Politics recap
- Joe Biden was in Howell, Michigan, to promote his infrastructure agenda, which is currently stalled in Congress. “This is a blue-collar blueprint for how we restore America’s pride,” he said of his plan.
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Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who accused the social media giant of putting profit over safety, spoke to senators in a hearing. Facebook puts “astronomical profits before people”, harms children and is destabilising democracies, she claimed in her testimony.
- Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer will hold a procedural cloture vote on raising the debt limit tomorrow. But Republicans have vowed to continue to use the filibuster to block the Democrats.
- The Republican senator Lindsey Graham was booed and catcalled when he told a party audience in South Carolina to think about getting a vaccine against Covid-19. Graham was speaking at the Summerville Country Club in Dorchester county. Video of his remarks was first published by the Daily Beast.
- A trial date has been set for a man accused of orchestrating an extortion plot linked to the federal sex investigation of Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and leading House ally of the former president Donald Trump.
– Vivian Ho, Martin Pengelly, Maanvi Singh
Updated
Joe Arpaio is running for mayor of the Phoenix suburb where lives.
The AP reports:
The former lawman on Tuesday announced his entry in the 2022 mayor’s race in Fountain Hills, a town of about 25,000 people on the northeastern edge of metro Phoenix.
After getting crushed by a Democratic challenger in 2016 after 24 years as sheriff, Arpaio finished third in a Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in 2018 and second in the GOP primary in his 2020 bid to win back the sheriff’s post. In both comeback attempts, Arpaio lost the vote in Fountain Hills.
In an interview, Arpaio said his last comeback bids failed because he entered those races too late in the election cycle and that his early entry in the mayor’s race is an attempt to avoid the same fate.
He rejects criticism that he should walk away from public life. The 89-year-old said he remains in good health and wants to push a pro-business agenda on behalf of the town. “It’s not in me to retire,” Arpaio said.
Arpaio, a skilled political fundraiser who spent more than $12 million in his 2016 sheriff’s campaign, has $284,000 in campaign money, according to his latest campaign finance reports.
Arpaio was voted out as sheriff in 2016 amid voter frustration over his headline-grabbing tactics and legal troubles, including his disobedience of a judge’s 2011 order to stop his traffic patrols that led to his 2017 criminal contempt of court conviction, which was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump.
Before the federal government and the courts stripped away his immigration powers, Arpaio led 20 large-scale traffic patrols that targeted immigrants and more than 80 business raids to bust people working in the United States without permission.
The Senate has confirmed Lauren King as the US District Court judge for Western Washington.
King will be the first Native American federal judge in the state’s history, the third Native American federal judge currently serving in the United States and the fifth overall.
Six Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to confirm the appintment.
Updated
‘Tired of being stepped on’: Instacart workers urge customers to delete app
For Jason Schaal, 43, working in Minnesota as a personal shopper for grocery delivery company Instacart in 2019 was, at first, attractive.
The freedom to work on his own schedule, hours that could accommodate his personal health issues and caregiving responsibilities as a single father, combined with a decent wage made the gig work solid.
But soon, Schaal’s pay from Instacart fell – and fast. Once mostly working for Instacart, Schaal has had to work more hours across multiple apps, spending less time with his kids and having to work with his health problems.
“Instacart slowly started becoming the worse and worse option,” he said.
Now Schaal, along with thousands of other workers – known as “Instacart shoppers” – across the US are asking for customers to delete the Instacart app, a grocery delivery service that boomed during the coronavirus pandemic. Using the hashtag #DeleteInstacart, Instacart gig workers, organizing as the Gig Worker Collective, cite falling pay rates and unsafe working conditions.
As one of the collective’s more drastic actions after five years of organizing, the call to delete is an attempt to bring attention to labor issues ahead of Instacart’s rumored IPO on the stock market.
