Summary
- Joe Biden pressed the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to take action against hackers in his state, after the recent spate of ransomware attacks originating from Russia. In a call between the two leaders today, Biden “underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware,” according to a White House readout of the conversation.
- Biden signed an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the US economy. The order includes “72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to promptly tackle some of the most pressing competition problems across our economy”, the White House said in a fact-sheet about the order. The president is also encouraging the justice department and the Federal Trade Commission to vigorously enforce anti-trust laws and challenge prior bad mergers when appropriate.
- Vaccinated students and teachers do not need to wear masks in the classroom, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its updated guidance for schools. However, the CDC continues to recommend physical distancing between desks, and unvaccinated students (including those not yet eligible to get their shot) are still encouraged to wear masks indoors.
- The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced a new policy to avoid detaining pregnant women, reversing the Trump administration’s practice of allowing pregnant women to be held in Ice facilities. That Trump era practice resulted in thousands of additional pregnant and nursing women being detained by Ice.
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Haiti has requested troop assistance from the US to protect vital infrastructure such as ports and airports, although the US has yet to acknowledge any such request. And Haiti’s ambassador to the US has requested that the US State Department issue sanctions against the killers of Jovenel Moïse, the country’s president.
- The UN Security Council has voted to reauthorize the delivery of aid to Syria, ending a spat between the US and Russia over the issue.The Bab al-Hawa border crossing will be open for a minimum of six months, allowing humanitarian aid to reach millions of Syrians after Russia, which initially opposed the humanitarian corridor, agreed to a compromised.
– Joan E Greve, Joanna Walters and Maanvi Singh
Updated
The UN Security Council has voted to reauthorize the delivery of aid to Syria, ending a spat between the US and Russia over the issue.
The Bab al-Hawa border crossing will be open for a minimum of six months, allowing humanitarian aid to reach millions of Syrians after Russia, which initially opposed the humanitarian corridor, agreed to a compromised.
“Parents can sleep tonight knowing that for the next 12 months their children will be fed. The humanitarian agreement we’ve reached here will literally save lives,” said the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
A senior Biden administration official did not comment on why Russia agreed to the compromise. In a briefing with reporters, the official said: “What we were concerned about was the continued, sustained, and ideally enhanced flow of humanitarian assistance into all parts of Syria, and we think that’s what this has accomplished.”
Why were Colombian guns for hire allegedly key to Haiti assassination plot?
Joe Parkin Daniels in Bogotá and Tom Phillips report:
When Manuel Antonio Grosso Guarín jetted into Punta Cana’s tourist-clogged airport early last month on Avianca Flight 252, immigration officials are unlikely to have given the 41-year-old Colombian a second glance. Visitors from around the globe flock to this Dominican resort town each week in search of sun, sea and Caribbean sands.
Grosso appears to have had rather different plans, though: to sneak over the border into neighbouring Haiti and help assassinate that country’s president.
“Colombian mercenaries: trained, cheap, and available,” read a headline in Colombia’s largest newspaper, El Tiempo, on Friday after the Bogotá-based former special forces fighter was identified as one of Jovenel Moïse’s 28 alleged killers.
The presence of such a large number of foreigners among the Haitian leader’s alleged murderers has shocked many, particularly in Haiti itself. But Colombian guns-for-hire have been turning up in war zones around the world, including Yemen, Iraq, Israel and Afghanistan, for years now.
Many were once trained by American soldiers and, having spent years battling insurgent groups or drug traffickers within Colombia, go on to find work with US-based private military contractors.
“After so many years of warfare, Colombia just has a surplus of people who are trained in lethal tactics,” said Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America (Wola), a thinktank. “Many of them have been hired by private firms, often in the Middle East, where they make a lot more money than they did in Colombia’s armed forces. Others have ended up being hired guns for narco-traffickers and landowners, as paramilitaries. And now, for whoever planned this operation, in Haiti.”
Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise sit on the floor handcuffed after being detained, at the general direction of the police in Port-au-Prince on Thursday.Photograph: Jean Marc Hervé Abélard/AP
Two days after Moïse was gunned down at his residence in Port-au-Prince, the identity of the crime’s masterminds remains an enigma and the subject of wild speculation on the capital’s streets. But on Friday Colombian authorities named 13 of the alleged soldiers of fortune Haitian security officials believe were involved. Colombia’s police director, Gen Jorge Luis Vargas Valencia, told reporters four companies had been involved in the “recruitment” of the murder suspects but did not identify them because their names were still being verified.
Eleven of the men reportedly flew into the Dominican resort town of Punta Cana from Bogotá, the Colombian capital, on the afternoon of 4 June. El Tiempo named them as: Víctor Alberto Pineda, Manuel Antonio Grosso Guarín, Jhon Jairo Ramírez, Jhon Jairo Suárez, Germán Alejandro Rivera García, Maiger Franco Castañeda, Ángel Mario Yarce Sierra, Carlos Giovanny Guerrero, Francisco Eladio Uribe Ochoa, Mauricio Javier Romero Medina and Alejandro Giraldo Zapata. Uribe is reportedly under investigation in Colombia for his role in the forcible disappearance and murder of civilians, who were later passed off as guerrillas to inflate combat kills and receive bonuses.
Two other former members of Colombia’s military – Alejandro Rivera García and Duberney Capador Giraldo – reportedly arrived in the region around a month earlier, flying to the Dominican Republic via Panama before taking a flight into the Haitian capital on 10 May. Capador, 40, was reportedly among those killed by Haitian security forces as they hunted the president’s killers this week, while Rivera was among those detained.
Read more:
Haiti’s ambassador to the US has requested that the US State Department issue sanctions against the killers of Jovenel Moïse, the country’s president.
The Haitian government had also asked the FBI to intervene, saying it could “can play a critical role in rendering justice,” and called for sanctions on those who “are directly responsible or aided and abetted in the execution of the assassination of the president,” according to a letter from Haitian ambassador Bocchit Edmond to US secretary of state Antony Blinken, ABC News reports.
Joe Biden has fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, the Washington Post reported. Advocates for the elderly and the disabled had urged Biden to remove him due to his policies restricting benefits.
The Post reports:
Saul was fired after refusing a request to resign, White House officials said. His deputy, David Black, who was also appointed by former president Donald Trump, resigned Friday upon request.
Biden named Kilolo Kijakazi, the current deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy, to serve as acting commissioner until a permanent nominee is selected.
But Saul said in an interview Friday afternoon that he would not leave his post, challenging the legality of the White House move to oust him. As the head of an independent agency whose leadership does not normally change with a new administration, Saul’s six-year term was supposed to last until January 2025. The White House said a recent Supreme Court ruling gives the president power to replace him.
Saul disputed that. “I consider myself the term-protected Commissioner of Social Security,” he said, adding that he plans to be back at work on Monday morning, signing in remotely from his New York home. He called his ouster a “Friday Night Massacre.”
“This was the first I or my deputy knew this was coming,” Saul said of the email he received from the White House Personnel Office Friday morning. “It was a bolt of lightning no one expected. And right now it’s left the agency in complete turmoil.”
Saul’s firing came after a tumultuous six-month tenure in the Biden administration during which advocates for the elderly and the disabled and Democrats on Capitol Hill pressured the White House to dismiss him. He had clashed with labor unions that represent his 60,000 employees, who said he used union-busting tactics. Angry advocates say he dawdled while millions of disabled Americans waited for him to turn over files to the Internal Revenue Service to release their stimulus checks — and accused him of an overzealous campaign to make disabled people reestablish their eligibility for benefits.
Today so far
Hello live blog readers, it’s been a lively Friday so far and my west coast colleague Maanvi Singh will keep you up to date on events over the next few hours as our coverage continues.
Here’s where things stand this afternoon:
- Haiti has requested troop assistance from the US to protect vital infrastructure such as ports and airports, although the US has yet to acknowledge any such request.
- Defense secretary Lloyd Austin has called on the world to assist in nudging Afghanistan towards a “negotiated political settlement” amid a diplomatic vacuum and the risk of civil war as the US pulls its military after 20 years.
- Joe Biden signed an executive order and made a speech at the White House decrying business monopolies and “an era of giant corporations” gaining “more and more power” in the US in the last 40 years. He said: “Capitalism without competition is not capitalism, it’s exploitation.”
Updated
Haiti requests that US send troops - elections minister
As Haiti struggles in a state of political turmoil after president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Caribbean nation has asked the United States to send troops to help.
