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Fight to vote: Biden moves to fix US census less than 24 hours after taking office
Happy Thursday,After an inauguration in which Amanda Gorman left America breathless with her poetry, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez sparkled, and Bernie Sanders, well, was Bernie Sanders, today is the first full day of Joe Biden’s presidency.Moving forward from an election in which there was record turnout and Republicans made a deliberate and concerted effort to overturn the results, voting rights are set to be a major agenda item for Democrats as they take control of the federal government. There are already efforts percolating in some states to make it harder to vote. And less than 24 hours after he took office, Biden took action on one major item.Fixing the censusOn Wednesday, the president signed an executive order blocking the Census Bureau from excluding undocumented immigrants from the apportionment data used to determine how many seats in Congress each state gets. The move essentially ends a years-long effort by the Trump administration to get the Census Bureau to collect citizenship data that states could in turn use to diminish the political power of immigrants. The United States has long followed the constitutional mandate to apportion seats based on “the whole numbers of persons in each state”, and civil rights groups aggressively challenged the measure in court.“I thunderously applaud the Biden administration’s action on day one to rescind the Trump’s administration’s directive to compile data on non-citizens for partisan purposes. While legal challenges and logistical challenges never allowed the directive to have its effect, it marred the 2020 census,” said Arturo Vargas, CEO of the Naleo educational fund.As NPR noted, Biden’s order does not address separate instructions from Wilbur Ross, the former commerce secretary, ordering the Census Bureau to produce block level citizenship data states could use for redistricting if they want. Drawing districts based only on the voting eligible population, not all voters, “would be advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites,” a top GOP redistricting strategist wrote in 2015.Meanwhile, on Capitol HillChuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, announced on Tuesday that they would push ahead with legislation with a slew of significant voting reforms that would amount to the most dramatic overhaul of America’s election laws in decades.From a violent insurrection to countless attempts to suppress votes:Attacks on democracy have come in many forms.The first bill the @SenateDems majority will introduce will be the #ForThePeople Act to renew democracy, end big money in politics, and tackle corruption. #S1— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 19, 2021
Among other provisions, the legislation, which passed the US House in 2019, would:Require early voting and same-day registration for federal elections.
Require states to automatically register voters who interact with certain state agencies and place limits on how aggressively states can remove voters from the rolls
Require states to set up independent commissions to draw congressional districts, reducing the potential for excessive partisan gerrymandering.
Democrats are also expected to pursue separate legislation to restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that required places with a history with voting discrimination to pre-clear voting changes before they go into effect.But as things stand right now, Democrats won’t be able to pass either bill unless they can get 10 Republicans to sign on and overcome a Senate filibuster, a procedural move that can be used to hold up legislation.Also worth watching …More than a dozen civil rights groups in Georgia called for the resignation of a Republican election official in Gwinnett county, a battleground outside Atlanta that has shifted Democratic in recent years. Alice O’Lenick is currently serving as the chair of the elections board in Gwinnett county and recently called for Republicans to change voting laws in the state so “we at least have a shot at winning”, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
After the 2020 election, Ohio removed nearly 98,000 voters from its rolls as part of its regular process to keep voter information up to date, according to Cleveland.com. But what struck me about the story is that there were initially more than 115,000 people set to be removed, but more than 10,000 people prevented themselves from being purged by voting in November. That means there were at least 10,000 eligible voters who the state nearly purged erroneously. While the Ohio secretary of state, Frank LaRose, a Republican, has earned praise for publishing the list of people set to be purged before they are removed, such a high error rate suggests that Ohio’s process for flagging ineligible voters is prone to mistakes and could disenfranchise voters. More - in Elections
Coronavirus: Joe Biden to sign executive actions aimed at ending pandemic
Sign up for the Guardian’s First Thing newsletterJoe Biden is planning to sign another set of executive actions on Thursday, his first full day in the White House, aimed at making good on his plans to utilize the might of the federal government to end the coronavirus pandemic.His administration plans a coordinated federal coronavirus response aimed at restoring trust in the government and focused on boosting vaccines, increasing testing, reopening schools and addressing inequalities thrown up by the disease.“We can and will beat Covid-19. America deserves a response to the Covid-19 pandemic that is driven by science, data and public health – not politics,” the White House said in a statement outlining the administration’s national strategy on Covid-19 response and pandemic preparedness.The administration’s new strategy is based around seven major goals: restoring public trust in government efforts, getting more vaccine doses into more arms, mitigating the spread – including mask mandates – emergency economic relief, a strategy to get schools and workers functioning again, establishing an equity taskforce to address disparities in suffering involving issues of race, ethnicity and geography, and preparing for future threats.Biden has pledged to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days and reverse the impact of a year of mismanaged response under Donald Trump that saw more than 400,000 people die and more than 24 million infected – by far the worst rates in the world.More than 4,200 people died of coronavirus in the US on Wednesday, the second highest daily total of an outbreak that had its first confirmed case exactly a year ago.But his raft of executive orders is set to go far beyond just boosting vaccination efforts.The US president plans to re-engage with the World Health Organization, a reversal from the Trump administration’s move to cut ties during the pandemic and the new president is also starting a White House Covid-19 response team.Anthony Fauci, the key public health official dealing with the pandemic for the Trump administration and now for Biden’s, made a speech to the World Health Organization pre-dawn on Thursday after being chosen to head the US delegation to the global health group in one of the first acts of the Biden presidency.Fauci said letters had been delivered to the group to formally retract the process of US withdrawal from the WHO that Trump had announced last May after declaring it was too “China-centric” and disproportionately funded by the US to no benefit.“I am honored to announce the US will remain a member of the WHO. The US also intends to fulfill its financial obligations to the organization,” Fauci said.In a TV interview on Thursday morning, Fauci said “it was really a very good day” as the US recommitted to the WHO, disengagement from which, he said other countries and health officials in the US alike had found “very disconcerting”.He said he was “fairly confident” that the US could reach its 100-day vaccinations goal.The Biden administration plans to partner with states and local governments to set up community vaccination centers at stadiums, gymnasiums and conference centers.The administration will staff these sites with personnel from federal agencies as well as first responders and medical personnel serving in the military. The government also plans to partner with federally qualified health centers to help reach undeserved communities to distribute vaccines and mobile clinics will also be set up.In order to further distribute vaccine doses, the Biden administration plans to discontinue the Trump administration’s policy of “holding back significant levels of doses”. More states will also be urged by the Biden administration to encourage vaccinations.Biden plans to issue an executive order setting up a Covid-19 pandemic testing board. The idea is for the board to offer a “clear, unified approach to testing”, according to Biden administration officials.Biden will sign another executive order to make testing for the virus free for Americans who don’t have health coverage and offer ways some of the most vulnerable Americans can get help.On traveling, Biden will sign an executive order requiring people to wear a mask on trains, airplanes and maritime vessels. Another executive order Biden plans to sign will require the departments of education and health and human services to give guidance on safely reopening schools.Biden also will release a presidential memorandum utilizing the Fema disaster relief fund for providing reimbursement for personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning and costs needed to safely reopen schools.The Biden administration is also looking to fix supply shortfalls. Another executive order Biden plans to sign will direct federal agencies to fulfil supply shortfalls using the Defense Production Act.The Trump administration refrained from fully coordinating with the Biden transition team over the last few months so the new Biden administration is taking steps to uncover unexpected shortfalls or low stores of supplies for combating the pandemic. Another memorandum the president will issue will order Fema to reimburse states for the costs of emergency supplies and national guard personnel involved in fighting Covid-19.The batch of executive orders will also include a few meant to help people of color in particular. One will set up the Covid-19 health equity taskforce. Yet another executive order meant to “enhance the collection sharing and analysis of data to support an equitable Covid-19 response recovery”. The administration plans to release data it acquires on progress on vaccinations and other pertinent information on fighting the vaccine. More
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Biden and Harris get to work: Politics Weekly Extra – podcast
It was a day that many had waited a long time for. Jonathan Freedland and Richard Wolffe break down what happened on inauguration day 2021, as Donald Trump fled to Florida, and Joe Biden signed 17 executive orders, overturning much of the work of his predecessor
How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know
Mere hours after Joe Biden took the oath of office, he had signed 17 executive orders undoing some of the work of his predecessor, Donald Trump. Trump fled Washington DC for Mar-a-Lago, setting the stage for an inauguration ceremony filled with words of hope and unity that had been missing for four years. Jonathan and Richard run through the events of Wednesday, marking its importance in history along the way. Send us your questions and feedback to podcasts@theguardian.com Help support the Guardian by going to gu.com/supportpodcasts More
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Joe Biden marks start of presidency with flurry of executive orders
Sign up for the Guardian’s First Thing newsletterJoe Biden has marked the start of his presidency by signing a flurry of executive orders on a suite of issues, including Covid-19, the environment, immigration and ethics.Some of the executive actions undo significant actions from Donald Trump’s administration, including halting the travel ban from Muslim-majority countries, and ending the declaration of a national emergency used to justify funding construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border.He also signed an order allowing the United States to rejoin the Paris climate agreement and end the Trump administration’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census data used to determine how many seats in Congress each state gets.The president also moved quickly to address Covid-19, signing orders to mandate mask wearing and social distancing in federal buildings and lands and to create a position of a Covid-19 response coordinator.In other moves, Biden also revoked the permit granted for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline and instructed all executive agencies to