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      Joe Biden hails Senate deal as ‘most significant’ US climate legislation ever

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

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      in World Politics

      Biden’s Saudi Visit Shows Waning US Power in the Region and the World

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      The Fair Observer website uses digital cookies so it can collect statistics on how many visitors come to the site, what content is viewed and for how long, and the general location of the computer network of the visitor. These statistics are collected and processed using the Google Analytics service. Fair Observer uses these aggregate statistics from website visits to help improve the content of the website and to provide regular reports to our current and future donors and funding organizations. The type of digital cookie information collected during your visit and any derived data cannot be used or combined with other information to personally identify you. Fair Observer does not use personal data collected from its website for advertising purposes or to market to you.As a convenience to you, Fair Observer provides buttons that link to popular social media sites, called social sharing buttons, to help you share Fair Observer content and your comments and opinions about it on these social media sites. These social sharing buttons are provided by and are part of these social media sites. They may collect and use personal data as described in their respective policies. Fair Observer does not receive personal data from your use of these social sharing buttons. It is not necessary that you use these buttons to read Fair Observer content or to share on social media. More

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      in US Politics

      ‘Nancy, I’ll go with you’: Trump allies back Pelosi’s proposed Taiwan visit

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      ‘Nancy, I’ll go with you’: Trump allies back Pelosi’s proposed Taiwan visitMike Pompeo and Mark Esper support visit to ‘freedom-loving Taiwan’ but Biden concerned any trip would antagonise Beijing Plans for Nancy Pelosi, the US House speaker, to visit Taiwan have prompted opposition from China and the American military but support from Republicans in Washington, including former members of the Trump administration.Trump’s second secretary of defense, Mark Esper, told CNN: “I think if the speaker wants to go, she should go.”Japan sees increasing threat to Taiwan amid Russia’s invasion of UkraineRead moreMike Pompeo, Trump’s second secretary of state, tweeted: “Nancy, I’ll go with you. I’m banned in China, but not freedom-loving Taiwan. See you there!”No date has been set for a Pelosi visit to Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that Beijing claims is a breakaway province. Many observers expect some form of military action by China some time soon, particularly in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.China has said a Pelosi visit would “severely undermine” its “sovereignty and territorial integrity, gravely impact the foundation of China-US relations, and send a seriously wrong signal to Taiwan independence forces”.Joe Biden said last week: “I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now. But I don’t know what the status of it is.”The White House has not weighed in officially. On Monday, Biden’s press secretary, Karin Jean-Pierre, said: “The administration routinely provides members of Congress with information and context for potential travel, including geopolitical and security considerations.“Members of Congress will make their own decisions.”The state department spokesperson, Ned Price, said: “I will just restate our policy, and that is that we remain committed to maintaining cross-strait peace and stability and our ‘One China’ policy” – a reference to the US position that recognises Beijing as the government of China but allows for informal relations and defense ties with Taiwan.That was a policy Trump initially seemed to jeopardise, telling Fox News in December 2016, after he won the election: “I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘One China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade.”In office, Trump agreed to follow the policy. But his administration was vociferous in its support of Taiwan and antagonism toward Beijing, with some observers suggesting officials wanted to force the Biden administration, which followed Trump’s, into confrontation with China.Pelosi has said it is “important for us to show support for Taiwan”. She also said she believed that when Biden referred to US military concerns, he meant “maybe the military was afraid our plane would get shot down or something like that by the Chinese”.Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, said: “Speaker Pelosi should go to Taiwan, and President Biden should make it abundantly clear to Chairman Xi [Jinping] that there’s not a damn thing the Chinese Communist party can do about it.“No more feebleness and self-deterrence. This is very simple: Taiwan is an ally and the speaker of the House of Representatives should meet with the Taiwanese men and women who stare down the threat of Communist China.”Also on Monday, the New York Times reported that the Biden administration “has grown increasingly anxious … about China’s statements and actions regarding Taiwan, with some officials fearing that Chinese leaders might try to move against [it] … over the next year and a half – perhaps by trying to cut off access to all or part of the Taiwan Strait, through which US naval ships regularly pass”.The Democratic senator Chris Coons of Delaware, who is close to Biden, told the Times: “One school of thought is that the lesson is ‘go early and go strong’ before there is time to strengthen Taiwan’s defenses. And we may be heading to an earlier confrontation – more a squeeze than an invasion – than we thought.”The Times also said the White House was “quietly work[ing] to try to dissuade” Pelosi staging the first visit by a speaker to Taiwan since 1997.The Republican speaker who made that trip, Newt Gingrich, said: “What is the Pentagon thinking when it publicly warns against Speaker Pelosi going to Taiwan?“Timidity is dangerous.”TopicsUS foreign policyUS politicsNancy PelosiChinaTaiwanAsia PacificJoe BidennewsReuse this content More

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      in Elections

      Biden says Trump ‘lacked the courage to act’ during January 6 attack

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      Biden says Trump ‘lacked the courage to act’ during January 6 attackPresident criticizes Trump for inaction during Capitol riot, saying he ‘watched it all happen’ from the comfort of the White House Joe Biden has said that his presidential predecessor Donald Trump “lacked the courage to act” as a mob of his supporters tried to halt the congressional certification of his defeat in the 2020 election by mounting the January 6 attack on the Capitol.In virtual remarks Monday to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Biden – who was recovering from Covid-19 – said police officers defending the Capitol were “speared, sprayed, stomped on, brutalized” for hours by white nationalists and other Trump sycophants who bought his false claims that he’d been robbed of victory by electoral fraudsters.“The defeated former president of the United States watched it all happen as he sat in the comfort of the private dining room next to the Oval Office,” Biden said, alluding to evidence and testimony staged by the congressional committee investigating the assault during a series of public hearings throughout the summer. “While he was doing that, brave law enforcement officers are subjected to the medieval hell for three hours … dripping in blood, surrounded by carnage, face to face with a crazed mob that believed the lies of the defeated president.“The police were heroes that day. Donald Trump lacked the courage to act.”Brave women and men in uniform across America should never forget that the defeated former president of the United States watched January 6th happen and didn’t have the spine to act.In my remarks today to @noblenatl, I made that clear: https://t.co/pQ8E4IcZR1 pic.twitter.com/uO60QO0Wrz— President Biden (@POTUS) July 25, 2022
      Biden’s criticism of Trump to the organization known as Noble came four days after the most recent hearing held by the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack focused on Trump’s inaction that fateful day.At the hearing, the eighth of its kind this summer, the committee shared testimony from former White House aides that depicted Trump as repeatedly rejecting pleas from his senior advisers and even his own family members to wave off the mob invading the Capitol.The committee said he finally relented after three hours and seven minutes, when he issued a video message telling his supporters, “Go home. We love you. You’re very special.” By then, it had become clear they weren’t able to fully take control of the building, and a late-arriving national guard had come on the scene to reinforce the Capitol police force.A bipartisan Senate report linked at least seven deaths to the riots that day, which unfolded immediately after Trump told his supporters in a speech to “fight like hell”. About 140 police officers were injured as the certification of Biden’s victory over Trump was slowed by several hours.It’s unknown for now whether prosecutors intend to build a criminal case against Trump over his actions as well as inaction before the Capitol attack and after it got underway.According to committee members, their evidence is clear that he encouraged his supporters to take desperate measures to block Biden from taking the Oval Office and then stood idly by once they began executing those plans.Biden, in his remarks Monday, said that proved Trump isn’t the law and order politician that he long touted himself as.“You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-cop,” Biden said. “You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-democracy. You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-American.”TopicsUS Capitol attackJoe BidenDonald TrumpUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      in US Politics

      Do the Democrats have a Biden problem? – podcast

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      The approval ratings of the US president are at a record low. Washington DC bureau chief David Smith considers whether Joe Biden will stand for re-election in 2024

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      After the chaos of Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s appointment as US president was supposed to bring a return to normal: a safe, competent politician who knows how to get things done. But more than two years since he came to office, the US is moving from one crisis to the next. With decades-high inflation, near-weekly mass shootings and failure to make progress on the climate crisis, Biden has reached record levels of unpopularity with voters. And some Democrats are now questioning whether he’s the best candidate to lead their party. The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, tells Michael Safi that November’s midterm elections may be pivotal in deciding the president’s future. More

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      in US Politics

      Judge blocks Georgia DA from investigating ‘fake elector’ in setback for Trump inquiry – as it happened

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      The criminal inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden in Georgia has hit a speed bump. In what the Atlanta Journal Constitution calls “a surprise decision and a significant rebuke” of Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis, superior court judge Robert McBurney said Monday she cannot pursue her investigation of state senator Burt Jones.Jones was one of the 16 secretive “fake electors” who were lined up to fraudulently certify a Trump victory in the state he lost to Biden in 2020 by almost 12,000 votes.McBurney granted a motion by Jones, a Republican running for Georgia lieutenant governor, to remove Willis and her team from looking into his role in the scandal, citing the fact Willis hosted a campaign fundraiser last month for Jones’s now opponent, Democrat Charlie Bailey.McBurney wrote: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}An investigation of this significance, garnering the public attention it necessarily does and touching so many political nerves in our society, cannot be burdened by legitimate doubts about the district attorney’s motives.
      The district attorney does not have to be apolitical, but her investigations do. As a consequence, an alternative prosecutor must now decide whether to continue treating Jones as “a target” of the investigation, as Willis designated the 16 “fake electors” last week, and whether to charge him with criminal misdeeds.The Georgia inquiry is widely seen as one of the best chances of holding Trump liable for his “big lie” that the election was stolen from him, and efforts to alter the result, which included the deadly 6 January Capitol insurrection.Earlier this month, the Georgia prosecutors issued subpoenas for several members of Trump’s legal team, including South Carolina’s Republican senator Lindsey Graham and former New York city mayor Rudy Giuliani to testify.On Monday, CNN reported, Georgia governor Brian Kemp, who has clashed frequently with Trump over the state’s certification of Biden’s victory, gave recorded testimony to a grand jury assisting the investigation.The inquiry has focused in part on an infamous phone call Trump made to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election urging him to “find” the number of votes the outgoing president needed to win the state. We’re closing the US politics blog now. It’s been a busy day, thanks for being with us, and please join us again tomorrow.Here’s what we’ve been following today:
      Joe Biden appeared at a virtual White House roundtable on the semiconductor industry, sounding somewhat hoarse from his Covid-19 infection, coughing occasionally and sipping from a mug, but otherwise looking relatively healthy. White House physician Kevin O’Connor said the president was “almost completely” recovered after contracting the virus last week.
      Six staffers were arrested in Congress for staging a sit-in at Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s office to protest a lack of legislative action on the environment. One male staffer said they were demanding renewed negotiations on the climate reconciliation package.
      Elaine Luria, a member of the January 6 House panel looking into Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat, posted to Twitter a video featuring handwritten changes he made to a speech the day after the deadly Capitol riot. The original script showed deletions and changes including the removal by Trump of a line saying the rioters “do not represent me”.
      A Georgia judge has blocked Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis from investigating one of the 16 “fake electors” who falsely certified Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election in the state. Superior court judge Robert McBurney said Willis’s hosting of a fundraiser for a Democratic rival to Burt Jones, Republican candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor, precludes her from pursuing him.
      Nancy Pelosi received rare praise from Republican former House speaker Newt Gingrich for her planned trip to Taiwan. Gingrich, the highest ranking American official ever to the island, said during a conservative conference in Washington DC that his Democratic successor should take a bipartisan delegation with her.
      Joe Biden’s Covid-19 symptoms are “almost completely” resolved, the president’s physician Dr Kevin O’Connor said in a letter. O’Connor said Biden’s blood pressure and breathing are normal, and he will continue to take the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
      Meanwhile, Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator for West Virginia, announced he had contracted the virus. Manchin said on Twitter he is experiencing only mild symptoms and is working remotely.
      Kamala Harris met with state lawmakers in Indiana to discuss a push for legislation to secure abortion rights, one month after the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade protections. Politico reports the vice-president is taking the lead in a push to promote action at state level, as Democrats’ efforts to codify federal abortion rights falter.
      The White House is bracing for a slew of bad news in economic reports due this week, including the consumer confidence index and second quarter gross domestic product results, which could confirm the US is in recession. Biden administration officials have been talking up the strength of the economy, and low unemployment.
      Joe Biden was asked at the conclusion of the meeting how he was feeling, and says he hopes to be back at work in person “by the end of this week”.Four days after testing positive for Covid-19, Biden said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I’m feeling great. I’ve had two full nights of sleep all the way through. My dog had to wake me up this morning, my wife’s not here. She’s takes him out in the morning while I’m upstairs working out, so I felt this nuzzle of my dog’s nose against my chest about five minutes to seven.
      I’m feeling good. My voice is still raspy… I’m feeling better every day. I still have this little bit of a sore throat and a little bit of a cough.
      But it’s changing significantly. It’s now up in the upper part of my my throat, actually around my nose and everywhere else, and they tell me that’s par for the course. And I think I’m on my way to full recovery, God willing.Joe Biden is appearing virtually at a White House roundtable with leaders of the US semiconductor industry, sounding somewhat hoarse from his Covid-19 infection, but otherwise appearing relatively healthy.White House physician Kevin O’Connor gave an update on the president’s condition earlier, saying he had “almost completely” recovered from symptoms after contracting the virus last week.He was seen occasionally coughing during the meeting, and regularly sipping from a mug on the desk beside him, but exhibited few other signs of his illness.Biden’s appearance at the summit, which also featured labor leaders, commerce secretary Gina Raimondo, and Brian Deese, the president’s senior economic adviser, was announced at short notice, an apparent indication of the strength of his recovery.Biden, wearing a blue suit and tie, and seated at his desk, gave brief opening remarks and listened attentively as the speakers laid out the importance of the US semiconductor industry to national security, healthcare and manufacturing.The Chips act moving through Congress this week seeks billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits for the industry. A semiconductor shortage has disrupted production in industries from automobiles to electronics and high-tech weapons. “We are unable to get the components we need. Semiconductors are what makes everything happen in the industrial sector just as they do in the medical sector,” said Tom Linebarger, chief executive of Cummings Inc, a manufacturer of engines and power generation equipment.Biden asked Linebarger about the effect any increased availability of semiconductors would have, particularly in the electric car industry.“The exponential curve will keep growing,” Linebarger replied. “We solve the problems we need to solve in the US and use the same technology to export to the rest of the world. “We have a big opportunity here but we need to invest now.”Six staffers were reportedly arrested in Congress on Monday afternoon for staging a sit-in at Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s office and protesting about a lack of legislative action on the environment.A tweet posted by NBC News reporter Julia Jester features a short video purporting to show one of the staff members in handcuffs, explaining why the group jeopardized their careers to take the action.USCP arrested six House staffers this afternoon for protesting inside @SenSchumer’s office demanding the majority leader restart negotiations to pass climate legislation.“He’s giving up, but some of us are going to live through the climate crisis,” @saaaauuull told @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/YDHc0N1FFD— Julia Jester (@JulesJester) July 25, 2022
      The reporter asked the male staffer what they were demanding of the senior Democrat. He replied: “to reopen negotiations on the climate reconciliation package … and pass climate legislation”.Joe Biden’s efforts to advance climate legislation have been thwarted largely because of the opposition of Democratic West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who has been branded a “modern day villain” for his ties to the fossil fuel industry and killing off the president’s environmental proposals.The reporter asked why the group had chosen Schumer’s office, and not that of Manchin. (Earlier today, Manchin announced he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was working remotely).The staffer replied cryptically: “Because there’s always going to be a sheep that strays away from the herd.”Earlier today, a tweet from an activist named Saul, who identified himself as a staffer for Democratic Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush, said he was among the group.Right now, we Hill staffers are peacefully protesting Dem leaders INSIDE. To my knowledge, this has never been done. We’ve also never seen climate catastrophe, so we’re meeting the moment. Follow along as we fight with everything we have to jumpstart climate negotiations. pic.twitter.com/PwuWVFQoED— Saul (@saaaauuull) July 25, 2022
      “Right now, we Hill staffers are peacefully protesting Dem leaders INSIDE. To my knowledge, this has never been done,” he wrote.“We’ve also never seen climate catastrophe, so we’re meeting the moment. Follow along as we fight with everything we have to jumpstart climate negotiations”.Elaine Luria, a member of the January 6 House panel looking into Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat, has posted to Twitter a video featuring handwritten changes he made to a speech the day after the deadly Capitol riot.The committee showed last week during a public hearing outtakes of Trump’s speech on 7 January 2021 in which he refused to speak certain phrases critical of his supporters who violently ransacked the Capitol building.It took more than 24 hours for President Trump to address the nation again after his Rose Garden video on January 6th in which he affectionately told his followers to go home in peace. There were more things he was unwilling to say. pic.twitter.com/cJBIX5ROxs— Rep. Elaine Luria (@RepElaineLuria) July 25, 2022
      The original script posted Monday by Luria, a Virginia Democrat, shows deletions and changes made by the outgoing president. Lines included in the original stating that the justice department would “ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” and that the rioters “do not represent me” were struck through in black ink, presumably by Trump.The video also includes Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, confirming to the panel the document “looks like a copy of a draft of the remarks for that day” and the writing “looks like my father’s handwriting”, the Associated Press reported.In her tweet Monday, Luria said: “It took more than 24 hours for President Trump to address the nation again after his Rose Garden video on January 6th in which he affectionately told his followers to go home in peace. There were more things he was unwilling to say”.In other highlighted changes to the script, in the original line: “I am outraged and sickened by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem”, the word “sickened” is crossed out. So, AP reports, are the later lines, “I want to be very clear you do not represent me. You do not represent our movement.” But Trump left in, “You do not represent our country.” The line “you belong in jail” was replaced with “you will pay”.In its succession of public hearings, which has concluded for the time being, the panel was attempting to present to the American public substantial evidence of Trump’s illegal efforts to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden. The justice department is pursuing its own inquiry.Read more here:‘US democracy will not survive for long’: how January 6 hearings plot a roadmap to autocracyRead moreHere’s where things stand on a busy Monday in US politics:
      A Georgia judge has blocked Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis from investigating one of the 16 “fake electors” who falsely certified Donald Trump as the winner of the 2020 election in the state. Superior court judge Robert McBurney said Willis’s hosting of a fundraiser for a Democratic rival to Burt Jones, Republican candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor, precludes her from pursuing him.
      Nancy Pelosi received rare praise from Republican former House speaker Newt Gingrich for her planned trip to Taiwan. Gingrich, the highest ranking American official ever to the island, said during a conservative conference in Washington DC that his Democratic successor should take a bipartisan delegation with her.
      Joe Biden’s Covid-19 symptoms are “almost completely” resolved, the president’s physician Dr Kevin O’Connor said in a letter. O’Connor said Biden’s blood pressure and breathing are normal, and he will continue to take the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
      Meanwhile, Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator for West Virginia, announced he had contracted the virus. Manchin said on Twitter he is experiencing only mild symptoms and is working remotely.
      Kamala Harris met with state lawmakers in Indiana to discuss a push for legislation to secure abortion rights, one month after the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade protections. Politico reports the vice-president is taking the lead in a push to promote action at state level, as Democrats’ efforts to codify federal abortion rights falter.
      The White House is bracing for a slew of bad news in economic reports due this week, including the consumer confidence index and second quarter gross domestic product results, which could confirm the US is in recession. Biden administration officials have been talking up the strength of the economy, and low unemployment.
      There’s plenty more politics to come this afternoon, including the release by the January 6 committee of additional evidence detailing Trump’s efforts to reverse his election defeat. Please stick with us.Newt Gingrich, the last speaker of the House of Representatives to visit Taiwan, has backed current speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to the self-governing island.“I feel very strongly that Speaker Pelosi should go to Taiwan and she should take a bipartisan congressional delegation,” Gingrich told a conservative gathering in Washington on Monday. “And I say this with some authority as the highest ranking American official ever to visit Taiwan.”Gingrich, a Republican, went to the island in 1997. Pelosi’s planned visit has prompted China to threaten “forceful measures” and even a possible military response, the Financial Times reported, causing a headache for the White House.Joe Biden has said the US military assessed “it is not a good idea right now”.But Gingrich, addressing the America First Policy Institute – a thinktank comprising many Donald Trump administration alumni – accused the state department of “timidity covered by insecurity and an eagerness to appease” and claimed that the “woke” defence department’s own timidity is “dangerous”.Would it surprise you to learn that Nancy Pelosi got a round of applause at a meeting of the Trump-backed America First Policy Institute? Because that’s exactly what just happened, when Newt Gingrich declared support for her upcoming trip to Taiwan. “I commend Nancy,” said Newt pic.twitter.com/FJ1Xh8H0PK— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) July 25, 2022
