Thread: President Joe Biden

Yetis ?

Really doesn't matter to me.

All the stuff brought up is old news and not something this fella dug up.

Just posted it to irritate Landreath and are genuinely surprised that anyone would be noticing it.

Do you open his threads often ?

I hear that Biden is only running in 24 to save the world from Trump.

Kind of noble of the old fellow

President Biden Delivers Remarks at the White House Tribal Nations Summit

• Biden to sign executive order on federal funding for Native Americans

President Joe Biden told Native American nations gathered for a summit Wednesday that his administration was working to heal the wrongs of the past as he signed an executive order that seeks to make it easier for Indigenous peoples to access federal funding, and have greater autonomy over how to spend it.

Biden also threw his support behind a request to allow Haudenosaunee Confederacy to compete under its own flag in the 2028 Olympics in lacrosse, a sport they invented.

Historically, federal policies attacked Native people's rights to self-governance and caused lasting economic damage. Biden said the actions at the summit were “key steps” that would help usher in an new era of tribal sovereignty. “A new era grounded in dignity and respect that recognizes your fundamental rights to govern and grow on your own terms,” he said.

“It’s hard work to heal the wrongs of the past and change the course, and move forward,” Biden said.

Yurok Tribal Council Member Phillip Williams described Biden’s speech as inspirational.

“It felt like our highest official in the land acknowledges the crimes of the past,” he said. “His contribution to society is to help to heal the tribal nations.”

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• Biden forgives another $5 billion in student loans
  

The White House on Wednesday announced $4.8 billion in student debt relief for some 80,300 people.

State of play: That brings the total approved student debt cancellation by the Biden administration to $132 billion for more than 3.6 million Americans.

Details: A portion of the relief comes as a part of the administration's effort to "fix" the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which wipes out the student loan balance of public service workers who have worked for 10 years and made 120 qualifying payments.

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• U.S. and Sweden sign defense deal to bolster regional security

On the brink of joining NATO, Sweden has signed a defense co-operation agreement with Washington that will allow the United States access to all of the military bases across the Scandinavian country, saying the deal will bolster regional security.

Swedish defence minister Pal Jonson said the deal, signed in Washington on Tuesday, “will create better conditions for Sweden to be able to receive support from the United States in the event of a war or crisis.”

Jonson told Swedish broadcaster SVT that it did not mean that “all 17 locations will be used” but “where it is most important from a military perspective for them to be able to store defence equipment, for example.”

The deal was signed at the Pentagon by Jonson and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who said that by adding the capabilities of the Swedish armed forces to NATO, “we will get even stronger.”

The deal “sends a strong signal that we remain committed to addressing security challenges together,” Austin said.

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• Targeting costly meds, Biden admin asserts authority to seize certain drug patents

The Biden administration has determined that it has the authority to seize the patents of certain high-priced medicines, a move that could open the door to a more aggressive federal campaign to slash drug prices.

The determination, which was described by three people familiar with the matter, represents the culmination of a nearly nine-month review of the government’s so-called march-in rights. Progressives have long insisted that those rights empower the administration to break the patents of pricey drugs that were developed with public funds, in an effort to create more competition and lower prices.

The administration will not endorse the widespread use of march-in rights, and is not expected to take action against any individual medicines, said the people familiar with the matter, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal decision making.

Instead, the Commerce Department on Thursday plans to issue a new framework spelling out factors that federal agencies should weigh in determining whether to take march-in action against expensive drugs or other individual products that were created with federal help. The price and availability of that product to the public are among the factors the department will recommend that agencies consider.

• U.S., Mexico to cooperate on strengthening security screening of investments

The U.S. Treasury said on Thursday it signed an agreement with Mexico's finance ministry to cooperate on strengthening screening of foreign investments to enhance national security, including regularly sharing information on best practices.

The Biden administration is promoting Mexico as a premier investment destination for U.S. supply chains and wants to ensure that the country has a robust screening regime in place to handle the influx.

The effort is aimed at helping Mexico develop a screening body similar to the Treasury-run Committee on Foreign Investment the U.S. (CFIUS), which reviews purchases of American companies by foreign-owned entities and other inbound investments.

"Like our own investment screening regime, CFIUS, increased engagement with Mexico will help maintain an open investment climate while monitoring and addressing security risks, making both our countries safer," Yellen said in announcing the memorandum of intent with Mexican Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O.

