“President Biden delivered his first address to Congress last night, on the eve of his 100th day in office. The President focused his speech on what his ambitious and sometimes politically divisive policy changes can do for Americans. He made no apology for passing the massive coronavirus relief bill without Republican support and called on legislators to swiftly act on other top-line issues, like police reform and infrastructure spending. While his biggest priorities have been domestic, Biden also said by addressing issues like green energy production, the US is staying competitive with the rest of the world. As the President spoke, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi completed a historic tableau behind him, marking the first time two women have occupied both those positions. You can read Biden's full speech here and see photos from the historic evening here.” Read more at CNN
“President Biden formally announced his American Families Plan on Wednesday, a $1.8 trillion proposal to give all Americans access to community college, preschool, affordable child care and paid leave, among other initiatives. He wants to fund it by increasing taxes on the rich.
Supporters and detractors are already lining up, but most agree on this: It’s an ambitious plan. And it will be a challenge to get Congress to pass it, especially after the $1.9 trillion stimulus package that was enacted in March and Biden’s more than $2 trillion infrastructure bill that Congress is starting to consider.
What's in Biden's family plan?
Here are five top takeaways from this latest Biden plan.
1. This is a big expansion of U.S. government support for families
Biden’s plan calls for a much larger government role in people’s daily lives. It’s basically a rejection of the Reagan-era mantra of smaller government and an embrace of a more European-style safety net. The most dramatic changes in the proposal would expand the time frame for publicly funded schooling in the United States from 13 years to 17 years. Two of those years are through universal preschool, which would be available for all 3- and 4-year-olds. Also, Americans would be able to enroll in two years of community college free. The plan also calls for 12 weeks of guaranteed paid family and medical leave, so Americans can take off time when a child is born or to care for themselves or a sick relative.
Other initiatives include a government payment of $3,600 per year for each child under six years and $3,000 per year for each child aged six to 17 for parents earning less than $125,000 annually, increased Pell grants to help low-income students pay for college and more-generous child-care subsidies. It also includes additional aid to make it cheaper for moderate-income families to buy health insurance and get food assistance in the summer when kids are out of school.
Biden’s team call this a major investment in Americans’ education and well-being. Republicans see it as a big expansion of the ‘welfare state.’ Polling indicates Americans are growing more comfortable with a larger role for government. In a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, support for a smaller government with fewer services was at the lowest level since 1984.
2. It will be hard to pass
Republicans are already making it clear this Biden proposal is a non-starter for them. They don’t like the big price tag of the bill, they don’t like how much it expands government, and they don’t support raising taxes, especially not ones that were just cut in their 2017 tax law.
Passing all — or even part — of the American Families Plan will require all 50 Democratic senators to sign on. It’s a tall order. Liberals are frustrated the plan does not go far enough. They were hoping to see the Medicare enrollment age lowered below 65 and aggressive action to slash drug prices, among other initiatives. Meanwhile, centrist Democrats are uneasy at the $1.8 trillion price tag.
Senior administration officials are already signaling that Biden is ‘open to hearing’ other approaches, a Washington code phrase for Biden being ‘open for negotiation.’ Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) will once again hold a lot of sway on what happens, as he did during Biden’s earlier covid-19 relief package passed in March.
3. Biden wants to pay for the $1.8 trillion by taxing the rich
This latest Biden plan calls for two key tax hikes on the rich. The first is to raise the top income tax bracket from 37 percent (where the GOP set it in 2017) back to 39.6 percent. That would still be less than the 50 percent rate in the early 1980s and the 70 percent top rate in the 1970s. Biden’s second tax hike would be to increase taxes on capital gains — the tax paid on the gain when a stock or other investment is sold — for Americans earning more than $1 million.
Republicans are wary of increasing these taxes, but raising taxes on the rich has a lot of broad public support, and the White House is keen to tap into that sentiment. Biden also wants to ramp up enforcement to ensure the rich are actually paying taxes.
But from an economic perspective, the capital gains tax is already generating some controversy. Wall Street was jittery last week when news broke about the potential hike, which would nearly double the top capital gains tax rate from 20 percent to 39.6 percent. The White House argues this hike would affect only the top 0.3 percent of Americans, but some economists and tax analysts believe it could dissuade private investment, which could harm growth. Another problem could be a wave of stock and asset selling just before the higher rate kicks in. Expect a lot of debate — and lobbying — in Congress if this proposal moves forward.
4. The plan’s timeline is weird
One of the odd parts of this plan is when programs start — and when they end. This is supposed to be a 10-year plan, but not everything begins on Day 1 and ends a decade later.
