With a burst of executive orders, President Joe Biden served notice Thursday that the nation’s COVID-19 response is under new management and he’s demanding progress to reduce infections and lift the siege Americans have endured for nearly a year.
The 10 orders signed by Biden are aimed at jump starting his national COVID-19 strategy to increase vaccinations and testing, lay the groundwork for reopening schools and businesses, and immediately increase the use of masks — including a requirement that Americans mask up for travel. One directive calls for a addressing health care inequities in minority communities hard hit by the virus.
“We didn’t get into this mess overnight, and it will take months to turn this around,” Biden said. “Despite the best intentions we’re going to face setbacks “ But he declared: “To a nation waiting for action, let me be clear on this point: Help is on the way.”
The new president has vowed to take far more aggressive measures to contain the virus than his predecessor, starting with stringent adherence to public health guidance. He faces steep obstacles, with the virus actively spreading in most states, slow progress on the vaccine rollout and political uncertainty over whether congressional Republicans will help him pass a $1.9 trillion economic relief and COVID response package.
“We need to ask average Americans to do their part,” said Jeff Zients, the White House official directing the national response. “Defeating the virus requires a coordinated nationwide effort.”
Read more at AP News.
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JUST IN: Biden DESTROYS 60,000 Jobs on DAY ONE
(The Post Millennial) – In one of his first executive actions as US President, Joe Biden on Wednesday revoked the permit for Calgary based TC Energy’s Keystone XL pipeline. The Progressive Contractors Association of Canada said the pipeline would have generated as many as 60,000 jobs in Canada and the US.
The announcement of Biden’s intent to revoke the permit for the pipeline was made on Sunday. The order is part of a series of other executive orders including re-entering the Paris climate accord, that Biden claimed would combat climate change. Construction has now been stopped on the pipeline and 1000 unionized workers are expected to be laid off.
In 2020, the government of Alberta agreed to invest $1.5 billion of equity into the project, and guaranteed billions more in loans. The Canadian section of the pipeline in Alberta has been under construction for several months and employs approximately 1,000 workers. Construction had already begun on the US section of the pipeline as well. The 1,700-mile pipeline, originally proposed in 2008, would carry approximately 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to Texas.
As previously reported by The Post Millennial, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is looking forward to “working with President Biden to reduce pollution, combat climate change” following the newly-inaugurated President’s decision to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline expansion.
Trudeau welcomed other executive orders made by Biden, including his decision to have the US abide by the Paris Climate Accord. However, Trudeau said he was “disappointed but acknowledge the president’s decision to fulfil his election campaign promise on Keystone XL.”
“I spoke directly with President Biden about the project last November, and (Canada’s Ambassador to the United States Kirsten) Hillman and others in our government made the case to high-level officials in the incoming administration,” Trudeau said in a statement.
“Workers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and across Canada will always have our support. Canada is the single-largest supplier of energy to the United States, contributing to U.S. energy security and economic competitiveness, and supporting thousands of jobs on both sides of the border.”
Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole placed the blamed directly on Trudeau and called the cancellation of the Keystone Pipeline “devastating.”
Today’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline extension is devastating.
We need to get as many people back to work, in every part of Canada, in every sector, as quickly as possible.
In a statement O’Toole said, “We need to get as many people back to work, in every part of Canada, in every sector, as quickly as possible. The loss of this important project only makes that harder.”
“Justin Trudeau should have done more to stand up for our world-class energy sector and the men and women who depend on it to provide for their families.”
Biden has stated for months that he intended to cancel the project if elected and energy companies have spent billions of dollars over the course of years trying to make the project a reality. The cancellation will also likely lead to thousands of unionized workers being laid off. TC Energy had made deals with four labour unions to make the project a reality. Five Indigenous tribes also had agreements to take a $785-million ownership stake in the project.
Pres. Biden said he will have the vaccine manufacturers supply the U.S. with a million doses a day. Under Trump they were already supplying 0ver 912,000 a day. Macu ado about nothing, but you’ll hear little or nothing about this from the liberal media.