The US has not confirmed receipt of any such request.
Reuters reports:
Haiti’s government has requested that the United States send troops to protect key infrastructure following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise this week, Elections Minister Mathias Pierre said on Friday.
Jalina Porter, State Department spokeswoman, told reporters earlier on Friday that she could not confirm such a request had been made.
Here is a Guardian dispatch from my colleagues.
The US and Colombia earlier said they will send law enforcement and intelligence officials to assist Haiti after a number of their nationals were arrested for the assassination.
The New York Times has a little more detail on the troop request.
Haitian government officials said they had requested that the United States send in troops to protect Haiti’s port, airport, gasoline reserves and other key infrastructure as the country has descended into turmoil in the wake of the brazen assassination of President Jovenel Moïse early Wednesday morning.
Fears have been growing that unrest in the streets and political turmoil after the attack could worsen what is already the country’s worst crisis in years. Haiti is plagued by political intrigue, gang violence, a public health crisis driven by the pandemic and difficulties delivering essential international aid.
The Haitian minister of elections, Mathias Pierre, said the request was made because President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had promised to help Haiti.
A deputy State Department spokeswoman, Jalina Porter, told a news briefing on Friday that she could not confirm such a request. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, did say that the United States would be sending senior F.B.I. and homeland security officials to Port-au-Prince “as soon as possible” to determine how best to assist Haiti.
Updated
Just to catch you up with Kamala Harris’s tweet earlier today on the Spelling Bee winner, from one history-maker to another.
Congratulations, Zaila on making history – and making us all proud. https://t.co/HrFNW7S6SH
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 9, 2021
Zaila Avant-garde, 14, from Harvey, Louisiana, last night breezed to the championship at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, becoming the first African American winner and only the second Black champion in the bee’s 96-year history.
In the spirit of the Vice President’s victory speech back in November, here’s to the future.
“While I may be the first woman in this office I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”
Updated
Kamala Harris has been lauding county leaders from all across the US today for “making real” the American ideal of “the freedom to vote”.
The Vice President spoke at the annual conference of the National Association of Counties. Known as NACo, it is the only national organization that represents county governments of the US.
It was taking place in Maryland and Veep noted that it was her first in-person conference not just of her veepdom but of the entire pandemic.
She talked about the grueling job county leaders had to do in the thick of coronavirus and then talked about the Biden administration’s ambitions to secure legislation for major infrastructure revamps for important services such as high speed internet, as well as old-fashioned roads and bridges.
Then she turned to voting rights, an issue she is focusing on in particular.
“This is a nonpartisan organization, and this issue should be a nonpartisan issue because voting is not about one party; it is about our entire democracy, a democracy which must be grounded in a representative government. And, in fact, protecting the right to vote is about as American as apple pie,” Harris said.
Ah, apple pie. The Guardian has had a lot to say about this traditional dessert.
And was ripped for it.
But back to the Vice President. Here’s an edited (for length) version of what she said next:
County leaders are the backbone of our elections, you oversee polling locations, hire and train and employ election workers.
You work hard to ensure the people you serve can cast their ballot, no matter who they vote for. You make sure that their ballot will be counted in a fair and transparent process. And even as you work to make voting more accessible I know that you see how obstacles to voting stand in the way of your efforts.
Several county leaders have shared this frustration with me. For instance, right now, local election officials face threats and harassment. New state laws would punish local election officials for simply doing their job. And as a result, we are seeing local election officials of both parties leave these important positions.
That is a major obstacle to ensuring free and fair elections, and one we must overcome. Local election officials sign up to serve, not to suffer...the President and I are extremely grateful for your service, and we have your back.
Here are some details Harris didn’t go into:
Here’s our ongoing special series: The Fight to Vote.
"Entire world can help" solve Afghanistan political crisis - Defense Sec
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin is lobbying via Twitter for an international effort to secure a “negotiated political settlement” in Afghanistan amid a very unstable security situation.
The US is now more than 90% withdrawn from the country, with its troops all due home by 31 August, Joe Biden said yesterday.
With the deafening silence of the stability vacuum, comes tweet.
