Tag: President Biden

Pew’s Validated Post-Election Poll Details Biden’s 2020 Win

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Overall participation in the 2020 election among U.S. adults rose seven points from 2016 to reach 66 percent last year. A new analysis of validated voters from Pew Research Center (which provides a bigger, more reliable sample than exit polls) built on several of the 2020 trends that have already been reported. Here’re some of the key takeaways:

New 2020 Voters

One in 4 voters in 2020, or 25 percent, had not voted in 2016. About six percent of those new 2020 voters turned out in 2018, spiking participation in that midterm election. And voters who turned out in 2018 after skipping the 2016 presidential election were about twice as likely to back Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020.

But the 19 percent of new voters who came out in 2020 after skipping both 2016 and the midterms divided up almost evenly among Biden and Trump, 49 percent-47 percent. However, what was most notable about that group of new 2020 voters was the age disparity, writes Pew: Continue reading.

Try and try again: GOP tests out myriad attacks on Biden

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Republicans are testing out a myriad of attacks against President Biden, trying to turn public opinion against a popular president among key sectors of the electorate in hopes of boosting their chances in the 2022 midterm elections and beyond.

Republicans have blamed Biden’s economic agenda for rising inflation and criticized him over the flow of migrants at the southern border. They have also recycled attacks from the 2020 election, raising questions about Biden’s mental fitness and trying to tie him to the “defund the police” movement and the left wing of the Democratic party.

The approach has prompted criticism among some who say Republicans need to adopt a more unified message. Republicans also fret that some of the criticisms of Biden aren’t believable and say the party needs to focus on more credible attack lines. Continue reading.

130 countries sign on to global minimum tax plan, creating momentum for Biden push

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The White House believes countries need to move together to prevent firms from taking advantage of weak tax rules

President Biden on Thursday celebrated a victory in his drive to make corporations pay a larger share of the cost of government, as 130 countries endorsed a blueprint for a global minimum tax on giant businesses and pledged to work for final approval by the end of October.

The agreement announced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris showcased the president’s preference for patient diplomacy rather than the unilateral moves favored by his predecessor.

Potentially the most significant change in global tax rules in 100 years, the accord is designed to stop countries from competing to lure corporations by offering lower tax rates and to help governments fund their operations at a time of soaring pandemic-related expenses. Biden administration officials also describe the tax plan as a partial remedy for the offshoring of manufacturing jobs that have hollowed out American factory towns and fueled populist resentments. Continue reading.

Poll: Big Majority Supports Biden Spending Plans, Bipartisan Or Not

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More than three-fifths of likely voters want Congress to pass President Joe Biden’s spending plans, even if the Democratic majority has to do so without a single Republican vote, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by Data for Progress for Invest in America, which campaigns for public investment in infrastructure, was released Tuesday. It found 62 percent support for passage of Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the Senate to pass taxation and spending bills by a simple majority vote.

Such a move is backed by 86 percent of Democratic voters, 59 percent of independents, and 36 percent of Republicans. Continue reading.

Biden announces new steps on wildfires: US must ‘act fast’

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President Biden announced a series of steps in response to intensifying wildfires in the western U.S. on Wednesday, calling the fires “a problem for all of us” and saying the U.S. must act “fast” during a meeting with western governors.

“We know this is becoming a regular cycle and we know it’s getting worse,” Biden said in a briefing. “The truth is, we’re playing catch-up. This is an area that’s been under-resourced, but that’s going to change if we have anything to do with it.”

Biden said his administration would hold annual briefings to coincide with the start of the wildfire season. Continue reading.

After controversy, U.S. Catholic bishops say there will be ‘no national policy on withholding Communion from politicians’

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Days after a vote that triggered a tsunami of Catholic debate about Communion and politics, leading U.S. Catholic bishops working on an upcoming document about the sacrament are now de-emphasizing direct confrontation with President Biden or other Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.

Seventy-five percent of members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted during their annual spring meeting on June 17 to go ahead with the drafting of a position paper on the “meaning of the Eucharist,” the core ritual of the Catholic faith, believed to be the presence of Jesus. Before the vote, live on Zoom, dozens of bishops debated the fact that the proposal for the document was a response to the election of Biden, a weekly Mass-attending Catholic who supports abortion rights.

Catholic teaching opposes abortion. Continue reading.

DFL Party Statement on President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, President Biden announced that he reached a deal with a bipartisan group of Senators on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal that will be the largest long-term investment in American infrastructure in almost a century.

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement in response: 

“The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal President Biden just negotiated is a tremendous accomplishment that will deliver tangible results for the American people. This historic deal will make lives better for millions by creating good-paying jobs, connecting every home to high-speed internet, removing our nation’s lead service lines, repairing countless roads and bridges and so much more. The deal also makes significant investments in clean, green technology that will help make the United States a global leader in tackling the climate crisis.

Continue reading “DFL Party Statement on President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal”

‘Final straw’: Priest warns Catholic bishops their parishioners are furious church is choosing Trump over faithful Biden

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Father Edward Beck spoke to CNN on Sunday to explain that the idea by Catholic bishops to punish pro-choice Democrats isn’t going over very well with people who are for or against a woman’s right to choose.

“I had mass this morning, a few of them actually, and unsolicited, I can’t tell you how many people came up to me and were really upset about this,” said Father Beck. “I mean, across the political spectrum. And basically what they were saying was, you had a former president who checked none of the ‘life issue’ boxes for the Catholic church except that he said he would appoint Supreme Court justices that could overturn Roe v. Wade. And that’s all that seemed to matter.”

He also recalled Trump’s photo-op he did with the Bible after peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters were tear-gassed in Lafayette Square. He also recalled the times in which Trump appeared to make fun of Pope Francis. Continue reading. Continue reading.

Biden warns Putin of ‘significant’ US cyber capabilities

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President says meeting was about mutual self-interest

“There were no threats, just simple assertions made,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday in Geneva when asked if he made any threats to Russia during the bilateral summit with President Vladimir Putin.

“I looked at him; I said how would you feel if ransomware took on the pipelines from your oil fields? He said it would matter,” Biden said. “This is not about just our self-interest; it’s about a mutual self-interest.”

Cybersecurity challenges and recent ransomware attacks originating from Russia against U.S. infrastructure were a significant topic of conversation for the U.S. side during Wednesday’s summit, which ran roughly three hours. Continue reading.

‘Let’s get it straight’: Biden sternly smacks down two reporters for making false claims about him in Geneva

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President Joe Biden sternly corrected two reporters who mischaracterized his words and relationships during his Geneva press conference recapping his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, continuing to push his China coronavirus “lab leak” theory, even in Geneva Wednesday afternoon, echoed far right wing talking points that Biden is somehow owned by or financially controlled by China, calling President Xi Biden’s “old friend.”

Biden refused to allow him to get away with it, snapping back, “Let’s get something straight: we’ve known each other a long time, but we’re not old friends.” Continue reading.