Розділ: Політика
Biden’s Climate Pledge: Not Easy, Not Impossible
Cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half is doable but hard, experts say, and some of the biggest barriers are political, not technical.President Joe Biden on Thursday FILE – A wind turbine is pictured, Jan. 13, 2021, near Spearville, Kan.U.S. emissions are declining, but far too slowly to reach Biden’s target. They would have to fall on a scale that has happened only three times since 2005, Rossetti noted, and not for good reasons — during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2008-09 financial crisis and during an exceptionally mild winter in 2012.The Biden administration has proposed broad areas where it sees opportunities for cuts, without giving much detail. It says there are multiple pathways to get there.But each path faces opposition, experts note. Legislation may struggle to pass in a closely divided Congress. And a conservative Supreme Court may take a dim view of expanding regulations.Several research groups have mapped out ways that the United States could cut emissions in half.”We have the policies to do it, and we have the technologies to do it,” said Robbie Orvis, director of energy policy design at Energy Innovation, a policy research group.For starters, the amount of solar and wind power installed each year needs to be three to four times as much as last year’s record-setting pace.”It is a big leap to do that, but the technology exists,” Orvis said.And the technology is cheaper than ever, and getting cheaper.The FILE – New Lexus automobiles are shown for sale after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state would ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks starting in 2035.The next biggest cut would come from transportation, where the largest proportion of U.S. carbon emissions come from. A combination of incentives and regulations would take old, inefficient vehicles off the road and help increase sales of zero-emissions vehicles.Smaller shares would come from cutting industrial emissions by switching to electrification, where possible, or emerging sources such as hydrogen or ammonia, though these technologies are still in development.The best path to any of these policies would be through legislation passed by Congress, experts note. Many of them are included in Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal.But Republicans are firmly opposed to it.FILE – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., turns to an aide in Washington, March 7, 2021.”Their so-called ‘infrastructure’ plan would aim at completely ‘de-carbonizing’ our electric grid, which means hurting our coal and natural gas industries and putting good-paying American jobs into the shredder,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.Some policies could be implemented through regulations, which do not require Congress. But it is a riskier approach.”I’m honestly pretty pessimistic on that because the scope of regulatory authority Biden has is limited,” R Street’s Rossetti said. “The courts are going to challenge any sort of proposal that goes outside of those bounds.”Plus, regulations can change with administrations, and climate regulations have whiplashed through the past several presidencies. The Trump administration reversed President Barack Obama’s climate regulations, and Biden is reversing Trump’s reversals.Many of the policies that would get the United States to a 50% cut have strong backing from the private sector.FILE – An Apple logo hangs above the entrance to the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in the Manhattan borough of New York City, July 21, 2015.More than 400 companies signed a letter to Biden ahead of this week’s climate summit asking for a 50% cut. The list includes tech giants Apple and Microsoft, mega-retailers Walmart and Target, automakers Ford and General Motors, and other household names.The electric utility industry’s main lobby group supports a clean energy standard.”A well-designed CES makes some sense for us,” Emily Fisher, senior vice president of clean energy at the Edison Electric Institute, told Reuters.But she cautioned that the industry still needs breakthroughs, in long-term storage and carbon capture, for example, to meet the target.”We need those technologies, and they don’t exist,” Fisher said.Getting to 50% “is certainly going to be challenging,” Orvis said, “but I’m cautiously optimistic.”
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By Polityk | 04/23/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US House Passes DC Statehood Bill on Party-Line Vote
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state, sending it to the U.S. Senate for consideration.The measure, sponsored by D.C. House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and aptly titled House Bill 51, passed on a straight 216-208 vote.A statehood bill passed the House in 2020 but died in the then-Republican controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shumer has promised to see the measure at least gets consideration in a committee.Republicans in Congress staunchly oppose the bill, calling it a “power grab” by Democrats, as a vast majority of the city’s population supports them, which could result in more congressional seats for the Democratic Party.The District of Columbia was created on an undeveloped tract of land between the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia in 1790 and became known as the Federal City for a brief period afterward. Residents initially were allowed to vote in either Maryland or Virginia.But in 1800, the U.S. Congress moved into the new Capitol, and later passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, which stripped D.C. residents of voting rights in all federal elections, including for U.S. president, and gave Congress oversight of the city. In 1961, residents were given the right to vote for president.Washington currently has a population greater than the states of Wyoming and Vermont, but its more than 700,000 residents still do not have a vote in Congress. Norton, D.C.’s delegate, can vote in committee but not for the final passage of a bill.Under her plan, the area that includes the Capitol, White House and federal office buildings would become the “federal district,” with the remaining portions of the city becoming the “State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth,” named partially for former slave, abolitionist and voting rights advocate Frederick Douglass.In a news release after the statehood measure passed, Norton called the bill historic, noting polls showing it is supported by 54% of Americans.House Republicans opposed the measure on constitutional grounds, with conservative witnesses arguing that statehood could not be achieved through simple legislation and that a constitutional amendment would be required.In the Senate, where Democrats have only a one-seat majority, the Senate filibuster rule requires the support of at least eight Republicans.Not all Senate Democrats have indicated they would support the measure.
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By Polityk | 04/23/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Effects of Jim Crow Era Live On in Modern America, Some Say
“My mother and stepfather grew up during the era of Jim Crow,” Dontaye Carter told VOA. Carter is the head of a public relations firm in the suburbs of Atlanta and helps lead voter registration and mobilization efforts in the area. “Sometimes, people think of that time as being ancient history, but it’s not true,” he said. “There are still people alive today who were traumatized by its events.” Jim Crow refers to a time in U.S. history from the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century in which state and local laws — primarily in the Southern United States — denied equal opportunity to Black citizens. Carter said that when he was a child, he was told about that tension-filled period — an era whose effects many believe can still be seen today. “My stepfather told me stories about how he and his siblings would walk three miles to school because every time they got on the bus, there would be fights with white students who didn’t want them to sit down,” he said. “Black kids can sit down on buses today, but it isn’t hard to find the inequalities in our society that still exist. Look at where the industrial plants are in the Atlanta area. All that pollution got put in the Black communities. Even that there are neighborhoods that are specifically ‘Black neighborhoods’ — that’s all because of racist Jim Crow.” FILE – A multi-racial group of students sit next to each other on the actual bus where Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat to a white man in 1955 in Alabama, during their visit to Henry Ford Museum in Michigan, Oct. 25, 2005.Jim Crow revival? In the months since the November 2020 presidential election in which Democratic nominee Joseph Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump, state legislatures across the country — but led primarily by closely contested Southern and Sunbelt states such as Georgia, Texas and Arizona — have proposed and sometimes passed laws restricting how voters can cast their ballots. FILE – Voters line up early in the morning to cast their ballots in the U.S. Senate runoff election, at a polling station in Marietta, Georgia, Jan. 5, 2021.Republicans in these states have said the bills are designed to secure the election process and to make it harder to cast fraudulent votes — something judges across the judicial system deny being a problem in the 2020 election. Still, since late March, more than 360 measures in 47 states have sought to impose more stringent identification requirements for absentee ballots, limit ballot drop boxes and shorten runoff elections. Democrats have derided these measures as another attempt by Republicans to make it harder for African Americans and other minorities — groups that tend to overwhelmingly favor Democrats — to vote. They say it steals from the same playbook that racist politicians used more than a century ago to stop Black Americans from voting. Biden recently called it “Jim Crow in the 21st century,” and other Democrats have called the attempts “Jim Crow 2.0.” To some, however, calling recent proposals a reversion to earlier, racist times is unfair and disingenuous. “I have no doubt that the Jim Crow era in this country is still in the minds of some African Americans,” said Jay Williams, who has been a consultant for many top Republican politicians. “But the storyline that Republicans today are stopping Black people from voting is ludicrous. Voter turnout has increased in each of the last three elections, and that includes minority voters. There’s nothing nefarious about these laws.” History of Jim Crow Named after a Black minstrel show character, Jim Crow laws — and their predecessor, the Black Codes — were first enacted across the American South after the Civil War ended in 1865. After winning the war, the U.S. government passed amendments to the Constitution that guaranteed previously denied rights to the formerly enslaved. FILE – Jim Crow sign, Lonestar Restaurant Association, Dallas, Texas. (Library of Congress)Strict local and state laws, however, sought to infringe on those rights by putting restrictions on Black Americans’ ability to get a job, receive an education and even to vote. “Laws were passed that required you pay a poll tax to vote,” explained Matthew Stuart, a history teacher in the suburbs of Jackson, Mississippi. “Requiring payment to vote is already terrible, but if you simultaneously pass laws that limit where you can work or how much you can get paid, that makes the tax even more of a barrier.” Stuart said Southern states also instituted literacy tests to stop Black Americans from voting.
