Joe Biden

Politico reports: President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session Congress was the most ambitious ideological statement made by any Democratic president in decades—couched in language that made it sound as if he wasn’t making an ideological argument at all. Make no mistake that he was. He called for trillions in new spending in a robust expansion of government’s role …

CNN reports: A highly engaged writer, President Biden has spent hours debating the language and themes of his speech with his team, according to people familiar with his preparation. He has also consulted with members of his family. He has reviewed drafts and sent back handwritten revisions in the margins, along with dictating portions of his speech during writing sessions …

The Washington Post reports: Biden’s speech, to be delivered on the eve of his 100th day in office, will look very different from past presidential speeches, with no guests, no designated survivor and fewer than half of lawmakers allowed to attend in person. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the first lady will attend but will not be surrounded …

CNN reports: Two months after his effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour ran into the Senate parliamentarian buzz saw, President Joe Biden is set to use his executive powers to hike the pay of hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers. The President is expected to issue an executive order on Tuesday that increases contract …

The Washington Post reports: Overall, 52 percent of adults say they approve of the job Biden is doing, compared with 42 percent who disapprove. At this point in his presidency four years ago, Trump’s rating was nearly the reverse, with approval at 42 percent and disapproval at 53 percent. Overall, 34 percent of Americans say they strongly approve of Biden’s …

The Hill reports: President Biden has formally declared that the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire more than a century ago was “genocide,” a move that is likely to exacerbate tensions with Turkey. In doing so, Biden is fulfilling a campaign promise and becoming the first sitting president since Ronald Reagan to use the term …

Axios reports: President Biden will travel to the U.K. on June 11-13 for the G7 summit, followed by a trip to Brussels on June 14 for the NATO summit, the White House announced Friday. Why it matters: Biden’s first overseas trip — which has been delayed due to the pandemic — will be used to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to …

NBC News reports: A coalition of 20 Republican state attorneys general are demanding that President Biden and congressional leadership not expand the Supreme Court, a proposal that has gained increased support among progressives. They responded to Biden’s creation earlier this month of a commission to study potential changes to the high court, as well as a House bill introduced last …

The New York Times report: President Xi Jinping of China, the United States’ biggest rival on the world stage, has said he will attend the virtual summit. So have Presidents Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, with whom the Biden administration is trying to negotiate a plan to protect the Amazon rainforest. A number of prominent …

CNN reports: President Joe Biden on Thursday will kick off a climate summit attended by 40 other world leaders by announcing an ambitious cut in greenhouse gas emissions as he looks to put the US back at the center of the global effort to address the climate crisis and curb carbon emissions. At the White House summit, which will take …

The Associated Press reports: President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he is “praying the verdict is the right verdict” in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin and that he believed the case to be “overwhelming.” Biden, ahead of a meeting with lawmakers in the Oval Office, told reporters that he was only weighing in on the trial …

USA Today reports: President Joe Biden is set to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, April 28, just before he marks his 100th day in office. Biden accepted an invitation Tuesday night from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to address a joint session on that date, the White House confirmed. The speech will allow Biden …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Joe Biden called on Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to reduce tensions stirred by a Russian military build-up on Ukraine’s border and proposed a summit of the estranged leaders to tackle a raft of disputes. The White House and the Kremlin reported only the second conversation between the two since Biden took office in January. …

The New York Times reports: President Biden has decided to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 20 years after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon launched the country into its longest war, United States officials said Tuesday. The decision will keep more than 3,000 American troops on the ground in Afghanistan beyond …

The Washington Post reports: Major, the Biden family’s younger German shepherd, is receiving additional training following a second biting incident on the White House grounds. Michael LaRosa, press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, confirmed that Major is receiving the training “to help him adjust to life in the White House.” “The off-site, private training will take place in the …

The Washington Post reports: President Biden created a bipartisan commission Friday to study structural changes to the Supreme Court, giving the group 180 days to produce a report on a range of thorny topics including court expansion and term limits. The commission, composed of 36 legal scholars, former federal judges and practicing lawyers, fulfills Biden’s campaign promise to establish such …

USA Today reports: President Joe Biden is set to unveil six executive actions aimed at curbing gun violence on Thursday, following a string of mass shootings that has put pressure on the administration to act the president’s long-held campaign promise to tackle gun control. The president also is expected to announce his nomination of David Chipman as the director of …

The Washington Post reports: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III said Wednesday that under no circumstances would he vote to eliminate or weaken the legislative filibuster in his most definitive statement yet on the topic, dealing a blow to Democrats’ hopes of pushing major aspects of President Biden’s agenda through Congress. The West Virginia senator also suggested in an op-ed published …

Politico reports: Biden will direct the administration to begin the process of requiring buyers of so-called ghost guns — homemade or makeshift firearms that lack serial numbers — to undergo background checks, according to three people who have spoken to the White House about the plans. He is expected to be joined at the event by Attorney General Merrick Garland. …

Bloomberg News reports: A new poll conducted since President Donald Trump left office shows a 9-point gap between the number of Americans who identify as Democrats or lean Democratic, compared to those aligned with the Republican Party, the largest gap in almost a decade. A Gallup poll conducted from January to March showed that 49% of respondents consider themselves Democrats …