•Executives for TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat testify before the Senate Commerce Committee’s consumer protection panel today on how well their social media platforms protect children online (WaPo).
•Moderna has announced it will deliver up to 110 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to countries on the African continent, the AP reports. The first 15 million are to be delivered by the end of this year, with another 35 million doses in the first quarter of 2022, and 60 million in the second quarter.
•President Biden will announce Tuesday a $100 million initiative to strengthen the U.S. relationship with South East Asia Politico reports, citing the White House. Biden joins a virtual summit today with the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, (ASEAN), the first time for a U.S. president since Donald Trump in 2017.
Billionaire Tax Proposed for Budget Reconciliation – A Democratic proposal for a billionaires’ tax to pay for the Build Back Better budget reconciliation bill – now targeted at $1.75-1.9 trillion – is “gaining momentum,” according to The Hill, while Republicans are calling it “too cumbersome” compared with raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, the Associated Press reports.
These two interpretations are not mutually exclusive, though they could indicate why Sen. Krysten Sinema, D-AZ, has yet to weigh in on it. Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-WV, seems to approve the provision, according to the AP, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, calls it a “hare-brained scheme.” Some Republicans say the tax scheme, which is meant to raise funds to pay for the budget reconciliation bill without raising the federal debt, could be challenged in court.
It’s based on a 2019 bill by Ron Wyden, D-OR, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and would tax the assets of billionaires, many of whom don’t pay much, or anything in taxes on annual income, but earn millions per year from investments. The proposal also would set a 15% minimum tax rate on corporations, regardless of how they report profits.
According to Roll Call, taxing unrealized capital gains – on stock prices that go up over the tax year but are not cashed in, called “market-to-market” – is gaining momentum given Sinema’s opposition to increased taxes on individuals earning more than $400,000 per year ($450,000 for couples).
Note: Some Democrats appear ready to call McConnell’s bluff and simply proceed with the tax increases, while Sinema hasn’t publicly weighed in yet – perhaps waiting to see which way the tax winds are blowing.
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UN Report Says Global Emissions Will be Up 16% by 2030 – A new United Nations report says global emissions are set to increase as much as 16% by the end of the decade, The Washington Post reports. The new UN report, coming ahead of its climate summit beginning Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland, is based on 192 countries’ commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
In other words, it’s not enough.
The U.S. and Australia both have committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050, though President Biden’s target date will be affected by cuts to his climate change proposal in the Build Back Better budget reconciliation bill, and Australia plans to do it, according to the BBC, without shutting down coal or gas production. China has committed to carbon neutrality by 2060.
If countries don’t get more aggressive with plans to cut greenhouse gases, the UN report says, the Earth is expected to be 2.7 degrees Celsius warmer by the end of the century, “far above” the 2C benchmark set in 2015, WaPo says.
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Alabama Governor Resists COVID Vax Mandate — “Alabamians are overwhelmingly opposed to these outrageous, Biden mandates, and I stand with them,” Alabama’s Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement, according to The Washington Post. She has signed an executive order that is meant to counter the federal mandate that requires workers at federal contractors, federal employees, and health workers at facilities Medicare and Medicaid money be vaccinated.
Note: Note the “federal.” The vaccination rate, the Post says, was 44.4% in Alabama, as of late Monday. Aren’t governors supposed to protect their citizens?
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U.S. Aid to Sudan Suspended Following Coup – The Biden administration has suspended $700 million in financial aid to Sudan following yesterday’s military coupe, the AP reports. The aid is on “pause” pending review of developments in Khartoum. The State Department has called for the immediate release of those arrested, including Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
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Trump Jr. Sells T-Shirts Mocking Alec Baldwin Shooting – Donald Trump, Jr., is selling t-shirts on his website mocking the fatal shooting of the cinematographer on Alec Baldwin’s Rust movie set, The Hill reports. We won’t repeat the t-shirt’s words, nor the website’s address here with the same warning the NRA often made after several multiple shootings, that now is not the time to politicize a tragedy.
Note: Baldwin had done a masterful job of eviscerating Trump Senior on Saturday Night Live. Presumably Junior is still smarting over that.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash