding an advertising blitz aimed at the wider electorate that avoids mention of the Israel lobby’s involvement.Aipac and its allies have poured millions of dollars into opposing candidates deemed not to be pro-Israel enough in this year’s Democratic primaries, a move that has alarmed some in the party because much of the money comes from wealthy Trump donors and other rightwing billionaires including Jan Koum, the inventor of WhatsApp, who recently donated $2m.Levin said Aipac’s involvement also raises the spectre of the entire primary process being hijacked by well-funded lobbies from big oil to the gun industry.“This strategy to gather millions from rightwing billionaires and other Republican sources to try to determine the outcome of Democratic primaries is deeply troubling. I don’t think the Democratic party can really stand for it and maintain the integrity of our own elections,” he told the Guardian at a campaign rally in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak.“It’s Israel today. It could be the fossil fuel industry tomorrow. It could be the tobacco industry, big pharma, any industry or any group that wants to have Democrats who are pliable and will do what they want.”Aipac boasts that its favored candidates have won in nine of the 10 Democratic primaries it waded into in recent months. Hardline pro-Israel groups have proclaimed these victories as evidence of American voters’ support for its positions. But the campaigns, funded through Aipac’s political action committee, the United Democracy Project (UDP), rarely mention the Jewish state or US policy on Israel.Other critics note that while Aipac opposes Levin and other candidates deemed to be out of line on Israel by accusing them of working against America’s interests, it has endorsed 37 Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s victory after the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2020.Levin is running for a newly created district after his existing one was scrapped with boundary changes. He is competing against another sitting Democrat, Haley Stevens, whose constituency has also been abolished.Aipac turned its guns on Levin, a member of the House foreign affairs committee, after he introduced the Two State Solution Act in September, intended to promote a peace agreement including by preventing US aid being used to tighten Israel’s grip on the occupied Palestinian territories, and to block expansion of Jewish settlements and the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank.The legislation also infuriated some by defining East Jerusalem as occupied territory, which much of the world says it is, when Israel claims sovereignty over the entire city.Aipac portrayed the act as “anti-Israel” and Levin as an extremist.“Andy Levin represents the fringe wing that is working to undermine the US-Israel relationship,” the lobby group said in an email to supporters last week. “Defeating Andy Levin would remove one hostile voice, but as important, ensuring Haley Stevens wins would cement a pro-Israel champion in the Democratic party.”Earlier this year, David Victor, a former president of Aipac who lives in the Detroit area, wrote to prospective donors saying that the redistricting “presents a rare opportunity to defeat arguably the most corrosive member of Congress to the US-Israel relationship”.“To make matters worse, Andy sincerely claims to be a lifelong Zionist, proud Jew and defender of Israel. So when Andy Levin insists he’s pro-Israel, less engaged Democratic colleagues may take him at his word,” wrote Victor.The email, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of Stevens, was denounced by other current and former Jewish Democrats in Congress.“It is fair to disagree on and debate policy approaches. But it is out of bounds to malign the only Jewish candidate in this race by impugning Andy’s love for the State of Israel or his community bona fides, which run strong and run deep,” they wrote in a letter.The lobby has since poured millions of dollars into supporting Stevens who admits she knew little about Israel until she visited the country three years ago on an Aipac-sponsored trip. Since then she has put an emphasis on “Israel’s right to defend itself” and has expressed scepticism about the US rejoining the Iran nuclear deal.Levin, on the other hand, comes from a line of politicians with strong ties to Israel including his father, Sander, who served 36 years in Congress, and uncle Carl Levin, who was a US senator for nearly four decades.Levin accused Aipac of attempting to impose a single hardline view of what it is to be pro-Israel when he has a “proud record” of supporting the Jewish state and a two state solution while also advocating for Palestinian rights. He says his position “has been the position of every Democratic and Republican administration besides Donald Trump”.“They’re the rightwing Israel lobby. They’re not more pro-Israel than me. In fact, they’re worse for Israel. If you want to be the best friend of Israel, you better give an honest opinion about what needs to happen for your best friend to be secure and safe, and to thrive in the future instead of supporting whatever the Israeli government of the moment does right or wrong,” he said.“This is the politics of intimidation. When I wrote the Two State Solution Act, I can’t tell you how many of my colleagues came up to me and said, ‘Oh, Andy, I read your bill, it’s great. But of course, I’m not going to co-sponsor.’ They didn’t even need to say why. It’s just assumed that they’re afraid to cross Aipac.”Much of this fight has gone unnoticed by the average voter in the Detroit district. But they have nonetheless felt its effects.The UDP has spent heavily on television spots for Stevens that featured President Barack Obama in 2018 praising her work as chief of staff for the taskforce that saw the US auto industry through bankruptcy during the recession. Another focuses on her stand for abortion rights. None of them makes mention of Israel.Opinion polls show the impact. In February, a Target Insyght poll had the two candidates tied at 41% support each. At the time, Levin led among groups likely to be key to victory, including union workers and women.A poll by the same company last week showed Stevens at 58% to Levin on 31%. The number of women who said they would vote for Levin fell sharply.Target Insyght’s director, Edward Sarpolus, said Levin was vulnerable in a number of ways including being a progressive in a new district with a more conservative demographic than his old one.But Sarpolus said UDP and other pro-Israel lobby money was a gamechanger because it paid for advertising to pound away at those differences in support of Stevens.