Today's politics recap
- The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection issued five subpoenas to far-right groups and leaders, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. The extremist groups are believed to have been involved in planning the Capitol attack on 6 January.
- Biden delivered a speech on the steps his administration is taking to address rising prices in the US, including mitigating bottlenecks at ports and ensuring store shelves remain stocked for Thanksgiving. Biden’s speech came as inflation has hit a 31-year high, with prices increasing by 6.2% over the past 12 months. That’s the most rapid acceleration since December 1990.
- Biden announced he will release 50m barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, in an effort to lower gas prices. The price of gas has increased by 49.6% over the past year, bringing the national average for a gallon of gas to $3.40, per AAA. “It will take time, but before long, you should see the price of gas fall where you fill up your tank,” Biden said in his speech this afternoon.
- The Biden administration has asked a federal court to lift the stay on a coronavirus vaccination rule for large businesses. The rule, which was set to go into effect on 4 January, would require those working for companies with at least 100 employees to get vaccinated or receive weekly coronavirus tests to mitigate the spread of the virus.
How anti-abortion advocates are pushing local bans, city by small city
Audra Jane Heidrichs reports:
In May of this year, six city council members in Lebanon, Ohio, a city located just north of Cincinnati, voted on an ordinance that would effectively outlaw abortion for the 21,000 people that call it home.
As in countless council meetings in small cities across the country where mask mandates, teaching about race in schools and access to reproductive healthcare have become politically charged in America’s current climate, the night unfolded in a series of near-Shakespearean acts.
On the morning the meeting was scheduled, Krista Wyatt, a former firefighter elected to city council in 2018 and the only member expected to vote against the ordinance, formally resigned. In an accompanying statement, Wyatt wrote: “There is a core group of people who have hijacked the council to force their personal, political and religious views on the entire citizenship of Lebanon. It is not fair to the citizens and is not the role of a City Council member to be a moral compass.”
Dozens of people spoke at the meeting later that evening. Some sang, many shared deeply personal experiences of rape or miscarriages and a few even led prayers. Just outside the doors of city hall, pro-choice and anti-abortion groups similarly squared off, shouting at each other and urging passersby to honk in support of one side or the other.
Ultimately though, the vote was a resolute 6-0, making Lebanon the 29th city in the nation, and the first city in Ohio, to pass an enforceable ordinance outlawing abortion within their city limits. As the nation waits for a supreme court ruling on abortion rights, pro-choice advocates and activists across the US know first-hand that any upcoming national ruling might be almost irrelevant given what’s already taken place in Ohio and beyond.
For the last few months, small municipalities – many without any standing abortion clinics – like Lebanon, Mason and soon maybe others, have outlawed abortion. Though women in those cities can still travel to get an abortion, the bans send an intimidating message.
Bypassing statehouses and targeting smaller towns and cities governed by council has emerged as a successful strategy for anti-abortion advocates in recent years. In July, a report from the Guttmacher Institute revealed that at least 30 towns in six states – Arkansas, Indiana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Texas – have approved municipal abortion bans in the last three years. Some of these ordinances also target specific abortion funds and organizations providing other types of practical support to abortion patients.
Read more:
Jury awards $25m in damages over deadly 2017 Charlottesville far-right rally
The Associated Press reports:
A jury has awarded more than $25m in damages against white nationalist leaders for violence that erupted during the deadly 2017 far-right rally in Charlottesville.
The defendants were accused of promoting and then carrying out racially motivated violence during the “Unite the Right” rally. After a nearly monthlong civil trial, a jury in US district court in Charlottesville deadlocked on two claims but found the white nationalists liable on four other counts in the lawsuit that was filed by nine people who suffered physical or emotional injuries during the two days of demonstrations.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan said the plaintiffs’ lawyers plan to refile the suit so a new jury can decide the two claims this jury could not reach a verdict on. She called the amount of damages awarded from the other counts “eye opening”.
“That sends a loud message,” Kaplan said.
The verdict, though mixed, is a rebuke to the white nationalist movement, particularly for the two dozen individuals and organizations who were accused in a federal lawsuit of orchestrating violence against African Americans, Jews and others in a meticulously planned conspiracy.
White nationalist leader Richard Spencer vowed to appeal. He said plaintiffs’ attorneys made it clear before the trial that they wanted to use the case to bankrupt him and other defendants.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs invoked a 150-year-old law passed after the civil war to shield freed slaves from violence and protect their civil rights. Commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, the law contains a rarely used provision that allows private citizens to sue other citizens for civil rights violations.
Read more:
A statue of Thomas Jefferson has been removed from city hall in New York, because the founder and third president enslaved people.
A work crew spent several hours freeing the 884lb, 7ft statue from its pedestal in the council chambers and carefully maneuvering it into a padded wooden crate, for the short journey to the New York Historical Society.
The city public design commission, appointed by the mayor, Bill de Blasio, voted earlier in the day to exile the statue, sculpted in 1833, on a 10-year loan.
Opinions are mixed about the removal.
Charles Barron, a member of the New York assembly and a former council member, told the New York Times: “It should be destroyed. A statue should be for those who we honor for their exemplary service and duty to all of this country, not just the white race.”
But Michele Bogart, professor emeritus of art history at Stony Brook University, said the statue’s removal “deflects attention” from the actions of such controversial figures.
“I have a philosophical problem with removing it from city hall,” she said. “If you can remove the Thomas Jefferson statue, then you can remove works from other city buildings.”
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection issued five subpoenas to far-right groups and leaders, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. The extremist groups are believed to have been involved in planning the Capitol attack on 6 January.
- Biden delivered a speech on the steps his administration is taking to address rising prices in the US, including mitigating bottlenecks at ports and ensuring store shelves remain stocked for Thanksgiving. Biden’s speech came as inflation has hit a 31-year high, with prices increasing by 6.2% over the past 12 months. That’s the most rapid acceleration since December 1990.
- Biden announced he will release 50m barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, in an effort to lower gas prices. The price of gas has increased by 49.6% over the past year, bringing the national average for a gallon of gas to $3.40, per AAA. “It will take time, but before long, you should see the price of gas fall where you fill up your tank,” Biden said in his speech this afternoon.
- The Biden administration has asked a federal court to lift the stay on a coronavirus vaccination rule for large businesses. The rule, which was set to go into effect on 4 January, would require those working for companies with at least 100 employees to get vaccinated or receive weekly coronavirus tests to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Updated
Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are participating in a service event at the non-profit DC Central Kitchen.
The president and the vice-president -- joined by their spouses, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff -- are helping prepare meals for DC Central Kitchen’s clients.
President Biden, Dr. Biden, Vice President Harris and Doug Emhoff are all helping prepare meals for those in need at DC Central Kitchen. The non-profit makes 5,000 meals a day. pic.twitter.com/diPBds17r6
— Scott Bixby (@scottbix) November 23, 2021
According to the White House, the non-profit prepares roughly 5,000 meals a day for homeless shelters, rehabilitation clinics and after-school programs in the DC area.
After the event, the Bidens will head to Nantucket, where they will spend Thanksgiving with their family.
Centrist senator Joe Manchin questioned Joe Biden’s energy policies after the president announced he would release 50m barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve.
Manchin, the Democratic chair of the Senate energy and natural resources committee, argued Biden should be undergoing a broader review of his approach to oil supply in the face of rising gas prices.
“Today’s release from the strategic petroleum reserve is an important policy Band-Aid for rising gas prices but does not solve for the self-inflicted wound that shortsighted energy policy is having on our nation,” Manchin said in a statement.
“I continue to call on President Biden to responsibly increase energy production here at home and to reverse course to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built which would have provided our country with up to 900,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada, one of our closest allies.”
Of course, that position is extremely unpopular with environmentalists, who say the US is already not doing enough to combat the climate crisis.
Updated
Meanwhile, at the daily White House press briefing, energy secretary Jennifer Granholm spoke to reporters about the Biden administration’s plans to address high gas prices.
Granholm touted Joe Biden’s decision to release 50m barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, while acknowledging it will take time to see lower prices at the pump.
.@RachelVScott: “How soon will Americans see prices at the pump drop and how long do you expect that to last?"
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 23, 2021
Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm: "I'm not going to make a prediction about how much and how long." https://t.co/zKtwP5hc4R pic.twitter.com/gbR8JaDhdC
“I’m not going to make a prediction about how much and how long,” Granholm said. “It won’t happen tomorrow, but it’ll happen over the next few weeks that people will hopefully start to see the difference.”
The energy secretary added that the administration is focused on ensuring gas prices are “not being held artificially high” because of oil and gas companies’ profit-driven strategies.
Biden sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission last week asking the agency to investigate “mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies”.
Updated
The latest round of subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection comes one day after the panel subpoenaed a group of far-right political activists, including Roger Stone and Alex Jones.
Hugo Lowell reported yesterday:
The subpoenas demanding documents and testimony expand the select committee’s inquiry focused on the planning and financing of the rally at the Ellipse, by targeting operatives who appear to have had contacts with the Trump White House.
House investigators issued subpoenas to the veteran operatives Stone and Jones, Trump’s spokesperson Taylor Budowich, and the pro-Trump activists Dustin Stockton and his wife, Jennifer Lawrence.
The chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, said the subpoenas aimed to uncover ‘who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress’.
The Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was just subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, is currently sitting in a DC jail.
Tarrio is about halfway through a five-month sentence for his illegal activity at a pro-Trump rally last December, during which he set fire to a stolen Black Lives Matter banner.
Although Tarrio did not actually participate in the insurrection, the Proud Boys leader is believed to have been involved in the preparation for the Capitol attack, according to the select committee’s latest statement.
(On a related note, Tarrio’s request for an early release from jail due to unsanitary conditions was just denied by a judge.)
Bennie Thompson, the chair of the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, said the subpoenaed far-right groups and leaders would be able to shed light on the days leading up to the attack.
“We believe the individuals and organizations we subpoenaed today have relevant information about how violence erupted at the Capitol and the preparation leading up to this violent attack,” Thompson said in a statement announcing the latest round of subpoenas.
“The Select Committee is moving swiftly to uncover the facts of what happened on that day and we expect every witness to comply with the law and cooperate so we can get answers to the American people.”
Capitol attack committee subpoenas far-right groups and leaders
The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has subpoenaed far-right groups believed to have been involved in planning the attack.
The five new subpoenas were sent to the far-right groups Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and 1st Amendment Praetorian.
Leaders of those groups -- Enrique Tarrio of Proud Boys, Elmer Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers and Robert Patrick Lewis of 1st Amendment Praetorian -- were also subpoenaed by the committee.
BREAKING: The Select Committee subpoenas individuals and organizations linked to the violent attack on the Capitol:
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) November 23, 2021
• Proud Boys International, L.L.C.
• Henry “Enrique” Tarrio
• Oath Keepers
• Elmer Stewart Rhodes
• Robert Patrick Lewis/1st Amendment Praetorian
Updated
Joe Biden also promised that grocery stores will be “well-stocked” for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, amid concerns about shortages caused by supply-chain issues.
Biden noted his administration is working to mitigate bottlenecks at ports by working to increase hours of operation at those sites, thus allowing more products to be delivered.
The president said the number of containers sitting on docks has decreased in recent weeks, as shipping prices have also fallen.
"Families can rest easy: grocery stores are well-stocked with turkey and everything else you need for Thanksgiving," Pres. Biden says. "And the major retailers I mentioned have confirmed that their shelves will be well-stocked...this holiday season." https://t.co/FJN5bDYKsY pic.twitter.com/MJkRZs9K9g
— ABC News (@ABC) November 23, 2021
“More goods are moving more quickly and more cheaply out of our ports -- onto your doorsteps and onto store shelves,” Biden said.
Noting that he recently met with the CEOs of companies like Walmart and Target, Biden added, “Families can rest easy: grocery stores are well-stocked with turkey and everything else you need for Thanksgiving. And the major retailers I mentioned have confirmed that their shelves will be well-stocked in stores this holiday season.”
The president concluded his prepared remarks and did not answer any of the questions that reporters shouted at him as he departed.
Joe Biden pushed back against the “myth” that efforts to combat the climate crisis, like investing in the production of electric vehicles, is raising gas prices.
“My effort to combat climate change is not raising the price of gas,” the president said.
“What it’s doing, it’s increasing the availability of jobs -- jobs building electric cars like the one I drove at the GM factory in Detroit last week.”
Biden noted those who buy electric vehicles will save $800 to $1,000 in fuel costs this year, and he expressed hope that those savings will soon be made available to more Americans through his economic policies.
Biden touts decision to release oil from strategic reserve: 'We’re taking action'
Joe Biden acknowledged many Americans are struggling with the rising price of gas, which has increased by 49.6% over the past year.
“The fact is, we always get through those spikes. We’re going to get through this one and hopefully faster,” Biden said.
“But it doesn’t mean we should just stand by idly and wait for prices to drop on their own. Instead, we’re taking action.”
The president touted his administration’s decision to release 50m barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to help lower gas prices as the country enters the holiday season.
“It will take time, but before long, you should see the price of gas fall where you fill up your tank,” Biden said.
Biden delivers remarks on the need to lower prices
Joe Biden is now delivering remarks on the state of the US economy and the need to lower prices for American families.
The president’s speech comes as the country grapples with the highest rate of inflation in 31 years, with prices rising by 6.2% over the past 12 months.
“We’ve made historic progress over the last 10 months,” Biden said, pointing to the 5.6m jobs added to the economy since he took office in January.
But the president acknowledged the economy is still struggling in certain sectors, saying, “Disruptions related to the pandemic have caused challenges in our supply chain, which have sparked concern about shortages and contributed to higher prices.”
Joe Biden announced today that he will release 50m barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to help address high gas prices.
The move is being done in coordination with other major energy consumers like China, India, Japan, South Korea and the UK.
But it remains unclear whether the move will actually lower gas prices, which have increased by 49.6% over the past year.
Bloomberg News explains:
Everyone’s been talking about this possibility for so long that many traders say the plan for the release was already baked into oil prices. That would explain why oil prices are up following the announcement. There’s also a fear OPEC+ officials, who don’t like being bossed around, could respond by canceling plans to boost their own production, negating the addition of stockpiled oil onto the market. The standoff sets up a fight for control of the global energy market. In short, consumers looking for relief at the pump may not see lower gasoline prices for months yet, if at all.
Trump ally Gohmert enters Texas AG race
The rightwing Texas congressman Louie Gohmert, a prominent climate change denier and Covid anti-masker, has joined an already rambunctious pursuit for the state’s attorney general office involving George P Bush, nephew of the former president George W Bush, and the embattled incumbent Ken Paxton.
The entry of the fierce Donald Trump loyalist into the race is seen by some in Republican circles as part of the former president’s push to install allies in powerful state positions ahead of the 2024 election.
Efforts by Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the courts and several state legislatures fell flat, and analysts say he is determined to secure a friendlier playing field if he runs again.
He could not ask for a more supportive candidate than the allegedly QAnon-aligned Gohmert, a proponent of extreme conspiracy theories including one that terrorists were sending pregnant women to the US to raise America-hating offspring.
In December 2020, Gohmert filed a federal lawsuit against Trump’s vice-president, Mike Pence, swiftly rejected by courts up to and including the US supreme court, seeking to allow him to replace certified state electors with those chosen by Republicans.
One problem for Gohmert is that Trump has already endorsed Paxton, who is battling a long-running securities fraud indictment and is under separate investigations by the FBI and the Texas state bar.
George P Bush, the current Texas land commissioner and son of the former Florida governor Jeb Bush, had hoped Trump would back him, despite his apparent loathing of the Bush family. His efforts to ingratiate himself ended in humiliation.
Updated
A jury in Georgia has begun deliberations in the trial of the three white men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, after 10 days of evidence and lengthy closing arguments in the closely watched case, which like that of Kyle Rittenhouse in Wisconsin has become part of the ongoing movement for, and debate over, racial justice in the US.
On Tuesday morning, prosecutors ended closing arguments before Judge Timothy Walmsley, who briefed the jury on the multiple counts of murder, false imprisonment and other charges faced by the three defendants.
