When President Biden Joe Biden Biden offers support to union organizing efforts Senate Democrats nix 'Plan B' on minimum wage hike Kavanaugh dismays conservatives by dodging pro-Trump election lawsuits MORE took office a mere 40 days ago with a promise of transparency, accountability and administrative competence, his ascendance was hailed far and wide as a return to “normalcy.” On Inauguration Day, Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki Jen Psaki Cuomo asks New York AG to appoint independent attorney to investigate sexual harassment claims Ocasio-Cortez: Detailed sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo 'painful to read' Sunday shows - Trump's reemergence, COVID-19 vaccines and variants dominate MORE assured the White House press corps of a return to “trust and transparency” in the executive branch and that “we have a common goal, which is sharing accurate information with the American people.” That same afternoon, President Biden issued a widely touted executive order telling agency heads to compile within 30 days a list of Trump-era environmental regulations to be rescinded or revised before the end of his first year in office. Think of it as Biden’s Year One environmental agenda. The 30 days came and went on Feb. 19 and … almost nothing. There were no lists to be found from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Interior Department, the Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service or the Forest Service. Based on communications to my clients from the Justice Department, the EPA, in particular, decided its list of regulatory priorities for Year One of the Biden administration “will not be publicly disclosed.” ADVERTISEMENT So, after all the trumpeting of trust and transparency as guiding principles, it turns out the Biden EPA’s regulatory priorities are a government secret. Is it possible that Biden’s “ Build Back Better ” agenda involves more government ...
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Chamber of Commerce labels Biden removal of NLRB general counsel ‘extreme’
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce requested President Biden Joe Biden Biden offers support to union organizing efforts Senate Democrats nix 'Plan B' on minimum wage hike Kavanaugh dismays conservatives by dodging pro-Trump election lawsuits MORE immediately reinstate Peter Robb, the former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel, who he fired on Inauguration Day. The pro-business lobbying group sent a letter to Biden on Monday criticizing him for firing Trump appointee Robb and his chief deputy counsel Alice Stock, asking that he reverse the decision, and implying that the decision was due to pressure from labor leaders. The Chamber and other groups on the letter, including the American Trucking Associations and National Restaurant Association, called Biden’s actions “extreme” and requested that Robb be able to complete his term that expires on Nov. 16. ADVERTISEMENT “The removal of an incumbent General Counsel of the NLRB is an extraordinary breach of longstanding precedent that threatens to upend the independence of that office. No president since the establishment of the independent Office of General Counsel to the NLRB in 1947 has ever removed a sitting General Counsel before the end of their term,” they wrote. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The letter argues that this action from Biden could politicize enforcement and undermine the credibility of the NLRB. The Biden administration has said that Robb was fired because he was not carrying out the objectives of the NLRB. The Chamber mentioned that Obama-era NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin was kept on by President Trump Donald Trump Sacha Baron Cohen calls out 'danger of lies, hate and conspiracies' in Golden Globes speech Sorkin uses Abbie Hoffman quote to condemn Capitol violence: Democracy is 'something you do' Ex-Trump aide Pierson planning run for Congress MORE “notwithstanding General Counsel ...
Why Biden can’t turn back the clock on the Iran nuclear deal
As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden Joe Biden Biden offers support to union organizing efforts Senate Democrats nix 'Plan B' on minimum wage hike Kavanaugh dismays conservatives by dodging pro-Trump election lawsuits MORE promised to “rejoin the [Iran nuclear] agreement and use our renewed commitment to diplomacy to work with our allies to strengthen and extend it.” As president, Biden has taken the first steps to fulfilling this promise, but he may find that this pledge is not easy to keep. Not only do all of the original flaws of the agreement remain, but, more importantly, the agreement was predicated on a geopolitical context that no longer exists. Formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal avoided another unpopular Middle Eastern war by defusing a potentially explosive foreign policy issue — Iranian nuclear proliferation. Until President Trump Donald Trump Sacha Baron Cohen calls out 'danger of lies, hate and conspiracies' in Golden Globes speech Sorkin uses Abbie Hoffman quote to condemn Capitol violence: Democracy is 'something you do' Ex-Trump aide Pierson planning run for Congress MORE ’s decision to withdraw from the agreement in 2018, the agreement remained relatively popular with the American public. The deal – a meticulously negotiated, multilateral diplomatic feat – also provided a neat foil to the Trump administration’s “America first” foreign policy. While rejoining the JCPOA may make for good politics, it may not make for good policy. The JCPOA was never a long-term, or comprehensive, fix to the Iran challenge. The deal aimed to restrict, rather than end, Iran’s path to nuclear weapons for 10 to 15 years after it was enacted in 2016. Time, however, is no longer on the United States’s side. ADVERTISEMENT According to Secretary of State Antony Blinken Antony Blinken China traps the US into negotiations, then breaks its promises Overnight ...
Chinese Military to Hold Month-Long Drill in Occupied South China Sea
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will begin military exercises in the South China Sea — which China illegally claims is entirely within its territory — on Monday, in a move Chinese social media framed as a message to the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. China’s claims in the South China Sea span over the sovereign territory of five countries: Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The government of the Philippines sued China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, a venue open only to state claimants, and received a favorable ruling in 2016 which affirmed the illegality of Beijing’s claims. China has since openly vowed to defy the ruling and the Philippines, under a new presidential administration, has done little to challenge China’s continued presence in its waters. Recent satellite images suggest China has embarked upon further illegal construction operations in parts of Vietnam and the Philippines throughout the time of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, when the territorial dispute had largely disappeared from news headlines. The state-run Global Times newspaper announced the month-long military drills in the sea on Sunday and framed them as a message to Washington, more than one to Manila or Hanoi. The Chinese military will ban all non-PLA ships from entering the territory used for the drill for the entire month of March. “The exercises come at a time when the US has started to again frequently conduct close-up reconnaissance operations on China’s coastal regions as well as on hydrological environments in the South China Sea,” the Global Times noted. The U.S. Navy has regularly conducted what are known as “Freedom of Navigation Operations” (FONOPs) in the South China Sea for years, meant to challenge the idea that the territory in question is exclusively Chinese. The FONOPs are conducted openly and legally. The Global Times appeared to take issue not with the FONOPs, but with alleged ...
White House Backtracks on Visitor Logs Transparency
The Biden White House won’t be releasing virtual visitor logs to the public. Early on, the Biden administration committed to releasing the logs to the public. Currently, there are no plans to disclose the names of attendees of virtual meetings, which are currently the primary mode of interaction for the president until the coronavirus pandemic eases, according to a report from Politico . Politico also reported, “The schedules for the president and vice president aren’t posted online. The White House comment line is shut down. There are no citizen petitions on the White House’s website.” Jen Psaki tweeted from her personal account before Biden was inaugurated. She said the White House will return to the policy of releasing the visitor logs, citing safety during the pandemic as the top priority: For the sake of clarity—The Biden-Harris Administration will return to the policy of releasing White House visitor logs. Also true that visitors will be limited for some time because safety during the pandemic is top priority. — Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) January 16, 2021 Alex Howard, director of Digital Democracy Project, at the left-leaning Demand Progress Educational Fund, told Politico: The steps they’ve taken are welcome, but insufficient to the moment and the need. They need to keep ‘showing their work’ by opening Cabinet meetings, disclosing information and using political capital to emphasize that being ‘open by default’ isn’t just an option but an obligation across the government. Howard authored a letter in February asking the Biden administration about “transparency & good governance”. The letter was signed onto by 40+ groups, including Demand Progress, Government Accountability Project, and Open The Government. Coalition of open government organizations send several pointed questions to the Biden admin about how it will decrease secrecy and commit to transparency going forward: https://t.co/nir77ypWQm — Freedom of the Press ...
