Thread: President Joe Biden

Biden reaffirms strong U.S.-Canada ties in Canadian Parliament speech

President Joe Biden on Friday reaffirmed the strong relationship between the U.S. and Canada, saying in an address to the Canadian Parliament that the two countries "have built a partnership that is an incredible advantage to both our nations."

"No two nations on earth are bound by such close ties friendship, family, commerce and culture. Our labor unions cross borders, so do our sports leagues, baseball, basketball, hockey," Biden said in Ottawa during his first visit to Canada as president.

Biden listed many of the areas of cooperation between the U.S. and Canada, including bolstering Ukraine's defenses against military attacks from Russia.

After his speech, Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a new agreement on migrants and asylum-seekers. Trudeau has said he wants help from the Biden administration to stem the flow of migrants into his country from the U.S. who are claiming asylum.

The new policy would apply to people caught within 14 days of crossing the U.S.-Canada border without citizenship in either country. Canada also committed to taking in an additional 15,000 migrants next year from the Western Hemisphere on a humanitarian basis.

Illegal crossings into the U.S. from Canada have climbed to historically high levels, although they are still a fraction of the crossings into the U.S. from Mexico.

In their joint statement, Biden and Trudeau also described how they would approach issues regarding China, instability in Haiti and NORAD.

"We disagree in degree on things occasionally," Biden said in brief remarks ahead of one of his meetings with Trudeau. "But there’s no fundamental difference in the democratic values."

Trudeau touted his country's relationship with the U.S., saying Canada has "no greater friend and ally than the United States."

At the other bilateral meeting, Biden sat at a long table with key members of his administration — including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm — across from their Canadian counterparts.

In the evening, Biden and the first lady will attend a gala dinner hosted by Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau.

Calling for closer Canada-U.S. ties, Biden says ''our destinies are intertwined and they're inseparable''

Dinner with the Bidens: What’s cooking as U.S. president visits Canada

^I'll look at those, thanks.

It was a zoo in Ottawa these last few days. Considering I live/work near the airport, the roads were all cordoned off and police presence everywhere yesterday.
Glad the plane landed okay, the weather was horrendous. lol.

Biden EPA launches landmark push to curb ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

The Biden administration is proposing the first-ever federal drinking water limits for toxic chemicals used to make nonstick materials like Teflon, stain-resistant carpeting and military firefighting foam, which are estimated to be contaminating 200 million Americans’ drinking water.

It’s an aggressive move that represents what health experts and community activists say is a long-overdue effort to begin reining in the widespread contamination from PFAS “forever” chemicals, which are linked with cancer, reproductive problems and a wide array of other health ailments. If finalized, the regulation would spark the first major upgrade to the safety of the nation’s drinking water in three decades.

The class of some 12,000 different PFAS substances are characterized by a strong chemical bond that makes them invaluable as nonstick agents, but also causes them to persist and accumulate in the environment — and people’s bodies. Studies have found the substances in virtually every American’s blood, and EPA estimates that its proposal to limit six of them in drinking water would save tens of thousands of lives and significantly reduce serious illnesses.

But, the agency acknowledges that the $772 million annual cost would, at least initially, be borne by American households through higher water charges.

“It’s time,” Radhika Fox, EPA’s top water official, said in an interview. “The American people want this. They want their drinking water to be safe.”

The regulatory proposal unveiled by EPA Tuesday would require utilities to cleanse their drinking water supplies of any detectable levels of the two most notorious chemicals in the class, known as PFOS and PFOA, which were used for decades in water repellent Scotchguard and Teflon, as well as firefighting foam, before being phased out of production in 2002 and 2015, respectively.

EPA’s new proposal also includes a surprise provision aimed at limiting the chemicals that the industry shifted to using after the PFOA and PFOS phase-out, which chemical companies argued were safer, but that federal scientists have concluded pose severe dangers of their own.

EPA had previously only singled out PFOA and PFOS as warranting federal regulation. But in the three years since the Trump administration first made that determination, evidence has mounted of those other chemicals’ prevalence and harms, and several states have enacted their own limits.

