The Republican Party stigmatized “The radical left” which would set the course for the administration of Joe Biden at the main annual gathering of American conservatives in Orlando, Florida. The first setbacks operated by the Democratic president, however, bear the mark of the most moderate elected members of his party.
On Tuesday March 2, the White House announced the withdrawal of the candidate for the post of director (minister) of the budget, Neera Tanden. Former advisor to 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, daughter of Indian immigrants, chair of a center-left think tank, the Center for American Progress, paid a heavy price for the publication by the sent out virulent messages on his Twitter account.
The Republican senators, passive for four years about those of Donald Trump, considered that they were incompatible with the exercise of a federal responsibility. Only one Democrat has publicly shared this point of view. Joe Manchin, elected from West Virginia, is considered the most right-wing Democrat in the Senate. His defection was enough to force the White House to backtrack given the division of the upper assembly into two equal camps of fifty votes that only Vice President Kamala Harris, also President of the Senate, can decide.
Lowering of the ceilings for direct federal aid
Under pressure from centrist senators from his camp, some elected in Republican strongholds, Joe Biden also agreed, Wednesday, to revise downward the ceilings from which direct federal aid provided for in a massive support plan for l economy against the backdrop of the Covid-19 epidemic will no longer be paid. In the version of this plan adopted by the House of Representatives, without a single Republican vote, these ceilings were set at 100,000 dollars (82,918 euros) of annual income for a single person and 200,000 dollars for a couple. They would be lowered to $ 80,000 and $ 160,000 respectively.
When examining this draft support plan, the Senate should finally withdraw the provision allowing the federal hourly wage to be gradually increased to $ 15, instead of the current $ 7.25. The disparity in minimum wage levels, by state or by company (that of the giant Amazon already amounts to 15 dollars), means that the measure would only concern 28% of employees. However, it would benefit the most vulnerable: women from ethnic, Hispanic or African-American minorities.
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