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Politics

White Home Border Coordinator to Step Down

White House Border Coordinator to Step Down

WASHINGTON – Roberta S. Jacobson, the former ambassador to Mexico who elected President Biden as his “border tsar” on the National Security Council, will resign later this month, she said on Friday, even if the government is struggling to confront a flood of migrants on the nation’s southwest border.

Ms. Jacobson, described as one of the key players in the Biden administration’s dealings with the governments in the Northern Triangle area of ​​Central America, praised Mr. Biden’s efforts to repair and reshape the nation’s immigration system after four years by President Donald J. Trump.

“You are continuing towards the architecture that the president designed: an immigration system that is humane, orderly and safe,” she said in a brief interview. “I go optimistically. The political direction is so clearly right for our country. “

Ms. Jacobson said her appointment as special assistant to the president and border coordinator in the White House should only last about 100 days – a deadline that expires in late April if she is about to leave government.

The timing of their departure is remarkable, however, and is in the midst of government efforts to reduce immigration from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Ms. Jacobson had been accused of leading these efforts when her appointment was announced that year.

Republican critics say Mr Biden’s decision to quickly reverse many of the toughest Trump-era immigration policies in his early days in office sparked a new wave of migrants from Central America, including families and children traveling alone to the border.

Biden government officials, including Ms. Jacobson, have argued that the increasing migration flow needs to be addressed at its source: especially in Central American countries where violence, war, poverty, gangs and natural disasters are forcing people to move out of their homes flee to the United States for refuge.

However, her role as one of the government’s top border officials was eclipsed late last month when Mr Biden announced that Vice President Kamala Harris would lead the government’s diplomatic efforts with the region.

In the interview, Ms. Jacobson said the President’s move to hire Ms. Harris for efforts to curb migration from Central America was not a factor in her decision to leave the country or her timing.

“I briefed and worked in support of the Vice President’s leadership on this matter,” said Ms. Jacobson. “Nobody could be happy if the Vice President took on this role. It had nothing to do with my decision. “

Two weeks ago, in a separate interview with the New York Times, Ms. Jacobson spoke at length about her plans to travel to Central America, where she expected to work with government officials to reduce the flow of migrants north towards the United States.

Last month she traveled to Mexico to discuss ways to combat illegal immigration and strengthen protection capacities for migrants with executives. Ms. Jacobson said in the interview that the trip was also an attempt to find ways to work with Central American countries, as well as possibly Canada, to ease pressure on the border with the United States.

“I would say that we – we have the beginnings of these conversations,” she said. “But right now we’re more focused on how we can work with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries.”

In early March, Ms. Jacobson answered questions from reporters at the White House in an attempt to discourage migrants from traveling to the United States. She repeated the government’s message that the border with Mexico had remained closed.

But when she tried to translate this blunt message into Spanish, she accidentally reversed its meaning and said, “La frontera no esta cerrada” which means “the border is not closed” in English. Later in the meeting, she corrected herself and translated the message correctly.

Mr Biden’s decision to hold Mrs Harris responsible for Central American diplomacy was then viewed by the White House as an attempt to send a message that the government is taking the border issue seriously.

It also served as the first substantive guideline for the Vice President, who has stood by Mr. Biden’s side since taking office but has not overseen any specific part of the Biden agenda.

Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, said in a statement that “there is no better person to initiate a safer and more equitable approach to our southern border” than Ms. Jacobson.

He said she was leaving the government “after it shaped our relationship with Mexico as an equal partner, launched our renewed efforts with the nations of the Northern Triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and underscored the government’s commitment to revitalizing the US immigration system.” . ”

Ms. Jacobson said she remains confident that the government will continue to make progress to convince the leaders of Mexico and Central American countries to work with the United States to slow the pace of migration.

“They know it’s something that can’t happen overnight,” she said of her colleagues in the Biden administration. But she added that officials in the other countries are also motivated to find solutions.

“Diplomacy is a conversation,” she said. “It’s not a monologue.”

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Entertainment

In ‘Exterminate All of the Brutes,’ Raoul Peck Takes Intention at White Supremacy

In ‘Exterminate All the Brutes,’ Raoul Peck Takes Aim at White Supremacy

After completing his 2016 documentary “I am not your negro”, director Raoul Peck had the feeling that he had spoken on the subject of US racial relations. Or at least his subject, the writer James Baldwin, had.

In the film, Baldwin called the white a “metaphor for power” and summed up the legacy of racism in this country. What more could Peck say than Baldwin hadn’t?

“Baldwin is one of the most precise scholars in American society,” said Peck in a video interview from his home in Paris. “If you didn’t get the message, it means there is no hope for you.”

The film won over a dozen film awards and an Oscar nomination for best documentary. In addition to the awards and rave reviews, “I’m Not Your Negro” sparked a revival of interest in Baldwin’s work that continues to this day. After last summer’s protests against Black Lives Matter, the writer’s work seems to be more relevant than ever. Nonetheless, Peck said, “I was amazed that people could go on living their lives as if nothing had happened. As if these words didn’t exist. “

The realization prompted Peck to uncover the roots of what Baldwin had written and spoken about so eloquently and passionately: the story of racism, violence and hatred in the West. “What was the origin story of all of this?” Peck said he was surprised. “Where did all the ideology of white supremacy begin?”

This quest is at the center of Peck’s latest project, “Exterminate All the Brutes,” an extremely ambitious, deeply essayistic endeavor that combines archival material, clips from Hollywood films, script scenes, and animated sequences. The four-part series, which premieres on Wednesday on HBO Max, shows the history of Western racism, colonialism and genocide, from the Spanish Inquisition and Columbus’ “discovery” of already populated areas to the stories of the Atlantic slave trade, the massacre on the Wounded Knee and the Holocaust.

For Peck, who incorporates his own story into the film with voice-overs, snapshots and home videos, the project is a very personal one. In many ways, he’s the ideal person to tell a story about western colonialism: after growing up in Haiti, a former colony that gained independence in 1804, he and his family moved to the Democratic Republic at the age of 8 Congo His parents worked for the newly liberated government. He has also lived and worked in New York, West Berlin and Paris and made films about the Haitian Revolution (“Moloch Tropical”) and the murdered Congolese politician Patrice Lumumba (“Lumumba: Death of a Prophet”).