Because of structural differences in their chemistry, ridding water supplies of these newer substances can require different treatment approaches. Drinking water experts feared that if EPA didn’t address them under this proposal, water utilities could invest in upgrades that failed to deal with the whole PFAS problem. But the administration’s choice to regulate the chemicals in an accelerated and novel fashion could risk putting the regulation on legally shaky ground.

The proposed regulation would require communities to monitor water supplies for four of these chemicals – known as GenX, PFBS, PFHxS and PFNA – and then plug those results into a “hazard index” calculation. That calculation is aimed at dealing with the fact that different types of PFAS are often present in water at the same time, and scientists have found that those mixtures can be even more dangerous than just the sum of their parts.

Using that hazard index, utilities would see whether dangerous combined levels of the chemicals are present, which would require them to treat their water to reduce levels of those chemicals or switch to alternate sources.

Environmental groups and public health advocates heralded the proposal as a major step towards dealing with the sprawling contamination problem Tuesday. And the move was also backed by a top Republican on Capitol Hill whose state has been burdened by PFAS pollution.

“After years of urging three consecutive administrations of different parties to do so, I’m pleased a safe drinking water standard has finally been issued for PFOA and PFOS,” West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said in a statement.

Chemical manufacturers, whose past and current products are targeted by the proposal, have come out in opposition. The industry group American Chemistry Council said in a statement it has “serious concerns with the underlying science” used to develop the proposal.

None of the proposal’s requirements would come cheaply to drinking water utilities or their customers, and groups representing water managers are already raising concerns. EPA estimates that it would cost $772 million per year to upgrade water treatment plants and cover the ongoing monitoring and treatment costs to comply with the rule. That’s less than the $1.2 billion the agency estimates will be saved by removing the chemicals, primarily in the form of reduced healthcare costs and premature deaths. But it represents real pocketbook pain, particularly for customers already struggling to pay their water bills.

The drinking water utility serving the city of Wilmington, N.C., where Regan unveiled the proposal Tuesday, spent $43 million on upgrades to its water treatment facilities to filter out PFAS that a chemical manufacturing plant had poured into the Cape Fear River. The plant’s managers estimate it will cost up to $5 million more annually to operate the system, adding an average of $5 per month to customers’ bills.

In a statement, the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies suggested EPA is low-balling its cost calculations, arguing that if just 16 drinking water utilities had to install upgrades similar to Wilmington’s, the cost would exceed the agency’s cost estimate.

“AMWA is concerned about the overall cost drinking water utilities will incur to comply with this proposed rulemaking,” the group’s CEO, Tom Dobbins, said in a statement.

In the near term, some new federal funds available through the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law could help offset this cost, including $5 billion for small and disadvantaged communities.

“We recognize that’s not enough for every single water utility in the country, but it’s a shot in the arm,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said as he announced the proposal.

Canada pledges Great Lakes funding after Trudeau-Biden talks

Canada has pledged a significant increase in spending to improve water quality in the Great Lakes following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration also has boosted funding for the shared waters.

Following their discussion Friday in Ottawa, Trudeau said his government would spend $420 million — about $306 million in U.S. dollars — over the next decade on the lakes, still suffering from 20th century industrial pollution and newer challenges such as climate change, PFAS chemicals and microplastics.

The announcement came weeks after U.S. Congress members prodded Biden to seek more support for the lakes from Canada, which critics have accused of doing too little.

“The Great Lakes are a source of drinking water for 40 million people, and this shared resource needs to be protected,” Trudeau said. “This is why Canada will make a major new investment … to continue safeguarding the Great Lakes for generations to come.”

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River are the world’s largest surface freshwater system, providing drinking water for some 40 million people and supporting a regional economy in eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.

Trudeau’s father, then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, signed an agreement with President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 to restore and protect the lakes. It has been updated several times since.

In addition to toxic residues in harbors and river mouths, the lakes are ravaged by invasive species such as quagga mussels, loss of nearshore fish and wildlife habitat, and farm and urban runoff that fuels harmful algae blooms.

