Tag: Biden

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China’s Xi Jinping seeks benefit over Biden with ground-breaking EU funding deal

China’s Xi Jinping seeks advantage over Biden with ground-breaking EU investment deal

Chinese negotiators this week surprised their counterparts in the European Union with important market access concessions – after long months of intransigence – that could allow the two parties to reach an agreement on a historic investment deal by the end of the year.

Although EU officials have not yet released the details, a senior EU diplomat said the deal goes beyond anything Beijing has so far offered a foreign partner, both in terms of market access and legal and other guarantees.

EU officials are not naive about the historical timing or political significance of the agreement. It would come shortly after Joe Biden was elected by the Americans in early November, after he pledged to rally allies in Europe and Asia to join forces against the unfair practices of China’s authoritarian capitalist system.

In Brussels, Beijing’s rush to conclude the investment agreement follows the European Commission’s December 2 proposal to President-elect Biden for a “new transatlantic agenda for global change” that seeks nothing less than to bring Europe and the US together USA as a global alliance based on shared values ​​and history.

EU officials I reached out to on Friday said they were torn between the opportunity to get one of the best investment deals with China ever offered and a desire to capitalize on the early days of the Biden administration dramatically improve transatlantic relations. Should the EU make the deal with China, they will likely argue to the Biden team that the concessions they received from Beijing could also apply to future US deals with China.

However, the message from President Xi to President-elect Biden, paraphrasing the 1974 Rolling Stones hit single, is “Time is waiting for no one”.

Xi is unwilling to hit the pause button to give President Biden the time and space to assemble his China team, reach out to allies, and determine his strategy. He will not do this in trade and investment, or in his efforts to address political differences at home. He is moving fast to achieve greater self-sufficiency in the development of key technologies, especially semiconductors. And he will avert any efforts that would hinder his efforts to unite Taiwan with the mainland during his leadership.

It is clear that President Xi sees 2021, the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, as perhaps the most important year since he came to power in 2013. He sees the next decade as crucial.

Nothing could have made President Xi’s personal ambitions clearer than the Fifth Plenum of the Central China Committee, which concluded on October 29, just five days before the US elections.

“Judging by the outcome of the plenary session, Xi’s political ambition to remain in power for the next 15 years seems increasingly secure,” said Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime Minister, in a speech he will give as President of the Asia Society Policy Institute must read. Rudd sees the 2020s as the “make-or-break decade for the future of Chinese and American power”.

President Xi Jinping’s rush to finalize the EU investment deal is just one of many elements of his evolving, preventive approach to the United States in general and President-elect Joe Biden in particular, from trade initiatives around the world to Escalating actions against pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong and real or perceived dissidents at home.

President Xi hopes to persuade the Biden government to cooperatively negotiate similar deals with Beijing. Before the deterioration of relations during the Trump administration, it had been a long-awaited Chinese goal to reach a so-called BIT – or bilateral investment treaty – with the United States, similar to what is being negotiated with the EU.

Less generously, Xi boxed in the Biden administration long before his inauguration on Jan. 20, including his closest democratic allies in investment and trade deals in which Washington is not party. On human rights issues – including the arrest of a Bloomberg journalist this week and the detention of newspaper founder Jimmy Lai and other democracy activists in Hong Kong – it signals that today’s China will resist President-elect Biden’s anticipated efforts to highlight human rights issues.

President Xi not only takes advantage of the longstanding commercial attractions of his country’s nearly 1.4 billion consumers. It also benefits from China’s significant achievement in controlling COVID-19. This, in turn, will allow China to be the only major economy in the world to grow around 1.5-2% this year, with double-digit growth next year.

The news from Brussels follows last month’s announcement that 15 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and regional partners – including China but not the United States – have signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), one of the largest free trade agreements in history. It is the first time that China has come together with US allies South Korea and Japan in such an agreement.

In addition, President Xi has expressed an interest in joining the comprehensive and progressive agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The deal was negotiated with the United States during the Obama administration, but President Trump withdrew from the talks long before it was successfully concluded in 2018 as one of his first acts as US President.

Despite his determination to revive relations with allies, President-elect Biden has stated that trade deals will not be a priority. There remains an inadequate constituency for them among Republican or Democratic legislators.

As always, it would be wrong to underestimate China’s challenges, and there are many.

Among them are doubts about the Chinese economic model, particularly as President Xi tightened his control over the private sector, including the recent blockade of ANT’s IPO. China’s return to growth this year has been largely state-driven.

There is growing evidence that President Xi’s most ambitious international effort, the Belt and Road Initiative, is getting into trouble. Chinese officials tacitly rule their ambitions – and they are under pressure to postpone or cancel the debts of the country’s poorer partners.

It is also not clear whether national self-sufficiency efforts will fill the remaining technological gaps, particularly in semiconductors. The Trump administration tightened tensions this week, putting China’s largest chipmaker and drone maker on an export blacklist. US companies had to obtain licenses to sell to them.

Whatever problems President Xi may have, he will emerge more strongly than expected from 2020 when the coronavirus broke out in Wuhan late last year. In the inaugural year of President-elect Biden, President Xi’s actions may be the most spectacular.

Frederick Kempe is a best-selling author, award-winning journalist, and President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, one of the United States’ most influential think tanks on global affairs. He worked for the Wall Street Journal for more than 25 years as a foreign correspondent, assistant editor-in-chief and senior editor for the European edition of the newspaper. His latest book – “Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth” – was a New York Times best seller and has been published in more than a dozen languages. Follow him on Twitter @FredKempe and subscribe here to Inflection Points, his view every Saturday of the top stories and trends of the past week.

More information from CNBC staff can be found here @ CNBCopinion on twitter.

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Politics

What Books Ought to Biden Learn? We Requested 22 Writers

What Books Should Biden Read? We Asked 22 Writers

George Will is the author of The Conservative Sensibility.

