Biden administration

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      Rahm Emanuel leads confirmed Biden nominees in late-night logjam break

      by

      Rahm Emanuel leads confirmed Biden nominees in late-night logjam breakEx-Obama chief of staff will go to Japan after deal for vote on Russia pipeline sanctions ends Republican Senate resistance The former Obama White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was among more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden nominees confirmed by the Senate early on Saturday. Trump condemned by Anti-Defamation League chief for antisemitic tropesRead moreThe Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, broke a Republican-stoked logjam by agreeing to schedule a vote on sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.With many senators anxious to go home for the holidays, Schumer threatened to keep the Senate in for as long as it took to break a logjam on a number of diplomatic and national security nominees.Emanuel was confirmed to serve as ambassador to Japan by a vote of 48-21. Nominees to be ambassadors to Spain, Vietnam and Somalia were among those confirmed by voice vote after an agreement was reached to vote on Nord Stream 2 sanctions before 14 January.The confirmation process has proved to be frustrating for new administrations regardless of party. While gridlock isn’t new, the struggle is getting worse.Democrats have voiced concerns about holds Republican senators placed on nominees in order to raise objections about foreign policy matters that had little to do with the nominees in question. Holds do not block confirmation but they do require the Senate to undertake hours of debate.Positions requiring confirmation can go unfilled for months even when the nominations are approved in committee with the support of both parties.Biden officials acknowledge the president will end his year with significantly more vacancies than recent predecessors and that the slowdown of ambassadorial and other national security picks has had an impact on relations overseas.Ted Cruz, of Texas, held up dozens of nominees at state and treasury, over objections to the waiving of sanctions targeting the Nord Stream AG firm overseeing the pipeline project. The administration said it opposed the project but viewed it is a fait accompli. It also said trying to stop it would harm relations with Germany.Critics on the both sides of the aisle have raised concerns that the pipeline will threaten European energy security by increasing reliance on Russian gas and allowing Russia to exert political pressure on vulnerable nations, particularly Ukraine.Earlier in the week, Schumer demanded that Cruz lift all of his holds on nominees at the two departments as well as the US Agency for International Development, as part of any agreement on a Nord Stream 2 sanctions. Cruz said he was willing to lift holds on 16. The two sides traded offers on Friday.“I think there ought to be a reasonable middle ground solution,” Cruz said.“Let’s face it. There is little to celebrate when it comes to nominations in the Senate,“ said Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the foreign relations committee.The New Jersey Democrat blamed Republicans for “straining the system to the breaking point” and depriving Biden of a full national security team, “leaving our nation weakened”.“Something’s going to happen in one of these places and we will not be there to ultimately have someone to promote our interests and to protect ourselves,” he said.Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, said some of the gridlock stemmed back to four years ago when Democrats, under Schumer, tried to stop many of Donald Trump’s nominees being confirmed in a timely manner.“Senator Schumer doesn’t have anything close to clean hands here,” Blunt said.Emanuel, also a former member of the House, was backed for the post in Tokyo at a time when Washington is looking to Asian allies to help push back against China.Detractors said they would not back him because of the shooting when he was mayor of Chicago of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who died when a police officer, Jason Van Dyke, fired multiple times.Emanuel’s handling of the case was criticized, especially as video was not released for more than a year. Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and jailed. Four officers were fired.Biden nominated Emanuel in August. At his confirmation hearing in October, Emanuel said he thought about McDonald every day and that, as mayor, he was responsible and accountable.Eight Republicans voted with a majority of Democrats to confirm Emanuel. Three Democrats voted no: Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.TopicsBiden administrationUS foreign policyUS national securityRahm EmanuelUS politicsAsia PacificJapannewsReuse this content More

    • 175 Shares129 Views

      in US Politics

      From Peril to Betrayal: the year in books about Trump and other political animals

      by

      From Peril to Betrayal: the year in books about Trump and other political animals 2021 provided a glut of memoirs, deep dives and tell-alls about American politics in an age of Covid and attacks on democracy itself. Which were the best – and most alarming?If in recent years American politics books have been noted mainly for ephemera, in 2021 the winds of history began to blow open the doors – occasionally to devastating effect. The advent of a new administration loosened tongues and made documents more readily available as some sought redemption, justification or simply fame.March of the Trump memoirs: Mark Meadows and other Republican readsRead moreSuch books illustrate the truth that one cannot keep a thing hidden and generally share certain characteristics that convey the ring of truth. They report bitterly angry outbursts by Donald Trump, staff reeling from dysfunction, chaos and the pressures of a campaign in a pandemic. They frequently recount interviews with Trump himself. They contain sufficient profanity to make sailors blush.And, happily, this paper celebrated its bicentennial in part by scooping many of them, with real consequences in the case of Mark Meadows, who published The Chief’s Chief this month. Some – the former White House chief of staff in particular – may wish they had not written books. But some books are essential to understand the danger in which the country finds itself.The former FBI director James Comey opened the year with Saving Justice, a second book defending the rule of law. Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes followed with Lucky, a quick but full postmortem of the 2020 campaign, noting: “Luck, it has been said, is the residue of design. It was for Joe Biden, and for the republic.”The heart of the year was a series of blockbusters from prominent reporters, each containing significant new information on aspects of the chaos that was 2020. Michael Bender led off with Frankly, We Did Win This Election, in which Trump’s words, on the record, are unsurprising but nonetheless shocking.In Landslide, Michael Wolff completed his Trump trilogy with a focus on the campaign – including Chris Christie, in debate preparation (as a result of which he tested positive for Covid), earning Trump’s ire for asking hard but predictable questions on Covid response and family scandals – and on a post-election dominated by Trump’s anger as the levers of power, including the supreme court of which he chose three members, failed to overturn his defeat.Wolff is keenly analytic: as he writes, Trump “knew nothing of government, [his supporters] knew nothing about government, so the context of government itself became beside the point”. Instead, Trump was “the star – never forget that – and the base was his audience”. This self-referential and adulatory mode of governing failed in a divided country facing a pandemic and rising international challenges. Landslide is a fine book, though as new evidence from the 6 January committee emerges, Wolff’s conclusion limiting Trump’s own knowledge of and responsibility for the events of that day may come to seem premature.Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker followed with I Alone Can Fix It, in which Gen Mark Milley said the US was in a “Reichstag moment” on 2 January, four days before the insurrection, and referred to “the gospel of the Führer” poisoning American democracy. Trump’s anger at his pollster, Tony Fabrizio, for being the bearer of bad news on Covid and the electorate is telling too: “They’re tired? They’re fatigued?” Politics as empathy was not the campaign’s theme.Bob Woodward, writing with Robert Costa, likewise completed his Trump series with Peril, whose title sums up its conclusion. The book, notable for revealing Gen Milley’s attempts to reassure the Chinese military in the waning days of the presidency, quotes Trump’s apparent view that “real power [is] fear” and asks, “Were there any limits to what he and his supporters might do to put him back in power?”Adam Schiff’s Midnight in Washington brings a former prosecutor’s eye and perspective of a House intelligence committee chairman to issues surrounding Trump and Russia. His book is both history and warning.Among Trump loyalists, former trade czar Peter Navarro released In Trump Time, in which he criticized Meadows and anyone else he deemed insufficiently loyal. The book’s most memorable line calls Vice-President Mike Pence “Brutus” to Trump’s “American Caesar” – all without irony or, one hopes, knowledge of Roman history.Not all notable books were tell-alls. Some contained real policy insights. Josh Rogin’s Chaos Under Heaven looks at US-China relations from a strategic as well as pandemic perspective, noting US conflicts of both interest and policy as well as Trump’s inability to develop a workable strategy. Rival books on antitrust policy by two very different senators, Amy Klobuchar and Josh Hawley, illustrate Congress’ increased focus on large technology companies. Evan Osnos’ Wildland chronicles the lives and fortunes of billionaires and the growth of the Washington machine – and the effects, including rightward political shifts, on those at the bottom. On a related theme, in Misfire Tim Mak delivers a shocking history of the National Rifle Association and its former leaders.Several books will serve as first drafts of history. Madam Speaker, Susan Page’s biography of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, describes how she “took on the boys club and won” through mastery of legislation and her caucus. Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue compiles the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s opinions, speeches and other documents, with Amanda Tyler as co-author.Uncontrolled Spread review: Trump’s first FDA chief on the Covid disasterRead moreUnsurprisingly in the second year of a pandemic, healthcare featured prominently. In The Ten-Year War, Jonathan Cohn recounts the 10-year history of Obamacare. Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain tells the sad and painful story of the promotion of opioids in America. On the pandemic, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta in Nightmare Scenario focus on the Trump administration’s response. Leaving responsibility mostly to the states had deleterious consequences, as did chaos, turf wars and giving priority to “the demands of Trump and his base” as he sought reelection rather than an effective response.Scott Gottlieb, a well-regarded former FDA commissioner, takes a broader, more philosophical view in Uncontrolled Spread. Absence of leadership and a “sizeable enterprise devoted to manufacturing skepticism” about the virus and public health solutions meant the US failed the bar of “delay[ing] its onset and reduc[ing] its scope and severity”. But the Operation Warp Speed vaccine effort “proved what government could accomplish when it functions well” and makes one keenly regret the absence of leadership elsewhere as confirmed US deaths, so many among the unvaccinated, surpass 800,000.The pandemic’s broader impact is equally profound. In Gottlieb’s words, “Covid normalized the breakdowns in a global order that it was presumed, perhaps naively, would protect us, just as Covid pierced our own perception of domestic resiliency, cooperation, and fortitude.” Vaccine hesitancy in the face of clear science is only one pandemic effect.‘Pence was disloyal at exactly the right time’: author Jonathan Karl on the Capitol attackRead moreWith honorable mentions for Wolff, Leonnig and Rucker, Woodward and Costa, and Gottlieb, ABC’s Jonathan Karl produced arguably the year’s most significant book in Betrayal, in which Trump cabinet members “paint a portrait of a wrath-filled president, untethered from reality, bent on revenge”. The attorney general, Bill Barr, decries election-related conspiracies; the acting defense secretary, Chris Miller, seeks to dissuade Trump from attacking Iran by taking (and faking) an extreme position in favour:
      Oftentimes, with provocative people, if you get more provocative than them, they then have to dial it down.
      Such was government in the Trump era.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in his Nobel Lecture that “one word of truth shall outweigh the whole world”. The amount of newly uncovered truth is already outweighing a fair number of the more than 4,000 exoplanets Nasa has recorded.Yet the vital question remains: what will Americans, in particular Republican officials and independent voters, do with this information? As Karl wrote, “The continued survival of our republic may depend, in part, on the willingness of those who promoted Trump’s lies and those who remained silent to acknowledge they were wrong.”Is it to be Solzhenitsyn’s hope – or his fear that “when we are told again the old truth, we shall not even remember that we once possessed it”?TopicsBooksUS politicsDonald TrumpTrump administrationBiden administrationJoe BidenRepublicansfeaturesReuse this content More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      What should we expect from Washington in 2022? Politics Weekly Extra

