The Hill’s 12:30 Report – Biden’s next social safety net push
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The Hill’s 12:30 Report: Breaking — Feds search Giuliani’s apartment with warrant | Biden unveils education, family, health care plan ahead of address | Proposes tax hikes to pay for $1.8T package | Five things to watch in Biden’s 9 p.m. address | Tim Scott to deliver GOP rebuttal | In first 100 days, Biden fails in promise to unify country | Officials worry of COVID spread at the border | Burning Man cancels 2021 festival | Whale helps woman recover dropped smartphone
IN THE WHITE HOUSE
It’s raining bills, hallelujah. It’s raining bills!:
President Biden is planning to unveil a new $1.8 trillion plan that focuses on child care, health care and access to preschool and community college. https://bit.ly/3tW537o
Timing: Biden is rolling out this new plan less than a month after his $2.3 trillion infrastructure package.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
- $200 billion to offer universal pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds
- $109 billion for tuition-free community college for any American who wants it
- $85 billion to increase Pell Grants to benefit low-income and minority students
- Make the earned income tax credit expansion for childless workers permanent
- Make the child tax credit for low-income families permanent
- A national paid family and medical leave program
- $225 billion for investments in child care that would include a $15 minimum wage for early childhood staff and expanded child care center accessibility.
More proposals in Biden’s plan: https://bit.ly/3tW537o
Full breakdown of each area: https://cnn.it/3eDw1Kz
HOW IS BIDEN GOING TO PAY FOR THIS?:
President Biden proposes tax hikes for top earners to pay for his education and health care package. https://bit.ly/2R9Xc7y
Details: “Biden is calling for the top individual income tax rate to be raised from 37 percent to 39.6 percent, its level before the enactment of former President Trump‘s 2017 tax-cut law … The president’s plan also proposes raising the capital gains rate from 20 percent to 39.6 percent for taxpayers making over $1 million.”
It’s Wednesday! I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com — and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.
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BREAKING
Via The New York Times’s William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess and Maggie Haberman, “Federal investigators in Manhattan executed a search warrant on Wednesday at the Upper East Side apartment of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became President Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Mr. Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, three people with knowledge of the matter said.” https://nyti.ms/3nBN43W
Specifically: “One of the people said the investigators had seized Mr. Giuliani’s electronic devices.”
Why this is huge: “Executing a search warrant is an extraordinary move for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president, and it marks a major turning point in the long-running investigation into Mr. Giuliani.”
The full story: https://nyti.ms/3nBN43W
HAPPENING TONIGHT
Podium and microphone: [check]
Attentive audience: [check]
Proposals that will make everyone happy: [ ]
“President Biden will deliver his first joint address to Congress on Wednesday, but his ultimate audience will be the American public — one that’s anxious about the future and eager for a return to normalcy after more than a year of pandemic turmoil.” https://bit.ly/3sUL1Jj
What time: 9 p.m. EDT.
Livestream: https://bit.ly/2Ptidtw
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH:
- Biden’s COVID-19 message
- Whether Biden extends an olive branch to Republicans
- The White House’s plans to address the border crisis
- Efforts towards racial justice
- Climate reengagement
Context and details for each: https://bit.ly/3sUL1Jj
HOW BIDEN AND PROGRESSIVES FACE HIGH STAKES TONIGHT:
Via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton: https://bit.ly/3t1vSFQ
HOW BIDEN FAILED TO UNIFY THE COUNTRY AND REACH ACROSS PARTISAN LINES IN HIS FIRST 100 DAYS:
Via The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Alexander Bolton: https://bit.ly/3t0tBen
Hold up — we have something we’d like to say:
Following his joint address to Congress, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will deliver the Republican rebuttal to Biden’s proposals. https://bit.ly/3aKBkXF
Why this is big for Scott: “Scott is being talked up in some circles as a potential 2024 presidential candidate. Whether or not he takes that leap — and some insiders in his home state doubt he has the requisite burning ambition — Wednesday evening will be his most high-profile moment since he addressed the Republican National Convention last year.”
More on what this means for Sen. Scott: https://bit.ly/3aKBkXF
Op-ed: https://bit.ly/2QvhBEv
NEWS THIS MORNING
Burning Man is still in ashes:
The annual Burning Man festival is canceled again this year due to COVID. https://bit.ly/32YZxFj
Is this expected?: Well, as of last week, organizers were still trying to host the festival.
From the announcement: “Although here in the United States we may be feeling the weight lifting and the light at the end of the tunnel brightening, we are still in the pandemic, and the uncertainties that need to be resolved are impossible to resolve in the time we have. We have decided to set our sights on Black Rock City 2022.” Read the full announcement: https://bit.ly/32XblaY
LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS
Pfizer and Moderna have some bragging rights:
Via The Hill’s Peter Sullivan, “The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were 94 percent effective in preventing hospitalization for COVID-19 among people age 65 and older in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study released Wednesday.” https://bit.ly/2PtBET0
Why this is newsy — additional data from Jan. to March: “The study provides new evidence on the benefits of vaccination, and builds on results from the clinical trials by adding real-world evidence from 417 hospitalized adults in 14 states from January to March.”
TIDBIT — OFFICIALS ARE WORRIED ABOUT VIRUS SPREAD AT THE BORDER AS MIGRANTS AREN’T TESTED:
Via The New York Times’s Frances Robles and Miriam Jordan: https://nyti.ms/3u2k5bF
CASE NUMBERS:
Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 32,178,313
U.S. death toll: 573,420
Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y
VACCINATION NUMBERS:
Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 232 million shots have been given.
Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 2.72 million doses
For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million.
Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH
IN WASHINGTON, DC
I picture a massive army of cicadas underground preparing for battle:
Via The Capital Weather Gang’s Jason Samenow and Kevin Ambrose, “As soon as soil temperatures reach about 64 degrees, the Brood X cicadas, last seen in our region in 2004, will be unleashed, scientists agree. We’ve analyzed soil temperatures and the weather projections and, in our first-ever cicada forecast, predict a noticeable emergence of cicadas next week, starting as soon as between May 3 and 6. Then they should arrive in large numbers by the beginning of the following week, between May 10 and 12.” https://wapo.st/3e3YhHr
Keep in mind: The Capital Weather Gang points out that they are attempting to forecast the cicadas for the first time and could be wrong.
NOTABLE TWEETS:
Today’s special is prepared with a sticker and bragging rights:
Hyperlink https://bit.ly/3nulPrU
Okaaaaaay, moon! We’re picking up what you’re putting down!:
Hyperlink https://bit.ly/3t1wxHk
ON TAP:
The Senate is in. The House is out. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington, D.C.
10 a.m. EDT: President Biden received the President’s Daily Brief.
This afternoon: A confirmation vote is expected in the Senate. The Senate’s full agenda today: https://bit.ly/3nvBo2k
9 p.m. EDT: Vice President Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff attend Biden’s address.
WHAT TO WATCH:
11 a.m. EDT: A House hearing on the lingering effects of COVID-19. Livestream: https://bit.ly/2R3HRWq
2:30 p.m. EDT: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a news conference. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3dXAEQp
9 p.m. EDT: President Biden delivers an address to a joint session of Congress. Livestream: https://bit.ly/2Ptidtw
NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF…:
Today is National Blueberry Pie Day.
Hyperlink https://bit.ly/3vvvG3B
I had a human vaccinate me, but to each their own! 😉
And because this is one of the wildest videos I’ve seen in a while, here’s what happens when a woman drops her smartphone into the water: https://bit.ly/3e0JFIC
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