Yellen wraps up a three-day visit to Mexico City to enhance economic ties and boost cooperation to stem the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl to the United States via Mexico, where precursor chemicals from China are often mixed.

Mexico is attracting a major influx of manufacturing investments to supply the U.S. market, raising concerns that China or other countries could use it as a back door to get around restrictions on U.S. export controls for sensitive technologies such as semiconductors.

The near-shoring boom brought Mexico $32.2 billion in foreign direct investment in the first three quarters of 2023, close to the full-year 2022 total of $36 billion.

High profile projects include an estimated $5 billion Tesla electric vehicle factory that has prompted Chinese suppliers to announce plans to invest over $1 billion nearby.

While CFIUS' increased scrutiny in recent years has sharply reduced Chinese investment in the United States, Yellen told reporters she does not want to preclude China from injecting funds into Mexico or the U.S. when there are no national security concerns.

CHINESE INVESTMENT WELCOMED

If Chinese firms want to produce in Mexico for the U.S. electric vehicle battery market, they would have to comply with the Treasury's new "foreign entity of concern" rules that limit Chinese control of a producing subsidiary to 25%.

"If Chinese involvement triggered those rules, which are meant to avoid undue dependence on China, then that's a no," Yellen said.

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• Biden hits Trump over travel ban threats on anniversary of ‘Muslim ban’ proposal

President Biden on Thursday took aim at former President Trump’s travel ban policies, marking the eighth anniversary of the so-called “Muslim ban” pushed by Trump in the 2016 election.

Trump released the proposal in December 2015, when he was vying for the Republican presidential nomination, calling “for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

“On this day eight years ago, candidate for President Donald Trump proposed his Muslim travel ban. Like millions of Americans, I was appalled. The proposal was a cynical ploy. It was about sowing fear and distrust of Muslim Americans and all Muslims — not about protecting our national security,” Biden said in a press release from his reelection campaign Thursday.

Biden said that the ban “betrayed America’s long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all” and that it violated the constitutional principle that the U.S. is built on a religious freedom foundation.

“Let me be clear: Muslim Americans are Americans. Period. Fanning the flames of intolerance can lead to attacks on Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs, and others. It’s wrong,” Biden said. “We celebrate the diversity that is our strength. We treat each other with dignity and respect. We reject Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and hate in all its forms. And in moments like these – when there is a heightened sense of fear and suspicion – we work even harder to hold on to the values that make us who we are. We never abandon them.”

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• ‘Sad, pathetic, and a waste of everyone’s time’: White House knocks impeachment inquiry resolution

The White House on Thursday knocked the House GOP’s resolution to formalize its impeachment inquiry into President Biden, calling it a waste of time.

“This baseless stunt is not rooted in facts or reality, but in extreme House Republicans’ shameless desire to abuse their power to smear President Biden. Fox News already reported that the only reason they’re having this vote is to ‘put a GOP win on the table for the base,’ which is sad, pathetic, and a waste of everyone’s time,” Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight, said in a statement.

Sams linked to a clip of Fox News’s Chad Pergram, who said earlier this week that Republicans “want to hold an impeachment inquiry vote because they need to put a GOP win on the table for the base.”

“Instead of doing anything to actually help people before leaving Washington for a month, these extreme House Republicans are hoping to distract from their own failed ability to govern by trying to score cheap political points in an effort to mollify Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is in open war with her own party’s Speaker,” Sams said.

The White House this week has made a concerted effort to tie the conference to its more far-right members, including casting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as the sole lawmaker calling the shots. It has stepped up its criticism of the impeachment inquiry to put moderate Republicans worried about their seat in 2024 in a political dilemma.

Sams argued Thursday that Americans will see Biden is “focused on solving the challenges facing America and the world,” while the “extreme” House GOP members are focused “on stupid stunts.”

• Joe Biden Attends Shiva To Honor Norman Lear

President Joe Biden, on a West Coast fundraising swing, attended a shiva to mourn Norman Lear, who died this week at age 101.

Biden attended the shiva at the Lear residence, according to the White House.

The president and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime friend of Lear’s, also paid tribute to him at a Hollywood-centric fundraiser for the Biden-Harris reelection campaign.

Biden said at the event, “His cast of characters painted a — a fuller picture of America, of our hopes and our hardships, our fears, our resilience, and changed the way we look at ourselves.

“In explaining his approach to getting the laugh — to get us to laugh and think, Norman Lear said, and I quote, ‘You stand a better chance if you can get them caring first’ — ‘if you can get them caring first.’ Folks, at our best, we’re a nation that cares.” The president, referring to the coming 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026, also noted that Lear bought an original copy of the Declaration Of Independence.

“And he shared it with schools and museums so people could feel the patriocy that comes from being moved by its words,” said Biden.

“I don’t believe, in our 250th year, this nation is going to turn to Donald Trump,” Biden said.

The president paid tribute to Lear earlier this week as a “transformational force in American culture,” and also noted his decades of political advocacy, saying that he “fought directly for free speech, a woman’s right to choose, the environment, voting rights, and more.”

Lear’s political impact went well beyond the influence of his shows. In the early 1980s, he founded People for the American Way, an advocacy group that countered the emerging power of the religious rights. The organization has been part of some major political battles, including the opposition to the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court in 1987.

Biden was attending private fundraising/campaign gatherings with high dollar donors through the day on Saturday, including one in Beverly Hills, and he is scheduled to headline an event with First Lady Jill Biden on Saturday evening.

On Saturday afternoon, the first lady attended a fundraiser at NeueHouse Hollywood hosted by Matthew Crowley and Martha Leon De La Barra. Actress Connie Britton introduced her, per a pool report, and she also did a Q&A with actress Elizabeth Banks.

The first lady said, per the pool report, “I wish that this election were about simple policy differences. I wish it were about differences of character or merit. But fundamentally, what this election is about is democracy.”

“We are the party defending it, not the one tearing it at its seams….We are the party protecting the right of this nation’s people to live freely, not the one praising the oppressive thumb of dictators.”

Sounds like sleepy joe has finally worked out that no-one is buying his "Bidenomics" bullshit.

WASHINGTON — Since June, President Joe Biden had been freely peppering the word "Bidenomics" into his speeches and remarks mentioning the economy — 101 times, to be exact.
In doing so, he was attaching his name to a set of administration policies that most Americans don't believe have worked, according to recent polling. In an NBC News poll conducted this month, only 38% of respondents approved of Biden's handling of the economy.

Now, the word "Bidenomics" appears to have been dropped entirely from Biden's comments about the economy. He hasn't used it in public remarks since Nov. 1, when he likened Bidenomics to “the American Dream” in a speech in Minnesota.

The term Bidenomics is nowhere to be found in the president’s recent speeches

I see spamdreth still a spamming C U N T .

Still missing my early posts on another forum so you could post them here?

Originally Posted by Cujo

I see spamdreth still a spamming C U N T .

Never been worse
---------------------------------------------------------

How did Joe's administration do on the climate alibi meeting in the Mideast, Landreths ?

You say that you care; your favorite does nothing...whatsoever.

Shameful

Just for fun

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• Biden Praises New COP28 Climate Agreement

President Joe Biden on Wednesday praised the deal signed at COP28, the U.N. climate summit in Dubai, as an important step toward reaching climate goals.

In a statement, Biden applauded the deal for “committing, for the first time, to transition away from the fossil fuels that jeopardize our planet and our people, agreeing to triple renewable energy globally by 2030, and more.”

The president noted, though, there still was “substantial work ahead of us to keep the 1.5 degree C goal within reach.” Scientists have said the world's average temperature should not exceed that of preindustrial times by more than 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees F) if the worst and potentially irreversible effects of climate change are to be avoided.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries agreed earlier in the day on the deal, following two weeks of negotiations. The plan takes aim at the main drivers of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, and more than 100 nations had pushed for even stronger language, seeking an explicit “phase-out” of fossil fuels.

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Statement from President Joe Biden on Agreement Reached at COP28

Eight years ago, the world came together in Paris to announce a historic commitment to address climate change and protect the planet for future generations. On my very first day in office, I took action to return the United States to the Paris Agreement, restoring America’s global climate leadership.

Since then, my Administration has set the United States on an unprecedented course to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad – securing the largest climate investment in the history of the world, unlocking clean energy breakthroughs that will power a clean economy and create thousands of jobs, and rallying leaders around the world to raise our collective ambition.

Today, at COP28, world leaders reached another historic milestone – committing, for the first time, to transition away from the fossil fuels that jeopardize our planet and our people, agreeing to triple renewable energy globally by 2030, and more. While there is still substantial work ahead of us to keep the 1.5 degree C goal within reach, today’s outcome puts us one significant step closer.