      by

      Jonathan Freedland and Joan Greve look back on a chaotic year in US politics and attempt to offer some predictions of might be coming down the tracks in 2022

      How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know

      You can donate to the Guardian and Observer’s annual charity appeal here. The Guardian will also be holding its annual charity appeal telethon. For the chance to speak to your favourite Guardian journalist and donate, phone 0203 353 4368 on 18 December between 10am and 4pm. Send your questions and feedback to podcasts@theguardian.com. Help support the Guardian by going to gu.com/supportpodcasts. More

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Biden nominates Caroline Kennedy to be ambassador to Australia

      by

      Biden nominates Caroline Kennedy to be ambassador to AustraliaDaughter of John F Kennedy was long seen as top candidate for a prominent diplomatic role Joe Biden has nominated Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F Kennedy, to be the US ambassador to Australia.Kennedy, 63, a member of one of America’s most famous political families, has long been considered a leading candidate for a high-profile envoy position after she threw her support behind Biden’s presidential campaign.More details soon …TopicsBiden administrationUS politicsnews More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Montana could soon allow grizzly bear hunting for first time in decades

      by

      Montana could soon allow grizzly bear hunting for first time in decadesWildlife commissioners signed onto a multi-state plan as states in the northern Rockies push to ease federal protections Montana wildlife officials could soon allow grizzly bear hunting in areas around Glacier and Yellowstone national parks, if states in the US northern Rockies succeed in their attempts to lift federal protections for the animals.Grizzlies in the region have been protected as a threatened species since 1975 and were shielded from hunting for most of that time. But several states are pushing for restrictions to be eased.Montana governor Greg Gianforte last month announced the state intends to petition the Biden administration to lift threatened species protections for Glacier-area grizzlies. Wyoming governor Mark Gordon is leading a similar push to end protections for Yellowstone area bears. The two regions have the most bears in the US outside Alaska, the only state that currently allows hunting.As officials seek to make the case that protections are no longer needed, Montana wildlife commissioners on Tuesday voted to sign onto a multistate plan to maintain more than 900 bears in the Yellowstone area. Wyoming already has signed onto the plan, which would allow limited hunting. Idaho officials are expected to consider it next month.Montana commissioners also gave preliminary approval to revisions to Glacier-area bear population targets that could allow hunting of grizzlies in northwestern portions of the state if federal protections end. The rule calls for maintaining a population of more than 800 bears.Details on any future hunting seasons would be established at a later date.Wildlife advocates have objected to the bid to lift protections, saying state officials in the northern Rockies are intent on driving down populations of grizzlies and another predator, gray wolves.But state officials, backed by livestock and hunting groups, say bear populations need to be more closely controlled. They cite increasing conflicts between bears and humans, including attacks on livestock and occasional maulings of peopleAs many as 50,000 grizzly bears once ranged the western half of the US. Most were killed by hunting, trapping and habitat loss following the arrival of European settlers in the late 1800s. Populations declined to fewer than 1,000 bears in the lower 48 states by the time they were given federal protections in 1975.The last grizzly hunts in the US outside Alaska were in the early 1990s, under an exemption to protections that allowed 14 bears to be killed each fall in Montana.When Yellowstone grizzlies briefly lost protections under Donald Trump’s administration, Wyoming and Idaho scheduled hunts for 22 bears in Wyoming and one in Idaho, with hunting permits offered by lottery. A federal judge stepped in at the last minute and restored protections, a decision later upheld by the ninth US circuit court of appeals.The US Fish and Wildlife Service recommended in March to keep threatened-species protections for grizzlies. The agency cited a lack of connections between the bears’ best areas of habitat and people killing them, among other reasons. TopicsMontanaWyomingAnimalsBiden administrationUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Protesting voting rights activists arrested as Biden meets with Manchin

      by

      Protesting voting rights activists arrested as Biden meets with ManchinSixty were detained as the president met with the key Democrat who has become a roadblock to his agenda During a crucial week for Joe Biden’s agenda that will likely feature a political showdown on his Build Back Better legislation in the Senate, voting rights activists are turning up the pressure in Washington.As the US president met with a key centrist Democrat who has acted as a roadblock to his plans – West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin – more than sixty demonstrators were arrested as they protested: singing songs and blocking traffic near the US Capitol.The diverse group of activists came to Washington from around the country and were focused primarily on issues around voting rights and poverty. When the focus turned to voting rights, the talk became more focused on Manchin and the White House’s apparent inability to apply all of its power to pass federal legislation to protect the vote.Arizona students stage hunger strike to urge Sinema to support voting reformRead more“I think we’re moving the ball but we have to get it across the finish line – we’re going to have to keep pushing. They don’t need to be going home for Christmas. We need to get voting rights taken care of,” said Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, as she waited to speak to the assembled crowd of more than 500 people.As news spread that Manchin was signaling he wants more changes to Biden’s already stripped back Build Back Better legislation because of his concerns over inflation, activists at the rally were not impressed.“That’s his whole game. Slow it down, block it, get things get done for the billionaires, his corporate donors – then to undermine voting rights let all the voting suppression bills get passed that wouldn’t get passed if we had the Voting Rights Act restored and we had federal protection,” said the Rev William Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach.“He’s a trickster. The president needs to go to West Virginia. Stop meeting with him in his office. Go to his state,” Barber added shortly before leading activists into a street protest.With talk of direct actions and in-office protests directed at Manchin and others, Barber and other activists promised to apply more pressure on lawmakers this week.Barber and several other voting rights activists have been frustrated by what they view as a lack of focus and from the Biden administration regarding voting rights.Many have warned the White House that Biden’s 7m vote victory, buttressed by strong turnout in predominately Black cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia and Milwaukee, will be difficult to repeat without cementing the support of those same voters.With 2022 midterm elections on the horizon, the urgency about which agenda items Biden will focus is a hot topic in the activists community.“We go to the streets for non-violent direct action. This is just the precursor,” Barber told the crowd of activists.“If you think this is an action, you watch how we mobilize when we don’t have to be so Covid safe,” said Barber.“There is only one answer to nineteen states that have passed voter suppression laws. There’s only one answer to all this election subversion. There’s only one answer to all this work that they’re doing to purge people from election boards. There’s only one answer to gerrymandering. That is, ‘Pass the acts now!’” said Barbara Arwine, who leads the Transformative Justice Coalition to the crowd.Arnwine was referring to the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bill would restore provisions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that were removed by the supreme court’s Shelby v Holder decision in 2013.TopicsUS voting rightsJoe ManchinBiden administrationUS politicsJoe BidennewsReuse this content More

    • 188 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      ‘Killing the middle class’: millions in US brace for student loan payments after Covid pause

