WASHINGTON (AP) — “President Joe Biden is putting the finishing touches on his first address to a joint session of Congress, a prime-time speech on Wednesday night on the eve of his 100th day in office. Biden will use the speech before lawmakers and a broader viewing audience to talk about what he’s accomplished in the opening months of his presidency, and lay out his other domestic and foreign policy priorities.
WHEN AND WHERE CAN I WATCH OR LISTEN TO BIDEN?
The speech is set for 9 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast by the major networks and cable news TV channels. The White House plans to stream it at www.WH.gov/live, as well as on its YouTube, Facebook and Twitter pages. Live coverage will also be provided by C-SPAN, C-SPAN Radio and C-SPAN.org. NPR is streaming the speech on its website, www.npr.org, and on its app, in addition to offering live coverage to its member radio stations.” Read more at AP
“President JOE BIDEN is backing down from a fight with two of Washington’s most powerful trade groups: the pharmaceutical industry and the health insurance lobby.
The American Families Plan, a $1.8 trillion bundle of proposalsthat Biden will detail before a joint session of Congress tonight, will not include two top Democratic priorities, despite intense lobbying from congressional Democrats in recent days.
There will be no plan to allow the government to negotiate prescription drug prices, which is kryptonite to drugmakers. And there will be no reduction in Medicare’s eligibility age or an expansion of Medicare benefits, two changes that would move the country closer to a single-payer system — and the demise of private health insurance.
Instead of including those twin progressive priorities, the White House settled on an extension of expanded Obamacare subsidies included in Biden’s Covid-19 relief bill.
Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.), who seemed to know he had lost the fight with the White House, told reporters Tuesday that the provisions would still be included in the bill, even over Biden’s objections, ‘if I have anything to say about it.’
What IS in the Biden plan? Here are the highlights:
•$400 billion to extend the child tax credit (That’s an estimate because a White House fact sheet conspicuously did not provide the cost)
•$225 billion to subsidize and improve childcare and boost pay for childcare workers
•$225 billion for a national paid family and medical leave program
•$200 billion for free universal preschool
•$200 billion to reduce Obamacare premiums
•$109 billion for free community college
•$85 billion to boost Pell Grants
•$45 billion for childhood and school nutrition programs
The package would be paid for by increasing the top tax rate, hiking the capital gains tax and dramatically stepping up IRS enforcement of tax evasion.
Most of these new spending proposals are popular. Taxing the rich to pay for them is also popular. It’s a formula that has worked well for Biden so far. What isn’t always popular — as BILL CLINTON and BARACK OBAMA learned — is making big changes to health care. Fighting the drug lobby and the insurance industry isn’t easy. Which might explain why Biden nixed the Medicare reforms for now.” Read more at POLITICO
“To pay for his plans, President Biden is relying on these five buckets, Axios' Hans Nichols reports:
Raise the top marginal tax rate from 37% to 39.6% for Americans who make more than $400,000.
Treat capital gains as regular income and tax it at the highest rate, plus a 3.8% Obamacare surcharge for a total of 43.4% on households with more than $1 million in investment income.
Tax capital gains at death and eliminate the so-called ‘stepped-up’ basis that allows estates to revalue assets after the original owner dies.
Inject $80 billion into the IRS to audit high-income earners and collect an additional $700 billion through increased tax compliance over 10 years.
Draw on any leftover revenue from increasing the corporate tax rate, as Biden previously proposed in the American Jobs Plan — including a global minimum tax, and raising the rate from 21% to 28%.
