Biden Issues Flurry Of Decisions At End Of Presidency; Trump Vows To Undo
On Friday, outgoing President Joe Biden said he was commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 prison inmates serving long terms for nonviolent drug offenses. Gun control and the Equal Rights Amendment were among the topics Biden was asked to consider in his final days in the White House.
The New York Times:
With A Series Of Actions, Biden Races To Constrain Trump
In the final days of his term, President Biden has issued a series of policy decisions intended to cement his agenda and, in some cases, make it harder for President-elect Donald J. Trump to put in place his own. The 11th-hour decisions, many of them executive actions, include measures on environmental justice, prison reform, immigration and foreign relations. Some are intended to preserve Mr. Biden’s legacy, while others are last-ditch efforts to expand his approach. Many are likely to be undone after Mr. Trump takes office next week. (Kanno-Youngs, 1/16)
The New York Times:
Biden to Commute Sentences of Nearly 2,500 Drug Offenders
President Biden announced on Friday that he would commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 inmates serving long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses, the broadest commutation of individual sentences ever issued by a U.S. president. ... Mr. Biden said his latest commutations would help those who received sentences based on now-discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, or faced inflated charges for drug crimes. (Green and Kanno-Youngs, 1/17)
The New York Times:
State Attorneys General Ask Courts To Preserve Biden-Era Gun Control Measures
More than a dozen state attorneys general, all Democrats, asked on Thursday to join federal legal efforts to preserve two Biden-era gun control policies, a signal of partisan legal fights to come as President-elect Donald J. Trump returns to power. The two policy shifts are different. One would require buyers at gun shows to undergo a background check. ... The other, to ban a kind of trigger that can make a semiautomatic weapon fire like a machine gun. (Schwartz, 1/16)
The 19th:
Young People Urge Biden To Publish The Equal Rights Amendment
Every day for the final week-and-a-half of Joe Biden’s presidency, Rosie Couture and other members of the Young Feminist Party she co-founded in high school have been picketing in sub-freezing temperatures outside the White House, urging the outgoing president to make sure the U.S. Constitution protects their rights before he leaves office. (Becker, 1/16)
MedPage Today:
Healthcare In The Mix In President Biden's Farewell Address
In a brief and somber farewell address to the nation on Wednesday night, President Biden touched on a number of his administration's accomplishments in healthcare as he summed up his time in office. ... Biden, 82, said it was an "honor to see essential workers getting us through a once-in-a-century pandemic, the heroism of servicemembers, and the first responders keeping us safe." (Frieden, 1/16)