“Aipac and the other [pro-Israel] groups kicking in the funds put her over the top because they’re dominating the airwaves with ads and mailings and that type of thing,” he said.Levin has the backing of a more moderate pro-Israel group, J Street, which has spent about $700,000 to support him with advertising attacking Levin for taking Aipac money.Aipac is targeting another Detroit Democratic primary race too. The UDP has spent nearly $2m running ads against a member of the Michigan state legislature, Shri Thanedar, who backed a resolution to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.Aipac supporters say it is not doing anything other pressure groups do, such as those advocating for abortion rights or environmental policies. But critics say those groups are open about their intent whereas most voters targeted by UDP funded-ads have no idea it is run by Aipac or that it’s goal is to elect a member of Congress it sees as more sympathetic to Israel.A fellow Democratic member of Congress, Mark Pocan, accused Aipac and its allies of deceiving voters.“It’s not just dark special interest money that’s spent on candidates. It’s the sketchy, anonymous misleading nature of the money that needs to get called out in the strongest of terms,” he said.“Now we have groups in Democratic primaries doing this in the most Trojan horse way. First, their values aren’t stated as an organisation. But second they’re raising money from Republican multimillionaires and billionaires to do this. It’s stealth campaigning combined with dirty oppositional money to create a Trojan horse within a Trojan horse.”TopicsUS politicsDemocratsRepublicansDetroitIsraelfeaturesReuse this content More

‘What about my life?’ West Virginia girl, 12, speaks out against anti-abortion bill Plea by Addison Gardner during public hearing against bill that would prohibit procedure in nearly all cases goes viral00:56An impassioned plea from a 12-year-old girl has gone viral after she spoke to West Virginia Republican lawmakers during a public hearing for an abortion bill that would prohibit the procedure in nearly all cases.On Wednesday, Addison Gardner of Buffalo middle school in Kenova, West Virginia, was among several people who spoke out against a bill that would not only ban abortions in most cases but also allow for physicians who perform abortions to be prosecuted.Addressing the West Virginia house of delegates, Gardner, among about 90 other speakers, was given 45 seconds to plead her case.“My education is very important to me and I plan on doing great things in life. If a man decides that I’m an object and does unspeakable and tragic things to me, am I, a child, supposed to carry and birth another child?” Gardner said.She went on to add, “Am I to put my body through the physical trauma of pregnancy? Am I to suffer the mental implications, a child, who had no say in what was being done with my body? Some here say they are pro-life. What about my life? Does my life not matter to you?”As Gardner – a volleyball and track athlete at her middle school, spoke, she was looked on by Rita Ray, an 80-year-old woman who had an abortion in 1959, 14 years before terminations were deemed a constitutional right.In a photo captured by Kyle Vass, a journalist from the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, Ray can be seen smiling in the background as Gardner issued her impassioned plea.One user who tweeted the photo wrote, “Rita Ray, 80, who risked her life pre-Roe by getting an abortion from someone who wasn’t a healthcare provider, watches on as Addison Gardner, 12, contemplates her own future without access to legal abortion in WV.”Despite speeches from Gardner and other abortion rights activists, the house passed the bill by an overwhelming vote of 69 to 23. Shortly after Gardner delivered her address, house members adopted an amendment that would allow abortions in cases of rape or incest.However, the amendment, which passed narrowly with 46 to 43 votes, only allows for the procedure to be performed up to 14 weeks of pregnancy and only if the rape or incest is reported to the police.Unlike some other states which have “trigger bans” that would ban abortions within 30 days of Roe being overturned, West Virginia has a 150-year-old pre-Roe abortion ban that would come back into effect in the absence of Roe.Last week, Kanawha county circuit judge Tera Salango blocked the enforcement of the abortion ban and granted the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, the state’s only abortion clinic, the ability to continue performing the procedure.Salango said its patients, “especially those who are impregnated as a result of a rape or incest, are suffering irreparable harm”, the Associated Press reports.West Virginia’s attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, described the ruling as “a dark day for West Virginia”.The abortion bill moved to the West Virginia senate on Thursday and may be passed by the end of the week.TopicsWest VirginiaAbortionUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

Paul Manafort admits indirectly advising Trump in 2020 but keeping it secret in wait for pardon In new book, obtained by Guardian, 2016 campaign manager convicted of tax fraud says he was ‘very careful’ to hide advice Paul Manafort indirectly advised Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign while in home confinement as part of a seven-year sentence for offenses including tax fraud – advice he kept secret as he hoped for a presidential pardon.Murdoch told Kushner on election night that Arizona result was ‘not even close’Read more“I didn’t want anything to get in the way of the president’s re-election or, importantly, a potential pardon,” Trump’s 2016 campaign manager writes in his new book.In May 2020, as Covid-19 ravaged the prison system, Manafort was released to home confinement. He stayed in an apartment in northern Virginia. From there, he re-established contact with Trumpworld.“There was no contact with anyone in the Trump orbit when I was in prison,” he writes. “And I didn’t want any, especially if it could be exploited by the MSM [Mainstream Media, a derogatory term in rightwing circles].“But when the re-election campaign started kicking off, I was interacting, unofficially, with friends of mine who were very involved. It was killing me not to be there, but I was advising indirectly from my condo.”The startling admission is spelled out in Political Prisoner: Persecuted, Prosecuted, but Not Silenced, a memoir that will be published in the US next month. The Guardian obtained a copy.Throughout the book, Manafort, 73, strenuously denies collusion with Russia and ridicules investigations by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, Congress and the US intelligence community.But in Virginia in August 2018, in a case arising from Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow, Manafort was found guilty on eight counts: five of tax fraud, two of bank fraud and one of failure to report a foreign bank account.In March 2019, he was sentenced to 43 months in prison. Later that month, in Washington DC, Manafort was sentenced to an additional three-and-a-half-year term, having pleaded guilty to conspiracy including money laundering and unregistered lobbying and a count related to witness tampering.Manafort was also found to have violated an agreement with Mueller, by lying.In his memoir, Manafort describes his travels through the US prison system – including a stay in a Manhattan facility alongside the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the Mexican drug baron Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.In another startling passage, Manafort writes that during one transfer between facilities, at a private airfield “somewhere in Ohio”, the sight of “prisoners … being herded in long lines and then separated into other buses and on to … transport planes … reminded me of movies about the Holocaust”.Manafort ran Trump’s campaign between May and August 2016, when he resigned shortly after the arrival of Steve Bannon as campaign chairman and amid a scandal over alleged evidence of payments connected with consulting work in Ukraine.In his book, Manafort denies wrongdoing in connection with the so-called “black ledger” but writes: “My resignation only deflected attention from the Russian collusion story for a short period of time.”Describing his informal advice to the Trump campaign in 2020, after four years of scandal, trial and imprisonment, he writes: “I didn’t have any prohibition against it, but I didn’t want it to become an issue.”He continues: “I still had no promise of a pardon, but I had an expectation. My fear was that if I got in the way of the campaign and Trump lost, he might blame me, and I did not want that to happen.”Trump lost to Joe Biden – an outcome Manafort, whose career in politics began as an adviser to President Gerald Ford, puts down to Biden’s campaign understanding Trump’s limitations better than Hillary Clinton.But he also flirts with Trump’s lie about electoral fraud being the cause of his defeat, writing: “I believed there were patterns that were irregular. The results in battleground states were close enough that the fraud could be the difference between winning and losing.”Trump chief of staff ‘shoved’ Ivanka at White House, Kushner book saysRead moreAfter Trump lost, Manafort writes, he held off “making phone calls the day after to start working for a pardon” and instead waited on Trump.Manafort says the news he would be pardoned came via an intermediary, “a very good doctor friend, Ron, who is also close to Donald and Melania” and “was always one of the judges” at Miss Universe pageants when Trump ran them.The friend spoke to Kellyanne Conway, a senior Trump adviser, who relayed the good news. Manafort was pardoned on 23 December 2020 – two weeks before the culmination of Trump’s attempt to overturn the election, the deadly US Capitol attack, an event Manafort does not address.“It was like a switch was pressed,” Manafort writes, of telling his wife, Kathy, that he had been pardoned.“We hugged and cried. I was free.”TopicsBooksPaul ManafortDonald TrumpUS elections 2020US elections 2016US politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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If Joe Biden is re-elected in 2024, he’ll be 86 by the time his second term as president ends. This week, we look at the gerontocracy in the US, and consider some of the efforts to bring younger voices into America’s government. Joan Greve talks to Amanda Litman of Run For Something to discuss why older or infirm members of Congress are becoming such a big issue. Archive: Today, WPTV News, NewsChannel 9 WSYR Syracuse, Reuters, Spectrum News Send your questions and feedback to [email protected] Help support the Guardian by going to theguardian.com/supportpodcasts More

Republicans rush to label economic slowdown as ‘Joe Biden’s recession’Republicans are quick to call a recession as the administration points to brighter employment numbers Prices are rising in the US at the fastest rate in four decades. The Fed raised interest rates again. And new data showed the American economy shrank for a second consecutive quarter, intensifying fears of a recession and handing Republicans a potent line of attack just months before the midterm elections.For embattled Joe Biden, Thursday’s gross domestic product figures were the latest in a string of worrying economic developments clouding his presidency this week. The news came as Democrats celebrated a breakthrough on the president’s long-stalled economic agenda after Senator Joe Manchin announced his support for a version of the plan in a shock reversal for the West Virginia holdout.Joe Biden hails Senate deal as ‘most significant’ US climate legislation everRead moreWith control of Congress in the balance, Republicans seized on the turn of events to accuse Democrats of deepening economic disarray with their spending plans. Widespread pessimism about the state of the economy has shaped up to be Biden’s biggest political vulnerability, weighing down his approval ratings and threatening Democrats’ chances in November.Moments after the Bureau of Economic Analysis published the highly anticipated GDP report on Thursday morning, Republicans declared the economy well into the throes of “Joe Biden’s recession” and blamed Democrats’ policy initiatives for making life costlier for Americans.