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      Joe Biden’s speech to Congress: five key takeaways

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      The coronavirus pandemic cast a strange pall on the yearly political traditionAs Biden took the podium, he brushed past a sparse, masked crowd. He fist-bumped and elbow-tapped lawmakers and members of his cabinet – greeting a crowd that was physically distanced, and ideologically divided.Because fewer people were in attendance, due to coronavirus safety protocols, applause and cheers were muted – as seemed appropriate for a somber moment in history. Although Biden’s speech signaled hope – there was no denying that the country was still grappling with enormous loss and grief.After a long, dark year, the vaccine offered a light, Biden said. “Grandparents hugging their children and grandchildren instead of pressing their hands against a window to say goodbye,” he said.But, he added: “There’s still more work to do to beat this virus. We can’t let our guard down now.”It was a historic evening for women in governmentAs soon as he took to the podium, Biden acknowledged Kamala Harris, stood behind him, as “Madam vice-president,” and then reflected: “No president has ever said these words from behind this podium. And it’s about time.”For the first time in US history, two women were seated behind the president addressing a joint session of Congress. Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker and the third person in the chain of command, after Biden and Harris, also flanked Biden.In 2007, Pelosi was the first woman to sit behind a president during a joint address to Congress after she became the first woman to hold the position of House speaker. Harris is the first woman, and Black and South Asian American person to be elected vice-president. Asked about the significance of the occasion, Harris told reporters it was just “normal”.‘Jobs, jobs, jobs’Biden’s populist, direct appeal to working-class Americans could be summed up by one four-letter word: jobs. At each step, Biden is explaining that his proposals – to improve water infrastructure, to increase internet access, to build highways, to increase childcare options for working families – will boost jobs.He used the word 43 times throughout his speech.“When I think about climate change, I think jobs,” he said. “There’s no reason the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing.”Biden ushered in a new era of big government, and big government spending“Our government still works – and can deliver for the people,” Biden said.The president introduced his sweeping $1.8tn plan, which 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 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.“Trickle-down economics has never worked. It’s time to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out,” Biden said. “We’re going reform corporate taxes so they pay their fair share – and help pay for the public investments their businesses will benefit from.”The messaging was a clear example of how much Biden has embraced and adopted progressive ideas and policies – even if many of the administration’s proposals are more modest, or watered-down versions of what leading progressive lawmakers have championed.The president pitched reforms that have bipartisan support – among voters, if not lawmakersBiden proposed major reforms to gun control and policing, and made a major pitch to protect voting rights. Republican lawmakers have fought the administration and their Democratic colleagues on all three issues. But polls indicate that though the country remains deeply divided on many issues, there’s actually broad, bipartisan support among voters for the president’s proposals.About two-thirds of Americans support tougher gun laws, a USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll found after the mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder this year. “The country supports reform, and the Congress should act,” Biden said.A March Morning Consult poll found that about 7 out of 10 voters, including majorities of Republicans, support the House’s sweeping elections reform measure. And while Republicans have many reservations about the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the reform bill introduced by Democrats in Congress, polls indicate they largely support many provisions.Republicans, who have routinely denigrated and voted against Biden’s proposals, including his widely popular coronavirus relief plan and proposed infrastructure plan, have found themselves in an odd position of having to convince voters that they don’t actually want what they want. More

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      GOP’s Tim Scott delivers a rebuttal to Biden’s speech with Trumpian talking points