What we're asking: Will the proposed tax increases — especially on capital gains — be retroactive, capturing massive market gains of 2021?” Read more at Axios
“The White House is proposing raising the tax agency's budget by $80 billion over the next decade to help strengthen its enforcement of tax rules on wealthy people. The plan aims to boost resources for conducting audits, and the administration estimates it would generate $700 billion in net tax revenue that would have otherwise gone uncollected. The proposal is expected to be announced as part of the president's $1.8 trillion antipoverty package. The $80 billion would represent a more than 50% increase in the IRS's budget, and the money from increased tax enforcement would pay for an extension of the enlarged child tax credit along with programs to expand child care and funding for community colleges. The IRS has shrunk over the past decade due to budget cuts, and audit rates of individuals have hit 40-year lows recently, with the agency saying it devotes 30% less in funding and staff to tax enforcement than it did in 2010.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The CDC has released new outdoor mask guidance, saying fully vaccinated people can forego face coverings at small outdoor gatherings or when dining outside with friends from multiple households. Unvaccinated people, the CDC says, should still mask up for such events, and even fully vaccinated people should protect themselves in larger, denser outdoor gatherings. President Biden touted the new guidelines as a reason all Americans should get vaccinated. In Brazil, the Senate has launched an inquiry into its federal government's response to Covid-19. Brazil is among the three countries hardest hit by the pandemic, along with the US and India, and this investigation could affect President Jair Bolsonaro's reelection bid if it leads to an impeachment proceeding or criminal charges.” Read more at CNN
“NEW DELHI (AP) — India crossed a grim milestone Wednesday of 200,000 people lost to the coronavirus as a devastating surge of new infections tears through dense cities and rural areas alike and overwhelms health care systems on the brink of collapse.
The health ministry reported a single-day record 3,293 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing India’s total fatalities to 201,187, as the world’s second most populous country endures its darkest chapter of the pandemic yet.
The country also reported 362,757 new infections, a new global record, which raised the overall total past 17.9 million. The previous high of 350,000 on Monday had capped a five-day streak of recording the largest single-day increases in any country throughout the pandemic.
India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, is the fourth to cross 200,000 deaths, behind the United States, Brazil and Mexico. And as in many nations, experts believe the coronavirus infections and fatalities in India are severe undercounts.” Read more at AP
“Republican members of Congress with medical training released a videourging Americans to get vaccinated. Vaccine skepticism is higher among Republican voters than Democrats.” Read more at New York Times
“Biden signed an executive order raising the minimum wage paid by federal contractors to $15 an hour, which is likely to affect hundreds of thousands of workers.” Read more at New York Times
“Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is reintroducing three policing bills she hopes will end up in the bipartisan package lawmakers have been fine-tuning for weeks as pressure mounts to pass meaningful police reform legislation. The most significant of these bills would establish an independent federal agency to investigate deaths in police custody, officer-involved shootings and use of force that results in severe bodily injury. Meanwhile, incidents of nonlethal use of force are getting more attention, like in a federal civil lawsuit filed against four officers in North Carolina that alleges they grabbed a Black woman by her hair and pulled her out of her SUV during a 2019 traffic stop. In New Jersey, two officers are facing civil rights charges for allegedly assaulting an Arab teenager and then lying about it on a police report.” Read more at CNN
“Sheriff’s deputies in Elizabeth City, N.C., fatally shot a Black man in the back of his head as he was driving away, lawyers for his family said Tuesday, citing an independent autopsy.
The findings about how Andrew Brown Jr. was killed come a day after family members watched an approximately 20-second video clip from a deputy’s body-worn camera. The fatal shooting at the 42-year-old’s home set off days of protests pressing the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office for more information. The sheriff’s office, which said officers were executing a search warrant and an arrest warrant on felony drug charges at Brown’s home, has declined to answer questions about whether Brown was armed, complying or fleeing.
The family claimed Tuesday that the autopsy, which they requested, supported their claim that Brown was “executed.” An attorney for the family, Wayne Kendall, said it shows that deputies did not follow best practices to avoid shooting into a moving vehicle that did not pose a threat. Brown was shot a total of five times, four times in the right arm and once in the back of the head, according to the autopsy.” Read more at Washington Post
“A longtime New York Post reporter said she has resigned after being “ordered” to write a false story that claimed undocumented minors were being welcomed to the United States with copies of a children’s book written by Vice President Harris.
‘The Kamala Harris story — an incorrect story I was ordered to write and which I failed to push back hard enough against — was my breaking point,’ Laura Italiano tweeted Tuesday afternoon, several hours after her viral article about the books had been deleted from the Post’s website and replaced with corrected versions.
Italiano, who has written for the Post since the 1990s, according to news archives, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Since the Post published the story on its front page Saturday, the conservative mediascape has been in an uproar over the supposed distribution of Harris’s 2019 book, ‘Superheroes Are Everywhere,’ at migrant shelters. A slew of prominent Republicans expressed outrage over the possibility that taxpayers were funding the program. Even the White House press secretary was grilled about it.
And then on Tuesday, in a one-sentence note at the bottom of the original online article, the Post acknowledged that almost none of it was true.
‘Editor’s note: The original version of this article said migrant kids were getting Harris’ book in a welcome kit, but has been updated to note that only one known copy of the book was given to a child,’ it read in full.
In fact, it’s not even clear whether a child actually received that single copy of the book, which was photographed by Reuters on a vacant bed at a shelter in Long Beach, Calif., last week. It was one of many items, including toys and clothing, donated by residents in a citywide drive, Long Beach officials said. No government funds were used to purchase the items, according to a city spokeswoman.” Read more at Washington Post
“A day after the government released the first results from the 2020 Census, some states and civic organizations were reeling from unexpected results, and wondered if the differences between projections and actual data might be an indicator of problems with the count.
Among the surprises were lower-than-expected population counts in Texas, Florida, and Arizona, which led to those states ending up with fewer House representatives than projected. And D.C., which had been projected to surpass the 700,000 population line, failed to hit that mark, growing by 14.6 percent instead of 18.4 percent over the past decade.
Decennial census data is used to determine the apportionment of House seats, redistricting and $1.5 trillion a year in federal funding, so the release of its data is always closely scrutinized. But this time, perhaps more than ever, the count faced unprecedented hurdles. They included underfunding, attempts by the Trump administration to add a citizenship question and exclude undocumented immigrants from apportionment, the coronavirus pandemic, and natural disasters that struck just before the count ended.” Read more at Washington Post
“After decades of failing to curb sexual assault in the armed forces, lawmakers and Pentagon leaders are poised to make major changes in military laws that many experts have long argued stand in the way of justice.
A bill championed by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, would remove military commanders from a role in prosecuting service members for sexual assault and has gained support from scores of key members of Congress. Among them is Senator Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican and retired National Guard lieutenant colonel, who said her own experience with assault and her daughter’s stories from West Point helped shift her views on the issue.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Foreign students from China, Brazil, Iran and South Africa will be exempt from the remaining travel bans imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, opening up the possibility of a significant rebound in international-student enrollment at U.S. schools this fall.
The U.S. State Department said in an update online, dated Monday, that students and academics, as well as journalists and a few other categories of individuals from those countries, will be allowed into the U.S. with proper visas.
Last summer, the Trump administration made similar exceptions for students and others from the U.K., Ireland and Europe.
The carve-outs are made under what the State Department calls a “national interest exemption,” meaning the government has determined it’s in the U.S.’s best interest to allow these individuals in.
U.S. embassies and consulates have slowly resumed visa services across much of the world after suspending operations in March 2020. They say they are prioritizing family members of U.S. citizens, diplomats and those assisting with the pandemic response, followed by students, temporary workers and some other groups.
International enrollment at American colleges and universities plummeted last fall, as hundreds of thousands of students were stranded overseas, unable to secure new visas or unable to travel if they already had the proper documentation. Visa records show the number of students here on F-1 or M-1 visas, which include those at colleges, vocational programs and K-12 schools, fell by 18%, to 1.25 million, while visa records for newly enrolled students tumbled by 72%.
Chinese students account for roughly one-third of all international students enrolled at U.S. schools. Students from India, the second leading country of origin, are subject to standard Covid-19 testing protocols, but haven’t been restricted from travel to the U.S. during the pandemic. Brazil is the ninth largest, and Iran No. 13, according to the Institute of International Education, which supports global study and tracks international enrollments.
Uncertainty over visa issuance and travel allowances weighed heavily on schools this spring, as they tried to plan for the coming school year but couldn’t predict how many foreign students might be able to move into dorms and sit in actual classrooms, rather than take classes online, from home.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“President Biden has nominated a critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of the federal government’s most polarizing agencies.
The White House announced the choice as Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a veteran law enforcement officer who transformed the sheriff’s office in the Houston metropolitan area from one of the agency’s staunchest allies into a reluctant partner.
Gonzalez withdrew his department from a voluntary federal program that for years helped to detain and deport immigrants, and he has expressed concern that involving local law enforcement in civil deportation efforts ‘silences witnesses & victims’ by making immigrants afraid to report crimes.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Britney Spears has requested to address the court in the ongoing battle over her conservatorship by her father, Jamie Spears, which has come under renewed scrutiny following the release of the documentary ‘Framing Britney Spears’ and because of the #FreeBritney movement.” Read more at USA Today
The wounded elephant was on the ground, his hunters drawn close for the kill. But the longtimehead of the National Rifle Association — touted as a skilled marksman — struggled to finish the job.
Following a guide and clad in safari gear, Wayne LaPierre fires shots from a few feet away. The elephant’s breathing is labored.
‘I’m not sure where you’re shooting,’ the guide says. One apparentlyerrant shot later, another man steps in.
The 2013 footage from a Botswana hunting trip — captured for a TV show that the NRA used to sponsor — never aired out of concern it could became a ‘public relations fiasco,’ according to the New Yorker and the nonprofit newsroom the Trace, which published the video Tuesday. LaPierre at times appears to struggle with basic marksmanship and could have violated the NRA’s ethics code for hunters: ‘I will do my best to acquire those marksmanship and hunting skills, which insure clean, sportsmanlike kills,’ the code reads.
The video came at a fraught time for the NRA, a major political force and powerful lobbyist against gun control. The footage was posted just two days before LaPierre is due to testify for the second time in an ongoing NRA bankruptcy case in Dallas, one that has put LaPierre’s stewardship of the gun rights lobby on trial. A New York native, LaPierre has led the NRA since 1991.
The elephant hunt footage quickly drew backlash and derisive reactions on Tuesday.” Read more at Washington Post
“Things were already strained at Simon & Schuster.
After backing out of a deal with Senator Josh Hawley, a prominent supporter of former President Donald J. Trump, the company announced this month that it would publish two books by former Vice President Mike Pence. Dana Canedy, who joined Simon & Schuster as publisher last year, called Mr. Pence’s memoir ‘the definitive book on one of the most consequential presidencies in American history.’ That’s when much of the staff erupted in protest.
On Monday, editors and other employees at Simon & Schuster delivered a petition to management demanding an end to the deal, with signatures from more than 200 employees and 3,500 outside supporters, including Simon & Schuster authors such as Jesmyn Ward and Scott Westerfeld.
Most were probably not aware that the company has also signed the former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, according to people familiar with the matter — a move that is sure to throw gas on the fire.