      He added: “If the Department of Defense is not certain that it can protect the American speaker of the House in a public visit, why would they think they could protect Taiwan? If you’re the Chinese communists and you watch us flinch after the total mess in Afghanistan and the total mess in Ukraine, you begin to think this is an administration that’s just begging to be bullied.”Gingrich added that he has “enormous disagreements” with Pelosi on many issues. “But on this one, I think her instinct is right and I hope she sticks to her guns. The only thing I would suggest is she should make it a bipartisan congressional delegation to show both parties are committed to the independence of China.” The criminal inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden in Georgia has hit a speed bump. In what the Atlanta Journal Constitution calls “a surprise decision and a significant rebuke” of Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis, superior court judge Robert McBurney said Monday she cannot pursue her investigation of state senator Burt Jones.Jones was one of the 16 secretive “fake electors” who were lined up to fraudulently certify a Trump victory in the state he lost to Biden in 2020 by almost 12,000 votes.McBurney granted a motion by Jones, a Republican running for Georgia lieutenant governor, to remove Willis and her team from looking into his role in the scandal, citing the fact Willis hosted a campaign fundraiser last month for Jones’s now opponent, Democrat Charlie Bailey.McBurney wrote: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}An investigation of this significance, garnering the public attention it necessarily does and touching so many political nerves in our society, cannot be burdened by legitimate doubts about the district attorney’s motives.
      The district attorney does not have to be apolitical, but her investigations do. As a consequence, an alternative prosecutor must now decide whether to continue treating Jones as “a target” of the investigation, as Willis designated the 16 “fake electors” last week, and whether to charge him with criminal misdeeds.The Georgia inquiry is widely seen as one of the best chances of holding Trump liable for his “big lie” that the election was stolen from him, and efforts to alter the result, which included the deadly 6 January Capitol insurrection.Earlier this month, the Georgia prosecutors issued subpoenas for several members of Trump’s legal team, including South Carolina’s Republican senator Lindsey Graham and former New York city mayor Rudy Giuliani to testify.On Monday, CNN reported, Georgia governor Brian Kemp, who has clashed frequently with Trump over the state’s certification of Biden’s victory, gave recorded testimony to a grand jury assisting the investigation.The inquiry has focused in part on an infamous phone call Trump made to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election urging him to “find” the number of votes the outgoing president needed to win the state. Dan Cox, an extremist pro-Trump Republican, won his party’s nomination for governor in Maryland last week thanks to “collusion between Trump and the national Democrats”, the current Republican governor said. “I don’t think there’s any chance that [Cox] can win,” Larry Hogan added, speaking to CNN’s State of the Union.Hogan previously called Cox “a QAnon whack job”.“Collusion” is a loaded word in US politics, in the long aftermath of the Russia investigation, in which the special counsel Robert Mueller scrutinised election interference by Moscow and links between Trump aides and Russia.The battle to succeed Hogan as governor of Maryland might seem small beer in comparison. But the race attracted national attention.Cox, endorsed by Donald Trump, surged past Kelly Schulz, a member of Hogan’s cabinet, to win the Republican nomination.In the Democratic race, Wes Moore, a bestselling author, beat candidates including Tom Perez, a former Democratic national committee chair and US labor secretary.In a midterm election year, Democrats have sought to boost pro-Trump Republicans in competitive states, placing the risky bet that as the January 6 committee remains in the headlines, extremists who support the former president’s lie about electoral fraud in his 2020 defeat will prove unpalatable to voters.Hogan said: “There’s no question this was a big win for the Democratic Governors Association that I think spent over $3m trying to promote this guy [Cox]. And it was basically collusion between Trump and the national Democrats, who propped this guy up and got him elected.“But he really is not a serious candidate.”Read the full story:How a Trump-backed ‘QAnon whack job’ won with Democratic ‘collusion’Read moreHere’s the letter from Joe Biden’s physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, giving the president an (almost) clean bill of health as he recovers from Covid-19.Biden is apparently now feeling so robust he’s willing to take on a virtual meeting later today with chief executives of Lockheed Martin, Medtronic, Cummins Inc and labor leaders to discuss the US semiconductor industry.A bill moving through Congress this week seeks billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits for the industry. A semiconductor shortage has disrupted production in industries from automobiles to electronics and high-tech weapons. Progressive Democrat Tom Nelson has dropped out of the race to challenge incumbent Republican Ron Johnson for his Wisconsin Senate seat in November, he announced on Monday.Nelson was trailing Lt Gov Mandela Barnes, businessman Alex Lasry, owner of basketball’s Milwaukee Bucks, and state treasurer Sarah Godlewski, in support and donations for the 9 August primary.Barnes and Lasry are in a close tussle for the nomination, with Nelson now opting to support Barnes. Toppling Johnson and flipping the Wisconsin seat is one of the Democratic Party’s top priorities in the midterms, with the most recent polling indicating the race is a toss-up.Joe Biden’s Covid-19 symptoms are “almost completely” resolved, his physician said in a memo on Monday, according to Reuters.Biden tested positive for the virus last Thursday, and carried on working remotely. He is scheduled shortly to address remotely a gathering of black law enforcement executives.In a White House memo released Monday morning, the president’s physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, said: “When questioned, at this point he only notes some residual nasal congestion and minimal hoarseness”.Biden, the memo said, is experiencing no shortness of breath, his blood pressure is normal, and he is continuing to take the prescribed antiviral Paxlovid.First lady Jill Biden, who remained in Delaware while her husband was in Washington, tested negative for Covid-19 this morning, her office said.While we’re (briefly) discussing Trump’s apparently falling star, another bête noire, congressman Adam Kinzinger, says the former president’s waning popularity is extending even to his formerly “hard core” supporters.The Illinois Republican and 6 January committee member made the comment on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, warning that “Trumpism isn’t dying, even though Trump is becoming irrelevant”.Asked if he believed the 6 January panel’s revelations about Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden was having any impact on colleagues, Kinzinger said:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Every day I ceased to be amazed at how much they’re willing to accept and not say anything. In terms of Republicans in general, you have kind of the bulk of Republican voters, this doesn’t appear to be having a ton of impact, maybe people are shifting more towards a potential for, I don’t know, a Ron DeSantis.
      I’m hearing a lot of anecdotal stuff around the edges of people who have been hard core with Trump that now just can’t stand him… in like five years I still believe that it’s going to be hard to find somebody that will admit they were ever a Trump supporter. West Virginia’s Democratic senator Joe Manchin has Covid-19, he announced this morning on Twitter.Manchin, who is vaccinated and boosted, said he was experiencing “mild symptoms” of the infection and was continuing to work remotely.This morning I tested positive for COVID-19. I am fully vaccinated and boosted and am experiencing mild symptoms. I will isolate and follow CDC guidelines as I continue to work remotely to serve West Virginians.— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) July 25, 2022
