The Indian Panorama

Tag: President Biden

  • President Biden to host PM Modi for Official State Visit to US on June 22: White House

    President Biden to host PM Modi for Official State Visit to US on June 22: White House

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an Official State Visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner on June 22, the White House announced on Wednesday, May 10. This would be the first State Visit of an Indian leader after then President Barack Obama invited then prime minister Manmohan Singh for a State Visit in November 2009.

    President Biden and the First Lady Dr Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Modi for an Official State Visit to the United States June 22, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement while announcing the visit.

    “The upcoming visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the US and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together,” she said.

    Prime Minister Modi’s visit will strengthen two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific, she said, amid China’s aggressive behavior in the strategic region.

    The visit will also elevate the bilateral strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy, and space, she said.

    “The leaders will discuss ways to further expand our educational exchanges and people-to-people ties, as well as our work together to confront common challenges from climate change to workforce development and health security,” she added.

    Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US comes ahead of the G20 summit being hosted by India in September.

    After becoming the Prime Minister in 2014, Modi has made more than half a dozen trips to the United States for bilateral and multilateral meetings with all the three American presidents, Obama, Donald Trump and now Biden, but this is for the first time he has been invited for an official State Visit, a privilege accorded to America’s close friends and allies.

    He last visited Washington in September 2021 at the invitation of President Biden for a bilateral meeting and also attended the first in-person Quad Leaders Summit.

    Modi will join Biden and his counterparts from Australia and Japan at a summit of the Quad leaders in Sydney on May 24 that is expected to focus on implications of the Ukraine conflict and the overall situation in the Indo-Pacific.

    Before travelling to Australia, Modi is likely to visit the Japanese city of Hiroshima to attend the annual summit of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies which is scheduled to take place from May 19 to 21.

    President Biden will attend the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima as well as the Quad summit in Sydney. Modi’s State Visit is reflective of the importance that the President Biden attaches to his personal relationship with him and the India-US ties. “It is entirely good and proper that the world’s two greatest democracies further cement their strategic, economic, and technology convergence in these turbulent geostrategic times. The State Visit will remind the world that India and America still have so much more potential to capture in our bilateral relations, reflecting the energy and talent of our demographics and our systems, which serve to empower our free peoples,” US-India Business Council president Atul Keshap said. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi met President Biden on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia in November last year. The two leaders also met on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Germany in June 2022 and before that in May on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders Summit in Tokyo. Meanwhile, India’s ambassador the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, on May 10 said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US will show that the partnership between the two nations is people-centric, people-driven, and is good for the world at large”, even as he called the visit “historic.”

    “The PM’s forthcoming official state visit to the US, at the invitation of President Biden, is historic. Prime Minister and President Biden have together imparted significantly new vigor and momentum to our bilateral ties,” India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu told PTI. “The visit will be an opportunity for the two leaders to spend time together, take stock of the progress achieved and provide guidance on the future limitless possibilities. The visit will also underscore that India-US partnership is people-centric and people-driven, and that it is not just for the two countries, but for the world at large,” Sandhu said.
    (Source: PTI)

  • President Biden announces plan to expand access to health insurance for DACA recipients

    President Biden announces plan to expand access to health insurance for DACA recipients

    DACA recipients would be able to enroll in a health plan through the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid

    WASHINGTON, D. C. (TIP): President Joe Biden on Thursday, April 13, announced that his administration plans to expand health care coverage to young adults without legal status who have been in the U.S. since they were children and are working or studying under the DACA program. Under Biden’s plan, DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers, would be able to enroll in a health plan through the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid.
    “Today’s announcement is about giving DACA recipients the same opportunities,” Biden said in a video statement posted on Twitter. “We’ll continue doing what we can to protect Dreamers.”
    DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, was first implemented in 2012 as an executive order under President Barack Obama and allowed eligible undocumented young adults who came to the U.S. to work and study without fear of deportation.
    The Department of Health and Human Services is expected to propose a rule expanding the definition of “lawful presence” to include DACA recipients, for purposes of Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage, according to the White House. The Biden administration expects to get this done by the end of April. If finalized, it would be the first time DACA recipients are eligible for these health care programs. DACA recipients would be able to apply for coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, where they may qualify for financial assistance based on income, and through their state Medicaid agency, according to the White House.
    More than 600,000 DACA recipients live in the U.S. An overwhelming majority were born in Mexico and other Latin American countries. The 2012 DACA initiative was meant to shield from deportation immigrants brought to the US illegally by their parents as young children and to allow them to work legally in the country.
    However, the immigrants were still ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition for having “lawful presence” in the US That’s what Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services will aim to change by the end of the month. The White House action comes as the DACA program is in legal peril and the number of people eligible under the program is shrinking. DACA recipients can work legally and pay taxes, but they don’t have legal status and are denied many benefits available to US citizens and foreigners living in the US. In recent years, millions of people in the US signed up for Medicaid, the program that provides health care coverage for the poorest Americans, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    The government increased federal subsidies to drive down the cost of plans on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. As of last year, just 8 per cent of Americans were without health insurance, according to HHS.
    But DACA recipients, as well as those in the country without documentation, are barred from joining those federally funded programs. About half of the roughly 20 million immigrants who are living in the US without documentation are uninsured, according to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
    While there’s bipartisan support to enact some sort of protections for the immigrants, negotiations have often broken down over debates about border security and whether an expansion of protections might induce others to try to enter the US without permission. Biden has repeatedly called on Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for immigrants brought to the US illegally as children.
    Other classes of immigrants — including asylum seekers and people with temporary protected status — are already eligible to purchase insurance through the marketplaces of the ACA, former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law, often called “Obamacare.”

  • Khalsa is a ‘uniting and not a dividing force,’ says Ambassador Taranjit Sandhu

    Khalsa is a ‘uniting and not a dividing force,’ says Ambassador Taranjit Sandhu

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu has said Khalsa is a “uniting and not a dividing force,” days after instances of violence at the Indian missions by a small group of pro-Khalistan supporters. Sandhu, who comes from an illustrious Sikh family, made the remarks on Saturday at an event where he was presented with the prestigious “Sikh Hero Award” from Sikhs of America along with several other eminent Sikh Americans.
    “Khalsa, which was created on the Baisakhi day, by Guru Gobind Singh is a uniting and not a dividing force,” Sandhu said in his keynote address at the event, which was attended by eminent Sikh Americans from across the country. The Khalsa tradition was initiated in 1699 by the tenth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh.
    The important concepts and fundamentals in the Sikh religion and history include universality, unity, equality, honest living, seva, meditation, peace of mind, and harmony between people, he said.
    The Khalsa flag—which flies at the Akal Takht and Nishan Sahibs—is a flag of unity, peace and universal love, the Indian diplomat said, asserting that Sikhism is a religion of inclusion, brotherhood, love and equality.
    “We must keep these cardinal virtues in mind and not what a couple of mischievous characters spin using virtual media,” Singh said in an apparent reference to the instances of violence by a small group of separatists in the US, Canada, UK and Australia.
    In his speech, Sandhu shared with the Sikh diaspora the rise of India and some of the key accomplishments of the country in key sectors of economy, digitization, health and entrepreneurship. “In such a scenario, Punjab and the youth in Punjab need to be connected with the economic, financial, tech and digital revolution happening in India,” Sandhu said.
    “The government, people and in particular the youth must take advantage of the expanding partnership with the US in various fields that Prime Minister Modi and President Biden are trying to put in place,” he said.
    Noting that youth and their parents are spending millions of dollars for sending their children to the US and Canada, Sandhu said the New Education Policy that has been put in place, and the efforts of the Prime Minister will ensure that such education is available in India as well as Punjab.
    “Delighted to receive Hero Award from Sikhs of America. Spoke about imp tenets of Sikhism: seva, brotherhood, equality, inclusion & honesty,” Sandhu said in a tweet after the event. “Highlighted the strengthening of US India partnership and tech and infra transformation taking place in India and huge opportunities for the youth,” he tweeted. In his welcome address, Jasdip Singh Jassee, chairman of Sikhs of America highlighted the role played by awardees in their respective fields. He said that violence has no place in the community. Others who received the prestigious “Sikh Hero Award” included entrepreneur and philanthropist Darshan Singh Dhaliwal; Gurbir Singh Grewal, former New Jersey Attorney General; former Hoboken Mayor Ravi Singh Bhalla, and entrepreneur Manraj Singh Kahlon. Slain Sikh police officer Sandeep Dhaliwal was presented the award posthumously

