“WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled his outline for a $1.85 trillion social safety net and environmental bill, imploring Democrats to put aside their differences and embrace a plan to provide universal prekindergarten, generous support for child care costs and the largest investment ever to combat climate change.
But his appeal for Democrats to unite and hand him a long-delayed victory on his domestic agenda fell flat, as liberals demanded assurances that the package would survive before they would agree to an immediate vote on a separate $1 trillion infrastructure bill. That left Biden empty-handed as he departed for Europe, where he had hoped to point to progress on both measures as proof that U.S. democracy still works.
By Thursday evening, with Biden heading for Rome aboard Air Force One, the House Progressive Caucus had slammed the door shut on prospects of a quick win.
‘Members of our caucus will not vote for the infrastructure bill without the Build Back Better Act,’ the group said in a joint statement, using the name of the president’s social policy and climate bill.
It would provide preschool for more than 6 million 3- and 4-year-olds, child care and health care subsidies, monthly payments for families with children and $555 billion for programs to wean Americans from fossil fuels.
The day’s drama at the Capitol at once fleshed out the details of legislation that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called ‘spectacular’ and underscored the deep rifts and wells of distrust within the party that Biden and top Democrats have been unable to overcome.
The president joined House Democrats in the Capitol Thursday morning, hoping that by personally detailing his framework and projecting confidence about a compromise, he could paper over outstanding disputes about what should be in the plan. Doing so, he hoped, would unstick the infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August but has been held captive in the House by liberals demanding their legislative priorities: social policy and climate change.
Biden delayed his departure for Europe to plead for a victory.
‘We have a framework that will get 50 votes in the United States Senate,’ Biden privately told House Democrats, according to a person familiar with his remarks. ‘I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week.’
But while the president found plenty of support for his plan — whose major components were still being debated even as he presented it — he departed for Rome with both prongs of his domestic agenda still hanging in limbo in a divided Congress.
Liberals said they trusted Biden to deliver on his outline, but that sentiment did not extend to Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, crucial centrist holdouts whose concerns have forced Democrats to whittle down the package and jettison some of the left’s top priorities. The pair privately told associates that they supported the president’s latest proposal, but neither publicly promised to back it. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., declared that she felt ‘a little bamboozled.’
Manchin and Sinema, in turn, privately maintained that they would not be bullied into accepting social policy and climate legislation by House liberals holding up their infrastructure bill. Pelosi flashed exasperation after relaying the highway and transit programs set to expire on Oct. 31 without an infrastructure vote. ‘This is professional,’ she snapped. ‘Let’s do it in a timely fashion and not leave doubt.’” Read more at Boston Globe
Facebook is rebranding as ‘Meta’ as it sets its sights on the metaverse.
“CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the tech giant’s new name would reflect growth opportunities beyond its namesake social-media platform, which will still be called Facebook. The company is already investing heavily in creating a mixed-reality world featuring shared online spaces inhabited by digital avatars, with projects ranging from virtual-reality glasses to an e-commerce platform. To reach that goal, Facebook is adapting its structure and has billions of dollars in more spending planned in coming years. The strategy Zuckerberg outlined comes as Facebook faces a barrage of criticism from lawmakers, researchers and users over revelations in The Wall Street Journal’s Facebook Files series, which showed that the company knows its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm. Zuckerberg has said the criticism paints a false picture of the company, and on Thursday he addressed the decision to discuss emerging plans while Facebook faces such scrutiny. ‘I know some people will say this is not a time to focus on the future,’ he said, but argued that it is important to move forward even if mistakes are made along the way.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Joe Biden, only the second Catholic U.S. president in history, is meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican Friday amid a debate in the American Catholic Church over whether he and other politicians who go against church doctrine should be denied communion. Biden faces serious criticism among some U.S. Catholic bishops over his support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage. Analysts, however, doubt Francis will lecture Biden about his support for those issues and instead will focus on issues where they can find common ground, such as the environment, immigration and helping the poor. Francis already has registered his discomfort with the movement led by conservative bishops to deny communion to politicians who back abortion rights.” Read more at USA Today
Top oil-company executives faced a House panel.
“Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee accused the oil industry of waging a yearslong campaign to spread disinformation about the role of fossil fuels in causing global warming. All four companies—Exxon, Chevron, BP and Shell—said in prepared testimony that they have long acknowledged the threat of climate change and are cutting their carbon emissions to minimize their contributions to it. Many Democrats contend the companies publicly support climate-friendly policies and investments but work quietly to derail regulations, citing dissonance between oil executives’ public remarks and the activities of influential trade groups to which their companies belong. Democrats say oil producers have misstated the size of their low-carbon investments, which represent less than 5% of their annual capital spending. In September, Democrats on the panel opened a probe over oil companies’ statements after environmental group Greenpeace released footage of an Exxon lobbyist saying the oil giant was working to strip certain provisions in the infrastructure package that were aimed at reducing emissions.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Charleston church shooting: The DOJ announced an $88 million settlement with victims' families and survivors of a 2015 shooting in which a white nationalist killed nine people in an iconic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina.” Read more at USA Today
“Members of the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot are losing patience with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadowsand may resort to charges of criminal contempt to get him to appear. Meadows was first subpoenaed more than a month ago and has since tried to negotiate the terms of his turning over documents and appearing for a deposition. Members could extend the deadline for him to appear before the committee, but at some point, his noncompliance could undermine their efforts. They could vote to hold him in contempt, like they did with former President Trump ally Stephen Bannon. The committee is interested in Meadows’ testimony because of how close he was to Trump and his insight into how much Trump knew before the attack.” Read more at CNN
“New cases of Covid-19 are down 60% in the US since the peak of the Delta variant-driven wave in September. They’re even farther down from the country’s worst pandemic phase in mid-January. Experts are cautious about saying the worst is over, especially since similar optimism over the summer was quashed by another surge. The biggest challenge right now, besides lagging vaccination rates, is upcoming colder weather and annual holiday travel and gatherings.” Read more at CNN
“A widely available antidepressant holds promise as a treatment for Covid-19. According to a new study of nearly 1,500 patients in Brazil who had Covid-19 and at least one known risk factor for severe disease, those who received fluvoxamine were significantly less likely to require hospitalization than those who didn’t.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“China is sticking to Covid-zero policies. Unlike other governments that are shifting toward managing Covid-19 as an endemic illness, Beijing is adhering to its playbook of neighborhood lockdowns, location tracking, weekslong quarantines and indefinitely delayed visas, in an effort to eradicate every single case of the virus.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The global semiconductor supply crunch is worsening. Almost a year into the shortage, wait times are lengthening, buyers are hoarding products and demand hasn’t moderated as expected.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faces a criminal complaint alleging he forcibly touching a female staff member. The misdemeanor criminal charge is his first since he resigned in August after facing allegations of sexual harassment involving 11 women.” Read more at NPR
“The vaccine mandate for New York City municipal workers will go into effect Friday , after a judge refused to block it. Police officers, firefighters, garbage collectors and most other city workers face a 5 p.m. deadline to show proof they’ve gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Those who don’t comply will be put on unpaid leave starting Monday. The city's police union sought to block the mandate, which increases the requirements for workers who previously could show negative test results to keep their jobs. As of Wednesday, 73% of police department personnel and 68% of fire department personnel, which houses EMS services, had been vaccinated. Judge Lizette Colon ordered the city to defend the requirement against a union lawsuit in a hearing scheduled for Nov. 12.” Read more at USA Today
“The Senate confirmed Elizabeth Prelogar on Thursday to be solicitor general – the top lawyer representing the federal government before the Supreme Court.” Read more at USA Today
“For the first time in public, a detainee described his torture at C.I.A. black sites, including forced feedings, waterboarding and sexual abuse.” Read more at New York Times
“Oklahoma executed a death row inmate. Like other executions in the state, this one — the first in six years — did not go smoothly.” Read more at New York Times
“Voters in Minneapolis will decide whether to replace the city’s police department with a Department of Public Safety.” Read more at New York Times
“Michelle Wu, a 36-year-old protégé of Elizabeth Warren, is favored to become the next mayor of Boston.” Read more at New York Times
“Jury selection will begin next week in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. The teenager killed two people and injured a third who were protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., in August last year.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“A former Texas nurse was sentenced to death this week for injecting air into the arteries of four patients recovering from heart surgery, causing fatal brain damage, a court official said.
