THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021
Today's News & Notes returns to the News & Notes page. Please click on the tab above. Return to the home page later today for a debate on President Biden's address to the joint session of Congress.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021
With security on Capitol Hill expected to be at its highest levels, President Biden will present his address to a joint session of Congress tonight at 9 p.m. The audience will be limited due to coronavirus distancing protocols.
It’s Official: Biden Offers a New New Deal – President Biden tonight will introduce his American Families Plan (AFP), a $1.8-trillion “once in a lifetime investment in our nation’s future” according to a White House briefing. The plan entails $1 trillion in spending and $800 billion in new tax credits. This is a companion package to the proposed $2.3-trillion infrastructure plan. All of this comes on top of his $1.9-trillion COVID-19 relief plan passed via reconciliation in March.
The AFP proposes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in new low-income tax credits that serves as a kind of counter to President Trump’s $1.5-trillion in tax cuts of 2017.
New spending proposals include:
•At least four years of free education for every student, consisting of a.) universal high-quality pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds, and b.) two years of free community college for all Americans.
•Up to $1,400 in additional assistance to low-income students by expanding the Pell Grant maximum by 20%.
•Would make college more affordable for low-income students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), tribal colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions and create or expand educational programs in high-demand fields.
•Improve teacher training, especially for special education, bi-lingual education and certifications that improve teacher performance.
•Direct support to children and families by investing in affordable child care and by providing direct support to children and families to ensure low- and middle-income families pay no more than 7% of their income toward high-quality child care.
•Minimum $15 per hour wage for early childhood staff and improved training.
•Expand nutritional benefits to about 9.3 million children of low-income families.
New tax credits proposed include:
•Extension of child tax credits in the American Recovery Plan through 2025.
•Make the child tax credit permanent and fully refundable.
•Make the earned income tax credit permanent for childless workers.
Every dollar invested in early childhood programs results in more than $7 in economic benefits, the White House estimates.
Note: While Republicans most certainly will attack the American Families Program as yet another high-cost expense the U.S. economy cannot afford, it also falls short of progressive Democrats’ wish list which included free college at state universities and school loan relief.
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This May Not Be True — Laura Italiano, the reporter who wrote an untrue story in the New York Post about undocumented minors getting a swag bag including Kamala Harris’ children’s book, has resigned, The Washington Post reports. Italiano tweeted that she’d been “ordered” to write the piece despite knowing that it was, as the Former Guy might put it, fake news.
Note: This is just par for the proverbial course (of course, par for the Former Guy, it has been widely reported, is a variable thing) for outlets like the New York Post and “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” although it should be acknowledged that the first-named is ostensibly a “news” outlet, not one where making things up, like the Biden Administration’s climate planning calling for the outlawing of things like Whoppers (the burgers, not the lies that fall from the lips of the likes of Carlson), is not considered to be in good form.
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Building Back Together to Push Against Voter Suppression – Democrats have formed a new initiative aligned with President Biden to push back against voter suppression drives, including new laws making their way through many states’ legislatures, named “Building Back Together” (BBT), Politico reports. It will also support the Democrat’s For the People Act, the sweeping voter rights bill passed by the House earlier this year, and currently languishing in the Senate. Chief of BBT is Bob Bauer, who advised Biden’s presidential campaign and had served as White House counsel in the Obama administration.
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Promising Recovery, No Hike in Interest Rates – The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to maintain near-zero percent interest rates because the economy is improving, The Wall Street Journal reports. Fed members in recent comments have noted “recent pickups” in hiring, spending and inflation. –Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash