ВИБОРЧА ГАЗЕТА

Biden Signs $1 Trillion Infrastructure Legislation

President Joe Biden on Monday signed a trillion-dollar package for infrastructure improvements across the United States that will repair deteriorating roads and bridges, improve rail service, expand public transportation and widen broadband internet service. 

Congressional lawmakers, state governors and city mayors – both Democrats and Republicans – watched Biden’s signing ceremony just outside the White House on a cool, sunny fall afternoon. 

Biden’s signature on one of his key legislative proposals marked a rarity in politically fractious Washington: passage of a major initiative on a bipartisan basis. Nineteen Republicans joined all 50 Democrats to approve the measure in the Senate, while 13 Republicans voted for it in the House of Representatives even as six Democrats opposed it. 

“Democrats and Republicans can come together and produce real results,” Biden said ahead of signing the legislation. “Today, we’re getting it done. America is on the move again.”

Even so, passage of the bill was politically perilous for Republican lawmakers, with some Republican congressional leaders opposed to handing the Democratic president a legislative win when his approval ratings have tumbled in the face of a three-decade-high increase in consumer prices. 

Former President Donald Trump assailed Republican lawmakers who voted for the infrastructure spending even though he also favored new public construction in the country when he was in the White House but was unable to get it through Congress. He said Republicans who voted for Biden’s bill “should be ashamed of themselves.” 

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a vocal Biden opponent, characterized Republicans who favored the legislation as traitors and tweeted out their phone numbers.

Some opponents of the legislation called in death threats to Republican lawmakers who favored it. 

Biden is also in the midst of a protracted debate over his nearly $2 trillion “human infrastructure” legislation that would be the government’s biggest expansion of the social safety net for Americans in five decades. The House is expected to vote on the measure later this week, and, if it is approved, send it to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain. 

No Republican congressional lawmakers support the social safety legislation, meaning Democrats will have to approve it on their own. 

The infrastructure bill includes $110 billion in funding for roads, bridges and other major construction projects, along with $39 billion to modernize public transit and make it more accessible to the disabled and elderly. 

The measure includes $50 billion to improve infrastructure against the ravages of climate change and cyberattacks. Another $55 billion will replace old lead pipes still used in some U.S. drinking water systems and $65 billion will develop broadband infrastructure. 

The legislation calls for $21 billion to remove pollution from soil and groundwater, job creation in energy communities, and a focus on economic and environmental justice. The legislation includes $73 billion to update and expand the power grid. 

 
…

Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy Won’t Seek Reelection

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the longest-serving member of the Senate, said Monday he will not seek reelection in 2022 to the seat he has held for eight terms.

Leahy, 81, said he and his wife, Marcelle, have concluded that “it is time to pass the torch to the next Vermonter who will carry on this work for our great state. It’s time to come home.”

The announcement marks the end of a political era. First elected to the Senate in 1974, Leahy is the last of the so-called Watergate babies who were elected after President Richard Nixon’s resignation. During his nearly half-century in the Senate, Vermont shifted from one of the most solidly Republican states in the country to one of its most progressive.

That transition will be critical to Democrats who hope to maintain control of the Senate after next year’s midterm elections. With the chamber evenly divided, the party can’t afford to lose any of its current seats.

Leahy will leave the Senate with a record of promoting human rights, working to ban landmines and protect individual privacy rights. He has been a champion of the environment, especially of Lake Champlain, the body of water that separates northern Vermont from upstate New York.

By retiring and creating the first vacancy in Vermont’s congressional delegation since 2006, Leahy sets up a scramble to succeed him among a number of the state’s up-and-coming politicians.

Matthew Dickinson, a political science professor at Middlebury College, said a likely choice to succeed Leahy would be Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, the state’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Dickinson said that Welch’s fundraising is going well and noted that the 74-year-old Welch has enjoyed consistently high approval ratings.

“I think he would be the logical candidate, and that would set up the musical chairs about who replaces him in Congress,” Dickinson said.

It’s uncertain which Republican Party candidates might seek their party’s nomination to run in the November election. It’s unclear whether Phil Scott, the state’s Republican governor who frequently criticized former President Donald Trump and has called for civility in politics, would be interested in running. 

Leahy is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the senior-most member of both the Senate Judiciary and Agriculture committees.

Earlier this year, Leahy, during his third stint as president pro tem of the Senate, presided over the second impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump.

In September, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the longest-serving Republican senator, said he would seek an eighth term in 2022, giving the party more confidence in holding that seat as it fights to overtake the Democrats’ one-vote advantage thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’ role as tiebreaker.

Leahy said he was proud of his service to his state and his work to make a difference for residents of Vermont.

“I know I have been there for my state when I was needed most. I know I have taken our best ideas and helped them grow. I brought Vermont’s voice to the United States Senate and Vermont values across the world,” he said. 
…

Former US Congressman Beto O’Rourke to Challenge Texas Governor Abbott

Beto O’Rourke, the former U.S. congressman from Texas whose surprisingly close 2018 loss to Senator Ted Cruz made him a Democratic star, said on Monday he will challenge Republican Greg Abbott in next year’s race for governor of the state.

O’Rourke has been seen as his party’s best option for the 2022 gubernatorial race even after his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination failed to garner much support amid a crowded field of candidates.

No Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas, the second most populous U.S. state, in three decades. Abbott, who is facing two Republican challengers as well, has amassed an enormous campaign war chest, with more than $55 million as of June.

O’Rourke has spent much of the past year criticizing Abbott for his handling of several crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a fierce winter storm that caused the state’s electric grid to fail and left hundreds of Texans dead.

In an announcement video, O’Rourke blamed the state’s Republican-controlled government for mishandling the storm and argued that it was symptomatic of a larger issue.

“Those in position of public trust have stopped listening to, serving and paying attention to and trusting the people of Texas,” O’Rourke said
…

White House Sets Low Expectations Ahead of Biden-Xi Meeting

The White House is setting expectations low ahead of Monday’s virtual meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the evening meeting Washington time will focus on managing the terms of competition between the two rivals but is unlikely to end with resolution of differences.

“The two leaders will discuss ways to responsibly manage the competition” between the two countries “as well as ways to work together where our interests align,” Psaki said in a statement released Friday.

“Throughout, President Biden will make clear U.S. intentions and priorities and be clear and candid about our concerns with the PRC,” Psaki said, referring to Beijing by the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

The U.S. sees China as its strategic competitor, with Beijing seeking to grow its military and economic influence around the world. In the lead-up to the meeting, however, rhetoric from both sides has softened.

In another positive step, U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest CO2 emitters, unexpectedly announced at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, that they would work together to slash emissions and meet regularly to address the climate crisis.

Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute, told VOA, “Xi Jinping and President Biden both want to find some stability from which to work to cooperate, where possible, to compete, and even to confront, where necessary. None of that’s going to stop going forward, but I think the tone is going to be better through the Olympics.”

Still, differences over human rights for the people of Hong Kong and Uyghur minorities will likely remain unresolved, as well as issues of trade, freedom of navigation, and Beijing’s military buildup in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Robert Daly, the director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, told VOA, “We can expect President Biden to say that America still abides by the ‘One China’ policy, and Xi Jinping to say that America has been trampling over that policy.

“So neither leader, as I said, has changed his goals. Each seems to be searching for a formula, the words that will convince the other that all of their own actions are OK. And that is unlikely to happen.”

Ahead of their meeting, the two leaders Friday attended a virtual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, where Xi warned against letting tensions in the region turn into a cold war.

”We should be forward-looking, move ahead and reject practices of discrimination and exclusion of others. Attempts to draw ideological lines or form small circles on geopolitical grounds are bound to fail,” Xi said. He was referring to U.S. efforts to strengthen its partnerships in the region, including the Quad grouping with India, Japan and Australia.

Biden, Xi and leaders of APEC member economies concluded their virtual meeting agreeing on a series of commitments regarding the coronavirus pandemic, economic recovery and climate change mitigation.

Following the meeting chaired by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, leaders adopted a declaration under the theme of “Join, Work, Grow. Together,” which highlights policy actions to respond to COVID-19.

According to organizers, the declaration “lays out commitments in accelerating economic recovery and achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, including further actions in tackling climate change, empowering groups with untapped economic potential, supporting the region’s micro, small and medium enterprises and addressing the digital divide.” 
…

Bannon Indicted on Contempt Charges for Defying House Subpoena

Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was indicted Friday on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The Justice Department said Bannon, 67, was indicted on one count for refusing to appear for a deposition last month and the other for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena. He is expected to surrender to authorities on Monday and will appear in court that afternoon, a law enforcement official told the AP. The person was granted anonymity to discuss the case.

