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For months, President Biden has been under pressure to prove he can be tough at the border. But at a campaign reception on Wednesday night, he also tried to voice his commitment to America’s long history of immigration. He did so by taking a swipe at two of America’s partners, saying that Japan and India are struggling economically “because they’re xenophobic.” He said the two democratic countries, along with China and Russia, “don’t want immigrants.”“Immigrants are what makes us strong,” the president told the crowd of supporters. “Not a joke. Japan and India are two of the five allies Mr. Biden has hosted with state dinners at the White House since taking office.
Persons: Biden, , Organizations: White Locations: Japan, India, China, Russia
President Biden vowed on Monday to veto a House Republican bill that would provide $17.6 billion in aid to Israel, calling it a “cynical political maneuver” intended to hurt the chances of passage for broader legislation that would provide money for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the U.S. border. House Republicans fiercely oppose the larger bill, which was unveiled by a small, bipartisan group of senators over the weekend. It calls for $118.3 billion in spending and would overhaul some of the nation’s immigration laws to deal with recent surges of migrants at the southern border. Speaker Mike Johnson said on Saturday that Republicans would instead offer the Israel-only funding bill instead. In its official response on Monday, the Biden administration said the president would veto the House bill if it came to his desk.
Persons: Biden, , Mike Johnson Organizations: Republican, House Republicans Locations: Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, U.S
President Biden will press congressional leaders for passage of his funding for Ukraine, Israel and the border during a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, his press secretary announced on Tuesday. But negotiations have stalled for weeks, leaving the Ukraine assistance in limbo. The president and his aides have warned that failing to approve funding for Ukraine could hand a victory to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in the two-year war that followed his invasion. An in-person meeting at the White House would be the first face-to-face discussion between Mr. Biden and the congressional leaders in months. The president’s legislative and national security aides have been in discussions with their counterparts on Capitol Hill since before the Christmas holiday.
Persons: Biden, Biden’s, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: White, Republicans, Capitol Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Russia
Vice President Kamala Harris said on Saturday that the United States fiercely opposes forcibly relocating Gaza residents outside the enclave as Israel resumes its bombardment of Hamas terrorists, or in the days and weeks after the war eventually ends. In a statement after meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt in Dubai, officials said Ms. Harris rejected the idea of moving Palestinians into Egypt or refugee camps elsewhere and offered her strongest statement to date urging Israel to reduce harm to civilians in its war campaign. “The vice president reiterated that under no circumstances will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank,” the statement from the White House said. She also rejected an idea suggested recently by some Israeli officials that the borders of Gaza could shrink after the war is over to accommodate a security “buffer zone” between the interior of Gaza and Israel. The statement said the United States would not permit “the redrawing of the borders of Gaza.”
Persons: Kamala Harris, Abdel Fattah el, Harris, , Organizations: United, West Bank, White Locations: United States, Gaza, Israel, Egypt, Dubai
Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the annual United Nations climate summit in Dubai on Friday and Saturday, standing in for President Biden, who will skip the event for the first time since taking office. A spokeswoman for Ms. Harris said in a statement on Wednesday that while at the summit, known as COP28, the vice president would “underscore the Biden-Harris administration’s success in delivering on the most ambitious climate agenda in history, both at home and abroad.”But her presence is unlikely to satisfy some climate activists, who have said that Mr. Biden’s decision to skip the summit — which is being attended by nearly 200 leaders from around the world — will undermine international efforts to confront the planet’s changing climate. White House officials have said Mr. Biden is consumed with other global issues, including the war between Israel and Hamas and securing funding for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, which has become the subject of an intense congressional clash in recent days.
Persons: Kamala Harris, Biden, Harris Organizations: Hamas, Ukraine Locations: United Nations, Dubai, Israel
Israeli officials did not think Hamas was serious about the offer and refused to delay the ground offensive. At the White House, Mr. Biden and his foreign policy team kept pressing. It took several days for the talks to resume, following a call from Mr. Biden to the emir of Qatar. It is important that all aspects of this deal be fully implemented.”But even with the deal in place, Mr. Biden faces challenges ahead. For Mr. Biden, it could not happen soon enough.