A jury in Tyler, Texas, handed up the sentence on Wednesday in the capital murder case of the former nurse, William Davis, eight days after convicting him.
Prosecutors said during the trial’s sentencing phase that Mr. Davis, 37, had harmed at least 11 patients altogether by injecting air into their arterial lines or venous systems.
Two of those other patients later died, according to prosecutors, but charges were not brought because the cases would have been harder to prove.” Read more at New York Times”
“Joel Quenneville resigned from his position as head coach of the Florida Panthers following a meeting Thursday with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at the league's office in New York. Quenneville's resignation came two days after the second-winningest coach in NHL history was among those implicated for not swiftly responding to allegations by former Chicago Blackhawks player Kyle Beach of being sexually assaulted by former video coordinator Brad Aldrich during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Andrew Brunette — an assistant coach under Quenneville in Florida — was hired as Florida's interim coach, and is expected to make his debut when the 7-0 Panthers play at Detroit Friday night.” Read more at USA Today
President Biden and Nancy Pelosi at the Capitol yesterday.Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times
Ugly and yet ‘huge’
The legislative process is rarely pretty. It highlights political divisions and can feel disconnected from people’s lives. When a big bill is making its way through Congress, voters are often turned off.
The central piece of President Biden’s agenda has followed the pattern. It has caused squabbles among Democrats, and the plan has already shrunk nearly by half, disappointing progressives, amusing Republicans and providing grist for critical media coverage.
Eventually, though, the process behind a bill’s passage tends to fade into history. What matters far more is a bill’s substance. And if Congress passes anything resembling the legislative framework that Biden announced yesterday, it will be highly consequential.
That was the main message I heard from policy experts yesterday when I asked them to assess the framework. Compared with Biden’s original proposal, it looks paltry. Compared with the status quo, it looks like a big deal.
‘This is not going to solve every problem, but it is going to change people’s lives,’ Megan Curran of Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy told me.
The bill would sharply cut child poverty; reduce child-care and health care expenses by thousands of dollars a year for many families; enroll more children in pre-K; provide more people with health insurance; finance the building of one million affordable housing units; and slow climate change by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
‘Because they started big, there’s a tendency to say, ‘Oh, it’s disappointing’ — but it’s huge,’ said Jane Waldfogel, a longtime scholar of children and families. ‘If you had told us a year ago that there was going to be a bill this fall that would have an extension of the child tax credit, big funding for child care, pre-K, health care, et cetera, I would have said, ‘In your dreams.’
There are a few important caveats:
One, major provisions did fall out of the bill, including paid leave, drug-price reductions and several tax increases on the wealthy. ‘No one got everything they wanted, including me,’ Biden said yesterday, before leaving on a trip to Rome.
Two, the political impact may be modest, especially in the short term. Democrats remain underdogs to keep congressional control next year.
Three — most importantly — a framework is not the same thing as a law, as my colleague Carl Hulse notes. Some members of Congress are still trying to make changes, and Democrats will have to remain almost completely unified to pass a bill.
Below is a breakdown of the biggest pieces of the $1.8 trillion, 10-year plan, assuming it passes in something like its current form.
Climate
Biden has vowed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 50 percent by the end of this decade, relative to 2005 levels. Many scientists consider that to be a good target, one that would let the U.S. do its part to prevent the planet from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
Biden’s original legislative proposal would have come very close to achieving that goal, Coral Davenport, a Times reporter, says. But Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia opposed a provision to retire coal and natural-gas plants. The remaining climate package — mostly tax credits to reduce pollution — will likely get the country about halfway to Biden’s goal. (Here is Coral’s full analysis.)
‘The package is really strong,’ Nat Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, told me. ‘We’re going to need more.’
For Biden to achieve the rest of his emissions goal, his administration would need to regulate pollution more aggressively, and states would need to pass their own clean-energy bills.
A preschool in Greensboro, N.C.Travis Dove for The New York Times
Education and child care
Today, slightly more than half of pre-school-age children attend a program; the Biden framework would aim to make preschool universally available. It would also increase the maximum Pell grant — the largest college financial-aid program — by $550. And it would cap the amount of money that families spend on child care at 7 percent of their income; today, the average for families that have young children and pay for care is about 13 percent.