“At the end of the day, all those [past] efforts, while they have moved the needle one way or the other, hasn’t been enough to address all the issues [as] a deterioration of the working conditions continues. So, we felt like there was no other choice but to ask customers to delete the app itself,” said Willy Solis, 42, an Instacart shopper since 2019 and lead organizer with the Gig Worker Collective.
The group’s demands are mostly requests for a restoration of features the app had previously: a reinstatement of Instacart’s commission pay model, paying its shoppers per order versus bundling them, a 10% default tip on the app, transparency about how orders are assigned, and a rating system that doesn’t hurt shoppers for issues outside their control. Shoppers have also asked for occupational death benefits, citing the increasing dangers shoppers face on the job.
Gig Worker Collective is also organizing a walk-off protest on 16 October.
Read more:
The richest Americans became 40% richer during the pandemic
The 400 richest Americans added $4.5tn to their wealth last year, a 40% rise, even as the pandemic shuttered large parts of the US, according to Forbes magazine’s latest tally of the country’s richest people.
The Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, retained top spot for a fourth consecutive year with a net worth of $201bn, followed by Elon Musk of Tesla and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, with net worths of $190.5bn and $134.5bn respectively.
The ranks of the super rich were swollen by 44 newcomers, the highest number since 2007, among them Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, bitcoin billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Noubar Afeyan, co-founder of the Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna.
Miriam Adelson, wife of the late casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, was the richest newcomer, with $30.4bn. The youngest newcomer was the 29-year-old cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, the second-richest new entrant, with an estimated $22.5bn.
To make the list, people now have to have a minimum net worth of $2.9bn, up $800m from a year ago.
The pandemic initially triggered a record-setting wave of layoffs. The job market has recovered significantly but the economic impact of the coronavirus is still shaking large parts of the US economy. States are bracing for an avalanche of evictions after the expiration of federal protections.
Stock markets and property prices have continued to soar, trends that have disproportionately padded the wealth of the richest.
“Despite the uncertainty and the ever-changing market economy, the 2021 Forbes 400 shows that America’s wealthiest have grown far richer,” said Kerry Dolan, assistant managing editor, wealth at Forbes.
But not all of the wealthy have had a good pandemic. Former president Donald Trump has dropped off the Forbes 400 for the first time. Trump’s estimated $2.5bn fortune is $400m short of this year’s cutoff, according to Forbes.
Read more:
Updated
Today so far
- Joe Biden went to Howell, Michigan to advocate for the $1tn infrastructure bill and $3.5tn reconciliation bill.
- The Senate hearing of the Facebook whistleblower concluded, with bipartisan support for Frances Haugen, the 37-year-old former Facebook employee who came forward to accuse the social media giant of putting profit over safety.
- As we continue to barrel toward an 18 October deadline for economic catastrophe, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer still plans on going forward with a procedural cloture vote on raising the debt limit tomorrow. Republicans have vowed to continue to use the filibuster to block the Democrats.
- A trial date has been set for a man accused of orchestrating an extortion plot linked to the federal sex investigation of Matt Gaetz.
Updated
Joe Biden ended his speech in Michigan by saying that after the second world war, “Americans did what we did now”.
“Folks, we need to step up again,” he said. “The challenge of the day is one of economic competition. Let’s learn from that history, not because it was perfect, but because Americans then did what we must do now: invest in ourselves, to show the world what we must show them now – that American democracy works.”
Updated
Joe Biden made a specific point in his address in Michigan about the $1tn infrastructure bill and the $3.5tn reconciliation bill to acknowledge the divided discourse around the legislation.
Right now, Republicans are using these bills as an excuse to block the Democrats and their efforts to raise the debt limit, saying it’s an example that domestic spending under the Biden administration is out of control.
“The cost of these bills in terms of adding to the deficit is zero. Zero. Zero,” Biden said.
The bills have divided the Democratic party as well, with centrists siding with Republicans in balking at the size of reconciliation bill and calling for it to be reduced while progressives believe it’s fine as is.
“These bills are not about left versus right, or moderate versus progressive, or anything that pits Americans against one another,” Biden said. “These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency. They’re about opportunity versus decay. They’re about leading the world or continuing to let the world pass us by.”
Joe Biden tied in the reconciliation bill with the manufacturing in Michigan, pointing out that “human infrastructure” bill focused on social services and environmental measures “will boost our manufacturing capacity, investing in new and retooled facilities that employ American workers with good wages and benefits”.
“That includes grants to kick-start new battery and parts productions, purchasing incentives for families to purchase clean, union-made vehicles … loans and tax credits to boost clean vehicle manufacturing,” Biden said.
“These are the kinds of investments that get America back in the game and gives our workers a chance,” he said.
He appealed on the need to resist in resilience, with the threat of the climate crisis looming.
Updated
Joe Biden went into the nitty-gritty of what the infrastructure bill will provide, making a specific point to appeal to the union engineers he was addressing in Howell, Michigan:
“This is a blue-collar blueprint for how we restore America’s pride,” he said. “These are jobs that can’t be outsourced. We’re going to put plumbers and pipe-fitters back to work replacing lead pipes in America so families and children can drink clean water.
“We’re going to put line workers and electricians to work, laying thousands of miles of transmission lines and to build a modern infrastructure and energy grid.
“We’re going to make high-speed Internet affordable and available to everybody in America.
“We’re going to make the largest investment in public transit in American history and we’re going to make the most important investment in our rail system since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago.”
Updated
Biden: US at an inflection point when it comes to infrastructure
Joe Biden has taken the podium in Michigan to talk about the reconciliation bill, aka the Build Back Better agenda.
He started off with some hard truths, basically negging the country by saying the US isn’t where it used to be in terms of global standing.
“For a long time, America set the pace across the entire globe. For the better part of the 20th century, we led the world by a significant margin in investments in ourselves, in our people, in our country,” Biden said.
“But then something happened. We slowed up. We stopped investing in ourselves.”
The US now ranks 13th in the world for infrastructure and 35th out of 37 major countries when it comes to investing in early childhood education, Biden said. “We took our foot off the gas,” he said.
That’s where the $1tn infrastructure bill and the $3.5tn reconciliation bill come into play.
Updated
Peter Stone writes…
Donald Trump is facing increasing legal scrutiny in the crucial battleground state of Georgia over his attempt to sway the 2020 election there, and that heat is now overlapping with investigations in Congress looking at the former president’s efforts to subvert American democracy.
A criminal investigation into Trump’s 2 January call prodding Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “just find” 11,780 votes to block Joe Biden’s win in the state is making headway. The Georgia district attorney running the inquiry is also sharing information with the House committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol in Washington.
Meanwhile, a justice department taskforce investigating threats to election officials nationwide has launched inquiries in Georgia, where election officers and workers received death threats or warnings of violence, including some after Trump singled out one official publicly for not backing his baseless fraud claims.
Despite these investigations, Trump is still pushing bogus fraud claims in Georgia.
The big question after the Facebook whistleblower testimony of Frances Haugen is “what now?”
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is saying that there is “bipartisan outrage and support” over the issues raised by Haugen’s testimony and that for once, something may come of this.
“I have rarely ever seen the kind of unanimity on display today,” he said. “If you closed your eyes, without knowing who was talking, you wouldn’t know if it was a Republican or Democrat. You wouldn’t know what part of the country they were from. Because everywhere, red state, blue state, east and west, every part of the country has the harms that are inflicted by Facebook and Instagram.”
So far, Blumenthal is correct. Legislators on both sides of the aisles are voicing their support of Haugen and talking about a need to hold the social media giant accountable.