Laila Lalami recommends

“Whatever happens during the Biden presidency, the Supreme Court will play a huge role in affirming or suppressing voting rights, reproductive rights, immigration, birthright, marriage equality, or environmental protection. In this book, Adam Cohen shows how Richard Nixon’s appointment of four judges to the Court of Justice embarked on a dangerous legal route that has consistently undermined the rights of the poor and disadvantaged in protecting businesses. Cohen’s clear work provides important context for why the President-elect and his party need to make the Court of Justice a central issue on their agenda. “

Laila Lalami is the author of “Conditional Citizens”.

Thomas Piketty recommends

“This is a fascinating book on the multidimensional nature of reconstruction politics. By navigating through these various dimensions, the Democratic Party managed to find its way from Civil War to the New Deal and beyond. One of the big questions today is whether the Democratic Party can regain the trust of socially disadvantaged voters regardless of their origin. The country has changed a lot since it was rebuilt, but lessons can still be learned from that time. “

Thomas Piketty is the author of Capital and Ideology.

Harriet A. Washington recommends

“Amid furious cultural intolerance and a deadly poorly managed pandemic, Americans, particularly those of the same color, fall ill and die as they are put into service as ‘essential workers’ in environmental victim zones. The associated increase in civilianity and xenophobia of the pandemic has sparked open racial battles and caged children with a migrant background. What tremendous challenge does Joe Biden not face, and who can best advise the man who must lead us in repairing this broken nation?

“Perhaps the anthropologist, doctor, and politically savvy human rights leader who has long and successfully grappled with the specter of medical indifference, government mendacity, and indifference to the fate of marginalized ‘others’: Paul Farmer’s Anthology of Speeches offers shorter narratives that Suitable for a busy leader who exudes a moral philosophy, blueprint, case studies, and deep inspiration for the heart changes that must promote the American Atonement and national healing. “

Categories
Politics

In Selecting a Cupboard, Biden Attracts From His Roots

In Picking a Cabinet, Biden Draws From His Roots

WASHINGTON – Seine Wirtschafts- und Umweltteams sind etwas links vom Zentrum. Seine außenpolitischen Entscheidungen fallen genau in den Mainstream der Demokratischen Partei. Seine besten Helfer im Weißen Haus sind Veteranen aus Washington.

Insgesamt ist das Bild, das sich aus der ersten Welle der Personalentscheidungen des gewählten Präsidenten Joseph R. Biden Jr. ergibt, ein bekanntes, pragmatisches und weitgehend zentristisches.

Das passt zu dem impliziten Deal, den der ehemalige Vizepräsident und langjährige Senator den Demokraten während der Vorwahlen 2020 angeboten hat – dass er weder so fortschrittlich war wie die Senatoren Bernie Sanders aus Vermont und Elizabeth Warren aus Massachusetts, noch ein Produkt der Wall Street wie Michael Bloomberg Republikaner wurde Demokrat, der in letzter Minute versagte, eine gemäßigte Alternative zu Herrn Biden anzubieten.

Das Kabinett von Herrn Biden ist noch in Arbeit und soll eine Erweiterung seiner eigenen Ideologie sein, die auf langjährigen Prinzipien der Demokratischen Partei beruht, sich jedoch stärker auf die Notlage der Amerikaner der Arbeiterklasse konzentriert und ein neues Gefühl der Dringlichkeit für das Klima vermittelt Veränderung und ein tieferes Einfühlungsvermögen in die Fragen der Rassengerechtigkeit, die er sagte, überzeugten ihn, ein drittes Mal für die Präsidentschaft zu kandidieren.

Seine Nominierungen spiegeln das Image wider, das seine Kampagne vermittelt hat und das seine Niederlage gegen Präsident Trump ausgelöst hat. Sie sind vielfältig und sprechen Liberale, junge Wähler und farbige Menschen an. Und sie sind gemäßigt wie die Swing-Wähler, die ihm geholfen haben, in Staaten wie Wisconsin, Pennsylvania und Michigan zu gewinnen.

“Das ist er”, sagte Bill Daley, der als Stabschef des Weißen Hauses für Präsident Barack Obama fungierte. “Das ist seine ganze Kampagne.”

Für sein Kabinett versammelte Herr Obama übergroße Persönlichkeiten wie Außenministerin Hillary Clinton und Robert M. Gates, den Verteidigungsminister, der ein Überbleibsel der George W. Bush-Administration war.

In Mr. Bidens Kabinett wird bisher wahrscheinlich niemand die gleiche Aufmerksamkeit auf sich ziehen. Seine Entscheidungen haben jahrzehntelange Erfahrung in der Politikgestaltung hinter den Kulissen und entsprechen dem Versprechen von Herrn Biden, nach vier Jahren chaotischer Verwaltung von Herrn Trump die Grundkompetenz an die Regierung zurückzugeben.

Seine Nominierungen und die Wahl der besten Berater des Weißen Hauses sind nur eine Anspielung auf die fortschrittliche Bewegung in der Demokratischen Partei, die Herrn Biden geholfen hat, die Wahl zu gewinnen. Das hat einige Liberale der Partei frustriert darüber, was sie sagen, ist die Schaffung einer neuen Regierung, die von altem Denken dominiert wird und nicht darauf vorbereitet ist, sich der posttrumpianischen Welt tieferer rassischer und wirtschaftlicher Ungleichheiten und eines festeren republikanischen Widerstands zu stellen.

Es gibt noch niemanden in Mr. Bidens Kabinett, der die Fackel für die Politik trägt, gegen die er während der Vorwahlen gekämpft hat: freies College für alle, ein kostspieliger Green New Deal, eine Anti-Wall Street-Agenda, universelle Gesundheitsversorgung und ein starker Anstieg der Mindestlohn.