The security situation in Afghanistan only argues more for international pressure to have a negotiated political settlement to end this conflict, and give the Afghan people they government they want and they deserve. The entire world can help by continuing this push. https://t.co/0D7rhUPHGT
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) July 9, 2021
This follows on from what Pentagon press sec John Kirby said yesterday.
.@PentagonPresSec: Our hope is that other nations in the region, whatever their bilateral relations are with Afghanistan, it is to support that end: a negotiated peaceful solution [...] an Afghanistan that is peaceful and prosperous going forward that the Afghan people own. pic.twitter.com/ykaxzPmb0Y
— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) July 8, 2021
This was the same day Boris Johnson announced the end of the UK military mission in Afghanistan, too.
And my diplomatic editor colleague Patrick Wintour writes of Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Russia moving to fill the military and diplomatic vacuum opening up in Afghanistan as a result of the departure of US forces - amid aggressive military advances by the Taliban.
After Lloyd Austin’s tweet, the Agence France-Presse wire noted:
The Pentagon chief did not specify which countries he was urging to help secure a settlement, after a year of fruitless talks in Doha between the two sides.
But Pakistan is widely believed to have significant influence over the insurgents.
And on Wednesday an Afghan government delegation met with Taliban representatives in Tehran, hosted by Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“Today the people and political leaders of Afghanistan must make difficult decisions for the future of their country,” Zarif said.
Zarif appealed to the warring parties in Afghanistan to return to the negotiating table, calling “commitment to political solutions the best choice for Afghanistan’s leaders and political movements.”
Taliban insurgents claimed that they had control of 85 percent of the country after seizing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan, an assertion which was disputed by the Afghan government.
Updated
The US Department of Education has announced that it is cancelling $55.6 million in student debt as it approves more than 1,800 loan forgiveness claims from students who were victims of for-profit college fraud.
The announcement is part of the Biden administration’s pledge to cancel $1 billion in student debt from defrauded borrowers. Over 73,000 students were eligible for the debt relief under the Trump administration but only received partial loan forgiveness after former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos modified the cancellation calculation, Maya Yang writes.
The ‘Borrower Defense” rule under which the relief is provided directs the secretary of education to cancel student debt in instances of college misconduct. DeVos had previously called the rule a “bad policy” that relied heavily on taxpayers for debt relief and lacked sufficient safeguards to prevent false claims.
As a result of DeVos’s modifications, the rule was suspended and from 2018 to 2019, zero claims were processed. The new Department of Education in turn inherited a backlog of over 100,000 forgiveness claims.
“Today’s announcement continues the US Department of Education’s commitment to standing up for students whose colleges took advantage of them,” secretary of education Miguel Cardona said. “The Department will continue doing its part to review and approve borrower defense claims quickly and fairly,” he added.
The colleges mentioned in Friday’s announcement are Westwood College, Marinello Schools of Beauty and the Court Reporting Institute.
Westwood College made widespread misrepresentations to students that its criminal justice program would lead to successful careers as police officers in the Chicago area. It told students that they would be able to find employment with the Chicago Police Department and other law enforcement agencies when these agencies in fact would not accept Westwood credits. Many borrowers had to ultimately take on minimum wage jobs that did not require degrees.
Similarly, the Marinello Schools of Beauty made false claims from 2009 to 2016 about the types of instruction offered at its campuses. Students accused the schools of failing to train them about key elements of a cosmetology program, as well as leaving them without instructors for weeks or months at a time.
Lastly, from 1998 to 2006, the Court Reporting Institute misled students about the duration needed to complete its court reporting program. As a result, the majority of students were unable to complete the program and become court reporters.
In addition to the debt cancellation, the Department of Education is also easing the forgiveness process for students with “total and permanent” disabilities and is considering a future rule-making on borrower defense.
Joe Biden answered a quick question on his way into the wings at the White House after signing an executive order aimed at boosting competition in the US economy, the query being about ransomware attacks.
Biden just had another phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin, during which he pushed him to take action to stop non-government criminal enterprises operating from Russian territory from hacking into and paralyzing US government and corporate entities - anything from local government computer systems to utility pipelines.
Asked what was said to Putin on the phone call, Biden’s off the cuff remarks began like this: “I made it very clear to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation is coming from their soil even though it’s not, not, sponsored by the state, that we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is.”
BIDEN ON CALL WITH PUTIN: "I made it very clear to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation is coming from his soil, even though it's not, not sponsored by the state we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is..." pic.twitter.com/2KdDlNaSOe
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 9, 2021
Then he pledged there would be consequences, but once again without going into details in public.
Biden: "Secondly that we’ve set up means of communications now on a regular basis to be able to communicate with one another when each of us thinks something’s happening in another country that affects the home country."
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) July 9, 2021
Q [not verbatim]: Will there be consequences, sir?
“Yes.”
Updated
"Capitalism without competition is exploitation" - Potus
Joe Biden is making a speech at the White House decrying business monopolies and “an era of giant corporations” gaining “more and more power” in the US in the last 40 years.
The US president declared himself “a proud capitalist” but said: “Capitalism without competition is not capitalism, it’s exploitation.”
Let me be clear: capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 9, 2021
He is now signing an executive order which he says is “bringing fair competition back to the economy.”
The goals of the order are “to lower prices, to increase wages and to take another critical step toward an economy that works for everybody,” he said.
To keep our country moving, we have to bring fair competition back to this economy. That’s why today, I’m signing an Executive Order promoting competition.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 9, 2021
It’ll lower prices, increase wages, and take another critical step toward an economy that works for everyone.
Biden added: “The heart of American capitalism is a simple idea: open and fair competition.”
He described fair competition as being at the heart of “why capitalism has been the world’s greatest force of prosperity and growth.”
What we have been over last few decade is less competition and more concentration in big tech, pharma, Biden says in a speech
— Saleha Mohsin (@SalehaMohsin) July 9, 2021
"Fair competition is why capitalism has been the world's greatest force of prosperity and growth" https://t.co/43mGGaUVKO
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My Guardian colleagues will take over the blog for the rest of the day.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action against hackers in his state, after the recent spate of ransomware attacks originating from Russia. In a call between the two leaders today, Biden “underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware,” according to a White House readout of the conversation.
- Biden will soon sign an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the US economy. The order includes “72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to promptly tackle some of the most pressing competition problems across our economy,” the White House said in a fact-sheet about the order. The president is also encouraging the justice department and the Federal Trade Commission to vigorously enforce anti-trust laws and challenge prior bad mergers when appropriate.
- Vaccinated students and teachers do not need to wear masks in the classroom, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its updated guidance for schools. However, the CDC continues to recommend physical distancing between desks, and unvaccinated students (including those not yet eligible to get their shot) are still encouraged to wear masks indoors.
- The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced a new policy to avoid detaining pregnant women, reversing the Trump administration’s practice of allowing pregnant women to be held in ICE facilities. That Trump era practice resulted in thousands of additional pregnant and nursing women being detained by ICE.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Jen Psaki was asked for her response to the Republican governor of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, trying to prohibit door-to-door vaccination outreach efforts in his state.
Joe Biden announced earlier this week that his administration was taking steps to convince more Americans to get vaccinated against coronavirus, including targeted outreach efforts in areas with lower rates of vaccination.
Today I am calling on DHEC to “issue direction to agency leadership and to state and local healthcare organizations prohibiting the use of the Biden Administration’s 'targeted' 'door to door' tactics in the State’s ongoing vaccination efforts."
— Gov. Henry McMaster (@henrymcmaster) July 9, 2021
That announcement sparked outrage among some Republican lawmakers, even though those outreach efforts have been ongoing for months.
In response to McMaster’s comments, Psaki emphasized the importance of getting more Americans vaccinated and urged local and state leaders to take that work seriously.
“The failure to provide accurate public health information, including the efficacy of vaccines and the accessibility of them to people across the country, including South Carolina, is literally killing people,” Psaki said. “So maybe they should consider that.”
The daily White House press briefing has now concluded, and Joe Biden will soon sign an executive order aimed at boosting economic competition in the US.
US to send FBI and DHS officials to Haiti after president's assassination
Jen Psaki also provided an update on US assistance to Haiti, in the wake of the assassination of the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse.
The U.S. is sending senior FBI and DHS officials to Haiti to respond to request for security and investigative assistance following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Psaki announces. U.S. is also providing $5 million to help police fight gangs https://t.co/Bcy7A2ShyV pic.twitter.com/0xBXCuLn19
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 9, 2021
The White House press secretary said the US remains in “close consultation” with Haitian officials and international partners to support the Haitian people.
Psaki announced senior FBI and DHS officials will soon be sent to Port-au-Prince to “assess the situation and how we may be able to assist”.
The press secretary also noted that the US will send coronavirus vaccines to Haiti as early as next week.
Updated
Jen Psaki said the call today between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin lasted about an hour, as the two leaders discussed recent ransomware attacks.
Reporters repeatedly asked the White House press secretary about what Putin said in response to Biden’s demands that he take action against hackers in Russia.
But Psaki replied that she would not read out any of Putin’s comments, saying she would leave that matter to the Kremlin.
Speaking at her daily press briefing, Jen Psaki described the call between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin as an example of “leader-to-leader diplomacy”.
The press secretary added that the US and Russia are involved in “ongoing diplomatic engagement” to address the threat of cyber attacks.
Psaki dodged a question about whether Putin offered any assurances that he would crack down on hackers in his country, saying, “That’s not an appropriate role for the United States to convey.”
Joe Biden’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin came one week after affiliates of the Russian hacker group REvil took responsibility for the Kaseya ransomware attack.
The Guardian’s Kari Paul reports:
Hackers last week infiltrated a Florida-based information technology firm and deployed a ransomware attack, seizing troves of data and demanding $70m in payment for its return.
The hack of the Kaseya firm, which is already being called ‘the biggest ransomware attack on record’, has affected hundreds of businesses globally, including supermarkets in Sweden and schools in New Zealand.
In the aftermath of the attack, cybersecurity teams are scrambling to regain control of the stolen data while the Biden administration is mulling potential diplomatic responses.
Biden presses Putin to 'to take action' on ransomware attacks
Joe Biden spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin today about the recent spate of ransomware attacks carried out by hackers based in Russia.
In a readout of the call, the White House said Biden commended the work that US and Russian officials have done in the weeks since the two leaders met in Geneva.
“President Biden also spoke with President Putin about the ongoing ransomware attacks by criminals based in Russia that have impacted the United States and other countries around the world,” the White House said.
“President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware.
“President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge.”
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris met yesterday with Black leaders of major civil rights groups to discuss voting rights and policing reform.
“The group discussed the wave of anti-voter legislation that has recently passed or is pending in state legislatures across the country and the path forward to protect the right to vote,” the White House said in a readout of the meeting.
“The President and Vice President reiterated that they will continue to push for Congress to pass critical legislation that protects the right to vote and combats subversion of the election process, while continuing to utilize all existing authorities in an all-of-government effort to ensure full voter participation and elections that reflect the will of the people.”
Democrats’ voting rights bills remain stalled in the Senate because of Republican opposition, and unless the filibuster is eliminated, the party has few options to advance the proposals.
Biden to deliver speech on voting rights in Philadelphia next week
Joe Biden will deliver a speech next week in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the importance of strengthening voting rights.
“On Tuesday, July 13, the President will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to deliver remarks on actions to protect the sacred, constitutional right to vote,” the White House said in a statement.
The announcement of the trip comes as Republican legislators have introduced hundreds of bills in dozens of states to restrict access to the ballot box.
House Democrats have passed two bills aimed at bolstering voting rights, the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, but both bills have stalled in the Senate because of Republican opposition.
.@VP Kamala Harris: "Regardless of who you are, where you live, what party you belong to, your vote matters. Your vote is your power. And so I say, don't let anybody ever take your power from you." https://t.co/NBmrJTs7Ui pic.twitter.com/aF9BpKVn6R
— The Hill (@thehill) July 9, 2021
Kamala Harris emphasized the importance of voting rights in a speech yesterday at Howard University, where she announced the Democratic National Committee is investing $25 million in efforts to protect the right to vote.
“Regardless of who you are, where you live, what party you belong to, your vote matters,” the vice-president said. “Your vote is your power. And so I say, don’t let anybody ever take your power from you.”
Follow all of our voting rights coverage here.
ICE will avoid detaining pregnant and nursing women, agency confirms
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has officially announced its new policy to avoid detaining pregnant, nursing and post-partum women in its facilities.
“ICE is committed to safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system and preserving the health and safety of pregnant, postpartum and nursing individuals,” the acting ICE director, Tae D. Johnson, said in a statement.