‘The investments in preschool and child care have the potential to reshape American education,’ Erica Greenberg of the Urban Institute told me. One unknown, her colleague Matthew Chingos said, is whether the bill will manage to lift the quality of the education programs it funds. In both pre-K and higher education, many schools are excellent — and many others perform poorly.
Another question: Will a future Congress extend the bill’s child tax credit — which is worth up to $3,600 per child per year and crucial to the projected reduction of child poverty? To hold down the bill’s cost, the Democrats’ framework allows the expanded credit to expire next year. They are hoping that the provision proves too popular for Republicans to block in the future.
Health care and more
The framework sets out to fix two problems with Obamacare — by expanding Medicaid in the 12 states that have not already done so, and by reducing the cost of private health insurance for middle- and lower-income people who buy it on the Obamacare exchanges.
Jason Furman, an economist and former adviser to Barack Obama, cited these improvements in a Twitter thread pointing out the benefits of passing legislation that is flawed but ‘much better than nothing.’ Future policymakers can build off the successes of earlier legislation and also fix its problems — which is a reason to celebrate Biden’s framework, he suggested.
The framework would also add hearing coverage to Medicare, expand in-home care for older adults and disabled Americans, and raise wages for home health care workers.
Taxing the rich
The bill would not add to the deficit, White House officials claim, because of tax increases on corporations and the affluent — although the most ambitious tax increases on the wealthy did not survive the negotiations.
The framework does include a minimum tax on corporations, to prevent them from using so many deductions and loopholes that they pay little tax. It also raises income taxes on the very affluent, with a 5 percent surcharge on household income above $10 million and another 3 percent on income above $25 million.” Read more at New York Times
“The pandemic pushed more than 3 million baby boomers into early retirement, Axios' Erica Pandey writes from a new analysis by Miguel Faria e Castro, a senior economist at the St. Louis Fed.
Why it matters: The wave of early retirements is contributing to the labor shortage roiling the U.S. economy.
What happened: Many older workers faced layoffs. Others left the workforce to protect themselves from the risk of infection.
It's much harder for workers in their 50s and 60s — or older — to re-enter the workforce after a period of unemployment, due to persistent ageism in corporate America.
It's likely that many of those who left jobs got discouraged and chose to retire instead.
The big picture: The total number of people who left the workforce during the pandemic — including the 3 million early retirees — is around 5.25 million, per Faria e Castro's analysis.
That includes working mothers who left jobs to care for kids and immunocompromised people who stayed home. Many could return.” Read more at Axios
“ROME — President Biden basked in a warm glow from America’s allies on his first foreign trip as president last June, deploying the reassuring promise that ‘America is back.’ But four and a half months later, as Biden heads to his second round of international summits, US allies are less certain that is the case.
The leaders of America’s closest partners have watched Biden’s popularity plummet while former president Donald Trump has begun holding raucous election-style rallies and making his trademark provocative or false pronouncements on a range of issues. And that is raising questions about the durability of any promises by — or agreements with — the current administration.” Read more at Boston Globe”
“Israel's plan to green-light thousands of new Israeli housing units in the West Bank is drawing international criticism. Such settlements are illegal under international law because both the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered occupied territory -- which Israel disputes. Twelve European countries yesterday urged Israel to ‘reverse its decision.’ The US and the UK also issued strong disagreements with the plan. The US State Department said the plan to build new West Bank housing goes against efforts to lower tensions in the politically fraught area. This disagreement could further fray relations between the Biden administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. However, the Israeli government is expected to attempt to smooth over the situation by also announcing new settlements for Palestinians in the same area.” Read more at CNN
've never seen it
Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS, Kevin M. Gill, Gemini Observatory via AP
“This combined image from NASA shows Jupiter as seen by the Juno orbiting spacecraft's microwave radiometer (left) and in visible light, captured by the Gemini Observatory.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a storm so big it could swallow Earth, extends surprisingly deep beneath the planet's cloud tops, scientists reported yesterday, according to AP's Marcia Dunn.
The Great Red Spot on the largest planet — 10,000 miles wide — resembles a fat pancake in new 3D images of the planet.” Read more at Axios
No posts