Die Gefahr, sagte Faiz Shakir, der die Präsidentschaftskampagne 2020 von Herrn Sanders leitete, besteht darin, dass Herr Biden dem Kampf der Arbeiter nicht genügend Aufmerksamkeit schenkt, deren Vermögen unter der Wirtschaftspolitik der Präsidenten beider Parteien zurückgegangen ist. Er sagte, eine Rückkehr zum demokratischen Status quo vor der Präsidentschaft von Herrn Trump sei nicht genug.

“Eine der Sorgen ist, dass Sie die Blase durchbrechen wollen, wie unsere demokratischen Eliten über Politik und Politikgestaltung gedacht haben, und sie auffordern, mutiger zu werden”, sagte Shakir. “Und jetzt verlassen wir uns auf die Instinkte vieler Menschen, die in einer anderen Ära der Politik ehrlich gesagt geschliffen wurden.”

Varshini Prakash, der Exekutivdirektor und Gründer der Sunrise-Bewegung, einer liberalen Gruppe, die sich auf den Klimawandel konzentriert, lobte die Umweltpolitik von Herrn Biden als willkommene „Abkehr von der Denkweise, die das Marktverhalten bestimmt Anfang der 2000er Jahre. “

Sie hoffte jedoch, dass Herr Biden mehr tun würde, um jüngere Menschen zu fördern, deren Erfahrung nicht von früheren Generationen definiert wurde.

“Es ist immer noch eine ältere, weißere, männliche Gruppe im Allgemeinen”, sagte sie. “Wir werden niemals die Führung entwickeln, die wir in den kommenden Jahrzehnten brauchen, wenn wir weiterhin Mitarbeiter in den 60ern und 70ern ernennen, die bereits in mehreren Verwaltungen tätig waren.”

Es kann schwierig sein, die genaue politische Richtung einer Verwaltung aus der Auswahl eines Dutzend Kabinettsmitglieder zu bestimmen. Unabhängig von den Ansichten der einzelnen Sekretäre werden ihre Mandate nach ihrer Amtszeit nun durch die Versprechen und Richtlinien des neuen Präsidenten bestimmt.

Xavier Becerra, die Entscheidung von Herrn Biden, das Ministerium für Gesundheit und menschliche Dienste zu leiten, hat beispielsweise bereits Vorschläge für „Medicare for All“ angenommen. Jetzt wird er aufgefordert, den Plan des gewählten Präsidenten zur Verbesserung von Obamacare zu unterstützen.

Aber Herr Biden hat bereits eine populistischere Neigung signalisiert als Herr Obama. Er spricht über die Stärkung der Gewerkschaften und die Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen in der Arbeiterklasse mit erheblichen Ausgabensteigerungen, um neue Straßen, Brücken und Autobahnen zu bauen und die alten zu reparieren. Am Samstag sagte er, er werde den Klimawandel zu einem Schwerpunkt der wirtschaftlichen Erholung vom Coronavirus machen und den Bau von 1,5 Millionen energieeffizienten Häusern und 500.000 neuen Ladestationen für Elektrofahrzeuge sowie die Schaffung eines „zivilen Klimakorps“ fordern Projekte durchführen. Seine Wirtschaftsberater glauben daran, marginalisierten Arbeitnehmern zu helfen, die Arbeitnehmerrechte zu erweitern, die Einkommensungleichheit zu beseitigen und die Diskriminierung aufgrund des Geschlechts und der Rasse am Arbeitsplatz zu beenden.

Der Übergang des Präsidenten

Aktualisiert

Apr. 18, 2020, 2:59 Uhr ET

Und wie frühere Präsidenten hat Herr Biden bereits signalisiert, dass er die Politikgestaltung im Weißen Haus fest kontrollieren will, indem er enge Vertraute und Menschen mit langjähriger Erfahrung einsetzt, die vom Oval Office aus den Flur entlang arbeiten werden.

Die Fingerabdrücke von Ron Klain, dem neuen Stabschef des Weißen Hauses und langjährigen Berater von Herrn Biden, zeigen sich bereits in der Auswahl der Berater des Weißen Hauses mit der Art von Statur und Erfahrung, die sie bei Debatten über Komplex mit den Kabinettssekretären zu tun haben und schwierige Fragen.

Susan Rice, die Obamas nationale Sicherheitsberaterin war, wird die Innenpolitik für Herrn Biden überwachen, der sie nicht wegen ihres Fachwissens auswählte, sondern wegen ihrer Fähigkeit, konkurrierende Interessen in einer weitläufigen und oft widerspenstigen Regierungsbürokratie zu streiten.

Ray LaHood, ein Republikaner, der als Transportsekretär für Herrn Obama fungierte, sagte, dass die Dynamik auch in der Entscheidung von Herrn Biden deutlich wurde, John Kerry, den ehemaligen Außenminister, und Gina McCarthy, die die Umweltschutzbehörde leitete, zu beauftragen der Klimapolitik im Weißen Haus.

“Alle großen wichtigen gesetzgeberischen oder sonstigen Fragen wurden aus dem Weißen Haus gestrichen”, sagte LaHood und erinnerte an das Weiße Haus Obama. Und er sagte voraus, dass es in der Biden-Administration genauso sein wird.

Einige wichtige Teile des Schrankpuzzles müssen noch zusammenpassen.

Herr Biden hat keinen Generalstaatsanwalt ausgewählt, der das Justizministerium beaufsichtigen soll. Dies wird im Mittelpunkt des Versprechens des gewählten Präsidenten stehen, das Stimmrecht zu erweitern, die Strafverfolgung zu überarbeiten und die Rassengerechtigkeit im Gerichtssystem des Landes durchzusetzen.

Die Nominierungen für die Abteilungen Arbeit, Bildung und Handel müssen ebenfalls noch bekannt gegeben werden, so dass nicht klar ist, wie Herr Biden seine Vision von mehr Investitionen in Schulen, sichereren und erfolgreicheren Arbeitsplätzen und einem verbesserten wirtschaftlichen Umfeld für Unternehmen umsetzen will.

Es tauchen jedoch einige Themen auf.

Eine der dringendsten Herausforderungen von Herrn Biden als Präsident wird es sein, schnell eine von der Coronavirus-Pandemie heimgesuchte Wirtschaft umzukehren, in der Millionen von Menschen arbeitslos sind und Unternehmen ums Überleben kämpfen.

Um dies zu erreichen, wird sich der gewählte Präsident auf ein Wirtschaftsteam stützen, das sich links von seinen Vorgängern in der Obama-Regierung neigt.

Von Cecilia Rouse, die den Rat der Wirtschaftsberater leitet, wird erwartet, dass sie sich auf die Kräfte konzentriert, die die Menschen in der Wirtschaft zurückhalten, und auf die Herausforderungen, denen sich die Arbeitnehmer gegenübersehen, insbesondere in der sogenannten Gig-Wirtschaft.

Janet Yellen, seine Wahl als Finanzministerin, ist eine Arbeitsökonomin, die sich seit langem für die Erhöhung der Löhne einsetzt. Heather Boushey, die zum Mitglied des Rates der Wirtschaftsberater ernannt wurde, ist eine Befürworterin eines höheren Mindestlohns und hat dafür gekämpft, dass die Arbeitnehmer bis zu 12 Wochen bezahlten Familienurlaub und medizinischen Urlaub erhalten.

Es gibt keinen Defizit-Falken unter den Nominierten von Herrn Biden, aber es gibt auch keine Mitglieder der progressiven Linken, die von Herrn Sanders oder Frau Warren verfochten werden. Jedes Mitglied von Mr. Bidens Team hätte vielleicht für Hillary Clinton gearbeitet, wenn sie vor vier Jahren die Präsidentschaft gewonnen hätte.

In Bezug auf die Außenpolitik hat sich Herr Biden an eine Gruppe von Menschen gewandt, mit denen er eng zusammengearbeitet hat, eine weitgehend nichtideologische Gruppe, die bereit zu sein scheint, seine Vision umzusetzen, anstatt ihre eigenen Ziele zu verfolgen.

“Es ist wie bei seinem Senatsstab”, sagte Leon E. Panetta, ehemaliger Stabschef des Weißen Hauses von Clinton und CIA-Direktor und Verteidigungsminister in der Obama-Regierung. „Ich glaube nicht, dass man sagen kann, dass sie eine Reihe von ideologischen Idealen haben. Sie sind bereit, dem Präsidenten zu dienen, und die Leute müssen verstehen, dass Joe Biden hier in hohem Maße das Sagen haben wird. “

Der Kandidat von Herrn Biden für den Außenminister, Antony J. Blinken, arbeitete erstmals in den 1990er Jahren als Mitarbeiter des Senatsausschusses für Herrn Biden, und mehr als jeder andere ist dies eine Erweiterung seines außenpolitischen Denkvermögens. In eigenen öffentlichen Äußerungen hat Herr Blinken im Allgemeinen die Ansichten von Herrn Biden reflektiert, einschließlich des Glaubens an den Wert der globalen Führung, der Allianzen und der militärischen Stärke der USA.

Die Entscheidungen von Herrn Biden für den Direktor des nationalen Geheimdienstes, den nationalen Sicherheitsberater und den Verteidigungsminister werden alle als geschickte Manager und bürokratische Betreiber angesehen. Keiner ist mit starken politischen Ansichten oder unterschiedlichen politischen Agenden verbunden.

“Es ist ein solides, vernünftiges, zentristisches außenpolitisches Team, das wahrscheinlich gut zusammenarbeitet und gut auf die Prioritäten des Präsidenten abgestimmt ist”, sagte Kori Schake, Direktor für außen- und verteidigungspolitische Studien am American Enterprise Institute.

Zu Beginn seiner Präsidentschaft, als er seine Afghanistan-Strategie abwägte, verspürte Herr Obama den Druck einer erheblichen Truppenerhöhung von Frau Clinton und Herrn Gates. Es ist unwahrscheinlich, dass Herr Biden in seinem eigenen Team solchen Spannungen ausgesetzt ist.

Herr Biden hat gesagt, dass die Bekämpfung der Bedrohung durch den Klimawandel neben der Bekämpfung der Covid-19-Pandemie eine seiner vier Hauptprioritäten ist, um der Wirtschaft zu helfen, sich zu erholen und sich in Richtung Rassengerechtigkeit in den Vereinigten Staaten zu bewegen. Er wird wahrscheinlich in seiner Antrittsrede einen weiteren umfassenden Überblick über seine Ziele geben und in seiner ersten Ansprache an den Kongress kurz nach seinem Amtsantritt weitere Einzelheiten erläutern.

Es wird jedoch schwieriger sein, die von ihm versprochene tiefgreifende Veränderung zu erreichen, wenn die Demokraten Anfang nächsten Monats in Georgia nicht zwei Stichwahlen im Senat gewinnen. Die Republikaner müssen nur eines der beiden Rennen gewinnen, um die Kontrolle über den Senat und die Macht zu behalten, einen Großteil der Agenda von Herrn Biden zu blockieren.

Und selbst wenn die Demokraten gewinnen, werden die Margen der Partei sowohl im Senat als auch im Repräsentantenhaus hauchdünn sein, was es weitaus unwahrscheinlicher macht, dass der Kongress mutige und kostspielige politische Vorschläge annehmen wird. Tom Ridge, ein ehemaliger republikanischer Gouverneur in Pennsylvania, der als Sekretär der Heimatschutzbehörde für Präsident George W. Bush fungierte, sagte, dass viele der Lösungen von den Abteilungen kommen werden, die vom Kabinett von Herrn Biden geleitet werden.

“Ich kenne keinen modernen Präsidenten, der zum Zeitpunkt seiner Vereidigung mit den vielfältigen Herausforderungen konfrontiert war, denen er und diese Regierung in seinem Amtsantritt gegenüberstehen”, sagte Ridge. „Das sind schwierige und herausfordernde Probleme. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt ist es gut, erfahrene Hände zu haben. “

Categories
Politics

Biden transition, prime Pentagon officers at odds over canceled briefings

Biden transition, top Pentagon officials at odds over canceled briefings

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden looks at his watch as he arrives to meet former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg as his candidate for Secretary of Transportation during a press conference on December 16, 2020 at Biden’s Interim Headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware , USA.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

WASHINGTON – Tension erupted on Friday between President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team and Pentagon officials as incumbent Defense Secretary Christopher Miller abruptly decided on Thursday to cancel the transition team’s meetings with Pentagon officials for the remainder of the year.

In a statement Friday, Miller claimed that the Biden transition and the Department of Defense would be taking a “mutually agreed vacation break” and resuming meetings and briefings in the new year.

However, a spokesman for the Biden transition team said there never was such a mutual agreement.

“Let me be clear: there was no consensual vacation break,” said transition spokesman Yohannes Abraham on Friday afternoon to reporters. “In fact, we think it is important that briefings and other engagements continue during this time, as there is no more time.”

The abrupt interruption of the meetings took Defense Department officials by surprise, according to Axios, who first reported the news of Miller’s decision.

A Department of Defense spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC on the conflicting reports by Miller and Biden interim officials.

But Abraham left little doubt as to how frustrated the Biden team is with senior Pentagon officials who they believe have so far refused to cooperate fully with the transition. “There have been many agencies and departments that have facilitated sharing information and meetings over the past few weeks,” said Abraham. “But there have been pockets of discontent, and DoD is one of them.”

However, Miller insisted that at no point had the Pentagon “canceled or declined” an interview with Biden interim officials. He said the department would “continue to support the agency’s necessary review team to ensure the safety of our nation and its citizens.”

The Biden team hoped the Department of Defense would reverse their decision. “Regarding when to resume meetings, meetings and requests for information, which are essentially interchangeable, it is our hope and expectation that it will happen immediately,” said Abraham.

Miller was due to meet with President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon, the only publicly announced event on Trump’s daily schedule.

Miller was named acting Secretary of Defense on November 9 after Trump abruptly dismissed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

Categories
Health

This Is the Well being System That Biden Inherits From Trump

This Is the Health System That Biden Inherits From Trump

President-elect Joe Biden will inherit a healthcare system that seeks to cater to a population made sicker from both coronavirus and skipped care while trying to make up for the money lost in 2020.

But he will face another immediate challenge: hospitals that tend to care for the poor and vulnerable are under great financial pressure, while wealthier hospital systems expect them to be easily injured but not broken.

“All of this will increase inequality,” said Alan Morgan, president of the National Rural Health Association. “There’s no way around it.”

The policies that Mr Biden adopts in his early months as president – such as how to pay for telemedicine visits as the pandemic progresses, or whether to provide additional incentives for health care providers – will be critical to shaping the long-term future of the health system.

“Every crisis brings change, and it will clearly make big changes,” said David Cutler, a Harvard health economist who served as a health advisor in the Obama administration. “We don’t know yet whether it will be good or bad.”

American doctors and hospitals have been used to constant growth in spending for decades. But 2020 was on track to be the only year in this era that healthcare spending is falling. Even if the pandemic overwhelms the capacity of some providers, they appear to be losing money due to the numerous profitable election processes that were canceled this spring.

For Mr Biden, this likely means fights between hospitals, insurers and patient advocates who fear that the equality gains made by the Affordable Care Act have been undermined. Healthcare providers, who typically care for vulnerable populations, may face difficult decisions between closing down or selling to a larger competitor.

“The health system lost a lot of money when people didn’t show up in March and April,” Cutler said. “It is not clear whether the money will be returned. I assume that a wave of providers will go under, demanding higher prices and bailouts. “

Pick almost any metric and it will show the tremendous growth of the American healthcare system over the past few years. Total healthcare spending soared from $ 2.9 trillion in 2010 to $ 3.6 trillion this year, driven by medical prices that rose faster than inflation. Healthcare jobs grew at the same time, peaking at 16.5 million workers in February.

The number of policyholders increased significantly in the 2010s, largely due to the expansion of insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Even with some setbacks under President Trump, the uninsured rate is still lower than it was at the beginning of the decade, about 9 percent last year, up from 16 percent in 2010.

The growth of the past decade has not only meant more money poured into hospitals and doctor’s offices. It also appears to have made access to health care and certain health outcomes more equitable.

For example, the expansion of coverage under the Health Act had an overwhelming impact on the insurance of Black Americans and Latinos and the reduction in the disparity in uninsured rates. In 2013, there was a 25.7 percentage point gap between the uninsured rates for Hispanic and White Americans. By 2018, that number had dropped to 16.3 percentage points, a study by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund found.

Medicaid’s expansion into many states is credited with keeping rural hospitals operating. Some research has found that the expansion reduced unequal outcomes in areas such as maternal and child mortality.

Now experts see that these profits are diminishing. The change began under the Trump administration, which restricted the promotion of health law and allowed states to impose new restrictions on the registration of Medicaid. One million Americans lost coverage between 2017 and 2019. Experts were particularly alarmed by the decline in public coverage among children.

The trend accelerated with the pandemic and a sharp drop in medical revenues this spring. Hospitals across the country lost billions when patients canceled lucrative procedures like hip replacements and cataract surgeries. Family doctors struggled to stay open as check-up dates dropped. Federal aid compensated for some, but not all, of these losses. Experts working on the health system now believe that much of the care canceled this spring will not be postponed.

