County leaders in D.C.

The National Association of Counties is a non-governmental organization that represents more than 2,300 counties and provides legislative, research, public relations and technical assistance to those members.

The organization is wrapping up a five-day conference of workshops and briefings on federal policy that affects local government such as broadband, the upcoming farm bill, workforce development, public lands, immigration and veterans affairs, among other issues.

Similar to his State of the Union address last week, Biden touched upon his administration’s efforts to combat the fentanyl crisis and the need to allocate more funding for personnel at the border to intercept the drugs, and he mentioned how officials have seized more than 23,000 pounds of fentanyl.

He also pointed to lower gas and fuel costs, and said his administration will continue to lower inflation. The Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates in order to slow inflation.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday released January’s consumer price index, which measures a broad basket of common goods and services, and reported that inflation rose 0.05%, with rising costs of shelter, gas and fuel prices. The CPI was up 6.4% from the same period in 2022.

“In contrast, the fruits and vegetables index fell 0.5 percent over the month with the fresh vegetables index declining 2.3 percent,” according to the CPI. “The index for dairy and related products was unchanged in January.”

Biden also took a swipe at Republicans, saying that some wanted to cut and sunset popular social safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

“You may have seen a spirited debate in my State of the Union address,” he said to attendees, adding that he felt like he was “back on a playground.”

“When I call (Republicans) out on this, the State of the Union, it sounded as though they agreed right then and there to take those cuts off the table,” he said. “I sure hope so.”

Republicans have adamantly stated that they have no plans to make cuts to those programs, but the White House cites a proposal by Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida to sunset federal programs after five years unless Congress authorizes them.

Biden also acknowledged that he shares concerns with counties about the debt ceiling issue in Congress and how that can affect their budgets. At issue is how a divided Congress will deal with the nation’s borrowing ceiling, known as the debt limit. Congress has until the summer to address it.

'We have created 12 million jobs,' Biden tells county leaders gathered in Washington

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Biden confirmed judicial nominees now outpaces Trump, Obama

The Senate confirmed President Biden’s 100th federal judicial nominee on Tuesday, outpacing his two most recent predecessors.

Biden and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have led a speedy push to confirm diverse, liberal nominees in the closely divided Senate after Republicans notched several momentous legal victories enabled by their conservative judicial picks, including decisions on abortion and guns.

Biden’s pace of judicial confirmations outruns the number of judges confirmed under former Presidents Trump and Obama at this point in their administrations. Senate Republicans confirmed Trump’s 100th nominee in May 2019, outpacing the Obama administration but taking about two-and-a-half months longer than Biden.

“Today, because of the work done by this majority, our federal judiciary is far more balanced, far more diverse, far more experienced than the one we had just two years ago, and it’s something every American can be proud of,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.

Senate Democrats reached the milestone of 100 confirmed Article III judges by confirming Gina Méndez-Miró to the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Biden has now secured confirmations for 30 appeals court judges and 69 district court judges. He has also successfully nominated one associate justice — Ketanji Brown Jackson — to the Supreme Court.