“Of course, that’s going to prevent African Americans from voting, because they were also passing laws that made it harder for them to get an education.” Hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan were founded during this period, allowing white Americans to retain anonymity while victimizing and suppressing the rights of newly freed slaves. “Jim Crow lasted approximately 80 years between the end of post-Civil War Reconstruction and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” Stuart said of the federal legislation that finally outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted across the South. “But I only get to spend three weeks with my students on the entire period.” To Stuart and many others, spending so little time on an era that continues to create discord today is a missed opportunity for learning and reflection. “We practically skip from the Civil War to the civil rights era, and we look at its heroes like Martin Luther King Jr., and we feel good about how far we’ve come,” Stuart said. “But those 80 years are what made the civil rights era possible. It’s a generation’s entire life. And just because it’s uncomfortable doesn’t mean we shouldn’t address it.” An enduring legacy Blair Condoll, a political science professor at Dillard University, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in New Orleans, is also a lawyer and a constitutional scholar who spends four hours every morning talking politics on his daily radio show. Why Jim Crow continues to affect American life, particularly in Southern states like Louisiana, seems obvious to him. “Of course, there are still effects between Jim Crow and slavery before it. That’s hundreds of years of this society having two tiers — one for white Americans and another for Black. We can’t just erase that in a generation or two,” Condoll told VOA. Carter agreed, adding that even though it’s no longer codified in law, the enduring legacy of the Jim Crow era in his daily life remains obvious. “You can see it in the still-segregated neighborhoods of American cities and the disparity in education for white and Black children,” he said. “You can see it in the credit-lending habits of banks, and why highways are built in one part of a city while grocery stores are built in another.” These disparities occur, Carter said, because Black Americans often lack the political clout to stop them. And that, he said, is because politicians use their power to make it harder for Black people to vote, rather than easier. In the 2013 Shelby v. Holder case, the Supreme Court ruled that a key portion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act — Section 5, which previously required Southern states to have any changes to state voting laws approved by the attorney general — was no longer necessary. Political consultant Williams believes this decision makes sense. “Why should Georgia need federal approval of its voting laws while New York doesn’t? That doesn’t seem fair to me,” he said. To Carter, the answer to that question couldn’t be more obvious. “For more than eight decades — and until not that long ago — states like Georgia passed voting laws that disenfranchised Black voters,” he explained. “In fact, they just passed a law making it harder to vote that would never have been approved if the Voting Rights Act was still fully intact.” FILE – Republican Governor Brian Kemp signs S.B. 202, legislation that activists have said will curtail the influence of Black voters, in this handout photo posted to Kemp’s Twitter feed on March 25, 2021.There is a push among congressional Democrats to reform the election system and protect against the actions of individual states. Condoll believes that because the right to vote is guaranteed by the Constitution, the federal government has the authority to create one standardized set of rules and regulations. “There are certain times it doesn’t make sense to have different laws in every state,” he said. “Voting is one of those times. For hundreds of years, and all the way through Jim Crow, we’ve seen that states don’t protect everyone’s rights equally. It’s time we learned our lesson and protect the right to vote.”
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By Polityk | 04/23/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Democrats Push to Counter State-Level Voting Restrictions
A new law in the southern U.S. state of Georgia that restricts mail-in voting and strengthens voter identification requirements has sparked a nationwide debate over voting rights for minorities. Democratic Party lawmakers are weighing their options even though voting rights legislation has little chance of passage in the U.S. Senate. VOA’s Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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By Polityk | 04/21/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Derek Chauvin Convicted on all Charges in Death of George Floyd
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all charges Tuesday in the death of George Floyd nearly a year ago.Chauvin had been charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.After hearing closing arguments Monday, the 12-member jury – comprising six white people and six people who are Black or multiracial — spent about 10 hours over two days discussing information from the three-week trial before coming to a decision.WATCH LIVE: President Joe Biden reacts to George Floyd trial guilty verdict In their final arguments, a prosecutor accused Chauvin, who is white, of killing Floyd, an African American, by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. A defense attorney, Eric Nelson, contended that Floyd died partly from drug use and that Chauvin was following his police training in the way he arrested Floyd last May on the curb of a street in Minneapolis.Prosecutor Steve Schleicher summed up the case against Chauvin, who held down the handcuffed Floyd as Floyd lay prone on a city street and gasped — 27 times, according to videos of his arrest — that he could not breathe. “He was trapped…a knee to his neck,” Schleicher said, with Chauvin’s weight on him for nine minutes and 29 seconds. “George Floyd was not a threat to anyone,” Schleicher said. “All that was required was some compassion, and he got none.” “No crime was committed if it was an authorized use of force,” Nelson argued. “The state has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” the legal standard for a conviction, the defense attorney concluded as he asked the jurors to acquit Chauvin of murder and manslaughter charges. President Biden, during a meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the Oval Office, said that he is ‘praying the verdict is the right verdict’ in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Dereck Chauvin. “I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict,” Biden said during an Oval Office meeting with Latino lawmakers. “I think it’s overwhelming in my view. I wouldn’t say that unless the jury was sequestered now.”As the case nears its end, authorities in Minneapolis are bracing for possible street protests after the verdict. Many stores are boarded up to prevent a recurrence of the damage and looting that took place after Floyd’s death almost a year ago. “We cannot allow civil unrest to descend into chaos. We must protect life and property,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Monday. “But we also must understand very clearly, if we don’t listen to those communities in pain and those people on the streets, many of whom were arrested for speaking a fundamental truth that we must change, or we will be right back here again.”Protests, some of them violent, broke out in many cities in the United States and throughout the world after Floyd’s death. The Black Lives Matter movement was at the forefront of the demonstrations, but thousands of people who had no previous connection to the Black-led protests joined in to condemn Chauvin’s actions, and more broadly, police treatment of minorities.The same issues raised by Floyd’s death came to the forefront in the community again when a now-resigned police officer in a Minneapolis suburb fatally shot a 20-year-old African American man during a traffic stop on April 11.Meanwhile, Republicans in the U.S. Congress said they planned to hold a censure vote Wednesday over comments made by Representative Maxine Waters of California. On Saturday, Waters was in the Minneapolis suburb where another Black man had been killed by a police officer earlier this month. Waters told protesters who had gathered in Brooklyn Center over the death of Daunte Wright that she wanted to see a murder conviction against Chauvin. She added, “We gotta stay on the street, we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational, we’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.” On Monday, Judge Cahill called Waters’ comments “abhorrent” and that and they could lead to a verdict being appealed and overturned.
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By Polityk | 04/21/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Administration Endorses Bill to Establish Washington as America’s 51st State
The Biden administration has endorsed legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would establish the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C., as America’s 51st state.
“For far too long, the more than 700,000 people of Washington, D.C., have been deprived of full representation in the U.S Congress,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement Tuesday. “This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our nation was founded.”
The bill, H.R. 51, calls for Washington to continue to serve as the country’s federal seat of government while residents gain full representation in Congress for the first time.
The measure is expected to face stiff resistance from congressional Republicans, who do not want two more likely Democrats from the Democratic-majority city in an evenly divided Senate.
The Republicans have argued that the bill goes against the U.S. Constitution, which created the District of Columbia as a federal district, and have proposed alternative schemes whereby District residents could vote for representatives in neighboring states.
The House is set to vote on the bill this week after it was passed last week by a party-line vote in the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The administration said it plans to collaborate with Congress during the legislative process to ensure that it “comports with Congress’ constitutional responsibilities and its constitutional authority to admit new states to the Union.”
The administration also urged lawmakers to “provide for a swift and orderly transition” to statehood for the residents of the nation’s capital.
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By Polityk | 04/21/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Verdict Reached in Trial of Officer Charged in George Floyd’s Death – WATCH LIVE
A verdict has been reached in the high-profile trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.After hearing closing arguments Monday, the 12-member jury – comprising six white people and six people who are Black or multiracial — met to discuss the process of working toward a verdict, which is expected to be announced shortly.WATCH LIVE: George Floyd Trial Verdict TrueSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
President Biden, during a meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the Oval Office, said that he is ‘praying the verdict is the right verdict’ in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Dereck Chauvin. “I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict,” Biden said during an Oval Office meeting with Latino lawmakers. “I think it’s overwhelming in my view. I wouldn’t say that unless the jury was sequestered now.”As the case nears its end, authorities in Minneapolis are bracing for possible street protests after the verdict. Many stores are boarded up to prevent a recurrence of the damage and looting that took place after Floyd’s death almost a year ago. “We cannot allow civil unrest to descend into chaos. We must protect life and property,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Monday. “But we also must understand very clearly, if we don’t listen to those communities in pain and those people on the streets, many of whom were arrested for speaking a fundamental truth that we must change, or we will be right back here again.”Protests, some of them violent, broke out in many cities in the United States and throughout the world after Floyd’s death. The Black Lives Matter movement was at the forefront of the demonstrations, but thousands of people who had no previous connection to the Black-led protests joined in to condemn Chauvin’s actions, and more broadly, police treatment of minorities.The same issues raised by Floyd’s death came to the forefront in the community again when a now-resigned police officer in a Minneapolis suburb fatally shot a 20-year-old African American man during a traffic stop on April 11.
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By Polityk | 04/21/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
China at Forefront of US-Japan Summit
Strategic competition with China was one of the main issues discussed in U.S. President Joe Biden’s Friday meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Biden took office. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
Producer: Kim Weeks
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By Polityk | 04/17/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
State Department Watchdog Says Pompeo, Wife Violated Ethics Rules
The State Department’s internal watchdog has concluded that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife violated federal ethics rules by asking staffers to run personal errands and perform non-official work such as making restaurant reservations, shopping and caring for their dog.In a report released on Friday, the department’s inspector general concluded that those requests were “inconsistent” with the regulations. But, because Pompeo is no longer a federal employee and not subject to federal disciplinary or other measures, it did not call for any action against the former secretary who left office on Jan. 20 at the end of the Trump administration.Instead, it recommended that the State Department clarify its policies to better define tasks that are inappropriate for staffers under the ethics rules and make it easier to report alleged violations. The department accepted all of the recommendations in its response to the report.Pompeo and his attorney strongly denied the allegations contained in the inspector general’s report, which said the former secretary and his wife, Susan, “made over 100 requests to employees in the office of the secretary to conduct work that appeared to be personal in nature.” Pompeo’s lawyer noted that the report identifies only a handful of questionable requests and that those did not amount to violations of the rules.The report identified inappropriate tasks as including “picking up personal items, planning events unrelated to the department’s mission, and conducting such personal business as pet care and mailing personal Christmas cards.” Many of those requests were directed to a longtime assistant of the Pompeos who was hired by the State Department as a senior adviser to the secretary.It said it had found evidence that Susan Pompeo had “on several occasions” instructed the adviser to plan events for groups with which the Pompeos had nongovernmental relationships. It said it had identified at least 30 instances in which either the secretary or his wife told staffers to make restaurant reservations for personal lunches and dinners.The inspector general “found that such requests were inconsistent with department ethics rules and the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch,” the report said.In an interview with investigators in late December, Pompeo said he had not paid that staffer or others separately for work that he either considered to be related to government business or to be minimal favors that longtime acquaintances would routinely do for each other, according to the report.The inspector general, however, noted that there was no exception in the ethics rules for minimal personal favors. “Rather, the standards prohibit any use of a subordinate’s time to perform personal activities unless compensation is paid,” it said.In a response appended to the report, the lawyer, William Burck, alleged that the report was biased and unfit for publication. Pompeo had shaken up the inspector general’s office by firing its former chief in a move that critics alleged was aimed at halting potentially embarrassing investigations into his tenure at the department.”The poor quality of the report bespeaks not merely unprofessionalism in its drafting but also bias, which we are concerned may be politically motivated,” Burck said. He said the report was “not fit for publication” and demanded evidence to support the investigators’ claims that the Pompeos had made more than 100 inappropriate requests of staffers.In its response to the report, the State Department made no judgement on the findings but did accept the recommendations.”The department appreciates the work of the Office of Inspector General, and, as the report notes, concurs with all the recommendations and will proceed to implement them,” it said.
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By Polityk | 04/17/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Senator Who Served as Ambassador to Japan Lauds Closer Ties but Issues Warning
For the man who represented the United States in Tokyo from 2017 to 2019, Friday’s visit to the U.S. capital by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is an affirmation of two years of hard work.It is not often that U.S. Republicans and Democrats agree about much these days, but former Ambassador William Hagerty, who came home to launch a successful bid for a Senate seat from his home state of Tennessee, is quick to praise President Joe Biden for arranging the White House meeting.”I’m delighted to see Prime Minister Suga come to the very first face-to-face summit that our new President Biden is holding,” the newly minted Republican senator told VOA in an interview this week.The fact that Biden, like former President Donald Trump before him, chose to meet the prime minister of Japan at the outset of his presidency shows continuity in U.S. strategic priorities, Hagerty said.”It underscores the importance of the strategic alliance that we hold with Japan,” he said. “It also underscores the importance of that region of the world not only to America, but to global security.”Postwar helpHagerty stressed the lasting importance of U.S. efforts after World War II to help lift Japan from ruins to the top ranks of democratic governance and prosperity.”After World War II, an unprecedented effort took place. General [Douglas] MacArthur and a team moved to Japan; they oversaw a reconstruction of the Japanese economy. I even found notes from General MacArthur because I lived in the same house that he did while he was there,” Hagerty said.He said those notes revealed extensive efforts, including tireless outreach by the United States to persuade American industries to buy Japanese products in order to lift the Japanese economy.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 5 MB480p | 8 MB540p | 8 MB720p | 14 MB1080p | 36 MBOriginal | 59 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioSen. William Hagerty spent two years as the US ambassador to Japan”We created very favorable trade terms with Japan at that time to encourage the rebuilding of that economy,” he said, singling out the 1964 Summer Olympics as a critical opportunity for Japan to reintroduce itself to the world.”From that point on, the manufacturing capacity and the technological capacity of Japan continued to accelerate greatly; their relationship with America was absolutely vital to that acceleration.”Turning to the present day, Hagerty said the United States and Japan “need to continue to strengthen our strategic alliance” on all fronts: military, economic and diplomatic.In his new role as a senator, Hagerty is bringing his unique perspective on Japan to bear in his work on the Senate Banking, Foreign Relations, Appropriations and Rules committees. And he issued a warning.Supply chainsWhile emphasizing that the two countries need to work together as closely as possible, Hagerty said, “One thing is clear: We need to look at our supply chains very carefully.”The United States has placed certain Chinese companies on the entities list here to not sell semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China. I want to make certain that Japan understands and underscores the significance of this,” he said, “because certain Japanese manufacturers have stepped up their export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment since the United States has blocked the export here.”We need to be working together,” he continued. “Japanese manufacturers should not be undercutting our posture, because we are aligned strategically in terms of dealing with the threat that’s coming from China.””Hagerty is correct,” said June Teufel Dreyer, a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami in Florida. Teufel Dreyer cited the case of Rakuten Group Inc., an influential player in Japan’s wireless network business, whose dealings with a Chinese entity have raised eyebrows in Washington.”In anticipation that this will come up in the Suga-Biden meeting, Japanese officials have privately briefed U.S. [National Security Council] officials that they’re monitoring the situation,” Teufel Dreyer told VOA.The professor said the American concern about technology transfers extends beyond its relationship with Japan. “When the U.S. shares its cutting-edge technology with allies, it runs the risk that some of what is shared ends up in the hands of adversaries,” she said.For his part, Hagerty says that compared with four years ago, when he first took up the post as U.S. ambassador to Japan, the strategic challenge facing America “continues to get more serious, particularly with respect to China.”And that, he said, makes it imperative that the United States and its allies work more closely together.
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By Polityk | 04/17/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Politicians Turn to Hollywood Talent Agents to Boost Their Image
Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger are among the most well-known celebrities who used their superstar status to jump into politics. Now some politicians are using Hollywood talent agents to build their political brand. Karina Bafradzhian has the story.
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By Polityk | 04/16/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Former VP Pence Undergoes Surgery to Implant Pacemaker
Former Vice President Mike Pence has undergone surgery to have a pacemaker implanted. His office says that Wednesday’s procedure went well and that Pence “is expected to fully recover and return to normal activity in the coming days.” The 61-year-old Pence, who recently launched a new advocacy group and signed a book deal, had previously been diagnosed with a heart condition called asymptomatic left bundle branch block. His office says that over the past two weeks, he experienced symptoms associated with a slow heart rate and underwent the procedure in Virginia in response. Pence is considered a likely 2024 presidential candidate if former President Donald Trump declines to run again. He is expected to deliver his first public speech since leaving office later this month in South Carolina.
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By Polityk | 04/16/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Nominates US Haiti Ambassador to State Department Position
U.S. President Joe Biden has nominated U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison for the position of assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs.Sison, a career ambassador, the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service, has served in Haiti since 2018. She is a respected diplomat in Port-au-Prince, where she has been outspoken about democratic governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights.”We are very concerned about any action that risks undermining democratic institutions in Haiti,” Sison told VOA during an exclusive interview in February.Before arriving in Port-au-Prince, she served as U.S. deputy representative to the United Nations with the rank of ambassador from 2014 to 2018.She is experienced in global coalition building, transnational threats, peacekeeping, international development and humanitarian relief.Among Sison’s prior posts are U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates; assistant chief of mission in Iraq; and deputy chief of mission in Pakistan.At the State Department, she held the position of principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs.Sison has been recognized with multiple awards, notably the Distinguished Service Award and the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award.The U.S. Senate must confirm her nomination before it becomes effective.
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By Polityk | 04/16/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Further Punishes Russia for Cyberattacks, Election Meddling
The United States cannot allow a foreign power to intervene with impunity in American elections, President Joe Biden said Thursday, after he took action to punish Russia for that and a major cyberattack. “Today I’ve approved several steps, including expulsion of several Russian officials, as a consequence of their actions,” Biden said at the White House. “I’ve also signed an executive order authorizing new measures, including sanctions to address specific harmful actions that Russia has taken against U.S. interests.” Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during a meeting via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, April 15, 2021.Biden said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call earlier this week that he could have gone further but chose to be proportionate and does not seek to escalate tensions between Washington and Moscow. “If Russia continues to interfere with our democracy, I’m prepared to take further actions to respond,” he added. Thirty-two entities and individuals linked to Moscow are being sanctioned for disinformation efforts and interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Ten personnel from Russia’s diplomatic mission in Washington were expelled, including ”representatives of Russian intelligence services,” according to the White House. The Biden administration is formally blaming the SVR, the external intelligence agency of Russia, for the massive cybersecurity breach discovered last year involving SolarWinds, a Texas-based software management company that allowed access to the systems of thousands of companies and multiple federal agencies. The Russian flag flutters on the Consulate-General of the Russian Federation in New York City, April 15, 2021.The Russian spy agency reacted by calling the accusation “nonsense” and “windbaggery.” The Russian Foreign Ministry said it told U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan that the new sanctions are a serious blow to bilateral relations and that Moscow’s response to them will follow soon. The Foreign Ministry, in a statement, added that it was entirely inappropriate for Washington to warn Moscow against further escalation. Besides Thursday’s widely anticipated moves by the Biden administration, ”there will be elements of these actions that will remain unseen,” said a senior U.S. official speaking to reporters on condition of not being named. Biden, during his seven minutes of remarks in the East Room on Thursday afternoon, said he believed he and Putin would meet for a summit this summer somewhere in Europe. At that meeting, the president said, the two countries “could launch a strategic stability dialogue, to pursue cooperation in arms control and security,” as well as address such issues as reining in nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea, the coronavirus pandemic and “the existential crisis of climate change.” Congressional reaction U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said the president’s actions demonstrate the United States ”will no longer turn a blind eye to Russian malign activity.” But Schiff, in a statement, predicted sanctions alone will not be enough to deter Russia’s misbehavior. Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., looks on before a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 15, 2021.”We must strengthen our own cyber defenses, take further action to condemn Russia’s human rights abuses, and, working in concert with our allies and partners in Europe, deter further Russian military aggression,” Schiff said. “I am glad to see the Biden administration formally attributing the SolarWinds hack to Russian intelligence services and taking steps to sanction some of the individuals and entities involved,” said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner. “The scale and scope of this hack are beyond any that we’ve seen before and should make clear that we will hold Russia and other adversaries accountable for committing this kind of malicious cyber activity against American targets.” Numerous Republican members of Congress, while praising the president’s action, are calling for more measures — particularly to halt the controversial Nord Stream 2 project. “If the Biden administration is serious about imposing real costs on the Putin regime’s efforts to undermine U.S. democratic institutions and weaken our allies and partners, then it must ensure the Russian malign influence Nord Stream 2 pipeline project is never completed,” House Foreign Affairs Committee lead Republican Michael McCaul said in a statement. FILE – Workers are seen at the construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, near the town of Kingisepp, Leningrad region, Russia, June 5, 2019.Nord Stream 2 is a multibillion-dollar underwater gas pipeline project linking Russia to Germany. Work on the pipeline was suspended in December 2019 after it became a source of contention between Russia and the West. Nord Stream officials said Russia resumed construction on the gas pipeline in December. The United States has opposed the joint international project because of possible threats to Europe’s energy security. Nord Stream 2 is intended to double the annual gas capacity of an existing Nord Stream pipeline. “Nord Stream 2 is a complicated issue affecting our allies in Europe,” Biden replied to a reporter following his speech. He said that he has been opposed to the project for a long time and it is “still is an issue that is in play.” US sanctions Biden’s administration had already sanctioned seven Russian officials and more than a dozen government entities last month in response to Russia’s treatment of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The U.S. actions taken Thursday expanded prohibitions on primary market purchases of ruble-dominated Russian sovereign debt, effective June 14. “There’s no credible reason why the American people should directly fund Russia’s government when the Putin regime has repeatedly attempted to undermine our sovereignty,” said a senior administration official in explaining the move. ”We’re also delivering a clear signal that the president has maximum flexibility to expand the sovereign debt prohibitions if Russia’s malign activities continue or escalate.” Russia has largely ignored previous U.S. sanctions, which were narrower and primarily targeted individuals. “These are ’unfinished business’ sanctions that telegraph the Biden administration’s more forceful approach to dealing with Russia. The measures are dialed to make good on Biden’s promise to significantly impose costs on Russia without provoking a downward spiral in relations,” said Cyrus Newlin, associate fellow with the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. A street sign marking Boris Nemstov Plaza is seen at the entrance of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Washington, April 15, 2021.”I think we could continue to see targeting against the Russian intelligence agencies, potentially against Russian government figures and their families, which is something that many sanctions experts have been pushing for,” according to Nina Jankowicz, a Wilson Center disinformation fellow. ”This is only the tip of the iceberg of the full range of responses available to the U.S. government, both public and nonpublic, that we can take in response to Russia’s malicious cyberactivity.” “The economic consequences for Russia will be fairly minor: The Russian financial system is much more insulated from sanctions than it was in 2014, and new restrictions on sovereign debt don’t extend to secondary markets. I suspect Moscow will respond reciprocally with diplomatic expulsions, but preserve political space for a bilateral summit, which the Kremlin places high value on,” said Newlin, of CSIS. “The Biden administration has reserved more punishing sanctions options in the event of further Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Newlin added. ”These could be an expansion of sovereign debt restrictions to secondary markets or measures targeting Russian state-owned companies and banks. Against the backdrop of Ukraine, today’s measures also serve as a warning shot.” Jankowicz said she agreed with that assessment, noting ”the timing of this is pretty significant, because we’ve seen a buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border, the most significant buildup since 2014.” According to Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, this package of sanctions does not really relate to what is going on with Ukraine. She terms it the Biden administration’s way of wrapping up unfinished business with other issues, allowing a pivot ”to a more proactive, future-oriented relationship with Russia.” VOA’s Katherine Gypson and Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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By Polityk | 04/16/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Japanese PM Faces Tough Balancing Act Between US, China
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday will become the first foreign leader to visit the White House since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.The meeting underscores the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance, especially as the countries’ shared rival, China, grows in strength and aggressiveness.Since taking office last year, Suga’s government has at times taken a slightly more critical stance toward China, calling out Beijing’s human rights abuses and incursions into disputed areas of the East and South China seas.It represents a slight recalibration of Japan’s relationship with China, its longtime rival and largest trading partner. However, many analysts expect Suga to refrain from overly antagonizing Beijing during his meeting with Biden.“There is unease in some Japanese policy circles about being too forward-leaning in countering China and sacrificing the carefully orchestrated rapprochement initiated a few years ago,” said Mireya Solis, who focuses on East Asia at the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C.-based research and analysis organization.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 13 MB720p | 26 MB1080p | 53 MBOriginal | 64 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioAhead of Suga’s visit, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry warned Japan against “being misled by some countries holding biased views against China.” Earlier this month, China also sent a naval strike group near Okinawa, where the U.S. has troops — a signal Beijing is prepared to counter the U.S.-Japan alliance.Japan hosts approximately 55,000 U.S. troops. The two sides routinely describe their alliance as the “cornerstone” of peace and stability in Asia.Biden, who took office in January, has focused on revitalizing the U.S.-Japan alliance, as well as U.S. involvement in multilateral institutions, which were often criticized or shunned by former U.S. President Donald Trump.Koji Tomita, Japan’s ambassador to the United States, said Tokyo “fully supports President Biden‘s resolve to revert to multinationalism and to restore leadership in the international community.”In an interview with VOA, Tomita also said it is critical to take a multilateral approach toward China.“We are seeking a stable relationship with China, but at the same time, will continue to be very clear about our concerns,” he said.Specifically, Tomita mentioned Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, its abuses against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, and its unfair trade practices.“From Japan’s perspective, it is particularly troubling to see their maritime practices which attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the region,” he added.Japan’s new approachTaiwan — the self-ruled island that China views as its own — has emerged as another flashpoint. Some Japanese leaders have suggested cooperating more closely with the United States to discourage China’s intimidation of Taiwan.James D.J. Brown, an associate professor at Temple University in Tokyo, said Suga likely feels pressure from the parts of Japanese society and political circles that sympathize with Taiwan.“I think that if [Suga] is seen as avoiding taking a tough stance on China, he might have to worry not only about getting criticism from the United States but also potentially from within his own party,” Brown said.There’s a limit to how far Suga will go in criticizing China, though, Brown said.“So I think overall Japan is … deeply uncomfortable with being urged to take a stronger stance” against China, he said.“They’re very happy in Tokyo for the United States to do that, but they’re reluctant to do so themselves because they recognize that China both economically, militarily, has a lot of ways and a lot of leverage that they can use to make things very uncomfortable for Japan.”However, Japan’s new approach is encouraging to many U.S. lawmakers, who have become increasingly hawkish on China. Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, who until 2019 was ambassador to Japan, said he believes U.S. allies are beginning to see the threat posed by China.“I think what’s happening is the rest of Asia is seeing this. I think the rest of Asia is going to be drawn toward our model. That’s my hope,” Hagerty told VOA.“I want to see us bring them all into the fold and demonstrate that our democratic values, and that our free-market principles are the best possible posture to undertake,” he added.Natalie Liu contributed to this report
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By Polityk | 04/15/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Japan’s Suga Faces Tough Balancing Act Between US, China
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday will become the first foreign leader to visit the White House since U.S. President Joe Biden took office.The meeting underscores the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance, especially as the countries’ shared rival, China, grows in strength and aggressiveness.Since taking office last year, Suga’s government has at times taken a slightly more critical stance toward China, calling out Beijing’s human rights abuses and incursions into disputed areas of the East and South China seas.It represents a slight recalibration of Japan’s relationship with China, its longtime rival and largest trading partner. However, many analysts expect Suga to refrain from overly antagonizing Beijing during his meeting with Biden.“There is unease in some Japanese policy circles about being too forward-leaning in countering China and sacrificing the carefully orchestrated rapprochement initiated a few years ago,” said Mireya Solis, who focuses on East Asia at the Brookings Institution, a Washington D.C.-based research and analysis organization.Ahead of Suga’s visit, China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry warned Japan against “being misled by some countries holding biased views against China.” Earlier this month, China also sent a naval strike group near Okinawa, where the U.S. has troops — a signal Beijing is prepared to counter the U.S.-Japan alliance.Japan hosts approximately 55,000 U.S. troops. The two sides routinely describe their alliance as the “cornerstone” of peace and stability in Asia.Biden, who took office in January, has focused on revitalizing the U.S.-Japan alliance, as well as U.S. involvement in multilateral institutions, which were often criticized or shunned by former U.S. President Donald Trump.Koji Tomita, Japan’s ambassador to the United States, said Tokyo “fully supports President Biden‘s resolve to revert to multinationalism and to restore leadership in the international community.”In an interview with VOA, Tomita also said it is critical to take a multilateral approach toward China.“We are seeking a stable relationship with China, but at the same time, will continue to be very clear about our concerns,” he said.Specifically, Tomita mentioned Beijing’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, its abuses against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, and its unfair trade practices.“From Japan’s perspective, it is particularly troubling to see their maritime practices which attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the region,” he added.Japan’s new approachTaiwan — the self-ruled island that China views as its own — has emerged as another flashpoint. Some Japanese leaders have suggested cooperating more closely with the United States to discourage China’s intimidation of Taiwan.James D.J. Brown, an associate professor at Temple University in Tokyo, said Suga likely feels pressure from the parts of Japanese society and political circles that sympathize with Taiwan.“I think that if [Suga] is seen as avoiding taking a tough stance on China, he might have to worry not only about getting criticism from the United States but also potentially from within his own party,” Brown said.There’s a limit to how far Suga will go in criticizing China, though, Brown said.“So I think overall Japan is … deeply uncomfortable with being urged to take a stronger stance” against China, he said.“They’re very happy in Tokyo for the United States to do that, but they’re reluctant to do so themselves because they recognize that China both economically, militarily, has a lot of ways and a lot of leverage that they can use to make things very uncomfortable for Japan.”However, Japan’s new approach is encouraging to many U.S. lawmakers, who have become increasingly hawkish on China. Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, who until 2019 was ambassador to Japan, said he believes U.S. allies are beginning to see the threat posed by China.“I think what’s happening is the rest of Asia is seeing this. I think the rest of Asia is going to be drawn toward our model. That’s my hope,” Hagerty told VOA.“I want to see us bring them all into the fold and demonstrate that our democratic values, and that our free-market principles are the best possible posture to undertake,” he added.
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By Polityk | 04/15/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Announces End to ‘America’s Longest War’
President Joe Biden announced his plan to withdraw all 2,500 American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, months later than the May 1 deadline that the Trump administration and the Taliban agreed on last year. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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By Polityk | 04/15/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Senate Panel to Consider Biden Postal Board Nominees April 22
The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee will hold an April 22 hearing on President Joe Biden’s three nominees to serve on the U.S. Postal Board of Governors, the panel announced Wednesday.The announcement comes after the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in March outlined a proposed 10-year strategic plan that would slow current first-class delivery standards and raise some prices to stem $160 billion in forecasted red ink over the next decade.The plan has drawn criticism from many U.S. lawmakers including some calling for the board to fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and others who have urged Biden to remove the existing board members.DeJoy, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, was named head of the Postal Service last year. After heavy criticism, DeJoy suspended operational changes in August ahead of the 2020 presidential election.Democrats said the service cuts were an attempt to boost Trump’s re-election chances. DeJoy denied that and in testimony before Congress noted USPS delivered more than 135 million ballots ahead of the 2020 elections and “went to extraordinary lengths” to get ballots delivered.Biden nominated Anton Hajjar, former general counsel of the American Postal Workers Union; Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to expanding vote-by-mail systems and former elections official in Denver; and Ron Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general.The six current board members and DeJoy are all white men and the board’s lack of diversity has also come under criticism.USPS officials told Reuters last month they were optimistic Congress would pass financial reforms providing the money-losing agency with as much as $60 billion in relief. DeJoy has warned without changes USPS would need a “government bailout.”Representative Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the committee overseeing USPS, has circulated draft legislation that would eliminate a requirement USPS pre-fund retiree health benefits. It also would require postal employees to enroll in government-retiree health plan Medicare.USPS reported net losses of $86.7 billion since 2007. One reason is 2006 legislation mandating it pre-fund more than $120 billion in retiree health care and pension liabilities, a requirement labor unions have called an unfair burden not shared by other businesses.DeJoy’s revamp plan would revise existing one-to-three-day service standards for first-class mail letters to one to five days. USPS said 61% of current first-class mail volume would stay at its current standard.
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By Polityk | 04/15/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Republicans Simmer Over Voting Stand by Some US Corporate Leaders
New voting laws under consideration by state legislatures across the United States are pitting the traditionally business-friendly Republican Party against some major American corporations that have criticized the proposed legislation. Republicans, who say the measures are necessary to improve the integrity of elections, have faulted CEOs for getting involved, but the business leaders don’t seem to be listening. In recent days, more than 100 CEOs and other senior figures from U.S. companies, including iconic brands like Starbucks, Target, Levi Strauss, and airline firms Delta, American and United, gathered virtually to discuss publicly supporting measures making it easier, not more difficult, for Americans to vote. The movement signals a break between the Republican Party and a business world that has largely supported conservatives. FILE – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky walks from the Senate floor to his office on Capitol Hill, Jan. 6, 2021.The schism has infuriated Republican lawmakers, leading Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the party’s highest-ranking elected official, to say, “My advice to the corporate CEOs of America is to stay out of politics.” He added, “Corporations will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order.” McConnell backed off somewhat a day later, saying he had not spoken very “artfully” and that corporations are “certainly entitled to be involved in politics” but should have read the Georgia bill more carefully. Years in the making The decision by corporate leaders to take a stand on the question of voting rights is the latest and most visible example of a trend that has been accelerating for several years, said Gerald F. Davis, a professor of management at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. “Historically, companies had done everything possible to avoid being politically active,” he said. “The last thing you wanted was to do anything controversial, because you didn’t want to alienate either side.” However, that attitude has been replaced by a recognition of two major factors guiding American businesses’ behavior. One is social media, and the concern that being out of step with public opinion could lead to concerted online attacks. An even larger factor is the preferences of those businesses’ own employees. “Millennials are way more liberal than prior generations,” Davis said. “And they seem to be way more activist, way more willing to get activated by political issues. MBA students 30 years ago just stayed scrupulously neutral. And that is not the case anymore. They have pretty strong values that they bring to the workplace.” Leading the charge The movement to speak out against restrictive voting laws was spearheaded by Kenneth Chenault, a former chief executive of American Express, and Kenneth Frazier, the chief executive of Merck. The two men, both African Americans, brought together 72 Black business leaders to sign a statement published as a full-page “Memo to Corporate America” in The New York Times last week. FILE – Merck Chairman and CEO Kenneth Frazier, left, accompanied by President Joe Biden, speaks in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus, March 10, 2021.”The stakes for our democracy are too high to remain on the sidelines,” the letter said. “Corporate America must support our nation’s fundamental democratic principles and marshal its collective influence to ensure fairness and equity for all. … Corporate America should publicly oppose any discriminatory legislation and all measures designed to limit Americans’ ability to vote. When it comes to protecting the rights of all Americans to vote, there can be no middle ground.” The statement being considered by the broader group of companies last weekend is said to build on that original open letter. Origins of the new laws The movement of top business leaders follows a major political battle that erupted after Georgia enacted a raft of new policies that the Republican-dominated state legislature and Republican Governor Brian Kemp said were meant to ensure election security. The push to change voting rules began after the 2020 elections, in which Georgia voters chose Joe Biden over Republican incumbent Donald Trump, prompting Trump to repeatedly claim that he had been cheated — something even the state’s most senior elections officials, themselves Republicans, said was a falsehood. There is debate about how restrictive the rules are, but experts say some elements of the law will make it more difficult to vote in the state’s urban areas, which are racially diverse and skew Democratic, and will make voting easier in the rural and predominantly white areas that favor Republicans. The law also gives the GOP-controlled legislature extraordinary power over the apparatus of Georgia’s election system, making it possible for lawmakers to replace local officials with election administrators of their own choosing. Corporations take stand After the measures were signed into law, Major League Baseball announced that it would relocate this summer’s All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest, and a number of Georgia-based companies, including Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, issued strong statements denouncing the law. FILE – Ground crews work at Sun Trust Park, now known as Truist Park, in Atlanta, Oct. 7, 2018. Truist Park lost the 2021 All-Star Game on April 2, when Major League Baseball moved the game over the objections to Georgia’s new election law.From the law’s opponents, the companies received a mix of praise for speaking out and criticism for waiting until it had been signed to do so. The new move by corporate executives to take a position on restrictive voting laws seems to be an effort to avoid further criticism as many other states consider taking up laws similar to those Georgia passed. Republican reaction The response from Republican lawmakers at the local and national levels has been swift and angry, on the one hand castigating businesses for taking a stand on what they see as a “political” issue while simultaneously claiming that their proposals are being misrepresented. In some cases, supporters of the laws are correct about misinformation being spread about the measures — from no less a source than President Joe Biden. For example, Biden has incorrectly claimed that the Georgia law requires polls to close at 5 p.m., which is not true. Whether Biden was misinformed or purposefully misrepresented the facts is not clear, but the Republican National Committee did not give him the benefit of the doubt. FILE – Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel speaks in Grand Rapids, Mich., March 28, 2019.”Joe Biden’s lies have real consequences, and Georgia’s Black-owned small businesses are paying the price for his reckless misinformation campaign,” RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel wrote in an open letter about the decision by Major League Baseball to move the All-Star Game. “The RNC is using every tool to counter Democrats’ woke mob mentality and debunk their false narrative around commonsense election integrity protections in Georgia and across the country.” Genie out of the bottle After this fight, said Davis of the University of Michigan, it will probably become ever more difficult for corporations to maintain the apolitical stances they have tried to project in the past. But that does not mean that they will all align in the same way. “It’s really hard for me to see a way for them to step back,” he said. “If the level of polarization that we saw in the previous few years continues or exacerbates, you can imagine a world where we separate not just into red states and blue states, but red companies and blue companies.”
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By Polityk | 04/15/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden to Address Congress April 28
U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to give his first address to a joint session of Congress on April 28.The speech will come as Biden hits 100 days in office, an unofficial milestone upon which modern U.S. presidents have been judged for what their administrations have accomplished at the start of their four-year term.The address will take place in the House of Representatives. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited Biden to speak in a letter Tuesday, asking him to “share your vision for addressing the challenges and opportunities of this historic moment.”A White House statement said Biden accepted.It was not immediately clear how the event will be handled considering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and health precautions.Joint sessions typically feature a packed House chamber with members of the House and Senate along with guests watching from the gallery above.Current House guidelines require lawmakers to conduct floor votes and other business in smaller groups, while everyone is required to wear masks and members of the public are not allowed to visit the chamber.
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By Polityk | 04/14/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Invited to Address US Congress on April 28
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday invited President Joe Biden to address a joint session of Congress on April 28.”I am writing to invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Wednesday, April 28, to share your vision for addressing the challenges and opportunities of this historic moment,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Biden that was released by her office.The speech will give Biden an opportunity to give a sales pitch to millions of viewers for his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal, which is the subject of a partisan debate in Congress.It comes as he faces several daunting challenges, both domestic and international, such as his battle to persuade more Americans to take the coronavirus vaccine, a growing number of migrants crossing the border with Mexico, and confrontations with Russia over Ukraine, China over Taiwan and Iran over its nuclear program.In February, Pelosi said she would invite Biden to deliver the speech after Congress passed his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. Biden signed the legislation on March 11.
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By Polityk | 04/14/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden, Lawmakers Honor US Capitol Police Officer Slain in Car Attack
President Joe Biden and U.S. lawmakers Tuesday paid tribute at a ceremony in the Capitol rotunda to the U.S. Capitol Police officer killed when a motorist rammed a car into two police officers and brandished a knife earlier this month.William Evans, an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police force and father of two young children, died in a hospital after he was struck by the vehicle on April 2.His flag-draped casket sat in the middle of the rotunda surrounded by appropriately spaced rings of attendees, including members of Evans’ family.Biden told them: “You are going to make it by holding each other together,” referencing his own grief after losing members of his own family. “My prayer for all of you is that a day will come when you have that memory that will make you smile. I promise you it will come.”Immediately following the remarks, Biden walked over to members of Evans’ family and gave what appeared to be a large coin or medallion to Evans’ son.A military choral quartet then sang an a cappella rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water, during which time Shannon Terranova, the mother of Evans’ children, cried while Evans’ daughter Abigail, 7, appeared to comfort her.Lying in honor — the public viewing of a person’s casket — is one of the highest possible honors Congress has for a civilian. Only five other people have received the distinction since the honor was created in 1998.Three of those people were Capitol Police officers who died in attacks on the Capitol, including Brian Sicknick, the officer who died from injuries suffered on January 6, when hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the institution.A second police officer who was hit by the car was also injured.