      The announcement comes as Joe Biden, whose agenda Manchin has blocked in recent months, continues his own recovery after the president tested positive for Covid last week.Biden is reportedly in much better condition this morning, and will address a gathering of black law enforcement executives at lunchtime remotely. It’s not been a good few days for Donald Trump in media circles. Two prominent newspapers owned by one-time cheerleader Rupert Murdoch have turned against him, and one of the former president’s favorite bugles, the far-right One America News (OAN), has lost its last major US television platform.My colleague Ed Helmore has this report on the New York Post issuing an excoriating editorial indictment of Trump’s failure to stop the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.The editorial, in a tabloid owned by Murdoch since 1976, began: “As his followers stormed the Capitol, calling for his vice-president to be hanged, President Donald Trump sat in his private dining room, watching TV, doing nothing. For three hours, seven minutes.”Trump’s only focus, the Post said, was to block the peaceful transfer of power.“As a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.”Notable from the Murdoch-owned NY Post: “It’s up to the Justice Department to decide if this is a crime. But as a matter of principle, as a matter of character, Trump has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.” https://t.co/yiLjAVhDe6— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 23, 2022
      The Wall Street Journal, another Murdoch paper, issued a similar critique in which it said evidence before the House January 6 committee was a reminder that “Trump betrayed his supporters”.Meanwhile, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports Verizon Fios will no longer carry OAN from the end of this month, dealing a major blow to the network that has become a hotbed of misinformation.Verizon was the largest pay-TV provider still carrying the OAN, according to the Daily Beast, which first reported the network was getting dropped. Verizon and OAN were unable to reach an agreement to continue providing the network and customers will not be able to access the service after 30 July.The development means that OAN in effect will not have a major television platform in the US. DirecTV, a major revenue provider, announced it was dropping the network in April.OAN is facing billion-dollar lawsuits from voting equipment vendors Dominion and Smartmatic over its false claims the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.Read more:Is Murdoch tiring of Trump? Mogul’s print titles dump the ex-presidentRead moreKamala Harris is in Indianapolis this morning, talking to lawmakers in her new role as spearhead for the Biden administration’s push to codify abortion rights into law.According to Politico, the vice-president is taking the lead on what looks to be an uphill fight following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade abortion protections one month ago.She is planning an “aggressive bid to elevate Democratic state legislators and governors on the abortion rights frontlines”, Politico says, claiming Harris recently told staff:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We need to make it a goal that we’re out in America three days a week. In a bleak assessment of the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, the Guardian’s Jessica Glenza reports today on the creation of a “dystopian American reality” and consequences “both chaotic and predictable”.Alarmingly, activists are promising even more draconian restrictions to come.Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research organization, told the Guardian:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Everything is super in flux right now. We’re looking at probably about 15m women living in a state with an abortion ban.
      That number we expect to increase, because more states are looking to ban abortion – and we could see as much as half of the country without abortion access very soon. Democrats lost their first attempt to enshrine abortion rights into federal law in May, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin crossing the aisle to join Republicans in voting down the measure.A renewed effort passed the House of Representatives earlier this month, but was largely symbolic because of ongoing Republican resistance in the evenly-divided Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass. Harris’s upcoming tour is, Politico says, aimed more at securing action at state level. A poll taken in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision showed 62% of Americans said abortion should be legal in all or most cases.Read more here:The dystopian American reality one month after the Roe v Wade reversalRead moreWhat some are calling Joe Biden’s “moment of truth” on the economy comes this week, with a number of key data indicators likely to paint a bleak picture for the president as Congress heads for summer recess and the midterm elections loom ever larger.That’s why treasury secretary Janet Yellen and other White House figures have been prominent, attempting to talk up the strengths and resilience of the US economy while inflation rages at four-decade highs.On Sunday, Yellen told NBC’s Meet the Press that, despite what she conceded were “threats on the horizons”, the US was not in recession: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}You don’t see any of the signs now – a recession is a broad-based contraction that affects many sectors of the economy – we just don’t have that. It’s a message Brian Deese, Biden’s senior economic adviser and director of the national economic council, was keen to reinforce in an appearance on CNN on Monday: .css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}We have seen extraordinary resilience in this economy due largely to the resilience of our businesses and our consumers, but we need to take more action right now to make things more affordable.In a tweet, Deese insisted that “hiring, spending and production data look solid”. Their comments are widely seen as efforts to get ahead of bad news on the economy coming this week, starting with the consumer confidence index report coming tomorrow, an expected steep interest rate hike on Wednesday, then second quarter gross domestic product results the following day.Analysts say the predicted interest rate rise by the Federal Reserve could help slow inflation, but fuel the recession risk at the same time. It’s a gamble that Biden, whose popularity ratings are at term lows, is likely to support. In a CNN poll last week, only 18% of Americans described the nation’s economy as in good shape, while 82% said economic conditions are poor.Tellingly, 75% said inflation and the cost of living were the most important economic problems facing their family, up from 43% last summer. Impt context ahead of this wk’s Q2 GDP release:The data will capture Apr-Jun economic conditions, ie backward lookingHiring, spending, and production data look solidCEA outlines why economists look broadly at data to assess the economy’s healthhttps://t.co/vzl38Z2g5E— Brian Deese (@BrianDeeseNEC) July 24, 2022
      The conservative National Review on Monday accused Biden’s economic team of being in “recession denial”, and predicted that official confirmation the US was in recession could come as early as Thursday when the second quarter GDP figures are released.Good morning, politics blog readers. Joe Biden’s allies are scrambling to get ahead of what’s likely to be a troubling week of economic news for the White House, with Congress beginning to think about its August recess with little to no progress on the president’s economic agenda, and inflation at 40-year highs.Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has been talking up the resilience and “historical strengths” of the US economy, and low unemployment, while conceding “threats on the horizon” could nudge the country closer to recession, just as the midterm elections loom. We’ll get a snapshot of consumer confidence in a report tomorrow, while Wednesday is likely to bring a sharp hike in US interest rates that could help slow inflation, but fuel the recession risk. Biden, whose popularity ratings are slumping, has plenty else on his plate. Here’s what else we’re watching today.
      We’ll get the chance to gauge the progress of the president’s recovery from Covid-19 when he addresses the national organization of black law enforcement executives at 12.30pm.
      Covid-19 will feature heavily at the White House press briefing. Pandemic response coordinator Dr Ashish Jha will join WH press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the podium.
      It’s the last full week in Congress before the August recess. Today, senators will discuss healthcare benefits for veterans episode to toxins, and vote to progress a bill providing grants to the computer chip industry.
      There’s also a push to get the same-sex marriage bill through the Senate this week, after it passed the House with supports from dozens of Republicans last week.
      We’ll bring you all the developments as they happen. Please stay with us… More

