What’s the Debt Ceiling, and Will the US Raise It?
The very phrase “debt ceiling” sounds austere and restrictive, as if it’s a lid on government spending. In fact, this cap on US government borrowing affects only the ability to pay existing bills, not to approve more spending. But it has become an explosive political issue with the potential to roil financial markets, since a failure to raise the ceiling could eventually result in a first-ever default on some of the government’s obligations.
washingtonpost.comWhat’s the Debt Ceiling, and Will the US Raise It?
The very phrase “debt ceiling” sounds austere and restrictive, as if it’s a lid on government spending. In fact, the US federal debt limit was first conceived more than a century ago to make it easier, not harder, for the government to borrow money. But it morphed into an explosive political tool with the potential to roil financial markets, since a failure to raise the debt ceiling could eventually result in a first-ever default on some of the government’s obligations.
washingtonpost.comWhat’s the Debt Ceiling, and Will the US Raise It Again?
The very phrase “debt ceiling” sounds austere and restrictive, as if it’s a lid on government spending. In fact, the US federal debt limit was first conceived more than a century ago to make it easier, not harder, for the government to borrow money. But it morphed into an explosive political tool with the potential to roil financial markets, since a failure to raise the debt ceiling could eventually result in a first-ever default on some of the government’s obligations.
washingtonpost.comGarland: Justice Dept.'s civil rights work is key priority
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says the early work of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division meant confronting white supremacists who were intimidating Black voters, and the division's work remains urgent 65 years later amid a surge of hate crimes.
What’s the Debt Ceiling, and Will the US Raise It Again?
The very phrase “debt ceiling” sounds austere and restrictive, as if it’s a lid on government spending. In fact, the US federal debt limit was first conceived more than a century ago to make it easier, not harder, for the government to borrow money. But it morphed into an explosive political tool with the potential to roil financial markets, since a failure to raise the debt ceiling could eventually result in a first-ever default on some of the government’s obligations.
washingtonpost.comPfizer COVID vaccine is effective at preventing hospitalization in kids and adults, CDC study finds
The CDC released a study showing that coronavirus vaccines are highly effective at preventing hospitalizations, especially among kids, just as the pace of vaccinations is slowing. Lilia Luciano has the details on the findings. Then, Dr. Adam Brown, an emergency physician and the COVID-19 task force chair at Envision Healthcare, joins CBSN's Elaine Quijano to discuss the latest.
news.yahoo.comFrench admiral: Air power helps root out 'underground' IS
A French senior naval officer says the Islamic State group is using stealth to regenerate its forces by developing its military capabilities underground and France is deploying its warships and aircraft in the region to help troops on the ground root out the threat.
Biden readies for 1st news conference, White House tradition
AdThe last four presidents, back to Bill Clinton, each held one solo White House news conference in their first 60 days, picking up the pace to varying degrees later. The pandemic has kept foreign leaders away from the White House this year. Eisenhower's news conference Jan. 19, 1955, was one benchmark among several in the history of presidential news conferences tracked by Kumar, an authority on White House practices. But for all of JFK's charms and smarts, he encountered a more aggressive White House press corps, Kumar says. Richard Nixon, like Trump after him, called the press an “enemy.” Yet Nixon was the first to hold White House news conferences in prime time.
The Latest: UNLV now plans in-person spring graduation
(AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)LAS VEGAS — The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is changing course and now plans in-person spring graduation ceremonies in May as the coronavirus outbreak slows. UNLV President Keith Whitfield on Friday announced the change from plans announced in February to hold graduation virtually. ___LONDON — The U.K. says half of the country’s adults have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. AdThe government on Saturday reported cases topping the previous record in June. AdJust one third of Italy’s 7.3 million vaccine doses administered so far have gone to people in that age group.
Buttigieg: Biden plan will usher in a new transportation era
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)WASHINGTON – Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that an infrastructure plan expected soon from President Joe Biden will offer a “once in a century” opportunity to remake transportation in the United States, where cars and highways are no longer king. “But I’ll add there are some things that need to be reduced ... sometimes roads need to go on a diet." People also are shifting to other modes of transportation, such as bicycles or scooters, for shorter trips. During the presidential campaign, Biden laid the groundwork by proposing $2 trillion to address infrastructure and climate change. Buttigieg made clear his work on the Biden team is just getting started.
Thousands of service members saying no to COVID-19 vaccine
By the thousands, U.S. service members are refusing or putting off the COVID-19 vaccine, as frustrated commanders scramble to knock down internet rumors and find the right pitch that will convince troops to take the shot. Some Army units are seeing as few as a third agree to the vaccine, others are higher. Service leaders have vigorously campaigned for the vaccine. Officials from individual military services, however, said in interviews with The Associated Press that refusal rates vary widely, depending on a service member's age, unit, location, deployment status and other intangibles. Similar to the general population, younger service members are more likely to decline or ask to wait.
At Camp David retreat, Biden hangs out, shows he's got game
FILE - In this July 1981 file photo released by The White House, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, left, and Vice President George Bush go horseback riding at Camp David, Md. He capped it off by beating one of his granddaughters at Mario Kart during his first presidential visit to Camp David, the historic retreat for U.S. leaders. That’s what Camp David has traditionally offered presidents: a respite from Washington where they can shed their ties and relax with family. Bill Clinton tried to replicate that diplomatic alchemy when he invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Camp David for Mideast peace talks in 2000. He said when foreign leaders descend on Camp David, it can be like an “adult sleepover.”“Going to camp in the cabins creates an atmosphere where leaders are very close together.
At prayer breakfast, Biden calls on Americans to "confront and defeat political extremism"
A violent assault of the U.S. Capitol — an assault on our democracy and our Capitol — a violent attack that threatened lives and took life," Mr. Biden said in a pre-recorded address to the virtual National Prayer Breakfast. "We know now we must confront and defeat political extremism, white supremacy and domestic terrorism. "These aren't Democrats, Republicans, who are going hungry in our nation: they are our fellow Americans, fellow human beings," Mr. Biden said. It was a far different tone than the rancor displayed by President Trump at last year's prayer breakfast. Then, Mr. Trump celebrated his Senate impeachment acquittal by holding aloft the front page of a newspaper that bore the one-word headline "Acquitted."
cbsnews.comBiden, at prayer breakfast, calls out 'political extremism'
Biden is expected to address the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that calls on political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning. The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year's installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Ad“For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time,” Biden told those watching the event. During the 2020 breakfast, Trump singled out Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had voted to convict the president during his first impeachment trial. The event went entirely virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with Biden and all other speakers appearing via taped remarks.
Roberts to swear in yet another president who opposed him
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)WASHINGTON – Someday, perhaps, John Roberts will swear in a new president who doesn’t wish someone else was chief justice of the United States. President Donald Trump has castigated the chief justice as a “disgrace” for his role in upholding Obama’s health care overhaul. It’s the first time in American history that the incoming president and vice president have together voted against a majority of the court. If the administration runs into trouble at the Supreme Court, it’s likely to be over a clash of ideologies. President Theodore Roosevelt was enraged when Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes voted against the president in a major antitrust case.
Biden heads into inauguration with a stock market tailwind
Kevin Lamarque | ReutersPresident-elect Joe Biden moves into the White House in the coming week with the biggest stock market tailwind since a presidential Election Day going back to at least 1952. Biden will have no honeymoon The $1.9 trillion stimulus package is at the top of the agenda. He said the stock market should continue to do well because it is going to get stimulus spending. Stovall said that if history is a guide, the stock market should do well with Biden. The stock market will continue to monitor the bond market, after the 10-year Treasury yield reached a high of 1.18% this past week, the highest since March.
cnbc.comPence, top congressional leaders get vaccines; Trump absent
Vice President Mike Pence receives a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine shot at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Friday, Dec. 18, 2020, in Washington. Conspicuously absent: President Donald Trump, who has remained largely out of sight five days into the largest vaccination campaign in the nation’s history. Trump did appear at a White House “summit” ahead of the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the Pfizer vaccine last week. “Don’t let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccines,” Trump has told reporters. “It simply isn’t good enough to have Vice President Pence as a proxy."
