Kamala Harris announces US will send $310 million in humanitarian aid to Central America
By Paul LeBlanc and Jason Hoffman Vice President Kamala Harris announced Monday evening that the US will send an additional $310 million to Central America “for humanitarian relief and to address food insecurity.” $255 million will go to humanitarian relief and $55 million will go toward addressing food insecurity in the region. “In light of the dire situation and acute suffering faced by millions of people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, Vice President Harris announced an additional $310 million in U.S. government support,” a fact sheet released by the White House said. Harris was tapped by President Joe Biden
Biden’s family plan to lay out economic ambition — and underscore the long road ahead
By Phil Mattingly President Joe Biden, on the verge of the 100-day mark, will soon lay out the final piece of a sweeping, $4 trillion spending proposal — one that would invest hundreds of billions into key Democratic priorities on education, child care and paid leave — in a bid to reshape the social infrastructure of the US economy. The proposal has been the subject of intense lobbying from allies, and it has shifted several times in just the last week. Now, it’s nearly ready for its prime-time moment. Bottom line Long telegraphed, but still no less consequential,
Washington Post: White House considering setting refugee cap at original proposal of 62,500
By Veronica Stracqualursi The White House is reconsidering raising the number of refugees allowed into the US to about 62,500, its original goal, The Washington Post reported Monday. The move comes after the White House publicly shifted the figure several times as it tries to negotiate a balance between pleasing immigrant advocacy groups and being mindful of the political optics of rapidly increasing admissions at a time of heavy immigration on the southern border. No final decisions have been made, however, and timing of an announcement was up in the air, three people familiar with the deliberations told the Post.
Biden to raise minimum wage for federal contractors to $15 an hour
By Tami Luhby Two months after his effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour ran into the Senate parliamentarian buzz saw, President Joe Biden is set to use his executive powers to hike the pay of hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers. The President is expected to issue an executive order on Tuesday that increases contract workers’ hourly minimum wage to $15 in early 2022, up from the current $10.95. It eliminates the tipped minimum wage, now $7.65 an hour, by 2024 and ensures that federal contract workers with disabilities also receive a minimum of
Supreme Court agrees to take up major Second Amendment case
By Ariane de Vogue and Devan Cole The Supreme Court announced Monday it will consider the scope of the Second Amendment next term in a case concerning a New York law that restricts an individual from carrying a concealed handgun in public. It has been more than a decade since the justices have ruled on a significant case concerning the right to bear arms, and the court’s decision to take the case comes in the wake of several mass shootings in the US and the Biden administration’s push for enhanced gun regulations. The court’s move also highlights the impact of
Kamala Harris cements her place in Biden’s inner circle during a consequential week
By Kevin Liptak and Jasmine Wright Vice President Kamala Harris was huddled with other White House officials in President Joe Biden’s private dining room last week when the room let out a “collective exhale.” A Minnesota jury had found Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd. As the large flat-screen television mounted on the north wall flashed three “guilty” counts, the room was overcome with a “sweeping sense of relief,” an aide said. Harris joined Biden and the first lady moments later in the Oval Office, where Floyd’s family was patched in by speakerphone. “She wants to say something,” Biden
Optimism on police reform in the Capitol collides with anguish in the streets
Analysis by Maeve Reston As President Joe Biden looks to build momentum for police reform in his address to a joint session of Congress this week, there is some optimism in Washington about the potential for a bipartisan compromise that would finally create more accountability for law enforcement. But beyond the beltway, there is also deep frustration and anger in the streets of America as young men and women of color keep getting injured and killed by police. The murder conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd last May, demonstrated accountability in one case that
Biden will seek to raise taxes on richest Americans to fund sweeping education and child care proposals
By Kaitlan Collins, Jeff Zeleny and Kate Sullivan President Joe Biden is preparing to outline the next step of his economic agenda during a joint session to Congress next week and his proposal to pay for it is expected to include new taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Multiple sources familiar with the discussions underway tell CNN that Biden’s forthcoming American Family Plan could nearly double the capital gains tax for people who make more than $1 million a year by taxing it like wages and salaries, and raise the top marginal income tax rate from 37% to 39.6% for households
Bush says he wrote in Condoleezza Rice for president in 2020
By Veronica Stracqualursi Former President George W. Bush wrote in the name of his former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on his 2020 presidential ballot rather than voting for his own party’s nominee Donald Trump for reelection, he told People magazine. “She knows it,” Bush told the magazine, referring to Rice, one of his closest advisers during his presidency. “But she told me she would refuse to accept the office.” It’s the latest example of how the 43rd president and patriarch of one of the Republican Party’s most prominent dynasties has become estranged from the modern GOP, though in the
Congress faces busy week of negotiations as Biden prepares for joint address. Here’s what to watch.
By Paul LeBlanc Lawmakers on Capitol Hill will juggle a slate of competing priorities this week as both parties wrestle with tense negotiations over infrastructure and police reform. Deliberations will play out during a week set to be defined by President Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, which will serve as a kind of call to action for lawmakers to meet the moment with bipartisan solutions for the country’s most pressing issues. “It’s a basic question,” the President said last month in rolling out the first part of the package outlining his infrastructure goals.