Trump extends immigration restrictions, citing pandemic's impact on labor market
- by Lorene Schwartz
- in People
- — Jan 1, 2021
"The president-elect has vowed to undo many of Trump's immigration policies, but if the economy continues to struggle he may be less inclined to allow more foreign workers to join the US labour force when millions of Americans are still unemployed", The Hill reported.
"As I long feared and warned, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should", said Biden, who received his own first dose a little over a week ago in a show of confidence in the vaccine.
The Republican challenge is a futile attempt meant to keep Trump in power, and a path the president has pursued after his campaign lost scores of legal challenges to the election outcome, including at the Supreme Court, and the Electoral College certified Biden's 306-232 win.
Trump expanded his tweeted insults beyond his usual targets, the "fake news" media and the Democrats. He added, "We hear chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq".
"Our DOD political and career officials have been working with the utmost professionalism to support transition activities in a compressed time schedule and they will continue to do so in a transparent and collegial manner that upholds the finest traditions of the Department", he said in a statement.
Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, arrived at Mar-a-Lago after dark on December 23 and spent practically the entire holiday focused on subverting the election results. In a surprise video statement, Trump criticized aid going to Cambodia, Myanmar (also known as Burma), Egypt, Pakistan and Central America, among other programs.
At least 140 House Republicans have joined the effort.
Oil prices extends losses, dipping below US$48 despite United States stimulus
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude had added 37 cents to trade at $48.37, down from around $62 at the beginning of 2020. The group is tapering record oil output cuts made this year to support the market.
The GOP objections, however, will not prevent Biden from being sworn in as president on January 20, and Senator Kamala Harris from becoming vice president.
"We're planning a whole-of-government effort and we're going to work to set up vaccination sites and send mobile units to hard-to-reach communities", Biden said. He went as far as barring them from his Christmas Day remarks to the troops, the type of event the White House typically opens for news coverage.
But like just about everything with the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic, they've gotten it exactly backwards.
In April, Trump imposed a ban on green cards issued overseas that largely targets family members of people already in the United States.
By contrast, the administration's edict to immediately expel asylum-seekers and others who cross the border illegally from Mexico was justified on grounds of containing the coronavirus, though reporting by The Associated Press and others found that government scientists saw no evidence for it.
McConnell also said there should be nothing controversial about approving the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which Trump vetoed because it does not repeal certain legal protections for tech companies.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell all but shut the door on Trump's push for the $2,000 checks, declaring Congress has provided enough pandemic aid as he blocked Democratic attempts to force a vote.