“Given the unique needs of this population, we will not detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum or nursing unless release is prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist.”
The new policy reverses a Trump administration directive that resulted in thousands of additional pregnant and post-partum women being held in ICE facilities.
The announcement marks Joe Biden’s latest effort to take a more humane approach to immigration than his predecessor did, but Republicans argue that the president’s approach has encouraged more migrants to attempt to enter the US.
Another potential problem for schools: the CDC recommends that schools promote vaccinations for eligible students but not require them.
That will result in classrooms where some students are fully vaccinated and others aren’t, complicating policies on mask usage.
On top of that, coronavirus vaccines are only available to students over the age of 12, so many elementary school students are not yet eligible to get their shot.
“It would be a very weird dynamic, socially, to have some kids wearing masks and some not. And tracking that? Teachers shouldn’t need to be keeping track of which kids should have masks on,” Elizabeth Stuart, a John Hopkins University public health professor, told the AP.
However, schools should still practice physical distancing between desks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest guidance.
“CDC recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms, combined with indoor mask wearing by people who are not fully vaccinated, to reduce transmission risk,” the agency said.
“When it is not possible to maintain a physical distance of at least 3 feet, such as when schools cannot fully re-open while maintaining these distances, it is especially important to layer multiple other prevention strategies, such as indoor masking.”
The physical distancing recommendation underscores that schools will still have many logistical challenges when students return in the fall, even as officials emphasize the importance of in-person instruction.
Vaccinated teachers and children don't need masks in classroom, CDC says
Vaccinated teachers and children don’t need to wear masks while in the classroom, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today.
In its updated guidance on best coronavirus-related precautions for schools, the CDC indicated students and teachers can follow the agency’s broader mask guidance, which says fully vaccinated people do not need masks in most settings.
K-12 administrators, teachers, and staff: CDC has updated guidance to support safe in-person learning at K-12 schools while preventing the spread of #COVID19. More: https://t.co/EY4kdEs1cg pic.twitter.com/Jo9ZugE7Hh
— CDC (@CDCgov) July 9, 2021
As of now, anyone 12 years of older can receive a coronavirus vaccine in the US, meaning many elementary school students are not vaccinated.
“Masks should be worn indoors by all individuals (age 2 and older) who are not fully vaccinated,” the CDC said in its guidance. “Consistent and correct mask use by people who are not fully vaccinated is especially important indoors and in crowded settings.”
The CDC also emphasized the importance of in-person instruction for children, as schools start to make their plans to return in the fall.
“Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority,” the agency said.
ICE enacts new policy to avoid detaining pregnant women - reports
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is enacting a new policy to avoid detaining pregnant, post-partum and nursing women in their facilities, according to multiple reports.
The Washington Post reports:
ICE’s new policy is even more expansive than it was during the Obama era, when President Biden was vice president. The Obama administration generally exempted pregnant women from immigration detention, but the Biden administration is also including women who gave birth within the prior year and those who are nursing, which could last longer than a year.
The policy adds to the growing list of immigrants exempt from arrest or deportation for violating civil immigration laws. Critics have said that Biden is abandoning his responsibility to enforce U.S. laws, but the president has said he wants a more humane approach to immigration, especially for parents and children arriving in increasing numbers from regions such as Central America. ...
The policy revokes a 2017 Trump administration directive that ‘ended the presumption of release for all pregnant detainees.’ ICE detained nearly 2,100 pregnant women the following year, a 52 percent jump over the last calendar year of the Obama administration, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
The agency is expected to formally announce the new policy later today, so stay tuned.
Chuck Schumer’s letter to his fellow Democratic senators also included an interesting line about potential supreme court vacancies.
“As always, Senate Democrats stand ready to expeditiously fill any potential vacancies on the Supreme Court should they arise,” the majority leader said.
Schumer’s letter comes as many progressives urge supreme court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire in order to allow Joe Biden to fill his seat with a younger, liberal judge. (Breyer will turn 83 next month.)
But so far, Breyer has given no indication that he intends to retire. The supreme court wrapped up its most recent term last week.
Updated
Schumer warns infrastructure talks could impact August recess
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said today that efforts to pass two infrastructure bills could impact the chamber’s planned August recess.
In a “Dear colleague” letter released this morning, the Democratic leader said, “My intention for this work period is for the Senate to consider both the bipartisan infrastructure legislation and a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions, which is the first step for passing legislation through the reconciliation process.
“Please be advised that time is of the essence and we have a lot of work to do. Senators should be prepared for the possibility of working long nights, weekends, and remaining in Washington into the previously-scheduled August state work period.”
Senators are working to turn the bipartisan infrastructure framework into an actual bill, as Democrats simultaneously start the process to pass a separate infrastructure bill via reconciliation, meaning they can get it approved without Republican support.
Much work remains to be done, and it now appears the lawmakers’ negotiations could spill over into the August recess, which will likely irk senators of both parties.
North Carolina members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) collaborated with other neo-Confederate and far-right groups in failed efforts to preserve Confederate monuments in the state, according to emails, documents and videos reviewed by the Guardian.
Members of the coalition of groups protesting the removal of Confederate monuments include a man with simultaneous membership in SCV and League of the South (LOS), and at least one person who attended the rally at the Capitol in Washington DC on 6 January, which turned into an attack on the building.
The SCV is a neo-Confederate group dedicated to preserving what it sees as southern heritage, in particular Confederate statues and war memorials, in spite of the rise of Black Lives Matter antiracism protests, which frequently target such statues as memorials to racism and slavery.
James Smithson, a member both of SCV and the SCV’s Mechanized Cavalry (SCVMC), a motorcycle-riding “special interest group” attached to the organization, sent an after-action email to members after a 14 September 2019 rally in Pittsboro, North Carolina, organized in defense of a statue of a Confederate soldier that had stood outside the city’s courthouse since 1907.
The email reported on the rally as a “win” for the organization, though the statue was removed by the city the following November.
According to a fact sheet released by the White House, the executive order that Joe Biden will sign today includes “72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to promptly tackle some of the most pressing competition problems across our economy”.
Among other things, the order will ban or limit non-compete agreements to make it easier to change jobs and raise wages in certain industries.
In the airline industry, the administration is requiring companies to provide clear, upfront disclosures about add-on fees and making it easier for customers to get refunds.
The order will also ease the process of switching banks by requiring banks to allow customers to take their financial data with them to another company.
On the enforcement side, the order calls on the justice department and the Federal Trade Commission to “enforce the antitrust laws vigorously” and “challenge prior bad mergers” when appropriate.
The blog will have more details on the order coming up, so stay tuned.
Brian Deese, the director of the White House National Economic Council, described the executive order as an opportunity to reset anti-trust laws.
BREAKING: W.H. is rolling out an expansive Executive Order targeting corporate consolidations
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) July 9, 2021
"This is not just about monopolies but it's about consolidation more generally and the lack of competition when you have a limited set of market players," @BrianDeeseNEC tells @ylanmui pic.twitter.com/LTwyy8vRlH
“This is not just about monopolies but it’s about consolidation more generally and the lack of competition when you have a limited set of market players,” Deese told CNBC.
The economic expert noted some data suggests wages are as much as 17% lower in industries with more corporate consolidation.
“The impulse for this executive order is really around, where can we encourage greater competition across the board?” Deese said.
Biden to sign executive order to crack down on monopolies
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Later today, Joe Biden will sign an executive order “promoting competition in the American economy,” according to his official schedule from the White House.
Politico reported on the executive order last week:
The White House is crafting an executive order aimed at promoting competition throughout the US economy, a move aimed at lessening the stranglehold of dominant players in industries ranging from banking and agriculture to shipping and air travel, according to three people familiar with the discussions. ...
It would also mark a big shift in the government’s approach to the concerns about monopolies that have swelled during the 21st century: No longer content to just enforce antitrust laws, the Biden administration would use federal power to actively spark competition in a vast array of businesses.
The executive order is the latest sign of Biden’s focus on anti-trust issues, which has pleased progressives who have been pushing the federal government to crack down on corporate power for years.
Biden’s efforts to rein in corporate power also extend to his infrastructure plans, as he has called on major companies to pay their “fair share” in taxes to help fund his proposals.
Discussing the need to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans, Biden said Wednesday, “I’m not trying to gouge anybody, but, I mean, just get in the game.”
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