In another era, book deals with former White House officials were viewed as prestigious and uncontroversial, and major publishers have long maintained that putting out books from across the political spectrum is not only good for business but an essential part of their mission. In today’s hyperpartisan environment, however, Simon & Schuster has become a test case for how publishers are trying to draw a line over who is acceptable to publish, and how firmly executives will hold in the face of criticism from their own authors and employees.” Read more at New York Times
“Boko Haram fighters have reportedly hoisted the Islamist group's flag in a remote district in Niger State, Nigeria, and seized women there as villagers tried to flee. Niger State's governor said more than 3,000 people have been driven from their communities by Boko Haram and other criminal gangs in such a way. He said the terrorist group wants to use such rural areas as hideouts and strongholds, and it has successfully taken similar areas in other regions across the country. Boko Haram’s deadly activities have caused the death of more than 37,000 people and displaced over 2 million since 2011, according to data from the Council on Foreign Relations.” Read more at CNN
“Hungary's parliament has passed legislation paving the way for the government to take control of how universities and cultural institutions in the country are run. Critics say the laws extend the influence of the ruling right-wing government. Most Hungarian universities are now owned by the state but have a lot of academic autonomy. However, the bill, drafted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's deputy, says the universities need to be reorganized with the role of the state in mind. Orban and his ruling party have a long history of implementing their conservative, so-called Christian values, strongly opposing immigration and limiting gay adoption and legal recognition of transgender people.” Read more at CNN
“Somali president calls for elections. Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has backtracked from a plan to extend his term by two years, calling for fresh elections to resolve the country’s political crisis. Mohamed, also known as Farmajo, had remained as president even after his term expired in February following a dispute on how to hold new elections. His decision to stay on had raised the threat of EU and U.S. sanctions and led to violence on the streets of Mogadishu as recently as last Sunday.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Persian Gulf tensions. A U.S. Navy vessel fired warning shots to deter Iranian military speedboats on Monday, the Navy said on Tuesday. Three Iranian vessels are said to have come within less than 70 yards of a U.S. Navy ship as well as one manned by the U.S. coast guard as they patrolled the Persian Gulf. A U.S. statement said the Iranian boats ‘increased the risk of miscalculation and/or collision,’ and warned that U.S. sailors ‘retain the inherent right to act in self-defense.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Switzerland’s next referendum. Switzerland will hold a referendum on same-sex marriage, even though the Swiss parliament already voted to allow it in December, after opponents gathered the 50,000 signatures required to force a direct vote. While a 2020 survey indicated that more than 80 percent of citizens support same-sex marriage, the referendum will prolong the fight over marriage rights in a country that has already been slower to legalize same-sex marriage than many European nations.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Afghanistan withdrawal. The U.S. State Department has ordered all U.S. government employees ‘whose functions can be performed elsewhere’ to leave Afghanistan. Ross Wilson, the chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kabul said the decision was necessary in the wake of ‘increasing violence and threat reports.’ The order comes two days after the U.S. military said it had begun the process of withdrawing its remaining troops from the country, in line with President Biden’s plan for a full withdrawal by Sept. 11.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Shipping containers are falling off cargo vessels at the highest rate in seven years, according to new figures from Bloomberg. More than 3,000 containers fell into the sea last year, and over 1,000 have already dropped off in 2021. As the Ever Given’s unfortunate trip through the Suez Canal illustrated, the growing size of container vessels is leading to containers being stacked higher and higher, increasing the risk of toppling over. Paired with rougher seas and higher consumer demand during the pandemic, the ships have struggled to deliver 100 percent of their cargo. Though losing a container overboard is a headache for shipping firms, the problem is still quite minimal: The 3,000 lost containers contrast with the 226 million that reached their destinations in 2020.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“W.W. Norton will stop printing Blake Bailey’s new Philip Roth biography after several women accused Bailey of sexual assault.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: Ole Anthony went dumpster diving to find incriminating evidence about televangelists. What he found took down ministries and sent a preacher to jail. He died at 82.” Read more at New York Times
“America's credentialism gap: Around 75% of new jobs that were added to the U.S. economy between 2008 and 2017 required college degrees or higher, but nearly 2/3 of the labor force lack those degrees, Axios' Erica Pandey reports.
Between the lines: Making higher education a requirement has turned into a quick way for employers to find candidates with soft skills, like management or communication, even though these skills can be acquired elsewhere.” Read more at Axios
“A TikTok video went viral capturing Sam Johnson, CEO of telehealth platform company VisuWell, following teenager Dalton Stevens in Franklin, Tennessee, where Johnson called Stevens an idiot for wearing a dress to prom. VisuWell's board of directors has since fired Johnson. “ Read more at USA Today
“A Miami private school says it won't employ anyone receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, citing misinformation about the risks of vaccination.” Read more at USA Today
“A 12-year-old boy in Colorado died this month after participating in a challenge on TikTok where people choke themselves until they become unconscious. Internet challenges have exploded on social media and, while some are well-intentioned, others pose health risks. They are especially attractive to adolescents for several reasons.” Read more at USA Today