But we didn’t just arrive at this inflection point. Vulnerable countries have called on major economies to take urgent action. And in every corner of the world, young people are making their voices heard, demanding action from those in power. They remind us that a better, more equitable world is within our grasp. We will not let them down.

The climate crisis is the existential threat of our time. But as America has always done, we will turn crisis into opportunity – creating clean energy jobs, revitalizing communities, and improving quality of life.

It is our collective responsibility to build a safer, more hopeful future for our children. We can’t be complacent. We must keep going, and we will.

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• Biden administration announces $295M investment in Colorado River conservation agreements with California agencies

The Biden administration and multiple California water agencies signed agreements on Wednesday that will direct $295 million of federal dollars into Colorado River water conservation.

The initial partnerships aim to conserve up to 643,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead, the basin’s largest storage reservoir, through 2025, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.

For reference, California’s total annual Colorado River allocation is 4.4 million acre-feet out of 15 million acre-feet basin-wide. The Golden State has among the highest priority water rights across the system.

“These agreements represent another critical step in our collective efforts to address the water management challenges the Colorado River Basin faces due to drought and climate change,” Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton said in a statement.

“Addressing the drought crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and close collaboration among federal, state, tribal and local communities,” she added.

The initiatives signed on Wednesday include an agreement with the Coachella Valley Water District to save up to 105,000 acre-feet through 2025 and another with the Quechan Indian Tribe to preserve up to 39,000 acre-feet through 2025.

At the signing, which took place in Nevada, officials also commemorated a recent partnership with the Imperial Irrigation District to conserve about 100,000 acre-feet of water this year.

President Biden Delivers Remarks on his Administration’s Progress to Lower Prescription Drug Costs

• Biden delivers remarks on lowering prescription drug prices during visit to NIH

Hundreds of thousands of older Americans could pay less for some of their outpatient drug treatments beginning early next year, the Biden administration announced Thursday.

The White House unveiled a list of 48 drugs — some of them injectables used to treat cancer — whose prices increased faster than the rate of inflation this year. Under a new law, drugmakers will have to pay rebates to the federal government because of those price increases. The money will be used to lower the price Medicare enrollees pay on the drugs early next year.

This is the first time drugmakers will have to pay the penalties for outpatient drug treatments under the Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress last year. The rebates will translate into a wide range of savings — from as little as $1 to as much as $2,700 — on the drugs that the White House estimates are used every year by 750,000 older Americans.

The rebates are “an important tool to discourage excessive price increases and protect people with Medicare,” Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, said Thursday in a statement.

As it readies for a 2024 reelection campaign, the Biden administration has rolled out a number of efforts to push pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices. Last week, the White House announced it was considering an aggressive, unprecedented new tactic: pulling the patents of some drugs priced out of reach for most Americans.

“On no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again,” the White House posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, last week, just hours after the announcement.

The U.S. Health and Human Services agency also released a report on Thursday that will help guide its first-ever negotiation process with drugmakers over the price of 10 of Medicare’s costliest drugs. The new prices for those drugs will be negotiated by HHS next year.

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/f...ce-q1-2024.pdf

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• Grassley says he has seen ‘no evidence’ of wrongdoing in GOP Biden probe

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that he has seen “no evidence” that President Biden was involved in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.

“I’m going to take the same position that I’ve taken since 2019 that all I can say is there’s some indication, maybe some compromise with China particularly, but I have no evidence of it,” Grassley told CNN’s Manu Raju on Wednesday.

He continued, saying the facts “haven’t taken me to that point where I can say that the president’s guilty of anything.”

• Joe Biden - Good one, Donald. https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1735753851456663799

Good one Donald, says #Biden | Lahore Mirror - YouTube

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• GOP senator says Biden can’t be impeached for pre-presidential actions

Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is warning House Republicans that President Biden could not be impeached and removed from office for any conduct or crimes committed before he was elected president in 2020.

Mullin’s statement in an interview with Newsmax pours cold water on a House GOP investigation into Biden’s family’s business dealings, particularly Hunter Biden’s work with foreign companies, while Biden was vice president during the Obama administration and immediately after.

He warned that any high crime or misdemeanor that may serve as the basis for articles of impeachment “has to be committed while he was in office, the current office he holds.”

“So what he did as vice president, what he did in between the two [offices] may not be impeachable,” he said during an interview on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.”

“If they send us a case, make sure it’s convictable,” Mullin advised. “The bar’s real high, there’s no question about it.”

• Biden honors late Kuwait leader for commitment to ‘greater peace and stability’

President Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden released a statement Saturday to honor Kuwait’s emir Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who died at the age of 86.

“Sheikh Nawaf was a valued partner and true friend of the United States throughout his decades of service,” Biden said in a statement.

“Today, we mourn his passing and we honor his life and the vision we shared for greater peace and stability across the Middle East,” he continued. “We will continue to strengthen the longstanding ties between the governments and people of the United States and Kuwait as we pursue that future together.”

Nawaf served as Kuwait’s Minister of Interior twice — for a combined 13 years. He also did stints as the Minister of Defense and the Deputy Prime Minister.

He was the Emir of Kuwait from Sept. 29, 2020 until his death. During his reign, he focused on resolving the country’s internal political disputes, The Associated Press reported.

Authorities gave no cause of death for the former leader but said he was rushed to a hospital in November.

Sheikh Nawaf was a largely uncontroversial choice to be the emir but his age suggested his tenure would be short, according to the AP.

While in power, he focused on domestic issues including the welfare system and other political disputes like pardoning dissidents.

His half-brother, Kuwait’s deputy ruler Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, who his 83, has reportedly been named emir.

The health of the country’s leaders is a sensitive issue with Kuwait’s neighbors, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. There has been increasing pressure to put a younger leader in charge in the Middle East, per the AP.

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• What’s an impeachment inquiry? Breaking down the GOP’s pursuit of Biden

Your guide to an impeachment inquiry: Breaking down the GOP’s pursuit of Biden

House Republicans are entering a new phase in their potential impeachment of President Joe Biden — one that raises plenty of questions about what comes next.

The GOP investigation, which centers on the business deals of Hunter Biden and other family members, has yet to find any clear link between Joe Biden’s actions as president or vice president and his family’s financial arrangements. Despite that, every House Republican on Wednesday supported a formal inquiry to try to uncover a smoking gun.

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“……..Not just in South America, not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world they’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia.”

• Biden campaign: Trump ‘parroted Adolf Hitler’ in remarks targeting immigrants

The Biden campaign fiercely denounced Donald Trump following his caustic remarks aimed at immigrants Saturday, saying the former president “parroted Hitler.”

“Tonight Donald Trump channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy,” Biden-Harris 2024 spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement.

Trump on Saturday ratcheted up his already inflammatory rhetoric on immigrants at a rally in New Hampshire.

“They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” the former president said. “They’ve poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world. Not just in South America, not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world they’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia.”

• Mocking Donald Trump? Watch Joe Biden- ‘boss’ Barack Obama team up again

Donald Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social, “The cost of Obamacare is out of control."

Joe Biden and Barack Obama promoted the Affordable Care Act via a video message which marks the US president's latest effort to shine a light on the health care bill as Donald Trump pushed to repeal it. The release of the video of Joe Biden and Barack Obama coincided with the last day of open enrollment in which consumers can receive full coverage starting January 1.

Meanwhile Donald Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social, “The cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare. I’m seriously looking at alternatives."

looking at alternatives

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• Biden pick for Social Security chief OK'd by Senate panel

Martin O’Malley’s nomination to lead the Social Security Administration won bipartisan support from a Senate panel on Tuesday, likely teeing up the first confirmed leader of the agency in over two years.

The Senate Finance Committee approved O’Malley, the former Democratic presidential hopeful and Maryland governor, 17-10, in vote held off the Senate floor during a morning vote series. Three Republicans voted with all Democrats in favor of O’Malley.

Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said during the panel’s executive session ahead of Tuesday’s vote that the Social Security position is about service and not politics, a sentiment that O’Malley reflects. He said O’Malley will need to address long wait lines, red tape, outdated technology and a struggling workforce at the SSA.

“I base my support for Martin O’Malley on the fact that every single time we have talked he has emphasized one matter and one matter only, and that is service above politics,” Wyden said.

Republican Finance panel members who crossed the aisle to back O’Malley included Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

Tillis said he’d gotten calls offering rave reviews of O’Malley, including from a conservative governor, and understood that he’d be willing to listen to both sides of an issue and focus on efficiency at the SSA.

Tillis also said he believed O’Malley would be a good expert to advise lawmakers as they face Social Security’s financial shortfall that will make the program unable to fully pay benefits in about a decade, according to estimates.

“He has a very systematic method I think to his approach, which I think will serve him well at the Social Security Administration,” Tillis said.

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• Car crashes into parked SUV in Biden's motorcade near Delaware campaign HQ

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden are unharmed after a car crashed into a U.S. Secret Service vehicle guarding his motorcade near his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware on Sunday night, the White House said.

The big picture: It was not immediately clear what caused the crash that happened just after 8pm ET, but USSS agents quickly surrounded the car and pulled weapons on the driver, who held his hands up, according to a pool report.

Zoom in: The incident happened at the intersection across from the entrance of Biden's campaign headquarters, per the pool report that noted Biden looked surprised as he stood near the vehicle.

• Footage from the scene showed agents helping Biden to his vehicle after the incident.
• USSS Special Agent Steve Kopek, an agency spokesperson, said in an emailed statement Sunday night there was "no protective interest associated with this event and the President's motorcade departed without incident."
• The Wilmington Police Department is investigating the motor vehicle collision, which did not result in any injuries. Investigators are also working to determine if impairment was a factor.

What we're watching: Wilmington Police Department spokesperson David Karas said in an emailed statement late Sunday that local officers were "investigating the motor vehicle collision," which did not result in any injuries.

• "Investigators are also working to determine if impairment was a factor," he added.

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• No smoking gun to support Biden impeachment, Rep. Dingell says

House Republicans unanimously voted last week to formalize their impeachment investigation into Joe Biden. But according to one Democratic House member, the whole investigation remains smoke and mirrors.

“I’ve talked to numerous Republicans who have publicly and quietly said, ‘there’s no there there.’ They can’t find anything,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

President Biden Delivers Remarks at a Memorial Service for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

• Biden honors former Justice O’Connor's "extraordinary service" at funeral

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the nation's highest court, was memorialized at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday.

The big picture: O'Connor, who retired from the court in 2006, died on Dec. 1 in Phoenix, Arizona, at the age of 93 from complications from advanced dementia.

• O'Connor was nominated to the court by President Ronald Reagan and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 1981. Her body lied in repose in the Supreme Court on Monday ahead of Tuesday's funeral service.

What they're saying: President Biden in his eulogy for O'Connor on Tuesday described her as a "daughter of the American West," adding that she "was a pioneer in her own right, breaking down the barriers of legal and political worlds and the nation's consciousness."

• He also described Reagan's nomination of O'Connor and her confirmation hearing: "Announcing her nomination earlier that summer, President Reagan described her as — and I quote —'a person of all seasons,'" Biden said.
• "And it was a person for all seasons that we saw at this hearing and the Americans and the world would see through her extraordinary service as a justice, and I might add as a citizen: Gracious and wise, civil and principled."

Zoom in: Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts also gave a eulogy, saying O'Connor had a "simple and direct" approach to the work of the court, using her practices during oral arguments as an example.

• "After the advocate had gotten through only a couple sentences, the justice would jump in before her colleagues could with a well-prepared question. The question was clear, direct, even enunciated carefully," Roberts said.

• "It went to the heart of the lawyer's case with no fluff. Her approach was: let's get what's most important to me on the table at the outset. Get it done."

Over her 25-year career as a justice, O'Connor authored 676 deliberations, 301 of which were the court's majority opinion.

• She helped decide several pivotal cases, including those involving the Americans with Disabilities Act, affirmative action and abortion.

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• Biden administration pleads with states after millions of kids lose Medicaid coverage

HHS wants states with the highest rates of children dropped from Medicaid to use certain federal rules that make it easier to get families back on coverage.

In letters sent Monday to the governors of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra urged the states to take up more of the 400 options CMS has offered to ensure coverage. The options include allowing states to use enrollee information they have to auto-renew coverage.

HHS also issued new guidance for states Monday, including an option to give kids an additional 12 months to get on the rolls. That option is available through 2024, CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure told reporters.

Becerra also asked the states to remove barriers to Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollment for children no longer eligible for Medicaid, reduce call center times for families and expand their Medicaid programs if they haven’t already.

“Because all children deserve to have access to comprehensive health coverage, I urge you to ensure that no child in your state who still meets eligibility criteria for Medicaid or CHIP loses their health coverage due to ‘red tape’ or other avoidable reasons as all states ‘unwind’ from the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision that was in place during much of the COVID-19 public health emergency,” Becerra wrote.

