National

President Biden delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, with a repeated message: “let’s finish the job.” Members of the GOP vocally objected to moments in the speech, and Biden responded. 

Guests: Axios' Margaret Talev and Mike Allen, and The Edge of Sports podcast’s Dave Zirin.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Naomi Shavin, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Fonda Mwangi and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

State of the Union erupts as Biden and GOP trade barbs

Biden ribs GOP lawmakers during SOTU: "I'll see you at the groundbreaking"

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today! 

Today: LeBron James makes sports history. But first, a spirited and tense state of the union address… That’s today’s One Big Thing.

A spirited and tense State of the Union address

JOE BIDEN: We've been sent here to finish the job in my view. 

We gotta finish the job. Let's finish the job.

That’s President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address last night with a repeated message…

Axios’ Mike Allen and Margaret Talev are with their analysis and takeaway – Mike, Margaret, hello.

NIALA: Margaret, let's start with what your biggest impression was coming away from this speech?

MARGARET: Joe Biden ate his Wheaties. Joe Biden is preparing to announce a reelection bid sometime in the coming weeks or months. The State of the Union was important because it's gonna be seen as a barometer of: how much fight does he have in him? Does he have the energy and the strength? All those sort of cues that are hard to quantify, but that people watching in his own party and in the general public are gonna be looking for. And he was succinct, energetic, optimistic. But gave back as good as he got. He started out with that olive branch — “Congratulations to Kevin McCarthy. I don't wanna ruin your reputation, but I look forward to working with you.” But within minutes, as soon as Republicans were, you know, booing and heckling and jeering him over social security stuff, all of a sudden he was in the fight that he wanted to have. For Joe Biden, who is not the world's greatest orator, it was a very strong speech.

NIALA: Members of the GOP were very vocal at moments. Let's hear one of those.

BIDEN: Some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security sunset. I'm not saying it's the majority of 'em. 

NIALA: Mike,  what did you make of these interactions, especially the repeated shouting from different GOP members during the State of the Union?

MIKE: I think that his people are gonna like the fact that this showed him in the moment. So you have him shouting back: Check it out. Anybody who doubts it, contact my office. Look it up. Give me a break. I will say I've seen a lot of these, the shouting from the Republicans, the arguing, seemed more than in the past.

We see them engaging here and it's a preview of 2024. It's what Margaret said about he's out there running. At the top we heard the “finish the job” quote 12 times. That phrase used in the text along with, “We know our work is not done.” Not exactly subtle.

MARGARET: You know, Niala I tried one of my, uh, favorite, tricks in political speech analysis. It's cheap and easy, but you put it into a word cloud machine. The top words in Joe Biden's, uh, prepared speech — Number one: America. Number two: job. Number three: nation. Number four: world. Number five: law. 

Those are the words: the rule of law, the United States of America, jobs. Those are the themes and messages he was trying to get across. You know, the State of the Union address was really sort of the Joe Biden Democratic version of populism. Affordable insulin, safe drinking water, freedom from bad cops and gun violence.

These sort of issues, uh, no place for political violence. No junk fees, we’re tired of being played for suckers. These are the sort of themes that Biden thinks can capture the enthusiasm of the center as well as, uh, as the left in the United States. 

MIKE: And Niala let me add one more to Margaret's list. “Unfair.” Very populist. Four times the President, using the word “unfair.” I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it. And he talked about everything from gas prices, to food prices, to resort fees, and he's saying even places that aren't resorts will charge a quote “resort fee” unquote. 

MARGARET: He also talked about people feeling forgotten, left behind and invisible. He said, maybe that's you watching from home. And he was talking about fentanyl. And in these areas he's, again, trying to sort of reach the part of the population that maybe you could characterize as grievance voters, but that are still within his reach. It's Joe Biden's version of saying, I feel your pain. 

NIALA: Tyre Nichols' parents were there last night. President Biden pushed for Congress to unite on police reform. Is there any chance we'll see movement on that?

MARGARET: I don't know what's gonna happen, but I do know that was an incredibly powerful moment, and that members of both parties were silenced and riveted. 

NIALA: Senior contributor Margaret Talev. Co-founder Mike Allen. Thank you both.

NIALA: In a moment, LeBron James now holds the all-time scoring record in the NBA.

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today! I’m Niala Boodhoo.

GAME ANNOUNCER: LeBron James a shot at history and there it is. LeBron stands alone. 

That was the moment in last night’s LA Lakers game against the Oklahoma City Thunder when LeBron James made basketball history: he now holds the all-time scoring record for the NBA. 