The indictment came as a second witness, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, defied his own subpoena from the committee on Friday and as Trump has escalated his legal battles to withhold documents and testimony about the insurrection. The chairman of the January 6 panel, Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, said he would recommend contempt charges against Meadows next week. 

If the House votes to hold Meadows in contempt, that recommendation could also be sent to the Justice Department for a possible indictment. 

“Mr. Meadows, Mr. Bannon and others who go down this path won’t prevail in stopping the Select Committee’s effort getting answers for the American people about January 6th, making legislative recommendations to help protect our democracy, and helping ensure nothing like that day ever happens again,” Democrat Thompson and the vice chairwoman of the panel, Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, said in a statement.

The indictment is a victory for House Democrats, who saw dozens of Trump officials decline testimony and defy subpoenas during his presidency. The charges support the authority of Congress to investigate the executive branch and signal potential consequences for those who refuse to cooperate. 

Commitment to rule of law

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Bannon’s indictment reflects the Justice Department’s “steadfast commitment” to ensuring that the department adheres to the rule of law. Each count carries a minimum of 30 days of jail and as long as a year behind bars. 

The indictment alleges that Bannon didn’t appear before the committee as subpoenaed or produce required documents. It says he also didn’t communicate with the committee in any way from the time he received the subpoena on September 24 until October 7, when his lawyer sent a letter, seven hours after the documents were due. 

Bannon, who worked at the White House at the beginning of the Trump administration and currently serves as host of the conspiracy-minded “War Room” podcast, is a private citizen who “refused to appear to give testimony as required by a subpoena,” the indictment says.

Bannon’s attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. When Bannon declined to appear for his deposition in October, his attorney said the former Trump adviser had been directed by a lawyer for Trump citing executive privilege not to answer questions.

Officials in both Democratic and Republican administrations have been held in contempt by Congress, but criminal indictments for contempt are exceedingly rare. The most recent notable examples of criminal penalties for not testifying before Congress date to the 1970s, including when President Richard Nixon’s aide G. Gordon Liddy was convicted of misdemeanor charges for refusing to answer questions about his role in the Watergate scandal. 

‘Sharp legal dispute’

Meadows defied his subpoena on Friday after weeks of discussions with the committee. His lawyer said that Meadows has a “sharp legal dispute” with the panel as Trump has claimed executive privilege over his testimony, as he had with Bannon’s.

The former Republican congressman’s refusal to comply comes amid the legal battles between the committee and Trump. The former president has claimed privilege over documents and interviews the lawmakers are demanding. The White House said in a letter Thursday that President Joe Biden would waive any privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee, prompting his lawyer to say Meadows wouldn’t comply.

“Legal disputes are appropriately resolved by courts,” said the lawyer, George Terwilliger. “It would be irresponsible for Mr. Meadows to prematurely resolve that dispute by voluntarily waiving privileges that are at the heart of those legal issues.”

As the sitting president, Biden has so far waived most of Trump’s assertions of privilege over documents. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has backed Biden’s position, noting in one ruling this week that “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.”

The panel’s proceedings and attempts to gather information have been delayed as Trump appealed Chutkan’s rulings. On Thursday, a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the release of some of the White House records the panel is seeking, giving that court time to consider Trump’s arguments.

Scores of witnesses

Still, the House panel is continuing its work, and lawmakers have already interviewed more than 150 witnesses so far as they attempt to build the most comprehensive record yet of how a violent mob of Trump’s supporters broke into the Capitol and temporarily halted the certification of Biden’s victory.

The committee has subpoenaed almost three dozen people, including former White House staffers, Trump allies who strategized about how to overturn his defeat and people who organized the giant rally on the National Mall the morning of January 6. While some, like Meadows and Bannon, have balked, others have spoken to the panel and provided documents.

Like Bannon, Meadows is a key witness for the panel. He was Trump’s top aide in the time between Trump’s loss in the November election and the insurrection, and was one of several people who pressured state officials to try to overturn the results. He was also by Trump’s side during much of the time, and he could provide information about what the former president was saying and doing during the attack. 
…

Court Temporarily Delays Release of Trump’s January 6 Records

A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, granting — for now — a request from former President Donald Trump.

The administrative injunction issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit effectively bars until the end of this month the release of records that were to be turned over Friday. The appeals court set oral arguments in the case for November 30.