review executive actions that were “damaging to the environment, [or] unsupported by the best available science”. Biden also ordered all executive branch employees to sign an ethics pledge and placed limits on their ability to lobby the government while he is in office. The new president also ordered federal agencies to review equity in their existing policies and come up with a plan in 200 days to address inequality in them.On his first day in office, Biden signed 17 executive actions – 15 will be executive orders.As he began signing the orders, Biden, wearing a mask and seated behind the resolute desk said: “I think some of the things we’re going to be doing are bold and vital, and there’s no time to start like today.”It’s not unusual for an incoming president to take executive action immediately after being sworn into office, a move meant to show the nation that the newly inaugurated president is getting to work. But the breadth and volume of Biden’s immediate executive orders underscore how quickly the new president intends to move in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and turning the page from the Trump administration.“These executive actions will make an immediate impact in the lives of so many people in desperate need of help,” Wade Henderson, the interim president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement. “Reversing Trump’s deeply discriminatory Muslim ban, addressing the Covid-19 crisis, preventing evictions and foreclosures, and advancing equity and support for communities of color and other underserved communities are significant early actions that represent an important first step in charting a new direction for our country.”The flurry of activity from Biden came on the same day that Democrats formally took control of the US Senate as the Rev Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were formally sworn in as the two senators from Georgia. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senator from New York, is now the Senate majority leader, while Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, is now the minority leader.Speaking from the Senate floor Schumer was momentarily breathless, saying: “We have turned the page to a new chapter in the history of our democracy and I am full of hope.”McConnell, in his first remarks as the minority leader, also focused on a message of unity.“Our country deserves for both sides, both parties, to find common ground for the common good everywhere we can and disagree respectfully where we must,” he said. “The people intentionally trusted both political parties with significant power to shape our nation’s direction.”[embedded content]He also praised Kamala Harris’ historic achievement after she was sworn in as America’s first female vice-president.“All citizens can applaud the fact that this new three-word phrase ‘Madam vice-president’ is now a part of our American lexicon,” McConnell said.Looming on the horizon is the second impeachment trial for Trump, who the US voted to impeach earlier this month. In addition to Covid-19 relief, Democrats are also expected to push legislation dealing with immigration reform and voting rights.Even though Democrats have a majority of votes in the Senate, they still face significant obstacles to get them through. That’s because Senate rules require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, a procedural move that can be used to halt legislation. Some progressives have called for ending the practice, which would allow Democrats to pursue sweeping legislation without GOP support, but it’s unclear if the party will do that. More
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A day of firsts: five key takeaways from Biden's historic inauguration
Sign up for the Guardian’s First Thing newsletterIt was a day of historic firstsWith her hand on two Bibles – one from the late Thurgood Marshall, the first Black supreme court justice, and one from family friend Regina Shelton – Kamala Harris became the first woman, and the first Black and South Asian American woman, to become the vice-president. She was sworn in by the supreme court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina on the nation’s highest court. It was an emotional moment for many across the country. “In tears watching this extraordinary moment for women in the US and the world,” said Oprah Winfrey.Soon after her inauguration, Harris swore Democrats Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossoff and Alex Padilla into the Senate. Warnock is the first Black senator from Georgia, and Ossoff is the first Jewish senator from the state. Padilla, who was appointed to take the California Senate seat vacated by Harris, is the first Latino senator to represent a state where Latino residents make up 40% of the population.“As I traveled to Washington from Los Angeles, I thought about my parents and the sacrifices they made to secure the American dream for their son,” Padilla said.“It’s a new day, full of possibility,” said Warnock, who has the unique title of “senator reverend” – his last job was pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr used to preach.A new Senate later voted to confirm Avril Haines as the director of national intelligence – and she became the first woman to hold the post.The pandemic cast a pall over the dayThe inauguration took place amid a pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans. An event that would normally have drawn a crowd of hundreds of thousands instead saw a far smaller audience, with attendees donning face masks and practicing social distancing. In lieu of an inaugural ball, Biden and Harris held a virtual celebration, which the Guardian’s arts writer Adrian Horton describes as a “seamless Zoom compilation” of speeches and performances. There were cheery, even joyful moments. Harris was escorted to the White House by the famed Showtime Marching Band of Howard University, her alma mater.But there was a heaviness hanging over the day. In his inaugural address, Biden said: “I would like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those we lost this past year to the pandemic.