Persons: Biden, , , Mr, Netanyahu, Israel, Biden’s Organizations: Washington Post, Hamas, White House, White, Shifa, Administration, Mr Locations: Washington, Gaza, Israel, Qatar, Egypt, United States, Al, Nantucket
We understand the pain,” said Jason Straziuso, a spokesman for the Red Cross. It’s not possible.”The Red Cross has about 130 employees in Gaza, he said, giving it some ability to deliver humanitarian aid and to visit the scenes of destruction from the war. Mr. Straziuso said Red Cross officials were talking to Hamas, Israel, the United States and other nations about the condition of the hostages. Warring nations have blocked the Red Cross from visiting hostages or prisoners of war in previous conflicts. In 2022, eight months into the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Red Cross still had little access to prisoners held by either side.
Persons: , Jason Straziuso, , Straziuso, Cross, Osama Hamdan, Liz Hirsh Naftali, Abigail Idan, Abigail, “ Abigail, ” Ms, Naftali, Lester Holt, Rachel Goldberg, Polin, Goldberg, Jon Polin, Rachel Goldberg’s, Hersch Organizations: Red, NBC News, NBC Locations: Gaza, Israel, United States, Egypt, Qatar, Lebanon, Jihad, Ukraine, Russia, Richmond , Va
But increasingly, the United States and Israel are showing signs that their interests are diverging. The remarks by Mr. Blinken on Wednesday reflect a deep anxiety on the part of Mr. Biden and his aides inside the White House as the conflict enters its second month. On Wednesday, Mr. Blinken said there must be “affirmative elements to get to a sustained peace.”“These must include the Palestinian people’s voices and aspirations at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza,” he said. But restoring the Palestinian Authority — which administers parts of the West Bank — to power in Gaza would not be easy even if Israel managed to end Hamas’s rule. Mr. Biden has also come under pressure from some in the Democratic Party, which is deeply split on the conflict.
Persons: Antony J, Blinken, Biden, Mr, , Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, John F, Kirby, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: West Bank, Palestinian Authority, Hamas, National Security Council, CNN, White, Democratic Party, Democratic, Veterans Locations: Gaza, United, Israel, Tokyo, United States, Palestinian
White House officials on Sunday shrugged off weekend polling that showed President Biden trailing former President Donald J. Trump, even as Democrats said they were increasingly worried about Mr. Biden’s chances in 2024. The new polling from The New York Times and Siena College found Mr. Biden losing in one-on-one matchups with former President Donald J. Trump in five critical swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden is ahead by two percentage points in Wisconsin. Although the polling is worrisome for the president, Mr. Biden still has a year to campaign, which his team emphasized on Sunday. “Gallup predicted an eight-point loss for President Obama only for him to win handily a year later,” said Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Mr. Biden’s campaign.
Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, Biden’s, “ Gallup, Obama, , Kevin Munoz, “ We’ll Organizations: White, The New York Times, Siena College, Mr Locations: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
Since taking office, President Biden has traveled a grim path through American communities desperately grieving in the wake of mass shootings: Uvalde, Texas; Monterey Park, Calif.; Buffalo; Atlanta. On Friday, he added another to the list: Lewiston, Maine. Mr. Biden huddled privately with the families of those killed or injured during last month’s rampage that claimed the lives of 18 people at a bar and a bowling alley in the city about an hour north of Portland. “Jill and I are here on behalf of the American people to grieve with you, and make sure you know that you’re not alone,” Mr. Biden said after stopping by a makeshift memorial in Lewiston with his wife, Jill Biden. For Mr. Biden, whose own life has been shaped by grief, it is a role he embraces as a necessary part of healing.
Persons: Biden, “ Jill, you’re, ” Mr, Jill Biden Locations: , Texas, Monterey Park, Calif, Buffalo, Atlanta, Lewiston , Maine, Portland, Lewiston
Hamas rules Gaza politically and also has an armed wing whose fighters are embedded within the enclave’s civilian population. But vetting showed that many of them, the official said, were Hamas fighters. The delays continued for some time, the official said, because Hamas kept offering lists that turned out to include its members. The prospect of Hamas fighters leaving Gaza was especially troubling for Egypt, which remains concerned about the possibility of terrorists flowing into its country. Eventually, the official said, the parties settled on a list of wounded Palestinians who were not Hamas fighters.
