Free Republic

Vice President Harris on Monday announced a nearly billion-dollar investment in Central America, as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to address root causes of migration in the region. The investments will be made as part of a public-private partnership by a range of U.S.-based companies, from Columbia Sportswear Company to financial institutions like Microwd, which offers microloans to female entrepreneurs. Harris will detail the funding commitments and next steps for the administration’s efforts during a Monday afternoon meeting with private sector leaders and government aides “to strategize on next steps and announce progress we’ve made in this effort,” according...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposed a revenue procedure this week to crack down on the service industry's reporting of tips. The Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement (SITCA) program would be a voluntary tip reporting system in which the IRS and service industry companies cooperate, according to the announcement Monday. As part of the proposal, the IRS will give the public until early May to provide feedback on the program before implementing it. "Those 87,000 new IRS agents that you were promised would only target the rich," tweeted Mike Palicz, federal affairs manager at Americans for Tax Reform. "They're coming...

President Joe Biden on Monday delivered remarks in Baltimore, Maryland, where he touted a tunnel project being addressed with funds from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act he signed in 2021. At the same time, he continues to refuse spending cut negotiations with Republican lawmakers over the $31.3 trillion debt ceiling breached on January 19, even though he has admitted Washington politicians need to rein in the national debt. Biden visited Baltimore to discuss a renovation to the Baltimore-Patomic Tunnel, a rail tunnel he claimed to have passed through “a thousand times” as an Amtrak passenger.

The White House on Friday said it has already approved around 16 million Americans for student debt relief ahead of Supreme Court debate on whether or not the program will be allowed to proceed.The White House revealed the figure in a press release, noting that around 26 million individuals were poised to receive student debt relief in September of last year, and that “over 16 million of those borrowers’ applications were fully approved by the Department and sent to loan servicers.”The program was put on pause in November when the Supreme Court ordered a halt to the proceedings as it...

The Biden administration announced an initiative Thursday to track the “economic role and value” of nature in the U.S., claiming that current economic indicators do not accurately track the impact of the “natural world” on the U.S. economy. The “National Strategy to Develop Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions” was announced as a joint initiative between the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), and represented the work of “27 Federal departments, agencies and offices” to “account for natural assets.” The initiative notes that the Gross Domestic Product...

The Biden administration is preparing to announce a roughly $2.5 billion military aid package for Ukraine that is expected to include dozens of Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, according to two people familiar with the decision, as the Pentagon intensifies its support ahead of an expected counteroffensive against entrenched Russian forces. The war has entered a phase, U.S. officials have said, that will require Ukrainian units to attack enemy forces in a concerted way, using tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and aviation in what is known as combined arms warfare. Bradleys and Strykers would significantly bolster their firepower and allow soldiers...

“I suspect that you will continue to hear coming from the United States additional packages of security assistance, additional weapons and capabilities for Ukraine – perhaps as soon as the end of this week,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN.Kirby didn’t elaborate on the contents of the package but said that the U.S. was concentrated “on trying to make sure that we are giving Ukraine what they need in the fight that they’re in.”“We’re gonna continue to modulate these packages so that they’re most appropriate for what Ukraine need

On Friday’s edition of NBC’s “Now Tonight,” White House Council of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein argued that America’s government debt doesn’t weaken the country. Host Jake Ward asked, “For those of us at home, the idea of having debt sounds like a very, very bad thing. … What I want to ask you here is, is [Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)] right, does our debt as a nation make us weak?”

The White House on Friday called for the debt limit to be raised without conditions, laying down a marker ahead of what is likely to be a bruising fight with House Republicans in the coming months. “We believe, when it comes to the debt limit, it has been done in a bipartisan way over the years and decades. And it should be done in a bipartisan way. And it should be done without conditions. That is important here,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. Jean-Pierre’s comments came shortly after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to warn...

On Friday it was revealed that the Biden administration failed to pay numerous National Guard troops their final year end pay on time during the week of Christmas. The failure came after approving a contoversial additional $45 billion aid package to Ukraine, and the House passing a $1.7 trillion spending plan. "Hello gents," began a letter sent to members of the National Guard, obtained by The Post Millennial, "if you have been tracking, the pay issue that has been plaguing the unit and the division as well." Reports came in from Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina from troops angered and...

The United States will take part in the creation of and contribute to a fund that will pay developing nations to tackle climate change. The fund, negotiated at the United Nations' COP27 Summit, was originally known as a 'loss and damage' fund and had been blocked by previous American administrations. With a final climate accord already more than a day overdue, representatives of nearly 200 nations were anxious for an agreement they could bill as a step forward in the fight against climate change. ADVERTISEMENT The nations involved are largely from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the south...

Late Friday, a federal appeals court put a temporary, administrative hold on Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, keeping the government from canceling loans covered under the policy while the court considers a challenge to it. The order from the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals comes in a case brought by six Republican-led states, asking for a preliminary injunction to halt the policy after a district court dismissed the case earlier this week. The effort is separate from a Wisconsin taxpayers group’s challenge to the program that was recently rejected by the Supreme Court. The appeals court gave the administration...

President Biden on Wednesday will outline nearly $3 billion in investments to boost domestic battery manufacturing, which officials said will help meet the need for critical supplies as the country ramps up electric vehicle (EV) production. Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will announce the $2.8 billion worth of grants through the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year at a White House event. The funding will be spread across 20 different companies for projects in at least 12 states. A senior administration official said the funding will lead to 8,000 new jobs, 5,000 of which are expected to be permanent.

WASHINGTON — Negotiators to a stop-gap spending bill in the U.S. Congress have agreed to include about $12 billion in new aid to Ukraine in response to a request from the Biden administration, a source familiar with the talks said on Monday.The source, who asked not to be identified, said the measure will also include resettlement funding for Afghan refugees

President Biden on Wednesday will announce nearly $3 billion in new U.S. commitments to address global food insecurity, an issue that has been worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Biden will outline $2 billion in global humanitarian assistance through U.S. Agency for International Development to increase emergency food security programing in countries most affected by the pandemic and supply chain woes exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. The money will go toward food and nutrition assistance, safe drinking water and other relief, the White House said.

President Joe Biden (D) admitted his student loan bailout is illegal during a CBS News interview that aired on Sunday night, critics say. Biden made the remarks during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” with host Scott Pelley. “Mr. President, first Detroit Auto Show in three years. Is the pandemic over?” Pelley asked. “The pandemic is over,” Biden responded. “We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it. It’s– but the pandemic is over. if you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think...

The Biden administration is moving one step closer to developing a central bank digital currency, known as the digital dollar, saying it would help reinforce the U.S. role as a leader in the world financial system. The White House said on Friday that after President Joe Biden issued an executive order in March calling on a variety of agencies to look at ways to regulate digital assets, the agencies came up with nine reports, covering cryptocurrency impacts on financial markets, the environment, innovation and other elements of the economic system.

Hunter Biden is trying to lower his child support payments for his four-year-old love child with Lunden Roberts, claiming he's having financial difficulties. According to documents obtained by DailyMail.com, the president's son filed a motion to adjust child support Monday, citing 'a substantial material change' in his 'financial circumstances, including but not limited to his income In a November 2019 filing in the child support case, he claimed, 'I am unemployed and have had no monthly income since May 2019,' adding he had 'significant debts.' Meanwhile, Hunter just moved out of a $20,000-per-month Malibu home where he lived with his...

Share Tweet ... More The Biden administration is requesting approval from Congress for more than $1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan amid increased tensions with China over the island’s status. The State Department announced on Friday that it approved three separate proposed military sales for Taiwan, and Congress has been notified of them. If approved by Congress, the three sales will send contractor logistics support for Taiwan’s Surveillance Radar Program, up to 60 AGM-84L-1 Harpoon Block II missiles and related equipment and up to 100 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder Tactical Missiles and equipment.

"A valuable present for Ukraine on the occasion of its Independence Day! U.S. President Joe Biden announced the allocation of nearly $3 billion in military aid to our state. The package includes air defense systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, artillery systems, and radars," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Shmyhal as saying on social media. In addition, the Ukrainian state budget on Wednesday received another $3 billion as a non-refundable grant from the U.S. via the World Bank mechanism, the prime minister said. "This is the first tranche from the additional $4.5 billion of direct budget aid," he said.