Biden says he’d restore Roe v. Wade at start of 2nd term if re-elected
U.S. President Joe Biden provided a brief sketch of what his first 100 days of a second Oval Office term would look like, as the veteran leader’s re-election bid continued to face headwinds Friday from a still-growing faction of Democrat voices urging him to bow out.
The 81-year-old Biden spoke at a campaign rally held at Detroit’s Renaissance High School on Friday evening, playing up his support for unions and his aim to work on behalf of working people in America.
But he also spoke about what he would do at the start of a second term — presuming he remains the Democratic nominee and then wins in November.
“The first bill I’m going to introduce will restore Roe v. Wade and make it the law of the land,” said Biden. He added that a second term of his administration would also strengthen Social Security and Medicare, raise the federal minimum wage and get key voting-related legislation passed.
His comments did not address the congressional numbers the Democrats would need in the House and Senate to move these legislative priorities along during a second term.
During the rally, Biden took repeated aim at Donald Trump, his 78-year-old Republican rival, arguing the U.S. cannot afford another four years with his presidential predecessor at its helm.
“It’s time for us to stop treating politics like entertainment and reality TV,” said Biden. “Another four years with Donald Trump is deadly serious.”
The two men are the oldest candidates to be competing for the Oval Office. Biden is already the country’s oldest sitting president.
Continued pressure to drop out
Biden has spent the month of July trying to deal with the fallout from a poor debate performance he had against Trump on June 27.
Yet despite media interviews and outreach efforts with congressional Democrats, Biden has seen — as of Friday — at least 19 Democrat lawmakers publicly call for his exit from the presidential ballot.
Rep. Mike Levin of California said in a statement Friday that he believed “the time has come for President Biden to pass the torch.”
Prominent donors and party supporters have also put pressure on Biden to drop out in recent days.
Yet Biden received strong statements of support from two prominent Democrats on Friday — California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a soon-to-be-broadcast CBS News Sunday Morning interview, and Rep. James Clyburn, who both said they support the incumbent president.
“I’m riding with Biden no matter which direction he goes,” Clyburn told NBC’s Today, while Newsom told Sunday Morning he’s “all in” for Biden.
In Detroit, however, Biden signalled he does not intend to step away from his re-election bid.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said.
When the rally wrapped, a classic Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song played: I Won’t Back Down.
Published at Sat, 13 Jul 2024 01:25:03 +0000
Israel airstrike kills at least 4 aid workers in Gaza, IDF claims 1 is Hamas operative
A U.K.-based aid group said one of its employees, Hosam Mansour, in Gaza was killed on Friday after an Israeli airstrike hit its warehouse. The Israel Defence Forces posted on Telegram saying Mansour was part of Hamas’s military wing.
Three other workers were killed in the attack from other aid groups. All four were transferred to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of a senior aid worker, engineer Husam Mansour, who was killed in an airstrike on a warehouse where essential food items were being prepared for aid distribution,” Al-Khair Foundation said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.
In a post on Telegram, the IDF said Mansour was an “operative of Hamas’s military wing” and held a role in its internal security forces. It also said Mansour played a role in spreading violent activities throughout the Gaza Strip, and that Al-Khair Foundation “transfers funds to terror organizations.”
The strike hit a warehouse that multiple aid groups were using, located in Al-Mawasi, a largely rural area in Gaza’s coastal region. It was designated a “humanitarian safe zone” by the IDF. Palestinians were told to seek refuge there to avoid being caught in the crossfires of the fighting.
This week, fighting in the strip intensified between the IDF and Hamas as the Israeli army returned to the north to areas it had previously declared were cleared of Hamas militants. Since Monday, over 20 Palestinians have been killed.
Ceasefire talks have continued this week, with representatives from Qatar, Egypt, Israel, Hamas and the United States meeting in Cairo to find a solution to end the war. On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden posted on X announcing both Israel and Hamas had agreed to a “framework” for a deal. But, he said, “there was still more work to do.”
In a statement, the aid organization Al-Khair said an airstrike in Al-Mawasi, Gaza, killed one of its senior aid workers and three staffers from other aid organizations on Friday.
Israel began its incursion on the Gaza Strip following the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 that left some 1,200 dead and 250 taken hostage, by Israeli figures. Israel’s subsequent ground offensive in Gaza has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, based on numbers from the Gaza Health Ministry.
In Khan Younis, residents gathered inside the building following the attack. It stood tall and was burnt out. The rubble was stained with blood, a reminder of the workers who were once there and the devastation of war.
Published at Fri, 12 Jul 2024 21:49:04 +0000