The U.S. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, started by President Barack Obama in 2010, has pumped some $4 billion into projects aimed at fixing those problems, with annual spending averaging between $300 million to 400 million.

Congress has authorized $425 million for fiscal year 2024. An additional $1 billion from Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law will be devoted largely to completing work on longstanding industrial site cleanups.

Canada, meanwhile, had committed just $33 million in U.S. dollars to cleanup efforts between 2017 and 2022.

In a March 8 letter, nine U.S. House members urged Biden to “emphasize the importance of our binational institutions and investments for the Great Lakes from the Canadian government” during his visit.

Trudeau’s pledge Friday drew praise from those who had pushed for a bigger Canadian contribution.

“This increased funding commitment to help preserve and strengthen the Great Lakes is a welcomed announcement from our neighbors in Canada,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Michigan Republican.

Rep. Brian Higgins, a New York Democrat, said the lakes “are a resource both nations share, and it is incumbent on us all to invest in its health and future.”

A University of Michigan analysis has found that each $1 spent under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative generated $3.35 across the region and more in some areas.

Canada’s promised increase is “a significant step towards ensuring the longterm health and sustainability of our freshwater resources,” said Gino Moretti, Mayor of Saint-Anicet in Quebec and Vice-Chair of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which represents waterfront cities in the region.

Sleepy Joe's at it again.

President Joe Biden committed a major gaffe in his speech at an event to commemorate Women's History Month, forcing the White House to issue a correction.
Biden, who attended the event with his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week, made the gaffe while touting his administration's work in the Violence Against Women Act.
"You know but this builds on other steps you've taken and we've taken, like the most significant gun safety law in 30 years to help keep guns out of the hands of domestic political advisors," the president said.

The White House later corrected his speech in the transcript, crossing out the last part and replacing it with "convicted domestic abusers."

Biden Commits Major Gaffe During Speech, White House Had To Correct Him [Watch]

Biden renews push to ban assault weapons in wake of Nashville shooting

President Joe Biden on Monday revived his push for a federal assault weapons ban in the aftermath of a deadly elementary school shooting.

“I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapon ban. It’s about time we begin to make some progress, but there’s more to learn,” Biden said at a Small Business Administration Women’s Business Summit.

The event in the East Room of the White House began lightheartedly as Biden opened his address by discussing his favorite ice cream flavor and talking to kids in the audience.

“I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream,” Biden said. His speech quickly shifted to calling on Congress to ban assault weapons in the wake of the shooting.

Three adults and three children were confirmed dead following a mass shooting Monday morning at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville.

Nashville police respond to fatal school shooting

The 28-year-old female suspect, who has not been identified, was killed in an altercation with police. The woman had at least two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, police said.

Biden called the shooting “heartbreaking” and a “family’s worst nightmare.”

“We have to do more to stop gun violence; it’s ripping our communities apart — ripping the soul of this nation,” Biden said. “And we have to do more to protect our schools, so they aren’t turned into prisons.”

Biden has focused on reinstating the assault weapons ban that he helped pass in 1994 as senator, but which lapsed in 2004. The president doesn’t appear to have the votes for an assault weapons ban in Congress.

“How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.

At an event in Washington on Monday, first lady Jill Biden also spoke about the shooting.

“I am truly without words. Our children deserve better. We stand, all of us, we stand with Nashville in prayer,” Jill Biden said.

Biden: GOP policies would surrender tech economy to China

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Republicans’ ideas for cutting the budget could undermine U.S. manufacturing and help China dominate the world economy.

Speaking at a semiconductor maker in North Carolina to highlight his own policies, Biden is trying to shape public sentiment as he faces off with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., about whether the federal government should raise its legal borrowing capacity.

McCarthy sent a letter Tuesday saying that talks should start about possible spending cuts in return for the debt limit increase. Biden has said Republicans need to put forth their own budget plan before negotiations start. Without an agreement, the federal government could default on its financial obligations.

