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balancing nation's grief and hope

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  President Biden mourns 500,000 dead, balancing nation's grief and hope With sunset remarks and a national moment of silence, President Joe Biden on Monday confronted head-on the country's once-unimaginable loss — half 1,000,000 Americans within the COVID-19 pandemic — as he tried to strike a balance between mourning and hope. Addressing the "grim, heartbreaking milestone" directly and publicly, Biden stepped to a lectern within the White House Cross Hall, unhooked his mask and delivered an emotion-filled eulogy for 500,071 Americans he said he felt he knew. "We often hear people described as ordinary Americans. there's no such thing," he said Monday evening. "There's nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary." "Just like that," he added, "so many of them took their last breath alone." A president whose own life has been marked by family tragedy, Biden spoke in deeply personal terms, referencing...

Biden and Harris Push $1.9 Trillion

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  Biden and Harris Push $1.9 Trillion Relief Plan and Preview Other Priorities President Biden on Wednesday afternoon met with a gaggle of labor leaders he described as “close friends” to debate his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan and to urge input on an attempt to bolster American infrastructure that's expected to follow. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday that the president views infrastructure as “one of the areas where there’s opportunity to work together” with Republicans, but she didn't provide details on what would happen after the stimulus bill. “We haven’t yet determined what the next priority forward would be, but he is engaging with his policy team,” Ms. Psaki said. She also wouldn’t say whether he planned to move forward with his broad economic agenda or a bill focused on infrastructure. Mr. Biden met Wednesday with several labor leaders including Richard Trumka, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.; Sean McGarvey, president of North Americ...

Biden Should Finish Trump’s One Good Trade Idea

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  Biden Should Finish Trump’s One Good Trade Idea The Biden administration is within the middle of a review of its predecessor’s record on China, including its national trading policy actions. the decision won’t be positive. Former President Donald Trump’s tariffs on $550 billion worth of Chinese imports and Beijing’s commitment to increased purchases of U.S. products under the Phase One agreement signed in January 2020—prominent samples of the previous White House’s “negotiate bilaterally, punish unilaterally” approach to trade policy—did nothing to vary the foremost troublesome aspect of China’s economic behavior: its subsidies to its state-owned enterprises. By creating unfair competition for U.S. workers, these subsidies still threaten equity reception . And by undermining multilateral rules, they weaken the planet Trade Organization (WTO) through which the US has traditionally pursued its interests within the global economy. It would be an error , however, for the Biden admini...

"Democracy Is Fragile,"

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  "Democracy Is Fragile," Joe Biden Says After Trump Acquittal Washington, United States: President Joe Biden said Saturday that despite Donald Trump's acquittal within the US Capitol insurrection trial the fees against him aren't at issue and therefore the attack shows "democracy is fragile." "While the ultimate vote didn't lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge is not in dispute," Biden said after the Senate voted 57-43 to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial. "This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it should be defended. That we must be ever vigilant," Biden said in a statement after Trump's trial on charges he incited the mob that overran Congress on january 6. Read more at Biden President

Biden seeks more foreign workers

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  Biden seeks more foreign workers while skirting H-1B visa uproar Joe Biden’s immigration overhaul seeks to permit more skilled foreign workers into the U.S. without stirring widespread protest from labor groups, whose opposition would ruin prospects for what's already one among the president’s most precarious priorities. The sweeping proposal Biden sent to Congress on his first day in office drew quick Republican opposition over its centerpiece: a faster path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants within the U.S. Another provision would allow more foreign students and workers to enter the U.S. by increasing the amount of employment-based green cards. Business groups view the proposal as how to extend the availability of coders and other skilled tech workers for U.S. companies without raising caps on programs like the H-1B visa for high-skilled workers. Companies like Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. have for years pressed to increase the number ...