Updated

Apr. 18, 2020 at 2:27 am ET

Safety net health systems, which because of their mission or mandate to provide care regardless of people’s ability to pay, say they are already starting to push richer hospitals forward. Employment in the health sector is recovering: around two thirds of the 1.5 million jobs lost during the recession have returned. However, there is evidence that these profits are not evenly distributed.

Mr. Morgan of the Rural Health Association hears from members who say they are having trouble keeping nurses. Some workers are getting better-paid offers from wealthier health systems who need traveling nurses to help fight the pandemic.

“Two weeks ago I heard from a hospital director that he was losing his clinical staff because they could make more money elsewhere,” he said. “His clinical staff are going offline in the middle of a pandemic. It’s a workforce crisis. “

Margaret Mary Health System, who operates a 90-year-old nonprofit hospital in rural Indiana, predicts a 4 percent deficit this year, even after factoring in state aid payments. The hospital has treated hundreds of coronavirus patients who sometimes occupied 23 of the hospital’s 25 beds.

“It all makes it so difficult, how hard we’ve worked this year,” said Tim Putnam, the hospital’s general manager. “We have invested so much to serve our community and it is difficult to suffer a loss as a financial result.”

Before the pandemic, Margaret Mary’s executives felt they had solid financial foundations. The hospital received a boost from Indiana’s Medicaid expansion in 2015. It looked so good last year that it decided to purchase a new electronic health record system.

Margaret Mary is now preparing for even greater financial losses after Indiana announced on Thursday that it would again suspend elective health procedures.

“It’s hard to pinpoint where this ends until we figure out how the pandemic ends,” Putnam said. “To remain viable and continue to serve our community, we need to do better than breakeven and we need to find a way to do it in 2021.”

North Oaks Medical Center in Hammond, La., Is a public hospital serving mostly low-income patients. It was planning its “best fiscal year in the history of the hospital” before the pandemic broke out, said chairman Michele Sutton.

Instead, it took many workers off this spring to break even. North Oaks encountered issues that a hospital with more affluent patients would not face – such as the fact that many of its patients did not have reliable access to the Internet to support video doctor visits.

“Because our community is poor, we didn’t have much access to telemedicine,” said Ms. Sutton. “We didn’t have the fiber capacity.”

Her hospital had to do extra work to set up wards where doctors could video chat with their patients, something other healthcare systems didn’t have to wear. Now it is preparing for another difficult year of treating sick patients.

“We’re seeing an increase in suicide, a lot more strokes, a lot more heart attacks,” Ms. Sutton said, “and a decrease in routine maintenance for fear of getting Covid.”

Some of the early decisions the Biden team is facing are small, practical: Should Medicare continue to pay the high but temporary reimbursement rates it offered for telemedicine visits this year, a signal that would encourage private plans to to do the same?

“Imagine that I am a general practitioner, I am already having great financial success and trying to decide: am I making a large investment in telemedicine or not?” said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a Harvard health researcher. “It’s hard for a clinical practice not to know what you’ll get paid for in a week or two.”

Other decisions are more extensive, e.g. For example, whether additional incentives should be provided for healthcare providers and how they should be allocated.

Doctors know that patients have put off some treatments and are preparing for the consequences. Dr. Mehrotra and his colleagues released research this week that found fewer patients starting treatment for opioid addiction during the pandemic, as some providers feel uncomfortable about prescribing a new drug without a face-to-face meeting.

The Biden government’s guidelines will help determine how providers are caring for this sick population as health coverage decreases. To increase the number of signups, the administration could use waivers to expand Medicaid coverage or restore the Affordable Care Act advertising budget. Major expansions to coverage, such as a public option that would allow all Americans to sign up for Medicare, would require Congressional approval.

“There is a large population that worries me very much that they have diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart failure and that has postponed all that care,” said Dr. Mehrotra. “The accumulation of inadequate care creates complications. But at this point it is unclear what exactly these complications of the disease will look like. “

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Congress Drops State Assist to Safe Stimulus, A Problem for Biden

Congress Drops State Aid to Secure Stimulus, A Challenge for Biden

The political argument, however, has been confused by the different experiences of government revenues in the crisis, which are not doing well on party lines. States that are heavily dependent on tourism, like Florida, or energy taxes like Wyoming, face huge deficits, as do liberal bastions like California and New York.

“There are many states that are doing reasonably well right now, and some that are having significant problems,” said Jared Walczak, vice president of government projects for the Tax Foundation in Washington, who collects data on government and local aid. “That makes it very difficult to put together a coalition. This list of states isn’t red or blue, but there is a divide. “

Some Senate Republicans have supported more aid to states, including negotiators in the bipartisan group like Senators Susan Collins from Maine and Bill Cassidy from Louisiana. However, the legislature has tried to reach an agreement on how much is necessary and how the funds should be divided.

“Some states have money for rainy days and tell us they don’t need any more money,” said Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, at a news conference this week. “Others say they need a lot more than we can imagine sending to them, big differences in data and differences in how well they have managed themselves in the past.”

Many Republicans have consistently spoken out against state aid, saying it would reward Democratic states that have poorly managed their finances. One of their main points was that states could use federal support to prop up pensions for public employees – although the draft bipartisan agreement would have prohibited such spending.

“What the Democrats really want is for Congress to only send money to liberal politicians who have already shown they cannot be trusted,” wrote Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida – a state with a 2.7 budget deficit Billion dollars – opened for National Review in one last week. “If these politicians have budget constraints, it is because they did not prioritize their struggling voters and instead wasted money on other things.”

Influential conservative groups such as Americans for Tax Reform and Heritage Action for America have called the issue the “conservative red line.”

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Biden hints at a more durable stance towards state sponsors of cyberattacks

Biden hints at a tougher stance against state sponsors of cyberattacks

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks to reporters as he announces additional candidates and candidates during a press conference at his interim headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware on December 11, 2020.

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WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday that the United States, under his leadership, would join forces with allies to “incur” significant costs “to opponents of cyberattacks such as the massive breach of US government agencies and corporations revealed earlier this month to impose.

“A good defense is not enough. We must first stop our opponents from carrying out significant cyber attacks,” said Biden in a statement from his transition team.

“We will do this by, among other things, imposing substantial costs on those responsible for such malicious attacks, also in coordination with our allies and partners. Our opponents should know that I, as President, will not remain idle cyber attacks on our nation.”

The statement is Biden’s first formal response as President-elect to news of the month-long cyber attack, which experts say bears the hallmarks of a state-sponsored Russian operation.

It also signals a possible shift towards a tougher stance on Russian cyberwar tactics than that of the current Trump administration.

Biden noted that his in-depth national security team had been briefed on the attacks by career officials at relevant government agencies.

On Wednesday evening, the three lead agencies responsible for investigating the attack and protecting the nation from cyber threats, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, announced the formation of a joint venture Command to respond to what is known as a “major and ongoing cybersecurity campaign” against the United States.

“This is an evolving situation, and as we continue to work to understand the full scope of this campaign, we know that this compromise has affected networks within the federal government,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

Both government agencies and private companies affected by the attack are striving to gain a clearer picture of the full extent of the breach and the potential damage to US cyber infrastructure and critical information systems.

The initial investigation revealed that the breach was malicious code hidden in a software update from widely used IT management company SolarWinds. Russia has denied any involvement in the attack.

In a briefing with Congress officials earlier this week, CISA officials warned that the perpetrator of this attack was sophisticated and that it would take weeks, if not months, to determine the total number of agencies affected by the attack and the extent of sensitive data and information possibly compromised. “

The CISA warning was revealed in a letter the Democratic Committee Chairs in the House of Representatives sent Thursday to senior officials at the FBI, CISA and ODNI for more details about the attack.

This timeline suggests that it will be Biden, not the outgoing President Donald Trump, who will ultimately be responsible for determining what retaliation, if any, is warranted against those behind the attacks. Biden will take office on January 20th.

Trump has yet to respond personally to the latest attack. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday that the government is “looking at this closely”.

But Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a frequent Trump critic, described the White House’s lukewarm response to the attack as “inexcusable.”

Trump has had an unusually cordial relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his four-year tenure, despite repeated attempts by the Kremlin to undermine US elections and democratic processes and its cyberwar campaign.

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Biden to choose North Carolina environmental regulator to run EPA

Biden to pick North Carolina environmental regulator to run EPA

Michael Regan listens as North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announces that Regan will lead the North Carolina Environmental Quality Department at Executive Manson in Raleigh, NC on January 3, 2017.

Chuck Liddy | AP

President-elect Joe Biden will select Michael Regan, secretary for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.

Regan, 44, was Biden’s front runner and, if confirmed, will be the first black to head the agency.

Regan previously worked at the EPA for the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations and was the national program manager responsible for developing programs to improve energy efficiency, air quality and reduce air pollution.

Regan later worked at the Environmental Defense Fund, where he made efforts to contain the effects of climate change and air pollution.

He will play a crucial role in supporting Biden’s aggressive plan to combat global warming and transform the US economy from fossil fuels to clean energy. Regan is also expected to be heavily involved in environmental racism.

“Regan has dedicated his career to environmental work, promoting clean energy, combating climate change and tackling coal ash pollution,” said Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice, an environmental law nonprofit. “As the EPA administrator, Regan will play a key role in solving the climate crisis and protecting the health of all communities.”

Biden also intends to appoint Rep. Deb Haaland, DN.M., as his Home Secretary. If this were confirmed, Haaland would be the first Native American to be appointed cabinet secretary. She would oversee the management and conservation of the land’s public land and natural resources, as well as the restoration of land that the Trump administration had opened up for drilling and other construction.

Read more from CNBC environment:
Joe Biden’s climate protection agenda faces an uncertain future in the Senate
Biden will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. Here’s what happens next

Biden has vowed to reintroduce the U.S. to the Paris Agreement and bring the country to net zero emissions by 2050, though his climate agenda will face immense constraints if Republicans retain control of the Senate.

In the past four years, the Trump administration has dismantled more than 70 key environmental regulations, with nearly 30 in the works.

“Regan will take over the helm of the EPA at perhaps the most critical moment in the agency’s history, and he has to do a lot more than just clean up the toxic mess Trump left behind,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biodiversity.

If the GOP retains control of the Senate and hinders climate legislation, Biden’s plans will depend on the EPA to implement regulations to reduce fossil fuel emissions from sites and automobiles.

The Biden government is already planning to put restrictions on oil and gas drilling on public properties, block pipelines across the country and withdraw many of Trump’s executive orders for energy.

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Politics

Biden campaigns for Democrats in Georgia Senate runoff

Biden campaigns for Democrats in Georgia Senate runoff

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a rally in support of Democratic Senate candidates in Atlanta, Georgia, December 15, 2020.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – A triumphant president-elect, Joe Biden, went to Georgia on Tuesday to lead an election rally for two Democratic Senate candidates in the state that earned him his biggest disgruntled win in the 2020 presidential contest.

The drive-in rally in Atlanta was intended to benefit Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both of whom will run run-off against incumbent Republican senators on Jan. 5. It was Biden’s first campaign event as president-elect, held just a day after the election campaign. The electoral college confirmed its victory over President Donald Trump.

The two runoff elections are about control of the U.S. Senate, and thus the power to either give the green light to Biden’s candidates and his ambitious (and expensive) domestic agenda, or vice versa, to block them.

If either of the two Republican Senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, win their races, the GOP will retain its current control of the Chamber, and Biden can expect fights for every candidate and every bill.

Biden had no illusions on Tuesday about the importance of these races. “I need two senators from this state who want to get something done, not two senators who are just getting in each other’s way,” he said. “Send me these two men and we’ll control the Senate and change the lives of the Georgia people.”

