Good morning, US politics blog readers.
Joe Biden is finalizing his state of the union address after a weekend spent working on the remarks at Camp David. It will be his first address to a divided Congress and comes amid sharp criticism from Republicans over the week-long wait to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon. Military officials determined that downing the balloon over land from such high altitude could pose unnecessary risk to the people and property below and advised that shooting it over water was safer.
The Biden administration has said that the suspected surveillance balloon entered the US on three occasions while Donald Trump was president, though officials have not provided more details on how or when those incidents were discovered. According to Politico, the intelligence community has offered to brief Trump administration officials on the newly discovered intelligence, which they have said they were not aware of during their time in charge.
Meanwhile, we have a spate of new “State of the Union” polls, each containing a fair bit of pessimism about the direction of the country and confidence in Biden and his party.
Here’s what else we can expect today:
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters with National Economic Council Director Brian Deese at 2.15pm ET.
Vice-president Kamala Harris will host a meeting focused on the root causes of migration from the Northern Triangle at 2pm ET.
The House has votes scheduled later this evening, while the Senate is out. It should be noted that despite the fervor of the new House Republican majority to launch its attacks on Biden, Congress generally is off to an unusually slow start this year.
Biden has offered his condolences after the catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake and its powerful aftershock left more than 1,700 people dead in Turkey and Syria.
I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. I have directed my team to continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with Turkiye and provide any and all needed assistance.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 6, 2023
In a statement, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US was “profoundly concerned” by the devastating reports of mass causalities.
We stand ready to provide any and all needed assistance. President Biden has directed USAID and other federal government partners to assess U.S. response options to help those most affected. We will continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with the Government of Turkiye.”
For more on the destructive quake, follow our live blog.
Good morning, US politics blog readers.
Joe Biden is finalizing his state of the union address after a weekend spent working on the remarks at Camp David. It will be his first address to a divided Congress and comes amid sharp criticism from Republicans over the week-long wait to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon. Military officials determined that downing the balloon over land from such high altitude could pose unnecessary risk to the people and property below and advised that shooting it over water was safer.
The Biden administration has said that the suspected surveillance balloon entered the US on three occasions while Donald Trump was president, though officials have not provided more details on how or when those incidents were discovered. According to Politico, the intelligence community has offered to brief Trump administration officials on the newly discovered intelligence, which they have said they were not aware of during their time in charge.
Meanwhile, we have a spate of new “State of the Union” polls, each containing a fair bit of pessimism about the direction of the country and confidence in Biden and his party.
Here’s what else we can expect today:
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters with National Economic Council Director Brian Deese at 2.15pm ET.
Vice-president Kamala Harris will host a meeting focused on the root causes of migration from the Northern Triangle at 2pm ET.
The House has votes scheduled later this evening, while the Senate is out. It should be noted that despite the fervor of the new House Republican majority to launch its attacks on Biden, Congress generally is off to an unusually slow start this year.