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      It is Donald Trump, not Democrats, who deserves credit for wresting the coronavirus pandemic under control, Tim Scott argued on Wednesday night as the Republican senator gave his party’s official response to Joe Biden’s first address to Congress.Scott, a South Carolinian seen as a rising star in the Republican party, was handpicked by GOP leaders to deliver a rebuttal to Biden’s optimistic message, and duly did so, opening with a solidly Republican criticism of “socialist dreams” before taking aim at the president over some public schools having failed to reopen – a decision which is taken at state-level, frequently by local districts, rather than by the federal government.As the only Black Republican in the US Senate, Scott had been expected to address the issue of racial inequality and the repeated police shootings of Black men, but those hoping for strident criticism of the racial crisis in the US were disappointed, with Scott instead saying, “Hear me clearly, America is not a racist country.”Scott, a conservative, Christian southerner, has walked the fine line between the establishment and Donald Trump wings of the Republican party with more aplomb than most. His status as a potential GOP star is one of the few things that Trump and Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, still agree on, and Scott won a coveted endorsement for his 2022 re-election bid from Trump in March.The extent to which Trump still looms over the Republican party was clear in Scott’s speech, with the senator praising the Trump administration and on occasion using talking points that could have been lifted straight from a Trump stump speech.“This administration inherited a tide that had already turned. The coronavirus is on the run,” Scott said, seemingly ignoring the fact that in December, Trump’s last full month in office, the US set a record for the highest daily number of new Covid cases, deaths and hospitalizations.“Thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the Trump administration, our country is flooded with safe and effective vaccines. Thanks to our bipartisan work last year, job openings are rebounding,” Scott said.He then harked back to before the Covid pandemic, which so far has killed more than 573,000 Americans. Trump has been widely blamed for allowing the virus to spiral out of control, and failing to take action once it did.“Just before Covid, we had the most inclusive economy in my lifetime. The lowest unemployment ever recorded for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. And a 70 year low, nearly, for women,” Scott said.Trump, ensconced in his holiday resort in south Florida, will have been pleased – these are claims he repeatedly made during his presidency, even if they are not totally supported by evidence.In 2019, the Washington Post’s factchecker called Trump’s claim that the black unemployment rate was the lowest in history “skewed and outdated”, and gave it three Pinnochios. Both Trump – and Scott – failed to note that the unemployment rate among Black and Hispanic people began to decline, steeply, under the Obama administration.Scott is leading the Republican party’s efforts to craft legislation with Democrats on police reform in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, but in his speech, he accused Democrats of voting against a police reform bill he introduced in 2020. At the time, Democrats said the bill did not go far enough to tackle police violence.Scott has also previously joined Democrats Cory Booker and Kamala Harris to work on a bipartisan bill that would make lynching a federal crime, and led the way in creating Opportunity Zones – aimed growth and jobs in low income communities – in Trump’s 2017 tax reform package.Once hesitant to focus on race in his political career, Scott has increasingly talked about his experience as an African American. On Wednesday, Scott said he had “experienced the pain of discrimination”.“I know what it feels like to be pulled over for no reason. To be followed around a store while I’m shopping,” Scott said, but then pivoted to criticism of Democrats.“I’ve also experienced a different kind of intolerance,” Scott said. “I get called Uncle Tom and the n-word by progressives and liberals.”Scott then addressed a familiar Republican talking point, and a favorite of Trump: that schools and colleges are now exhibiting bias against white children.“A hundred years ago kids in classrooms were being taught the color of their skin was their most important characteristic, that if they looked a certain way they were inferior,” Scott said.“Today students are being taught that the color of their skin defines them again and if they look a certain way they are an oppressor.”In July 2020, Trump was fiercely criticized after he offered a dystopian vision of America, along the same lines as Scott’s classroom remarks if more emotional in tone.“Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but that they were villains,” the then-president said, adding that there was a campaign to “indoctrinate our children”.Scott, who accused Democrats of a “Washington powergrab” over their opposition to a Georgia law that would make it more difficult for people to vote, later claimed that Biden would increase taxes, despite the president having said minutes earlier he would not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 a year.Having warned darkly of a tax-heavy Democratic future, pitched the Republican message, and paid his dues to Trump, Scott ended his speech with a hopeful, and vague, vision for how the US might succeed – and with a shout out to law enforcement.“Our best future will not come from Washington schemes and socialist dreams,” he said.“It will come from you, the American people. Black, Hispanic, white and Asian. Republican and Democrat. Brave police officers and black neighborhoods.“We are not adversaries. We are family, and we are all in this together, and we get to live in the greatest country on earth.” More

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      Joe Biden pitches ambitious plan to reshape America in first major address to Congress – as it happened

      by

      Key events

      Show

      12.30am EDT
      00:30

      Key takeaways from tonight

      12.10am EDT
      00:10

      Progressive Democrats praise Biden on Covid but call for bolder action

      9.59pm EDT
      21:59

      Biden addresses a divided – and distanced – joint session

      9.39pm EDT
      21:39

      Biden introduces his families plan

      9.17pm EDT
      21:17

      Biden: ‘Go and get vaccinated’

      9.07pm EDT
      21:07

      Joe Biden has arrived

      8.52pm EDT
      20:52

      Why this address is not a “state of the union”

      Live feed

      Show

      12.30am EDT
      00:30

      Key takeaways from tonight

      1) The coronavirus pandemic cast a strange pall on the yearly political tradition.
      As Biden took the podium, he brushed past a sparse, masked crowd. He fist-bumped and elbow-tapped lawmakers and members of his cabinet – greeting a crowd that was physically distanced, and ideologically divided.
      Because fewer people were in attendance, due to coronavirus safety protocols, applause and cheers were muted – as seemed appropriate for a somber moment in history. Although Biden’s speech signaled hope – there was no denying that the country was still grappling with enormous loss and grief.
      After a long dark year, the vaccine offered a light, Biden said. “Grandparents hugging their children and grandchildren instead of pressing their hands against a window to say goodbye,” he said.
      But, he added: “There’s still more work to do to beat this virus. We can’t let our guard down now.”
      2) It was a historic evening for women in government.
      As soon as he took to the podium, Biden acknowledged Kamala Harris, stood behind him, as “Madam vice president,” and then reflected: “No president has ever said these words from behind this podium. And it’s about time.”
      For the first time in US history, two women were seated behind the president addressing a joint session of congress. Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker and the third person in the chain of command, after Biden and Harris, also flanked Biden.
      In 2007, Pelosi was the first woman to sit behind a president during a joint address to congress – after she became the first woman to hold the position of House Speaker. Harris is the first woman, and Black and South Asian American person to be elected vice president. Asked about the significance of the occasion, Harris told reporters it was just “normal”.
      3) “Jobs, jobs, jobs”
      Biden’s populist, direct appeal to working-class Americans could be summed up by one four-letter word: jobs. At each step, Biden is explaining that his proposals – to improve water infrastructure, to increase internet access, to build highways, to increase childcare options for working families – will boost jobs.
      He used the word 43 times throughout his speech.
      “When I think about climate change, I think jobs,” he said. “There’s no reason the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing.”
      4) Biden ushered in a new era of big government, and big government spending
      “Our government still works – and can deliver for the people,” Biden said.
      The president introduced his sweeping $1.8tn plan, which 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 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.
      “Trickle-down economics has never worked. It’s time to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out,” Biden said. “We’re going reform corporate taxes so they pay their fair share – and help pay for the public investments their businesses will benefit from.”
      The messaging was a clear example of how much Biden has embraced and adopted progressive ideas and policies – even if many of the administration’s proposals are more modest, or watered-down versions of what leading progressive lawmakers have championed.
      5) The president pitched reforms that have bipartisan support – among voters, if not lawmakers
      Biden proposed major reforms to gun control and policing, and made a major pitch to protect voting rights. Republican lawmakers have fought the administration and their Democratic colleagues on all three issues. But polls indicate that though the country remains deeply divided on many issues, there’s actually broad, bipartisan support among voters for the president’s proposals.
      About two-thirds of Americans support tougher gun laws, a USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll found after the mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder this year. “The country supports reform, and the Congress should act,” Biden said.
      A March Morning Consult poll found that about 7 out of 10 voters, including majorities of Republicans, support the House’s sweeping elections reform measure. And while Republicans have big reservations about the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the reform bill introduced by Democrats in Congress, polls indicate they largely support many provisions.
      Republicans, who have routinely denigrated and voted against Biden’s proposals, including his widely popular coronavirus relief plan and proposed infrastructure plan, have found themselves in an odd position of having to convince voters that they don’t actually want what they want.