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      Democratic senator Joe Manchin tests positive for Covid

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      Democratic senator Joe Manchin tests positive for CovidWest Virginia senator, 74, who has thwarted Joe Biden on key policy goals, is fully vaccinated and has only mild symptoms Senator Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who has thwarted many of Joe Biden’s most ambitious policy goals, has tested positive for Covid.The 74-year-old senator is fully vaccinated and said on Twitter on Monday he was experiencing mild symptoms.This morning I tested positive for COVID-19. I am fully vaccinated and boosted and am experiencing mild symptoms. I will isolate and follow CDC guidelines as I continue to work remotely to serve West Virginians.— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) July 25, 2022
      Manchin’s positive diagnosis comes as Biden himself is recovering from Covid-19. After four days of taking the antiviral Paxlovid medication, the president’s symptoms from the virus “have now almost completely resolved”, his physician, Kevin O’Connor, said in a statement on Monday. “When questioned, at this point he only notes some residual nasal congestion and minimal hoarseness.”Both men tested positive amid a surge in Covid cases across the US in recent weeks. The highly contagious BA.5 subvariant, which can avoid immunity from vaccines better than its predecessors, is now the dominant strain of the virus in the US.Manchin’s diagnosis could affect an expected vote this week on increasing semiconductor chip production in the US, the Associated Press reported. While members of the US House of Representatives can vote remotely by proxy, members of the Senate cannot.Manchin dealt a significant blow to Democrats earlier this month when he said he would not support climate change and tax provisions in a bill Biden hoped would be a signature part of his domestic agenda.TopicsJoe ManchinUS politicsJoe BidenCoronavirusnewsReuse this content More

