Tag Archives: Biden Administration

CNET reports: Starting today, the US Postal Service said it will begin shipping free COVID tests to homes across the country. The new at-home tests are made possible by a $600 million investment from the White House that includes grants for 12 manufacturing companies that produce the tests. The new free tests from the post office come at a time …

The Associated Press reports: The Biden administration announced Monday that it has awarded more than $1.4 billion to projects that improve railway safety and boost capacity, with much of the money coming from the 2021 infrastructure law. “These projects will make American rail safer, more reliable, and more resilient, delivering tangible benefits to dozens of communities where railroads are located, …

The New York Times reports: The Biden administration, looking ahead to a possible winter surge of Covid-19, announced on Wednesday that it was reviving its program of offering Americans free coronavirus tests through the mail and would spend more than $600 million to buy tests from a dozen domestic manufacturers. The website for the program, covidtests.gov, will begin accepting orders …

The Hill reports: The White House will create a federal Climate Corps, a major wish list item for progressive Democrats and environmentalist groups, Biden administration officials confirmed on a call with reporters Tuesday. On the call, administration officials said the program will employ 20,000 people in its first year. These recruits, they said, will be “doing the important task of …

CNN reports: Five Americans who had been imprisoned in Iran have been freed and have landed in Doha, Qatar, before flying to the United States later on Monday. The five, all of whom had been designated as wrongfully detained, were freed as part of a wider deal that includes the US unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds. They are being …

Reuters reports: The Biden administration plans to urge all Americans to get a booster shot for the coronavirus this autumn to counter a new wave of infections, a White House official said on Sunday. The official said that while the CDC is reporting an increase in infections and hospital admissions from the virus, overall levels remain low. On Thursday, Moderna …

Reuters reports: The Biden administration on Monday issued new guidance to colleges and universities on how they could still legally encourage racial diversity on their campuses even after the U.S. Supreme Court ended affirmative action in college admissions. The guidance, from the Education and Justice departments, came after the conservative-majority Supreme Court in June ruled that colleges cannot legally consider …

The New York Times reports: Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on Friday named a special counsel to take over the Justice Department’s investigation into President Biden’s son Hunter, elevating the long-running and politically fraught inquiry. Mr. Garland, who made the announcement at the Justice Department’s headquarters in Washington, named David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, who has handled …

CNN reports: The Montgomery Locks and Dam near Pittsburgh is in the midst of a $857 million upgrade to ensure water levels in the Upper Ohio River are high enough for large cargo ships to pass through. On a grassy roadside nearby, a white sign announces who’s behind the work: “Project funded by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.” Even …

Yahoo Finance reports: The US economy created 187,000 new jobs in July while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Economists had expected job gains to total 200,000 with the unemployment remaining unchanged at 3.6%. Wages, a closely watched indicator of how much leverage workers are exerting in the labor market, rose more than …

Via press release from the White House: Millions of Americans are currently experiencing the effects of extreme heat, which is growing in intensity, frequency, and duration due to the climate crisis. President Biden has asked the Department of Labor (DOL) to issue the first-ever Hazard Alert for heat, and DOL will also ramp up enforcement to protect workers from extreme …

The Associated Press reports: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday granted a temporary stay of a July 4 order putting sweeping limitations on the Biden administration’s communications with social media companies. The stay was granted by a panel of 5th Circuit judges, which includes Clinton-appointee Carl E. Stewart, Obama-appointee James E. Graves and Trump-appointee Andrew S. Oldham. Oldham …

Bloomberg News reports: A federal judge in Louisiana denied a request by the US government to delay an order he imposed last week banning federal agencies and officials from communicating with social media companies. The Justice Department is expected to ask the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene after US District Court Judge Terry Doughty on Monday refused …

Axios reports: The Biden administration is appealing a court ruling that would limit government officials and agencies from communicating with social media companies on content moderation, according to court filings Wednesday. U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday in relation to an ongoing lawsuit from Republican attorneys general filed by Louisiana and Missouri that alleges the …

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge on Tuesday blocked key Biden administration agencies and officials from meeting and communicating with social media companies about “protected speech,” in an extraordinary preliminary injunction in an ongoing case that could have profound effects on the First Amendment. The injunction came in response to a lawsuit brought by Republican attorneys general in Louisiana …

NPR reports: At the heart of the question is the 2003 HEROES Act, which passed in the wake of 9/11 and gave the education secretary broad power to “modify or waive” provisions of student loan programs in times of emergency. The Biden administration argues that the COVID-19 pandemic constituted one such emergency. Conservative opponents of the plan, however, argue that …

From the Justice Department: The Justice Department, together with federal and state law enforcement partners, announced today a strategically coordinated, two-week nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against 78 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes that included over $2.5 billion in alleged fraud. The defendants allegedly defrauded programs entrusted for …

The Washington Post reports: The Supreme Court on Friday ruled for the Biden administration in an important immigration case, saying Texas and Louisiana lacked the legal standing to challenge the executive branch’s priorities on who should be deported. At issue is a Biden administration policy that says the Department of Homeland Security should focus on arresting recent border crossers and …

Bloomberg News reports: US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reiterated the government’s determination to respond quickly to revive the collapsed Interstate 95 bridge in Philadelphia, saying it was expected to reopen “within weeks.” “Within weeks they are going to be able to get that done with novel approaches to filling that back in,” Buttigieg said Sunday in an interview with Bloomberg …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing early Sunday on a high-stakes diplomatic mission to try to cool exploding U.S.-China tensions that have set many around the world on edge. Blinken was to begin two days of talks with senior Chinese officials in the afternoon. He is the highest-level American official to visit China …