The stay gives the court time to consider arguments in a clash between the former president, whose supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, and President Joe Biden and Congress, who have pushed for a thorough investigation of the riot. It delays the House committee from reviewing records that lawmakers say could shed light on the events leading up to the insurrection and Trump’s efforts to delegitimize an election he lost.

The National Archives, which holds the documents, says they include call logs, handwritten notes, and a draft executive order on “election integrity.”

Biden waived executive privilege on the documents. Trump then went to court, arguing that as a former president, he still had the right to exert privilege over the records and that releasing them would damage the presidency in the future.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Tuesday rejected those arguments, noting in part, “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.” She again denied an emergency motion by Trump on Wednesday.

In their emergency filing to the appeals court, Trump’s lawyers wrote that without a stay, Trump would “suffer irreparable harm through the effective denial of a constitutional and statutory right to be fully heard on a serious disagreement between the former and incumbent President.”

The November 30 arguments will take place before three judges nominated by Democratic presidents: Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, nominated by former President Barack Obama, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of Biden.

Given the case’s magnitude, whichever side loses before the circuit court is likely to eventually appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The White House on Thursday also notified a lawyer for Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, that Biden would waive any executive privilege that would prevent Meadows from cooperating with the committee, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The committee has subpoenaed Meadows and more than two dozen other people as part of its investigation. Meadows’ lawyer, George Terwilliger, issued a statement in response saying Meadows “remains under the instructions of former President Trump to respect long-standing principles of executive privilege.”

“It now appears the courts will have to resolve this conflict,” Terwilliger said.
…

Biden: Better Treatment Needed for Veterans Exposed to Toxic Air in War Zones

On his first Veterans Day in office, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered his administration Thursday to provide better medical treatment for veterans exposed to toxic air and to study the diseases they may have contracted while serving overseas. 

For years, American service members were exposed to open-air fire pits during tours of duty in Iraqi and Afghan war zones. Dangerous materials such as electronics, vehicles and human waste were routinely sprayed with jet fuel and set ablaze, spewing toxic fumes and carcinogens into the air. 

For Biden, the directive is personal. He has suggested, without proof, that the cancer that killed his son Beau in 2015 was linked to exposure to burn pits during his military deployment to Iraq. 

“He volunteered to join the National Guard at age 32 because he thought he had an obligation to go,” Biden said at a Service Employees International Union convention in 2019. “And because of exposure to burn pits, in my view, I can’t prove it yet, he came back with stage 4 glioblastoma.”

Biden laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington on Thursday to honor U.S. veterans. In a short address, he said retired veterans and those who are serving now are “the spine of this country.” 

“We’ve asked so much of you for so long,” he said. “Our country is grateful.” 

He urged veterans who are struggling with medical problems or thoughts of suicide to reach out for help. 

The new studies related to toxins will initially center on lung problems suffered by troops exposed to contaminated air and the potential connection to rare respiratory cancers, according to senior White House officials, but will expand as possible links to other ailments are identified.

In August, the Department of Veterans Affairs began processing claims for veterans suffering from asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis based on exposure to the pits. New rules will allow veterans to make claims within 10 years of their service and change what symptoms count and why. 

“Exposure to contaminants and environmental hazards poses a major health concern for veterans of all generations,” the White House said. But it added, “There are also gaps and delays in the scientific evidence demonstrating conclusive links between known exposures and health impacts, leaving many veterans without access to Department of Veterans Affairs benefits and high-quality treatment to address significant health conditions.” 

The White House said it took decades for the government to compensate Vietnam-era veterans for their exposure to Agent Orange.

“For the newest generation of veterans, concerns about burn pits and other exposures continue to mount,” it said. 

Veterans Day in the U.S. is commemorated on November 11 to honor everyone who served in the U.S. armed forces. It originally was called Armistice Day, to mark the end of World War I.
…

Report Lists 13 Instances of Illegal Political Campaigning by Trump Appointees 

A federal agency charged with making sure that government employees do not use their positions to influence elections released a scathing report this week, finding that at least 13 senior members of the administration of former President Donald Trump, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, engaged in “willful violation” of the Hatch Act, a federal law limiting their political activities.

The report, released by the Office of Special Counsel, reveals a major problem for the United States when it comes to preventing senior administration officials from misusing their positions for political gain. According to the OSC, the only person in a position to punish Hatch Act violations by the most senior officials in the executive branch is the president.