Inauguration planners rethink how to party in age of virus
The inaugural platform on the Capitol's West Front is going up just like always, but it probably won't be as crowded. Work to build the inaugural platform at the Capitol and the White House reviewing stand began before the Nov. 3 election, as is traditional. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who heads the congressional inaugural committee, has been careful not to refute Trump’s baseless claims that he won the election. But Waltz said the congressional inaugural committee staff nonetheless is ready to work with Biden's Presidential Inaugural Committee. Even though plans are still taking shape, Biden's inaugural committee is already raising money for such events as balls and concerts.
DeChambeau shoots 70 in 1st round of Masters; 'I got greedy'
But DeChambeau wasn’t able to back that up Thursday in the opening round, shooting a 2-under 70 to end the day five strokes behind leader Paul Casey. It’s still Augusta National, and it’s the Masters. DeChambeau hit his drive 313 yards into the pine straw behind a tree. Not a 5, the score to shoot for for everyone else at Augusta National, from Bobby Jones to President Dwight Eisenhower to Tiger Woods. “Sometimes I can get a little greedy, and I like taking risks,” DeChambeau said.
Voters strip ‘Plantations’ from Rhode Island’s formal name
(AP Photo/Susan E. Bouchard, File)Rhode Island will now be officially known as ... Rhode Island. Officially, Rhode Island was incorporated as The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations when it declared statehood in 1790. Although the word “Plantations” in Rhode Island’s name does not specifically refer to a place where slaves labored, the measure’s backers insisted it still offends, especially since Rhode Island’s ties to the slave trade are undeniably deep. The formal vote for House speaker, however, won’t happen until January, when the new legislature convenes. Mattiello rose to House speaker in 2014 after then-Speaker Gordon Fox resigned amid a public corruption investigation.
Work already underway for presidential inauguration
The committee has voted to hold the inaugural ceremonies on the West Front of the Capitol, a tradition that began under Ronald Reagan. The Architect of the Capitol is busy constructing the inaugural platform from scratch. The platform traditionally holds more than 1,600 people, including the president and vice president, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and the outgoing president and vice president. A Presidential Inaugural Committee, a nonprofit representing the president-elect, will be organized following the Nov. 3 election. For the Washington, D.C., metro area, the inauguration has traditionally provided an economic boost as visitors fill local hotels and restaurants.
Colliding crises shake already chaotic campaign's last month
FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to the White House in Washington as he returns from Minnesota. The Republican president has trailed Democratic challenger Joe Biden in polls for most of the year. Trumps approval ratings barely budge, consistently ranking him as among the weakest first-term presidents in living history. And for five consecutive months, no more than roughly 3 in 10 voters have believed the nation is moving in the right direction. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Colliding crises shake already chaotic campaign's last month
The Republican president has trailed Democratic challenger Joe Biden in polls for most of the year. The Republican president has trailed Democratic challenger Joe Biden in polls for most of the year. Schmidt, co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, is no stranger to final-weeks political drama, having led John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008. “You have an American president threatening political instability ... and at the same time making wild accusations and spreading conspiracy theories about the legitimacy of an American election,” Schmidt said. Amid legal and health concerns, it's difficult for pollsters and campaigns to predict how many voters will ultimately cast ballots.
Of presidents and health, history replete with secrecy, lies
(AP Photo, File)WASHINGTON – Throughout American history, an uncomfortable truth has been evident: Presidents have lied about their health. But with an election coming on, Roosevelt and the White House staff issued a statement saying the problem was far less serious. The first known instance of a so-called pool reporter inside the White House was in 1881 when James A. Garfield was shot. As he lay in bed, Associated Press reporter Franklin Trusdell sat outside the president's sick room, listening to him breathe and sharing updates with other correspondents. “I listen for every sound,” Trusdell wrote to his wife in a note about his overnight Garfield watch at the White House.
Smithsonian curators gather swag from political campaigns
"That's the question curators are always asking themselves trying to think 50 or 100 years down the road," Jerry, who works for the Smithsonian Institution, told CBS News. The Smithsonian collection of campaign buttons. While this is Jerry's first presidential campaign, the Smithsonian collection dates back to George Washington's presidency. CBS NewsLisa Kathleen Graddy, curator of political history, said President William Henry Harrison popularized campaign swag back in 1840 with his log cabin cup. An assortment of Franklin Delano Roosevelt buttons from the Smithsonian collection.
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