“To those 400,000 fellow Americans – mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. We will honor them by becoming the people and nation we know we can and should be.”Reversing Trump’s legacy was Biden’s first order of businessJust hours after taking office, Biden signed a stack of 17 executive actions aimed at reversing Donald Trump’s legacy on public health, immigration and the climate crisis.His first move was to mandate masks and physical distancing in federal buildings, and on federal land. In a sharp contrast to his predecessor, who denied public health research and refused to cover his face, Biden did so while wearing a mask.The 46th president halted Trump’s travel ban aimed at Muslim-majority countries, ended emergency funding for the construction Trump’s border wall, and moved to rejoin the Paris climate accords and the World Health Organization.Biden also ended the Trump administration’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census, which is used to determine how many seats in Congress each state gets. “I think some of the things we’re going to be doing are bold and vital, and there’s no time to start like today,” he said.There was a return to presidential normsMany Americans rightly point out that we shouldn’t long for a return to normal, after the coronavirus pandemic and racial justice reckoning made clear that normal wasn’t working.As the poet Amanda Gorman asserted, in her inauguration performance, “We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice.”With normalcy out of the question, Biden nonetheless reinstated some presidential norms and traditions. He’s bringing dogs back to the White House after his predecessor became the first president in a century to refuse a presidential pet. He had his executive orders fully vetted by the Office of Legal Counsel, “underscoring a commitment to regular order/rule of law,” NPR’s justice department correspondent Carrie Johnson wrote.One of the most significant norms to return: daily press briefings. During a cordial first briefing, the White House press secretary Jen Psaki answered some questions, obfuscated a bit, and promised to return the next day. After weeks and weeks without a coronavirus update from top health officials, Psaki promised that those become a regular affair as well.Journalists will still have to maintain their skepticism. But after the hostile, fantastical – and ultimately absent – press briefings of the Trump era, hearing Psaki say, “I’d love to take your questions,” came as a relief to many in the press corps.The outfits were inspirationalYes, it was a grave, historic, momentous day. But did you see Michelle Obama’s Coat? Or Jill Biden’s? Or Kamala Harris’ suffragette-purple? Or Bernie Sanders’ cozy beige Burton and scene-stealing mittens?It was a big day for coats, gloves and mittens. While Obama’s flawless monochromatic maroon look by the Black designer Sergio Hudson drew gasps, Sanders’ grumpy-chic, eco-friendly knitwear look launched a thousand, or ten thousand memes. Amid the array of sartorial choices, there was something for everyone. Janet Yellen’s was blanketed. Harris’ daughter Ella Emhoff wore bedazzled Miu Miu.Honored guests and dignitaries, young and old, all served us thrilling looks. There was baby Beau Biden in a navy bonnet. Kamala Harris’s niece Meena Harris rocked sparkly cowboy boots, and her husband, Nikolas Ajagu, came in Air Jordan Dior 1s.It was a nice reprieve to admire, for a few moments, some fun clothes – before we again had to grapple with the many, many struggles and challenges that still lay ahead. More
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The preparation for an inauguration like no other – a photo essay
A presidency like no other ended in an inauguration like no other. The twin forces of Covid-19 and domestic terrorism bent the event – and its host city – out of shape. There were no cheering crowds on the Mall and this was no “shining city on a hill”. Instead Washington DC was wrapped in perimeter fencing, road barricades and security checkpoints. Meanwhile 20,000 troops from the national guard patrolled a Capitol that had been sacked two weeks earlier by insurrectionists wishing to overturn the election result. We asked the photographer Jordan Gale to record this extraordinary inauguration – he has been in the city since Saturday – and he captured these sombre images that reflect a city, and country, in the grip of terror and anxiety. – John Mulholland More
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'America has to be better': Joe Biden's inauguration speech – full text
Chief Justice Roberts, Vice-President Harris, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Vice-President Pence, distinguished guests and my fellow Americans.
This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope. Of renewal and resolve.
Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge. Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause: the cause of democracy. The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded. We have learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile.
And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.
So now, on this hallowed ground where just days ago violence sought to shake this Capitol’s very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries.
We look ahead in our uniquely American way – restless, bold, optimistic – and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be. I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
You know the resilience of our constitution and the strength of our nation. As does President Carter, who I spoke to last night but who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service.
I have just taken the sacred oath each of these patriots took – an oath first sworn by George Washington. But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us. On “we the people” who seek a more perfect union.
This is a great nation and we are a good people.Over the centuries through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we have come so far. But we still have far to go. We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility. Much to repair. Much to restore. Much to heal. Much to build. And much to gain.
Few periods in our nation’s history have been more challenging or difficult than the one we’re in now. A once-in-a-century virus silently stalks the country. It’s taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of world war II. Millions of jobs have been lost. Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed. A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer. A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear. And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.
To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words. It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy:
Unity.
Unity. More
