Page 12 - Joe Biden

Biden signs defence bill despite objections to ban transgender health care

President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law a defence bill that authorises significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to USD 895 billion despite his objections to language stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families. Biden said his administration strongly opposes the provision because it targets a group based on gender identity and "interferes with parents' roles to determine the best care for their children. He said it also undermines the all-volunteer military's ability to recruit and retain talent. No service member should have to decide between their family's health care access and their call to serve our nation, the president said in a statement. The Senate forwarded the bill to Biden after passing it last week by a vote of 85-14. In the House, a majority of Democrats voted against the bill after House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted on adding t

Here's how families, advocates react to Biden's death row commutations

Victims' families and others affected by crimes that resulted in federal death row convictions shared a range of emotions on Monday, from relief to anger, after President Joe Biden commuted dozens of the sentences. Biden converted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The inmates include people who were convicted in the slayings of police, military officers and federal prisoners and guards. Others were involved in deadly robberies and drug deals. Three inmates will remain on federal death row: Dylann Roof, convicted of the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; the 2013 Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh's Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. Opponents of the death penalty lauded Biden for a decision they'd long sought. Supporters of Donald .

Biden commutes 37 federal death sentences in latest use of pardon power

Of the 40 men on federal Death Row in Terre Haute, Indiana, 18 are White, 15 are Black, six are Latino and one is Asian. At least nine of the spared convicts were on death row for killing

US Prez Biden signs govt funding legislation, averts shutdown crisis

President Joe Biden on Saturday signed legislation that averts a government shutdown heading into Christmas, bringing a final close to days of upheaval in Washington after Congress passed a bipartisan budget plan just past the deadline and rejected Donald Trump's core demand in the negotiations. The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides USD 100 billion in disaster aid and USD 10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had insisted lawmakers would meet our obligations and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump had insisted the deal include an increase in the government's borrowing limit. If not, he had said, then let the closures start now. Johnson's revised plan was approved 366-34, and it was passed by the Senate by a 85-11 vote after midnight. By then, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations. There will be no ...

US Congress passes funding bill, averting govt shutdown; Biden to sign soon

Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump's demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would meet our obligations and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. But the day's outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closures start now. The House approved Johnson's new bill overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate worked into the night to pass it, 85-11, just past the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations. This is a good outcome for the country, Johnson said after the House vote, adding he had spoken with Trump and the president-elect was certainly happy .

Senate approves 235th judge of Biden's term, beating Trump's tally

President Joe Biden secured the 235th judicial confirmation of his presidency Friday, an accomplishment that exceeds his predecessor's total by one after Democrats put extra emphasis on the federal courts following Donald Trump's far-reaching first term, when he filled three seats on the Supreme Court. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, teed up votes Friday on two California district judges, and they were the last judicial confirmations this year before Congress adjourns and makes way for a new, Republican-led Senate. The confirmation of Serena Raquel Murillo to be a district judge for the Central District of California broke Trump's mark. The tally also marks the largest number of confirmations in a single term since the Jimmy Carter administration. Come next year, Republicans will look to boost Trump's already considerable influence on the makeup of the federal judiciary in his second term. Biden and Senate Democrats placed particular focus on adding women, minorities and

Senators urge Biden to grant ByteDance 90-day delay from law requiring sale

The Justice Department had said that as a Chinese company, TikTok poses a national-security threat of immense depth and scale

US attorney involved in fraud indictment of Gautam Adani to resign

He was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021 and will leave before President-elect Donald Trump takes office January 20

US considers ban on China's TP-Link over security concerns: Report

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency said TP-Link routers had a vulnerability that could be exploited to execute remote code

US effort to curb China, Russia's access to new chips 'inadequate': Report

The Commerce Department's efforts to curb China's and Russia's access to American-made advanced computer chips have been inadequate and will need more funding to stymie their ability to manufacture advanced weapons, according to a report published Wednesday by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The Biden administration imposed export controls to limit the ability of China and Russia to access US-made chips after Russia's invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. The agency's Bureau of Industry and Security, according to the report, does not have the resources to enforce export controls and has been too reliant on US chip makers voluntarily complying with the rules. But the push for bolstering Commerce's export control enforcement comes as the incoming Trump administration says it is looking to dramatically reduce the size and scope of federal government. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new Department

Donald Trump attempts to kill bipartisan budget deal with Musk's help

President-elect Donald Trump delivered a likely death blow to bipartisan congressional budget negotiations on Wednesday, rejecting the measure as full of giveaways to Democrats as billionaire ally Elon Musk whipped up outrage toward the bill and cheered on Republican lawmakers who announced their opposition. Trump's joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance, which stopped the bill in its tracks, punctuated a daylong torrent of social media posts by Musk attacking the budget legislation as full of excessive spending. "Kill the Bill!" Musk wrote on his social media platform X as he dangled primary challenges against anyone who voted for the budget deal, a threat Trump later echoed in a post of his own. The episode showcased the growing political influence of Musk, whom Trump has selected alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, a nongovernmental task force formed to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programmes and slash

China has taken efforts consistent with 'transnational repression': US

FBI and the US's CISA on November 13 issued a warning that the breach, initially discovered late last month, has since uncovered a wide-reaching and serious cyber espionage operation

We have close partnership with our Indian counterparts: Vedant Patel

Over the course of our time in the Biden administration, India has been a key partner in the Indo-Pacific on a number of shared issues, and we look forward to working together, he added

US lawmakers urge Biden admin to stop sending military aid to Israel

Congress members called on Washington to uphold its own laws that restrict military aid to countries that commit war crimes

US Senate passes bill to raise troop pay, aims to counter China's power

The Senate passed a defence bill on Wednesday that authorises significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to USD 895 billion while also stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children of military members. The annual defence authorisation bill usually gains strong bipartisan support and has not failed to pass Congress in nearly six decades, but the Pentagon policy measure in recent years has become a battleground for cultural issues. Republicans this year sought to tack on to the legislation priorities for social conservatives, contributing to a months-long negotiation over the bill and a falloff in support from Democrats. Still, the bill passed comfortably 85-14, sending it to President Joe Biden. Eleven senators who caucus with Democrats, as well as three Republicans, voted against the legislation. The bill "isn't perfect, but it still includes some very good things that ...

Biden to launch probe into Chinese semiconductors over security risks

The investigation examining so-called foundational chips could take months to conclude, meaning that any reaction to the findings will be left to the discretion of President-elect Donald Trump's team

Leaving India-US ties in a very good place, expect continuity: Biden admin

The outgoing Biden administration said it was leaving the India-US relationship "in a very strong place", and exuded confidence that it will continue to have bipartisan support during the Donald Trump presidency as well. We continue to be very ambitious about the US-India relationship. We've had very high-level engagement over the course of the last several months with the QUAD summit in Delaware, and we are anticipating a high-level engagement in the last few weeks of the Biden administration, Kurt Campbell, Deputy Secretary of State, told reporters during a conference call here on Tuesday. Campbell joined by Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer and Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra, were in Houston on Tuesday to meet with astronauts from the Indian Space Research Organisation who are training at NASA's Johnson Space Center to execute a joint effort to the International Space Station in partnership with NASA next year. We are quite confident that we'll

Joe Biden calls for ban on congressional stock trading Washington

President Joe Biden endorsed a ban on congressional stock trading in an interview that's being released this week, belatedly weighing in on an issue that has been debated on Capitol Hill for years. Nobody in the Congress should be able to make money in the stock market while they're in the Congress, Biden said. The interview was conducted by Faiz Shakir, a political adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders, and published by A More Perfect Union, a pro-labour advocacy and journalism organisation. The Associated Press reviewed a video of the interview before its release. It's unclear what impact Biden's statement could have, coming only a month before his term ends. The Democratic president spoke to Shakir about his economic legacy, which includes supporting unions, investing in clean energy projects and signing infrastructure. But Shakir also asked about congressional stock trading, which has been a catalyst for populist anger at Washington. For example, when the coronavirus pandemic was ..

Students should only learn to read, write: Biden condemns school shooting

As many as two people were killed and six others sustained injuries in a shooting incident at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin on Monday, CNN reported citing officials

Stupid for Biden to let Ukraine use US weapons to strike Russia: Trump

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday suggested that he may reverse President Joe Biden's recent decision to allow Ukrainian forces to use American long-range weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory. Trump called the decision made by Biden last month stupid." He also expressed anger that his incoming administration was not consulted before Biden made the move. With the loosening of the restrictions, Biden gave Ukraine long-sought permission to use the Army Tactical Missile System provided by the U.S. to strike Russian positions hundreds miles from its border. I don't think that should have been allowed, not when there's a possibility certainly not just weeks before I take over," Trump said during at a wide-ranging news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort. "Why would they do that without asking me what I thought? I wouldn't have had him do that. I think it was a big mistake. Trump's withering criticism of the Biden administration's move comes as the Democratic administratio