The president tried to ratchet up pressure on Tuesday by saying that the GOP demands on the budget would only empower China, the country’s key geopolitical rival. Being tough on China has been a core part of the identity of former President Donald Trump, who is seeking to return to the White House in 2024, and his Make America Great Again movement. The Democratic president said their objections to his policies would instead strengthen China.

“It would mean ceding the future of innovation and technology to China,” Biden told the crowd. “I’ve got news for you and for MAGA Republicans in Congress: not on my watch. We’re not going to let them undo all the progress we made.”

Biden’s trip to Wolfspeed follows the Durham-based company announcing plans last September to build a $5 billion manufacturing facility in Chatham County that is expected to create 1,800 new jobs. Biden had won passage last July of a $280 billion legislative package known as the CHIPS Act, which was intended to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry and scientific research.

It’s nothing new for the Biden administration to highlight the CHIPS Act, the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, the $1 trillion infrastructure legislation and a roughly $375 billion climate bill — major legislation that the Democratic administration steered into law before Democrats lost control of the House.

But now, just weeks after Biden unveiled his own budget — it includes $2.6 trillion in new spending — his administration is looking for chances to lean into its battle with Republicans over spending priorities and who has better ideas to steward the U.S. economy in the years to come. Republicans have rejected Biden’s budget but have yet to unveil their own counteroffer to the Democrats’ blueprint, which is built around tax increases on the wealthy and a vision statement of sorts for Biden’s yet-to-be-declared campaign for reelection in 2024.

His trip is part of a larger effort to draw attention to his policies, which have been overshadowed by high inflation.

Besides Biden’s visit to Wolfspeed, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and other senior administration officials will fan out to 20 states over the next three weeks to highlight the impact of Biden’s economic agenda, according to the White House.

Biden has said he intends to run for a second term but has yet to formally launch his reelection campaign.

His effort to highlight legislative victories could also give him an opportunity to present voters with images of an administration focused on governing as Trump braces for a possible indictment.

Updates on President Biden visit to NC Research Triangle Park

Biden World Bank nominee: massive private sector investment needed to alleviate poverty, fight climate change

President Biden’s nominee to lead the World Bank said massive investment from the private sector is needed to alleviate poverty and fight the effects of climate change.

Ajay Banga, who is a former CEO of Mastercard, told Axios in an interview that the bank should work to address both situations, and that it will cost trillions of dollars per year to handle them.

“I think it’s a fallacious argument that says, either-or,” Banga said. “I have every intention of focusing the bank and its people on the idea that this is an intertwined challenge.”

Biden nominated Banga for the position last month to succeed David Malpass, who has served as World Bank president since 2019. Malpass announced that he would step down from his position by June amid admonishment from Democrats over comments he made that critics said implied denying climate change.

Malpass was asked at a United Nations event in New York last year if he believed that “manmade burning of fossil fuels is rapidly and dangerously warming the planet.” He responded that he did not know as he is “not a scientist.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reportedly said on Wednesday that she expects Banga to be elected as the next leader of the World Bank. She said during a budget hearing before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs that the World Bank should significantly step up its lending to fight climate change and other global crises, Reuters reported.

The U.S. has traditionally chosen the World Bank president, but shareholders from around the world need to approve the candidate. Europe has traditionally chosen the leader for the World Bank’s sister agency, the International Monetary Fund.

Axios reported that Treasury Department officials believe at least 50 percent of the vote is standing behind Banga. Banga has visited four continents and met with 37 different governments in the past three weeks.

Biden: Feds 'not leaving' Mississippi town hit by tornado

ROLLING STONE, Miss. (AP) President Joe Biden saw for himself the flattened homes, broken furniture and upended lives left behind by last week’s deadly tornado in Mississippi and pledged Friday that the federal government is not leaving until the area is back on its feet.

In the close-knit community of Rolling Fork, Biden read aloud the names of each of the 13 residents of the small town killed in the storm after touring the wreckage. He acknowledged to residents that the road to recovery will be long and hard, but said he was committed to helping them through it.

