US Politics

A Washington police officer who was attacked by Trump-supporting rioters during the Capitol attack on 6 January has decried the efforts of some politicians and other public figures to “whitewash” and downplay the insurrection.Michael Fanone, 40, gave an emotional interview with CNN on Tuesday night in which he laid bare the personal impact of having been engulfed in the baying crowd.He was beaten with sticks and stun-gunned, and in the aftermath has struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and what he called “psychological injuries”.Fanone said that since the riot, it had been “very difficult seeing elected officials and other individuals whitewash the events of that day or downplay what happened. Some of the terminology that has been used, like ‘hugs and kisses’ and ‘very fine people’ – very different from what I experienced and what my co-workers experienced on the 6th.”Though he did not mention the former president by name, Fanone was making a clear reference to Trump’s interview with Fox News last month in which he said the conflagration posed “zero threat”. Attempting an extreme makeover of history, Trump said of the rioters that “some of them went in, and they’re hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know? They had great relationships.”Asked what he thought of Trump’s remarks, Fanone said: “I think it’s dangerous. It’s very much not the experience I had on the 6th. I experienced a group of individuals that were trying to kill me to accomplish their goals.”More than three months on, the Capitol insurrection still casts a shadow over Washington. Joe Biden is expected to discuss the attack and its lasting impact when he addresses a joint session of Congress for the first time as president on Wednesday, standing at the same podium in the House of Representatives that was defiled by rioters.The assault, and Trump’s efforts to diminish its anti-democratic and violent nature, where he encouraged supporters at a rally immediately prior to “fight” to stop Congress certifying Biden’s election victory, also continue to distort American politics.Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, this week clung to his support for Trump and the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him – rhetoric that directly instigated the insurrection.Adam Kinzinger, a congressman from Illinois who was one of only 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in February for “incitement of insurrection”, challenged McCarthy. Kinzinger posted on Twitter a clip of Fanone on CNN, along with the barbed comment that he was curious whether the Republican leader had “an opinion about this interview”.Fanone was among a cordon of District of Columbia and Capitol police who were defending the edifice, where members of Congress were in session in both chambers, when Trump supporters ran amok.Photos from 6 January show the officer entirely surrounded by protesters lunging at him with wooden clubs.A video also captured him being pulled out of the building by the rioters and dragged down stairs.“I thought it was a distinct possibility I would die,” he told Lemon. “They started attacking me from all directions. Guys ripped my badge off, ripped my radio off, started grabbing at my firearm. It was overwhelming.” More

‘It’s a blessing not to cringe every morning when I look at the news’He’s far better than I expected on his domestic policies. If he can get the Senate to get rid of the filibuster, he’ll probably do a lot more. His foreign policy team is hawkish, dragging their feet in regards to Iran and truly reactionary regarding Latin America. But compared to Trump even that looks good. It is truly a blessing not to cringe every morning when I look at the news and don’t see 45 [Trump, the 45th president] still in charge of the US. Chip Hollister, 73, retired psychologist, Pennsylvania, Green party‘I’m dumbfounded (in a good way) by how much this president has taken on in such a short time’I’m dumbfounded, in a good way, by how much this president has taken on in such a short time. Managing the pandemic and vaccine rollout, historic fiscal stimulus intended to lift people out of poverty, urgent initiatives to address climate change, sweeping infrastructure investment, dismantling systemic racism … Any one of these might absorb the attention and energy of an entire four-year term.That this president is tackling and prioritizing all of these issues at once, and within mere months of taking office, is astounding. I’m exhausted for President Biden and his team. And worried. But also hopeful. His unflagging optimism, perseverance and spirit, even after decades in politics and enduring partisan divisions, render him the rarest sort of civil servant: an inspiring one. Tara Chhabra, 47, HR manager, New York, Democrat‘The major flaws thus far have been refusing to cut our “defense” establishment and failure to mitigate inhumane treatment of refugees’He’s doing so much better than I expected on domestic matters. I’m impressed by the Covid, infrastructure and poverty relief initiatives. He’s even dared to mention the unmentionable – we need to reform our tax structure above all else. Biden speaks firmly, though with a moderate tone and presence. On the national front, this is the best news our country has had for 40+ years. I think whatever happened between him and Bernie Sanders has had some effect on current policies.Leaving Afghanistan (or mostly leaving it) is great. However, the major flaws thus far have been in refusing to cut our bloated and far too powerful ‘defense’ (aggressive) establishment, and the failure to mitigate the inhumane treatment of refugees. My own view is that the US can work toward helping social democratic/populist governments to survive in Central America, so that those seeking refuge will be able to remain at home. Florence S Boos, 77, university professor, Iowa, Green/Democrat/Bernie wing‘Biden has done nothing to support Americans who have lost their jobs, homes and cars’He’s just a puppet. He’s not running the country; he’s just being told what to do and what to say. I’m a third-generation immigrant from Italy, and right now the borders are ridiculous – putting immigrants in hotels while we have so many Americans living on the street. I’m sorry their countries are so unlivable, but their governments allowed it to happen. The teachers’ union is preventing our children from returning to the classroom, when unions are an item of the past. Then there’s electric cars, which the average person cannot afford because of their price. Gas prices are out of line too because he has canceled new production of fuel. So many Americans are without great-paying jobs now, losing their homes, and cars and Biden has done nothing to support them. Anonymous, 68, retired, Indiana, Republican‘As a reluctant voter I have been pleasantly surprised’As a reluctant voter for Biden as president, I have wondered why, yet again, I can only vote against the worst of two bad choices, rather than for a candidate that represents my values. Viewing Biden as a dinosaur who was overdue for retirement, I have been pleasantly surprised on a daily basis by his hard work, his evident commitment to listen to others and to act on what he hears from them, and by his willingness to challenge some of the many US shibboleths that have remained untouchable for far too long.My main concern is whether he may take Obama’s path of seeking bipartisan support when there is none to be had, and my main hope is that he will pursue his publicly stated agenda and eliminate the Senate filibuster in order to succeed. Dr Philip V Hull, 58, psychologist, California‘He is often stuck on needless compromise’Biden has led as well as a president can during this crisis, and his administration seems mostly capable of helping our nation find its way back to 2016. It seems evident, however, that Biden does not know how capable he is of doing this, and too often is stuck on needless compromise with the very conservatives the people resoundingly voted out last year. Charlie, 17, student, Virginia, Democrat‘We have a deeply unequal and broken society – Biden is not capable of fixing that’It’s fair to say that he has exceeded expectations. I thought I would get the vaccine in the summer but I got my first dose on 12 April. The American Rescue Plan was also a huge help for the economic crisis brought by the pandemic, and it is the first time since the Great Society that the federal government has substantively combatted poverty and inequality. I was feeling much worse before he was elected, but this is still a nation with very little hope, especially for the young. Inflated tuition and a difficult job market mean that the way forward is not clear at all.We all still struggle under a deeply unequal and broken society. Biden is not capable of fixing that. Even if he finds success against the immediate crises we face, there is still a much deeper malaise infecting the nation. One that has destroyed the American dream for everyone but the rich. I’m glad he’s president, but America needs someone with a vision for the nation on par with Franklin D Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson. Still, Biden’s success in his first 100 days may pave the road for someone transformative. We all wait for that day. Paul Arango, 21, unemployed, New York, Democrat‘His immigration policy is too Trump-like’I am disappointed that Biden has not reversed more of Trump’s policies, like increased sanctions on Iran, and the cutoff of Obama relations with Cuba. His immigration policy is also too Trump-like; parents and relatives should be reunited with children, then monitored. Instead of restoring the corporate tax rate to 35%, he wants only to raise it to 28%. Biden’s economic policies are good, but temporary, when many need to be made permanent while we still have a majority in Congress.Biden has condemned Medicare for All, which is absolutely necessary. I support most of the policies advocated by Bernie Sanders, and wish he were president, but he is playing a very important role as head of the budget committee. Dr Kegel, 73, retired clinical psychologist, Illinois, usually votes Democrat, but not a supporter of the mainstream party‘Refreshing and hopeful’I am happy to be able to breathe again. I no longer wake up afraid of what has been inferred, threatened or stated on Twitter. I find his encouragement of responsibility, sympathy for those impacted by disaster and solemn commitment to climate change refreshing and hopeful. These were things generally expected from a sitting president in the past. They have now become precious pearls of unexpected maturity. The bar had been set so low, that anything above it would seem like a cause for celebration. I think President Biden has much to correct and a big job ahead of him but I am encouraged that we will regain the trust of our world partners and address global problems with respect and maturity.For me personally, my healthcare coverage feels stabilized and the cover offered is better as a result of Biden’s commitment to improving the existing program. Stock markets are stable and the housing market is booming. If nothing else, the last four years have taught me to pay attention. Voting is crucial and holding elected officials to task is important. I will never be that lazy again. Sara Sally L, 63, artist, educator and writer, Kansas, former Republican, newly a Democrat More

