Joe Biden Has Made ‘Major Nods’ To Progressives In His First Two Weeks, Producer Says
Al Jazeera English’s senior White House Producer Chris Sheridan believes that President Joe Biden has made some concessions to progressives in the first two weeks of his presidency.
“In first two weeks, some major nods to Bernie/AOC wing of the Dem party by the Biden admin,” Sheridan tweeted on Thursday.
According to Sheridan, the nods came in the form of Biden’s decision to end the United States’ support of the Yemen conflict, his support for a $15 minimum wage, and the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline — all proposals that have been supported by progressive leaders Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In addition, MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin tweeted on Thursday that Biden recently met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren to discuss an executive action that would cancel up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt.
Per CNBC, Democrats are increasing pressure on the Biden administration to cancel student debt. On Thursday, lawmakers led by Warren, Schumer, and Ayanna Pressley reintroduced a resolution to pressure the Education Department to relieve student debt for tens of millions of Americans.
“The Democrats contended the move would help to reduce the racial wealth gap in the U.S. and inject more money into an economy struggling under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic,” the publication noted.
The same day, Biden’s administration announced that the U.S. backing for the Yemen conflict must end, as reported by CNBC. National security advisor Jake Sullivan revealed the news at a White House press briefing.
“We have spoken with both senior officials in the UAE and senior officials in Saudi Arabia, we have consulted with them,” he said.
Per CNBC, Biden addressed the move in his first foreign policy address as head of state.
“We are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen including relevant arms sales.”
Notably, Sanders and Republican Sen. Mike Lee previously co-sponsored a bill to put a halt to American backing of Saudi Arabia-led attacks on the Western Asia country. The legislation was ultimately vetoed by former President Donald Trump in April 2019.
Although Biden and Sanders were rivals in the presidential primary — each representing two factions of the Democratic Party — the pair have worked together on a number of occasions. As reported by PBS, Biden said he considered appointing the Vermont senator to be his labor secretary before the pair agreed that it would risk the Democrats’ plans to take control of the Senate.
