Page 32 - White House

US govt aware of long delays in Indian visa appointments: White House

The Biden Administration is aware of the long delays in visa appointments in India and is working to respond to the "significant demand of these visa services", the White House said Thursday. I can say that the Biden administration is aware of the issues, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference. She was responding to a question on the agonizing long visa appointment period at the US missions in India, which currently runs into more than 1,000 days. While we have made great strides, as you know, because you cover this very closely, in recovering from the pandemic related closures and staffing challenges, we are still working to respond to the significant demand of these visa services, Jean-Pierre said. That is something that we will continue to do. We are successfully lowering visa interview wait times, that's around the world, and we've doubled our hiring of US Foreign Service personnel to do this important work. Visa processing is

White House backs bill eliminating per country quota for green cards

The White House has supported Congress to pass a legislation that seeks to eliminate the per country quota on green cards to allow US employers to focus on hiring people based on merit, not their birthplace, a bill if passed would benefit several hundreds of thousands of immigrants specially Indian-Americans. A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently. This week, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act of 2022. The EAGLE Act would eliminate a per-country cap on employment-based green cards a policy that disproportionately affects Indian immigrants. If passed, this legislation would phase out the per-country caps over the course of nine years to ensure that eligible immigrants from less populated countries are not excluded as the EAGLE Act is implemented. The ..

White House unveils Bidens' holiday decorations on theme 'We the People'

The White House is decorated on the theme 'We the People' for this holiday season, drawing inspiration from the US Constitution

White House state dinner draws names from fashion, business, politics

The first White House state dinner of President Joe Biden's administration drew big names from fashion, entertainment, politics and business who turned out to help celebrate French President Emmanuel Macron and the return of high-wattage DC social events after the pandemic. First to arrive: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, followed not long after by Gov. John Carney, representing Biden's home state of Delaware. Julia Louis-Dreyfus whizzed by the press, pausing only to say that, yes, she'd been to a state dinner before and it was all very exciting. Late-night TV host Stephen Colbert made his entrance, too, as guests passed through the White House before heading outside to a heated party tent on the South Lawn. Family made the cut too: Biden's adult children, Hunter and Ashley, and his sister, Valerie Biden, were on the guest list. Others attending, according to the official guest list: Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, actors Jennifer Garner and Ariana DeBose an

Looking forward to supporting India's G20 presidency, says White House

The United States is looking forward to supporting India's G-20 presidency next year, the White House said on Wednesday. India formally takes over the presidency of the group of the world's richest economies on Thursday. "We look forward to supporting India's G20 presidency next year on a range of issues, including addressing current food and energy security challenges while continuing our efforts to build a resilient global economy," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference. "As you've seen, the President has attended, has been participating in the G-20 in his tenure here. Don't have anything specific to announce or any specifics to announce on travel," she said when asked about a presidential travel to India next year.

US looks forward to continuing working with Pakistan, says White House

The United States is looking forward to continue working with Pakistan, the White House said on Wednesday as a new general takes charge as the chief of army staff in Islamabad. Lt General Asim Munir was formally handed over the command of the Pakistan Army On Tuesday. "The United States values our longstanding cooperation with Pakistan and has always viewed a prosperous and democratic Pakistan is critical to US interests," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a news conference here. "We look forward to continue to work with Pakistan to promote stability, prosperity for the people of Pakistan and the region, the press Secretary said in response to a question on the change in guard in Islamabad.

We're keeping a close eye on Twitter under Elon Musk: White House

The White House is keeping a "close eye" on Elon Musk-led Twitter and will not allow the platform to incite violence against individual communities, as the world's richest man vouched for free speech

US continues to support right of peaceful protest: White House on China

The United States continues to stand up and support the right of peaceful protests in China, the White House said Monday. The United States is closely watching the developments in China, White House's National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters at a news conference. Our message to peaceful protesters around the world is the same and consistent: People should be allowed the right to assemble and to peacefully protest policies or laws or dictates that they take issue with, Kirby said Protests have erupted across China against the Chinese government's hash Covid rules. "We're watching this closely, as you might expect we would. And again, we continue to stand up and support the right of peaceful protest. And I think we're going to watch this closely, and we'll see where things go," he said in response to a question. Kirby said the US has not offered any aid to China at this time. We are the largest supplier of COVID vaccines around the