After the angry November victory fueled by suburban and black voters, Democrats rely almost entirely on replicating the record turnout they saw last month. It’s a major challenge – special elections traditionally attract far fewer voters than presidential elections – but Biden urged his supporters to buck the trends.

“Will Georgia break the record for voting in these Senate elections? I think so,” he said. “But there are a lot of people who bet you won’t. There are a lot of people who think, ‘Georgia broke the record for votes cast in the presidential election, there is no way you can do it again.'”

“Are you ready to prove them wrong? I think you are. I think Georgia is going to shock the nation with the number of people voting on January 5th,” Biden said.

In a state with a long history of racial voter suppression, Biden reminded people that Loeffler and Perdue supported a recent lawsuit launched by the Texas Attorney General that sought to disqualify millions of Georgia votes in election results.

“Your two Republican senators fully embraced what Texas told the Supreme Court,” he said. “You were fully in favor of nullifying nearly 5 million votes in Georgia. You may want to remember that January 5th is coming.”

Poll averages currently show both Senate races neck to neck, although historical trends favor incumbent senators.

Biden also drew a sharp contrast between the two Democrats in the race and their Republican opponents when it comes to much-needed funding for coronavirus aid.

“We need funding for testing and vaccine distribution. We need to get money into people’s pockets right now,” he said. “We can do so much to make the lives of the people of Georgia and the country so much better, and we need senators who are ready.”

After Biden’s trip, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is also expected to visit Georgia to bolster Ossoff and Warnock, although concrete plans have not yet been released.

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Saudi Arabia hires new crop of lobbyists forward of Biden administration

Saudi Arabia hires new crop of lobbyists ahead of Biden administration

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is on a lobbyist hiring frenzy as President-elect Joe Biden, who has signaled that he will take a tougher stance on the nation, prepares for office.

With the potential for a more tumultuous relationship with the US, Saudi Arabia has hired a few lobbyists who have ties to Republican congressional leaders.

These lobbyists may be more successful working with GOP lawmakers in the new Congress rather than Democrats or Biden’s government. Republicans made gains in the House of Representatives in the 2020 election and could have a slight edge in the Senate if they win one of the seats in two Georgia runoffs scheduled for early next month.

Biden told the Council on Foreign Relations during the Democratic primary last year that he would be reducing US support for Saudi Arabia on key issues.

“I would end US support for the disastrous Saudi-waged war in Yemen and order a reassessment of our relations with Saudi Arabia,” Biden said at the time. “It is time to restore balance, perspective and loyalty to our values ​​in our Middle Eastern relations. President Trump has given Saudi Arabia a dangerous blank check,” he added.

The kingdom is largely ruled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. NBC News reported in 2018 that he ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the Crown Prince has denied. The then president stood by Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi’s death. The two nations had signed an arms treaty worth nearly $ 110 billion a year earlier.

The government of Saudi Arabia spent more than $ 30 million on lobbying activities in 2018, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. So far, spending in 2020 has been $ 5 million.

A representative from the Saudi embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the youngest employees came from the Larson Shannahan Slifka Group, an Iowa-based public affairs business, which signed a lucrative deal with the Saudi embassy last year. The embassy, ​​also known as the LS2 group, agreed to pay $ 1.5 million for a year in 2019.

New records show that LS2 recently launched the Arena Strategy Group for actions that include “informing the public, government officials and the media about the importance of promoting and fostering strong ties between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” be lobbying report says.

The contract began on December 1, weeks after Biden was declared president-elect, and will include government work, the document says. The contract is valued at approximately $ 5,000 per month.

Arena’s government efforts are led by Mark Graul, a Republican political strategist who was Wisconsin State Director for President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign. He was also Chief of Staff to former Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., When Green was in Congress. Green later became head of the U.S. agency for international development under Trump and resigned earlier this year.

Graul did not return a request for comment.

The Saudi Arabian DC embassy recently suspended Off Hill Strategies for the period that spans the final leg of the election through the transition period.

The company is a boutique lobbying shop founded by Tripp Baird, who was once director of government relations for the conservative organization Heritage Action for America. The contract began in late October, while Biden was ahead of Trump in almost all national polls. It is also advised that the $ 25,000-per-month agreement runs until January 18, two days before Biden is due to be inaugurated.

The main focus of Off Hill’s lobbying work, according to the treaty, is “to support the public relations work of the embassy congress and to further develop bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America”. A separate report on lobbying disclosure shows that Off Hill helped Saudi Arabia “gather information about year-end omnibus legislation”.

Baird has not returned a request for comment.

In another case, the Saudis turned to a leading public relations firm to help develop an expensive urban development designed to bolster the country’s growing international ambitions.

According to a file, a senior PR juggernaut Edelman emailed a massive Saudi land development leader named Neom to clarify their agreement. Jere Sullivan, the company’s vice chairman for global public affairs, told Neom that Edelman will provide strategic advice, media relations, stakeholder identification and engagement, and content development.

The agreement is set to run from mid-November to February, according to the email, and is expected to cost up to $ 75,000 per month.

According to the Edelman Foreign Lobbying Disclosure Report, Neom is “100% owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), a sovereign property of the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As such, its activities are monitored, directed, controlled, financed and funded subsidized by the PIF. “

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the Neom project is supported by MBS and the project is valued at $ 500 billion for the Saudi city-state. The Journal reported at the time that by 2030, MBS hopes this newly developed region will be one of the global technology centers. The Saudi leadership believes it could replace the US technology center Silicon Valley. The projected schedule for completion coincides with Biden’s first term as president and would extend beyond 2024.

Neom’s website states that it is “a region in northwestern Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea to be built from the ground up as a living laboratory,” and that it “will offer a multitude of unique development opportunities as its strategic Red Sea coastal location is notable for its proximity to international markets and trade routes. “

The group expects the project to be completed in the next seven to ten years.

Sullivan declined to comment.