“Biden and Democrats are responsible for our shrinking economy, and they’re only trying to make it worse,” said Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity, fell by an annual rate of 0.09%, following a 1.6% annual decline in the first three months of the year, according to the commerce department. The numbers recorded two consecutive quarters of declining economic output, a common – but not official – definition of recession.On Thursday, Biden dismissed fears that the US was in a recession, arguing that the economy was “on the right path”.“There’s going to be a lot of chatter today on Wall Street and among pundits about whether we are in a recession,” Biden said on Thursday afternoon. “But if you look at our job market, consumer spending, business investment, we see signs of economic progress in the second quarter as well.”In anticipation of the report, the White House has sought to convince Americans that two quarters of economic decline does not necessarily mean the US is in recession, particularly because unemployment remains low, job growth robust and household savings elevated.Biden stressed those sources of strength in the economy during an earlier appearance on Thursday, concluding: “That doesn’t sound like a recession to me.”The president also urged Congress to move quickly to pass his economic agenda that the White House argues will help ease the financial burden on American households by lowering the costs of healthcare and prescription drugs.Biden did pause to take a victory lap on Thursday, interrupting his meeting with the CEOs of five US businesses to announce that the House had enough votes to pass a sprawling bipartisan package designed to strengthen American manufacturing and increase the US’s competitiveness against China.The bill, which next goes to his desk for signatures, will “make cars cheaper, appliances cheaper, and computers cheaper”, Biden said in a statement. “It will lower the costs of every day goods.”But Republicans said the Democrats’ climate, healthcare and tax plan, formerly known as “Build Back Better” and recast as the “Inflation Reduction Act”, would only cause further financial hardship, especially after they passed a $1.9tn coronavirus relief package last year.“The definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” the Republican congressman Vern Gale Buchanan of Florida wrote on Twitter. “Yet here we are now entering a recession and Democrats are trying to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on Green New Deal priorities and raise taxes on America’s job creators.”Soaring inflation – now running at 40-year highs – led the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to increase interest rates in an effort to bring down prices, the second such increase in just over a month.Labelling the downturn a recession may be more politically charged than economically precise. Recessions are officially declared by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private research group, and usually only after the decline is over.“Bottom Line,” Diane Swonk, chief economist for KPMG, said on Twitter, “We are not in a recession – yet. But the current environment is [not] healthy. The cure will be painful but is necessary to avoid an even worse outcome. Rock & hard spot. Scars likely. Hard.”The treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said the US economy is in a state of transition, from a period of fast-paced growth to a period of more sustainable growth.Recession, she explained, is generally viewed as a “broad-based weakening of our economy” that includes “substantial job losses and mass layoffs, businesses shutting down, private sector activities slowing considerably”.“That is not what we are seeing right now,” she said.Yet even without an official determination of whether the US is in a recession, polling has found that most Americans believe it is: something likely to cause Democrats pain at the ballot box in November’s crucial elections.According to a recent CNN poll, 64% of Americans “feel” the economy is in recession, including 56% of Democrats and 63% of independents. The same survey found that four in 10 view the economy as “very poor”, an 11-point rise since the spring.Biden defended his administration’s actions, arguing that the economic stimulus plan was “the reason why we still had teachers in school, kids going to school, the reason why we had cops on the beat, the reason we had essential workers,” during the depths of the pandemic. But he admitted that the “vast majority of Americans have no idea what the recovery plan did”.Now, with their congressional majorities hanging in the balance, Democrats must persuade voters to trust their economic leadership as they rush to pass Biden’s economic agenda, which they vow will help, not hurt American pocketbooks.Manchin, who just weeks ago appeared to walk away from his party’s economic plans over concerns that it would worsen inflation, said his newfound support for the measure was based on assurances that it would not.Explaining his decision, Manchin told reporters: “This is truly going to be around inflation reduction.”TopicsBiden administrationInflationEconomicsUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

Joe Biden hailed the Inflation Reduction Act as “the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis” in a White House address welcoming the wide-ranging legislative package.The president outlined the benefits to Americans during his remarks, which followed the surprise announcement of a deal last night between Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and holdout West Virginia senator Joe Manchin..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This bill will be the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis and improve our energy security right away, and give us a tool to meet the climate goals… we’ve agreed to by cutting emissions and accelerating clean energy. It’s a huge step forward.
This bill will reduce inflationary pressures on the economy. It will cut your cost of living and reduce inflation, it lowers the deficit and strengthens our economy for the long run as well.
This bill has won the support of climate leaders like former vice-president Al Gore, who said the bill is, quote, long overdue and a necessary step to ensure the United States takes decisive action on the climate crisis that helps our economy and provides leadership for the world.Climate activists have broadly welcomed the bill which, if passed by Congress, would give Biden a massive victory ahead of November’s midterms. Inflation at 40-year highs and soaring prices in supermarkets and at gas pumps have contributed to the president’s low approval ratings.It also follows months of stalling on Biden’s agenda, specifically by Manchin, who didn’t like the cost of $1.8tn Build Back Better spending package featuring measures like extended child tax credit.Biden acknowledged: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This bill is far from perfect. I know the bill doesn’t include everything that I’ve been pushing for since I got to office. For example, I’m going to keep fighting to bring down the cost of things for working families and middle class families by providing for things like affordable childcare, affordable elder care, the cost of preschool, housing, helping students with the cost of college, closing the health care coverage gap…
My message to Congress is this. This is the strongest bill you can pass to lower inflation, cut the deficit, reduce health care costs, tackle the climate crisis and promote energy security, all the time while reducing the burdens facing working class and middle class families.
So pass it. Pass it for the American people. Pass it for America. We’re closing the politics blog now on a rollercoaster Thursday for President Joe Biden. The day began with depressing economic news that the US was technically in a recession, but was brightened considerably by a bipartisan vote in the House that sends the $280bn Chips Act to his desk.And then there was the unexpected development that Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, blamed for single handedly blocking the majority of Biden’s first term agenda on the climate emergency and the economy, had reversed his position.The Inflation Reduction Act Manchin negotiated with Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is, Biden said, “the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis.”Thanks for joining us today. Before you go, please have a read of my colleague David Smith’s report on the reconciliation bill here. Here’s what else we followed today:
Former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has spoken with the House panel investigating Donald Trump’s January 6 insurrection, and the committee is negotiating to obtain testimony from other members of the former president’s cabinet, the Associated Press reported.
Politico reported that the House panel and the justice department’s criminal inquiry had struck an testimony-sharing deal on witness transcripts and other evidence. The report came as Trump’s former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney spoke with the panel virtually.
Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping spoke for more than two hours by phone, in what was reported to have been a sometimes testy conversation including a discussion of Nancy Pelosi’s controversial upcoming trip to Taiwan.
At least 43 abortion clinics in 11 states have closed since the supreme court eliminated federal protections for the procedure last month, and seven states no longer have any providers, a study published Thursday by the Guttmacher Institute revealed. Prior to the ruling ending Roe v Wade protections, the 11 states had a total of 71 clinics providing abortion care, the report says.
The Miami Herald reported that a state operation touted last month by Republican governor Ron DeSantis as a successful law enforcement action to “keep illegals out of Florida” ended up arresting mostly legal residents. Of 22 arrests in a three-day sweep from 7 to 9 June, the “vast majority” were not related to immigration, the Herald said.
While chief of staff to Donald Trump, the retired general John Kelly “shoved” Ivanka Trump in a White House hallway, Jared Kushner writes in his forthcoming memoir. The detail from Breaking History, which will be published in August, was reported by the Washington Post.Kushner, the Post said, writes that he and his wife saw Kelly as “consistently duplicitous”.“One day he had just marched out of a contentious meeting in the Oval Office. Ivanka was walking down the main hallway in the West Wing when she passed him. Unaware of his heated state of mind, she said, ‘Hello, chief.’ Kelly shoved her out of the way and stormed by. She wasn’t hurt, and didn’t make a big deal about the altercation, but in his rage Kelly had shown his true character.”Kushner writes that Kelly offered a “meek” apology about an hour later.Kelly told the Post: “I don’t recall anything like you describe. It is inconceivable that I would EVER shove a woman. Inconceivable. Never happen. Would never intentionally do something like that. Also, don’t remember ever apologising to her for something I didn’t do. I’d remember that.”A spokesperson for Ivanka Trump said her husband’s description was accurate, the Post said.The Post also said Kushner writes that Kelly gave his wife “compliments to her face that she knew were insincere.