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      If Biden isn’t willing to really fight the climate crisis, he shouldn’t run in 2024 | Daniel Sherrell

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      If Biden isn’t willing to really fight the climate crisis, he shouldn’t run in 2024Daniel SherrellHis latest climate defeat has affirmed what we’ve long feared: that he just isn’t the man for the moment On Friday, 15 July, Joe Biden acknowledged the death of his signature climate bill, conceding defeat in a war he never truly seemed willing to wage. He did it from a hastily prepared briefing room in Jeddah, where he had spent the previous day shilling for increased Saudi oil production.It was painful to watch. The fossil fuel oligarchs had him right where they wanted him: his climate ambitions foiled, his rhetoric defanged, his hat in his hand. For their part, they had never been under any illusions that they were waging a war. Over the course of his presidency, they had deployed every weapon at their disposal to protect their profit margins from the public’s desire for a dignified life on a habitable planet.Their final blow was delivered on Thursday by US senator Joe Manchin, puppet to the plutocrats, a man capable of patting his grandchildren on the head while selling their future to the highest bidder. With a fickleness bordering on sadism, Manchin killed our last chance at federal climate action for years, effectively completing the corporate capture of our nation’s climate policy.Biden’s failure to prevent this capture has confirmed, with almost eerie precision, the worries that dogged him on the campaign trail. That he was too milquetoast, too norm-bound, too nostalgic for the 1970s. Young people have waited in vain for the administration to evince a fiery, existential urgency around climate, a willingness to start twisting arms and cracking skulls. But Biden has shown himself either unwilling or unable to don the same brass knuckles as his opponents. His latest defeat has affirmed what we’ve long feared: that he just isn’t the man for the moment.There are still ways that he could flip this script. He could declare a climate emergency and leverage the Defense Production Act and the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to circumvent a Congress corrupted by corporate polluters. He could wage rhetorical and political war on Manchin, stripping him of his committee chairmanship, and parading his naked corruption in front of the American people. He could appeal privately to Mitt Romney, perhaps the last Senate Republican with any integrity, who just last month bemoaned our nation’s lack of progress on climate. He could say the truth out loud, at the top of his lungs: that the fossil fuel industry has declared war on the American people. That we are fighting for the soul of our democracy and the future of our planet.If he’s unwilling to do even that, he shouldn’t run for president in 2024. What young voter in their right mind would nominate him again? Why would we trust him to succeed without a congressional majority when he’s failed so abjectly with one? His entire theory of governance will have been disproved: his “decades of experience”, his purported “knowledge of the Senate”, his reputation as a “deal maker” – if he couldn’t land a climate bill, what good were they?Surrounded by a suffocating gauze of Beltway consultants, he made mistake after mistake. He failed to use his bully pulpit to rally the public around the dangers of climate change. He almost never named – let alone declaimed – that those dangers were the direct result of burning oil, coal and natural gas. He held up executive climate regulations and approved fossil fuel projects, miscalculating that it was carrots and not sticks that would win Manchin’s approval. Over the remonstrations of the Squad, he decoupled his own climate agenda from Manchin’s beloved infrastructure package, promising everyone that he could get Manchin’s vote on the former.Was that a lie, or just deeply naive? I’ll still be agonizing over this question in 2024, when I pull the lever for his primary opponent.I want to emphasize that Biden is not the villain here. It is Republicans – and Joe Manchin – who are making the sociopathic choice to further enrich the already-super-rich at the expense of all life on earth. I have no doubt that Biden wants sincerely to address the climate crisis. But presidents are not judged on their intentions. They are judged on their results. And on climate especially, the results of the Biden administration – of the entire, gerontocratic leadership of the Democratic party – have fallen dangerously short of what’s needed.With summer heatwaves intensifying and federal climate legislation wilting, young people are rightfully desperate. There are only so many losses we will accept before taking our chances on a different formula: the charismatic fire of an AOC, the crossover appeal of a John Fetterman, the judicious futurism of a Ro Khanna.Joe Biden may be a “decent man”, as his defenders constantly contend. But what does my generation care about decency, when the planet’s going up in flames? If he really wants a second term in office, he should show us why he deserves one. He needs to realize he’s at war with the oligarchs. And then he needs to start winning.
      Daniel Sherrell is the author of Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World (Penguin Books) and a climate activist
      TopicsJoe BidenOpinionUS politicsClimate crisisDemocratscommentReuse this content More