According to HHS, the nine states are responsible for 60 percent of children’s coverage losses between March and September.

“State choices matter,” CMS Deputy Administrator Daniel Tsai said Monday. “States that have taken up the historic number of new policy flexibilities that CMS has put on the table are better able to protect kids’ coverage.”

The data: According to new HHS data, the 10 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — disenrolled more children than states that have expanded Medicaid combined. That’s partly because expansion states have taken up more CMS flexibilities than non-expansion states.

In non-expansion states, youth who turned 19 during the Covid-19 public health emergency account for, on average, 27.6 percent of disenrollments among children in these states compared with 12.1 percent of disenrollments in expansion states.

Requests for comment from the nine states cited by HHS were not immediately returned.

How we got here: After the end of the public health emergency in May, states were required to review the eligibility of Medicaid enrollees. The subsequent unwinding saw nearly 3 million children, to date, kicked off coverage, according to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. In August, HHS sent letters to all states, warning that they might be running afoul of federal requirements, pointing to long waits at call centers, high number of disenrollments due to paperwork problems and a slow application process.

In September, CMS said half a million people, including kids, who lost coverage mistakenly lost it due to errors by the states. Those states were told to pause disenrollments and reinstate individuals who lost coverage or risk losing federal funding.

President Biden Delivers Remarks at the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce

• Biden tackles Trump and touts economic progress in Milwaukee visit

President Joe Biden touted his administration’s support for minority-owned businesses and the replacement of lead pipes during a visit here on Wednesday while also swiping at Donald Trump’s rhetoric toward migrants and his ongoing lies about his election loss.

The trip showed how Biden is trying to juggle multiple political priorities in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin. Democrats want to generate excitement among nonwhite voters who are an important part of their coalition while also keeping the focus on Trump’s extremism, heightening a contrast that the White House hopes will secure a second term for Biden.

The Democratic president’s first stop upon arriving in Milwaukee was Hero Plumbing, which has replaced hundreds of lead pipes around the city. The work is part of a $15 billion nationwide initiative funded through bipartisan infrastructure legislation.

“Not only has our business grown, but we’re helping to save our community,” said the company’s owner, Rashawn Spivey.

Spivey rode with Biden to the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce, where the president highlighted the pipe replacement program. He’s described it as a generation-changing opportunity to create good-paying union jobs while reducing brain-damaging exposure to lead in schools, childcare centers and more than 9 million U.S. homes that draw water from lead pipes.

“This is the United States of America, for God’s sake,” Biden said. “Everyone should be able to turn on a faucet and know whatever they drink is clean and pure and not have to worry about it.”

Biden also focused on his administration’s surge in federal assistance for minority-owned businesses and distressed communities, saying, “We’re leaving no one behind.”

The Small Business Administration in the last fiscal year backed 4,700 loans valued at $1.5 billion to Black-owned businesses. Under Biden, the SBA said it has more than doubled the number and total dollar amount of loans to Black-owned small businesses. The share of the SBA’s loans going to minority-owned businesses has increased from 23% to over 32% since 2020.

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• Biden administration secures release of 10 Americans detained in Venezuela

The Biden administration is freeing an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 imprisoned Americans and the extradition of a fugitive defense contractor.

President Joe Biden announced the deal Wednesday afternoon, seeming to signal a step forward in Washington’s efforts to improve relations with the South American country.

“These individuals have lost far too much precious time with their loved ones, and their families have suffered every day in their absence,” Biden said in a statement. “I am grateful that their ordeal is finally over, and that these families are being made whole once more.”

Wednesday’s deal comes a few weeks after the Biden administration agreed to suspend some sanctions, after Maduro and an opposition faction committed to work toward fair conditions for the 2024 presidential election.

“We stand in support of democracy in Venezuela and the aspirations of the Venezuelan people,” Biden said.

The Americans released include Luke Denman, Airan Berry, Eyvin Hernandez, Jerrel Kenemore, Joseph Cristella and Savoi Wright.

“We are forever grateful,” Wright’s family said in a statement.

Six of the individuals being released were previously designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said all the Americans have departed Venezuela.

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Extra

Biden: Trump's an insurrectionist but courts can decide his ballot fate

Biden: “It’s self-evident. You saw it all. Now whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that decision,” the president said during a trip to Wisconsin. “But he certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it. None. Zero.”

