Economy

VP Harris reportedly working on economic strategy for Central America, has yet to visit the Southern border

Published

2 years ago

May 27, 2021

Vice President Harris is set to meet with the heads of 12 companies Thursday to encourage economic opportunity, and hopefully lower immigration to the U.S. A White House official spoke to Reuters on the details of the meeting.

According to the reported anonymous source, some companies have already made commitments. Microsoft agreed to provide internet access to three million more people in the Northern Triangle by July 2022. Nespresso will buy at least $150 million worth of its coffee from El Salvador and Honduras by 2025. Mastercard will provide banking services to five million people who previously had no access to financial institutions. Also, the banking company will give electronic banking access to one million micro and small businesses.

Chobani has agreed to bring its incubator program for Guatemalan entrepreneurs. It’s a program that trains small business owners in the food business. Up until now, it’s only been available in the U.S. and Australia.

This meeting comes months since Harris was appointed as border czar. She has yet to visit the southern border herself.

Read the full article here.

You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism

Economy

Biden spends $1.65 trillion taxpayer dollars while vacationing in St. Croix

Published

4 weeks ago

December 30, 2022

Sara Carter Staff

While vacationing in the island of St. Croix for the holidays, President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law the massive $1.65 omnibus spending package.

The whopping 4,155 pages was supported by only nine House Republicans and 13 Senate Republicans. Majority of criticism from the GOP includes concerns that the bill was rushed and crammed with wasteful spending by a lame-duck Democratic-dominated Congress. The recourse will punish American families by adding to the national debt and exacerbate inflation.

“Today, I signed the bipartisan omnibus bill, ending a year of historic progress. It’ll invest in medical research, safety, veteran health care, disaster recovery, VAWA funding — and gets crucial assistance to Ukraine,” Biden tweeted. “Looking forward to more in 2023.”

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell “praised the bill on the grounds that it represents a real decrease in discretionary spending. He presented it as a positive that nondefense spending jumped by only 5.5 percent, from $730 billion to $772.5 billion, amid an inflation rate of 7.1 percent” writes National Review.

“The bipartisan government-funding bill that Senators Shelby and Leahy have finished negotiating does exactly the opposite of what the Biden administration first proposed,” he said. “This bill provides a substantial real-dollar increase to the defense baseline . . . and a substantial real-dollar cut to the non-defense, non-veterans baseline,” McConnell insisted as negotiations were wrapping up.

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, however, stated his strong disapproval of the bill before it even advanced. Affirming a letter from 13 House Republicans, McCarthy demanded the bill is reckless, irresponsible, and a “purposeful refusal to secure and defend our borders.”

For example, it failed to incorporate protections for Title 42, the pandemic policy that allows illegal immigrants to be expelled on a public-health basis, which currently hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court.

National Review adds, “The funding in the bill, which averted a federal government shutdown before the new year, includes an allocation of $45 billion in defense assistance to Ukraine. Some Republican priorities, such as Electoral Count Act reform and a bigger military budget, were nested in with Democratic appropriations, such as increased funding for Medicaid and food stamps.”