“I think my soul is kind of Haitian,” he said, “but I’ve been influenced by all the places I’ve been.”

Peck started thinking about “Exterminate” in 2017 after Richard Plepler, then chairman of HBO, “cursed” him “for 10 minutes” for not adding “I’m not your negro” to his network, and then gave him a charter had offered for his next project.

“We worked on several film ideas, both documentaries and feature films,” said Rémi Grellety, Peck’s producer for 13 years. “And Raoul said, ‘Let’s bring Richard the hardest idea.'”

The film, they told Plepler in a two-page pitch, would be based on the 1992 book “Exterminate All the Brutes” by historian Sven Lindqvist, a mixture of story and travelogue, in which Joseph Conrad’s novella “Heart of Darkness” was used as a jump off show to trace Europe’s racist past in Africa. (“Exterminate all beasts” are the last words we hear from Kurtz, Conrad’s ivory trade “demigod”.) It would be about that, but also about a lot more, many of which hadn’t quite worked out yet.

“There were a lot of ideas on this course,” recalled Grellety.

After dismantling Lindqvist’s book, Peck found that he needed a similar text on the history of the genocide in the United States. He came across “The History of the Indigenous Peoples of the United States”, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s American Book Award-winning study of this country’s centuries of war against its indigenous people, and was “thrilled.” Peck and Dunbar-Ortiz talked at length about their book and film and how the two could get together.

Many of the film’s most powerful scenes come from Dunbar-Ortiz’s text, including an animated sequence showing Alexis de Tocqueville’s account of Choctaws crossing the Mississippi in 1831 on what is known as the trail of tears. When their dogs notice they are being left behind, they “howl somberly” and jump in vain into the icy waters of the Mississippi to follow.

“I almost cry just thinking about it now,” said Dunbar-Ortiz. “And in the movie that shows it in animation, I think it will make a lot of people cry.”

To top it off, Peck turned to the work of his Haitian anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot, who died in 2012. Peck was moved by a central idea in Trouillot’s book “Silencing the Past: The Power and Production of History”. : that “history is the fruit of power”, coined and told (or not) by the winners.

“That is the history of Europe,” said Peck. “Europe has to tell the story of the last 600 years.”

Throughout the series, Peck defeated a number of sacred cows, including the explorer Henry Morton Stanley (“a murderer”); Winston Churchill, who, as a young war correspondent, described the slaughter of thousands of Muslim troops at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 as a “great game”; and even the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, who advocated the extermination of Native Americans after the Wounded Knee massacre.

One of its most frequent targets is Donald Trump, whom the film compares to bigots throughout history through a series of powerful juxtapositions. “I’m an immigrant from a shitty country,” says Peck at one point, one of several references in the series to Trump’s racist rhetoric.

To create a “new vehicle that makes you feel the real world,” Peck filmed several scenes starring Josh Hartnett as a 19th century Army officer (loosely based on Quartermaster General Thomas Sidney Jesup), a racist Everyman who reappears in the course of history, hangs blacks and shoots Indians. Hartnett met Peck years ago on a failed film project and later in Cannes, and the two had become friends.

“He called me last year and said he wanted a white American actor to play the tip of the genocidal sword in Western history and he was thinking of me,” Hartnett said. “I thought, wow, that’s flattering.”

“I’ve known him for 20 years,” said Peck, “and that’s how I knew I could have this conversation with him.”

Last March, Hartnett and the rest of the cast and crew traveled to the Dominican Republic to film the live-action scenes. Places around the island state stood for Florida and the Belgian Congo. Then the pandemic hit and shut down the night before production began. Peck considered what to do and moved the whole shoot closer to home.

“We were in the south of France in the summer,” said Hartnett. “So it wasn’t a bad situation.”

Through metatextual moments and manipulations, Peck creates his own counterbalance to the dominant Western version of the story, forcing viewers to ponder the popular and academic narratives they have received throughout their lives. In one scene, Hartnett’s character shoots an indigenous woman (Caisa Ankarsparre) just to show that she is an actress on a film set. In another instance, a 19th century Anglican clergyman gives a lecture in which humanity is divided into the “wild races” (Africans), the “semi-civilized” (Chinese) and the “civilized” – full of contemporary audiences colored people.

At the beginning of the series, Peck explains, “There are no alternative facts.” But he also seems to recognize the selectivity of all historical narratives and the power to control the image by examining deeper truths in some scenes by asking the viewer to to imagine what history might be like if things had turned out differently. In one scene, white families are tied up, whipped and marched through the jungle. In another case, Columbus’ landing party was slaughtered on the beaches of what is now Haiti in 1492.

“I will do whatever I can to get these points across,” said Peck.

A longtime filmmaker and film lover, Peck filled his series with film clips to illustrate Hollywood’s creative re-engineering of history (John Wayne in the 1960s “The Alamo”) and to complement his arguments. (In a scene that is played for laughter, Harrison Ford shoots an Arab with a scimitar in Raiders of the Lost Ark.)

One of the most disturbing clips in the series – no small matter – comes from an otherwise carefree Hollywood musical: “On the Town” (1949). In the scene, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller and others cavort in an apparently lecturer-free natural history museum, sing in mock African gibberish, dress up as indigenous Americans and skip “War Whoops” and attack as South Pacific “natives”. ”In the melody“ Prehistoric Man ”the dance number unites a cave-conscious caveman -“ a happy monkey without English cloths ”- with Indians, Africans and islanders in the Pacific.

“When I saw it, I said, ‘No, my God, that’s not possible,” said Peck. “It’s as if you knew I was making this film. It just existed and passed on.”

Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to get rights to some of the clips. “We didn’t lie,” said Grellety. “We reached out to people and said the title was ‘Exterminate All Brutes’. So you knew it wasn’t a romantic comedy. “In some cases, filmmakers had to secure the clips through fair use – like with“ Prehistoric Man ”.

Peck may not have seen himself in the films he saw as a young boy in Haiti, but he uses these Hollywood clips to retell the history of the West. This process of imaginative recovery was no accident.

“I was born in a world where I didn’t create everything in front of me,” he said. “But I can make sure that I use everything I can to show that the world you think is not the world it is.

“And these Hollywood films, these archive folders, these are windows that they didn’t know were left open.”

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Health

How White Evangelicals’ Vaccine Refusal Might Lengthen the Pandemic

How White Evangelicals’ Vaccine Refusal Could Prolong the Pandemic

These are questions that secular public health institutions are not equipped to answer, he said. “The deeper problem is that the white evangelicals are not even on their screen.”

Mr. Chang said he recently spoke to a colleague in Uganda whose hospital had received 5,000 doses of vaccine but was only able to give about 400 due to the reluctance of the strongly evangelical population.

“The way American evangelicals think, write, and feel about issues is quickly repeating around the world,” he said.

At this critical moment, even pastors have difficulty knowing how to reach their flocks. Joel Rainey, director of Covenant Church in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, said several colleagues were evicted from their churches after promoting health and vaccination guidelines.

Politics have increasingly shaped the faith among white evangelicals and not the other way around, he said. The pastors’ influence on their churches is diminishing. “They get their people for an hour and Sean Hannity gets them for the next 20,” he said.

Mr. Rainey helped his own Southern Baptist ward spread false information by publicly interviewing medical experts – a retired colonel who specializes in infectious diseases, a Church member, a logistics management analyst for Walter Reed, and an elder the Church, the nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

On the worship stage in front of the worship band’s drums, he asked them “all the questions a follower of Jesus might have,” he said later.

“It is necessary that pastors instruct their people that we don’t always have to be opponents of the culture around us,” he said. “We believe that Jesus died for these people. Then why in the world should we see them as opponents?”

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Politics

White Home finding out provide chain ‘stress exams’ after semiconductor shortages, sources say 

White House studying supply chain 'stress tests' after semiconductor shortages, sources say 

President Joe Biden holds a chip in his hand before speaking in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, United States, on February 24, 2021, ahead of the signing of an ordinance to remedy a global semiconductor shortage.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

As part of an ongoing review of critical supply chains, the Biden administration is considering requiring that supply chains be “stress-tested” on hypothetical scenarios and suggesting that companies hold certain critical inventory, according to two senior administrators and two people familiar with the review.

“The idea of ​​making sure companies better understand their own supply chain vulnerabilities is clearly one of the things that are involved in the process,” said a senior administration official who refused to be identified because the review was neither complete nor was public.

Government agencies meet weekly to discuss the issue and have not yet drawn any final conclusions on what recommendations to make. A first report on semiconductors, critical minerals, high performance batteries and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is scheduled for June 4th. A broader review will be carried out in the following year.

A White House spokesman said the outcome of the review would be announced soon, referring to $ 50 billion in President Joe Biden’s infrastructure proposal related to monitoring and securing domestic industrial capacity.

“This administration is taking the first nationwide approach to building resilient, diverse and secure supply chains and fulfilling President Biden’s commitment to ensuring that all Americans have access to critical goods and services in times of crisis,” the spokesman said.

Officials on the issue have specifically noted the Toyota Motor Company’s ability to weather the current semiconductor shortages caused by companies that underestimate consumer demand for goods during the pandemic.

In early February, when automakers around the world announced that they were lowering targets and closing factories, Toyota Motor Company executives were surprising: In the short term, the shortage of available chips would not affect production volume.

“After the global financial crisis, we thought about stopping our supply chain,” CEO Jun Nagata told investors, explaining the “rescue” program that was created to evaluate each stage of his supply chain. For each part deemed critical, Toyota secured “four to six months of inventory as needed”.

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Any attempt by the US government to conduct similar stress tests could lead to legal hurdles, as Congress has given government agencies different powers to regulate activities in the respective industries.

In 2018, the Defense Ministry began planning to remove Turkey as a supplier for the F-35 after the country bought weapons from Russia. Working with aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, the Pentagon spent months identifying which parts could be in short supply in the event of a different geopolitical situation or a natural disaster.

“It’s a very useful exercise that can be used across government,” said Ellen Lord, who served as the Pentagon’s undersecretary of state for acquisitions and sustainability until January.

According to Lord, the Department of Defense recommended such scenario planning to all major contractors, but it was voluntary as it was not funded by the government.

At the start of the Covid pandemic, the Trump administration noted particular flaws in the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to regulate supply chains, according to a former task force official. Meanwhile, agencies overseeing the energy and financial sectors have tougher regulators.

The Federal Reserve is perhaps among the best known for running such tests, which require a bank to provide a detailed analysis of how its balance sheet would react to hypothetical economic scenarios of varying degrees of severity. Wall Street banks have collectively amassed thousands of compliance staff to help complete these reviews.

In the early days, several institutions were considered “failed”, which meant that they could not increase shareholder returns through dividends or share buybacks. In recent years, bank executives have praised the stress tests used to prepare their portfolios to weather the economic stalemate during the pandemic relatively seamlessly.

However, according to analysts, the global undersupply of semiconductors differs from a lack of bank liquidity. A company cannot reduce costs or use financial levers to increase the availability of the product. Production can sometimes take up to 120 days.

Roman Schorr, automotive analyst at Fitch Ratings, says policy action could help long-term planning but is unlikely to be a silver bullet to a crisis caused by extraordinary consumer demand for electronics and automobiles.

“Government intervention can be helpful for critical parts in the long run, but the imbalance between supply and demand for chips that we are seeing right now is really a market problem.”

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Politics

White Home mulls lifting mental property defend

FDA panel unanimously recommends emergency use

Vials containing the Janssen Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson via Reuters

The White House is considering suspending intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments due to pressure from developing countries and subsequent support from progressive lawmakers, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

A temporary removal of intellectual property protection would apply to any medical technology used to treat or prevent Covid-19. South Africa and India have formally asked the World Trade Organization to waive protection until the pandemic is over, but the issue has been brought in with no resolution.