Facebook chooses profits over our privacy and safety every day. Facebook whistleblower @FrancesHaugen says we need a new regulatory agency to hold them accountable, and I agree. It's time to establish a Data Protection Agency to hold Big Tech accountable. https://t.co/G2vxxS2Zdc
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) October 5, 2021
Frances Haugen confirmed today what Facebook would not last week: that the company’s research shows Instagram makes body image issues worse for teen girls and is linked to suicidal ideation in British and American users – and the platform did nothing.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 5, 2021
This is deeply disturbing. pic.twitter.com/kL22BrY6YS
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) October 5, 2021
Today, @FrancesHaugen told me Facebook knows they're exposing girls to harmful content. The stakes are very real on platforms like Instagram. And Facebook is willingly part of the problem.
.@MarshaBlackburn said that Facebook turned a blind eye to children below the age of 13 on its sites https://t.co/RrOCsFgRW5 pic.twitter.com/3XI7KRSubf
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 5, 2021
Updated
The Senate hearing of the Facebook whistleblower has concluded, and our live coverage of the proceedings have wrapped up.
WATCH: Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen complete opening statement. pic.twitter.com/F81Ci03cjp
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 5, 2021
Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old former Facebook employee who came forward on Sunday to accuse the social media giant of putting profit over safety, testified before Congress today that Facebook knowingly harms children.
“Facebook knows that they are leading young users to anorexia content,” she said.
Facebook released a statement to Haugen’s testimony reading, “We don’t agree with her characterization of the many issues she testified about.”
Facebook Statement on today's Senate Subcommittee Hearing. pic.twitter.com/j6mOpEt9P8
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 5, 2021
Read more here:
Updated
Joe Biden is in Michigan, where he is due to deliver remarks on the much talked-about reconciliation bill, aka Build Back Better agenda.
This was the $3.5tn “human infrastructure” bill focusing on social services and environmental measures that was proposed after lengthy negotiations on the $1tn infrastructure bill seeking to improve roads, bridges, public transit and broadband.
Republicans and centrist Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have long balked at the size of the reconciliation bill, and the Biden administraion has acknowledged that they will have to make the package smaller. The Washington Post is reporting that Biden has proposed drastically scaling plans down to around $1.9tn to $2.2tn, while representative Pramila Jayapal, leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is countering with $2.5tn to $2.9tn.
As the Associated Press reports, a trial date has been set for a man accused of orchestrating an extortion plot linked to the federal sex investigation of Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and leading House ally of the former president Donald Trump.
Stephen Alford, 62, pleaded not guilty on Friday in federal court in Pensacola. His trial is scheduled for 6 December.
Authorities said Alford was part of a scheme to get $25m from a person identified in court records as “DG” In exchange, Alford said he could secure a pardon from Trump for a family member or get the US Department of Justice to drop an investigation into the family member, as well as fund the release of someone identified as “RL”.
Matt Gaetz’s father is Don Gaetz, a former president of the Florida state Senate. Others who approached Don Gaetz have said in news reports they wanted to free Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran more than a decade ago.
Matt Gaetz is under federal investigation over accusations that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid her to travel with him. He has denied the allegations and said they were part of an extortion plot.
According to court records, Alford has fraud convictions including a 2006 judgment in which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Here’s Richard Luscombe, writing in May:
The Republican senator Lindsey Graham was booed and catcalled when he told a party audience in South Carolina to think about getting a vaccine against Covid-19.
Graham was speaking at the Summerville Country Club in Dorchester county. Video of his remarks was first published by the Daily Beast.
“If you haven’t had the vaccine,” the 66-year-old said, “you ought to think about getting it because if you’re my age …
“No!” yelled audience members.
“I didn’t tell you to get it,” Graham said. “You ought to think about it.”
“No!” people yelled again.
Graham said he was glad he got the vaccine, and said 92% of people hospitalized in South Carolina with Covid-19 were not vaccinated.
“False!” the crowd cried. “Not true!”
The overwhelming majority of hospitalisations and deaths from the coronavirus in the US are among unvaccinated people. The US death toll recently passed 700,000.
Graham has been vaccinated. Other Republican senators, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin prominent among them, have not, and continue to spread disinformation.
More:
A little more on Mike Pence’s remarks about how the media’s focus on the Capitol attack on 6 January – the one in which some rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence” – is all just a distraction from the failings of the Biden administration.
In his widely covered (and ridiculed) remarks, Pence told Fox News last night he had made up with Trump over the riot and his own failure to overturn the election as Trump demanded.
Earlier today, the former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham told CNN she did not believe Trump and Pence ever had an honest conversation about 6 January.
“I imagine Pence just went and said all the right things,” she said, “[but] I guarantee you that going forward, whenever Mike Pence and the former president are together, the president will continue to jab at him about how disloyal he was.”
Grisham, who spoke to CNN for a rather torrid 40 minutes about her new, sensation-filled book about her time in service of Trump, also said Pence was not alone in being threatened at the Capitol on 6 January.
Of the vice-president’s appeals for help, she said: “There were calls going to the White House saying, ‘My family is in danger, you know, what’s going on?’”
Nonetheless, Pence is now firmly back behind Trump.
Here’s some further (must) reading, from February and by Sidney Blumenthal, a man who knows a thing or two about drama on Capitol Hill:
Today so far
- The debt ceiling and its looming 18 October deadline remains the topic du jour, with Republicans and Democrats at an impasse of how to go forward. Republicans refuse to stop using the filibuster to block Democrats from raising the debt limit and avoiding economic catastrophe, while Democrats are staunchly against going the very complicated and convoluted budget reconciliation route and letting Republicans off the hook.
- As Republicans and Democrats play chicken with the economy, the $1tn infrastructure bill and $3.5tn reconciliation bill hang overhead like an omnipresent cloud. Republicans are pointing to these bills that they have long criticized for being oversized as reasons why they cannot support raising the debt limit - they say Democrat spending is out of control. “Republicans spent like drunken sailors over the last four years before President Biden took office,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
- But all is not well within the Democratic party either when it comes to the reconciliation bill. With centrists like senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema siding with Republicans on the size of the package, Joe Biden has had to meet with some disappointed progressives with the “recognition that this package is going to be smaller than originally proposed.” The Washington Post is reporting that Biden is proposing bringing the package down to $1.9tn to $2.2tn, while representative Pramila Jayapal, leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is countering with $2.5tn to $2.9tn.
- Francis Collins announced that he is stepping down as director of the National Institutes of Health at the end of the year.
- Frances Haugen, a 37 former Facebook employee who came forward on Sunday to accuse the social media giant of putting profit over safety, testified before Congress today. Follow live coverage of the hearing here.
Updated
White House press secretary Jen Psaki made a point yesterday to note that Joe Biden would be meeting with Democrats about the $3.5tn reconciliation bill with the “recognition that this package is going to be smaller than originally proposed.”
Reminder that this comes as centrists like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have been aligning with Republicans in believing that the package was too large while progressives want it as is.
The Washington Post is now reporting from inside these closed meetings, hearing from their sources that Biden is proposing bringing the package down to $1.9tn to $2.2tn - well lower than the original $3.5tn plan.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has countered with a minimum of $2.5tn, arguing that it would take up to $2.9tn to cover all the key programs proposed.
Manchin so far seems open to Biden’s proposed range.
Manchin signals openness to Biden's range of $1.9T-$2.2T
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 5, 2021
But Jayapal signaled to Biden little appetite to go below $2.5T, per sources on call
A number of major sticking points remain as Schumer wants a deal within days: pic.twitter.com/WxFnHXQDcY
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is drawing a line in the sand and saying budget reconciliation is absolutely not an option for when it comes to bypassing the Republicans and their filibuster and raising the debt limit.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer just told me “can’t do it” when asked if the budget reconcilation process is on the table to raise the debt ceiling by the Oct. 18 deadline.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 5, 2021
“Reconcilation is very risky, risking default and risking downgrade. Can’t do it,” he said
This comes with senate minority leader Mitch McConnell writing directly to Joe Biden to tell him get Schumer and Pelosi to essentially get behind budget reconciliation because Republicans aren’t budging.
