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Politics

Democratic Sen. Menendez rips Biden administration for ‘flawed’ Afghanistan pullout

Democratic Sen. Menendez rips Biden administration for 'flawed' Afghanistan pullout

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) questions Zalmay Khalilzad, special envoy for reconciliation to Afghanistan, during a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan.

Susan Walsh | Swimming pool | Reuters

Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, vowed to hold the Biden administration accountable for the botched execution of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

In a long statement Tuesday, the New Jersey Democrat issued one of the harshest criticisms of President Joe Biden from within the party.

“In implementing this flawed plan, I am disappointed that the Biden administration clearly failed to properly assess the impact of a swift US withdrawal.

“The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will continue to exercise its oversight role with a hearing on US policy towards Afghanistan, including the Trump administration’s flawed negotiations with the Taliban and the Biden administration’s flawed execution of the US withdrawal,” added he added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Menendez’s testimony.

Menendez’s censure comes just days after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan when political leaders and government security forces fled Kabul. Analysts say the well-wired withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, a plan drafted by the Trump administration and implemented by Biden, is responsible for the Taliban’s rapid advance last week.

The Taliban have so far promised amnesty to former government officials and are currently working with US forces to keep Kabul airport open for military and civilian flights.

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But Menendez, who called on the Biden government in May to reconsider its planned troop withdrawal, said Tuesday that he intends to use his leadership on the Foreign Relations Committee to “address the looming humanitarian and human rights disaster under a Taliban-led regime” to tackle.

“Our nation’s reputation is at stake and our entire government must make every effort to achieve that goal,” he added. “In connection with our withdrawal and its aftermath, there has been clear policy enforcement and intelligence failures.”

Senator Jim Risch, the senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, raised similar frustrations on Monday, saying in a press release that the exit of the Biden administration leaves the US vulnerable to future harm.

“This hasty and political decision to withdraw without taking our counter-terrorism priorities into account will allow Afghanistan to serve as the future platform for terrorist attacks against the United States and our partners,” said the Idaho Republican.

Biden defended the withdrawal in a blunt speech on Monday. He described the war in Afghanistan as a lost cause for the US and pointed out how quickly Afghan troops fell to the Taliban. He also said, “The money stops with me.”

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Health

Mississippi well being officers plead with aged to keep away from mass indoor gatherings as delta Covid variant rips by state

Mississippi health officials plead with elderly to avoid mass indoor gatherings as delta Covid variant rips through state

Medical workers with Delta Health Center wait to vaccinate people at a pop-up Covid-19 vaccination clinic in this rural Delta community on April 27, 2021 in Hollandale, Mississippi.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Mississippi state health officials issued new guidance on Friday that calls for state residents over the age of 65 and immunocompromised residents, vaccinated or unvaccinated, to avoid any indoor mass gatherings for the next two weeks amid “significant transmission” of the delta variant over the coming weeks.

The new guidance is in place until July 26 and is not mandatory. The guidance should instead be considered a recommendation.

“We’re not recommending any mandates. What we’re doing is we’re providing personal recommendations for individuals who are at high risk for severe outcomes,” Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said during a press briefing Friday. “We don’t want anybody to die needlessly.”

Dobbs said he currently “does not anticipate” the guidance being expanded to other age groups in the future.

Officials said they are starting to see significant transmission of the delta variant that is very reminiscent of what was seen in the early days of the pandemic. Mississippi state health epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers specifically highlighted church groups, school and summer programs, funeral gatherings and workplaces as well as long-term care facilities as areas where officials are already seeing spikes in infections.

“We have directly identified that they are the result of the delta variant, and the transmission … has been pretty significant,” Byers said at the press briefing Friday.

The state is second to last to Alabama out of all states when it comes to the percentage of the population that is fully vaccinated with two doses. About 25% of Mississippians over age 65 are still unvaccinated, and make up the majority of Covid deaths in the state. State health officials also said they are seeing deaths in vaccinated residents as well, “because we are exposing them over and over again,” Dobbs said, though it is a miniscule percentage.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Graph shows cases, hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated vs unvaccinated in Mississippi from June 3 to July 1, 2021.

Mississippi State Health Department

Mississippi is ranked last in the country in its share of adults with at least one Covid shot and the state is also ranked last in the country in the percentage of residents age 12 and older with at least one shot.

“I don’t think that we’re going to have some miraculous increase in our vaccination rate over the next few weeks, so people are going to die needlessly,” Dobbs warned.

State health officials asked vaccinated residents to speak with others about their experience with the vaccine in an effort to raise awareness about the safety and efficacy of the shots.

“Let people, let your family know, let your neighbors know, let your friends know,” Dobbs said. “There’s no more powerful message than trust and faith for people to know how widely utilized the vaccine has been, and understand that people are safe and excited to be protected.”

Categories
Politics

U.S. Chamber of Commerce rips $300 jobless profit, requires repeal

U.S. Chamber of Commerce rips $300 jobless benefit, calls for repeal

A help call sign is posted on a taco stand in Solana Beach, California.

Mike Blake | Reuters

The largest corporate lobby group in America on Friday accused $ 300 a week of unemployment benefits for tricking Americans into staying home and April’s far weaker-than-expected job report.

“The disappointing employment report makes it clear that the pay of people who do not work is dampening the stronger labor market,” said the US Chamber of Commerce in the hours after the Labor Department published its April 2021 employment report.

“One step that policymakers should take now is to end the additional $ 300 weekly unemployment benefit,” added the lobby group. “Based on the Chamber’s analysis, the $ 300 benefit means that roughly one in four recipients takes home more unemployment than they earned.”

A chamber spokesman confirmed to CNBC that it will use similar messages to lobby the White House and Capitol Hill to end the payout.

The group’s attack on federal unemployment benefits came hours after the Labor Department reported that total non-farm employment rose by 266,000 last month, well below the 1 million Dow Jones polled economists expected.

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The Biden government has pushed back arguments like those of the Chamber. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, who appeared on CNBC Friday, dismissed arguments from Republicans and corporate groups that the increased unemployment benefits are encouraging potential workers to stay home.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also waved such criticisms, telling reporters Friday afternoon that she disagreed that the unemployment benefit increase “is really the factor that makes a difference”.

“When you look at states or sectors or workers, if it is really the added benefits that are hindering hiring, expect it to be either in states or for workers in or sectors where the replacement rate is due [unemployment insurance] is very high – you would expect the placement rates to be lower, “she said.” In fact, you see exactly the opposite. “

Minnesota-born Democrat Ilhan Omar was cynical about the Chamber’s criticism of the $ 300 weekly benefit.

For much of the past year, millions of unemployed Americans have qualified for special federal unemployment benefits to replace income lost from layoffs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first such federal unemployment benefit began under former President Donald Trump in March 2020 when he signed the CARES bill. This law gave unemployed Americans a weekly allowance of $ 600, which in many cases was a higher income than workers received while working full-time.

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Countered that companies should pay higher wages to their workers instead.

President Joe Biden’s US $ 1.9 trillion bailout plan, which went into effect in March, provides unemployment benefits of $ 300 per week. Without additional government intervention, this benefit will expire at the beginning of September.

Some economists and many Republicans have accused the benefit of deterring Americans from returning to the jobs they held before the pandemic.

For example, South Carolina governor Henry McMaster earlier this week ordered the state’s Department of Employment and Labor to withdraw from the federal government’s pandemic programs by the end of June.

“This labor shortage is caused in large part by the additional unemployment benefits that the federal government is providing applicants with on top of their state unemployment benefits,” McMaster said in a press release Thursday.

“What was meant to be short-term financial assistance to vulnerable and displaced people during the height of the pandemic has become a dangerous federal claim that encourages and pays workers to stay at home rather than encourage them to return to work. ” he added.