It’s Friday.
For Friday, August 20th, 2021, President Biden has received his daily brief. He will have already met with his security team on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. This afternoon he will offer remarks on the evacuation of American citizens and their families, SIV applicants and their families, and vulnerable Afghans. After his remarks he will travel to Delaware.
As of yesterday according to Army Major General William “Hank” Taylor the Joint Staff’s deputy director for regional operations approximately 7,000 total evacuees have be evacuated since August 14th, 2021. An estimated 12,000 total people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since July.
According to Defense.gov., those 12,000 include; American citizens, U.S. embassy personnel, individuals designated by the State Department as SIV applicants and other evacuees.
The State Department this morning posted information regarding Afghanistan Inquiries.
[Just a couple of things as examples of what you’ll find].
U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents:
U.S. citizens seeking assistance to depart Afghanistan should utilize this link: Repatriation Assistance Request or in an emergency, call 1-888-407-4747 (U.S. Canada) or +1-202-501-4444 (overseas). Legal permanent residents (LPRs) and spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens in Afghanistan who are awaiting immigrant visas should also complete this form.How the Public Can Help
It is the millions of people in local communities across the United States who ensure the success of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) by welcoming and helping integrate refugees from around the world. We encourage people who are interested in assisting resettled Afghan SIVs and refugees to reach out to their local refugee resettlement agency to donate, volunteer, or even form community sponsorship teams. There are many opportunities to be involved in welcoming SIVs and refugees and helping them to rebuild their lives in the U.S.
State Department.gov. 08/20/2021.
For a list of resettlement agency and affiliate contacts, please visit www.wrapsnet.org/resources/.
This is me trying to rebuild my faith in humanity…
At this point you know the drill, he hasn’t tweeted so far for Friday; but that’s likely to change before publication.
When Biden Bits for Thursday was published he had tweeted 1 time. He added 2 tweets and 1 retweet giving him a Thursday Tweeting Total of 3 tweets and 1 retweet.
The White House published the following readout of the meeting on his Build Back Better agenda:
This afternoon, the President held a virtual meeting with House Democratic leadership and the chairs of 15 House committees of jurisdiction about moving forward with his Build Back Better agenda, which would cut prescription drug costs, reduce the cost of housing and education, strengthen care for veterans, take on climate change, and help families afford childcare and care for older Americans.
The President and House leaders agreed that the American people cannot afford to wait for the generational benefits these initiatives would deliver in terms of creating jobs, growing our economy in a manner that overwhelmingly benefits the middle class, and cutting costs for families. They agreed that we can pay for these long term investments by finally letting Medicare negotiate lower prescription drug costs and asking the largest corporations and wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share.
The President noted that these policies go to the heart of the values that he ran on, conveyed his appreciation for the strong backing it has received, and reiterated his enthusiasm for signing the Build Back Better bill and the historic bipartisan infrastructure legislation as soon as possible.
White House.gov. 08/19/2021.
The White House posted on Thursday a new fact-sheet on how the Build Back Better agenda will provide; Greater Tax Fairness for Small Businesses
Highlights:
Level the playing field for small business owners by reforming the tax code
- Raise the corporate income tax rate to 28 percent;
- Strengthen the global minimum tax for large multinational corporations;
- Reduce incentives for foreign jurisdictions to maintain ultra-low corporate tax rates by encouraging global adoption of robust minimum taxes for large corporations;
- Enact a 15 percent minimum tax on book income of large, highly profitable corporations;
- Eliminate incentives for large corporations to offshore profits and jobs; and
- Ramp up enforcement to address tax avoidance among large corporations.
Give a tax cut to 3.9 million small business owners.
Not only will President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda protect more than 97 percent of small business owners from income tax increases, it will also provide well-deserved tax cuts to Main Street entrepreneurs. These tax cuts will give more entrepreneurs the financial security and peace of mind they need to start or grow their own business. Specifically, the plan will:
White House.gov. 08/19/2021.
- Cut taxes for small business owners with children. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) increased the Child Tax Credit (CTC) from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children over six and $3,600 for children under six. The Build Back Better Agenda will extend the CTC expansion in the ARP, providing39 million households and the families of nearly 90 percent of American children a major tax cut and cutting child poverty nearly in half. New research from the Department of the Treasury shows that more than 3 million small business owners with children will benefit from these historic tax cuts.
- Cut taxes for small business owners who buy coverage through HealthCare.gov. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, small business owners and their employees were overrepresented among uninsured working Americans. Today, they represent more than half of all Americans enrolled in the ACA marketplaces. Earlier this year, the ARP provided tax credits that lowered health insurance premiums for those buying coverage through the ACA, saving families an average of $50 per person per month. Since the ARP went into effect, 34 percent of consumers have found coverage for $10 or less per month on HealthCare.gov. The Build Back Better Agenda will make these premium reductions permanent. As a result, nine million people – including more than 1.2 million small business owners – will continue to save hundreds of dollars per year on their premiums, and 4 million uninsured people will gain coverage. Not only will Build Back Better reduce health care costs for small businesses and their employees, it may give aspiring entrepreneurs the financial security and peace of mind they need to fulfill their dream of starting a business. And, Build Back Better will help small businesses who cannot afford to provide coverage to their employees compete against big corporations.
Help small businesses retain workers and compete against large corporations through a national, federally-funded paid leave program.
While the vast majority of small business owners believe it is important to establish a federal paid family and medical leave program, the U.S. remains one of the only countries in the world that does not provide it. As a result, nearly four out of five private sector workers – and 95 percent of the lowest wage workers – have no access to paid leave. This puts small businesses at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting and retaining talented workers. Well-resourced large corporations can afford to offer their employees paid leave programs, but small business with fewer resources may have a harder time doing so. President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda will level the playing field for those small businesses. It guarantees twelve weeks of paid parental, family, and personal illness/safe leave by year 10 of the program, and will ensure workers get three days of bereavement leave per year starting in year one. Importantly, under President Biden’s proposal, wage replacement would come from the federal government – not the employer – eliminating any potential burden on small businesses. According to a state-level study, 9 out of 10 employers experienced positive or no noticeable effects on productivity, profitability, turnover, and employee morale after a paid leave program was adopted.
White House.gov. 08/19/2021.
Increase access to contracting, capital, technical assistance for small firms.
- Increase federal contracting opportunities for small businesses. From upgrading Veterans Affairs medical centers to rehabilitating other federal buildings, the President’s plan will mobilize small contractors to meet the great challenges of our time.
- Launch a historic effort to empower small business creation and expansion in underserved communities. The Build Back Better Agenda will create a national network of incubators and business development centers to help more entrepreneurs start up new businesses, access government contracts, and expand their customer bases.
- Give small businesses – especially underserved small businesses – the tools to drive the innovation economy. President Biden is calling on Congress to invest in federal programs that empower small firms to participate in federal research and development initiatives that have the potential for commercialization.
- Help minority-owned manufacturing businesses access capital. The Build Back Better Agenda will create a new grant program through the Minority Business Development Agency that will help small, underserved manufacturers access private capital.
- Create a new financing facility for small manufacturers. President Biden is calling on Congress to seed a new program to co-invest with private capital in the industrial base.
- Increase access to lending and investment capital. The Build Back Better Agenda will enable small businesses to drive the recovery by injecting billions of dollars in funding into the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program.
- Strengthen manufacturing supply chains and innovation ecosystems. President Biden is also calling on Congress to bolster the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Manufacturing USA; create a new office to monitor industrial capacity and support the production of critical goods; and establish regional hubs to fuel technology development and create new businesses.
President Biden’s remarks are scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. D.C., time.
This is an Open Thread.
