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“It’s core to our competitiveness,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told reporters Wednesday of the decision to include what she dubbed the “care economy” in the bill. Without access to quality care, she said, families struggle to join or stay in the workforce. Raimondo’s defense of the proposed package during a White House press briefing is one of many efforts by the administration as it tries to make the case for the infrastructure plan....

The federal government’s current rules provide student loan relief for those that are “totally and permanently disabled” and don’t earn enough but only if documented proof of a disability is submitted alongside a three-year monitoring period of one’s income. Now, beginning September, the Education Department will start wiping out student debt for 323,000 citizens identified as permanently disabled on their Social Security records. The three-year income monitoring period is expected to be taken away during a federal rule making process that begins in October....

“Now, I hear Republicans say today that my talking about this strong record shows that I don’t understand,” Biden said. “A lot of people are still suffering, they say. Well, they are. Or that I’m not focused on inflation—malarky.” Biden spent the first portion of his addressing sharing with the American people that this jobs report, which showed that 6.4 million jobs have been added over the past year, represented the “the most jobs in any calendar year by any president in history....

Biden also condemned Republican governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas, who have threatened schools that implement student mask mandates. “My plan also takes on elected officials and states that are undermining you and these life-saving actions,” Biden said, speaking to pro-mandate school officials. “Right now, local school officials are trying to keep children safe in a pandemic, while their governor picks a fight with them, and even threatens their salaries or their jobs....

Fred Ryan, who is also the former president of Politico, wrote a Sunday op-ed that blasted the Biden for “doubling down” and even amplifying his predecessor’s “unprecedented assault on American news organizations.” Ryan’s criticism comes just days after the Post and The New York Times revealed that the Biden DOJ was secretly obtaining reporters’ records during leak investigations, as well as placing a gag order on Times executives to prevent public discussion of the matter....

The president pardoned turkeys Chocolate and Chip during the annual White House tradition leading up to Thanksgiving. During the ceremony, Biden’s remarks about Delaware’s chicken population raised eyebrows. “We have more chickens than anywhere in the nation in Delaware, but we don’t have turkeys,” Biden said, leading to some confusion on social media about the state’s chicken production. Delaware indeed has a significant poultry industry, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)....

On Friday, the president announced that he had signed the order requiring Attorney General Merrick Garland to release the documents publicly over the next six months. “When I ran for president, I made a commitment to ensuring transparency regarding the declassification of documents on the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America,” Biden said in a press release. “As we approach the 20th anniversary of that tragic day, I am honoring that commitment....

In a new poll from The Hill-HarrisX conducted January 21-22, registered voters were asked, “Do you approve or disapprove of the job President Joe Biden is doing overall?” In response, 63 percent said the approved, while 37 percent disapproved. Most of his support came from Democratic voters, 94 percent of whom approved, followed by 62 percent of independents. But more than two-thirds of Republican voters, 70 percent, disapproved. The highest mark Trump achieved in a HarrisX poll during his presidency was 51 percent job approval, which occurred in August 2018 and early May last year....

The two presidents shook hands and posed for photos outside the summit venue of Villa La Grange before entering the building. They then made themselves available to the press in the villa’s book-lined library. However, there was significant noise and confusion as journalists were reportedly shoved and jostled by Russian security personnel, making it difficult to tell what Biden was saying and whether he was responding to reporters’ questions....

Republican lawmakers in the Lone Star State finalized Senate bill 7 earlier today, which would enforce some of the most restrictive voting laws in America, including eradicating drive-by voting and temporary polling locations. “Today, Texas legislators put forth a bill that joins Georgia and Florida in advancing a state law that attacks the sacred right to vote,” Biden said in a statement. “It’s part of an assault on democracy that we’ve seen far too often this year—and often disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans....

“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal, and expecting a different result,” Biden told the nation that day. Since then, Biden faced heat from pundits and analysts who continue to believe saving Afghanistan is integral to protecting the United States. Various explanations were floated as to why leaving a futile, endless loop of a war is a major mistake....

Earlier this month, The Washington Free Beacon revealed that the administration has decided to separate the Palestinian Affairs Unit from its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. The head of the “unit” will be an ambassador in all but name—directly appointed by the secretary of state and subordinate to him in the chain of command. Today, in accordance with the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, the head of the Palestinian section of the U....

The passage of Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan—which included $1,400 stimulus checks, an expansion of the child tax credit and shored up unemployment—as well as the rapid rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine appears to have buoyed the new president’s approval rating. At the same time, the White House’s response to the surge of migrants on the southern border is drawing a negative response from the American public. Overall, 53 percent of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing, an increase of 3 points compared to mid-February, when it stood at just 50 percent, according to new polling from Yahoo News/YouGov....

The landmark proposal goes beyond standard definitions of infrastructure, a term traditionally understood as items like bridges, roads, buildings and transportation. Biden’s American Job Plan, however, is incorporating some considerations that some are considering not only radical, but comical. “Mayonnaise is infrastructure. It supports the other flavors in the sandwich. The bread is also infrastructure. But the meat and cheese and tomatoes are not infrastructure. And making the sandwich is not infrastructure....

Robin Roberts, a co-anchor of the network’s “Good Morning America,” asked Biden, “President Trump says that you want to defund the police. Do you?” Biden chuckled and then said, he didn’t. “No I don’t,” Biden said. “By the way, [Trump] proposes cutting a half a billion dollars of local police support.” Biden went on to say in the ABC report he wanted to “root out” unethical police. “I don’t want to defund police departments....

The midterm elections are typically seen as a referendum on a sitting president. Republicans have banked on Biden’s once-dismal approval rating—largely driven by economic woes such as high gas prices—to ride a “red wave” into congressional control. However, the president’s approval rating has now ticked up. A YouGov poll released this week found that 45 percent of U.S. adults approved of Biden’s presidency, while 46 percent said they disapproved. While he still has a 1-point deficit, YouGov has not found him with a higher approval rating since August 2021....

As the U.N. meetings take place, children in Yemen will be starving to death. “Around 400,000 children may die in Yemen this year without urgent intervention. That is roughly one child every 75 seconds. So, while we’re sitting here, every minute and a quarter, a child is dying. Are we really going to turn our backs on them and look the other way?” said David Beasley, executive director of the U....

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign has only spent $4,000 in digital advertising in the state of California, just days before the state holds its Democratic primary, according to data provided to NPR by tracking firm Advertising Analytics. In total, Biden’s campaign has put $625,000 towards advertising in the 14 states, including California, that will cast their votes on what is known as Super Tuesday. In comparison, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent a total of $78 million in California ads alone, with a total purchase of $218 million for all Super Tuesday states....

The White House published the 23-page report, entitled the “Interim National Security Strategic Guidance,” on Wednesday, outlining the new administration’s priorities at home and abroad. While a broad range of topics and potential threats were covered, a special emphasis was placed on China, which was referred to as “the only competitor potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system....

In Biden’s fourth call with Netanyahu since the clash between the Israel Defense Forces and Gaza-based Palestinian factions exploded last week amid mounting tensions in Jerusalem, the two men held “a detailed discussion on the state of events in Gaza, Israel’s progress in degrading the capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist elements, and ongoing diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States,” according to a White House readout....