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By Polityk | 04/14/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US State Department Names Former Ambassador as First Chief Diversity Officer
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday named Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley as the State Department’s first chief diversity officer, a position created to make the U.S. diplomatic corps more representative. The appointment is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to put diversity, equity and racial justice at the top of the national agenda after nationwide protests against police brutality and racial bias last year. Introducing Abercrombie-Winstanley, Blinken said the department and the country were at a “moment of reckoning” on racial equality, referring to the Black Lives Matter movement and attacks against Asian Americans. Abercrombie-Winstanley, a career diplomat since 1985 who served as U.S. ambassador to Malta, will report directly to Blinken, he said. Promoting diversity inclusion was the job of every department official, but the new officer would hold department leadership accountable on that score, Blinken said. The lack of diversity at the highest levels of the department was alarming, he added, but could be traced through its history and seen in the portraits of former secretaries that line the corridor to his office. “It’s hard not to notice that almost every one of the secretaries along the hallway is a white man,” Blinken said. With 76,000 employees globally, racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented at the department, particularly in senior ranks, according to an independent federal watchdog report released last year. Abercrombie-Winstanley is Black. “The truth is this problem is as old as the department itself. It’s systemic,” Blinken said. “It goes deeper than any one institution or any one administration, and it’s perpetuated by policies, practices and people to this day.”
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By Polityk | 04/13/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Seeks Billions While the Chips Are Down
U.S. President Joe Biden is linking his $2 trillion infrastructure spending plan to alleviating a critical shortage of semiconductors. “Chips, like the one I have here — these chips, these wafers are batteries, broadband —it’s all infrastructure,” Biden said in the White House Roosevelt Room on Monday during a virtual meeting with leaders of some of the country’s biggest companies hurt by a global shortage of semiconductors. The goal of the meeting, according to the president, was to figure out how to “strengthen our domestic semiconductor industry and secure the American supply chain.” Earlier, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, speaking to reporters, said, “This isn’t a meeting where we expect a decision or an announcement to come out of, but part of our ongoing engagement and discussion about how to best address this issue over the long term, but also over the short term.” A shortage of semiconductors, commonly known as chips, has significantly slowed U.S. auto manufacturing, with General Motors, Ford and other carmakers temporarily shuttering some factories or reducing production. President Joe Biden participates virtually in the CEO Summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, April 12, 2021.The White House meeting on “semiconductor and supply chain resilience,” was led by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Among the 19 executives participating were the bosses of Alphabet/Google, aircraft maker Northrup Grumman and automakers General Motors and Ford, as well as Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, key companies in the semiconductor industry. The coronavirus pandemic had prompted automakers to cancel their chip contracts, meaning when they wanted to ramp up production again, they did not have adequate supplies. “When it looked like the economy was going into a great depression these automakers thought sales were going to be bad for the year and they cut their contracts. But the problem is when they did that, they freed up a ton of capacity at the semiconductor labs to produce other chips,” said Scott Lincicome, Cato Institute senior fellow in economic studies. The chip shortage, while quite serious, is thus only temporary, Lincicome said. The White House, in its infrastructure plan, wants lawmakers to approve $50 billion for a new Commerce Department office to support production of critical goods and another $50 billion to boost semiconductor manufacturing and research. “I’m very concerned that it’s just a slush fund for corporate welfare,” said Lincicome, who suggests the U.S. government, instead, “should invest in bleeding edge research and development.” The short-term issue of a shortage of semiconductors for the automotive industry should not be confused with the “larger, existential problem that the United States does not produce enough of its own chips,” according to Roslyn Layton, the co-founder of China Tech Threat. The United States should aim to produce domestically at least half of its own chips in the major categories, said Layton, explaining there should also be greater scrutiny of American companies selling high-end semiconductor manufacturing equipment to Chinese military-linked fabricators, which “violates U.S. and international law.” The United States “has accelerated its decline in manufacturing and advanced technology with weak enforcement of export controls. This is something that the next leader of Bureau of Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce needs to tighten,” Layton said. During the virtual meeting, Biden told the corporate executives he had received a letter on Monday from a bipartisan group of 23 senators and 42 House members expressing support of the “Chips for America” program. The letter, said the president, notes China’s communist party “aggressively plans to reorient and dominate the semiconductor supply chain” and how much money Beijing is pouring into being able to achieve that. “But I’ve been saying for some time now, China, and the rest of the world is not waiting. And there’s no reason why Americans should wait,” Biden said.
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By Polityk | 04/13/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Lobbying Bipartisan Lawmakers for Infrastructure Spending
U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting Monday with a bipartisan group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers to push for adoption of his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan to repair the country’s aging and deteriorating roads and bridges, add to its broadband internet system and revitalize several sectors of the American economy.There appears to be wide support for Biden’s plan for traditional infrastructure spending, fixing the country’s crumbling roads and bridges. But Republican lawmakers are balking at his description of infrastructure to include spending for in-home care for older people, child care, health care facilities for veterans and other programs throughout the country.In addition, Republicans have taken aim at Biden’s call for a 33% tax increase on corporations to pay for the plan, from 21% to 28% on pretax profits. Biden Budget Proposal Would Dramatically Shift US Spending PrioritiesEducation, jobs, environment and health care get big boosts while defense spending remains steadyThe White House is beginning an all-out campaign to try to show lawmakers and voters the extent of the country’s infrastructure needs.It released a state-by-state breakdown of the extent of the disrepair, saying, for example, 1,703 bridges need repair in New York state and 11,700 kilometers in highways are in poor condition.The analysis showed that California’s drinking water infrastructure needs $51 billion in repairs over the next 20 years, while in the largely rural western state of Wyoming, more than a quarter of the population live in areas without minimally acceptable broadband internet connections. There is a roughly four-in-10 chance that a public transit vehicle in the midwestern state of Indiana might be ready for the scrapyard, while schools in the eastern state of Pennsylvania need $1.4 billion for maintenance and upgrades.The Biden administration is hoping that the list will resonate with ordinary Americans in what they encounter in their lives. The White House is painting a picture of dire needs for one of the world’s wealthiest countries, suggesting that too many roadways and bridges are unsafe, while noting that increasingly extreme weather events have contributed to the deterioration. WATCH: Michelle Quinn’s video report Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 13 MB720p | 28 MB1080p | 55 MBOriginal | 67 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio”We don’t have a lot of work to do to persuade the American people that U.S. infrastructure needs major improvement,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday” show. “The American people already know it.”Overall, Biden’s plan would modernize more than 32,000 kilometers in roadways.Among those meeting with Biden Monday is one of the critics of his infrastructure plan, Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker.”This is a massive social welfare spending program combined with a massive tax increase on small business job creators,” Wicker said on ABC’s “This Week” show on Sunday. “I can’t think of a worse thing to do.” Three other Republicans are joining the White House meeting — Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and Congressmen Garret Graves of Louisiana and Don Young of Alaska. Democrats on the list are Senators Maria Cantwell of Washington and Alex Padilla of California, along with Congressmen Donald Payne of New Jersey and David Price of North Carolina.
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By Polityk | 04/13/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Officials Signal Willingness to Compromise on $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan
Lawmakers return to Washington this week, with U.S. President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure package topping their agenda. Michelle Quinn reports.
Video editor: Mary Cieslak
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By Polityk | 04/12/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