Travis McMichael, his father Greg McMichael and their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan pursued Arbery, a Black 25 year-old, for five minutes in February 2020 in the neighborhood of Satilla Shores, south Georgia.
Travis McMichael, armed with a pump action shotgun, fire three times at Arbery, who was unarmed. Prosecutors say the three men had no legal justification to chase Arbery and box him in with their trucks. The shooting was captured on video by Bryan who, prosecutors say, repeatedly attempted to ram Arbery during the pursuit.
The three men have pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming they attempted to enact a citizen’s arrest. The McMichaels have claimed they believed Arbery was involved in a spate of break-ins and burglaries in the neighborhood, and that Travis McMichael opened fire in self-defense.
On Tuesday, lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski repeatedly ripped into the claim of self-defense.
“You can’t claim self-defense if you are the unjustified aggressor,” Dunikoski said. “Who started this? It wasn’t Ahmaud Arbery.”
Donald Trump’s pollster thinks he will run for the White House again in 2024, with a clear path to victory through five states he lost to Joe Biden in 2020: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
But Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer who is fresh out of house arrest, thinks he will not.
“His fragile ego cannot stand to be considered a two-time loser,” Cohen said on Monday.
Trump lost the five states in question by narrow margins – defeats he refuses to accept, continuing to promote the lie that Biden won thanks to electoral fraud, which led to deadly violence at the US Capitol on 6 January.
Politico obtained a memo from Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, which said a poll carried out for the former president’s fundraising committee put him up over Biden in all five states, by margins ranging from three points in Georgia to 12 in Michigan.
In recent books about the Trump administration, Fabrizio is depicted as willing to give Trump polling news he did not want.
But he told Politico: “Poll after poll clearly demonstrates that … Trump is still the 800lb gorilla in the [Republican party] and would be its 2024 nominee should he run.”
“This new data clearly shows that today the voters in these five key states would be happy to return Trump to the White House and send Biden packing.”
Amid speculation, the White House said on Monday Biden, 79, intends to run for re-election.
The same day, Cohen told CNN: “Donald will not run. Why? Because first of all, he has an incredibly fragile ego. He lost by 9m votes the first time [actually a little more than 7m]. He will lose by more than 9m the second and his fragile ego cannot stand to be considered a two-time loser.”
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden will deliver a speech this afternoon on the US economy and the need to lower prices for American families. The speech comes as inflation has hit a 31-year high, with prices increasing by 6.2% over the past 12 months. That’s the most rapid acceleration since December 1990.
- Biden announced he will release 50m barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, in an effort to lower gas prices. The price of gas has increased by 49.6% over the past year, bringing the national average for a gallon of gas to $3.40, per AAA.
- The Biden administration has asked a federal court to lift the stay on a coronavirus vaccination rule for large businesses. The rule, which was set to go into effect on January 4, would require those working for companies with at least 100 employees to get vaccinated or receive weekly coronavirus tests to mitigate the spread of the virus.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, Enrique Tarrio, a leader of the far-right group Proud Boys, was denied early release from a DC jail after complaining of unsanitary conditions there.
Tarrio has served about half of a five-month sentence for illegal acts during a pro-Trump rally in DC last December, during which the Proud Boys leader set fire to a stolen Black Lives Matter banner.
The Washington Post reports:
In a written ruling Friday night, D.C. Superior Court Judge Jonathan H. Pittman said he largely believed Tarrio’s allegations, made at a Nov. 15 hearing, about experiencing unsanitary conditions and mistreatment at the jail. The judge noted that the D.C. Department of Corrections ‘admits that much of what the defendant has claimed did in fact occur.’
But after reviewing Tarrio’s three legal arguments for being let out of jail, Pittman said each argument fell short.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said he will likely invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination after being subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
Jones says "I'm probably going to declare the 5th, not because of anything wrong, not because of anything wrong but because these people are political criminals that have an axe to grind..."
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) November 23, 2021
On his far-right show, Jones said he would invoke the Fifth Amendment not because of his own potentially illegal deeds but because the committee members are “political criminals that have an axe to grind,” per Politico.
