Biden Finally Pushes Israel, A Little (BTN #26)
Biden Tracking Newsletter #26: Day 993 (10/9) through Day 1006 (10/22)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets President Biden upon Biden’s arrival in Tel Aviv (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
This is the twenty-sixth edition of the Biden Tracking newsletter. I would rather have not made this week's newsletter focus on Israel, which was also the focus of my newsletter two weeks ago, unfortunately, I don’t control world geopolitics. Also this week, President Biden is likely facing two new primary challengers, is finally settling a court case from 2018 on family separations, and is expanding immigration access to Ecuadorians. It is Monday, October 22nd, 2023, day 1007 of the Biden presidency.
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As I mentioned two weeks ago, President Biden is doing very little to de-escalate the situation in the West Bank. The United States has sent the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford; its eight squadrons of attack and support aircraft; the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy; and the Arleigh-Burke class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt to the Mediterranean Sea to “deter any actor.” One of the destroyers, the USS Carney, has already been used to shoot down three land attack cruise missiles and several drones that were launched by Houthi forces in Yemen. The Carney’s shots were certainly not approved by Congress or the American people, but they do show just how far President Biden will go to support our allies in Israel.
There was some good news this week, President Biden approved $100 million in aid for humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. More notably, President Biden was able to push Israel enough for “the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance of civilians in Gaza,” which Israel was previously restricting. It is terrific that the United States is doing something to help innocent Palestinian civilians; but they are continuing to refuse calls for a ceasefire, which would be the only tangible action that could stop innocent lives from being murdered in both Israel and Palestine.
Also this week, the Biden Administration is expected to ask for a supplemental funding package that would include $60 billion for Ukraine and roughly $40 billion to provide aid to Israel, Taiwan, and the U.S.-Mexico border. However, with Republican turmoil in the House, it’s not clear when or if Congress would pass this package.
(As I got ready to publish this, Stephen Semler posted his in-depth look at Biden’s supplemental funding package here.)
In other news…
Wednesday, October 11th (Day 995)
Cenk Uygur announces Presidential Campaign against Joe Biden
On Wednesday, “The Young Turks” founder Cenk Uygur announced he would launch a primary challenge against President Biden. Uygur’s announcement is odd, especially because it is likely he is not eligible to serve as President. Uygur was born in Turkey and therefore does not meet the Constitution’s “Natural Born Citizen” clause. Uygur says he will launch a Supreme Court challenge to prove he can run for President but also said he is running as a proxy for any other candidate. Uygur’s campaign would be more interesting if he was a national figure. Uygur, despite being a television host, was only able to get around 6% of the vote when he ran for a House seat in California. Even Marianne Williamson receives between 5 and 10% of the Democratic primary vote against Biden in polls. Unless polling comes out proving otherwise, I have a hard time believing that Uygur will make a dent in the Democratic primary.
Monday, October 16th (Day 1000)
Biden administration reaches settlement on family separations
On Monday, the Biden Administration announced they had settled a class-action suit filed against the federal government in 2018 over the separation of families at the southwest border between 2017 and 2021. Under the settlement, family separations will be banned for the next eight years, with exceptions for national security, safety of the child, medical emergencies, and some criminal warrants. The settlement will also provide mental health, medical, and housing assistance to affected families, as well as legal immigration services, and allow eligible family members to remain in the United States. The plaintiffs had sought financial compensation from the government, but the Biden administration did not agree to that in the settlement. The settlement still must be approved by the judge in the case.
Despite the lack of financial compensation, the settlement is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead attorney in the lawsuit, said in a statement “When we brought this lawsuit, no one thought it would involve thousands of children, take us to so many countries searching for families, or last for years. While no one would ever claim that this settlement can wholly fix the harm intentionally caused to these little children, it is an essential beginning.”
Wednesday, October 18th (Day 1002)
President Biden announces new immigration pathway for Ecuadorians
On Wednesday, the Biden Administration announced the implementation of a family reunification program for Ecuador, allowing U.S.-based Ecuadorians to sponsor their immediate family members abroad to legally immigrate to the United States. The “Family reunification parole” allows family members to enter the United States and apply for work permits while they wait for a family-based visa to become available. The program is already available for citizens of Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras. The United States does offer Green Cards to foreign relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent residents, but applications for these cards often take years. Ecuadorian border encounters have increased dramatically in the aftermath of a contested presidential election in Ecuador that risked the country’s stability. This a good example of a way to push migrants to enter the United States legally, making an otherwise lengthy and complicated process significantly easier.
Thursday, October 19th (Day 1003)
Biden Administration broadly eases sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector
On Thursday, the Biden Administration authorized Venezuela to produce and export oil to its chosen markets for the next six months without limitation. As part of the agreement, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has given Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro until the end of November to begin lifting bans on opposition presidential candidates and start releasing political prisoners and "wrongfully detained" Americans. The announcement comes after Maduro's government and the Venezuelan opposition reached an agreement on electoral guarantees for an internationally monitored vote to be held in the second half of 2024.
Dean Phillips likely to run for President as a Democrat
On Thursday, Politico reported that House Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota is likely to launch a primary challenge against President Biden. If he were to enter the race, he would become the most noteworthy challenger to Biden. Phillips has cited the President’s age as a reason he could run and said “The country is begging for alternatives.” Phillips is a member of the centrist bipartisan House “Problem Solvers Caucus.” Phillips has not made it clear how he would differentiate from Biden on key issues. If Phillips does run as a Centrist, at best, he could force the President to take a leftward turn politically to differentiate himself. For progressives, Phillips is not an ideal candidate, but maybe it will break the political dam that has stopped true progressive challengers against Biden other than Marianne Williamson.
Other News:
The Biden Administration announced that it would announce it will put $3.5 billion toward electrical grid resilience projects. The largest single federal investment in the electrical grid in the history of the U.S.