Persons: Biden, Israel Organizations: Gaza, Hamas Locations: Gaza, Egypt, Rafah, Israel, Hamas, Gaza’s, United States, Qatar
President Biden will travel to Maine on Friday to pay his respects to the 18 people killed and more than dozen wounded during a gunman’s rampage through a bar and bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine, last week, the White House announced. Shortly after the massacre, Mr. Biden declared his frustration at the taking of yet more lives in a mass shooting. The gunman, Robert R. Card II, 40, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot on Friday, two days after the killings. “Once again, an American community and American families have been devastated by gun violence,” Mr. Biden said on Friday as the discovery of Mr. Card’s body brought an end to a vast manhunt and lockdowns in the state. “In all, at least 18 souls brutally slain, more injured, some critically, and scores of family and friends praying and experiencing trauma no one ever wants to imagine.”In a statement, the White House said the president and the first lady would “pay respects to the victims of this horrific attack and grieve with families and community members.” The president will also meet with emergency medical workers, nurses and other officials, the White House said.
Persons: Biden, Robert R, , Mr, Card’s, Organizations: White House, House Locations: Maine, Lewiston , Maine, American
The Biden administration has advised Israel to delay a ground invasion of Gaza, hoping to buy time for hostage negotiations and to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the sealed-off enclave, according to several U.S. officials. American officials also want more time to prepare for attacks on U.S. interests in the region from Iran-backed groups, which officials said are likely to intensify once Israel moves its forces fully into Gaza. Mr. Biden also spoke to the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain. When Mr. Biden met with the Israeli war cabinet during his trip to Tel Aviv last week, he avoided making requests of Mr. Netanyahu, officials said. Instead, the president offered a series of questions that should be answered before a ground invasion starts.
Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lloyd J, Austin III, Austin, Yoav Gallant, Gallant, , Antony J, Blinken, , Mr, Netanyahu Organizations: Sunday, U.S, Defense, Pentagon, Embassy, Hamas, CBS, Biden, Press, State Department, Consulate Locations: Israel, Gaza, Iran, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, U.S, Washington, Qatar, United States, Baghdad, Erbil, Iraq, , Tel Aviv
President Biden on Friday delivered to Congress a $105 billion request for military aid, mostly for Israel and Ukraine, essentially daring lawmakers who oppose parts of the proposal to vote against an overall package that he said will ensure “American security for generations.”Mr. Biden is betting that Republicans who oppose more aid to Ukraine will not vote against legislation that also includes more than $14 billion to help Israel defend itself against terror attacks from Hamas. And he is hoping that progressive Democrats who do not want to support Israel’s military operations will not vote against additional aid for Ukraine. Also included in the request are billions of dollars to bolster security along the U.S.-Mexico border, security aid for Taiwan and a fund for humanitarian assistance in hot spots around the world. The legislative gamble is playing out against a global split screen: wars are raging in Europe and the Middle East, while in the United States, the House has been in a state of chaos for more than two weeks as Republicans struggle to select a speaker.
Persons: Biden, Mr Locations: Israel, Ukraine, U.S, Mexico, Taiwan, Europe, United States
President Biden will deliver a prime-time speech on Thursday about the war in Ukraine and the terror attacks in Israel as his administration prepares to call on Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars in military aid for the two embattled nations. The address will mark the second time Mr. Biden has delivered formal remarks from the Oval Office since becoming president. In June, he spoke from behind the Resolute Desk about a bipartisan agreement to avoid defaulting on the nation’s debt, an agreement that Republicans in the House later abandoned. In Thursday’s speech, Mr. Biden will address the American response to the two grave struggles that he has said threaten democratic stability across the globe: the war that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and the one that started this month after the brutal assault by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7. A senior White House official said Mr. Biden will seek to present the American people a broadly framed explanation for why two wars half a world away are critical to the national security of the United States.