“We’re not just here for today,” said Biden, standing near an animal shelter and a hardware store reduced to rubble by the powerful storm as he addressed members of the devastated community. “We’re going to get it done for you. We’re going to make sure you can stay right here.”

Biden lost Mississippi by more than 16 percentage points in 2020, but people were grateful that he came — and hopeful they won’t be forgotten. Resident Paul Rice said he welcomed the continued attention Friday’s visit brought to the town’s plight.

“Right now, everybody’s here, but I imagine it’ll start drying up,” said Rice, who was driving around town on an ATV to survey the damage and check on friends whose homes had been destroyed. “We’re Americans first and foremost. And that means we all have to work together.”

The president heaped praise on Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and the area’s longtime Democratic congressman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, for moving quickly to help Rolling Fork and surrounding communities following last week’s storm.

Under a canopy set up blocks away from Rolling Fork’s obliterated city hall building, church volunteers doled out packages of breakfast sausages and pancakes with syrup Friday morning. Joseph Thomas, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran and lifelong Rolling Fork resident, arrived to claim his meal wearing a bandana emblazoned with an American flag.

Thomas said he never imagined any president would come to his rural Delta hometown.

“I’m proud that he is coming to this little small town. That means a lot to me,” Thomas said. “Because we need a lot of help to come through here, federal help, boots on the ground to put all this back together.”

Last week’s twister destroyed roughly 300 homes and businesses in Rolling Fork, and the nearby town of Silver City, leaving mounds of lumber, bricks and twisted metal. Hundreds of additional structures were badly damaged. Overall, the death toll in Mississippi stands at 21, based on those confirmed by coroners. One person died in Alabama, as well.

From Marine One, as they flew from Jackson to the area hardest hit by last week’s storm, the president and first lady Jill Biden got a view of the devastation across acres of farmland — destroyed homes, toppled trees and piles of debris.

“This is tough stuff,” Biden said as he was greeted by state, local and federal officials after arriving in Rolling Fork. “The most important thing is we got to let people know the reason for them to have hope, especially those who have lost somebody.”

Biden announced that the federal government will cover the total cost of the state’s emergency measures for the next 30 days, including overtime for first responders and debris cleanup. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will open disaster recovery centers in storm-ravaged counties to help residents access resources.

The Bidens also met with residents impacted by the storms and first responders, and received an operational briefing from federal and state officials.

The devastation from the storm is immense.

Residents watched as Biden walked through a leveled section of Rolling Fork, just blocks from the town’s downtown. A father held his toddler sleeping on his shoulder. Kids who aren’t in school because of the tornado crouched and watched. Just before the president arrived, a man picked through the wreckage, bent over to comb through the debris.

“I know there’s a lot of pain and it’s hard to believe in a moment like this: This community is going to be rebuilt, and rebuilt and built back better than it was before,” Biden assured residents.

Last week’s severe weather makes life even more difficult in an area already struggling economically. Mississippi is one of the poorest states, and the majority-Black Delta has long been one of the poorest parts of the state — a place where many people live paycheck to paycheck, often in jobs connected to agriculture.

Two of the counties walloped by the tornado, Sharkey and Humphreys, are among the most sparsely populated in the state, with only a few thousand residents in communities scattered across wide expanses of cotton, corn and soybean fields. Sharkey’s poverty rate is 35%, and Humphreys’ is 33%, compared with about 19% for Mississippi overall and less than 12% for the entire United States.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said some of the damage to the area’s infrastructure will take much time to repair and that the administration will help in rebuilding key facilities to be “more resilient” to withstand future natural disasters.

“We know that these communities could be cash strapped and we want to get that funding flowing,” Criswell added.

Biden approved a disaster declaration for the state, which frees up federal funds for temporary housing, home repairs and loans to cover uninsured property losses. But there’s concern that inflation and economic troubles may blunt the impact of federal assistance.

The president arrived in the Delta community as a new series of severe storms threatens to rip across the Midwest and the South.

