Today's politics recap
- Joe Biden and leading figures in his administration plan a flurry of further visits, following the president’s trip to New Hampshire today, to promote the benefits of the $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure legislation signed into law yesterday.
- Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said that it is “conceivable” for the spread of Covid-19 to downgrade to endemic levels rather than a pandemic, but that boosters and continued vaccinations are key.
- The White House is confident the Biden administration’s $1.85tn Build Back Better social program and climate action legislation will get voted through by the House before Thanksgiving, and maybe this week, before it goes back to the Senate, where the president also expressed optimism that it can get passed.
- California representative Jackie Speier announced that she will not be seeking reelection, adding to the list of Democrats who will not be running for reelection ahead of a shaky 2022 midterm election cycle.
- Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, demanded that attorney general Merrick Garland immediately fire the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons over reports of misconduct involving corrections officers.
-
The House will vote Wednesday on a resolution to censure Paul Gosar, the Arizona Republican congressman who posted an anime video that depicted him attacking the New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword and threatening Joe Biden.
– Joanna Walters and Maanvi Singh
Updated
Mnuchin and Pompeo discussed removing Trump after Capitol attack, book claims
Donald Trump’s secretary of state and treasury secretary discussed removing him from power after the deadly Capitol attack by invoking the 25th amendment, according to a new book.
The amendment, added to the constitution after the assassination of John F Kennedy in 1963, provides for the removal of an incapacitated president, potentially on grounds of mental as well as physical fitness. It has never been used.
According to Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, by the ABC Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, talked to other cabinet members about using the amendment on the night of 6 January, the day of the attack, and the following day.
Removing Trump via the amendment would have required a majority vote in the cabinet. Karl reports that Mnuchin spoke to Mike Pompeo, Trump’s secretary of state and an avowed loyalist.
Mnuchin did not comment for Karl’s book, which is published on Tuesday. Karl writes that Pompeo responded only after Karl told Trump the former secretary of state had not done so.
“Pompeo through a spokesman denied there have ever been conversations around invoking the 25th amendment,” Karl writes. “The spokesman declined to put his name to the statement.”
Read more:
‘We’ll fight like hell’: US abortion rights leader on finding hope in a moment of crisis
Mini Timmaraju, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, braces for an era in which the federal right to an abortion may no longer exist.
Born a month after the landmark 1973 supreme court decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion, Mini Timmaraju has never lived in an America without the rights enshrined by the landmark Roe v Wade supreme court ruling.
Now she is helping lead the reproductive rights movement into an uncertain, “frightening” future where the federal right to an abortion may no longer exist.
Just days into her new role as president of Naral Pro-Choice America, a conservative supreme court will hear arguments in a case that many advocates fear will be the death knell for Roe v Wade.
“It’s frightening times for advocates of reproductive freedom – for all Americans,” she said in an interview. And yet, Timmaraju sees reason for optimism.
“It can be the bleakest of times and it can be terribly scary,” she said. “It can also be an incredible opportunity.”
Earlier this month, the supreme court took up two separate challenges to a Texas law effectively banning abortions in the second most populous state in the nation. But the more direct threat to Roe comes on 1 December, when the court will consider the constitutionality of a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy – about two months earlier than Roe and subsequent decisions allow.
These are the first abortion cases to be considered by the expanded, 6-3 conservative majority, which includes three appointees of Donald Trump, who had promised to nominate only “pro-life” justices.
If Roe were to be overturned, there are 26 states that are “certain or likely” to ban the procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The list includes nine states with abortion bans still on the books from before Roe, and 12 states with so-called “trigger” laws, which would be enacted if Roe is overturned.
“With Scotus in mind and with the midterms at play,” Timmaraju said, “we have a real opportunity to wake up a big majority of the electorate that we know supports reproductive freedom and double down and ramp up that work to meet the moment we’re facing right now, this moment of crisis.”
Read more:
The House will vote Wednesday on a resolution to censure Paul Gosar, the Arizona Republican congressman who posted an anime video that depicted him attacking the New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword and threatening Joe Biden.
If the resolution passes, Gosar would be the only first representative to be censured in more than a decade. Censure resolutions are rare in Congress and require the censured member to stand in the well of the chamber while the resolution is read out loud.
Gosar, who sits alongside Ocasio-Cortez on the oversight committee would lose his position if censured.
“The video was posted on Representative Gosar’s official Instagram account and used the resources of the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials,” the censure resolution reads, in part. “Depictions of violence can foment actual violence and jeopardize the safety of elected officials, as witnessed in this chamber on January 6, 2021.”
Here’s more background:
Updated
‘An egregious breach of public trust’: Ohio sues Meta over whistleblower revelations
Alexandra Villarreal reports:
Filing suit in response to whistleblower allegations which have rocked Facebook, the attorney general of Ohio, Dave Yost, accused the social media company of “creating misery and divisiveness for profit”.
Yost sued Meta – as Facebook was recently renamed – after revelations from the whistleblower Frances Haugen shocked consumers and sent stock prices tumbling.
Filed in the northern district of California, the Ohio suit claims that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and associates violated federal securities law by knowingly deceiving the public.
“Facebook said it was looking out for our children and weeding out online trolls, but in reality was creating misery and divisiveness for profit,” Yost said.
“We are not people to Mark Zuckerberg, we are the product and we are being used against each other out of greed.”
The litigation comes amid a larger backlash against Zuckerberg and his online empire, after Haugen shared what the suit calls “a trove of internal company documents” showing Facebook’s complicity in the harm its platforms cause.
Through Wall Street Journal articles and other reportage, Haugen’s leaks uncovered how little Facebook’s leadership was doing to protect users or even abide by its own rules.
The revelations have further eroded trust in the social media behemoth and caused financial repercussions. Between 13 September and 21 October – as the Wall Street Journal published its exposés – “Facebook’s stock price declined by $54.08 a share, or over 14%”, the Ohio lawsuit states.
Yost filed the complaint on behalf of Facebook investors and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, a public pension fund affected by falls in Facebook shares.
Read more:
Today so far
The US politics live blog will now hand over from the east coast to the west coast and our colleague in California, Maanvi Singh, will take you through events over the next few hours. So do stay tuned.
Today so far:
- Joe Biden and leading figures in his administration plan a flurry of further visits, following the president’s trip to New Hampshire today, to promote the benefits of the $1.2tr bipartisan infrastructure legislation signed into law yesterday.
- Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said that it is “conceivable” for the spread of Covid-19 to downgrade to endemic levels rather than a pandemic, but that boosters and continued vaccinations are key.
- The White House is confident the Biden administration’s $1.85tn Build Back Better social program and climate action legislation will get voted through by the House before Thanksgiving, and maybe this week, before it goes back to the Senate, where the president also expressed optimism that it can get passed.
- California representative Jackie Speier announced that she will not be seeking reelection, adding to the list of Democrats who will not be running for reelection ahead of a shaky 2022 midterm election cycle.
- Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, demanded that attorney general Merrick Garland immediately fire the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons over reports of misconduct involving corrections officers.
Updated
Biden and leading figures in administration fan out to promote legislation
Joe Biden is wrapping up his visit to New Hampshire and returning to the White House right now. But he intends a further flurry of visits, himself and by some of his top figures this week to, as the White House puts it, communicate the benefits of infrastructure investment and “highlight how the president forged consensus to demonstrate how democracies can deliver real results”.
Tomorrow, Biden will visit Detroit. Interior secretary Deb Haaland will visit Barnstable, Massachusetts, on Thursday, San Francisco on Saturday and then head for her native New Mexico on Monday.
Vice-president Kamala Harris intends to travel to Columbus, Ohio, on Friday and on that day labor secretary Marty Walsh will follow in Biden’s footsteps to visit Detroit, while transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg goes to Arizona.
On Saturday, housing secretary Marcia Fudge goes to Atlanta and on Monday energy secretary Jennifer Granholm will visit Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The White House has been at pains to emphasize the mix of destinations between red and blue states, cities large and small.
Updated
Public health officials are warning about a surge in coronavirus cases in several states with one saying “the whole midwest is lighting up” with Covid.
Minnesota’s rate of new infections has been worst in the nation over the week and is putting a strain on hospitals in the state, the Star Tribune reports today, citing federal statistics.
“We are in the middle of a Covid blizzard right now in Minnesota, so that’s a challenge,” state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann has said. The official echoes the country’s top infectious diseases public health expert, Anthony Fauci, in continuing to encourage people to get vaccinated and, for those who are already immunized, getting their booster shots.
“If we could get more people vaccinated and if people continue to seek out boosters, that will make a difference,” Ehresmann said.
Minnesota yesterday reported another 5,266 coronavirus infections and a 9.7% positivity rate that brings Minnesota close to its 10% high-risk threshold for widespread viral transmission for the first time since December, the Star Tribune further reports, noting also that unvaccinated people make up the majority of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Meanwhile, Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy has warned that the “whole Midwest is lighting up” with infection.
He also reiterated that vaccination is the key strategy against a winter surge and getting the coronavirus pandemic finally under control.
“The size of the surge is completely related to vaccine levels,” Osterholm added.
You can read the full Minneapolis Star Tribune report here.
Updated
Pfizer asked US regulators today to authorize its experimental treatment pill for Covid-19, an approval that could result in a take-home treatment for coronavirus by this winter, the Associated Press.
Pfizer’s pill comes as coronavirus infection rates increase across the country, particularly as colder weather causes more people to stay indoors. In addition to Pfizer, the Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing an anti-viral pill from Merck, with other smaller drug producers expected to seek approval for their own Covid-19 pills.
“We are moving as quickly as possible in our effort to get this potential treatment into the hands of patients, and we look forward to working with the US FDA on its review of our application,” said Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla, in a statement.
Pfizer noted earlier this month that their pill cut the rate of hospitalisations and deaths by nearly 90% for adults who had early symptoms of Covid-19, were unvaccinated and had risk factors including age or co-morbid health factors.
Today, Pfizer also signed a deal with a UN-backed group to allow drugmakers to produce generic, cheaper versions of the pill for certain countries. Merck, whose anti-viral pill was approved in Britain earlier this month, has a similar deal.
The US has approved one other antiviral drug for Covid-19, remdesivir, and authorized three antibody therapies that help the immune system fight the virus, notes the AP.
Updated
Fauci says Covid-19 could go into 'endemic' phase by spring 2022 with boosters
Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said that it is “conceivable” for the spread of Covid-19 to downgrade to endemic levels rather than a pandemic, but that boosters and continued vaccinations are key.
Fauci spoke about trends in the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that while there is no ‘magic number’ of daily coronavirus cases to determine when the US is an endemic phase, reaching that stage is possible.
“To me if you want to get endemic, you have got to get the level of infection so low that it does not have an impact on society, on your life, on your economy,” said Fauci in an interview during the Reuters Total Health conference.
“People will still get infected. People might still get hospitalized, but the level would be so low that we don’t think about it all the time and it doesn’t influence what we do.”
Fauci went on to say that if the US makes boosters available to everyone, the virus could be under control by spring 2022.
“Look what other countries are doing now about adopting a booster campaign virtually for everybody. I think if we do that, and we do it in earnest, I think by the spring we can have pretty good control of this,”
Updated
Biden said he is “confident” that his “Build Back Better” bill will get passed by the House within a week and urged bipartisanship to address US infrastructure needs, including those exacerbated by climate change, during remarks he made today in New Hampshire.
Biden also touted that the bill would lower the deficit, pre-empting a potentially negative assessment from the Congressional Budget Office about the bill’s cost estimates.
During his speech, Biden also highlighted many benefits to his recently passed infrastructure laws, including fixing blighted bridges, road, and other infrastructure across the country, fixing “100%” of lead pipes in the country, and providing high-speed internet, a service proved even more essential during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Despite the cynics, Democrats and Republicans, we can work together, we can deliver real results,” said Biden.
“The middle class built this country and they’ve been left out,” said Biden.
Biden spoke in Woodstock, New Hampshire, located two hours outside of New Hampshire’s capital, and at the Pemigewasset River Bridge, which is in need of major repairs, according to the WMUR, a local news affiliate.
Biden has had low approval ratings in New Hampshire, similar to dismal approval ratings nationwide. In a recent poll from 20 October by the UNH Survey Center, only 37% of Democratic primary voters said they would vote for Biden in the 2024 primary.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement on the retirement announcement of long-serving California representative Jackie Speier.
In a press release about Speier’s announcement that she will not be seeking reelection in 2022, Pelosi spoke about Speier’s accomplishments and legacy in the House, calling Speier “an extraordinary Member of Congress and a significant leader in our country”.
“Her courageous and values-based leadership, particularly on behalf of the women, survivors and the vulnerable, has made a difference in the lives of countless Americans and has strengthened our nation,” said Pelosi via the statement.
Pelosi also spoke Speier’s role as chair of the military personnel subcommittee of the armed services committee as well as her work to address sexual harassment and assault in the military, college campuses, and in Congress.
“Her colleagues in the Congress look forward to continuing to benefit from her leadership for the remainder of her term, and from her legacy for years to come. It has been my personal honor to share representation of San Francisco with her and work with her to save the San Francisco Bay,” said Pelosi.
Speier, 71, who has served seven terms as congresswoman for the San Francisco Bay Area, announced her retirement in a video message published to Twitter, saying that while it was an “extraordinary privilege” to serve in public office, she was ready to move on.
Updated
The White House downplayed pending, potentially negative CBO scores on the Biden administration’s $1.85tn “Build Back Better” bill, calling the CBO’s experience into question.
In his first gaggle as White House deputy press secretary, Andrew Bates discussed the potential impact cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office could have on the bill being passed, directly challenging the CBO’s expertise, reported Politico.
“There has been wide agreement on the part of everyone involved, moderates, liberals, etc, that CBO does not have experience analyzing revenue amounts gained from cracking down on wealthy tax cheats who are taking advantage of every honest taxpayer,” said Bates.
Bates also said that several economists, including former US Treasury secretary and controversial figure Larry Summers, have said the White House is underestimating the amount of revenue Biden’s spending package could bring.
“There’s a huge body of work,” Bates said, “from economic experts – including Republican former Treasury secretaries, IRS commissioners who have served under presidents of both parties, as well as Larry Summers, with whom we have sometimes had important differences – affirming that, if anything, our estimates lowball how much revenue can be brought in by cracking down on rich tax cheats.
“This is something that has been known for months and everyone is on the same page,” concluded Bates.
Previously, CBO scores have hampered legislation discussion including drafts of the Obamacare bill. Former president Barack Obama was reportedly so fed up with the budget office that the name was banned in his presence, instead calling it “banana”, according to Politico.
Updated
Today so far
- Joe Biden is en route to New Hampshire this morning, to North Woodstock, and is due to make remarks on his infrastructure bill and related matters at 2.25pm ET there.
- The White House is “confident” that “Build Back Better” bill will pass in both House and Senate
- California representative Jackie Speier announced that she will not be seeking re-election.
- US House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said today that a House vote on the Biden administration’s “Build Back Better” agenda could happen on Friday
- The Chairman of the Senate judiciary committee demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately fire the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) following an investigation by the Associated Press.
Updated
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy privately urged House Republicans not to punish the 13 members who voted for Biden’s infrastructure bill that was signed into law yesterday.
During a closed meeting with members, McCarthy and others urged that now was not the time for retaliation against those who supported the bipartisan bill, asking Republicans to remain unified ahead of a House vote on Biden’s
“Build Back Better” plan.
It was unclear though if future punishment was still possible, according to Politico.
Far-right Republicans, including Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert, had been pushing for those who were key in getting Biden’s infrastructure bill passed to face punishment, including having their committee assignments stripped.
It is unclear if McCarthy’s remarks will limit immediate consequences for members who crossed party lines. Following the talk, Freedom Caucus member Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina called McCarthy’s remarks “good message” but also said that dissenting members should “accept some responsibility.”
Following public admonishment from some fellow Republicans, some members who were among the GOP rank and file who helped the bill pass the House say they have received death threats.
Reminder: Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell voted for the infrastructure bill, calling it a “godsend” for his homestate of Kentucky.
White House "confident" Build Back Better bill will pass in both House and Senate
In the briefing on Air Force One en route to New Hampshire just now, deputy press secretary Andrew Bates was asked whether the White House was concerned that the Congressional Budget Office scoring of the financials on the $1.85tn Build Back Better bill “may not be as favorable as you have projected”.
And he was also asked whether moderate Democrats in the Senate can be persuaded to agree to pass the bill.
The bill, slimmed down to a $1.85tn price tag from its previous size of more than three trillion, is currently awaiting a vote in the House.
As previously mentioned, House leaders are hoping for it to pass this week and certainly before Thanksgiving and the CBO expects to indicate its estimates for the spending bill by Friday.
But even if this happens, there is still expected to be conflict in the Senate over the price and content of the bill.
Taking the second point first, Bates said: “We are confident that we are going to obtain 50 votes in the Senate for the Build Back Better Act.”
The Democrats intend to pass BBB via the reconciliation process, as it is a budgetary item, meaning they need a simple majority in the senate, not the 60-vote majority normally needed to satisfy the filibuster rule.
But with the 100-seat Senate split 50-50 Dems and GOP, Biden can’t afford to have even one Democratic senator vote against Build Back Better, which is why moderates Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, are holding such sway in their opposition to a big price tag and some of the bill’s social spending and climate action elements.
Meanwhile, Bates said, essentially, that the CBO’s estimates are not the be all and end all and the Biden administration is supremely satisfied that “this is going to be paid for”.
“This will reduce the deficit, that’s the bottom line for us,” he said.
Joe Biden is en route to New Hampshire right now. Air Force One is in the air and deputy press secretary Andrew Bates is gathering now with reporters onboard, for a briefing.
Bates just began and we are tuning into the audio-only live stream online and Bates is talking infrastructure and now basketball … we’ll bring you anything meaty.
The US president’s long, virtual summit last night with Chinese president Xi Jinping is the first topic that’s come up from reporters.
Bates says he has nothing to add to a report this morning in the Washington Post that Biden and his administration plan a diplomatic boycott of the winter Olympics, being held next February in Beijing.
“That was not part of their conversation … it was not part of their discussion” last night, Bates says.
Tuning into an AF1 gaggle is intriguing! We just heard a loud rattle and Bates, who is still gaggling – this is his first such briefing – had a gaggle giggle and said: “This is the first time I’ve ever landed standing up.”
We hear the roar of engines going into reverse thrust, as the Boeing 747 slows after landing, and the party has arrived in New Hampshire and is preparing to alight. Just before Bates talked about the expected House and Senate votes on Build Back Better – catch you in the next post on that.
Updated
Long-serving Democratic congresswoman Jackie Speier of California to retire
California representative Jackie Speier announced that she will not be seeking reelection, adding to the list of Democrats who will not be running for reelection ahead of a shaky 2022 midterm election cycle.
Speier, 71, who has served seven terms as congresswoman for the San Francisco Bay Area, announced her retirement in a video message published to Twitter, saying that while it was an “extraordinary privilege” to serve in public office, she is ready to move on.
“It’s time for me to come home,” Speier said. “Time for me to be more than a weekend wife, mother and friend.”
— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) November 16, 2021
Speier noted that she was motivated to serve in public office after accompanying Representative Leo J. Ryan of California to Guyana in 1978 during an attempt to rescue 900 followers of the cult leader Jim Jones.
The trip ended in massacre, with Ryan and four others killed and Speier herself shot five times.
“I vowed that if I survived, I would dedicate my life to public service. I lived and I served,” said Speier during her retirement announcement.
Speier is one of 14 Democratic representatives who have said they will not seek re-election in 2022. While many have cited reasons such as spending more time with family or allowing others to serve in public office, the growing list of retirees, in addition to the more expected, is a sign of Democrats losing representation in Congress and potentially becoming the minority party.
Updated
US House Majority leader Steny Hoyer has been speaking with reporters about the latest development concerning the Biden administration’s “Build Back Better” bill, a $1.85tn, 10-year, social spending package.
Hoyer noted to reporters that debate on the bill should be happening tomorrow, with a House vote expected on either Friday or Saturday, reports Politico.
“We’re going to get it done this week,” said Hoyer, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi telling House representatives that the Congress will not go on Thanksgiving break, as Thanksgiving is next Thursday, until the House passes the bill.
Steny Hoyer is sharing the confidence of other Democrats that they’ll pass the Build Back Better bill this week.
— Anthony Adragna (@AnthonyAdragna) November 16, 2021
“We’re going to get it done this week.” https://t.co/aED6maDtyI
The Congressional Budget Office released a statement saying that it would provide cost estimates for sections of the “Build Back Better” agenda by Friday. The stalled cost estimates are an upset for moderate Democrats who want the estimates before voting, increasing the chances of a weekend vote. The cost estimates that will be published by Friday include:
- Education and Labor
- Energy and Commerce
- Judiciary
- Natural Resources
- Ways and Means
If the House passes the bill, the plan will advance to the Senate where it currently faces united Republican opposition and difficulty amid moderate Democrats.
House Majority Leader says "Build Back Better" House vote could happen by Friday
US House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said today that a House vote on the Biden administration’s “Build Back Better” agenda could happen on Friday, though acknowledged the vote could be pushed to the weekend instead, reports Reuters.
“My expectation is that we will vote on this Thursday or Friday,” Hoyer told reporters.
More details to follow.
The Biden administration will soon announce a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Washington Post reports
Citing multiple sources familiar with the planned boycott, the Post wrote that while the decision has not been finalized, the White House is expected to announce that neither Biden nor any US government official will attend the games, with Biden expected to approve the plan before the end of the month.
The timing of this process was not linked to the Biden-Xi virtual meeting Monday evening, which was billed as a way for the two leaders to demonstrate their ability to manage complex U.S.-China relations in an era of rising tensions. Various reports this week have said that Xi Jinping intended to bring up the Olympics issue with Biden, perhaps even inviting him to personally attend. But the issue didn’t come up at all during the 3½-hour meeting, according to initial reports.
“President Biden raised concerns about the [People’s Republic of China’s] practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as human rights more broadly,” the White House readout of the Biden-Xi meeting stated.
Biden administration officials have been virtually silent on Olympics-related issues in recent months, refusing to speculate on whether Biden would support a full athlete boycott (as human rights groups and activists are calling for), or a more limited boycott, or no boycott at all. Now that the Biden-Xi virtual summit is complete, sources said, the administration has one less reason to hold off on announcing the diplomatic boycott. The administration will inform allies but leave them to make their own decisions on whether to follow the U.S. lead...
In a May hearing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called for a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics as a way to express international concern about China’s human rights abuses without punishing U.S. athletes.
“What moral authority do you have to speak again about human rights any place in the world if you’re willing to pay your respects to the Chinese government as they commit genocide?” she said. “So, honor your athletes at home. Let’s have a diplomatic boycott. … Silence on this issue is unacceptable. It enables China’s abuses.”
Officials from China have vehemently denied allegations of human rights abuse, citing the US’s own track record of human rights issues including “the continuing spread of xenophobia, white supremacy and discrimination against people of African and Asian descent and Islamophobia”.
The Guardian’s Vincent Ni wrote on the pushback from officials in China following Pelosi’s call for a boycott:
China has labelled the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, “full of lies and disinformation” after her calls for a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics on human rights grounds.
“Some US individuals’ remarks are full of lies and disinformation,” a foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said on Wednesday. “US politicians should stop using the Olympic movement to play despicable political games” or using “the so-called human rights issue as a pretext to smear and slander China”, he added.
Demands for AG to fire director of Federal Bureau of Prisons following investigation
The chairman of the Senate judiciary committee demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately fire the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) following an investigation by the Associated Press detailing ongoing, unchecked misconduct involving correctional officers.
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who chairs the committee, called on Garland to dismiss BOP’s director Michael Carvajal who has led the organization during a series of ongoing crises including the unmitigated spread of Covid-19 in prisons as well as dozens of escapes – at least 36 within the last 22 months, deaths and chronic understaffing that has limited critical emergency responses.
AP’s investigation published two days ago also found that over 100 BOP employees had been arrested, convicted or sentenced for crimes since the start of 2019 and that the agency failed to address allegations of misconduct or suspend employees that had been arrested for crimes, including one official at a prison in Mississippi who remained in his position despite being arrested on charges of stalking and harassing fellow employees.
“It is clear that there is much going wrong in our federal prisons, and we urgently need to fix it. That effort must start with new leadership,” said the Senate judiciary committee in a statement posted on Twitter, also calling the BOP a “hotbed of abuse, graft and corruption.”
BREAKING: Following an @AP investigation which found that the Federal Bureau of Prisons is a "hotbed of abuse, graft and corruption" that "turned a blind eye to employees accused of misconduct," Senate Judiciary Chair Durbin calls on AG Garland to dismiss BOP Director Carvajal. pic.twitter.com/qyrnnoFArB
— Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) November 16, 2021
Durbin also noted the need for new leadership in an ongoing attempt by some Democrats to reform America’s criminal justice system.
“We have a new Administration and a new opportunity to reform our criminal justice system. It’s clear that there is much going wrong in our federal prisons, and we urgently need to fix it. That effort must start with new leadership,” tweeted Durbin.
We have a new Administration and a new opportunity to reform our criminal justice system. It’s clear that there is much going wrong in our federal prisons, and we urgently need to fix it. That effort must start with new leadership. https://t.co/PPFuHYb1fm
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) November 16, 2021
Carvajal had been appointed to his position by then-Attorney General William Barr, one of the few holdovers from the Trump administration. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco also said that she had confidence in Carvajal despite continued issues during his leadership.
Updated
Despite inflation increasing the price of goods nationwide, Americans have increased their spending in the last month at retail stores and online, providing gains to the US economy.
According to the Associated Press, the US Commerce Department reported on Tuesday that retails sales increased by 1.7% since September, the biggest spending gain since March:
Solid hiring, strong pay raises, and healthy savings for many households are underpinning robust spending.
Americans are also still buying more cars, furniture, and other goods than they did before the pandemic, which is overwhelming U.S. ports and shipping firms and pushing up prices. The solid spending last month suggests the holiday shopping season is off to a strong start.
Tuesday’s retail sales figures aren’t adjusted for inflation, which rose 0.9% in October, the government said last Wednesday. In some categories, such as gas station sales, which rose 3.9% in October, a jump in gas prices accounted for nearly all the gain...
Businesses and other employers are rapidly increasing pay to fill a near-record number of open jobs. Wages and salaries jumped in the July-September quarter, compared with a year earlier, by the most in 20 years. That’s giving more Americans extra money to spend.
Yet inflation has eroded those gains for most Americans. Prices jumped 6.2% in October from a year earlier, the government said, Wednesday the most in 31 years.
Read the full report here.
Top experts warn that the inflation surge widely felt nationwide will get worse this winter before it gets better.
Addressing clients via a report titled “2022 U.S. Economic Outlook,” Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research spoke to current US inflation trends, saying that,“The current inflation surge will get worse this winter before it gets better,” reports Axios.
Researches from Goldman Sachs though also noted that they expect the economy to “reaccelerate to a 4%+ growth pace over the next few quarters,” noting that the economy will likely approve as the service sector continues opening, consumers increase their spending, and inventory stocking increases.
Experts also expect unemployment rates to fall from 4.6% recorded in October to 3.7% by mid-2022 and 3.5% by the end of next year.
A new poll has Biden’s approval ratings at a record low, showing increasing frustration from Democrats and independents, reports the Hill.
A weekend survey conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News put Biden’s approval rate at a dismal 41%, a slight drop from 44% recorded in September. The poll also f0und that 53% of people disapprove of the way that Biden is handeling his job with 6% having no opinion.
Biden’s approval rating is specifically dropping among Democrats and Independents. Only 80% of Democrats surveyed said they approved of the job Biden was doing compared to 94% in September. Similarly, among independents, only 35% said they approved of Biden’s performance while 58% said they disapprove.
Biden’s poll numbers could be indicative of much-felt frustration by many Americans over economic hardships, including increasing prices for goods and inflations, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.
In better news, the recent poll did demonstrate that the majority of Americans support the recently passed infrastructure bill, with 63% of those surveyed saying they approved of the government “spending one trillion dollars on roads, bridges and other infrastructure” and 58% saying they supported the government “spending about two trillion dollars to address climate change and to create or expand preschool, health care and other social programs.”
Joe Biden will be making a trip to New Hampshire today to speak on $1.2tn infrastructure bill that was signed into law yesterday.
The president will be traveling to Woodstock, New Hampshire, located two hours outside of New Hampshire’s capital, and speaking at the Pemigewasset River Bridge, which is in need of major repairs, according to the WMUR, a local news affiliate.
Biden’s speech will primarily focus on how the newly passed infrastructure bill will benefit rural communities such as Woodstock, as town officials have spent nearly $250,000 across the past decade doing temporary repairs on the bridge.
“I think it’s a great compliment to the Granite State that this is the first stop he’s making after signing the infrastructure bill,” said Democratic state representative Steve Shurtleff, who also said that the money New Hampshire will receive from the bill is very needed.
Biden has had low approval ratings in New Hampshire, similar to dismal approval ratings nationwide. In a recent poll from 20 October by the UNH Survey Center, only 37% of Democratic primary voters said they would vote for Biden in the 2024 primary.
Updated
Biden sets off to sell big win on infrastructure bill but polls, inflation, divisions make tough hurdles
Good morning, US politics live blog readers, Joe Biden is heading to the regions today to sell his legislative agenda, fresh from signing the $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure deal yesterday in Washington. So please stay tuned for a lively day.
Here’s what’s afoot:
- The US president is heading to New Hampshire this morning, to North Woodstock, and is due to make remarks on his infrastructure bill and related matters at 2.25pm ET there.
- Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates will “gaggle” with the media aboard Air Force One today after the expected departure at 11.15 of the presidential party from the White House.
- But Biden is pushing forward against strong headwinds. The latest ABC/Washington Post poll has him at a record low approval rating, especially because of frustration from Democrats and independents.
- Inflation is set to keep going this winter, a new report yesterday from Goldman Sachs concluded, and this is always a big worry for any president as they are limited in their ability to control it.
- Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testifies before the Senate judiciary committee this morning on the US-Mexico border situation and immigration policy in general.
Updated