“Indeed, the 2020 election revealed that, at least with respect to an administration’s senior-most officials, the Hatch Act is only as effective as the White House decides it will be,” the report found. “Where, as happened here, the White House chooses to ignore the Hatch Act’s requirements, then the American public is left with no protection against senior administration officials using their official authority for partisan political gain in violation of the law.”

Ethics laws seen as insufficient

Liz Hempowicz, public policy director for the Project on Government Oversight, an independent good-government group, told VOA the unprosecuted violations revealed in the report go to the heart of what many Americans see as the biggest problem with the country.

“The number one concern for constituents across the board is corruption in government, and even more specifically, corruption in government that is never held accountable,” she said.

Hempowicz decried “violations of an ethics law where the watchdog organization in charge of enforcing the law cannot or will not bring enforcement actions against very high-level individuals who violate the law incredibly publicly.”

Hempowicz continued, “It just goes to some of the main concerns we’ve heard from the public. And it reinforces the idea that these ethics laws that we have to protect the people’s interests are not sufficient.”

Multiple violations

The report lists a large number of violations of the Hatch Act during Trump’s term in office, but much of the report is focused on the months immediately prior to the 2020 presidential election, and particularly to the Republican National Convention (RNC). Trump sparked controversy by deciding to hold the convention, a purely political event typically staged in a large city outside Washington, on the grounds of the White House itself.

The report says that while it may have been a breach of political norms, it was not de facto illegal to hold the RNC at the White House. However, during the convention, the OSC documented individual violations of the law.

During the RNC, Pompeo and then-Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf both appeared in their official capacity in events designed to improve the former president’s chances of reelection. Pompeo, who was on a diplomatic trip to Israel at the time, delivered a livestreamed address to the convention. Wolf prerecorded an official naturalization ceremony, in which immigrants to the United States officially become citizens, for a similar purpose.

Numerous violators

The report lists numerous other senior officials who, on one or more occasions, used appearances made in their official capacity to boost the former president’s reelection campaign.

They include then-Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette; then-Senior Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway; then-Senior Adviser to the President Jared Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law; and then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

Others were then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; then-Senior Adviser to the President for Policy Stephen Miller; then-national security adviser Robert O’Brien, and several others.

As elected officials, neither Trump nor former Vice President Mike Pence was subject to the Hatch Act during his term in office, and therefore broke no rules by campaigning in his capacity as president or vice president.

However, the OSC concluded that the president and vice president knew about the frequent and ongoing violations of the law, pointing out that the agency had briefed the White House multiple times and had sent “an unprecedented 15 warning letters to senior administration officials notifying them that they had violated the Hatch Act.”

Calls for change

The OSC is led by Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner, who was nominated by Trump and confirmed to his position by the then Republican-led Senate in 2017. His office regularly brings enforcement actions against more junior executive branch appointees. However, the agency has long believed that its authority ends with Senate-confirmed members of the administration and people appointed directly by the president.

According to the OSC, the report was issued “to educate employees about Hatch Act-prohibited activities, highlight the enforcement challenges that OSC confronted during its investigations, and deter similar violations in the future.”

In recognition of its inability to effectively enforce the law, the OSC recommended a number of legislative changes. Among other things, the agency is asking Congress to give it the authority to apply monetary penalties to senior administration officials for Hatch Act violations, even after they have left office. The agency also wants the ability to issue regulations related to the Hatch Act, and suggests that Congress determine what areas of the White house complex can be used for political activity.

‘It was egregious’

Experts concerned with good governance and transparency said there was nothing particularly unexpected in the report, but they praised it for drawing attention to the significant gaps in enforcement that allowed the violations to take place in the first place.

“I don’t think there was anything that was surprising,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a group that promotes good government. “We all saw the activity as it occurred. It was egregious.”

Nevertheless, he told VOA, the report is important.

“We have a tendency, as a society, to move on from crises … without going back and following the thread about what the consequences are … and we don’t learn as a result,” said Stier. “The OSC report is a very important look at the need for reform of the basic infrastructure of the way our government operates.”

The OSC and other watchdog agencies like it were set up more than 40 years ago, in the wake of the Watergate scandal that brought down former President Richard Nixon.

“It’s about time that we revisit, in our present world, what we need by way of structure inside government to ensure that we continue to have a first-grade, corruption-free and effective government,” Stier said.
…