Author: Trevor Hunnicutt
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Biden to lift spending on bridges as part of infrastructure drive
WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden will trumpet his administration’s plans to spend $27 billion fixing thousands of U.S. bridges, the latest roll-out associated with the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Biden plans the remarks as his larger economic package, Build Back Better, has stalled in the Senate and his poll numbers have sagged as concerns have…
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Biden supports Senate rule change for voting rights law
ATLANTA • President Joe Biden on Tuesday made an impassioned plea for U.S. voting rights legislation stalled in Congress and said Democratic lawmakers should make a major change in Senate rules to override Republican opposition. Calling it a “battle for the soul of America,” Biden put the voting rights effort on par with the fight…
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Pfizer to supply U.S. with 10 million more courses of COVID-19 pills
WASHINGTON • The Biden administration doubled its order for Pfizer Inc’s oral COVID-19 antiviral treatment, the company and the White House said Tuesday, providing the government 20 million courses as it fights a record surge in COVID-19 cases. The White House now expects about 4 million treatment courses of the pills to be available by…
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Christmas supply-chain crisis has been averted, Biden and FedEx CEO declare
By Trevor Hunnicutt and David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden said U.S. actions to eliminate supply-chain snarls have staved off a pre-Christmas crisis, ahead of a meeting with U.S. officials and private-sector companies, including FedEx, on Wednesday. Biden created a task force in June to address the issue, and the White House says…
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Biden says U.S. considering diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics
WASHINGTON • The United States is considering a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, President Joe Biden confirmed on Thursday, a move that would be aimed at protesting China’s human rights record, including what Washington says is genocide against minority Muslims. “Something we’re considering,” Biden said when asked if a diplomatic boycott was under consideration…
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Biden pushes $1.75 trillion spending bill, progressives push back
WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a $1.75 trillion economic and climate change plan that he said unified Democrats then was quickly rebuffed by members of his own party. “We have a historic economic framework” that will create jobs and make the United States more competitive, Biden said after a last-minute trip to…
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Biden prepares to scale back spending plan under threat
WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden and his senior Democratic allies in Congress are preparing to lower their ambitions for a signature legislative achievement on their top social priorities. Faced with increasingly stiff odds of passing their $3.5 trillion social-spending proposal, Biden and his aides are trying to suss out what narrower proposal could unite an…
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Biden warns Kabul airport attackers: ‘We will hunt you down’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden, his voice breaking with emotion, vowed on Thursday the United States would hunt down those responsible for twin explosions at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan and said he asked the Pentagon to develop plans to strike back at them. Biden spoke hours after the blasts killed at least a dozen…
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GOP senator calls on Biden to reappoint Powell to top Fed job
WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden should keep Jerome Powell at the helm of the Federal Reserve for another four years to build confidence in an improving economy that still faces significant risks, Sen. Steve Daines said in a letter to the president on Thursday. “Changing the top leadership at this sensitive time could foster uncertainty…
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White House looks into legality of vaccines
WASHINGTON • The Biden administration is examining what authority businesses have to mandate vaccines, a top U.S. official told Reuters on Friday, as it considers what more steps can be done to halt the spread of COVID-19. “We are looking at that just to see how far employers can go when it comes to vaccines…