Beter HBO

Joe Biden was willing to put aside one bit of guidance from health

President Joe Biden has launched a new feature where he calls Americans grappling with the pandemic and the struggling economy.

Biden spoke to California woman Michele Voelkert, 47, who is having a 'tough time' after getting laid off.

'Keep the faith,' Biden told Voelkert, of Roseville, who lost her job at a California clothing company Stitch Fix last summer.

'I was laid off in July. My company had reorganized because of COVID,' she told Biden in their one-on-one call – which was captured on video from the Oval Office, with a separate video of the other end of the conversation.

Biden records first 'fireside podcast': President calls California woman who was laid off and struggled to get unemployment benefits during the pandemic and tells her to 'keep the faith'

'It's the first time I've been laid off in my life,' she told the president. 'On Facebook I connect with others who are going through the same thing.'

'I admire your sense of responsibility to desire to work,' Biden told her.

The weekly format allows Biden the chance to share his trademark empathy with struggling Americans – even after coronavirus restrictions have kept him from wading into crowds like he did during the early part of his campaign.

The call went out on the White House Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and Instagram. It was backed by a soft musical soundtrack, and showed the president seated at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

'The President will be speaking to those affected by the pandemic regularly,' according to the White House. It was not immediately known how long the exchange took for the cut-down two-and-a-half minute video.

Joe Biden was willing to put aside one bit of guidance from health officials by flying to his Wilmington home Super Bowl weekend to watch the game with his family and pick up some things for his new residence at the White House. He was at his Delaware home when the video got released.

“This is a further, vital, correct decision to bring hope to Yemen’s crisis-stricken population," said David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. "The designation of Ansar Allah would have done nothing to tackle terrorism, and everything to make humanitarian aid and commercial traffic impossible."

"The next steps are to raise aid flows, negotiate a permanent ceasefire, and get the diplomatic process moving to establish a sustainable political settlement,” he said.

President Joe Biden's administration will remove the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen from the Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist lists, the State Department confirmed Friday.

The last-minute decision by former President Donald Trump's administration to designate the group that controls 80 percent of Yemen’s territory was widely condemned by international organizations for cutting off the delivery of critical food and aid to a country on the brink of famine.

“Secretary [Antony] Blinken has been clear about undertaking an expeditious review of the designations of Ansarallah given the profound implications for the people of Yemen, home to the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe,” a State Department official confirmed Friday. “After a comprehensive review, we can confirm that the Secretary intends to revoke the Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist designations of Ansarallah.”

The State Department has formally notified Congress of their intention to remove the Houthis from the lists and “will share more details in the coming days,” the official said.

The decision comes just over 24 hours after the Biden administration announced an end to American support for Saudi led offensive operations against the Houthis in Yemen including a freeze on arms sales to the Kingdom.

“We are committed to helping Saudi Arabia defend its territory against further such attacks,” the State Department official said Friday. “Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”

Joe Biden government will remove the Houthis from the terrorist list, reversing another Trump policy
The last-minute decision by the Trump administration to designate the group that controls 80 percent of Yemen’s territory was widely condemned by international organizations.

The official added that the decision to revoke the Houthis' designations “has nothing to do with our view of the Houthis and their reprehensible conduct, including attacks against civilians and the kidnapping of American citizens.”

'It's just been a tough time as far as trying to find work,' she told him. In the edited conversation, Michele expressed gratitude Biden was focusing on the pandemic.

'I've been saying a long time the idea that we think we will keep businesses open and moving and thriving without dealing with this pandemic is just a non-starter,' he told her.

He repeated a campaign refrain about advice from his father, who had to uproot the family after losing a job during Biden's youth. 'Working is just part of who you are. my dad used to say jobs about a lot more to paycheck, ... It's about respect, it's about your place in the community,' Biden told her.

The zoom-era call provides a new twist on another presidential tradition dating back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's radio address and the weekly speeches filed by a skein of presidents since. They rarely make big news, but offer a way to presidents to communicate by going around the filter of the press.

'We're putting together a plan that provides for emergency relief to people in desperate need now, with everything from mortgage payments to unemployment insurance to rental subsidies to food security for children and supervised for small and medium sized businesses to be open,' Biden said, a day after the House and Senate passed a budget resolution allowing him to move his $1.9 trillion relief plan even without Republican votes.

Vind ik leuk

0 leden vinden dit leuk

Opmerking

Je moet lid zijn van Beter HBO om reacties te kunnen toevoegen!

Wordt lid van Beter HBO

Welkom bij
Beter HBO

Aanmelden

Banners | Een probleem rapporteren? | Algemene voorwaarden