My letter to President Biden this morning on congressional Democrats’ duty to handle the debt limit: pic.twitter.com/U3G9QMPJwY
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) October 4, 2021
So let us recap at the options before us, as it pertains to raising the debt limit and avoiding general economic catastrophe:
Here are the options for raising debt limit: •An agreement to set the vote to suspend debt limit at a 51-vote threshold, but Republicans are objecting to that. (Any one senator can force a 60-vote threshold)
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 5, 2021
•Getting 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. But that would require 10 GOP votes, which isn’t happening
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 5, 2021
•Democrats using nuclear option to change filibuster rules to allow debt ceiling hike to advance with 51 votes. Manchin rejects this, so Dems don’t have the votes to do it
•Dems using reconciliation to circumvent a filibuster. That would require two marathon voting sessions on the floor — known as vote-a-rama — and could take at least two weeks to go through full legislative process without an agreement to speed it up. Ds have resisted this move
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 5, 2021
Again: Democrats, from Schumer to Biden, are very much against the idea of going the budget reconciliation route:
‘Why let McConnell off the hook?’ — Jen Psaki slams Republicans for spending like ‘drunken sailors’ during the previous administration pic.twitter.com/GykX3XWJfd
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) October 4, 2021
Here’s some more information on the suspicious vehicle found outside the US Supreme Court.
US Capitol police say they found no weapons in the vehicle. However:
Officer Bell said the suspect told them “the time for talking was done” when the officers first approached the illegally parked car
— Haley Talbot (@haleytalbotnbc) October 5, 2021
Police respond to suspicious vehicle outside US Supreme Court
US Capitol police responded to a suspicious vehicle outside the US Supreme Court.
Authorities have a 55-year-old man from Michigan in custody related to the incident.
This is growing depressingly routine https://t.co/PbZdXj1GL6
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) October 5, 2021
The suspect has been identified as Dale Paul Melvin (DOB: 9/4/66) of Kimball, MI.
— U.S. Capitol Police (@CapitolPolice) October 5, 2021
The nine justices began their new term on Monday with their first in-person oral arguments since the start of the pandemic.
Updated
Francis Collins to step down as NIH director
After nearly three decades at the agency, Francis Collins will be stepping down as director of the National Institutes of Health at the end of the year, he announced today.
It's been a privilege & honor to serve as #NIH Director for over 12 years. However, I believe no person should hold this position for too long. So with deep gratitude to this great agency & the people who carry out its mission, I've decided to step down. https://t.co/rwUnKiW3V5
— Francis S. Collins (@NIHDirector) October 5, 2021
The 71 year-old physician-geneticist served as director for 12 years under three consecutive presidents - the first presidentially appointed NIH director to serve in more than one administration and the longest-serving NIH director.
Under his tenure, NIH’s budget grew by 38%, from $30bn in 2009 to $41.3bn in 2021.
“Dr. Francis Collins is one of the most important scientists of our time,” Joe Biden said in a statement. “After I was elected president, Dr. Collins was one of the first people I asked to stay in his role with the nation facing one of the worst public health crises in our history.”
“Millions of people will never know Dr. Collins saved their lives. Countless researchers will aspire to follow in his footsteps. And I will miss the counsel, expertise, and good humor of a brilliant mind and dear friend.”
Senate will hold planned Wednesday vote on debt ceiling suspension
With Republican leader Mitch McConnell holding fast to using the filibuster to block the Democrats, senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate will go forward with Wednesday’s planned vote to suspend the debt ceiling.
