NEWS WRAP

19 per cent fully vaccinated

• Ahead of schedule | The United States is hurtling past its vaccine distribution goals, this week announcing 150 million vaccine doses have been administered since January. In light of this, President Biden announced all American adults will be eligible to receive a vaccine by 19 April, bringing forward the already-revised deadline of 1 May by two weeks. READ MORE HERE
   

• Steep bill for infrastructure | President Joe Biden unveiled a US$2 trillion infrastructure bill, which he says will create millions of jobs and will put the United States ahead of the game in the global competition with China. To pay for the plan, Biden proposes lifting the US corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 per cent, reversing the cuts made by his predecessor Donald Trump in late 2017. READ MORE HERE
   

• Not in the manual | In the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd a Minneapolis police instructor told the jury police training includes lessons on restraint with a knee on an individual's back or shoulders, but officers are told to "stay away from the neck when possible." Lieutenant John Mercil's testimony is part of the prosecution's effort to derail the argument Chauvin was following training when he pinned Floyd to the pavement with a knee on his neck in May last year. READ MORE HERE
   

• Congressman Alcee Hastings dies | Rep. Alcee Hastings died at age 84 following a public battle with pancreatic cancer. A Democrat, Hastings had held his seat since 1992 and was Florida's longest-serving member of Congress. His death further narrows Democrats' razor-thin House majority, bringing the current party breakdown to 218-211. READ MORE HERE

SOTUS 2021 | VIRTUAL EVENT

How should the United States and Australia bolster collective deterrence and defence?

It is now well accepted in Canberra and Washington that the Australia-US alliance needs to be operationalised in new ways to meet Indo-Pacific strategic challenges. Against a backdrop of intensifying Chinese assertiveness and the United States’ declining capacity to uphold a favourable balance of power by itself, our shared interests in deterrence and defence require greater coordination, alignment and collective action. How should Australia work with the Biden administration to transform the alliance for collective deterrence and defence?

To discuss these issues, please join us for a webinar discussion with United States Studies Centre (USSC) Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Ashley Townshend, Research Fellow Brendan Thomas-Noone and Australian Strategic Policy Institute Senior Analyst Dr Huong Le Thu in conversation with USSC Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Mari Koeck.

Ashley Townshend and Brendan Thomas-Noone are authors of featured chapters from State of the United States: An evolving alliance agenda:

• Organise the alliance for collective defence
• Expand allied force posture initiatives in the Indo-Pacific
• Strengthen coordination on countering maritime coercion
• Advance defence industrial base integration

This event will be virtual via Zoom. You will need to register to participate virtually, either by phone or video link, using the registration button. 

WHEN:
Thursday, 8 April, 10am AEST (Sydney), 8am AWST (Perth)
Wednesday, 7 April, 8pm EDT (Washington, DC)

COST:
Free but registration is essential.

You can also subscribe to have event invitations and reminders sent straight to your inbox, so you never have to miss an event!

ANALYSIS

Another lesson from ten years ago: Biden's infrastructure plan can pass Congress

Bruce Wolpe
Non-Resident Senior Fellow

There is another lesson President Biden has taken from Obama’s epochal battles in Congress more than ten years ago. His American Jobs Plan can pass Congress this year.

Here is why:

The way the American Jobs Plan is shaping up is highly evocative of how the energy and climate, cap-and-trade legislation developed by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) moved to approval in 2009, the last time the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House.

The American Jobs Plan has the same scale of complexity as creating a carbon trading system for the entire US economy. As in 2009, there are widely disparate views across the Democratic caucus, from the scope of the infrastructure program — everything from rail to clean energy projects to broadband to lead pipes for water — to the tax issues, including deductibility for state and local taxes.

In 2009 on Waxman-Markey, the chairs worked their committees and the Speaker worked the chairs and the differences and deals were ironed out. The package came together and then fell apart on several occasions. So there were very difficult days. But the President and the leadership stayed with it and ultimately got there.

When Waxman-Markey finally passed the House 219-212 on 26 June 2009, it was with a critical margin supplied by eight Republican votes. The key to those votes was industries and companies in their districts who urgently wanted what was in the bill. If the White House can marshal concentrated grassroots pressure, especially from industries that will benefit from the legislation and companies that might participate in the builds, and focus on some Republicans in districts that will benefit enormously from the infrastructure bill, then bipartisan House passage is possible.

The president has the capacity to provide even stronger leadership than Obama did. And the infrastructure package is more popular — has much more instant appeal — than Waxman-Markey was with the country and Republican voters. Roads and bridges and rail and airports and broadband are hardly “job killer” programs — the slogan that was used to stop Waxman-Markey in the Senate.

This is an excerpt from Bruce Wolpe's latest USSC publication.
Click below to read the full article.

BY THE NUMBERS

The United States and China are in a cold war: DEM 34% | REP 66%

Nearly one in two Americans, (43 per cent) believe the United States and China are currently in a Cold War. Polling from our recent State of the United States (SOTUS) publication found there was partisan division with 66 per cent of Trump voters thinking their country was currently in a Cold War with China compared to 34 per cent of Biden voters.

Across the board, the percentage of respondents agreeing that the United States and China were currently in a Cold War increased by 54 per cent from July 2019, when the same question was polled by the Centre. Trump supporters agreeing with the statement doubled whereas voters for the Democratic candidate (Clinton in 2016 and Biden 2020) only increased by 13 per cent.​

There was no change from the election to January for Biden supporters, but Trump voters increased 17 per cent in four months. This was consistent with other SOTUS polling results, which showed Trump voters, in particular, moved even more decisively towards negative views of China after the November 2020 election. As SOTUS co-author and USSC CEO Professor Simon Jackman notes, this spike was "no doubt driven by Trump’s insistence about the Chinese origins of COVID-19 and its contribution to Trump losing the election."

For more polling insights from the United States and Australia, read our flagship publication, State of the United States: An evolving alliance agenda.

VIDEO

What role does the US military play in response to COVID-19?

One year on from our webinar "What role does the US military play in response to COVID-19?" and a lot has changed. We're left with an opportunity to reflect on America's mobilisation and response to the pandemic. Tune in to this discussion featuring USSC Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Ashley Townshend in conversation with Dr Jim Golby, author of the USSC brief "The US military's role in response to COVID-19”.

How has your perspective changed about the role of US armed forces in response to the pandemic? Watch the full discussion HERE and let us know in the comments!

Catch this and other recent webinars on the USSC YouTube channel!

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

#BridgeOverTroubledWaters