Biden-Harris HQ - This is not a coincidence https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1737567329561526607

.......

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Yes, it’s a shame Biden is not the great orator, that Trump is.

• Mariah Carey Meets President Joe Biden & Kamala Harris

Mariah Carey Visits the White House ‘to Ring in the Holiday Season’ With President Biden, VP Harris

The superstar also brought along her kids, Moroccan and Monroe

In the season of giving, Mariah Carey made a special home visit to see two lucky fans – who just so happened to be the president and vice president of the United States.

As shared on Instagram Wednesday (Dec. 20), the vocalist recently swung by the White House in Washington, D.C., to meet with President Joe Biden and his second in command, Vice President Kamala Harris. Carey’s 12-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe, whom she shares with ex Nick Cannon, also got to visit the Oval Office and chat with the leaders of the nation.

While there, Carey posed for photos with both Biden and Harris, as well as with her kids in front of the White House’s impressive Christmas decorations.

“Last week I had the pleasure of meeting President Biden & Vice President Harris at the White House to ring in the holiday season!” the singer captioned the pictures, which the White House also shared on its official account. “While there, we got to see all the festive decor and spread some cheer!

And what does an international superstar wear to greet the POTUS and VP? A sequined tweed suit jacket and dress, complete with pink trimming and matching heels.

Later, Carey and the president jointly posted a video of their first meeting, both of them professing “I’m a fan” to the other while shaking hands.

The hitmaker is fresh off the finale of her Merry Christmas One and All! Tour, which wrapped with a special show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Jennifer Hudson and Ariana Grande joined Carey onstage to perform “Oh Santa!,” marking the trio’s first time performing the remix live since releasing it in 2020.

Carey also just claimed her 13th week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with her evergreen holiday smash “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The track also scored a record-breaking 16th week atop the Billboard Global 200 earlier this week.

See the photos and video of the singer with President Biden and VP Harris in the link above.

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In other news…….

• Democrats say new cash-on-hand record set

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is reporting $20 million cash on hand, the most it’s ever had heading into an election year.

The DNC brought in $12.3 million in November, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), including direct fundraising to the committee and transfers of funds from its joint fundraising and affiliated committees.

At the same time, the Republican National Committee (RNC) reported around $8 million for November, and just under $10 million cash on hand at the close of the month, according to the FEC receipts.

“The RNC only has itself to blame for marking its lowest contributions of any presidential cycle this century, setting themselves up for another painful election year thirsty for cash while the DNC builds a record-setting war chest to elect Democrats up and down the ballot,” DNC national press secretary Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.

“While the GOP lights money on fire fighting among themselves, Democrats are unified and making the early investments we need to send President Biden and Vice President Harris back to the White House in 2024,” Chitika said.

But RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Hill in an email that Democrats are the ones “lighting money on fire with tone-deaf ads that are failing to cover for Biden’s record of failure or boost his abysmal approval ratings.”

“By the time they decide to actually talk to voters, it will be too little, too late,” Kelly said.

She also noted the RNC is “investing early to staff up in House, Senate, and presidential battlegrounds, file over 70 election integrity lawsuits in 20 states, and open minority community centers across the country.”

Democrats have seen an early fundraising edge in several key 2024 races in recent months.

The DNC nearly doubled the RNC’s filings in October, with $13.1 million to the Republicans’ $7.1 million. In September, the DNC raised $13.3 million and the RNC raised $6.3 million.

Politico Playbook first reported the new DNC fundraising numbers.

• Bidens make traditional pre-Christmas visit to children’s hospital

President Joe Biden joined his wife, first lady Jill Biden, on Friday for a Christmas season visit to Children’s National Hospital to meet young patients and their families.

The first lady read the children “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” as the president waved and flashed smiles at the children and their family members. President Biden also thanked the hospital staff for their work and encouraged the children and their parents to “keep the faith.”

“Next Christmas when I see you, maybe I’ll see you at the White House,” Biden told the children.

The visit continued an 81-year annual tradition, that dates back to first lady Bess Truman, of presidents’ wives bringing holiday cheer to children who are too ill to be at home on Christmas. President Biden has joined his wife at Children’s National during her holiday visit each of the last three years.

The Bidens on Saturday are scheduled to travel to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., where they will stay through Christmas Day.