Prez Biden to extend student loan pause as court battle drags on

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration will extend the pause on federal student loan payments while the White House fights a legal battle to save his plan to cancel portions of the debt. "It isn't fair to ask tens of millions of borrowers eligible for relief to resume their student debt payments while the courts consider the lawsuit," Biden said in a video posted on Twitter. The moratorium was slated to expire January 1, a date that Biden set before his debt cancellation plan stalled in the face of legal challenges from conservative opponents. Now it will extend until 60 days after the lawsuit is resolved. If the lawsuit has not been resolved by June 30, payments would resume 60 days after that. The Justice Department last week asked the Supreme Court to examine the issue and reinstate Biden's debt cancellation plan.

Committed to nomination of US envoy to India, ties important: White House

The United States continues to seek the expeditious confirmation of the Los Angeles Mayor, as the ambassador to India, following a long delay in the confirmation of his nomination.

2022 huge year in US-India ties, 2023 going to be even bigger: White House

In the history of India-US relationship, 2022 has been a huge year and the next year is going to be even bigger, a top White House official said on Sunday. Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer also applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being instrumental in forging a consensus during the recently concluded G-20 Summit. "Looking around the world when the United States and (its) President (Joe) Biden look for partners that can truly help carry the load, truly helped move forward a global agenda, India and Prime Minister Modi are very high on that list," Finer told a gathering of several hundred Indian-Americans here. "We just saw this in real time at the G-20 where the prime minister was instrumental in forging a consensus around a joint statement among a far-flung group of countries and in the comments and work that the prime minister has done and others in the Indian government have done to highlight the increasing risk related to nuclear issues," he said at an

LIVE updates: PM Narendra Modi holds roadshow in Gujarat's Vapi

PM Modi is scheduled to hold rallies in Gujarat's Saurashtra for three consecutive days from Nov 20 to Nov 22. Stay tuned for LIVE updates

US lauds PM Modi for adding 'today's era isn't of war' in G20 declaration

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said, "PM Modi's message that "era not of war" resonated very deeply across all delegations and helped bridge the gap across different parties."

Joe Biden says 'it is going to take time' for inflation to recede

US President Joe Biden cautioned on Friday that "it is going to take time" for inflation to recede, but he offered fresh assurance that legislation he signed earlier this year will soon help limit costs for health care and energy. He made the remarks while meeting with business and labour leaders in his first public event since returning from an around-the-world trip to Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia. Biden has been encouraged by the Democrats' stronger-than-expected performance in the midterm elections, but he could be entering a perilous stretch when it comes to the economy. The White House has emphasised a strong jobs market to try to allay concerns about a potential recession. However, the Federal Reserve continues to try to slow economic growth by raising interest rates to battle inflation. It is a delicate situation that Biden will be navigating amid turnover in his economic team. Cecilia Rouse, a labour economist who became the first Black woman to lead the Council of Economi

Republicans just a seat away from control of House, says report

Democrats have already won control of the Senate, securing 50 seats with a runoff in Georgia next month

White House monitoring FTX collapse, calls for crypto industry regulation

The collapse this week of FTX dealt another blow to the cryptocurrency industry, which has seen severe volatility and bankruptcies of other high-profile firms, including Celsius Network Ltd

No 'red wave'

Democratic Party does better than expected in midterms

US not near recession, needs more time to cool prices: US president Biden

'We're not anywhere near a recession right now, in terms of the growth,' said Biden at the White House on Wednesday

Will be tough to keep the House, says US President Joe Biden

Approval ticks lower for Biden as Democrats brace for midterm losses

Covid will be there forever but worst is over: White House official

COVID-19 in some ways will be there forever but the worst days of the pandemic are "absolutely" over, Dr Ashish K Jha, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, said on Tuesday. Speaking at the 20th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Jha said given the high levels of immunity in the population due to both vaccination and prior infections, "even if we see surges and variants the worst of this pandemic should be behind us". "Covid is not over and in some ways it will be with us forever and we just have to continue to manage it but if the question is are the worst days of covid behind us then my answer is absolutely, it is," he said. With variants cropping up at regular intervals, Jha acknowledged that they are a concern as a very rapid evolution of this virus is being seen over the time. "...the speed at which SARS-CoV-2 is evolving is really remarkable. And there are a variety of reasons why this is happening - the primary one is we have so much immunity across the world due