According to the statement released by the committee yesterday, investigators are seeking Jones’ testimony about his alleged involvement in the planning of the January 6 rally that culminated in the Capitol attack.
In case you missed it yesterday: the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection issued five more subpoenas to right-wing political operatives, including former Trump associate Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Hugo Lowell reports:
The subpoenas demanding documents and testimony expand the select committee’s inquiry focused on the planning and financing of the rally at the Ellipse, by targeting operatives who appear to have had contacts with the Trump White House.
House investigators issued subpoenas to the veteran operatives Stone and Jones, Trump’s spokesperson Taylor Budowich, and the pro-Trump activists Dustin Stockton and his wife, Jennifer Lawrence.
The chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, said the subpoenas aimed to uncover ‘who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress’.
Eric Berger reports for the Guardian:
While people are expected to again travel at levels similar to a pre-pandemic Thanksgiving, airlines are still contending with staffing shortages, which could lead to additional flight cancelations.
“It doesn’t really matter if a travel disruption is coming from a lack of staffing or shortage of routes or weather, it’s still something that is very frustrating for customers,” said Lindsey Roeschke, travel and hospitality analyst for the Morning Consult, a market research firm.
In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, Thanksgiving flight bookings in the United States are up 78% from 2020 and 3.2% from 2019, according to a Adobe Digital Economy Index report published earlier this month.
“When it is busy, it’s very possible that [flights] will be over capacity – and that means the possibility of things going wrong is very high,” said Narendra Khatri, principal of Insubuy, a travel insurance company.
Over the Halloween weekend, American Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights because of weather and staffing issues.
In letters to employees, David Seymour, chief operating officer of the airline, described the weekend as a “brief irregular ops period” and said that “on the schedule front, we’ve ensured that November and December are built to meet customer demand and that they are fully supportable by our staffing”.
Biden administration asks court to lift stay on vaccination rule
The Biden administration has asked a court to immediately lift a stay on a rule requiring employees of large businesses to get vaccinated against coronavirus.
Reuters reports:
Delaying the rule by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that requires employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly would lead to thousands of hospitalizations and deaths, the government said in a Tuesday filing with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ...
The rule was challenged by Republican-led states, businesses and trade groups and the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans quickly blocked it, calling it ‘staggeringly overbroad’ and a ‘one-size-fits-all sledgehammer.’
After the stay was imposed by the 5th Circuit, lawsuits from around the country were transferred to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
The rule requires those working at companies with 100 or more employees to get vaccinated or receive weekly coronavirus tests to mitigate the spread of the virus. It was set to go into effect on January 4.
Updated
Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm will join the daily White House briefing this afternoon, giving her an opportunity to offer more details on the release of oil from the strategic reserve.
Speaking at yesterday’s briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki noted the Biden administration is using a variety of tools to address high gas prices.
Last week, Joe Biden sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking the agency to investigate “mounting evidence of anti- consumer behavior by oil and gas companies”.
“We will continue to press oil companies who have made record profits and are overseeing what we consider to be price gouging out there,” Psaki said aboard Air Force One yesterday.
“When there’s a supply of oil or the price of oil is coming down and the price of gas is not coming down, it does not take an economic expert to know that’s a problem.”
Senate Republicans’ campaign arm is using high gas prices to attack Democrats as Americans travel for Thanksgiving, which the country will celebrate on Thursday.
NBC News reports:
Americans on the road for Thanksgiving will be reminded of high gas and grocery prices with an ad push from the Republican Senate campaign arm airing at gas stations across the country this week.
‘You like high gas prices?’ the ad intones, with cartoonish graphics and sound effects. ‘If so, introducing: Joe Biden and Democrats.’
The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s five-figure, multi-day buy — first reported by NBC News — goes across ten battleground states where Republicans hope to flip or keep Senate seats in the upcoming 2022 midterms. The advertisements are intended to hit travelers on the road for the Thanksgiving holiday who are filling up their gas tanks.
The Senate is currently split 50-50, but Democrats control the chamber because of Vice-President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.