  • US President Biden seeks comprehensive immigration reform in State of the Union address

    US President Biden seeks comprehensive immigration reform in State of the Union address

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): President Joe Biden has urged the US Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform, a move which would provide a path to citizenship to not only illegal immigrants but also those who entered the country legally, like those on H-1B visas. In the 118th Congress, where the Opposition Republicans enjoy a majority in the House of Representatives, such an ask might not be an easy one.

    Biden acknowledged it indirectly though. “If you won’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border,” Biden said in his second State of the Union Address before a Joint Session of the US Congress.

    “And a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers. Here in the people’s House, it’s our duty to protect all the people’s rights and freedoms,” said the president amidst applause from the Democratic lawmakers of the Congress.

    Dreamers are undocumented immigrants who enter the US as children with parents.

    Millions of illegal immigrants are looking for a pathway to citizenship, and so do a large number of those who entered the country legally with visas like H-1B and are having years waiting for a Green Card.

    The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

    A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently.

    In his address that lasted for more than 75 minutes, Biden urged Congress to come together on immigration and make immigration a bipartisan issue like it was before.

    “We now have a record number of personnel working to secure the border, arresting 8,000 human smugglers and seizing over 23,000 pounds of fentanyl in just the last several months,” he said. “Since we launched our new border plan last month, unlawful migration from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela has come down 97 per cent. But America’s border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts,” Biden said.

    (Source: PTI)

  • Indian American IMPACT Fund celebrates Biden’s nomination of Richard Verma for Deputy Secretary of State

    Indian American IMPACT Fund celebrates Biden’s nomination of Richard Verma for Deputy Secretary of State

    WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): An Indian American body has welcomed the nomination of lawyer diplomat Richard Verma for Deputy Secretary of State, a top diplomatic position in the State Department.

    In December, the White House in a statement said that Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate 54-year-old Verma to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. If confirmed by the US Senate, Verma, also a former US ambassador to India, would be the highest-ranking Indian American in the State Department.

    “This nomination is yet another historic addition by President Biden in his campaign pledge to diversify the current administration,” Indian American Impact Fund said in a statement. Verma’s historic opportunity to join the State Department is the culmination of his long and illustrious career in public service.

    “We at Indian American Impact are thrilled to witness and potentially welcome the historic confirmation of yet another visionary South Asian leader,” said Neil Makhija, executive director of Indian American Impact Fund.

  • Key takeaways from Biden’s 2022 State of the Union speech

    Key takeaways from Biden’s 2022 State of the Union speech

    WASHINGTON , D.C. (TIP): Only a little more than a week ago, President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address was focused largely inward, looking at the economic and public health woes besetting the U.S. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war that has ensued changed all that, says an AP Report. The speech and the war in Ukraine gave Biden both the platform and the urgent reason to talk about the fight between democracy and autocracy not as an abstraction but as an urgent reality.

    Biden has repeatedly talked about the battle of between the values of liberal democracies and autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin as the greatest foreign policy test facing the world.

    But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and the surprising unity that U.S. and European allies have shown in response — gave the president a chance to speak about the issue in a visceral way to a global audience. “In the battle between democracy and autocracy, democracies are rising to the moment, and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security,” Biden said “This is a real test. It’s going to take time. So let us continue to draw inspiration from the iron will of the Ukrainian people. “

    He celebrated the West for coming together on hard-hitting sanctions that are “choking off Russia’s access to technology that will sap its economic strength and weaken its military for years to come” he announced news sanctions to close off U.S. air space to all Russian flights. and he paid tribute to Ukrainian people for “fighting back with pure courage.”

    Biden found himself caught in the middle of culture wars for much of his first year in office. With his State of the Union, the president who has made his long career in politics living in the ideological middle — had moments where he sought to pivot to the center.

