Biden Tracking Newsletter #15
Day 790 (3/20) through Day 796 (3/26)
This is the fifteenth edition of the Biden Tracking newsletter. This week, the Biden Administration refused to lower the price of a $189,000-a-year cancer drug, announced they would be shutting down their COVID response team, and launched more airstrikes in Syria. It is Monday, March 27th, 2023, day 797 of the Biden Presidency.
If you’re interested in learning more about topics in my newsletter, everything underlined contains a link to a news article that goes into further detail on the subject.
Saturday, March 18th (Day 788) (Missed from last week)
Biden Quietly Resumes Deportations to Russia
Missed this from last week. Last Saturday, the Guardian reported that the Biden Administration had quietly resumed deportations to Russia. The Guardian specifically cited a case where a Russian man fleeing Vladimir Putin’s efforts to mobilize citizens to fight in Ukraine was abruptly deported. Immigration officers ruled that fear of conscription did not meet the criteria for a “credible fear” Asylum determination. In normal circumstances, this may make sense, but when conscripting means fighting in an illegal war fought by an oppressive regime, it seems reasonable to expect changes to these requirements.
Monday, March 20th (Day 790)
Biden Federal Appeals Court Nominee Faces Democratic Scrutiny
On Monday, the Associated Press reported that some Democrats were unhappy with President Biden’s nomination of Michael Delaney to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. When he was a Judge in New Hampshire, Delaney signed a brief supporting a New Hampshire state law that required minors to tell their parents before they obtained an abortion. The brief argued that the law “does not present a substantial obstacle to any woman’s right to choose an abortion.” Delaney, in response to criticism over the brief, said he was not directly involved in formulating the brief’s arguments and while he read the brief before it was submitted, he did not recall whether he offered substantive feedback. But that’s not the only controversy. He also has previously represented a private boarding school in New Hampshire that was sued in connection with a sexual assault. This won’t be an easy nomination for President Biden, it is unlikely any Republicans would support the nomination, and with such tight margins in the Senate, Biden can’t afford many Dem No’s.
Tuesday, March 21st (Day 791)
President Biden refuses to lower the price of $189,000 a year cancer drug
In a disappointing move on Tuesday, the Biden Administration refused to use a provision of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 to seize the patents of a cancer drug called Xtandi and lower its prices. The $189,000-a-year price tag is three to six times the list price of Xtandi in every other industrialized country in the world. The NIH, as part of their reasoning, argued that the drug is “widely available to the public on the market” and seizing the patents of the drug would not be “an effective means of lowering the price of the drug.” But that didn’t stop Rep. Lloyd Doggett and Sen. Bernie Sanders, along with activists, from denouncing the move in separate statements.
Wednesday, March 22nd (Day 792)
The Biden Administration Will Shut Down its Covid Response Team in May
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the Biden Administration would be shutting down its COVID Response team in May, following the planned end of the COVID public health emergency. The Biden Administration and some public health experts argued that the disease is no longer a significant burden on the U.S. health system, and therefore no longer needs a separate White House team working to control the virus. But Deborah Birx, who served as the nation’s first coronavirus coordinator, argued that too few anti-pandemic mechanisms have been put in place to justify winding down the team. Around 2,000 people are still dying each week from COVID, but that is the lowest death toll since the earliest days of the pandemic.
The U.S. Government is Overhauling the Organ Transplant System
On Wednesday, the Biden Administration announced plans to overhaul the U.S. organ transplant system, including breaking up the monopoly power of the nonprofit organization that has run it for the past 37 years. As part of the plan, private companies would, for the first time, be able to bid for contracts to operate parts of the system. The non-profit which currently runs the program, which has been plagued with problems, said in a statement it “supports HRSA’s plan to introduce additional reforms into the nation’s organ donation and transplantation system,” and welcomed a competitive bidding process. The proposal would also install a strong, independent board of directors and create a public dashboard for the data the system generates. While politicians on both sides mainly supported the move, some activists worried that inviting private companies into the process could increase expenses, with private companies more interested in making money than actually helping patients.
Thursday, March 23rd (Day 793)
On Thursday, the Intercept reported that the Biden Administration was defending in court a mining project that will destroy Chi’chil Biłdagoteel, a plateau otherwise known as Oak Flat, that is sacred to many Native American tribes, particularly the San Carlos Apache, who consider the area among their most holy of sites. The attorney for the tribes argued that the mining was a direct and flagrant violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it destroyed the sacred site. In March 2021 the Biden Admin said that it was withdrawing the environmental impact study and postponing the land transfer, which was initially announced by the Trump Administration. But by defending the transfer in court, they seem to be going further with the Trump-era plan.
On Thursday, the Biden Administration and the Canadian Government struck a deal that will allow each country to turn back asylum seekers who cross the northern border without authorization. The deal will update the so-called Safe Third Country Agreement between the two countries. The agreement requires asylum seekers who arrive through an official port of entry to first seek asylum in the country they passed through, however, the old agreement did not apply to people who crossed the northern border without permission. The updated agreement would apply to these Asylum seekers. Many activists argue that the agreement is unjust because the U.S. Asylum system doesn’t give asylum seekers a fair shake. A judge in Canada ruled in 2020 that the agreement violated the Canadian Constitution. The governments of the two countries argued that the stricter agreement was necessary because of a rise in unlawful crossings between the U.S. and Canada.
The United States Conducted More Air Strikes in Syria
Following a “suicide drone” strike that killed a U.S. contractor and injured 6 others by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, the Biden Administration announced they had launched airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria. During a press conference, President Joe Biden said, “Make no mistake, the United States does not, does not emphasize, seek conflict with Iran, but be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people, that’s exactly what happened last night.” President Biden did not explain with what authority he had launched the attack.
Other News:
President Biden officially signed the bill that overrules D.C’s proposed new criminal code, for more information on that see my newsletter from
President Biden signed a bipartisan bill declassifying intel into the origin of COVID-19.