Schumer says Senate plans to hold planned Wed vote on debt ceiling suspension, giving GOP lawmakers a choice to bring "Republican-manufactured debt ceiling crisis to a swift end" or the country can barrel toward default
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) October 5, 2021
Schumer: "It is hard to believe one of America's two major parties would be willing to jeopardize our entire economy… just because they dont like the party that won the election is following through on its agenda to help American families."
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) October 5, 2021
Joe Biden spent yesterday in virtual meetings with the progressives of the Democratic party, talking about the $3.5tn reconciliation bill. White House press secretary Jen Psaki was upfront that the package would be “smaller than originally proposed”, with centrists Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema standing fast behind the notion that the package was too large, and that the meetings would be to determine priorities and bottom lines.
Today the meetings continue ahead of his Michigan trip:
.@POTUS on Zoom call now with House Dem frontliners after meeting with progressives yesterday on his domestic agenda.
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) October 5, 2021
Biden heads to Michigan later today to sell Build Back Better
Updated
The Facebook whistleblower hearing is underway before the Senate and our west coast tech reporter Kari Paul will be live blogging the proceedings.
Frances Haugen, a 37 former Facebook employee, came forward on Sunday to accuse the social media giant of putting profit over safety.
Follow here:
Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary for Donald Trump. admitted on CNN today that she “probably wasn’t” honest during her interviews with Fox News and lied on at least one occasion about former White House chief of staff John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general.
Stephanie Grisham admits lying about John Kelly, calling it one of her "biggest regrets."
— Alli Hedges Maser (@AllisonLHedges) October 5, 2021
Also says she "probably wasn't" honest during her Fox News interviews. pic.twitter.com/Es1h3a1eod
In 2019, Grisham had said, “I worked with John Kelly and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great president.”
Grisham, who is currently on a publicity tour for her tell-all book, I’ll Take Your Questions Now, said Trump told her to say that after Kelly disparaged Trump in some way. “I don’t speak that way,” she said. “He dictated that to me, word for word.”
“At the time, I felt, I was his spokesperson,” Grisham said. “He told me to do it. I knew he was probably sitting there, watching TV, waiting for it. And so I put it out. It’s one of my biggest regrets. I apologized to general Kelly and Mrs Kelly in the book about it.”
Former vice president Mike Pence went on Fox News to say that the media’s focus on the 6 January attack on the US Capitol - in which a pro-Trump mob chanted “Hang Mike Pence” - is all to distract from Joe Biden and his attempts to pass his domestic agenda.
“I believe that our entire focus today should be on the future,” Pence said.
Biden flies to Michigan as Washington stalemate grinds on
Ahoy there, live blog readers. Happy Tuesday.
Joe Biden heads to Michigan today to talk about … yep, what else, the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill (also known as the Build Back Better Act).
The $1tn infrastructure bill looking to improve roads, bridges, public transit and broadband and the $3.5tn reconciliation bill focusing on the “human infrastructure” of social services and environmental measures are the hot topics of the week, with an 18 October deadline looming on the debt limit and Republicans pointing at these two bills as proof that spending by Democrats is out of control.
Republicans have been saying since July that they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling and that the Democrats will have to do it on their own. The Republicans are once again utilizing the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to break, and have twice blocked Democrats’ efforts to raise the debt limit. It’s expected they will block their efforts come Wednesday too.
The Democrats could raise the ceiling with a majority vote of 51, but they are already trying that with the spending bill and do not want to complicate affairs. They also point out that they voted with Republicans to raise the ceiling when Republicans and the Trump administration were spending wildly themselves.
The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, sent a letter directly to Biden yesterday, bypassing the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, reiterating how serious he is about forcing Democrats to do this on their own.
Meanwhile, Democrats are continuing to suss out the ins and outs of reconciliation bill, with centrist senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema pushing to make the package smaller and progressives fighting to vote on it as is alongside the infrastructure bill so it has a better chance of passing.
Much more to come, of course.
