Connect with us

Economy

‘Everybody’s laughing’: VP Harris’s joke flops during speech

Published

on

Screen Shot 2021 04 19 at 1.35.45 PM scaled

During a Monday speech in North Carolina promoting President Joe Biden‘s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, Vice President Kamala Harris tried cracking a joke to the audience, but it did not appear to land.

“These opportunities are equally available women, as well as men,” Harris said, followed by applause from the attendees at Guilford Technical Community College, located outside of Greensboro.

As the applause died down, the vice president quipped, “Because there’s an interesting fact, in case you didn’t know. Hardhats are actually unisex.”

While Harris herself was laughing, no noise could be heard from the audience. A second later, she pointed to somebody in the crowd and said, “Everybody’s laughing,” and kept chuckling.

During her speech, she promoted the administration’s $20 billion proposal to convert the United States’ whole fleet of gasoline and diesel-powered school buses to electric vehicles, and to tout the president’s plans to create “good jobs,” according to The New York Timesreporting.

MORE ON INFRASTRUCTURE: Infrastructure Plan: Buttigieg defends tax hikes, non-transport proposals

“I believe you shouldn’t have to work more than one job to pay your bills and feed your family,” Harris was reported as saying. “One good job should be enough.”

Her speech also comes amid a crisis at the border that has seen a record-breaking number of migrants—especially unaccompanied children—illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as overcrowded migrant detention facilities with poor accommodations.

MORE ON THE BORDER: Biden calls border surge a ‘crisis’ for the first time

Harris was tapped by Biden late last month to be the administration’s public face for the border crisis. However, she and the president have yet to visit the border or the facilities, which has drawn increasing scrutiny.

RELATED: ‘MISSING AT THE BORDER’: Scalise crafts milk carton with Harris’ face for her failure to visit border amid crisis

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @DouglasPBraff.

Continue Reading

Economy

White House announced $6 billion student loan forgiveness for 78,000 public service workers

Published

on

United States Congress

The White House recently announced a $6 billion loan forgiveness program. Nurses, teachers and firefighters are among the 78,000 public service workers who will qualify. Fox Business reports:

Due to fixes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, workers that never received forgiveness are now having their debts partially forgiven or canceled. Only about 7,000 public service borrowers received forgiveness prior to the Biden Administration, now that total hovers closer to 870,000, the announcement said.

“Today’s announcement comes on top of the significant progress we’ve achieved for students and student loan borrowers in the past few years,” the announcement stated. “This includes: providing the largest increases in Pell Grants in over a decade to help families who earn less than roughly $60,000 a year; fixing Income-Driven Repayment plans so borrowers in repayment for years get the relief they earned; and creating the most generous Income-Driven Repayment plan in history – the SAVE plan.”

However, there is concern over fairness that older generations are still paying off student loans and could risk losing Social Security. A group of representatives wrote a letter to Congress, hoping to address the issue of seniors still paying down student loans. Currently, under the Treasury Offset Program (TOP), the government can collect funds, such as tax refunds and Social Security, to pay outstanding student loan balances, reports Fox Business.

“Under the TOP, the federal government can withhold up to 15 percent of monthly Social Security or disability benefits for defaulted student loans,” the lawmakers explained in their letter.

Continue Reading

Trending