So Republicans only need to flip one Senate seat in next year’s midterm elections to regain control of the upper chamber.
Republicans, who have been attacking Joe Biden over the rising prices of gas and groceries, criticized the release of oil from the strategic reserve as a political ploy.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement, “Today’s announcement – which will release just three days’ worth of oil onto the market – is not about a real solution to our energy crisis. It is a crass political ploy just ahead of Thanksgiving.”
Former president Donald Trump similarly criticized Biden’s decision, saying, “Those reserves are meant to be used for serious emergencies, like war, and nothing else.”
Biden to release 50m barrels of oil from strategic reserve to address high gas prices
Joe Biden announced this morning that his administration will release 50m barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to help address high gas prices.
The president said on Twitter that the action “will be taken in parallel with other major energy consuming nations including China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom”.
Today I'm announcing action to lower the cost of gas and oil for American families.
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 23, 2021
The Department of Energy will make available releases of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas and oil prices for Americans.
The news comes as gas prices have increased by 49.6% over the past year, bringing the national average for a gallon of gas to $3.40, per AAA.
“As we come out of an unprecedented global economic shutdown, oil supply has not kept up with demand, forcing working families and businesses to pay the price,” energy secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
“This action underscores the President’s commitment to using the tools available to bring down costs for working families and to continue our economic recovery.”
Read more about the announcement here:
Joe Biden has argued that Democrats’ $1.75tn social spending package, which passed the House on Friday, will help families struggling with higher prices by lowering the costs of healthcare and childcare.
However, there are lingering concerns about how the high rate of inflation may impact the negotiations over the bill in the evenly divided Senate.
Senator Joe Manchin, one of the key holdouts in Democrats’ negotiations over the bill, has said he is hearing more from constituents who are concerned about their gas and grocery bills.
“By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not ‘transitory’ and is instead getting worse,” Manchin said earlier this month. “From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.”
Manchin has previously expressed concern that Democrats’ spending package, known as the Build Back Better Act, could negatively contribute to inflation.
In a September op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Manchin warned against approving more government spending, saying, “An overheating economy has imposed a costly ‘inflation tax’ on every middle- and working-class American.”
However, since that op-ed was written, the cost of the package has been cut in half -- from $3.5tn to $1.75tn. And a number of economists have said the bill will not add to inflationary pressure.
Biden is hoping those arguments will be enough to make Manchin a “yes” vote, as he will need all 50 Democratic senators’ support to get the bill through the upper chamber.
Joe Biden’s nominees for the Federal Reserve board have also pledged to tackle inflation aggressively if they are confirmed by the Senate.
Jerome Powell, who has been nominated to a second term as the chair of the Fed board, said yesterday, “We know that high inflation takes a toll on families, especially those less able to meet the higher costs of essentials, like food, housing and transportation.”
Powell, who was first nominated by Donald Trump, said he would use the tools of the central bank “to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched”.
Dr Lael Brainard, Biden’s nominee for vice-chair of the board, echoed that message, saying, “I’m committed to putting working Americans at the center of my work at the Federal Reserve. This means getting inflation down at a time when people are focused on their jobs and how far their paychecks will go.”
Biden to address lowering prices as inflation hits 31-year high
Greetings, live blog readers.
Joe Biden will deliver a speech this afternoon on the state of the US economy and the need to lower prices for American families.
The president’s speech comes as inflation has hit a 31-year high, with prices increasing by 6.2% over the past 12 months. That’s the fastest acceleration since December 1990.
And Americans are growing more concerned about high prices as they continue to rise. According to a poll conducted by the progressive firm Navigator Research earlier this month, 54% of Americans now say the cost of groceries and gas is a “major crisis”.
Biden has pledged to tackle the issue, arguing that Democrats’ $1.75tn social spending package will lower families’ costs for healthcare and childcare.
Speaking at an event yesterday to announce his nominations for the Federal Reserve board, Biden said, “Because so much of the rest of our economy is doing well, because we have created so many new jobs as fast as we have, we’re in a position to attack inflation from a position of strength, not weakness.”
But if Americans don’t start to see prices come down soon, it could make it all the more difficult to enact Biden’s agenda.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
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