Persons: Biden Organizations: Republicans, White House Locations: Ukraine, Israel, United States
The prisoner swap was all arranged, or so the American negotiators thought. After years of painstaking negotiations with Iran, secretly mediated by Persian Gulf nations, top aides to President Biden had finally struck a deal on June 6 that would free four Americans held in one of Iran’s most notorious prisons. In exchange, the United States would unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue and drop charges against Iranians accused of violating U.S. sanctions. The U.S. negotiators knew there could still be last-minute hiccups, but things were moving forward. that Iran had seized another American citizen, a retired woman from California who was doing aid work in Afghanistan.
Persons: Biden Organizations: U.S, White Locations: Iran, Persian Gulf, United States, Tehran, California, Afghanistan
To secure the deal, Israel will need to make some concessions to the Palestinians, such as ceding them more land in the West Bank. But senior members of Mr. Netanyahu’s government — the most ultranationalist in Israeli history — are strongly opposed to such gestures, making it harder to forge a deal. Mr. Biden used the meeting to press the prime minister to do more to support the normalization process, White House officials said. But administration officials have said they recognize that Mr. Netanyahu operates within the constraints of his governing coalition, which includes ultranationalist members who oppose giving more sovereignty to the Palestinians. A senior Israeli official said that Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Biden that the Palestinians should be included in the deal, but not given the right to veto it.
Persons: Biden, Mr, Netanyahu, , Organizations: West Bank, White, Biden Locations: Israel
“The president will talk about how those steps — how all of those steps he’s taken so far ladder up to a larger vision.”After a long career in the Senate and as vice president, Mr. Biden enjoys a strong reputation among his peers and is seen as a committed internationalist fighting the tide of isolationism. He has also managed to stitch together a series of partnerships in the Indo-Pacific in the face of aggressive moves by China. At the same time, America’s two major rivals appear weakened. President Xi Jinping of China looks less potent internationally as his country’s four-decade streak of economic growth flattens while President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia cannot even travel to the United Nations meeting or other major international gatherings because of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes in Ukraine. But with his approval ratings mired in the low 40s and Mr. Trump threatening to take his job back in the November 2024 elections, Mr. Biden’s domestic troubles loom large over this year’s gathering at the United Nations.
Persons: , Jake Sullivan, , Biden, Xi Jinping, Vladimir V, Putin, Trump Organizations: Washington, United Nations Locations: Afghanistan, Ukraine, China, Australia, India, Philippines, United States, Japan, South Korea, Camp, Vietnam, Hanoi, Russia
Rarely do so many parts of a president’s political identity collide in one place. Friday’s walkout by the United Auto Workers is a real-time test of President Biden’s economic agenda: his call for higher wages for the middle class; his unapologetic pro-union stand; his climate-driven push to reimagine an electric vehicle future for car companies — centered in Michigan, a state that he must win in 2024 to remain in the Oval Office. The targeted strike by some members of the 150,000-member union is designed to disrupt one of America’s oldest industries at a time that Mr. Biden is sharpening the contrast between what rivals and allies call “Bidenomics” and a Republican plan that the president warns is a darker version of trickle-down economics that mostly benefits the rich. “Their plan — MAGAnomics — is more extreme than anything America has ever seen before,” Mr. Biden said on Thursday, just hours before the union voted to strike. At the White House, Mr. Biden’s aides believe the outcome of the battle between the car companies and its workers will underscore many of the president’s arguments about the need to reduce income inequality, the benefits of empowered employees, and the surge in profits for companies like the automakers that makes them able to afford higher salaries.
Persons: Biden’s, Biden, , ” Mr Organizations: United Auto Workers, Republican, White Locations: Michigan, America
In three days of diplomacy in Asia, President Biden rallied world leaders to help finance poor nations, fortified the coalition backing Ukraine and struck a deal with Vietnam to counter Chinese aggression. But even before he left Vietnam on Sunday night, the president was hammered with a very different narrative. By Monday morning, as the 80-year-old president was flying home on Air Force One, conservative media outlets had seized on his end-of-trip news conference as the latest evidence that he is too old to perform on the world stage. It is a pattern that infuriates the White House, where Mr. Biden’s top aides believe that stories about the president’s age and health are stoked by his enemies in an effort to undermine his accomplishments.