      Updated
      at 12.41am EDT

      12.10am EDT
      00:10

      Progressive Democrats praise Biden on Covid but call for bolder action

      Adam Gabbatt

      The progressive wing of the Democratic party praised Joe Biden for his handling of the Covid-19 crisis in a response to the president’s first address to Congress, but urged the president to be bolder in tackling the climate crisis and economic inequality, and to do more to address “the burning crisis of structural racism in our country”.
      Jamaal Bowman, a Democratic congressman from New York, gave a speech responding to Biden’s address shortly after the president finished his address, as progressives seek to convince Biden to pursue more ambitious policies.
      Bowman hailed Biden’s handling of the Covid pandemic – in particular the aid given to schools in low income areas – but said the Democratic party, which controls the presidency, the House of Representatives and – narrowly – the Senate, could do more.
      “The proposals that President Biden has put forward over the last few weeks would represent important steps – but don’t go as big as we’d truly need in order to solve the crises of jobs, climate and care,” Bowman said.
      “We need to think bigger.”
      Read more:

      Updated
      at 12.21am EDT

      11.56pm EDT
      23:56

      Biden’s speech has earned praise from the former president Bill Clinton.

      Bill Clinton
      (@BillClinton)
      Great speech from @POTUS, great proposals, great call to action. Let’s do it!

      April 29, 2021

      11.44pm EDT
      23:44

      Some images from the evening … More

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      Biden will be flanked by two women as he addresses Congress in historic first

      by

      When Joe Biden gives his first speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, viewers will be treated to a historic first – the sight of two women, Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi, seated behind the president.Harris, the first female, Black and south Asian vice-president, and Pelosi, the first female House speaker, will take up their positions as Biden reflects on the first 99 days of his presidency and lays out his vision for the 1362 days to come.Their presence demonstrates a measure of progress in the quest for gender equality in the US – even if Harris and Pelosi will be flanking an aging white, male president – and Harris, in particular, proves a contrast to the past four years, which saw Donald Trump willed on by a bewitched Mike Pence.Biden is expected to use the speech, which comes before his 100th day in office on Thursday, to address the state of the Covid pandemic, and push the $2tn infrastructure plan he unveiled at the end of March. The president will also discuss the need for better healthcare, according to the Washington Post, and will renew his call for police reform.Viewers are likely to see Harris and Pelosi rise to their feet repeatedly during Biden’s address to applaud – something Pelosi largely avoided during Trump’s speeches to Congress.Biden, as vice-president, spent eight years seated behind Barack Obama as the latter addressed joint sessions of Congress, with Harris assuming Biden’s former seat for the first time on Wednesday.Pelosi has plenty of experience in these settings, having served as speaker of the House since 2019, and previously from 2007 to 2011.In 2019 her parental-style clapping of Donald Trump during his State of the Union address became a viral moment, while a year later she was lauded by the left after she tore up a copy of Trump’s speech.A president’s first address to Congress is usually an extravagant affair, witnessed by hundreds of guests, but the Covid pandemic means the audience was scaled back for Biden’s speech. Only one member of the supreme court – Chief Justice John Roberts – was invited, and members of Congress were told not to bring guests. More

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      White House announces sweeping $1.8tn plan for childcare and universal preschool

      by

      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

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      The Republicans’ staggering effort to attack voting rights in Biden’s first 100 days

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      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

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      Joe Biden raises minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors

      by

      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

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      Biden hails ‘stunning progress’ on Covid but warns Americans: ‘Do not let up now’ – live

      by

      Key events

      Show

      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

      2.14pm EDT
      14:14

      ‘Do not let up now’ – Biden

      Live feed

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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
      17:28

      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.

      Updated
      at 5.35pm EDT

      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