The White House has introduced a sweeping $1.8tn plan that would invest billions in a national childcare program, universal preschool, tuition-free community college, health insurance subsidies and tax cuts for low- and middle-income workers.The American Families Plan, unveiled ahead of the president’s address to Congress, reflects many of Joe Biden’s campaign promises, and builds on his American Rescue Plan, which was the biggest expansion of the welfare state in decades. While the Rescue Plan was designed to bail the nation out of the depths of the coronavirus crisis – funding the $1,400 cheques that were sent to most Americans, and efforts to ramp up Covid-19 vaccinations – the plan unveiled on Wednesday aims to reshape the economy’s social infrastructure.The vision would be funded by rolling back Trump-era tax cuts, raising the capital gains rate for millionaires and billionaires, and closing tax loopholes for the wealthy, senior administration officials said in a call with members of the media.If the plan passes, about $300bn would be dedicated to funding education, $225bn would go toward childcare and another $225bn toward subsidizing paid family leave. The program reflects progressive ideas, including a national family leave program, which have only recently been adopted by mainstream Democratic lawmakers. The US is the only wealthy nation that does not have a federal policy for paid maternity leave, and is one of a very small group of wealthier countries that do not provide for paid paternity leave.During a press briefing last week, Brian Deese, a senior adviser to the president, said the plan “will provide critical support for children and families and, in – by doing so, critical support for our economy by boosting labor force participation and future economic competitiveness”.The plan excludes some provisions that leading Democrats, including the progressive senator Bernie Sanders and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, have pushed for, including reductions to consumer and government spending on prescriptions and an expansion to the eligibility criteria for Medicare, the government-run healthcare program.Administration officials did not clarify why those provisions were excluded from the plan, though they said that the president has a plan to address drug prices and Medicare eligibility.Republican lawmakers, who have staunchly opposed Biden’s spending proposals despite their broad popularity among both Democratic and Republican voters, are likely to bristle at this latest development. The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, who was unable to block the passage of the American Rescue Plan, this month vowed to fight Biden’s $2tn infrastructure plan “every step of the way”.Central to their opposition are Biden’s plans to increase taxes on the wealthy to fund investments in infrastructure, education and healthcare – a tactic that would unravel the Republicans’ crowning achievement during the Trump administration: the sweeping tax cuts passed in 2017.But Democrats don’t need bipartisan support. Although most bills must surpass 60 votes in the Senate, Democrats are able to pass budget-related measures with just 51 votes through a process called reconciliation. With representation in the chamber split 50-50 between parties, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, serves as a tie-breaking vote. More

Sign up for the Guardian’s First Thing newsletterAt a major summit hosted by Joe Biden last week, a procession of world leaders fretted over the spiraling dangers of the climate crisis, with some pledging further cuts to planet-heating emissions, others touting their embrace of electric cars and a few vowing the end of coal.In the US, however, Biden’s political opponents were focused on one pressing matter – meat.“Bye, bye burgers” screamed an on-screen graphic on Fox News, which ran the false claim that the US president would tyrannically allow Americans to devour just one burger a month. Larry Kudlow, a former economic adviser to Donald Trump now Fox Business host, baselessly envisioned Fourth of July celebrations where people would only be allowed to “throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts” on the barbecue.Prominent Republicans seized upon the supposed Biden climate diktat – which does not exist. The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, retweeted a claim of a 4lb-a-year meat allocation with the comment: “Not gonna happen in Texas!” The far-right conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican representative, called Biden the “Hamburglar” while Garret Graves, ostensibly a more moderate House Republican, said the president’s plan amounted to “dictatorship”.The unfounded claims, which appear to have somehow sprouted from a University of Michigan study on the impact of meat eating, do not reflect Biden’s actual proposals to tackle global heating, which make no mention of personal meat consumption. But they have dealt a hefty blow to Republicans’ latest efforts to present themselves as committed to taking on the climate crisis.A week prior to the White House climate summit, Republicans released what they framed as a sensible, market-based alternative to Biden’s climate plan. “Democrats often dismiss Republicans as disinterested in address global climate change – this is just false,” said Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader. McCarthy said that Republicans have been “working for years to develop thoughtful, targeted legislation” to reduce emissions that, unlike Democratic proposals, “won’t kill American jobs”.Cognizant of growing voter alarm over the climate crisis – a majority of Republican voters now support the regulation of carbon dioxide – McCarthy has brushed aside the objections of some colleagues to recast the party’s beleaguered environmental reputation by promoting various tax breaks for renewable energy, making it easier to import minerals for clean technology and supporting a push to plant one trillion trees around the world.Critics, however, say the proposals are wildly inadequate to avoid disastrous global heating, which scientists say must involve sharply cutting emissions this decade before reaching net zero by the middle of the century. In lieu of any mention of phasing out fossil fuels – the primary cause of the climate crisis – the Republican plan instead calls for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, an oil project halted by Biden.“Getting to net zero requires extraordinary and sustained effort across all of society, not just the federal government, so you can’t just take a piecemeal approach like this, clap your hands and say, ‘We’re done here’,” said Nate Hultman, an expert in public policy at University of Maryland who helped draw up emissions reduction targets for Barack Obama’s administration. “This is a sort of mishmash of proposals, not a comprehensive strategy. I just don’t see how you get to a 50% cut by 2030 or to net zero with this.”Neither McCarthy’s office nor Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES), a conservative group that created a website for the plan, responded to questions on what emissions reductions the assorted proposals would achieve. Last week, Heather Reams, executive director of CRES, accused Biden of “radically impacting our already battered economy” by promising to cut US emissions in half by the end of the decade.During Trump’s presidency, Republicans laid siege to various climate regulations, largely backed his decision to remove the US from the Paris climate accords and acquiesced as the president repeatedly mocked climate science. Despite moves by some younger, more moderate conservatives to prod the party to respond to the increasingly severe wildfires, storms and heatwaves strafing the US, the party’s rhetoric has barely shifted following Trump’s election loss, according to Robert Brulle, a visiting professor of the environment and society at Brown University.“These guys need to get a new PR agency, it’s like they are talking about climate change in the 1990s,” said Brulle. “It’s just recycled arguments from the past or, on the meat thing, just outright lies. These arguments may have worked in the past to delay climate action but it’s so exhausted now. It’s different day, same old shit.”Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State, said it was pleasing to see most Republicans shift away from outright denial of climate science but that a “new climate war” was opening up involving “reassuring sounding but empty rhetoric” to stymie regulations to reduce emissions.“They have the same intent as outright denial – to keep us addicted to fossil fuels as long as possible so that fossil fuel interests, who now have such great influence over the Republican party, can continue to make trillions of dollar profits, at our collective expense,” Mann said.Last week’s climate summit, which featured more than 40 world leaders, offered a stark illustration of the extreme position Republicans now find themselves in the global political landscape.During the virtual gathering, even leaders considered climate villains by environmentalists called for greater action on global heating, with Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, warning the “fate of our entire planet, the development prospects of each country, the well-being and quality of life of people largely depend on the success of these efforts” to reduce emissions.“The GOP is an extraordinary outlier in the political spectrum around the world, they have backed themselves into a political and rhetorical cul de sac,” said Brulle.“They are stuck in a really bad position that no other major political party in the world is in. Climate obstructionism is now a core part of Republican creed, much like opposition to abortion and gun control. As long as they remain competitive in elections I don’t see that changing.” More