Persons: Biden, Biden’s Organizations: Air Force One Locations: Asia, Ukraine, Vietnam
The walls, built from sustainably harvested wood, hide what officials say are the most sophisticated technologies in the American arsenal for keeping the room secure. Computer monitors and servers that seemed modern in 2006 — the year before the iPhone was announced — had become old and creaky. Movies and spy novels describe the Situation Room as a single place where presidents meet with their aides to make top-secret decisions in a crisis. In fact, it is a warren of rooms that represents what White House officials describe as the most technologically secure spaces in the country. The reception room feels like entering the lobby of a luxury hotel, with the White House seal etched into a marble slab sourced from a Virginia quarry.
Persons: , Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden, Gustafson Organizations: Computer, Defense Department, White Locations: China, Russia, Virginia
The four American soldiers were pinned down in June 1968, taking intense fire from the enemy near the hamlet of Ap Go Cong in Vietnam. The large Huey helicopter sent to rescue them had abandoned its attempt, citing the great likelihood of failure. On Tuesday, President Biden awarded Mr. Taylor the Medal of Honor at the White House, citing his “conspicuous gallantry” for rescuing the soldiers “under heavy enemy fire and with complete disregard for his personal safety” more than five decades ago. “That’s valor. That’s valor,” Mr. Biden said before draping the medal around Mr. Taylor’s neck in the East Room.
Persons: Larry L, Taylor, Biden, ” Mr, draping, Taylor’s, Organizations: Huey, White Locations: Ap Go, Vietnam
Jill Biden, the first lady, tested positive for Covid-19, the White House announced late Monday night, but she is experiencing only mild symptoms and will remain at the family home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., where she and President Biden spent part of the weekend. Mr. Biden tested negative for the virus after the first lady’s diagnosis, a spokeswoman said. The president returned to the White House on Monday evening. Officials said Mr. Biden would continue to test on “a regular cadence” throughout the week and would monitor for possible signs of infection. The first lady’s diagnosis is a reminder that Covid-19 remains a potent virus in the country.
Persons: Jill Biden, Biden, Mr Organizations: White House, White Locations: Rehoboth Beach, Del, United States
In normal times, the politics of disaster dictate that a president and a governor from opposite parties come together to show the victims of a natural disaster — and potential voters across the country — that they care. These are not normal times. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican seeking his party’s nomination for president, said the governor doesn’t “have any plans” to meet President Biden on Saturday when he visits a Florida community ravaged by Hurricane Idalia. At a news conference, Mr. DeSantis said he had told Mr. Biden that it “would be very disruptive to have the whole kind of security apparatus” that comes along with a presidential visit. White House officials responded by saying the president had told Mr. DeSantis he planned to visit before announcing it publicly — and that the governor had not expressed any concerns at that time.
Persons: Ron DeSantis, doesn’t “, Biden, Hurricane Idalia, DeSantis, Mr, Organizations: Gov, Republican, Hurricane Locations: Florida, White
President Biden said on Friday that he would meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Saturday during a visit to tour the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, the Category 3 storm that hit the state’s Gulf Coast and swept across the Southeast this week. The unusual miscue between the two chief executives — and potential 2024 rivals — came after Mr. Biden said during a visit to FEMA headquarters in Washington on Thursday that he would head south to see the damage. “By the way, I am going to Florida,” Mr. Biden said. While Mr. Biden did not provide details about the trip, during an event at the White House Friday morning he responded to a reporter’s question about whether he planned to see Mr. DeSantis in Florida, saying simply, “Yes.”
Persons: Biden, Ron DeSantis, Idalia, , ” Mr, “ I’m, Organizations: Gov, Mr, FEMA, White, Service Locations: Florida, Coast, Washington, DeSantis
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