    He dismissed those on the left of his party who have advocated for reducing funding of police in the midst of national reckoning on policing in Black communities. “We should all agree: The answer is not to defund the police. The answer is to fund the police with the resources and training they need to protect our communities.”

    After months of Republicans beating him up on immigration, he allowed that “we need to secure the border and fix the immigration system.” But he also called on Republicans — and the American public — to look at the issue in a pragmatic way, alluding to the country’s worker shorter as the nation emerges for coronavirus pandemic.

    “It’s not only the right thing to do — it’s the economically smart thing to do,” Biden said. Even as he appeals to the higher ideals of democracy, Biden believes that many Americans would process the war through prices at the pump instead of geopolitical risks.

    It’s a jarring contrast in priorities as Ukrainians beg the U.S. and its allies for weapons to protect themselves, while the U.S. and Europe are focused first and foremost on energy costs in their own economies that are generally experiencing growth instead of an existential threat. “I’m taking robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at Russia’s economy — and I will use every tool at our disposal to protect American businesses and consumers,” Biden said as he announced the planned release of another 30 million barrels of oil from the U.S. petroleum reserve. Gasoline prices are averaging $3.61 a gallon, according to AAA. But most of that increase occurred over the past year, rather than the machinations of Russia. It’s a sign that Biden sees his own political fortunes resting on family budgets and reducing inflation, perhaps even more than a land war in Europe.

    Biden almost said it — the motto that disappeared with his political agenda: “Build Back Better.” Or, BBB. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the decisive Democratic vote in the evenly split Senate, has pronounced BBB dead with nary a eulogy.

    Biden in outlining his agenda said instead, “I call it building a better America.” So, what does that look like? It looks a lot like his prior agenda, except it’s been slimmed down.

    Capping prescription drug prices stays in the mix. So do anti-climate change policies — which are now being portrayed as ways to lower energy costs for families. Financial support to limit childcare costs is still in, though the expanded child tax credit from the coronavirus relief package is out. Universal pre-kindergarten remains a priority, but the primary goal of all of these policies is no longer to win the future as Biden once claimed. It’s all about reducing inflation, the problem dogging Biden’s popularity in the here and now.

    Biden said the country has moved beyond the pandemic, even if it still needs to stay vigilant against mutations. His big argument is that the country can’t change its past divides, though it must address the pandemic with a united front.

    He noted that most of the country can now be mask-free. Most Americans are vaccinated, and more vaccines are available if needed. Schools are open and workers can return to offices. “COVID-19 need no longer control our lives,” said Biden, echoing statements he made last July 4 when the disease similarly appeared to be in the rear-view mirror.

    The difference this time compared to the summer of 2020 is not only the increase in vaccinations but the lessons from the omicron and delta waves that caused infections and deaths to accelerate.

    His remarks include variations on the word “job” more than a dozen times as it applied to people working. Inflation netted half a dozen mentions and forms of the word “price” in terms of costs charged were mentioned 10 times. “Pandemic” was mentioned eight times and COVID-19 appeared a dozen times.He tried to highlight partisan unity by deploying the phrase “Democrats and Republicans” three times. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (20 mentions) supplanted China as a geopolitical rival, as China got just two mentions. And there was a clear villain: Putin was named 12 times. As Russian invasion of Ukraine grinds on, lawmakers showed their support for Ukrainians with their sartorial choices of blue and yellow. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wore a blue suit adorned with a lapel pin of Ukraine and U.S. flags. Rep. Eric Swalwell made do with a blue scarf.

    Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who appeared to have a large paper Ukraine flag pinned to his suit, had a bit of wardrobe malfunction. (His Ukraine flag fell off as he waded through the packed aisle to make his way to his seat.)

    Many lawmakers — and guests — also had small Ukrainian flags. In a sign of support for the Ukrainian people, the First Lady Jill Biden has an embroidered appliqué of a sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, sewn to the sleeve of her dress near her wrist.