“Then the four-star general would call her staff to his office and berate and intimidate them over trivial procedural issues that his rigid system often created. He would frequently refer to her initiatives like paid family leave and the child tax credit as ‘Ivanka’s pet projects.’”Read the full story:Trump chief of staff ‘shoved’ Ivanka at White House, Kushner book saysRead moreBarack Obama’s presidential portrait will be unveiled at the White House in a September ceremony hosted by his former vice-president Joe Biden, the Associated Press reports.Portraits of the former president and first lady Michelle Obama will be presented in the East Room on 7 September, according to Obama’s office.It will mark the first time the former first lady has returned to the White House since her husband left office in January 2017. Barack Obama went back in April to mark the 12th anniversary of his signature health care law.The House of Representative has delivered a big win for Joe Biden, passing the $280bn Chips and Science Act that includes $52bn to boost the production of semiconductors.The bill cleared the Senate 64-33 in a bipartisan vote yesterday, the president urging the House to get the bill to his desk as soon as possible to help ease a shortage in semiconductors he said is holding back US defense, healthcare and vehicle manufacturing industries.Biden received the news of the bill’s House passage, 243-187 in a strong bipartisan vote, during a virtual round table with business leaders at the White House this afternoon.The moment @POTUS gets word that the CHIPS Act has enough votes to pass the House pic.twitter.com/2CqAnr8oVc— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 28, 2022
Biden earlier highlighted the Chips Act as a central plank of his agenda to boost American industry, as he also hailed the newly announced $739bn Inflation Reduction Act.In a statement, the president said the Chips Act “will make cars cheaper, appliances cheaper, and computers cheaper. It will lower the costs of every day goods. And, it will create high-paying manufacturing jobs across the country and strengthen US leadership in the industries of the future at the same time.”Republicans had threatened to whip members against voting for the Chips Act after they were angered by last night’s announcement of the reconciliation bill, brokered in a deal between Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and previously reluctant West Virginia senator Joe Manchin.Read my colleague David Smith’s report on the proposed new legislation here:Joe Biden hails Senate deal as ‘most significant’ US climate legislation everRead moreIt’s a double helping of Joe Biden today, the president just delivering remarks on the economy at an afternoon White House roundtable of business leaders.Once again, the president is downplaying the suggestion, bolstered by this morning’s dismal GDP figures, that the US is in a recession:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}There’ll be a lot of chatter today on Wall Street and among pundits about whether we are in a recession. But if you’re looking at our job market, consumer spending business investment, we see signs of economic progress in the second quarter as well.
And yesterday, Fed chairman [Jerome] Powell made it clear that he doesn’t think the US economy is currently in a recession. He said, quote, there are too many areas of economics where the economy is performing too well.For the second time today, following his address earlier this afternoon on the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden listed positive factors, including job creation, low unemployment and foreign investment in US industry..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I applaud by the bipartisan effort to get the Chips Act to my desk, which would advance our nation’s competitiveness and technological edge by boosting our domestic semiconductor production and manufacturing.
Another thing Congress should do is to pass the Inflation Reduction Act to lower prescription drug costs, reduce the deficit, help ease inflationary pressures and ensure 13m Americans can continue to save an average of $800 per year on health care premiums.
Both of these bills are going to help the economy continue to grow, bring down inflation and make sure we aren’t giving up on all the significant progress we made in the last year. Former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has spoken with the House panel investigating Donald Trump’s January 6 insurrection, and the committee is negotiating to obtain testimony from other members of the former president’s cabinet, the Associated Press reports.The panel is looking into the days following the deadly Capitol riot and discussions between senior officials over whether to try to remove the then-president from office.The negotiations come as the committee was interviewing Trump’s former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, on Thursday. The former South Carolina congressman was special envoy for Northern Ireland on January 6 2022, a post he resigned immediately after the riot.The AP says Mnuchin’s interview, and the negotiations with others, were confirmed by three people familiar with the committee’s work, who spoke on condition of anonymity.The agency says the committee asked Mnuchin about discussions among cabinet secretaries to possibly invoke the constitutional process in the 25th Amendment to remove Trump after the attack on the Capitol, according to one of the people, and is in talks to interview former secretary of state Mike Pompeo. The panel has already interviewed former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, former labor secretary Eugene Scalia and former acting defense secretary Christopher Miller as it focuses on Trump and what he was doing in the days before, during and after the riot. We’ve written plenty about the Inflation Reduction Act today, and heard that Joe Biden believes it’s “the most significant bill to tackle the climate crisis in history”. So what’s actually in it?My colleague Oliver Milman has this handy explainer to what made it into the package. And what didn’t:What’s in the climate bill that Joe Manchin supports – and what isn’t Read moreWe now have the White House readout of Joe Biden’s two hour conversation with China’s President Xi Jinping this morning:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The call was a part of the Biden administration’s efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication between the US and PRC [People’s Republic of China] and responsibly manage our differences and work together where our interests align.