      by

      ‘Killing the middle class’: millions in US brace for student loan payments after Covid pauseStudent debt in America has become a crisis for millions of citizens that often feels like it will last for people’s whole lives Jennifer Rae Wilson, a social worker and single mother of three children in Richland, Washington, has struggled with student loan debt since she went back to school and graduated in 2000 – more than two decades ago.Struggling to raise three boys with very little child support, Wilson decided to attend college 10 years after graduating high school to improve her career prospects. She was eventually able to move out of low-income assistance housing and off government assistance programs.“But then the school loans hit,” said Wilson. “I couldn’t afford the payments on top of rent and all of the other things, there was no way that I could make those payments.”She is not alone, as student debt in America has become a crisis for millions of citizens that often feels like it will last for people’s whole lives, or at least blight them for many years to come after graduation. Around 44.7 million Americans have outstanding student loan debt totaling over $1.86tn, with 42.3 million Americans holding federal student loan debt.The US Department of Education paused repayment, collections and interest on federal student loans in response to the Covid-19 pandemic under Trump, with the final extension on the pause set to expire on 31 January 2022.But now millions of Americans are bracing for resuming payments on federal student loans after nearly two years of relief – and the crisis is set to roll on again.Between rent, bills and daycare costs, Wilson went into default after not being able to keep up with student loan payments. Then her paychecks started being garnished in 2010 to pay off the student loans of around $1,000 per month, which was just paying off the interest on her principal.The pause on student loan repayments during the pandemic allowed Wilson to catch up on other bills and purchase a home, but she worries about the payments restarting.“It kind of concerns me a little bit with it coming back with what they’re going to be able to offer us in terms of payment plans,” added Wilson. “I’ve been making payments for 20 years and my balance has only gone up. That doesn’t make any sense. If I made a $1,000 per month payment on my car, or on my house, I would be paid off and I would not have a home loan or would not have a car loan. But with this, it doesn’t seem to make a difference.”A recent survey of more than 33,000 student loan borrowers conducted by the Student Debt Crisis Center found 89% of borrowers are not financially secure enough to resume payments on 1 February. Prior to the pandemic, over half of all student loan borrowers were either in default, forbearance, deferment, or otherwise not currently making payments on their student debt.PJ Rivera of Texas is one of the borrowers not prepared to resume student loan payments. His initial student debt was around $80,000, but has increased with interest to $110,000, despite making payments of $1,000 a month.“Student loans have crippled my ability to have personal savings but the inability to help my family who are struggling with hospital bills and other medical bills,” said Rivera. “The system doesn’t work. It’s not the students’ fault because you need money to pay for your career. Maybe tuition shouldn’t be so high to start with. Everyone should be able to study and learn about whatever they are passionate about without going broke or living to pay and nothing else.”The average student loan debt for new college graduates is around $30,000. Joe Biden campaigned on cancelling $10,000 in student loan debt per person and cancelling student debt for Americans who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities and public colleges, but the Biden Administration has yet to cancel debt for these AmericansBeverly Dunker Brown of New York City completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees in the 1980s and 90’s, but with high interest rates and taking on parent plus loans for her son, her student loan debt has increased from around $43,000 in loans to over $150,000.“I will be in my late 80s paying student loans off of social security income,” said Dunker Brown. “I have Federal Family Education Loan Program loans which were not paused. I can’t afford to pay them and continue to request forbearances on them.”Despite making a six-figure salary in business administration, she is unable to properly save for retirement, save for home, and cares for her disabled husband who is a cancer survivor and regularly requires dialysis. Her own student loans are $862 monthly and the parent plus loans for her son will add another $362 a month when the federal student loan pause ends.“The interest and penalties are just crazy. My student loan balance increases each month. Black and Brown people can’t get ahead,” added Dunker Brown. “I have no generational wealth, retirement savings or savings for an emergency, yet I have an MBA that I earned in 1996. Having a fancy degree wasn’t the answer it was supposed to be.”Black college graduates owe an average of $7,400 more in student loans than white college graduates, and that gap more than triples to nearly $25,000 after four years from graduation.Sabrina Elliott of Charlotte, North Carolina, couldn’t afford to make payments toward her student loans for the first eight years after graduating law school. By the time she could afford to start making payments, with the debt ballooned from over $72,000 to more than $166,000.For the past seven years, Elliott has made monthly minimum payments of nearly $1,400 a month, but still owes more than the original loans despite paying over $90,000 toward the debt in that time.“Student loans should not impair a person from being a homeowner, starting a family or a badge of shame,” said Elliott. “I have made payment for over seven years and the balance is the same. As you can see, I have repaid the original loan. The minimum payment is a mortgage payment but not high enough to reduce the debt.”Kaida Flowers, a family and child therapist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has struggled to try to pay her student loans from her undergraduate and master’s degree, and only makes around $50,000 a year working a job she pursued to try to help people and emphasized student debt is causing her and others who pursued similar career paths to struggle to get by.She has struggled to try to pay her student loans from her undergraduate and master’s degree, and only makes around $50,000 a year working a job she pursued to try to help people and emphasized student debt is causing her and others who pursued similar career paths to struggle to get by.When the payments resume, she will be forced to pay $300 a month again toward her student debt, most of which goes toward interest.“They’re killing the middle class,” added Flowers. “Part of the American dream is you go to school, you try to do something to have a better life, but it’s just not what it is.”TopicsBiden administrationUS student financeUS student debtJoe BidenUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More