According to a new study, the U.S. will see more of these massive storms as the world warms. The storms are likely to strike more frequently in more populous Southern states including Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society predicts a nationwide 6.6% increase in tornado- and hail-spawning supercell storms and a 25.8% jump in the area and time the strongest storms will strike, under a scenario of moderate levels of future warming by the end of the century.

But in certain areas in the South the increase is much higher. That includes Rolling Fork, where study authors project an increase of one supercell a year by 2100.

Biden speaks in Minnesota as Cummins announces $1 billion investment

President Joe Biden touted efforts to boost U.S. manufacturing after touring a Cummins facility in Minnesota on Monday, as the company announced it will invest $1 billion in making cleaner engines.

Cummins intends to invest the money in Indiana, North Carolina and New York, focusing on creating low-to-zero-carbon engines. More than half of medium and heavy-duty trucks in the U.S. use Cummins engines, and the upgraded facilities aim to decarbonize shipping vehicles across the country.

“Instead of relying on equipment made overseas in places like China, our supply chains will be again made in American,” Biden said in Fridley, Minn. “Companies and utilities across the country will use those products to make clean hydrogen and trucks made in America with zero emission engines will be powered by clean hydrogen.”

Biden tied the announcement in with his Investing in America plan, a set of policies that aim to boost manufacturing in the U.S. with a focus on clean energy.

Cummins announced its initial investment in electrolyzer manufacturing at the Fridley facility in October 2022, two months after Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act. Electrolyzers are needed to create clean hydrogen, used to power certain vehicles and in steel production.

“When Cummins first manufactured hydrogen electrolyzers they had to make them overseas, these are the machines that make clean hydrogen renewable energy used to power our economy from clean cars to trucks to steel to cement manufacturing,” Biden said. “Now thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act with tax credits for renewable energy, Cummins is going to manufacture these electrolyzers here in America for the first time.”

Companies have committed to invest more than $2 billion in Minnesota since Biden’s inauguration, according to the White House.

“All these investments mean that now if you grow up in Minnesota, if you go to school in Minnesota, you can stay in Minnesota,” Biden said. “The Midwest is coming back screaming. There’s good jobs you can raise a family on.”

Biden to visit Northern Ireland and Ireland next week

President Biden will travel to the United Kingdom and Ireland next week to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the White House announced Wednesday.

Biden will visit Belfast, Northern Ireland next Tuesday and Wednesday to denote the signing of the accords, which ended the Northern Ireland conflict, known as The Troubles. Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom, while Ireland is its own Republic.

Biden will then travel to Ireland for the remainder of the week to meet with Irish leaders and to deliver an address to celebrate the deep, historic ties that link our countries and people,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. He will make stops in Dublin, County Louth and County Mayo.

The president frequently talks about his Irish heritage with great pride and often quotes Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Biden hosted Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last month at the White House for St. Patrick’s Day, where the two hinted at a possible Biden visit to Ireland.

“I promise you that we’re going to roll out the red carpet and it’s going to be a visit like no other. Everyone’s excited about it already,” Varadkar said last month at the White House. “We’re going to have great crowds who would love to see you.”

In addition to the Good Friday Agreement, Biden during his upcoming trip will likely address a new trade agreement, the Windsor Framework, aimed at allowing goods to flow freely to Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.

The framework, agreed to last month between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, was finalized in Windsor near London and ends a dispute that has loomed since the U.K. voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.

____________

In other news…….

President Biden won't make King Charles' coronation; first lady will attend

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-k...n-will-attend/

President Biden - I just vetoed a bill that attempted to block our Administration from protecting our nation's waterways – a resource millions of Americans depend on – from destruction and pollution.

Let me be clear: Every American has a right to clean water.

This veto protects that right. https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1644060920547627012

• Biden issues second veto of presidency to save his administration's hallmark water rule

President Joe Biden on Thursday vetoed a resolution that would have rescinded his administration’s hallmark water rule, with proponents of the rollback arguing that the regulation places a burden on the agriculture community by being too restrictive in defining what is a navigable waterway.

Biden’s announcement marked both the second veto of his presidency and the second veto he’s issued in recent weeks, illustrating how power dynamics in Washington have shifted since Republicans became the majority party in the House of Representatives at the beginning of this year.

“I just vetoed a bill that attempted to block our Administration from protecting our nation’s waterways – a resource millions of Americans depend on – from destruction and pollution,” the president wrote in a tweet on Thursday. “Let me be clear: Every American has a right to clean water. This veto protects that right.”

When the White House issued a veto threat over the Republican-led resolution, the administration argued that the legislation would “leave Americans without a clear ‘waters of the United States’ definition.”

“The increased uncertainty would threaten economic growth, including for agriculture, local economies, and downstream communities. Farmers would be left wondering whether artificially irrigated areas remain exempt or not. Construction crews would be left wondering whether their waterfilled gravel pits remain exempt or not,” a statement of administration policy said in advance of the veto.

By comparison, proponents of the resolution argued that Biden’s water rule constituted overreach by the executive branch and say it creates burdensome red tape that would lead to confusion within a variety of industries, including agriculture.

“By vetoing this Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval, President Biden is ignoring the will of a bipartisan majority in Congress, leaving millions of Americans in limbo, and crippling future energy and infrastructure projects with red tape,” West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who led the joint resolution in the Senate, said in a statement on Thursday. “There’s a reason those who work in agriculture, building, mining, and small businesses of all kinds across America strongly supported our effort to block the Biden waters rule, and I’m disappointed the president chose to stand by his blatant executive overreach.”

The waterways resolution cleared the House in March and the final Senate vote was 53-43, with Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Jon Tester of Montana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Arizona independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema joining Republicans in support of the legislation.

Biden has dementia. Why do you keep posting stuff that is from his team?

Originally Posted by Little Chuchok

Biden has dementia. Why do you keep posting stuff that is from his team?

It would be a fucking travesty if he even ran again. He's like Reagan at the end of his second term.

^ he's popping over to the Emerald Isle to take plaudits for Mericas roll in the ceasefire, albeit the republican terrorists are still around murdering which he conveniently forgets.

Originally Posted by Little Chuchok

Why do you keep posting stuff that is from his team?

enjoy the next 6 years of posts about President Joe Biden

Originally Posted by malmomike77

^ he's popping over to the Emerald Isle to take plaudits for Mericas roll in the ceasefire, albeit the republican terrorists are still around murdering which he conveniently forgets.

Don't forget he's a member of the kiddie fiddling fraternity...

• Biden-Harris administration announces $91.9 million to Pennsylvania for Water Infrastructure upgrades through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $91.9 million to Pennsylvania from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that communities can use to upgrade essential water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure that protects public health and treasured water bodies.

Nearly half of the funding, which comes through this year’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), will be available as grants or principal forgiveness loans helping underserved communities across America invest in water infrastructure, while creating good-paying jobs.

“President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is delivering an unprecedented investment in America that will revitalize essential water and wastewater infrastructure across the country,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Not only will these funds expand access to clean water and safeguard the environment, but more underserved communities that have been left behind for far too long will be able to access them.”

“Communities across Pennsylvania rely on water and sewage infrastructure to keep their communities clean and safe every day,” said U.S. Senator Bob Casey (Pa.). “Thanks to the infrastructure law, Pennsylvania is receiving nearly $92 million to upgrade this essential infrastructure to protect communities across the Commonwealth from contamination, flooding, and more. Once again, the infrastructure law is working to keep Pennsylvanians safe—and creating jobs.”

Statement from President Joe Biden on March Jobs Report

This is a good jobs report for hard-working Americans. Today’s report shows that we continue to face economic challenges from a position of strength, with the economy adding 236,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate at 3.5%. My economic agenda has powered an historic economic recovery. We’ve created 12.6 million jobs since I took office. The unemployment rate is close to the lowest it has been in more than 50 years and a record low for African Americans. Thanks to the policies we have put in place, the recovery is creating good jobs that you can raise a family on, which is pulling more Americans into the labor force. In fact, the share of working age Americans in the labor force is at a 15 year high.