The White House convened a deputy policymakers’ meeting on March 22, a senior administration official said, but they did not make a final decision.

The White House review comes in response to a letter sent by House Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi in late March, urging the government to investigate the issue after several Democratic colleagues – including Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut and Jan Schakowsky from Illinois. pointed it out to her. The letter was not published. However, a senior adviser said Pelosi supports the position of its members in favor of such a waiver, even temporarily.

“The view is ‘we’re not safe until the world is safe,'” one of the sources said of support for progressives on Capitol Hill.

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The move would allow other countries to replicate existing vaccines. The USA has so far approved three vaccine shots: one from the American company Pfizer and BioNTech in Germany, one from the US company Moderna and one from the American company Johnson & Johnson.

Concern has grown over the US and a handful of other wealthy countries who have rights to a disproportionate share of the world’s vaccine supply while other nations struggle to vaccinate their people.

The Hill initially reported support for the move from progressive lawmakers.

The US Trade Representative’s office, which is expected to deliver a final verdict to the World Trade Organization, said saving lives and ending the pandemic remained “America’s top priority”.

“As part of the rebuilding of our alliances, we are examining all possibilities to coordinate with our global partners and assess the effectiveness of this specific proposal based on its real potential to save lives,” USTR spokesman Adam Hodge told CNBC.

The pharmaceutical industry has decided against the waiver of patent protection. It fears that this will undermine innovation to fight future diseases.

CNBC contacted Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson for comment.

Clete Willems, former deputy director of the National Economic Council, said lifting the protection would set a dangerous precedent for technology sharing.

“The government must stay away from this trap, which would undermine decades of US policy against forced technology transfers to countries like China and not directly increase vaccine distribution,” Willems, now a partner at Akin Gump, told CNBC. “The model they are pursuing with their quad partners is more promising.”

Ahead of a March 12 meeting, the Quad – a group from the United States, India, Japan, and Australia looking to counter China’s influence – announced a complex financing deal to improve vaccine manufacturing in the Indo-Pacific. where there has been a shortage. The group aims to deliver up to 1 billion vaccines by 2022.

Nearly 19% of American adults and about 15% of the total US population are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Politics

White Home Weighs Govt Orders on Gun Management

White House Weighs Executive Orders on Gun Control

WASHINGTON – With Congress unlikely to move quickly on guns legislation, the White House is pushing forward plans for a series of executive orders that President Biden is expected to put in place in the coming weeks to keep pressure on the issue.

A day after Mr Biden urged the Senate to pass a ban on assault weapons and step up background checks in response to two mass shootings last week that killed 18 people, White House officials said on Wednesday that the legislation was being passed Gun safety remained a goal; it would take time, given the vehement opposition from the Republicans.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said laws were needed to make permanent changes. But she also suggested that the executive measures under consideration could be a realistic starting point.

“There is of course a lot of leverage that you can use as president and vice president,” she said.

At the moment, administrative officials have reached out to Senate Democrats to discuss three executive actions. One would classify so-called ghost guns as firearms – kits with which a weapon can be assembled from parts. Another would fund community violence intervention programs, and the third would strengthen the background control system, according to congressional assistants familiar with the talks.

The White House attorney’s office was aware that any executive action against guns will come with legal challenges and has also reviewed those actions to ensure they stand up to judicial review.

A White House spokesman declined to comment on the upcoming actions. But Mr Biden is under pressure from weapons security groups to act as quickly as possible.

“If there’s one thing we’ve been into over the past year, inaction costs lives,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization dedicated to preventing gun violence. “It’s not about next week, it’s not about next month, it has to be about today. It has to be right now. “

During his campaign, Mr. Biden, a prominent proponent of the 10-year offensive weapons ban in 1994, promised to enact a general background check law banning all online firearms sales, and the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and magazines to ban high capacity.

But Mr Biden has acknowledged that he doesn’t know what legislation might be possible, even after the recent Atlanta and Boulder shootings. “I haven’t counted yet,” he said Tuesday when asked if he had the political capital to advance gun security measures.

With the National Rifle Association, once the most powerful lobby group in the country, which went bankrupt and spent more money on legal fees than fighting the White House or Congress, Mr Biden could have more room for maneuver.

Colorado shooting

Updated

March 24, 2021, 6:58 p.m. ET

Since the transition, officials in the Biden administration have met regularly with Mr. Feinblatt and other gun control advocates to discuss what actions are possible that do not require the cooperation of Congress.

Ideas they discussed include the Federal Trade Commission, which evaluates gun reports for false or misleading safety claims, the Education Department, which promotes measures to prevent students from gaining access to firearms, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Gunshot wounds must ensure reliable data tracking.

They also discussed whether to make gun violence a public health emergency – a move that would free up more funds that could be used to support community gun violence programs and enforce applicable laws.

“The Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bureau has funds to inspect the average arms dealer every five years,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence, a nonprofit group. “We have more arms dealers than Starbucks and McDonald’s.”

Designating gun violence as a public health crisis, Ms. Brown said, would allocate more money to allow for more regular inspections. This is a proposal that has been shared with the Biden transition teams.

What to Know About Gun Laws and Shootings in the United States

“We also talked about what can be done by agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services to motivate the health community to focus on preventive measures that can stop gun violence before it starts,” Ms. Brown said .

At the moment, one of the government’s greatest efforts has been to classify “ghost rifles” as firearms. Such a classification would require that they be serialized and subjected to background checks.

The government has also spoken to Democratic senators about its upcoming plans to fund community-based violence intervention programs. How much money is still up for debate?

During the campaign, Mr. Biden pledged to launch an eight-year $ 900 million initiative to fund evidence-based interventions in 40 cities across the country.

“There are programs in this country that do a proven job,” Ms. Brown said. “But they are drastically underfunded. We want a $ 5 billion investment in such violence intervention programs across the country. “

White House officials described a “robust interagency process” but said the proposed executive action was still ongoing.

While there are no plans for impending legislative pressure on guns from a White House dealing with crises on multiple fronts, Mr Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris continued to call legislative action imperative.

“I am not ready to give up what we must do to speak to the hearts and minds and cause of the members of the United States Senate,” Ms. Harris said in an interview with CBS This Morning on Wednesday.

“It is time for Congress to act and stop making wrong decisions,” she said. “This is not about getting rid of the second amendment. The point is simply to say that we need adequate gun safety laws. There is no reason why we have assault weapons on the streets of a civil society. They are weapons of war. They are supposed to kill a lot of people quickly. “

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Politics

White Home so as to add AAPI liaison after Democrats threaten to dam Biden’s nominees

White House to add AAPI liaison after Democrats threaten to block Biden's nominees

Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.

Tom Williams | CQ appeal | Getty Images

The White House said it would appoint a “high-level” liaison officer for Asia Pacific islanders, an official told NBC News on Wednesday.

The announcement came after two Democratic senators, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Hawaiian Mazie Hirono, vowed to vote against President Joe Biden’s candidates in protest at the lack of AAPI representation in his administration.

Duckworth and Hirono later went back on the threats, saying they had received new assurances from the White House.

The dispute over AAPI’s representation in the White House comes after Biden tried to rally the American people against an increase in violence and discrimination against Asian Americans last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The president has made it clear that his administration will reflect the diversity of the country. That was and is our goal,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

“The White House will add a high-level liaison between Asia Pacific islanders that will ensure that the community’s voice is further represented and heard,” said Psaki.

Senator Mazie Hirono attends a Senate Judicial Committee hearing for Christine Blasey Ford to testify on allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court candidate Brett M. Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill in Washington, United States, on September 27, 2018 .

Erin Schaff | Reuters

A day earlier, Duckworth criticized the government for not appointing “a single AAPI” official to a cabinet position.

“That’s not acceptable. I told the White House that,” said Duckworth, the first Thai American to be elected to Congress.

Duckworth said Tuesday that “until they find out,” she would “vote no on anything but the diversity contenders”.

Hirono joined Duckworth’s protest Tuesday evening, telling reporters they are demanding “a pledge from the White House that there will be greater representation of diversity in the cabinet and senior positions of the White House.”

Until then, Hirono said she would join Duckworth in “voting no to non-diversity nominees”.

But Hirono reversed course that night after posting initial reports on the new AAPI liaison role.

“I had a productive conversation with the White House today to clarify my perspective on the importance of diversity in the president’s cabinet,” Hirono tweeted.

“Based on the private conversation we have had, I will continue to vote to endorse the historic and highly qualified candidates that President Biden has appointed to his administration.”

Duckworth backed off her threat too.

The senator “appreciates the assurances made by the Biden administration that it will do much more to improve the voices and prospects of the AAPI at the highest levels of government,” spokesman Ben Garmisa said in a statement.

“Accordingly, it will not stand in the way of President Biden’s qualified candidates – including more AAPI leaders,” the statement said.

Program Notice: CNBC’s “Race & Opportunity in America: The Asian-American Experience” will air on Wednesday, March 31st at 8:00 pm CET.

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Politics

White Home considers $three trillion in spending

White House considers $3 trillion in spending

President Joe Biden speaks to press officials on the South Lawn after returning to the White House on March 21, 2021 after a trip to Camp David, Washington.

Erin Scott | Reuters

The White House will consider several options to pass an estimated $ 3 trillion economic recovery proposal, including splitting it into two bills, NBC News reported Monday.

The New York Times first reported on the Biden administration’s potential to come up with two separate proposals.

President Joe Biden is looking to make more money for the economy after his top priority, a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package, expires this month. His administration and congressional Democrats hope to renew the country’s infrastructure, combat climate change, and fuel an improving US economy.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier Monday that Biden had not decided how to proceed. In a statement to NBC News, she said, “President Biden and his team are considering a number of possible options for investing in working families and reforming our tax codes to reward work, not wealth.”

“These talks are ongoing, so speculation about future economic proposals is premature and does not reflect the thinking of the White House,” she said.

The Times reported that the president’s advisors were due to come up with a plan earlier this week that would split the restoration proposal into two parts. Money would be invested in promoting production, improving transport systems, expanding broadband access and reducing CO2 emissions, the newspaper said.

The other would focus on reducing economic inequalities by investing in paid vacation, universal pre-K, and community college, the report said. The government tends to first pursue a bipartisan infrastructure bill and then try to get larger parts of the economic package through budget voting, which NBC says would only require Democratic votes in the Senate.

It is now unclear whether Republicans would support any part of Biden’s recovery plan. The GOP has generally opposed the president’s proposals to increase corporate takeovers and the richest Americans to pay for the initiatives.

The Dow Jones Industrial average closed more than 100 points on Monday, according to the Times report. The reported price of Biden’s plan is higher than expected by most Wall Street companies, including Goldman Sachs, as most saw around $ 2 trillion in infrastructure. Caterpillar stocks ended slightly higher.

White House spokespersons, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and House Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

CNBC policy

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While politicians on both sides of the political corridor believe that US infrastructure needs to be repaired, they disagree on what items to pay for and how best to fund the massive enterprise.

Some moderates, including West Virginia Conservative Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, have made it clear that they will only vote for a plan that is a real attempt at bipartisanism and that will be paid for almost in full. Democrats approved the pandemic relief package by budget vote alone, and some members of the caucus have endorsed the use of the process to pass an infrastructure plan.

Biden met with non-partisan senators earlier this month about infrastructure. A group of 20 senators from both parties reportedly met last week to discuss another major political initiative in Congress.

During his presidential campaign, Biden said he was open to tax increases to pay for various items on the agenda. At the time, he supported raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, which would amount to partially reversing President Donald Trump’s landmark tax cuts for 2017.

Biden has also advocated raising the highest marginal tax rate to 39.6% and taxing capital gains and dividends at the higher ordinary income tax rate.

Read the full Times report here.

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Categories
Health

Journey trade urges White Home for plan to elevate worldwide Covid-19 journey restrictions

Travel industry urges White House for plan to lift international Covid-19 travel restrictions

COVID-19 vaccination card issued by the Centers for Disease Control

Bill Clark | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images

U.S. airlines and more than two dozen other industry groups on Monday called on the Biden government to work out a plan by May to lift international travel restrictions, including standards for digital vaccination records, after cross-border travel was destroyed by the Covid pandemic .

Airlines for America, which represents major US carriers like American, United, Southwest, and others, have one letter Jeffrey Zients, the White House’s Covid-19 Response Team coordinator, said the guidelines should exempt vaccinated individuals from international testing rules.

Among other things, the groups urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update their guidelines to say vaccinated people can travel safely, according to a copy of the letter viewed by CNBC.

“To be clear, we do not currently endorse the repeal or relaxation of key public health safeguards such as the universal mask mandate, in-depth international testing requirements, physical distancing, or any other measure that would make travel safer and the transmission of life Virus, “said the letter, which was also signed by the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest flight attendant union and other industry groups. “However, the data and scientific evidence show that the right public health measures are now being taken to effectively mitigate risk and enable entry restrictions to be lifted safely.”

Most non-US citizens who have recently been to Europe, the UK and Brazil have been banned from entering the US since March last year, when then-President Donald Trump introduced the rules as Covid-19 spread around the world . In January, President Joe Biden expanded entry restrictions and added South Africa to the list as infections and new, more contagious varieties emerged

The group also called on the White House to set standards for digital health records that immigration officials can use to show evidence of vaccinations or test results.

Meanwhile, airlines and officials have been looking for ways to use digital vaccines or health passports to boost travel and eventually replace travel restrictions. The European Union last week proposed a digital health certificate with a QR code that contains vaccine and Covid-19 test results.

Ed Bastian, Delta Air Lines CEO, told NBC Nightly News last week that he expects digital vaccine passports to be required for international travel.

The White House declined to comment, citing a recommendation against travel that CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had given on Monday.

“Now is not the time to travel,” she said at a press conference.

“We are concerned not only with what happens when you are on the plane yourself, but also with what happens when people travel, that is, they go out, they mingle, they mingle with people who are not vaccinated “, she said.

Categories
Politics

White Home to Spend Billions to Improve Virus Testing and Ease Reopening

White House to Spend Billions to Increase Virus Testing and Ease Reopening

WASHINGTON – Die Regierung von Biden, die versucht, eine Verzögerung bei den Coronavirus-Tests zu beheben, die die Wiedereröffnung von Schulen und Wirtschaft behindert, sagte am Mittwoch, dass sie 10 Milliarden US-Dollar investieren würde, um das Screening von Schülern und Pädagogen zu beschleunigen, mit dem Ziel, persönlich zurückzukehren Lernen bis zum Ende des Schuljahres.

Der Kongress genehmigte die 10-Milliarden-Dollar-Ausgaben, als er Präsident Bidens 1,9-Billionen-Dollar-Konjunkturpaket verabschiedete, das er letzte Woche gesetzlich unterzeichnet hatte. Die Zentren für die Kontrolle und Prävention von Krankheiten werden das Geld Anfang April an die Staaten verteilen und zusätzliche 2,25 Milliarden US-Dollar ausgeben, um die Tests in unterversorgten Gemeinden außerhalb der Schulen auszuweiten.

Inwieweit diese Schritte zur Wiedereröffnung von Schulen und zur Wiederbelebung der Wirtschaft führen werden, ist unklar. Experten sagen, dass die Vereinigten Staaten nicht annähernd genug Schnelltests haben, um die Art von Routine-Screening durchzuführen, die die Verwaltung vorsieht, damit Schüler und Lehrer sicher in den Unterricht zurückkehren können.

“Dies wird die Nadel nicht bewegen”, sagte Michael Mina, ein Immunologe und Epidemiologe in Harvard, der argumentierte, dass belastende Vorschriften der Food and Drug Administration die Coronavirus-Krise verschärfen, indem sie verhindern, dass neue Arten von Antigen-Schnelltests zugelassen werden.

“Die Staaten brauchen nicht nur Geld”, sagte Dr. Mina. “Die Staaten brauchen nicht nur Rat von der CDC. Die Staaten brauchen den Test, um verfügbar zu sein.”

Die Schritte kommen, da die Coronavirus-Tests landesweit zurückgehen, ein Trend, der die Experten des öffentlichen Gesundheitswesens zutiefst betrifft. Einige Staaten haben Massenteststellen in Massenimpfzentren umgewandelt, und ihre überforderten Gesundheitsabteilungen verfügen nicht über die Bandbreite, um beides zu tun.

Zwischen dem 1. Februar und dem 15. März, als die Infektionsrate sank und sich die Amerikaner auf die Impfung konzentrierten, sank die durchschnittliche Anzahl der täglich durchgeführten Coronavirus-Tests laut Statistiken der Johns Hopkins University um 24 Prozent.

Jennifer B. Nuzzo, eine Epidemiologin von Johns Hopkins, die in einem Interview in der New York Times über den Rückgang eines Meinungsbeitrags schrieb, sagte in einem Interview, dass aggressive Tests für die Beendigung der Pandemie weiterhin von entscheidender Bedeutung seien, insbesondere da ansteckendere Coronavirus-Varianten auftauchten und Staaten ihre Sperrung lockerten Maße. Sie sagte, die Biden-Administration müsse schnell testen, um etwas zu bewirken.

“Ich verstehe, warum sich Staaten auf Impfstoffe konzentrieren”, sagte Dr. Nuzzo. “Es ist sehr wichtig, dass wir der Einführung von Impfstoffen Priorität einräumen, jedoch nicht auf Kosten der Tests.”

Experten wie Dr. Nuzzo und Dr. Mina sagen, dass die USA Tests nie vollständig als wirksames Instrument zur Verfolgung und Eindämmung des Virus eingesetzt haben. Die neuen Initiativen der Biden-Regierung sind ein Versuch, dies zu tun, indem asymptomatische Personen – insbesondere Schüler, Lehrer und Schulpersonal – getestet werden, um Ausbrüche zu erkennen, bevor sie explodieren, anstatt nur diejenigen mit Symptomen zu testen, um festzustellen, ob sie infiziert sind.

Die Wiedereröffnung von Schulen war eine der Hauptprioritäten von Herrn Biden – und eines der umstrittensten Themen, mit denen die Verwaltung konfrontiert ist. Da Millionen amerikanischer Kinder immer noch auf virtuelles Lernen beschränkt sind, sagen Bildungsexperten, dass viele sowohl psychisch als auch akademisch leiden.

Trotzdem arbeiten viele Schulen bereits zumindest teilweise persönlich, und es gibt Hinweise darauf, dass sie dies relativ sicher tun. Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Verbreitung in der Schule durch einfache Sicherheitsmaßnahmen wie Maskieren, Distanzieren, Händewaschen und Öffnen von Fenstern verringert werden kann.

Der Bildungssekretär von Herrn Biden, Miguel A. Cardona, sagte am Mittwoch, dass die Abteilung nächste Woche einen „nationalen Wiedereröffnungsgipfel für Schulen“ veranstalten und „Best Practices aus dem ganzen Land darlegen werde, wie dies sicher und wie dies zu tun ist schnell.”

Herr Biden, der ursprünglich die Wiedereröffnung aller Schulen innerhalb von 100 Tagen nach seiner Eröffnung forderte, beschränkte dieses Ziel später auf Grund- und Mittelschulen und setzte den Maßstab für die Wiedereröffnung bei „der Mehrheit der Schulen“ oder 51 Prozent. Es gibt jedoch noch viele Hürden, einschließlich der Überzeugung der Lehrergewerkschaften, dass Richtlinien vorhanden sind, um eine sichere Rückkehr zu gewährleisten und die Ängste und Frustrationen der Eltern zu lindern.

Ein Stolperstein für die Wiedereröffnung war die Empfehlung der CDC, dass die Menschen sechs Fuß voneinander entfernt bleiben sollten, wenn sie nicht im selben Haushalt leben. Angesichts des wachsenden Verständnisses der Ausbreitung des Virus fordern einige Experten des öffentlichen Gesundheitswesens die Behörde auf, den empfohlenen Abstand von sechs Fuß auf drei Fuß zu verringern.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, der leitende medizinische Berater von Herrn Biden für die Pandemie, und Dr. Rochelle Walensky, die CDC-Direktorin, haben erklärt, dass die Leitlinien für soziale Distanzierung in Schulen derzeit überprüft werden.

Die Regierung teilte am Mittwoch mit, dass die CDC sowie die staatlichen und lokalen Gesundheitsämter den Staaten und Schulen helfen würden, Testprogramme einzurichten. Die CDC aktualisierte auch ihre Leitlinien dazu, welche Arten von Tests in verschiedenen Umgebungen wie Schulen, Gefängnissen oder Pflegeheimen angewendet werden sollten.

Die neuen Leitlinien enthalten weitere Informationen zu verschiedenen Arten von Tests, einschließlich der Auswahl und Interpretation der Ergebnisse. Die Agentur empfiehlt Personen mit Covid-19-Symptomen oder Personen, die möglicherweise einer Krankheit ausgesetzt waren, einen diagnostischen Test durchzuführen.

Diese Tests umfassen Polymerasekettenreaktions- oder PCR-Tests, die sehr kleine Spuren viraler DNA nachweisen können, aber typischerweise in einem Labor verarbeitet werden müssen, und Antigentests, die weniger empfindlich, aber im Allgemeinen billiger und schneller sind.

Antigentests können besonders nützlich sein, um eine große Anzahl von Personen zu untersuchen – beispielsweise in Schulen oder am Arbeitsplatz -, die keine Symptome haben. Aufgrund ihrer geringeren Empfindlichkeit können jedoch nachfolgende Laboruntersuchungen erforderlich sein, so die CDC-Leitlinien.

Häufig gestellte Fragen zum neuen Stimulus-Paket

Wie hoch sind die Konjunkturzahlungen in der Rechnung und wer ist berechtigt?

Die Konjunkturzahlungen würden für die meisten Empfänger 1.400 USD betragen. Diejenigen, die berechtigt sind, würden auch eine identische Zahlung für jedes ihrer Kinder erhalten. Um sich für die vollen 1.400 USD zu qualifizieren, würde eine einzelne Person ein bereinigtes Bruttoeinkommen von 75.000 USD oder weniger benötigen. Für Haushaltsvorstände müsste das bereinigte Bruttoeinkommen 112.500 USD oder weniger betragen, und für Ehepaare, die gemeinsam einreichen, müsste diese Zahl 150.000 USD oder weniger betragen. Um Anspruch auf eine Zahlung zu haben, muss eine Person eine Sozialversicherungsnummer haben. Weiterlesen.

Was würde die Entlastungsrechnung für die Krankenversicherung tun?

Der Kauf einer Versicherung über das als COBRA bekannte Regierungsprogramm würde vorübergehend viel billiger werden. COBRA lässt im Rahmen des Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act im Allgemeinen jemanden, der einen Job verliert, über den früheren Arbeitgeber eine Deckung kaufen. Aber es ist teuer: Unter normalen Umständen muss eine Person mindestens 102 Prozent der Kosten der Prämie bezahlen. Im Rahmen des Hilfsgesetzes würde die Regierung vom 1. April bis 30. September die gesamte COBRA-Prämie zahlen. Eine Person, die sich vor dem 30. September an einem anderen Ort für eine neue arbeitgeberbasierte Krankenversicherung qualifiziert hat, würde die Berechtigung für die kostenlose Deckung verlieren. Und jemand, der freiwillig einen Job verlassen hat, wäre ebenfalls nicht förderfähig. Weiterlesen

Was würde die Rechnung über die Steuergutschrift für Kinder und abhängige Pflege ändern?

Dieser Kredit, der berufstätigen Familien hilft, die Kosten für die Betreuung von Kindern unter 13 Jahren und anderen abhängigen Personen auszugleichen, würde für ein einziges Jahr erheblich verlängert. Mehr Menschen wären berechtigt, und viele Empfänger würden eine größere Pause bekommen. Die Rechnung würde auch das Guthaben vollständig zurückerstatten, was bedeutet, dass Sie das Geld als Rückerstattung einziehen könnten, selbst wenn Ihre Steuerrechnung Null wäre. “Das wird für Menschen am unteren Ende der Einkommensskala hilfreich sein”, sagte Mark Luscombe, Hauptsteueranalyst des Bundes bei Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. Weiterlesen.

Welche Änderungen des Studentendarlehens sind in der Rechnung enthalten?

Es würde eine große für Leute geben, die bereits Schulden haben. Sie müssten keine Einkommenssteuern auf Schuldenerlass zahlen, wenn Sie sich für die Kreditvergabe oder -stornierung qualifizieren – zum Beispiel, wenn Sie für die erforderliche Anzahl von Jahren in einem einkommensabhängigen Rückzahlungsplan waren, wenn Ihre Schule Sie betrogen hat oder wenn Der Kongress oder der Präsident wischen 10.000 Dollar Schulden für eine große Anzahl von Menschen weg. Dies wäre der Fall bei Schulden, die zwischen dem 1. Januar 2021 und Ende 2025 erlassen wurden. Lesen Sie mehr.

Was würde die Rechnung tun, um Menschen mit Wohnraum zu helfen?

Die Rechnung würde Menschen, die Probleme haben und in Gefahr sind, aus ihren Häusern vertrieben zu werden, Milliarden von Dollar an Miet- und Versorgungsleistungen zur Verfügung stellen. Etwa 27 Milliarden US-Dollar würden für die Notfallvermietung verwendet. Die überwiegende Mehrheit davon würde den sogenannten Coronavirus Relief Fund auffüllen, der durch das CARES-Gesetz geschaffen und nach Angaben der National Low Income Housing Coalition über staatliche, lokale und Stammesregierungen verteilt wird. Dies kommt zu den 25 Milliarden US-Dollar hinzu, die durch das im Dezember verabschiedete Hilfspaket bereitgestellt werden. Um finanzielle Unterstützung zu erhalten, die für Miete, Versorgung und andere Wohnkosten verwendet werden könnte, müssten die Haushalte verschiedene Bedingungen erfüllen. Das Haushaltseinkommen darf 80 Prozent des Gebietsmedianeinkommens nicht überschreiten, mindestens ein Haushaltsmitglied muss einem Risiko für Obdachlosigkeit oder Wohninstabilität ausgesetzt sein, und Einzelpersonen müssten aufgrund der Pandemie. Nach Angaben der National Low Income Housing Coalition könnte die Unterstützung bis zu 18 Monate lang gewährt werden. Familien mit niedrigerem Einkommen, die drei Monate oder länger arbeitslos waren, würden Vorrang für die Unterstützung erhalten. Weiterlesen.

In offensichtlicher Erwartung der Ankündigung vom Mittwoch gab die FDA am Dienstag bekannt, dass sie neue Empfehlungen und Informationen für Testentwickler bereitstellt, um den Weg zur Notfallgenehmigung für Screening-Tests zu „rationalisieren“.

Dr. Mina sagte jedoch, dass die neuen Richtlinien nicht das ansprechen, was er als grundlegendes Problem ansieht: Die FDA hält die Zulassung neuer Antigen-Schnelltests, einschließlich Tests zu Hause, auf, indem sie diese falsch an den empfindlicheren PCR-Tests messen. Dr. Mina sagte, die beiden seien nicht vergleichbar. Während Schnelltests verfügbar sind, ist ihre Produktion weit hinter dem Bedarf zurückgeblieben. Derzeit sind nur drei Tests zu Hause von der FDA zugelassen.

“Die Anforderungen der FDA haben nicht mit der Wissenschaft Schritt gehalten”, sagte er. “Sie leben in dieser archaischen Welt, in der PCR der einzige Test und die einzige Metrik ist und buchstäblich einen Antigen-Test nach dem Antigen-Test erfordert, um im Fegefeuer begraben zu werden.”

Er wies auch darauf hin, dass die Richtlinien des Bundes keine andere Hürde für Schulen darstellen: die Anforderung, dass sie eine Zertifizierung gemäß den Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) erhalten müssen, einer Reihe von Vorschriften von 1988, die Beschränkungen für die Durchführung von Labortests auferlegen.

Dr. Walensky sagte am Mittwoch, dass einige Staaten zwar kreative Wege gefunden haben, um die Anforderung zu umgehen, „aber noch mehr Arbeit zu tun ist“, um das Problem anzugehen.

Die 2,25 Milliarden US-Dollar für Tests in unterversorgten Bevölkerungsgruppen sollen die durch die Pandemie aufgedeckten Rassenunterschiede beseitigen. Schwarze und Latinos infizieren sich weitaus häufiger mit dem Coronavirus als Weiße und sterben an Covid-19. Diese Unterschiede erstrecken sich laut Experten auf Tests. Die Impfrate für Schwarze in den Vereinigten Staaten ist halb so hoch wie für Weiße, und die Kluft für Hispano-Amerikaner ist laut einer Times-Analyse staatlich gemeldeter Informationen zu Rasse und ethnischer Zugehörigkeit sogar noch größer.

Das Geld wird in Form von Zuschüssen an öffentliche Gesundheitsbehörden vergeben, um deren Fähigkeit zu verbessern, das Virus zu testen und zu verfolgen.

Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, Leiterin der Covid-19-Equity-Task Force von Herrn Biden, sagte Reportern, dass die Verwaltung auch daran arbeite, Therapiebehandlungen, einschließlich monoklonaler Antikörpertherapien, mit einem Zuschuss von 150 Millionen US-Dollar an unterversorgte Gemeinden zu bringen.

“Für diejenigen Personen, die Covid-19 erhalten, möchten wir sicherstellen, dass auch sie von den neuesten wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen profitieren”, sagte sie, “um ihnen zu helfen, zu hoffen und ihnen zu einer sicheren und schnellen Genesung zu verhelfen.”

Emily Anthes trug zur Berichterstattung aus New York bei.