May 19, 2021 6:03 AM By Brandon Lee
Senate Republicans are calling on top Biden administration officials to walk back support of an international plan to waive Covid-19 vaccine IP protections, calling the decision a âgiveawayâ to China and India that will only promote âvaccine nationalism.â
Countries like China that regularly steal U.S. intellectual property began urging the World Trade Organization to waive IP rights âalmost immediately after these vaccines were proven to work,â Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote in a letter today to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
âThese nations are falsely claiming that granting such a waiver would speed the development of new vaccine capacity. Nothing could be further from the truth,â they said in the letter, obtained by Bloomberg Law.
May 17, 2021 6:03 AM By Brandon Lee
For a nation mired in a pandemic for more than a year, the biggest step toward a return to normal came suddenly, even to President Joe Biden.
After warning the country last Monday to stay vigilant amid the threat of coronavirus variants, the president found himself three days later striking a different tone, celebrating that the U.S. had already reached a sort of finish line.
Late Wednesday evening, Bidenâs White House learned from Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that vaccinated Americans could safely shed the face masks that have become a staple of their wardrobes in almost all occasions.
May 11, 2021 7:00 AM By Zachary Sherwood and Brandon Lee
President Joe Biden will trade ideas with U.S. governors about how to vaccinate more Americans, after the number of people signing up for shots fell sharply over the last month.
Biden will meet today virtually with the leaders of Massachusetts, Utah, Ohio, New Mexico, Maine and Minnesota to discuss âinnovative ways governors are working to get the people in their states vaccinated,â White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Biden has said the country has entered a new phase of its vaccination campaign as domestic demand weakens. The U.S. is administering about 2.1 million shots per day, down from 3.4 million shots about a month ago, even though thereâs enough supply to give more.
May 6, 2021 7:02 AM By Zachary Sherwood and Brandon Lee
President Joe Bidenâs plan to raise $700 billion over a decade from increased tax audits of the wealthy and corporations a major funding source for his economic-investment proposals will probably take years to bear fruit and faces skepticism that the figure is realistic.
The Biden administration has proposed a more than 10% funding increase for the Internal Revenue Service for the next fiscal year and an overall investment of $80 billion over the next 10 years to beef up the agencyâs depleted auditing staff and outdated technology. Bidenâs American Families Plan, released last week, highlighted the audit take as a principal way to pay for $1.8 trillion in initiatives including child care and education.
Virus highlighted long-standing health risks in schools
Democrats, Biden seeking unprecedented infrastructure funds May 4, 2021 5:01 AM By Andrew Kreighbaum
The coronavirus pandemic has put a spotlight on persistent health threats to schoolchildren and teachers posed by crumbling U.S. campuses with leaking pipes or mold-prone ventilation.
Now, as more schools reopen for in-person teaching, the Biden administration is using that focus to seek billions of dollars in spending to repair and maintain K-12 schoolsâan area outside the traditional scope of federal infrastructure or education aid.
âItâs a battleground topic,â said David Sturtz, a partner at school planning firm Cooperative Strategies. âThe vaccine can get you back in school but not provide long-term peace of mind. The real need out there dwarfs what weâre allocating.â