Biden’s Domestic Agenda Makes Progress While His Approval Lags

Several pieces of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda moved forward in Congress this month. As part of an agreement with House progressives, more moderate members of the House Democratic caucus promised to vote for Biden’s larger social spending package if progressives backed the infrastructure bill. Both sides adhered to the agreement, and the House passed the House after it was passed by the Senate earlier this year. Biden has since signed the bill into law. The House also passed the social spending package, now titled the ‘Build Back Better Act,’ where it now faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

While Democratic leadership has been aiming to pass the package by Christmas, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who has frequently criticized the bill’s cost and scope, refused Monday to commit to voting on the bill by the end of the year.

Democrats hope that the passage of both bills will increase Biden’s approval ratings, which have declined over the past several months. Biden experienced no boost after the passage of the infrastructure bill earlier this month, and while some recent polls have shown some slight improvement to his net approval rating, he remains underwater in the RealClearPolitics and 538 polling aggregates.

This comes as Republicans have grown increasingly bullish on their chances to take over Congress after the 2022 midterm elections. Recent polling has shown the GOP with a lead over Democrats in the generic congressional ballot polls, an indicator of how a party will perform overall in the general election nationwide.

 

Omicron Variant of Coronavirus Identified

A new variant of the coronavirus, termed the ‘Omicron’ variant, has been identified in southern Africa and has already sparked new travel bans and restrictions across the world. The variant has already been identified in cases in Europe, and may be responsible for an uptick in cases in southern Africa.

The variant is a highly mutated form of the coronavirus which causes COVID-19, and is reported to be more contagious. Researchers are still assessing its mortality rate.

Whether the existing coronavirus vaccine offerings are effective against this new variant remain unknown, though health officials still encourage vaccinations and booster shots for those eligible.

The variant emerges as unrest grows in several countries over restrictions officials say are needed to end the pandemic. In the Netherlands, crowds fought with police after new restrictions were announced. In Italy and Austria, large protests took place over restrictions on unvaccinated individuals.

 

Ghislaine Maxwell Federal Trial Begins in New York

The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of sex trafficking teenage girls along Jeffrey Epstein, begun in New York Monday. Her defense team aims to cast her as a pawn in Epstein’s sordid affairs, while prosecutors aim to demonstrate that Maxwell was a ringleader in the operation.

Epstein, who died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial, was known for his relationships with powerful individuals, including Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and Donald Trump (before he became president). All men have denied any wrongdoing.

Virginia Governor’s Race Nears End as Poll Shows Close Race

The Virginia gubernatorial election this Tuesday is down to the wire as Democrats try to keep a seat that they have held for eight years. Republican candidate, businessman and political newcomer Glenn Youngkin, is statistically tied with former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe, who held the governorship from 2014 to 2018.

McAuliffe has tried to tie Youngkin to former President Donald Trump, who is unpopular in the state and lost to Biden by 10 points in 2020. While Youngkin has not campaigned with Trump and does not emphasize him on the campaign trial, he has spoken positively of Trump and the former president has endorsed him.

Youngkin has made education a large focus of his campaign, favoring increased parental involvement and criticizing Critical Race Theory. McAuliffe has criticized Youngkin and other Republicans’ focus on Critical Race Theory, arguing it is not taught in schools and should not be a factor in the race.

If Republicans pick up the governorship Tuesday, it could be a worrisome sign for Democrats going into the 2022 midterms. A Democratic win could lead to increased confidence for the party in the face of President Biden's lower approval ratings.

 

Inflation Continues as Government Aims to Control Supply Chain Issues

Inflation, largely caused by global supply chain issues, has continued to cause pain for consumers both in the US and across the globe. In the US, prices rose at annual rate of 5.4% in September, the fifth straight month of inflation over 5%. In Germany, inflation hit a three-decade high, largely fueled by rising energy prices.

This inflation, which was widely characterized as transitory and temporary earlier this year, now appears more permanent as supply chain issues remain difficult to resolve. Labor shortages, combined with pent-up demand from the pandemic, are some of the largest contributors to this.

The most visible manifestation of the supply chain issues are the dozens of container ships sitting off the coast of California to drop off their loads at ports. While the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have promised to transition to 24-hour workdays, it would take months for the backlog of goods to be processed.

Adding to this is the shortage of truck drivers within the US to move the goods from the coasts throughout the country. According to the American Trucking Association, around 80,000 truckers are missing from America’s highways, and they claim the problem will grow worse of the coming decade. Several factors have been attributed to this shortage, including dissatisfaction over pay and working hours, legal and regulatory restrictions, and resistance of mandatory vaccinations and testing.

Other factors contributing to the inflation are the large amount of monetary stimulus from central banks during the pandemic, leading to calls to raise interest rates to reduce the money supply and reduce inflation. Concerns over negatively affecting economic have made economic policymakers wary of taking this step.