FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
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Biden Mandates Vaccines – In a speech Thursday afternoon, Joe Biden presented a six-point plan to stop the spread of COVID-19, including specific mandates as well as recommendations. During his address Biden scolded the vaccine-refusers: “Our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us.”
Key provisions of the White House mandate:
•Requires all employees with 100 or more employees to ensure workers are vaccinated or tested weekly, requires vaccination for all federal workers and for millions of contractors that do business with the federal government, and requires COVID-19 vaccinations for more than 17 million health care workers at Medicare and Medicaid participating hospitals and health care “settings.”
•Also “calls on” entertainment venues to require either proof of vaccination or testing for entry.
•Requires employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated.
•Provides easy access to booster shots for all eligible Americans, and ensures Americans know where to get such shots.
•Calls on all states to adopt vaccination requirements for all school employees, provides federal funding to school districts for safe re-opening, requires students and staff to get tested regularly, and provides “every resource” to the Food & Drug Administration to “support timely review of vaccines” for children under 12 years old.
•Increases testing and masking and adds new support for small businesses affected by shutdowns, while also streamlining the paycheck protection program (PPP) loan guarantees.
Note: Vaccinating America to stop the spread of COVID-19 should be an uncontroversial method of stanching damage to the nation’s physical and economic health, but it has become a key tool in the GOP’s efforts to make Joe Biden’s presidency a failed administration. Not surprisingly, the Republican National Committee announced Friday it would sue the Biden administration over “un-Constitutional mandates.”
“Joe Biden told Americans when he was elected that he would not impose vaccine mandates. He lied,” said RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, in a statement. “Now small businesses, workers, and families across the country will pay the price.”
Several Republican governors have said that they will sue the Administration for “overreach.”
Even some supporters of the president are critical, noting that the White House waited so long to impose such vaccination and masking mandates, after a summer in which it began to celebrate an end to the pandemic and economic recovery too early. The CDC’s confusing policy on masking in public is a particular point of criticism.
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Long-Distance Phone Bill for Biden and China’s XI – President Biden spoke with Peoples Republic of China President Xi Jingping on their first phone call since February, Thursday night. It was a long gap considering the cold economic war growing over trade between the two countries, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and cybersecurity concerns. The call, which Biden initiated, was an “effort to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the PRC,” according to the White House.
Note: Leaders in Beijing had hoped Biden would take a more conciliatory approach to trade between the two countries than had Donald Trump. But U.S.-Chinese trade policy has proven to be one of the few issues on which Biden agrees with the former president, and the White House’s concentration on the coronavirus pandemic has put any progress on improving relations on ice. It’s hard to imagine much improvement through next year.
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Vets Support Afghan Exit — A Morning Consult poll finds that 58% of veterans of the war in Afghanistan support Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from the country. Specifically, 42% strongly support it and 16% “somewhat support it.” On the other side, 35% are against it (27% strongly and 8% somewhat).
When the survey pool was opened up to all voters, 27% strongly supported the decision and 25% somewhat support it; 23% strongly oppose it and 14% somewhat oppose it.
Note: While it is easy for armchair pundits (including those of us here at The Hustings) to opine on Biden’s decision, it is interesting to note the support of the women and men who actually were in the Afghan war. What’s more those surveyed against the decision — both vets and the general public — come in below 50%. While the exit may have been messy, the decision to make an exit has solid support.
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Cheney Tweets Her Response to Trump’s Primary Pick – Former President Trump, asserting his position as the GOP’s national leader, has endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman for next year’s Republican primary for Wyoming’s single, at-large member of the House of Representatives (per Roll Call). The incumbent representative, fellow Republican Liz Cheney, responded via a platform Trump can no longer use, Twitter: “Here’s a sound bite for you: Bring it.”
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash