“So far in his young presidency, President Joe Biden has been one of the best friends the stock market has ever had,” CNBC reports.
“Better, in fact, than any president before him going back to at least the 1950s and the Dwight Eisenhower administration, as the 46th chief executive has witnessed an unprecedented growth on Wall Street in his first 100 days in office.”
“India was initially seen as a success story in weathering the pandemic, but the virus is now racing through its population of nearly 1.4 billion, and systems are beginning to collapse,” the AP reports.
“In addition to oxygen running out, intensive care units are operating at full capacity and nearly all ventilators are in use. As the death toll mounts, the night skies in some Indian cities glow from the funeral pyres, as crematories are overwhelmed and bodies are burned in the open air.”
Washington Examiner: “House Republicans, eager to elevate border security to a top 2022 campaign issue, said Monday they would revive the now-stalled construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that was championed by former President Donald Trump and nixed by President Joe Biden.”
Coming soon: While Justice Sleeps: A Novel by Stacey Abrams.
The Wall Street Journal interviews Abrams and says the book “is about a Supreme Court Justice who uncovers a deadly conspiracy involving the president of the United States, before slipping into a coma.”
“The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it will move to grant California permission to set stricter climate requirements for cars and SUVs, a reversal of a key Trump administration policy,” the Washington Post reports.
“The step, coming days after the Transportation Department withdrew Trump-era restrictions of state tailpipe emission rules, could help pave the way for a broader climate deal with the nation’s automakers.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to announce an investigation into the policing practices of the Louisville Police Department, ABC News reports.
“An employee petition at Simon & Schuster demanding that the company stop publishing authors associated with the Trump administration collected 216 internal signatures and several thousand outside supporters, including well-known Black writers,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
The letter asks the publisher not to treat “the Trump administration as a ‘normal’ chapter in American history.”
“The U.S. will begin sharing its entire pipeline of vaccines from AstraZeneca once the COVID-19 vaccine clear federal safety reviews, with as many as 60 million doses expected to be available for export in the coming months,” the AP reports.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) “is not ruling out a potential presidential bid,” the New York Post reports.
Said Cheney: “I’m not ruling anything in or out — I’ve been here a long time.”
A new Monmouth poll finds President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal is broadly popular, registering 68% support and just 29% opposition.
Biden is also set to unveil a large spending plan to expand access to healthcare and childcare as well as provide paid leave and college tuition support. This plan has 64% support while 34% are opposed.
New York Times: “The task force, to be led by Vice President Kamala Harris and populated by cabinet officials and top White House advisers, will issue recommendations on how the federal government can use existing authority to help workers join labor unions and bargain collectively. It will also recommend new policies aimed at achieving these goals.”
“The White House document notes that the National Labor Relations Act, the 1935 law governing federal labor rights, explicitly sought to encourage collective bargaining, but that the law has never been fully carried out in this regard.”
Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) has opened a political committee which would allow him to start raising money for a 2022 state-level election, Florida Politics reports.
“According to multiple sources close to Crist, the Republican Governor-turned-Democratic Congressman has made a stream of calls to Florida leaders — local elected officials, donors, and activists — to gauge their support for another 2022 gubernatorial campaign.”
Peter Wehner: “The hope of many conservative critics of Donald Trump was that soon after his defeat, and especially in the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection, the Republican Party would snap back into its former shape. The Trump presidency would end up being no more than an ugly parenthesis. The GOP would distance itself from Trump and Trumpism, and become a normal party once again.”
“But that dream soon died. The Trump presidency might have been the first act in a longer and even darker political drama, in which the Republican Party is becoming more radicalized. How long this will last is an open question; whether it is happening is not.”
Will Saletan: “The Republican base is thoroughly infected with sympathies for the insurrection.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) broke with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), telling reporters that a proposed 9/11-style independent commission should narrowly focus on the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol, The Hill reports.
“The Supreme Court announced Monday it will consider the scope of the Second Amendment next term in a case concerning a New York law that restricts an individual from carrying a concealed handgun in public,” CNN reports.
“It has been more than a decade since the justices have ruled on significant case concerning the right to bear arms, and it comes in the wake of several mass shootings and the Biden administration’s push for enhanced gun regulations.”
Vox: The Supreme Court will hear a major Second Amendment case that could gut U.S. gun laws.
NPR: “At issue is a California law, similar to laws in other states, that requires tax-exempt charities to file with the state a list of their large donors — a copy, in fact, of the list they file annually with the IRS.”
“Under both federal and California Law, the names and addresses are confidential, and it is illegal to disclose them publicly.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.