Sign up for the Guardian’s Fight to Vote newsletterThe most urgent crisis facing the US during the first 100 days of Joe Biden’s presidency has been a ticking time bomb that has unfolded far from the White House and the halls of Congress.It’s an emergency that has unfolded in state capitols across America, where lawmakers have taken up an unprecedented effort to make it harder to vote. Even as attacks on voting rights have escalated in recent years, the Republican effort since January marks a new, more dangerous phase for American democracy, experts say.From the moment Biden was elected, Republicans have waged an unprecedented effort to undermine confidence in the results in the election, thrusting the foundation of American democracy to the center of American politics.An alarming peak in that effort came on 6 January, when Republican lies about the election fomented the attack on the US capitol and several GOP senators tried to block certification of the electoral college vote.Biden was inaugurated on 20 January, but the Republican project to undermine the vote has only grown since then. The effort has been staggering not only in its volume – more than 360 bills with voting restrictions have been introduced so far – but also in its scope.Republicans in states like Georgia, Florida and Michigan have taken aim at mail in voting with measures that require voters to provide identification information with their mail in ballot application or ballot (in some cases both). They’ve sought to limit access to mail-in ballot drop boxes, even though they were extremely popular for voters in 2020 and there’s no evidence they were connected to malfeasance.The GOP’s strategy of voter suppression and voter repression is so out in the openTexas Republicans are advancing legislation that would criminalize minor voting mistakes and give partisan poll watchers the ability to record people at the polls. In Georgia and Arkansas, new legislation makes it illegal to provide food or water to people waiting in line to vote. In Michigan, one Republican proposal would even go so far as to block the state’s top election official from providing a link to an absentee ballot application on a state government website.“The GOP’s strategy of voter suppression and voter repression is so out in the open,” said Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who served as the lead impeachment manager during Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. “There used to be some formal, bipartisan agreement that everyone really should have the right to vote and that’s a fundamental value. That is gone right now.”This attack on ballot access has been akin to a toxic undercurrent running underneath Biden’s first few months in office, eroding away at the country’s democratic foundations. Left unchecked, it will likely not only set the stage for Republicans to retake control of the US House in 2022, but also allow the Republican party to hold on to its political power by shutting a rapidly diversifying electorate out from the ballot box.Usually when a political party suffers a defeat like the one Republicans did in 2020, they spend time trying to figure out how to appeal to more voters, said Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic senator from Minnesota.Instead, Klobuchar said, Republicans are trying to shut out those who disagree with them. She pointed to Georgia, where Republicans responded to the first Democratic statewide wins in decades by passing a sweeping new voting restrictions, as a clear crystallization of this effort.“That’s why I think it’s in such acute focus right now. It’s like in technicolor,” she said. “It is a raw exercise of political power.”The constitution gives the US president little unilateral power over voting laws, a power explicitly given to the states, but Biden has done just about all he can to act alone against these efforts. On the day he was inaugurated, he halted a Trump administration effort to try and use the census to limit non-citizen representation. He has used the power of the power of his bully pulpit to unsparingly criticize the measures (“Jim Crow in the 21st century” is how he described Georgia’s voting measure).In March, he issued a relatively modest, but potentially significant executive order, directing federal agencies to expand voting access. He has created a senior-level White House role focused on voting rights tapped two longtime civil rights lawyers with an expertise in voting rights to top roles at the justice department, which is responsible for enforcing some of the nation’s top voting rights laws.Beyond that, Biden and Democrats in Washington have been unable to do much.That’s largely because of the filibuster, a procedural rule in the US Senate that requires 60 votes to advance legislation. Democrats do not have enough votes to eliminate the filibuster, and it’s currently blocking a bill that would block many of the restrictions advancing at the state level and dramatically expand access to the ballot, including national requirements for same-day, automatic and online registration.This is really an existential crisis. It’s a 5-alarm fireThe filibuster also threatens a Democratic effort to pass a new version of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that would implement a new formula requiring certain states to get voting changes approved by the federal government before they go into effect.“This is really an existential crisis. It’s a 5-alarm fire. But I’m not sure it’s quite sunk in for members of the United States Senate or the Democratic party writ large,” said Amanda Litman, the executive director of Run for Something, which seeks to recruit candidates for state legislative races.Litman added: “If the Senate does not kill the filibuster and pass voting rights reforms … Democrats are going to lose control of the House and likely the senate forever. You don’t put these worms back into a can. You can’t undo this quite easily.”When Biden was first inaugurated, he made it clear he did not favor getting rid of the filibuster. But in March, he tweaked his position, saying he supported reforming the process so that senators would actually have to speak on the floor in order to hold up the legislation. Some other Democrats have suggested a carve-out to the filibuster for democracy in voting rights legislation.Still, Democrats don’t appear to have enough support to do that. A small group of Democratic senators, led by Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, refuse to budge on changing the filibuster, saying it’s a necessary tool to protect input of the minority. It’s not yet clear how Democrats might persuade them to change their minds, or if they can be swayed at all.Jim Clyburn, one of the top Democrats in the US House of Representatives, has been even blunter in his warnings about the cost of preserving the filibuster, repeatedly calling out Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Synema, two Democrats who have been staunch defenders of the filibuster.“If Manchin and Sinema enjoy being in the majority, they had better figure out a way to get around the filibuster when it comes to voting and civil rights,” he told the Guardian in March.There is increasing urgency for Democrats to resolve their filibuster problem. Later this year, state lawmakers will begin the once a decade redistricting process, which Republicans are extremely well positioned to control. GOP lawmakers are likely to aggressively manipulate congressional and state legislative districts by grouping GOP-friendly voters into certain districts and spreading Democratic voters among others. The process could eliminate the Democratic majority in the House and make it harder for Democrats to get elected to state legislative seats. The Democratic voting rights bills in Congress would implement new safeguards to prevent egregious manipulation in drawing districts.Klobuchar, whose committee is currently weighing the voting rights bill, pledged that the bill would come to the floor of the Senate for a vote. She said it was important to her to keep the bill together as a single package – some observers have suggested breaking it up – and wouldn’t let the filibuster block the measure.“This is our very democracy that’s at stake,” she said. “One of my jobs is to make very clear why we’re doing this…That’s why voting works. That’s how people exercise their right to give their views to their elected officials. Once you start messing with that, you lose a democracy. So I’m not gonna let some old senate rule get in the way of that.”Raskin, the Democratic congressman, said it had been “sobering and demoralizing” to see legislation to protect voting rights stall in Congress.“There is a sense that Mitch McConnell essentially spoke for the whole Republican party when he said during the Obama years that they had one overriding objective, which was to thwart Obama’s success in office,” he said. “And it seems like the one overarching objective they have now is to thwart Biden’s success and to blockade voting by people they think won’t vote for them.” More

Arizona’s governor has signed a sweeping anti-abortion bill that bans the procedure if the woman is seeking it solely because a fetus has a genetic abnormality such as Down’s syndrome.Doctors who perform an abortion solely because the child has a survivable genetic issue can face felony charges. The proposal also contains a raft of other provisions sought by abortion opponents.The measure passed the Republican-controlled legislature on party-line votes over unanimous opposition from minority Democrats. Doug Ducey, a Republican, is an abortion opponent who has never vetoed a piece of anti-abortion legislation.The abortion bill as originally written made it a felony for a doctor to perform the procedure because the fetus has a genetic abnormality such as Down’s syndrome, and contained a slew of other provisions, including one that confers all civil rights to unborn children. Democrats call that “personhood” provision a backdoor way to allow criminal charges against a woman who has an abortion.In addition to the ban on abortions for genetic abnormalities and the “personhood” provision, the bill bans mail delivery of abortion-inducing medication, allows the father or maternal grandparents of a fetus aborted because of a genetic issue to sue, and bans the spending of any state money toward organizations that provide abortion care.The measure also requires fetal remains to be buried or cremated, and it forbids state universities from providing abortion care.The measure was a top priority for the social conservative group Center for Arizona Policy. Its president, Cathi Herrod, routinely backs anti-abortion bills in the legislature. National anti-abortion groups hailed its passage.Minutes after the governor acted, Herrod sent out a news release with the subject line “Life Wins!”Pro-choice groups had rallied at the Capitol on Monday, urging Ducey to veto the measure and presenting him with petitions signed by opponents of the bill.Democrats lamented the governor’s action, including representative Diego Espinoza of Tolleson.“Governor Ducey’s decision to sign SB1457 is not pro-life. It is anti-families, anti-woman, and anti-doctor,” Espinoza tweeted. “I’m disappointed to see Arizona moving in this direction, ignoring the needs and desires of doctors, women, and families for an extreme political agenda.”Republican-controlled legislatures in Arizona and several other states – emboldened by the possibility that a more conservative US supreme court could overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision that found women have a constitutional right to seek an abortion – have embraced proposals this year that could completely ban abortion. An Arizona proposal doing that, however, has not advanced. More

Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors, providing a pay bump to hundreds of thousands of workers.Biden administration officials said that the higher wages would lead to greater worker productivity, offsetting any additional costs to taxpayers.“This executive order will promote economy and efficiency in federal contracting, providing value for taxpayers by enhancing worker productivity and generating higher-quality work by boosting workers’ health, morale and effort,” the White House said in a statement.Biden has pushed to establish a $15 hourly minimum wage nationwide for all workers, making it a part of his coronavirus relief package. But the Senate parliamentarian said the wage hike did not follow the budgetary rules that allowed the $1.9tn plan to pass with a simple majority, so it was not included in the bill that became law in March.The liberal Economic Policy Institute estimates that as many as 390,000 low-wage federal contractors would receive a raise, with roughly half of the beneficiaries being Black or Hispanic workers. There are an estimated 5 million contract workers in the federal government, according to a posting last year for the Brookings Institution by Paul Light, a public policy professor at New York University.Sylvia Walker, a federal contract worker at Maximus, which operates call centers for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, called the executive order an “important first step”.“We’ve fought hard for fair pay and better working conditions, and we are thankful Biden’s administration has heard our call to action,” Walker said.The increase could be dramatic for workers who earn the current minimum of $10.95 an hour. Those workers would receive a 37% pay hike, though the increase would be rolled out gradually, according to the terms of the order.The White House said the workers would include cleaning professionals and maintenance workers, nursing assistants who care for veterans, cafeteria workers providing for the military and laborers who build and repair federal infrastructure.All federal agencies would need to include the higher wage in new contract offerings by 30 January of next year. By 30 March, agencies would need to implement the higher wage into new contracts. The increase would also be in existing contracts that are extended.The wage would be indexed to inflation, so it would automatically increase with each year to reflect changes in prices. The tipped minimum wage of $7.65 an hour for federal contractors would be replaced by the standard minimum by 2024.Congress has not raised the federal minimum wage for all workers – $7.25 an hour – since 2007, despite opinion polls showing Americans overwhelmingly favor an increase.“Change is possible. We urge Congress to follow President Biden’s courageous leadership and make sure all workers – not just federally contracted workers – are given the same opportunity to thrive by passing the Raise the Wage Act,” said Saru Jayaraman, the president of One Fair Wage, a national nonprofit that advocates on behalf of tipped workers. More

Key events

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5.43pm EDT
17:43

Interior Department reverses Trump-era policies on tribal land

5.15pm EDT
17:15

Today so far

5.02pm EDT
17:02

Biden raises minimum wage for workers paid by federal contractors

4.26pm EDT
16:26

Governor calls for special prosecutor in Andrew Brown case

4.07pm EDT
16:07

Texas sheriff who criticized Trump is nominated to head Ice

2.33pm EDT
14:33

Interim summary

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‘Do not let up now’ – Biden

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5.43pm EDT
17:43

Interior Department reverses Trump-era policies on tribal land

The US Interior Department has reversed Trump-era policies governing Native American tribes’ ability to establish and consolidate land trusts.
The department restored jurisdiction to the regional Bureau of Indian Affairs directors to review and approve the transfer of private land into federal trust for tribes. The Trump administration had moved the oversight of the process to the department headquarters.
“Qe have an obligation to work with Tribes to protect their lands and ensure that each Tribe has a homeland where its citizens can live together and lead safe and fulfilling lives,” said Deb Haaland, the first Native American woman to lead the department. “Our actions today will help us meet that obligation and will help empower Tribes to determine how their lands are used – from conservation to economic development projects.”
The agency also reversed several Trump admin rules that hindered or complicated the process for putting land into trust.
The AP explains:

Whether land is in trust has broad implications for whether tribal police can exercise their authority, for tribal economic development projects to attract financing and for the creation of homelands and government offices for tribes that don’t have dedicated land.
The Trump administration put 75,000 acre (30,300 hectares) into trust over four years, versus more than 560,000 acres (226,600 hectares) in the eight years of the Obama administration, Interior officials said.
The trust land system was adopted in 1934, when Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act in response to more than 90 million acres (36.4 million hectares) of tribal homelands that had been converted into private land under the 1887 Allotment Act.
Approximately 56 million acres (22.7 million hectares) are currently in trust. Combined that’s an area bigger than Minnesota and makes up just over 2 percent of the U.S.

5.28pm EDT
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Joe Biden and Jill Biden will visit former president Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter this week.
A day after the president delivers his address to Congress, the Bidens will make a trip to Georgia, where the Carters reside. The Carters, who are both in their 90s, did not attend Biden’s inauguration due to the pandemic. Now that they have both been vaccinated, they will be able to safely visit with the Bidens.
Biden will also likely hold some sort of drive-in event in Georgia to mark his 100th day in office, the White House has previously indicated.

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5.15pm EDT
17:15

Today so far

The blog will hand over from the US east coast to the west coast now, where our colleague Maanvi Singh is ready to take you through the next few hours of developing politics news. There’s plenty of it, so please stay tuned.
Main items so far today:

Joe Biden a little earlier signed an executive order raising the minimum wage paid by federal contractors to $15 an hour.
The US president plans to nominate Ed Gonzalez – a Texas sheriff who vocally opposed Donald Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their families – to become the head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, has called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to handle the investigation into the police shooting of Andrew Brown, a 42-year-old Black man, in the state last week.
Earlier this afternoon, Biden spoke outside the White House to hail progress towards ending the coronavirus pandemic, while warning that there was a long way to go. He said people in the US should not “let up” and should definitely get vaccinated ASAP as a patriotic duty.
This followed new advice from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that fully vaccinated people in US can go without masks outdoors except in crowded settings.

Updated
at 5.37pm EDT

5.02pm EDT
17:02

Biden raises minimum wage for workers paid by federal contractors

Joe Biden a little earlier signed an executive order raising the minimum wage paid by federal contractors to $15 an hour.

President Biden
(@POTUS)
I believe no one should work full time and still live in poverty. That’s why today, I raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour for people working on federal contracts.

April 27, 2021

The tweet and the sentiment didn’t go down terribly well with everyone.

LADY BUNNY
(@LADYBUNNY77)
So in other words, you mean that everyone who makes minimum wage who is not a federal employee should work full time and still live in poverty.

April 27, 2021

The $15 minimum is likely to take effect next year and increase the wages of hundreds of thousands of workers, according to a White House document.
The New York Times has a lot more on this, here, including this:

White House economists believe that the increase will not lead to significant job losses — a finding in line with recent research on the minimum wage — and that it is unlikely to cost taxpayers more money, two administration officials said in a call with reporters. They argued that the higher wage would lead to greater productivity and lower turnover.
And although the number of workers directly affected by the increase is small as a share of the economy, the administration contends that the executive order will indirectly raise wages beyond federal contractors by forcing other employers to bid up pay as they compete for workers.
Paul Light, an expert on the federal work force at New York University, recently estimated that about five million people are working on federal contracts, on which the government spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

Updated
at 5.10pm EDT

4.46pm EDT
16:46

When the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty a week ago today of murdering George Floyd last May, the judge in the case mentioned that sentencing was expected in eight weeks’ time.
So the sentencing hearing had been expected on 18 June, but news just emerged from a brief court filing today that it will now be scheduled for 25 June.
Chauvin is white and Floyd was Black and his murder, seen around the world on a bystander’s video as the officer kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes, fanned the largest civil rights uprising in the US since the 1960s.

The only reason cited for the later sentencing date was a scheduling conflict, the Associated Press reports.
The trial in the Hennepin county court house in downtown Minneapolis lasted three weeks before Chauvin was convicted on all three counts facing him.
Second degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years. That was the most serious charge, which Chauvin had denied, along with the other two charges, of third degree murder and manslaughter.
The AP adds that the longest sentence Chauvin is expected to be given, according to experts, is 30 years, maybe less.
The jury only deliberated for about 10 hours, over two days, before unanimously reaching its verdict.
Do watch the Guardian’s excellent film about the trial and reverberations.

Updated
at 5.01pm EDT

4.26pm EDT
16:26

Governor calls for special prosecutor in Andrew Brown case

Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, has called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to handle the investigation into the police shooting of Andrew Brown, a 42-year-old Black man, in the state last week.

Governor Roy Cooper
(@NC_Governor)
Gov. Cooper issued the following statement urging a special prosecutor following the Pasquotank County shooting: pic.twitter.com/6m5UqxyZ09

April 27, 2021

Cooper, a Democrat, put out a statement saying such an appointment would be “in the interest of justice and confidence in the judicial system”.
He said that: “This would help assure the community and Mr Brown’s family that a decision on pursuing criminal charges is conducted without bias.”
Demonstrators called this morning for p0lice officers to be arrested, after an independent autopsy arranged by the family concluded that Brown was killed with a bullet that entered the back of his head.
Attorneys for Brown’s family, who were shown only a 20-second clip of police body camera footage yesterday, said in a press conference in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, that the man’s hands were clearly placed on the steering wheel of his car, where police could see him, when they fired at him, and that he was driving away, presenting no threat.
The local North State Journal adds that:

Should the district attorney request a special prosecutor, the potential appointment could come from the North Carolina Attorney General’s Special Prosecution Division, the Administrative Office of the Courts, or the Conference of District Attorneys.
Cooper’s call follows the announcement of an FBI civil rights investigation into the shooting.

There will be a protest march tomorrow over the fatal shooting.

Kyleigh Panetta
(@KyleighPanetta)
HAPPENING NOW: Church members announced they will march from Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church tomorrow at 11:30 to the location where #AndrewBrownJr was shot & killed here in #ElizabethCity. They’re calling on people of all denominations to join them @SpecNews1RDU pic.twitter.com/4x7aWhzdxJ

April 27, 2021

Updated
at 4.33pm EDT

4.07pm EDT
16:07

Texas sheriff who criticized Trump is nominated to head Ice

Joe Biden plans to nominate Ed Gonzalez – a Texas sheriff who vocally opposed Donald Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their families – to a key post as the head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (Ice), the White House has announced.

Houston Chronicle
(@HoustonChron)
White House nominates Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez to lead ICE https://t.co/A5W3YP0SWI

April 27, 2021

Gonzalez is a Houston native and a veteran law enforcement officer and Democrat who has served since 2017 as sheriff of Harris county, the most populous county in Texas, Reuters reports.

In a July 2019 Facebook post, Gonzalez said he opposed sweeping immigration raids after Republican former president Donald Trump, a month earlier tweeted hyperbolically that ICE would begin deporting “millions of illegal aliens”.
“I do not support ICE raids that threaten to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom do not represent a threat to the US,” Gonzalez wrote. “The focus should always be on clear & immediate safety threats.”
The nomination would need to be approved by the US Senate, divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties.
Biden campaigned on a pledge to reverse many of Trump’s hardline immigration policies. After Biden took office on January 20, his administration placed a 100-day pause on many deportations and greatly limited who can be arrested and deported by ICE.
Biden’s deportation moratorium drew fierce pushback from Republicans and was blocked by a federal judge in Texas days after it went into effect.
Biden announced on April 12 that he would tap Chris Magnus, an Arizona police chief, to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Magnus had criticized the Trump administration’s attempt to force so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions to cooperate with federal law enforcement.
Gonzalez similarly sought to limit ties between local police and federal immigration enforcement. In 2017, he ended Harris County’s participation in a program that increased cooperation between county law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

Meagan Flynn
(@Meagan_Flynn)
Wow. Thinking back to when Ed Gonzalez was the new sheriff in town, having run on a reform-minded platform, and quickly made the call to terminate Harris County’s 287(g) partnership with ICE. Now the White House wants him to lead the agency, @nkhensley reports: https://t.co/B9R2YvCWvF

April 27, 2021

Here’s another view:

Stephanie Clay 🦋🏳️‍🌈🐝🛳
(@_StephanieClay)
Republicans will hate his nomination. That should tell you everything you need to know. Ed Gonzalez withdrew from the 287(g) collaboration program with ICE while he was sheriff of Harris County. Ed has fought ICE at every turn to protect Houstonians. https://t.co/RSn6kSFcOz

April 27, 2021

Updated
at 4.14pm EDT

3.32pm EDT
15:32

The White House is considering options for maximizing production and supply of Covid-19 vaccines for the world at the lowest cost, including backing a proposed waiver of intellectual property rights.
No decision has been made, press secretary Jen Psaki said a little earlier.
“There are a lot of different ways to do that. Right now, that’s one of the ways, but we have to assess what makes the most sense,” Psaki said, adding that US officials were also looking at whether it would be more effective to boost manufacturing in the United States.

3.07pm EDT
15:07

It’s been incredibly difficult to cope with assessing the Oscars ceremony without the help of Donald Trump, so fortunately the former president has glided back into our lives for a moment to fill that void.
Here comes a statement from Trump’s office. It speaks for itself.
Statement by Donald J Trump, 45th president of the United States of America

What used to be called The Academy Awards, and now is called the “Oscars”—a far less important and elegant name—had the lowest Television Ratings in recorded history, even much lower than last year, which set another record low. If they keep with the current ridiculous formula, it will only get worse—if that’s possible. Go back 15 years, look at the formula they then used, change the name back to THE ACADEMY AWARDS, don’t be so politically correct and boring, and do it right. ALSO, BRING BACK A GREAT HOST. These television people spend all their time thinking about how to promote the Democrat Party, which is destroying our Country, and cancel Conservatives and Republicans. That formula certainly hasn’t worked very well for The Academy!”

So that clears that up. More