Republicans seize on federal vaccine mandates to fire up their base and try to court new voters worried about the economy
By Maeve Reston, Republicans seeking to energize their core voters and appeal beyond their base to others concerned about the fragile economic recovery are turning to the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates. With more than 70% of adult Americans now fully vaccinated, Republicans are advocating for a slender minority of Americans as they champion the rights of the unvaccinated. It’s a group dominated by voters within their base, which is why objections to federal mandates have become a key talking point for several potential 2024 hopefuls as they make the case that government overreach under Biden knows no bounds and must be stopped. But it’s a messaging
Harris and Macron aim for increased US-French cooperation as world enters ‘new era’
By Jeremy Diamond and Nikki Carvajal, Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday they look forward to closer US-French cooperation as they sat down for a bilateral meeting at the Elysée Palace aimed at revitalizing US-French ties. Both countries are looking to rebuild trust after the US struck a surprise deal with Australia in September to help that country develop nuclear submarines, sinking a French submarine contract with Australia in the process. Harris’s five-day trip to Paris is the latest step in a weeks-long diplomatic effort by the US to make amends. Macron thanked Harris for coming to Paris and
Biden to hold signing ceremony on Monday for bipartisan infrastructure bill
By Sam Fossum and Shawna Mizelle, President Joe Biden will sign the bipartisan infrastructure bill on Monday during a ceremony that will include members of Congress, governors and mayors from both parties, the White House announced on Wednesday. “At the signing ceremony, the President will highlight how he is following through on his commitment to rebuild the middle class and the historic benefits the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will deliver for American families,” according to a news release from the White House. Biden will also host “representatives of the incredibly diverse coalition that pushed for the bill across the country” during Monday’s ceremony, the
Obama swipes at Trump for ‘four years of active hostility’ on climate in Glasgow speech
By Edward-Isaac Dovere and Paul LeBlanc, Former President Barack Obama went to the international climate conference in Glasgow on Monday because climate envoy John Kerry knew the Biden administration needed help convincing the world America was actually serious about combating climate change. But as much as Obama expressed regret for former President Donald Trump’s “four years of active hostility towards climate science” and the climate denialism which defines the modern Republican Party, he expressed a deeper, broader worry that politics all over the world is falling short of what needs to be done to save the planet. “I recognize that we’re living in
Harris tasked with the next phase of cleaning up Biden administration’s French faux pas
By Jeremy Diamond, When President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap a planned missile defense system in the fall of 2009 left a pair of European allies feeling jilted, Vice President Joe Biden embarked on a three-day tour to coax relations back to health. Twelve years later, Biden — now the US President responsible for vexing another European ally — is entrusting his vice president with a similar mission. Arriving in Paris on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris is setting off on a five-day effort to revitalize the French-American relationship less than two months after the longest American allies were blindsided by Biden’s decision to help
Biden has reached a critical moment in the battle for blue-collar voters
by Ronald Brownstein Just as Democrats face another round of hand-wringing about their erosion among working-class and rural White voters — after last week’s daunting election results in Virginia and New Jersey — the long-delayed congressional approval of a historic infrastructure plan will test President Joe Biden’s central theory on how the party can reverse that decline. Biden and many of his advisers have long argued the best way for Democrats to regain ground with blue-collar voters — not only the White ones, who have drifted toward the GOP since the 1960s, but also increasingly Hispanic and even some Black ones — is to show that
Congress passes $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, delivering major win for Biden
By Annie Grayer, Manu Raju and Clare Foran, Congress has passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, delivering on a major pillar of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda after months of internal deliberations and painstaking divisions among Democrats. The final vote was 228-206. Thirteen Republicans voted with the majority of Democrats in support of the bill, though six Democrats voted against it. The bill now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law, following hours of delays and internal debating among Democrats on Friday, including calls from Biden to persuade skeptical progressive members of the Democratic caucus. The legislation passed the Senate
Harris to announce Biden administration’s first meeting of the National Space Council
By Kristin Fisher, Six months after being tapped to lead the White House’s National Space Council, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce the council’s first meeting of the Biden administration during a visit Friday to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The meeting will be held on December 1, according to a White House official, a full year after the council’s final meeting of the Trump administration. Friday’s event will mark the first time the vice president has delivered a speech centered entirely around space. Harris’ primary objective, according to a White House official, will be to “underscore how the
House expected to hold Build Back Better and infrastructure votes Friday
By Clare Foran and Daniella Diaz, The House will vote on both President Joe Biden’s sweeping social safety net plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill today. House Democratic leaders had been hoping for a vote on the economic package on Thursday evening, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the Rules Committee would be meeting to handle an amendment to the social spending bill. Earlier in the day, in a closed-door meeting with Democrats, she had said her plan was to vote on it that night and then hold a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill Friday morning, according to two sources. It was
Harris looks to strengthen US-France ties in ‘concrete ways’ on Paris trip
By Jeremy Diamond, Vice President Kamala Harris will pursue US efforts to strengthen a recently mended French-American relationship during a trip to Paris next week, where she will also attend a pair of international conferences. Harris will sit down for a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace next Wednesday before delivering remarks at the Macron-hosted Paris Peace Forum and participating in a multilateral conference on Libya. Harris’ trip comes less than two months after France temporarily recalled its ambassador to the US to protest a US nuclear submarine deal with Australia, which sank a separate French contract to build conventional