Biden to Quadruple Refugee Cap

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U.S. President Joe Biden, who initially decided to keep intact his predecessor’s historically low number of annual refugee admissions, Monday announced he is quadrupling this year’s total.  “I am revising the United States’ annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for this fiscal year,” the president said in a statement Monday afternoon. “This erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America’s values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees. The new admissions cap will also reinforce efforts that are already under way to expand the United States’ capacity to admit refugees,more

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Biden Pushes Education Spending at Stops in Virginia

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President Joe Biden traveled Monday to coastal Virginia to promote his plans to increase spending on education and children, part of his $1.8 trillion families proposal announced last week. Visiting Tidewater Community College with first lady Jill Biden, the president discussed his $109 billion proposal to provide Americans with two years of tuition-free community college. He’s also seeking more than $80 billion for Pell Grants to help college affordability and $62 billion for programs that could improve completion rates at community colleges and institutions that predominantly serve disadvantaged students. The president said that education was the key to the country’s dominance andmore

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Trump Calls 2020 Election Defeat a ‘Big Lie’ 

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump lost his reelection contest to Democrat Joe Biden six months ago Monday, but he is still claiming he was cheated out of another term in the White House, leaving some Republican officials at odds with one another and Trump over the legitimacy of Biden’s victory.”The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!” Trump said in a new statement.The former president’s commentary from his Atlantic Ocean mansion in Florida appropriated the “big lie” sentiment his political opponents have used to describe his claims that he won. Trumpmore

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US Mission in Nigeria Ramps Up Interviews for Student Visas

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The U.S. Mission in Nigeria will prioritize student visa applications for Nigerians to ensure they are interviewed for their visa applications in time for their programs start date this fall, the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria said.The embassy in Abuja and consulate general in Lagos will assist student visa applications in a timely fashion while observing safety procedures because of COVID-19, the embassy stated in a press release April 30.”Time for me to bag that gender studies degree,” student Justin Irabor tweeted about getting to study in the U.S.time for me to bag that gender studies degree. https://t.co/cPfCgVzh3b —more

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US Secretary of State to Hold Talks in Ukraine About Russian Aggression

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves for Europe on Sunday, where he will hold meetings in London and Kyiv.Blinken’s first stop will be London, where he will meet with the foreign secretaries from the Group of Seven countries. Later in the week, he will travel to Kyiv to show U.S. support for Ukraine’s government as it faces threats to its sovereignty from Russia.The meetings in London with the G-7 ministers are in preparation for the meeting of the G-7 leaders in June in Cornwall.The ministers are also expected to discuss their handling of challenges they are all facing, includingmore

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Biden Celebrates Amtrak’s 50 Years on the Rails 

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President Joe Biden, once a regular Amtrak rider, helped the nation’s passenger rail system celebrate 50 years of service Friday.As a U.S. senator, Biden was a fixture on Amtrak trains between his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and Washington when the Senate was in session. He continued riding Amtrak as vice president. He has sometimes been referred to as “Amtrak Joe.”But with a presidential train trip challenging because of security concerns, Biden instead flew to Philadelphia for Amtrak’s celebration at its busy 30th Street Station. He was introduced by a conductor who worked the route when Biden was a regular passenger.more

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Florida Legislature Passes Bill Limiting Ballot Access

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Florida’s Legislature on Thursday passed a bill that makes it harder to access drop boxes and mail-in ballots, the latest Republican-led state to push for what activists say is voter suppression.Republicans cite former President Donald Trump’s claims that President Joe Biden stole the November election as reasons for the sweeping measures. Judges discredited such claims, made without evidence, in more than 60 lawsuits that failed to overturn the election result.Democrats say the Republican measures are designed to lessen the impact of Black voters, whose heavy turnout helped propel Biden to victory and delivered Democrats two U.S. Senate victories in Georgiamore

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Biden Takes Victory Lap at Drive-In Rally on 100th Day in Office

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Marking his 100th day as president of the United States, Joe Biden said Thursday that he had never been more optimistic about the future of America, because the country “is on the move again. We’re choosing hope over fear, truth over lies, light over darkness.”Biden spoke at a drive-in political rally near Atlanta, funded by the Democratic National Committee.”You’re proving democracy can deliver for the people,” the president said to the approval of the honking horns of the 315 vehicles in attendance on the grounds of the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, northeast of Atlanta.The U.S. Senate runoffs in January inmore

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Largest Aid Package in US History Caps First Weeks of Biden Presidency

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U.S. President Joe Biden took office three months ago working with a Congress narrowly controlled by Democrats. While Biden faced twin economic and public health crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Capitol Hill was consumed by the second impeachment trial of his predecessor, Donald Trump. VOA congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson looks at the new president’s dealings with lawmakers during his first 100 days.Producer: Katherine Gypson.  …

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Biden, Aides Tout Infrastructure, Family Aid Proposals

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U.S. President Joe Biden and key administration officials are embarking on an extensive campaign to promote his $4 trillion spending proposals to repair the country’s infrastructure and boost assistance for children and families.On Thursday, his 100th day in office, Biden headed to the southern state of Georgia, a key political battleground he narrowly captured in the November election to hold a campaign-style drive-in rally near the state’s biggest city, Atlanta.His effort comes the day after his first address to a joint session of Congress in which he laid out what he called a “blue-collar blueprint” to help middle-class Americans gainmore

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Key Takeaways from Biden’s First Joint Speech to Congress

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In his first joint address to Congress, U.S. President Joe Biden called on lawmakers to provide bipartisan support for his $4 trillion economic plan he said would provide Americans relief from the COVID-19 pandemic and make the U.S. more competitive with China.   “Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation America is on the move again,” Biden declared.   Here are several key takeaways from Biden’s speech:    Women Make History   Biden was the first U.S. president to deliver a speech to Congress with two women sitting behind him on the dais: Vice President Kamalamore

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Biden’s First 100 Days See Few Big Moves on Africa

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U.S. President Joe Biden has focused most of his energy in his first 100 days in office on taming the coronavirus pandemic on home soil. But in this short, frantic period, he has made a few important gestures that have been welcomed in Africa.  On his first day in office, he halted the U.S.’s plan to exit the World Health Organization. Biden’s reversal of his predecessor’s controversial decision to withdraw from the global body was greeted with near-universal approval, especially from African health experts, who said it could portend a more equitable world order.  Biden also pledged an additional $2more

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What is So Special About a US President’s First 100 Days?

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More than three months after being sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, President Joe Biden will soon pass a milestone: his first 100 days in office.     On Friday, April 30, administration officials, reporters, the general public and Biden himself will mark the benchmark. But many Americans and people overseas may be wondering what is so special about a president’s first 100 days.   Despite the attention to the day, nothing in U.S. law or the U.S Constitution gives any significance to a president’s first 100 days.     In fact, there is nothing inherentlymore

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With Massive Spending Plans, Biden Seeks to Remake Relationship Between Federal Government and Americans

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In his first 100 days as president of the United States, Joe Biden has governed less like a chief executive whose party is clinging to the barest of majorities in the House and Senate, and more like a transformative figure with a broad public mandate for societal change.  In an address to a pandemic-diminished joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, he took a further step in his effort to remake the relationship between the federal government and the American people with a $1.8 trillion proposal to expand Americans’ access to education, provide financial support to families with children, guarantee paidmore

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AP Fact Check: Biden Skews Record on Migrants; GOP on Virus

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Taking a swipe at his predecessor, President Joe Biden gave a distorted account of the historical forces driving migrants to the U.S. border, glossing over the multitudes who were desperate to escape poverty in their homelands when he was vice president.In his speech to Congress on Wednesday night, Biden also made his spending plans sound more broadly supported in Washington than they are.The Republican response to Biden’s speech departed from reality particularly on the subject of the pandemic. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina tried to give the Trump administration credit for turning the tide on the coronavirus in whatmore

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Scott Says Biden Has Failed to Unite Country

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U.S. Senator Tim Scott said President Joe Biden has failed to unite the nation and that his proposals for infrastructure spending and the newly announced package for education and families are pulling the nation further apart. Delivering the Republican response to the Democratic president’s first joint address to Congress on Wednesday night, Scott said, “Our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes.” Biden spent a section of his address celebrating the progress in combatting the coronavirus pandemic, including far exceeding his administration’s goal for vaccinations at this point in his presidency. Scott said Biden “inherited a tide that had already turned,” creditingmore

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America ‘Ready for Takeoff,’ Biden Tells Congress  

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“After 100 days of rescue and renewal, America is ready for takeoff,” U.S. President Joe Biden told a joint session of Congress, using the occasion to push his proposed $4 trillion in government spending and tout his overall performance in coping with a series of historic crises since taking office in January.  The president, in an address on Wednesday evening, said he had inherited a nation in crisis facing the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”  The address on the eve of his 100th day in office, was not deemed a ‘State of the Union’ presentation because it was deliveredmore

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Text of Sen. Tim Scott’s Republican Response to President Biden’s Address to Congress

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Sen. Tim Scott delivered the Republican response following President Biden’s remarks to the joint session of Congress. Below is the text of the Address as prepared for delivery:Good evening. I’m Senator Tim Scott from the great state of South Carolina.We just heard President Biden’s first address to Congress. Our President seems like a good man. His speech was full of good words.But President Biden promised you a specific kind of leadership. He promised to unite a nation. To lower the temperature. To govern for all Americans, no matter how we voted.That was the pitch. You just heard it again.But ourmore

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Harris, Pelosi Make History Seated Behind Biden at Speech

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Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made history Wednesday as the first women to share the stage in Congress during a presidential address. In President Joe Biden’s first prime-time speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, he was flanked by Pelosi and Harris, two California Democrats.  “It’s pretty exciting. And it’s wonderful to make history. It’s about time,” Pelosi said hours before the speech during an interview on MSNBC. Pelosi already knows what it feels like to sit on the rostrum in the House chamber and introduce a president for speeches. She has sat there for several addresses bymore

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US Agents Raid New York Home, Office of Former Trump Lawyer

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U.S. federal agents seized electronic devices in daybreak raids Wednesday at the New York home and office of Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor who became former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, as investigators probe Giuliani’s activities in Ukraine linked to Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.Robert Costello, Giuliani’s lawyer, confirmed that agents had executed a search warrant for the two Giuliani locations, but condemned the raids.“What they did today was legal thuggery,” Costello told The New York Times. “Why would you do this to anyone, let alone someone who was the associate attorney general, United States attorney, the mayor ofmore

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Biden Proposes Large-scale Spending for Children, Families

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U.S. President Joe Biden is proposing a wide expansion of national government assistance for American children and families on Wednesday as he prepares to make his first address to a joint session of Congress.President Joe Biden removes his face mask to speak about COVID-19, on the North Lawn of the White House, April 27, 2021, in Washington.Biden plans to lay out details of his $1.8 trillion proposal in a nationally televised speech, being witnessed in person by about 200 socially distanced, mask-wearing lawmakers and key U.S. officials in the House of Representatives chamber. Normally, the crowd for such an addressmore

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