LEBRON JAMES : Thank you so much - cause I wouldn’t be me without y’all.

NIALA: It breaks a record held for nearly four decades by another great: Kareem Abdul Jabbar. 

Dave Zirin from the Edge of Sports Podcast is here to talk about these athletes on - and off the court. Hey Dave. Welcome to Axios today.

DAVE ZIRIN: Hey, it's great to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

NIALA: Dave, let's just take a moment to honor the sheer athleticism of LeBron James. How significant is this record?

DAVE: Well, it's a record that a lot of people thought would never be broken. it was thought to be unbreakable until, uh, the kid from Akron, uh, comes into the NBA with the benefit we have to say of coming in straight outta high school.

Unlike Kareem, who spent four years at UCLA. But the sheer longevity of LeBron James, his indestructibility, while playing at such a high impact pace really is remarkable. And he has a supercomputer for a brain. He tends to see things like a chess master, multiple moves ahead.

NIALA: And what does it say that Kareem held this record for — I feel like for basically my entire lifetime I've been watching the NBA? 

DAVE: I mean it, it says that Kareem's longevity and Kareem did once hold the record for most games played, uh, is something to behold because not only did Kareem set this record, , but Kareem did it through an era of dominance that's just mind boggling. I mean, 20 seasons and 19 all-star games, that was it. And Kareem possessed the single greatest weapon in all of sports, and that's the sky hook. Rarely imitated, never duplicated Barry Bonds’ swing. Uh, Serena Williams serve, Steph Curry's step back. Nothing compares to the sky hook.

NIALA: So on-court comparisons are probably obvious, but in what ways would you say LeBron and Kareem are similar off the court?

DAVE: I mean, we know about Kareem's incredible rebel politics when he was part of the Ali Summit. That famous photo with Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali and Bill Russell surrounded by NFL players speaking out about their support of Muhammad Ali's, uh, non-entry into the draft for the war in Vietnam. 

But for most of Kareem's career, there weren't really the movements to support him being that kind of frontline athlete. LeBron, it's a different era, it's a different time, different kinds of movements in the streets, different expectations of the most powerful player in all the land. You know, the expectations that he'll have something to say about everything that happens in the league on issues ranging from not just racism, but issues that he's never expressed expertise or interest in, like antisemitism or the NBA's relationship with China. 

And I keep thinking of this quote from Muhammad Ali from the late seventies where he said, I'm the only-est boxer who they ever talked to like he was a politician. And that makes, reminds me of LeBron. And there's a burden that comes with that that frankly makes his encore accomplishments all the more impressive.

DAVE: Well, we know what his ambition is and that's to stay in there till he's old enough and still viable enough to play with his son Bronny. He might wanna play till his, uh, second child, Bryce, is old enough, to play in the NBA. In LeBron James, uh, we are watching the greatest player, not only of his generation, but maybe the greatest to ever pick up a basketball. And I think we should all just sit back and appreciate the fact that this kind of player is playing in our present and we are all witnesses.

NIALA: Dave Zirin is host of the Edge of Sports podcast. He's also the sports editor at The Nation. Thanks, Dave.

I’m Niala Boodhoo - thanks for listening - stay safe and we’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.

This week on The New Yorker Radio Hour: a talk with novelist Salman Rushdie. He survived a brutal attempt on his life last year, and he just published a new book. Salman Rushdie, on the New Yorker Radio Hour, from WNYC Studios. Listen wherever you get podcasts.

A spirited and tense state of the union address.

State of the Union

Axios Today

Podcasts

Two earthquakes struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday, and the death toll is well into the thousands. “This earthquake is yet another devastating blow to so many vulnerable populations already struggling after years of conflict," said Tanya Evans, the Syria country director for the International Rescue Committee.

Plus, immigrant communities in Florida react to the new parole program for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Guests: Axios' Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath and WLRN's Tim Padgett.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Fonda Mwangi and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Biden's migrant parole program is popular in Haiti. But it seems a harder sell among Haitians here

Magnitude 7.8 quake kills over 3,400 people in Turkey and Syria

For Syrians, quake is "another devastating blow"

Here’s what we’re covering today: immigrant communities in Florida react to the new parole program for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

But first: an earthquake that killed thousands is another devastating blow to Syrians. That’s today’s One Big Thing.

NIALA: Early Monday morning, local time, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Turkey in northern Syria with shocks felt as far away as Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, and Israel. It originated near Gaziantep, Turkey, a city of more than 2 million people. Later on Monday, a second earthquake of 7.5 magnitude struck the same area and the death toll is now well into the thousands.

Axios’ Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath is here to explain how the earthquake compounds existing crises, including the displacement of millions of refugees in Syria from 12 years of Civil War.

Laurin-Whitney, you wrote that this earthquake is a crisis within multiple crises. Can you break that down for us and catch us up on all the preexisting crises prior to the earthquake?

LAURIN-WHITNEY GOTTBRATH: Yeah, absolutely. As many people know around the world, Syria has been thrust into Civil War for well over a decade now. And particularly in northern Syria, a lot of Syrians have been displaced. There's opposition held territory, that hosts millions of internally displaced people. Um, and that's where this earthquake, particularly, hit. It also hit in areas controlled by the Syrian government. You also have refugees who pour into Gaziantep and other places in Turkey, um, that were devastated. So these people have been displaced over and over and over again. So when this earthquake happened, my first thought was yet again, the Syrians are unfortunately experiencing destruction and devastation to unimaginable levels.

Syria is also experiencing a really bad economic crisis at the moment. Because of the economic crisis and the war, you have a lot of health facilities that are overcrowded and unable to really respond to the destruction of this horrible earthquake. It's really unimaginable to think about how Syrians in Syria, but also Turkey are going to sort of rise up from this.

NIALA: What do we know about what life is like on the ground in Southern Turkey, in northern Syria right now as we are experiencing this immediate aftermath of the earthquake.

LAURIN-WHITNEY: People are still in sort of rescue mode. So many buildings were flattened in this earthquake. I think there's a lot of hope that people will be found alive. But then also there were tons of aftershocks that happened and another really, strong earthquake that happened. So I think there's still a lot of fear in both Turkey and in Syria as to what destruction may come during sort of these rescue operations.

NIALA: As we're talking about the international response, we saw both Ukraine and Russia pledging to help Syria as well as Israel and Palestine, is that pretty typical in a natural disaster like this?

LAURIN-WHITNEY: Yeah, I think so. I was interested when I saw Ukraine, because obviously Ukraine is going through their, a war themselves and in terms of the war itself, Russia and Syria or the Syrian government, are allied. And so that to me wasn't all that surprising that we saw Russia responding, um, so quickly. But the thing that's really sad is that it took a natural disaster of this level, to sort of garner this support. You know, the UN has been responding to the war in Syria. Since it began. The Syrian Humanitarian Fund, for this year wasn't even 50% funded before this devastation happened. 

NIALA: Laurin-Whitney Gottbreath is Axios world editor. Thanks Laurin-Whitney.

Immigrant communities in Florida react to the new parole program

NIALA: In a moment: South Florida communities react to a new immigration policy from the Biden administration.

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today, I’m Niala Boodhoo.  

It’s been a month since President Biden announced a new immigration policy for migrants arriving from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela - a parole program that admits 30,000 migrants a month. 

But what does this program look like for the people eager to take advantage of it?  WLRN’s Americas Editor Tim Padgett has been covering this from South Florida. Hello, Tim. Welcome to Axios Today.

NIALA: Tim first, can you tell us how exactly this new parole program is working?

TIM: It's so far working pretty well. At least that's what the Biden administration is telling us. The whole intent of this program was to keep people from making these dangerous journeys to the US Southern border. And I should say the overwhelmed crisis-ridden US southern border right now and with the promise that if they stay home and apply for this parole program, they could come to the US for two years and have a work permit if they have a sponsor here who can support them. And so far, it's been an received enthusiastically both in those countries, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Haiti, as well as here in the United States.

NIALA: So Florida's Haitian immigrant population is bigger than anywhere else in the US. How is the community in South Florida reacting to this?

TIM: Well, they're reacting to it enthusiastically, but more rarely I think, than the other communities from the other countries Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua are, because Haitians have a, a, a longer and more acute history of risks, here in the United States when it comes to their immigration status. So you have a lot of Haitians in the community who want to sponsor Haitians for this parole program, but they're very worried about what are the risks? What, for example, if the person I sponsor gets into legal trouble here during those two years, does that then jeopardize my immigration status here?

They're also worried about the financial risks. So you're, you're seeing the community receive this more rarely than the other immigrant communities that are, uh, taking part in this program and that's causing troubles for immigration attorneys, who are trying to get people on board as sponsors here. To help all those Haitians, for example, that we've been seeing, in newsreels and videos who are crowding the one office in Haiti where they can get their passports, so that they can become eligible for this program.

NIALA: Tim, as I've been in South Florida talking to different Haitian Americans, I've actually heard misinformation about this program. And you've been reporting there's actually a lot of misinformation inside the Haitian community about the parole program. How is that happening?

TIM: Well, like any migrant community here, particularly in South Florida, social media tends to blow up when, when we have situations like this, because you have a lot of unscrupulous people who want to exploit all of the confusion and questions that might be out there. So you might have people going on WhatsApp group chats, for example, and saying, “well, you know, if you want to be a sponsor, you've gotta pay an immigration attorney like me to get you into the process,” which is completely untrue. And again, this is one of the things that both the Biden administration and immigration advocates here in the community itself are having to deal with as they're trying to get people to take part in the program.

NIALA: What are the basics of the program in terms of sponsoring someone? Can you just kind of highlight the main points? 

TIM: It's fairly simple. And, and it's not just a family member who can be a sponsor. It could be a business, for example, a hardware store down the street. And all they have to do really is just show that they have, an income, you know, a steady job and with which they can help support the person who they're sponsoring to come in to the United States on this parole program. And, again, that financial burden is really not all that onerous given the fact that the person coming in on the parole can get a work permit and start working and making their own income. 

NIALA: I wonder if you can give us the context of a program like this and how successful it may be when you consider the past couple decades of US immigration policy for migrants coming from Latin America and the Caribbean?

TIM: The short-term answer is, this was a pretty smart move by the Biden administration. This was a way to provide, would be migrants coming to the United States with a sort of carrot and stick alternative. If you stay at home and apply for this program, we will give you a safe, lawful way to come into the United States for two years and work. At the same time telling them if you try to come in at an illegal port of entry to the United States, you're going to be sent back immediately. And what you'll hear from pretty much every immigration attorney I've talked to this week is that it's just a stop gap measure.

The biggest question in all of these communities right now is, so what happens after the two years that they're here? We even asked Alejandro Mayorkas, the home Homeland Security Secretary, what does happen to these people after two years. And Mayorkas’ aids really just told us point blank, we haven't hammered that out yet.

NIALA: Tim Padgett is the America's editor for WLRN joining us from Miami. Thanks.

NIALA: That’s all we’ve got for you today! Our whole production team is together this week for an Axios-wide gathering, so if things sound just a little different – it’s because most of the show is being produced from a hotel room. Check out Twitter if you want to see some behind-the-scenes photos.

This week on The New Yorker Radio Hour: a talk with novelist Salman Rushdie. He survived a brutal attempt on his life last year, and he just published a new book. Salman Rushdie, on the New Yorker Radio Hour, from WNYC Studios.  Listen wherever you get podcasts.

Earthquake "another devastating blow" to Syrians

Earthquake that kills thousands is another devastating blow to Syrians.

Immigration

The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had been flying over the U.S. since last week. China condemned the U.S. move and threatened "further actions."

Plus, tribal nations face threats to funding for food security.

Guests: Axios' Hans Nichols and Ayurella Horn-Muller.

China crashes Biden's State of the Union speech

Exclusive: Tribal nations face threats to food security funding

SNAP benefits returning to pre-COVID amounts in February

Here’s what we’re covering today: Tribal nations face threats to funding for food security. But first, Biden, Beijing and the balloon. That’s today’s One Big Thing.

NIALA: The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that had been flying over the U.S. since last week. It was first spotted above Montana Wednesday and was shot down off the coast of South Carolina. China condemned the U.S. move as an overreaction and threatened further actions.

Here with what we've learned in the aftermath and what this means for the US China relationship is Axios’ Hans Nichols. Hey Hans. Welcome back to Axios Today.

NIALA: First, what is this balloon? What actually was it for, because China's saying it was a civilian research airship that was just blown off course?

HANS: Yeah. What I love about sort of the first reference to this in some of the stories is that sometimes it's a spy balloon and sometimes it's a surveillance balloon. And that strikes me as a distinction without a difference, right? I mean, if the balloon is surveilling you, is it spying? I don't know, let's have a journalism seminar. The Pentagon does seem pretty confident that it was used for surveillance and that it was picking up information, across the United States. One thing that the balloon like this can get you other than a satellite is maybe slightly clear images, and they can loiter over a subject that it wants to photograph longer. So part of the sort of theory of the White House's case is that because it was shot down over water, the package will have survived a lot better, you know, if they recover this package, they could have a good.

NIALA: I just have to ask, how did this happen?

HANS: I guess we don't know that, right? I mean, we know that there have been a series of balloons that have been flying over the Pentagon has kind of been tracking these for some time now. The big question, or among the big questions I should say inside the administration is how intentional was this? You know, there's always a possibility, and some of this has come out in the reporting that we shouldn't assume that everyone in the Chinese government is always rowing in the same direction. Just think of our own administration, sometimes the Pentagon says one thing, sometimes the State Department says another.

And just give you a quick example. You know what, there was the embassy in Zambia a couple weeks ago, when you and I talked last Monday, the embassy in Zambia blasted Janet Yellen. And you know, there's a debate on whether or not that sort of blasting email was circulated at the highest level in Beijing and whether or not everyone approved of it. And the bottom line is you just, you don't know a lot of times. Uh, you don't know if this was intentional. You don't know if this was someone inside the Chinese government that wanted to sabotage this upcoming trip, the Blinken trip, which has since been canceled.

NIALA: Right, what other implications are there for the U.S. China relationship? The Blinken trip being canceled seems very significant. 

HANS: Just kind of depends how mad everyone decides to get and it's easier to kind of contain and tamp down your diplomatic anger when things aren't in public. That is manifestly not the case here. The balloon was in public, it was in our public consciousness and now it's become deeply political. You've already seen House Republicans talking and Senate Republicans as well, talking about investigating this, criticizing and second guessing President Biden for not shooting it down earlier. And this lands in the middle of the State of the Union address, right, or a couple days beforehand.

So it'll be very difficult for the president to avoid addressing it and temperatures on all sides have been risen. And let's just say there are three sides here, so there's gonna be Beijing, there're gonna be Congressional Republicans, and there's gonna be the administration. They've all climbed up a little bit and gotten a little hotter. Now, if they choose to climb down, that just means they have further to travel and then gets more complicated.

NIALA: So Hans, given the basically three sides that we have here that you've just laid out, How will Biden handle this at the State of the Union on Tuesday night?

HANS: So this is where, you know, it's not fun to be a speech writer ahead of the State of the Union address cause you're making last minute edits. And you've been spending weeks, if not months, on this speech with a carefully crafted narrative, a spine running through it, and an event like this comes in and all of a sudden you may have to re scramble and reorganize the entire speech. Just that said, like sometimes it works, right? Last year, Russia invades Ukraine ahead of the State of the Union. And one of the president's more memorable lines was a response to that. And that is that, you know, directly telling the oligarchs he's gonna come after their yachts, he's gonna come after their assets. So there can be some serendipity for the speech writers, as well.

NIALA: Hans Nichols covers the Biden administration for Axios. Thanks, Hans.

NIALA: In a moment: how cut-back SNAP benefits could hurt Tribal Nations.

Tribal nations face threats to funding for food security

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today. I'm Niala Boodhoo.

More than 41 million Americans used SNAP benefits last year, that's according to the USDA. SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was expanded during the pandemic giving qualifying households more funds for groceries. But now that extra assistance is being phased out across the country. And this is gonna have a major impact on tribal communities who are among the most vulnerable in the U.S. 

Axios’ Climate Justice Reporter Ayurella Horn-Muller has been reporting on this. Hi, Ayurella.

AYURELLA HORN-MULLER: Hi Niala. Thank you for having me. 

NIALA: Can you start by just telling us how SNAP benefits changed during the pandemic?

AYURELLA: So the pandemic saw an addition to SNAP eligible households for emergency allotments that allowed these households to receive an additional $95 or more in monthly benefits. 

NIALA: And when we think about the Native American community, how essential are SNAP benefits to those communities?

AYURELLA: Tribes and tribal nations in particular are experiencing some of the highest rates of food insecurity, among populations in the U.S. So food insecurity is essentially defined as a lack of access to enough food for every person in a home or a household to live an active and a healthy life. A study published last year found that roughly 46% of Native Americans and Alaskan natives are thought to be food insecure. And most estimates say that around a quarter of Native Americans and Alaskan natives receive a form of federal food assistance. And for some tribal communities, that number can exceed more than 50%. We are hearing from anti-hunger activists that are forecasting that this evaporation of the expanded will have an impact on food insecure populations across the U.S. and that very much includes tribes. Although it's important to note that SNAP is not the only food assistance program used by tribes, but it is one of the main ones. 

NIALA: Ayurella, we've been talking about the pandemic. What role has climate change played in food insecurity, especially when we're talking about Native Americans?

AYURELLA: Climate change is contributing to the loss of traditional food sources. So this is escalating food insecurity for indigenous communities, especially for coastal tribal nations like in Alaska, where subsident stores were hit hard by the remnants of a typhoon last year. Where warming ocean temperatures have decimated species of salmon in the Yukon River, where last year officials canceled crab seasons because of significant declines in crab numbers. So when we're talking about communities that are already dealing with high rates of food insecurity, compounding impacts like climate change, make existing issues with food accessibility, with food production, and with food utilization even worse.

NIALA: So what kind of changes are tribal leaders and activists that you've talked to, what are they advocating for here? 

AYURELLA: So, going back to that stat I mentioned, how tribes are experiencing some of the highest rates of food insecurity for populations in the U.S. Those rates have to do with a number of things, but leading among them is above average unemployment and poverty affecting tribal communities. The fact that many reservations are in food deserts, meaning they don't have easy access to grocery stores, and those disparities are all systemic and can be traced back to historic events, which includes everything from federal policies that promoted land theft that led to the loss of food sovereignty as well as the destruction of many indigenous food ways like the North American Buffalo population, which the U.S. government played a significant role in. 

So right now, what I'm hearing from my sources is that tribal leaders, indigenous policy experts, and food sovereignty advocates from tribal nations across the U.S., they are pushing for added provisions in the 2023 Farm Bill, as well as expanded regulations to federal food assistance programs and again, just going back to the point of when it comes to tackling food insecurity for tribal nations, it's not just about expanding existing federal nutrition programs, it's about strengthening food sovereignty.

NIALA: Ayurella Horn-Muller covers climate justice for Axios. Thanks, Ayurella. 

NIALA: That’s it for us today! I’m Niala Boodhoo - thanks for listening - stay safe and we’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.

Biden, Beijing and the balloon

China

Rep. Ilhan Omar was removed on Thursday from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressional Black Caucus members visited the White House while the House Republicans kicked off their investigations.

Plus, the state of paid — and unpaid — leave for American workers.

Guests: Axios' Stef Kight, Eugene Scott and Emily Peck.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Naomi Shavin, Robin Linn, Fonda Mwangi and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

House votes to remove Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee

Paid family leave still out of reach for most American workers

The coldest air in the Northern Hemisphere will freeze New England this weekend

Here’s what you need to know today: the state of paid - and unpaid leave for American workers. Plus, winter bears down across the U.S. But first, partisan rancor in the House - that’s today’s One Big Thing.

NIALA: Ilhan Omar is removed from her committee assignments, Congressional Black Caucus members visit the White House and House Republicans kick off their investigation – all part of this first week in February in Washington. Here for our Friday politics state of play conversation are Axios reporters Eugene Scott and Stef Kight. Hey guys.

NIALA: Eugene, let's start with the President's meeting yesterday with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to talk about police reform the day after the funeral of Tyre Nichols. We've been hearing a lot about the George Floyd Policing Act has resurfaced this week. Can we expect any new legislation out of the capitol?

EUGENE: So there were some conversations earlier this week about perhaps reintroducing the George Floyd Act after the President’s State of the Union speech, but as of Thursday evening, Black lawmakers were still in conversations with the President about the best strategy moving forward. Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate has been very vocal this week about how the act as-is is a non-starter. Uh, but he certainly believes that somehow the two sides can negotiate and figure out some bipartisan legislation that will get all sides to where they want to be.

NIALA: Stef, the House voted yesterday to remove Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Here she is on the floor. 

ILHAN OMAR: This debate today, it's about who gets to be an American. What opinions do we get to have, do we have to have to be counted as Americans, this is what this debate is about. 

NIALA: Stef, is that what this debate is about?

STEF: This has been a very contentious issue, and it was actually unclear whether Republicans had the votes to remove Omar initially, but they did end up having those votes to remove her from the committee. And of course, Democrats say that this is just, you know, a reaction to the fact that Democrats removed Marjorie Taylor Green and Paul Gosar from committees in the last Congress. But of course, Republicans have claimed that this isn't a tit for tat and have noted six comments that Congressman Omar made in the past that some have been angered about and called Anti-Semitic.

NIALA: And Stef, all of this comes as the first wave of House Republican investigations into the Biden administration began this week. There's a lot of different investigations going on here, right?

STEF: Yes. It has been a busy week where we've seen a lot of the committees really start their investigations in earnest. Of course, we've been hearing from Republicans for a while now  that there are several issues that they were eager to investigate the Biden administration. This week we had the first two hearings, one on the border and another on alleged fraud and abuse of Covid assistance. We're seeing letters come out of the Judiciary committee as well as the oversight committee, and hearings being scheduled over all sorts of issues, including, you know, what they call the weaponization of the federal government, the use of Twitter to silence conservatives. It really is so many different topics we're starting to see Republicans dig into.

NIALA: To both of you, what do you think this week says about what we can expect for the rest of the year about this congress?

STEF: I mean, I think we are going to continue to see the hyper-partisanship we've already seen over the past few years. We have a Republican controlled House and a Democratic controlled Senate, and of course, Joe Biden, a Democrat in the White House. And we're gonna see Republicans continue to use their power in the House, their investigative power, their subpoena power to investigate the Biden administration. And that's going to lead to hyperpartisan debates.

EUGENE: I think, uh, this week has revealed just how different each respective party's basis are when it comes to what needs to be prioritized most. This is not something that has changed significantly with 2023, but ranging from issues as varied as police violence against Black people to concerns about Hunter Biden and his business relationships, really do shed some light on just how much daylight exists between, uh, the GOP and the Democratic Party right now.

NIALA: Eugene Scott covers Congress for Axios. Stef Kight is also part of the Axios politics team. Stef, Eugene, thank you for being with me.

NIALA: In a moment, what paid - and unpaid leave - for workers in America looks like, on the 30th anniversary of FMLA.

The state of paid - and unpaid- leave for American workers

KAMALA HARRIS: 30 years ago, just outside in the Rose Garden, our nation took a long overdue step.

NIALA: That's Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House yesterday celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which provided workers with unpaid time off to care for themselves or family. Former president Bill Clinton, who signed the bill into law, was also there. 

BILL CLINTON: After all these years, I still have more people mention the family leave back to me than any other specific things I did. 

NIALA: And the Biden administration marked this anniversary by announcing a new initiative to support families. Axios’ Emily Peck is here with more. Hey Emily.

NIALA: So it's been 30 years since FMLA. How much have things changed?

EMILY: Things have changed. I mean, back before FMLA, I think only about 1% of working women had paid maternity leave and the percentages for unpaid parental leave or family leave were similarly low. It just was kind of unheard of if you got pregnant, for example, at work. Okay, bye. Like you were fired, you were done. And now, today a lot of companies do offer workers paid leave. You know, it's not public or federal policy, but a lot of employers have done it. But mostly this is a benefit going to higher income workers, and right now

NIALA: So, Emily, What did the Biden administration announce yesterday? A lot of advocates have always talked about having paid leave.

EMILY: So Niala for 30 years, since the FMLA passed paid leave has kind of been the holy grail here for advocates, because while FMLA is great and unpaid leave is is good. People that don't make a lot of money, can't really afford to take 12 weeks off unpaid. So you wind up with this situation, where civil rights policy essentially has had this very unequal impact. You know, yesterday at the White House, the administration announced their support for family and medical leave. But they didn't really announce a new paid leave policy or anything particularly groundbreaking.

EMILY: Yeah, it is up to Congress just this Wednesday, Senator Gillibrand and Representative Rosa DeLauro, they unveiled a legislative package proposing federal paid leave program and some FMLA expansion, so more people would have access to unpaid leave as well. They've introduced legislation like this in the past though, and it hasn't obviously gone through.

NIALA: The New York Times reported that the U.S. is one of six countries in the world that doesn't have a national paid leave policy.

EMILY: Yeah. Isn't that crazy, we don't have anything, and it's pretty standard stuff, just six countries in the world, you know, some people will say, oh, the United States is the only developed nation or the only rich nation, but it's really worth emphasizing. It's one of the only nations. Yes, period.

Paid leave is an economic policy. You know, I think some people see it as sort of this like, individual thing. But if people don't have access to paid leave. They have to leave the workforce. They leave the workforce, they do not make money. And that is not good for the economy or for people. So one imagines that in the future the U.S. would be on the other side of the balance sheet there.

NIALA: Axios’ Emily Peck. Thanks Emily.

NIALA: One more winter headline before we go today: yesterday was Groundhog Day. And Punxsutawney Phil’s annual prediction is that we’ll have six more weeks of winter – which – this week has certainly turned out to be true.

More than 11 million Americans woke up yesterday to ice warnings issued by the National Weather Service across the Southern United States, with sleet, freezing rain and snow causing at least nine deaths. Officials urged caution from Texas to Tennessee as roads start to thaw out. 

Even as that storm comes to an end - the weather service is warning about potentially record-breaking cold expected this weekend in New England and parts of the midwest. The forecast is calling for wind chills to reach 10 below zero in New York City, 40 below in North Dakota and as low as 60 below zero in northern Maine tomorrow morning - so if you’re up north, please be careful!

NIALA: That’s it for us for this week. Axios Today is produced by Fonda Mwangi, Naomi Shavin and Lydia McMullen-Laird. Our sound engineer is Alex Sugiura. Alexandra Botti is our supervising producer. Thanks to Robin Linn for her help on today’s episode! Sara Kehaulani Goo is Axios’ editor in chief. And special thanks as always to Axios co-founder Mike Allen.

I’m Niala Boodhoo. Stay safe, enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you back here on Monday.

Ilhan Omar voted out of a House committee

Ilhan Omar voted out of a House committee.

Congress

President Biden's plan to scale up domestic battery manufacturing for electric vehicles is proving to be popular. But the new incentives may end up costing the government much more than originally thought.

Plus, Tyre Nichols is laid to rest in Memphis.

Guests: Axios' Joann Muller and Jeremy Duda.

VP Harris at Tyre Nichols' funeral: He "should have been safe"

Feds could take cues on water cuts from proposal

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today.

Here’s what we’re covering today: Tyre Nichols is laid to rest in Memphis. Plus, the West’s fight over water. But first, jump starting the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles. That’s today’s One Big Thing.

Jump starting the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles

NIALA: President Biden's plan to scale up domestic battery manufacturing for electric vehicles is proving to be popular. But the new incentives may end up costing the government more than originally planned. Axios’ Joann Muller has to scoop. Hi Joann.

NIALA: So when we say popular, what exactly are we talking about?

JOANN: Well, these particular tax credits are for manufacturers who open factories to produce electric vehicle batteries in the United States. But this was part of a big pot of incentives that were approved by Congress, and the one that a lot of people have heard about is the $7,500 tax credit for buying an electric vehicle. But this other tax credit just for manufacturers is the real sleeper in the bill I think. Because it really, is gonna add up to a lot of money going back to manufacturers, carmakers, battery companies, those kinds of companies.

JOANN: Right now, most of the batteries for electric vehicles are made in China, and the Biden administration and Congress really want to build a domestic supply chain. So what they've done is they've offered a tax credit to car makers for every battery that they produce in the U.S. And basically the way this credit works is it shaves about one third of the cost of the battery off of the price. And so if that is passed onto consumers, that also helps to make electric vehicles more affordable.

NIALA: So what is the cost then to taxpayers for this if these are government incentives?

JOANN: When this bill was being debated, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that it was gonna cost about $30 billion over 10 years. But, there have been so many companies that have announced new battery factories and the amount of batteries that they plan to produce is so large that they will qualify for a lot more than $30 billion. And in fact, we worked with a consultant to figure this out and estimate that these battery rebates are gonna cost taxpayers $136 billion over 10 years, which is, you know, more than four times what Congress estimated. 

NIALA: Joann, even if more people start buying electric vehicles, there is still the issue of accessibility of charging stations. Where are cities and towns across the country on having stations available?

JOANN: Well, charging is still kind of spotty. They are, tend to be in wealthier neighborhoods, whiter neighborhoods. But, this is another big government policy right now under the Infrastructure Act from 2021. $7.5 billion being spent to put chargers all across the highways. And then after the highway, get all the chargers then they'll start filling in to neighborhoods, disadvantaged communities, rural areas, apartment buildings. So there's a lot of work to do in charging for sure.

NIALA: Joann Muller covers the Future of Transportation for Axios joining us from Detroit. Thanks, Joann.

KAMALA HARRIS: We mourn with you (clapping)

NIALA: Vice President Kamala Harris joined the family and friends of Tyre Nichols and national civil rights leaders, for Nichols’ funeral in Memphis, Tennessee yesterday. Nichols was brutally beaten by police officers during a traffic stop…and died three days later. 

KAMALA HARRIS: This is a family that lost their son and their brother through an act of violence at the hands and the feet of people who had been charged with keeping them safe.

NIALA: His family remembered him as polite and peaceful. Here’s Nichols’ sister Keyana Dixon.

KEYANA DIXON: You know, being the oldest of three boys, I had to watch my brothers take them places that I probably didn't want to take them. Watch them at times when I didn't want to watch them. But with Ty, I didn't mind. He never wanted anything but to watch cartoons in a big bowl of cereal, so it was pretty easy to watch him. 

NIALA: George Floyd’s family was also at the funeral. Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells – and VP Harris – called for passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill which would reform policing nationally - including by banning techniques such as chokeholds.

Jump-starting the domestic supply chain for EVs

Jump-starting the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles.

Axios Today

The big picture

All Axios Today episodes

A spirited and tense State of the Union address

Earthquake "another devastating blow" to Syrians

Biden, Beijing and the balloon

Ilhan Omar voted out of a House committee

Jump-starting the domestic supply chain for EVs

Florida's fight over the teaching of Black history

U.S. worries over Israel's democracy

China's massive debt deal with Africa

Population shifts worldwide and why they matter