For example, the White House is not guaranteeing access to 12 paid weeks of family and medical leave until 10 years into the program, according to an administration fact sheet. It’s also not clear how quickly universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds could roll out across the country. In a background call with reporters, senior administration officials acknowledged it will take time to ramp up these programs.
On the flip side, the child payments of up to $3,600 per child for lower- and middle-class families would last only through 2025. This is supposed to be Biden’s signature anti-poverty program, and he has expressed a desire to make it permanent, but his plan has it running for just five years.
It makes it easier to ‘pay for’ the plan when some programs end early and some start later. Making programs permanent costs more. Some outside groups are already saying Biden’s estimates for how much these initiatives will cost are too low, even for the short time frames they are proposing.
5. Implementing this will be mind-boggling
As the United States learned with the Affordable Care Act, this is going to be tough to implement in a nation of 331.5 million people. Programs such as free preschool and community college for all will require help from all 50 states and U.S. territories. In fact, the plan explicitly calls for states to kick in money to help fund these initiatives. Are all the states going to sign on?
It’s been more than a decade since the Affordable Care Act passed, yet 12 (largely Republican) states still have not expanded Medicaid, a key initiative of the health-care law, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. It’s a reminder of the roadblocks that could occur, especially since Biden’s plan calls for states to contribute 10 percent of the pre-K costs initially and 50 percent after the program ramps up.
Implementing just the education portion of the plan will also require schools to be ready to accept the influx of students. Biden’s plan calls for increasing pre-K teacher pay to $15 an hour, up from a typical pay of around $12.24 an hour now, in an effort to attract more teachers.
The nation can probably make these adjustments over time, but it’s unclear how quickly. And initial impressions matter, as the Obama administration learned with the disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov.” Read more at Washington Post
“South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only African American Republican in the Senate, touched on a variety of topics in the party's response to Biden's address to Congress. Scott said Biden is a good man with good words, but has failed to lower the nation's temperature by caving to left-leaning interests on several issues.
Scott also defended the country's record on race as one of opportunity and optimism and said Democrats ignore the country's strides over the past century for political and financial gain.” Read more at USA Today
“Biden’s plans add up to more than $4 trillion in spending. This chart breaks it down.” Read more at New York Times
Fact-checking Biden’s 2021 address to Congress - Read more at Washington Post
“President Biden's promise not to raise taxes on Americans who make less than $400,000 applies to individuals — not married couples filing jointly, a White House official clarified for Axios' Hans Nichols.
Why it matters: The declaration means a hypothetical couple, with each spouse making $399,999, wouldn't escape the tax increase even though they individually earn less than $400,000.
Their combined income would be $799,998, which the White House believes is sufficient for them to help underwrite the expanded social safety net the president is proposing.
Biden wants to raise the top rate from 37% to 39.6% for families with taxable income above $509,300, and for individuals above $452,700.
That $509,300 limit means that two married individuals, who each have a taxable income exceeding $255,000, would see the portion of their earnings above that figure taxed at the highest rate.” Read more at Axios
“President Joe Biden’s proposals to stop multinationals from shifting profits to tax havens are a ‘once in a lifetime’ chance to end tax abuse, and could be signed within months, the head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has said.
Ángel Gurría, who has been coordinating international negotiations on Biden’s plan as secretary-general of the OECD, said a deal was within striking distance and could be signed this summer after decades of limited progress. It follows a shift by the White House to call time on a ‘race to the bottom’ between nations undercutting each other on tax rates to attract businesses to locate within their borders.
Writing in the Guardian before stepping down from the Paris-based institution next month, Gurría said: ‘It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to achieve a complete overhaul of the international tax system, to both provide more tax certainty for businesses, as well as ensure everyone pays their fair share of taxes.’
‘The new US impetus is just what was needed to get this negotiation over the line by mid-2021.’
Sounding the alarm over the risks to a fragile global economy as several nations relax Covid-19 restrictions after the worst recession in 2020 since the Great Depression, the head of the OECD, the 37-member club of wealthy nations, said the Biden plan offered an escape route from years of deadlock on international tax reform.” Read more at The Guardian
“The European Union has agreed to buy up to 1.8 billion doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. If the deal is finalized, it would mark the world's biggest single deal for a Covid-19 vaccine. The EU has struggled to secure enough vaccine doses for member countries after a deal with AstraZeneca fell millions of doses short because of supply chain issues. Now, the European Commission is suing AstraZeneca over the alleged breach of its vaccine supply contract, escalating a monthslong dispute. In India, the government has bought at least 205.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, making the country one of the top 10 vaccine buyers in the world. However, that number only covers about 8% of its population -- not nearly enough to relieve the crushing weight of a second surge.” Read more at CNN
“Federal prosecutors indicted the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery on hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges. Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was out for a jog near Brunswick, Georgia, in early 2020 when he was chased down in a truck and fatally shot. His killing was one of the painful incidents that spurred last summer’s wave of racial justice activism, and Arbery’s family says the indictments bring the case one step closer to justice. In Chicago, new bodycam footage has been released showing the fatal police shooting of 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez as he ran from an officer on March 31. This incident, along with the police shooting of a 13-year-old boy days earlier, has prompted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to call for reform of foot pursuit policies.” Read more at CNN
“Brendan Hunt, a Trump supporter who called for killing members of Congress days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, was found guilty Wednesday of making a death threat against elected officials.
The jury, which took about three hours to reach its verdict, found that comments Hunt made in a disturbing video posted online two days after the U.S. Capitol riot amounted to a genuine threat to murder lawmakers in Washington. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
Hundreds of people have been arrested following the Capitol attack. Although Hunt did not participate in the riot, his case is believed to be the first of those charged in connection with it to go to trial. His prosecution in Brooklyn federal court has been seen as a test of how far violent speech can go before it crosses a line into criminality and comes as such politically charged rhetoric on social media has come under increasing scrutiny.
Hunt, 37, was charged with one count of making a threat to assault and murder a U.S. official. He was arrested Jan. 19, a day before President Biden’s inauguration, after the FBI received a tip about his video, titled ‘KILL YOUR SENATORS: Slaughter them all.’ The clip had been posted on BitChute, a hosting site popular with far-right conservatives, after the deadly riot in Washington.” Read more at Washington Post
“Federal agents executed search warrants yesterday at the apartment and office of Rudy Giuliani, former President Trump’s personal lawyer. Giuliani has been the focus of a long-running criminal investigation concerning his activities in Ukraine, including whether he conducted illegal lobbying for Ukrainian officials during Trump’s presidency to try to damage the reputation of then-rival Biden. A search warrant for a lawyer like Giuliani would require a sign-off by the highest levels of the Justice Department, and generally, it is unusual for prosecutors to execute a search warrant on a lawyer at all. But they’ve done so before -- most notably, in this case, against another former lawyer for Trump, Michael Cohen. Giuliani hasn't been charged and has denied wrongdoing.” Read more at CNN
“A response could come Thursday from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to a citizen petition filed in 2013 by national public health advocates who are calling for the FDA to include menthol in its ban on cigarettes with ‘characterizing flavors,’ which have long appealed to children. The Biden administration is planning to push for a ban on menthol cigarettes, which have been the target of anti-smoking advocates and civil rights activists who say the industry has aggressively marketed to Black Americans, according to a report published by The Washington Post. The cigarette ban would not require congressional approval, but the FDA would have to submit proposed rules and seek public comment. A final ban could take years and would likely be challenged in court by the tobacco industry, which has repeatedly sued the FDA to block anti-tobacco regulation.” Read more at USA Today
“The 2021 NFL Draft will begin Thursday night with its first of seven rounds. Running until Saturday, the draft will be spread out across multiple venues in Cleveland and fans will be allowed to attend. Commissioner Roger Goodell and a select number of prospects will take the stage and the famous, albeit somewhat awkward, bro hugs will be back, despite questions about their safety. Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is expected to be chosen No. 1 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars and BYU's Zach Wilson is expected to go No. 2 to the New York Jets. The intrigue really begins when the San Francisco 49ers reveal who they will take with the third pick after making a big trade to move up. The draft will air live on ABC, ESPN and NFL Network (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).” Read more at USA Today
“Three Republican senators joined Democrats to reinstate an Obama-era rule limiting methane emissions.” Read more at New York Times
“The G.O.P.-controlled Florida House passed tight voting restrictions.” Read more at New York Times
“Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, said the economy was improving but that Fed support would continue.” Read more at New York Times
“Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s aides prevented New York health officials from releasing the real number of nursing home deaths for at least five months.” Read more at New York Times
“Passenger voyages from the U.S. could start mid-summer, depending on cruise lines' pace and compliance with the CDC's guidelines and framework for conditional sailing, the agency said in a letter to the cruise industry.” Read more at USA Today
“Despite anger and emotional debate from Democrats, Florida Republican leaders revived and approved a controversial ban on transgender athletes participating in women's sports at the high school and college levels Wednesday night. The measure now goes to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is likely to sign it into law.” Read more at USA Today
“Thursday marks 10 years since Prince William, second in line to the British throne, now 38, wed his longtime girlfriend, the former Kate Middleton, now 39, in an extravagant ceremony on April 29, 2011, at the historic Westminster Abbey in London. New pictures of William and Duchess Kate were released to mark the occasion, which was watched by millions around the globe. The Cambridges, now the parents of three – Prince George, 7, Princess Charlotte, 5, and Prince Louis, 3 – are now full-time working royals, taking up more responsibilities to help William's father Prince Charles as grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, 95, cuts back on public engagements.” Read more at USA Today
“China has successfully launched the first module of its planned space station. The country’s astronauts have long been excluded from the International Space Station, currently the sole centralized venue for testing and exploration in space. But if China has its way, it will have a space station of its own by the end of 2022. It won't be as large as the ISS -- about one-fifth of its size and similar to the Russian Mir space station, which operated from 1986 to 2001. Speaking of Russia, that country says that it will leave the ISS project in 2025 and plans to build another space station that could launch in 2030.” Read more at CNN
“Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri accuses the US’s biggest tech companies of committing the ‘gravest threat to American liberty since the monopolies of the Gilded age’ in his upcoming book. He rails that tech giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook ‘have become a techno-oligarchy with overwhelming economic and political power.’
Hawley has also investedpotentially tens of thousands of dollars in the very companies he denounces, according to public financial disclosure records examined by the Guardian.
Hawley’s new book, The Tyranny of Big Tech, is published next week by Regnery Publishing. Simon & Schuster, its original publisher, dropped the book following the Missouri senator’s involvement in the 6 January electoral college vote certifying Joe Biden’s election.
In the book Hawley compares today’s tech titans to the ‘robber baron’ industrialists who dominated the US economy in the 19th century, whose monopoly powers were attacked by president Theodore Roosevelt, the subject of a previous Hawley book.” Read more at The Guardian
“Leaders can be a sensitive lot, particularly when their citizens rail against them on social media.
So it’s no surprise Facebook was jumpy when it saw the hashtag ResignModi gaining traction in India as the backlash grew over the government’s handling of the Covid-19 emergency. While it says it banned the hashtag in error and not at the behest of the authorities, the furor suggests a rocky relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s increasingly hardline administration.
It’s not alone.
Earlier this week Twitter confirmed it had been ordered to block posts, some from opposition politicians, that were critical of the government, saying misinformation risked spurring a panic and disrupting efforts to bring the pandemic under control.
The social media giant permanently suspended more than 500 accounts and blocked access to hundreds of others in India earlier this year during big protests by farmers, acceding to a government order to limit misinformation and inflammatory content.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin is pursuing increasingly oppressive internet regulation.
Last month authorities slowed Twitter traffic after the company refused to take down content Russian regulators said promoted illegal activity and pornography.
Twitter also received fines totaling about $116,000 this month for refusing to remove posts authorities said encouraged minors to join protests against the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Russia backed off of a threat to block Twitter after the two sides reached an agreement dealing with illegal content.
From Turkey to Venezuela, Singapore and Myanmar, the desire by governments to dominate public discourse is strong, and the pandemic has only reinforced this as rumors threaten to derail virus control measures and vaccination campaigns.
The question, is how far will social media companies let these leaders go?” — Ruth Pollard Read more at Bloomberg
“Nuclear leak | Iran’s president said the leak of a recording that brought calls for the ouster of his top diplomat was intended to derail nuclear talks with world powers. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is under pressure after a dissident Iranian news channel aired footage in which he complained that unilateral decisions by late General Qassem Soleimani undermined him.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Exit ban | An immigration law passed by Hong Kong’s government is raising concern among pro-democracy groups that it could be used to prevent dissidents from leaving the city. The bill, which takes effect on Aug. 1, lets Hong Kong’s immigration director block an airline passenger or crew member from boarding a departing plane.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Chip drought | The global chip shortage is going from bad to worse with automakers on three continents joining tech giants Apple and Samsung Electronics in flagging production cuts and lost revenue. The shortfall of critically needed semiconductors has forced the entire auto industry to cut output, leaving thin inventories at dealerships just as consumers emerge from Covid-19 lockdowns.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Lives Lived: Michael Collins piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft 60 miles above Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they became the first humans to walk on the moon. Collins died at 90.” Read more at New York Times
“‘Wheel of Fortune’ contestant Laura Trammell made history by becoming the first contestant to ever win a home during the bonus round, but her moment was almost overshadowed after a celebratory confetti cannon hit Vanna White on the head.” Read more at USA Today