The two presidents discussed a range of issues important to the bilateral relationship and other regional and global issues, and tasked their teams to continue following up on today’s conversation, in particular to address climate change and health security. It seems they also touched on Nancy Pelosi’s controversial upcoming trip to Taiwan, which has angered Chinese leaders. The White House readout said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}On Taiwan, President Biden underscored that the United States policy has not changed and that the United States strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese take, according to the Associated Press, was equally defiant.The news agency quoted an account of the call by China’s ministry of foreign affairs.“Those who play with fire will perish by it. It is hoped that the US will be clear-eyed about this,” it said.“President Xi underscored that to approach and define China-US relations in terms of strategic competition and view China as the primary rival and the most serious long-term challenge would be misperceiving China-US relations and misreading China’s development, and would mislead the people of the two countries and the international community.” At least 43 abortion clinics in 11 states have closed since the supreme court eliminated federal protections for the procedure last month, and seven states no longer have any providers, a study published Thursday by the Guttmacher Institute has found.Prior to the ruling ending Roe v Wade protections on 24 June, the 11 states had a total of 71 clinics providing abortion care, the report says. 🚨 As of July 24, these 7 US states 👇 had banned abortion completely following the SCOTUS decision to overturn #RoeVWade:❌ Alabama❌ Arkansas❌ Mississippi❌ Missouri❌ Oklahoma❌ South Dakota❌ Texas#BansOffOurBodies https://t.co/6r9oaGNzqJ— Guttmacher Institute (@Guttmacher) July 28, 2022
As of 24 July, there were only 28 clinics still offering abortions, all located in the four states with six-week bans. Across these 11 states, the number of clinics offering abortions dropped by 43 in just one month. The seven states no longer offering any abortion provision are Alabama (previously 5 clinics), Arkansas (2), Mississippi (1), Missouri (1), Oklahoma (5), South Dakota (1) and Texas (23 ).“Obtaining an abortion was already difficult in many states even before the supreme court overturned Roe,” Rachel Jones, Guttmacher’s principal research scientist, said.“These clinic closures resulting from state-level bans will further deepen inequities in access to care based on race, gender, income, age or immigration status since long travel distances to reach a clinic in another state will be a barrier for many people.”Joe Biden thanked Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, for their “extraordinary effort” in negotiating the reconciliation bill.It had looked like Manchin had killed hope of any of the president’s signature policy goals on the climate emergency or the economy passing when he withdrew from talks on Build Back Better earlier this year.The West Virginia senator, however, insisted earlier today he “never walked away” and was always open to renewed discussions, on parts of the package at least, which were finally concluded on Wednesday after weeks of secret meetings with Schumer and his staff.Biden said: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I know can sometimes seem like nothing gets done in Washington. I know it never crossed any of your minds. But the work of the government can be slow and frustrating and sometimes even infuriating.
Then the hard work of hours and days and months from people who refuse to give up pays off.
History has been made. Lives have changed with this legislation. We’re facing up to some of our biggest problems. And we’re taking a giant step forward as a nation. Biden closed his address with remarks on data that came out this morning showing the economy had shrunk for a second successive quarter, and that the US was technically in a recession.He listed low unemployment, overseas investment in US manufacturing and yesterday’s passing by the Senate of the Chips Act boosting semiconductor production among a number of reasons why he believes the US economy is strong.“That doesn’t sound like a recession to me,” Biden said.Joe Biden hailed the Inflation Reduction Act as “the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis” in a White House address welcoming the wide-ranging legislative package.The president outlined the benefits to Americans during his remarks, which followed the surprise announcement of a deal last night between Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and holdout West Virginia senator Joe Manchin..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This bill will be the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis and improve our energy security right away, and give us a tool to meet the climate goals… we’ve agreed to by cutting emissions and accelerating clean energy. It’s a huge step forward.
This bill will reduce inflationary pressures on the economy. It will cut your cost of living and reduce inflation, it lowers the deficit and strengthens our economy for the long run as well.
This bill has won the support of climate leaders like former vice-president Al Gore, who said the bill is, quote, long overdue and a necessary step to ensure the United States takes decisive action on the climate crisis that helps our economy and provides leadership for the world.Climate activists have broadly welcomed the bill which, if passed by Congress, would give Biden a massive victory ahead of November’s midterms. Inflation at 40-year highs and soaring prices in supermarkets and at gas pumps have contributed to the president’s low approval ratings.It also follows months of stalling on Biden’s agenda, specifically by Manchin, who didn’t like the cost of $1.8tn Build Back Better spending package featuring measures like extended child tax credit.Biden acknowledged: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This bill is far from perfect. I know the bill doesn’t include everything that I’ve been pushing for since I got to office. For example, I’m going to keep fighting to bring down the cost of things for working families and middle class families by providing for things like affordable childcare, affordable elder care, the cost of preschool, housing, helping students with the cost of college, closing the health care coverage gap…
My message to Congress is this. This is the strongest bill you can pass to lower inflation, cut the deficit, reduce health care costs, tackle the climate crisis and promote energy security, all the time while reducing the burdens facing working class and middle class families.
