PROMISE KEPT: (NPR News, 4/14/21): The Biden administration is moving to reverse a Trump-era family planning policy that critics describe as a domestic "gag rule" for reproductive healthcare providers. The proposal would largely return the federal Title X family planning program to its status before Trump took office. The current rules, implemented by Trump in 2019, forbid any provider who provides or refers patients for abortions from receiving federal funding through Title X to cover services such as contraception and STD screenings for low-income people.
ANALYSIS: Since 1970, the Title X Program provides family planning services, without abortion funding.
There are two things wrong with this statement. One, it took two months, not a "moment," for the price of a barrel of oil to increase by $18. The price per barrel was $80.31 on Sept. 26, the date of the Senate resolution. It wasn't until Nov. 19 that it went up as much as Biden says, to $99.16.
The second problem is that connecting the increase in the price of oil to the declaration on the Revolutionary Guard is a rather stunning post-hoc fallacy. There's no evidence that something like the Senate resolution would have anything approaching such a dramatic effect on the price of oil. Some would expect [SOME] impact from Bush's sabre-rattling [but] risky financial maneuvers by high-stakes speculators may be having a bigger effect.
PROMISE KEPT: (NPR, 4/22/21): Emphasizing US commitments on climate change, Pres. Biden kicked off the first international summit during his presidency. He announced that the US would cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half, from 2005 levels, by the end of the decade. Biden was joined by 40 heads of government on Earth Day, focused entirely on lowering greenhouse gas emissions quickly in order to prevent the worst outcomes of a rapidly warming planet.
ANALYSIS: Much of the substantive work on cutting GHGs has yet to be done; only plans & proposals have been announced. However, the 2-day summit, which included Russia & China, fulfills Biden's pledge, within his first 100 days.
Biden didn't persuade other countries to "join the US": In 2015, 191 countries signed the Paris Accord committing to GHG reductions. Trump withdrew the US entirely in 2017, reducing US commitment to zero.
Looking at the numbers, the US had committed in 2015 to a 26% domestic reduction in greenhouse gases by 2025 compared to 2005 levels. Biden committed to a 50% reduction by 2030--a comparable reduction rate. For comparison, the EU committed to a 40% domestic GHG reduction by 2030 compared to 1990 levels--a much lower base level. In summary, Biden's action restored the US to what the world is already doing--the US joined the other nations, not vice-versa!
A: I've been pushing, on the Foreign Relations Committee for the last seven years, that we hold China accountable at the United Nations. At the UN, we won't even designate China as a violator of human rights. Now, what's the deal there? We talk about competition in terms of trade. It's capitulation, not competition. Name me another country in the world that we would allow to conduct themselves the way China has, and not call them on the carpet at the UN
Q: So you would call them on th carpet?
A: Absolutely.
Q: You would appoint a UN ambassador who would press for this?
A: It's the one way to get China to reform. You can't close your eyes. You can't pretend. It is self-defeating. It's a Hobson's choice we're giving people here.
A: I know exactly what I'd do in those foreign policy issues. But quite frankly, I think that the toughest choice for me, the thing I'm most unsure about, is how you rationalize competition and trade policy. I think that's the single most difficult challenge that I will have as president.
Twitter posting @JoeBiden (Jun 25, 2020): "DC should be a state. Pass it on."
PROMISE KEPT: (WTOP News, 4/20/21): "The Administration strongly supports H.R. 51, the Washington D.C. Admission Act. For far too long, the more than 700,000 people of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded," the White House said in a statement.
ANALYSIS: The bill would have to pass the House AND the Senate, but President Biden has kept his promise insofar as publicly supporting the effort as president.
In fact, Mexico was the country of birth of 57% of the estimated 11.55 million unauthorized immigrants in 2006. Add in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras--all Spanish-speaking countries--and it jumps to 67%. You'd have to go back many decades to get to a time when the majority of undocumented immigrants were Britons, Germans, Irish and Poles.
A: I have been working with this for a long time, as former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. That's where it comes out of. We have it about right now, except that the employers aren't doing their part. They've got to offer the job. If there's an American there who will take the job, they can't undercut it by hiring an Indian engineer who will work for less; that's illegal. We're not enforcing it.
PROMISE CONFIRMED: (Proposed Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions, 2/12/21): This report proposes providing allocations by region, with a new FY 2021 admissions number of 62,500 refugees.
PROMISE BROKEN: (NBC News, 4/16/21): Biden will not increase the number of refugees allowed to enter the U.S. this year. Biden notified Congress in February that he would increase the number of refugees allowed to enter the country from 15,000 to 62,500. But he never signed the presidential determination that would actually raise the cap. Analysis: Biden is on track to accept the fewest refugees this year of any modern president, including Trump.
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The above quotations are from National Public Radio election coverage.
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