  • Biden is right: Trump’s wounded ego was the main reason for Jan. 6

    Biden is right: Trump’s wounded ego was the main reason for Jan. 6

    By Max Boot

    “Biden was accurate in warning that “those who stormed this Capitol and those who … called on them to do so held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy.” He needs to keep reminding voters of the real stakes in November 2022 — and 2024. We are fighting, as he said, for “the right to vote, the right to govern ourselves, the right to determine our own destiny.” Republicans, sadly, are willing to jettison all those hallowed principles simply to feed Trump’s insatiable ego.”

    In what may be the most powerful speech of his presidency so far, President Biden delivered a searing (and overdue) indictment on Thursday, January 6 of his predecessor — never mentioned by name — for inciting a mob attack on the Capitol exactly a year ago. Biden identified the central truth of the insurrection: “The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election … because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution. He can’t accept he lost.”

    That’s exactly right. There was no higher principle at operation on Jan. 6. This was not a battle over tax cuts, abortion, immigration, infrastructure, vaccine mandates or any other policy — none of which former president Donald Trump seems to care much about anyway, save to the extent that they are useful chum to excite his followers into a frenzy. Trump was willing to stage an assault on more than two centuries of democracy in America simply because his all-encompassing ego will not allow him to admit that he was repudiated by more than 81.2 million voters.

    And most Republicans, it is now clear, seem just fine with that. A party that once stood for certain principles — lower taxes, traditional values, a strong defense — has been reduced to a cult of personality for a narcissistic television personality. The GOP didn’t even have a policy platform in 2020. What is normally a lengthy document listing positions on issues big and small was reduced to a one-page statement affirming “that the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.” Trump-first agenda is more like it. Remarkably enough, Republicans’ desire to cater to the whims of the orange emperor has not lessened in the past year despite his loss of power (and his Twitter account). The Republican National Committee — whose chair, Ronna McDaniel, dropped the “Romney” from her name to appease Trump — even agreed last month to pay up to $1.6 million of the former president’s personal legal bills in investigations of his shady business practices. The probes of Trump by New York prosecutors have nothing to do with his actions in office. But the RNC has become his personal piggy bank. Indeed, the entire Republican Party has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump Organization. You can blame spineless Republican leaders for abasing themselves before one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. But they are just giving their voters what they want. According to FiveThirtyEight, Trump’s net favorability rating among Republicans declined only slightly over the past year, from 82 percent to 76 percent. But Vice President Mike Pence’s fell off a cliff in January 2021, when he certified Biden’s win — not that he had any other choice. So did then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s, after he condemned Trump’s actions. Pence’s net favorability among Republicans is down to just 28 percent, while McConnell’s rating is 32 points underwater with voters of his party.

    In another recent poll from the University of Massachusetts, only 21 percent of Republicans said that Trump’s election defeat was legitimate — even though, as Biden noted Thursday, “93 United States senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials in every battleground state have all said it: He lost.” The handful of elected Republicans who actively call out the “big lie” — most prominently Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) — have become pariahs in Republican ranks. Meanwhile, Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), who said on Thursday that “we are proud of the work we did on Jan. 6 to make legitimate arguments about election integrity,” remains a Republican in good standing.

    I had hoped that Trump’s role in inciting a mob attack on Congress might have shaken his hold on the Republican Party — that it might have led Republicans to reconsider the perilous path they are on. But no. A year later, Trump’s attack on democracy has emerged not as a dealbreaker for most Republicans but as a deal-clincher. Forced to choose between Trump and the Constitution, most Republicans choose Trump.

    Shortly after the November election, a “senior Republican official” under cover of anonymity explained why Republicans were refusing to admit the obvious — Trump had lost. “What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time?” this Republican said. You would think that the downside would be readily apparent a year after lawmakers had to run for their lives from a #MAGA mob ransacking the Capitol. And yet the Republican Party continues to humor Trump even as he has turned increasingly authoritarian.

    Biden was accurate in warning that “those who stormed this Capitol and those who … called on them to do so held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy.” He needs to keep reminding voters of the real stakes in November 2022 — and 2024. We are fighting, as he said, for “the right to vote, the right to govern ourselves, the right to determine our own destiny.” Republicans, sadly, are willing to jettison all those hallowed principles simply to feed Trump’s insatiable ego.
    (The author is a columnist with Washington Post)