Climate change has taken a more prominent role in this year's election, with both presidential candidates weighing in during last week's final debate. For the sake of the environment, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) says the need for the Biden administration to take over the White House is more urgent than ever.
"Trump has basically set himself with the fossil fuel industry and the climate-denial establishment, and Joe Biden is listening to the scientists and talking about infrastructure, innovation and jobs and the kind of leadership that America can provide to get us through this," Whitehouse told Cheddar.
The senator, who is part of the Senate Democrats' Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, said the party is looking to pass a "very big, really meaningful climate bill" if Biden is elected and they win both houses of Congress. However, Whitehouse admits that the former vice president may face an uphill battle against the influence of "dark money" from the fossil fuel industry.
"The real problem is going to be those Republicans in the Senate who will try to use the filibuster and their position, even though they're in the minority, to block this," Whitehouse said. "They have basically become the political wing of the fossil fuel industry."
He worried that the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday might make it even more difficult for a Biden administration to find success with climate change efforts, claiming the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court have gone "out of their way to cover for the fossil fuel industry and do things that were completely unprecedented."
"The most unprecedented thing being to stop President Obama's clean power plan with an interlocutory stay, which the Supreme Court had never issued before," he noted, regarding the earlier Democratic administration.
According to the senator, the United States' position as a world leader has dipped under Trump, and in order to re-establish the nation's eminence, on climate especially, electing Biden will be key.
"You've got a really vital need for America to step up and assume a leadership role. Under President Trump, we've sniveled and shriveled away from this issue, and the world has been very confused by our lack of leadership," Whitehouse claimed.
For the Rhode Island senator, the climate crisis is a particularly important issue as The Ocean State's shores are threatened by rising sea levels.
"As you know, Rhode Island is a coastal state, so when you're talking about 6 feet, 10 feet of sea level rise, that really is a danger for so many Rhode Island communities and for our economy. So we've got to start preparing for what we can't avoid," he said.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now.
Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.