But there is more work to do. My Administration is working each day to lower costs for families and to make our economy even stronger, now and for the long term, with investments in infrastructure, innovation, and clean energy. Just this week, because of my agenda, companies announced new manufacturing investments in Georgia, New Mexico, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. My Investing in America agenda is building an economy that benefits hard-working Americans in every community across the country, not just those at the top.

Extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress, on the other hand, are threatening to wreak havoc on our economy with debt limit brinkmanship. Their extreme agenda would send the unprecedented investments we’ve made here in America – along with the jobs that come with it – overseas. And it’s all to pay for even more giveaways to the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations. Make no mistake, I will stop those efforts to put our economy at risk and take us back to the failed policies of the past.

Gradually slowing job gains and a growing labor force in March delivered welcome news to President Biden, nearly a year after he declared that the job market needed to cool significantly to tame high prices.

The details of the report are encouraging for a president whose economic goal is to move from rapid job gains — and high inflation — to what Mr. Biden has called “stable, steady growth.” Job creation slowed to 236,000 for the month, closing in on the level Mr. Biden said last year would be necessary to stabilize the economy and prices. More Americans joined the labor force, and wage gains fell slightly. Those developments should help to further cool inflation.

But the report also underscored the political and economic tensions for the president as he seeks to sell Americans on his economic stewardship ahead of an expected announcement this spring that he will seek re-election.

Originally Posted by Norton

Really?




In Biden’s more than 40 years of public life — including two prior runs for the Democratic presidential nomination and eight years as vice president — there have been no formal accusations, complaints, arrests or investigations that implicate him in any sort of sex crimes involving kids.


PolitiFact | Fact-checking the pedophilia attacks against Joe Biden

Whoooooooooooooosh!

Catholic Church sexual abuse cases - Wikipedia

VP Harris meets with 'Tennessee Three' in surprise visit to Nashville after expulsions over gun protests

Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise visit to Nashville on Friday to push for gun control and meet with two Tennessee Democratic lawmakers who were expelled from the General Assembly after protesting for gun reform on the floor of the statehouse.

The hastily scheduled trip came after Tennessee House Republicans voted Thursday to expel Reps. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, on a 72-25 vote, and Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, 69-26, in moves that drew condemnation from President Joe Biden and became a national flashpoint on gun control and race.

The two Black lawmakers – and a third Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville – were punished by Republicans for leading protests with bullhorns from the House floor after a mass shooting at a Nashville private Christian school killed six people. Johnson, who is white, dodged an expulsion by one vote.

"Six people, including three children, were killed last week in a school shooting in Nashville," Harris said in a tweet. "How did Republican lawmakers in Tennessee respond? By expelling their colleagues who stood with Tennesseans and said enough is enough. This is undemocratic and dangerous."

In Nashville, Harris met privately with the three Democrats at Fisk University, which is hosting a gathering of community leaders to support the expelled lawmakers. Afterward, she met with other Tennessee Democratic lawmakers and Nashville Mayor John Cooper. The meeting was closed to the press.

Pearson was met with raucous applause and cheers as he arrived for the event.

“They thought they could expel democracy,” he said, addressing the crowd from a stone platform. “But we’re still here!”

Meet the "Tennessee Three" at the center of a statehouse drama over gun reform

Oh dear.

New polling casts serious doubts on the prospects of President Joe Biden’s re-election.
Only a third of Americans say the Democrat deserves a second term in the White House — with some of Biden’s core constituencies having soured on his job performance.
A whopping 67% of poll respondents say Biden, who is 80 years old, doesn’t deserve re-election in 2024, answering the question in a CNN poll released Thursday.

<snip>

Only 26% of Americans under the age of 35 say Biden deserves a second term — dismal numbers among a demographic that Democrats have relied on for election turnout.

A majority of Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents, 54%, want someone other than Biden, according to the poll.

CNN Gives Devastating News About Joe Biden on Live TV

Oh dear. If he runs, he wins.