So pass it. Pass it for the American people. Pass it for America. Joe Biden is about to deliver a hastily arranged address about the Inflation Reduction Act, the White House says.You can watch the president’s remarks here. More

Joe Biden hails Senate deal as ‘most significant’ US climate legislation everProposal backed by centrist senator Joe Manchin also addresses healthcare, tax rises for high earners and cutting federal debt Joe Biden has hailed a congressional deal that represents the biggest single climate investment in US history – and hands him a badly needed political victory.In a stunning reversal, Senate Democrats on Wednesday announced an expansive $739bn package that had eluded them for months addressing healthcare and the climate crisis, raising taxes on high earners and corporations and reducing federal debt.What’s in the climate bill that Joe Manchin supports – and what isn’t Read moreThe president said on Thursday: “This bill would be the most signification legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis and improve our energy security right away.”Biden, who has faced soaring gas prices that have helped drive inflation to 40-year highs, said experts agreed that the bill would help address the problem and urged Congress to pass it.“With this legislation, we’re facing up to some of our biggest problems and we’re taking a giant step forward as a nation … This bill is far from perfect, it’s a compromise, but that’s often how progress is made: by compromises.”The deal, struck between the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and longtime holdout Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, would invest $369bn over the decade in climate change-fighting strategies including investments in renewable energy production and tax rebates for consumers to buy new or used electric vehicles.It includes $60bn for a clean energy manufacturing tax credit and $30bn for a production tax credit for wind and solar, seen as ways to boost and support the industries that can help curb the country’s dependence on fossil fuels. At Manchin’s insistence, $306bn is earmarked for debt reduction.The package, called the Inflation Reduction Act, would cut US emissions 40% by 2030, a summary released by Schumer’s office said, and earned praise from clean-energy advocates and Democratic party elders.Barack Obama, the former president, tweeted: “I’m grateful to President Biden and those in Congress – Democrat or Republican – who are working to deliver for the American people. Progress doesn’t always happen all at once, but it does happen – and this is what it looks like.”Al Gore, an ex-vice-president whose 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth helped raise awareness of the climate crisis, wrote on Twitter: “The Inflation Reduction Act has the potential to be a historic turning point. It represents the single largest investment in climate solutions & environmental justice in US history. Decades of tireless work by climate advocates across the country led to this moment.”Another component of the package would allow Medicare, the government-run healthcare programme for the elderly and disabled, to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, saving the federal government $288bn over the 10-year budget window.The Manchin-Schumer measure is substantially smaller than the $3.5tn Build Back Better spending bill that Biden asked Democrats to push through Congress last year.But it gave him a political win when he most needed it. His administration has been assailed by a cascade of setbacks including the war in Ukraine, a series of conservative supreme court rulings, soaring inflation and, on Thursday, a GDP report that showed gross domestic product shrank for the second consecutive quarter this year.This backdrop has left the president struggling with low job approval ratings and ebbing support from his own party. A CNN poll this week found that 75% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters want the party to nominate someone other than him in the 2024 election.But the surprise Senate deal, coming on the same day that the Senate passed legislation boosting domestic production of computer chips and Biden completed his recovery from a coronavirus infection, gave a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.John Zogby, an author and pollster, said there had already been signs that the president’s approval rating was improving. “This could very well be the critical win. First of all, it’s coming in the context of a few other wins: the manufacturing bill is another and, at the same time, there’s a sense the gas prices are going down. It’s an important piece of Build Back Better and it looks like it can happen. This could lift expectations.”The deal is a boost for Democrats ahead of midterm elections on 8 November that will determine control of Congress. Zogby added: “Democrats can go back to voters and say, ‘Look, we accomplished something. It may not have been what you wanted but here’s our first real accomplishment on climate change.’”Jonathan Kott, a former communications director for Manchin, told the MSNBC network: “Democrats really need to seize on this moment and tell this story, scream it at the top of their lungs. If this was Donald Trump, he’d be out there having press conferences in the Rose Garden all over the country. We should be doing the same thing.”The deal marked a dramatic U-turn by Manchin, a conservative Democrat and the swing vote in the evenly divided Senate, who has received more donations from oil and gas companies than any other legislator in recent years. Earlier this month he drew fierce condemnation from climate activists for apparently scuttling Biden’s spending plans, claiming that he was concerned about inflation.On Wednesday Manchin, who aimed to preserve federal oil and gas leasing projects and natural gas pipelines during months of talks, said the bill will invest in hydrogen, nuclear power, renewables, fossil fuels and energy storage. “This bill does not arbitrarily shut off our abundant fossil fuels.”Democrats hope to pass the bill by a simple majority in the Senate. Schumer told colleagues on Thursday that they now have an opportunity to achieve two “hugely important” priorities on healthcare and climate change, the Associated Press reported, but warned that final passage will be hard.It remains unclear whether Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who like Manchin has been a perennial thorn in Biden’s side, will vote in favour. There is also sure to be staunch opposition from Republicans.Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said in a statement the legislation would be “devastating to American families and small businesses. Raising taxes on job creators, crushing energy producers with new regulations, and stifling innovators looking for new cures will only make this recession worse, not better.”The bill must also pass the House of Representatives, where Democrats have a razor-thin majority, and be signed by Biden.TopicsUS domestic policyUS politicsJoe BidenJoe ManchinUS SenateClimate crisisUS healthcarenewsReuse this content More