Domestic Policy Adviser Susan Rice speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, on the newly announced student loan forgiveness plan. President Joe Biden said Monday, April 24, 2023, that his domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, will leave her post next month. As director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Rice had broad sway on the administration's approach to health care, immigration and racial inequality. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
President Joe Biden said Monday that his top domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, will leave her post next month.
As director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, Rice had broad sway on the administration's approach to health care, immigration and racial inequality.
It was a surprising shift for Rice, a longtime Democratic foreign policy expert who served as President Barack Obama’s national security adviser and U.N. ambassador, the only person to serve in both positions. She worked closely with then-Vice President Biden in those roles and was on his short list to become his running mate during the 2020 campaign.
“After more than two years of her steady leadership of the Domestic Policy Council — it’s clear: there is no one more capable, and more determined to get important things done for the American people than Susan Rice,” Biden said in a statement announcing her departure.
Rice went into the job a flashpoint for Republican attacks dating back to the Obama years. In her wide-ranging tenure at the helm of Biden's domestic agenda, she helped oversee a flurry of executive and legislative action, including on health care, policing, gun safety, racial equity and the massive $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
“I am so proud of all we have been able to accomplish together for the American people,” Rice said in a tweet, in which she thanked Biden.
Rice, whose last day on the job will be May 26, also was a major player in the Biden administration's efforts to manage surging migrant numbers at the U.S.-Mexico border by turning away many migrants who crossed the border illegally. Instead, the U.S. has agreed to accept thousands of migrants per month as long as they come legally, have eligible sponsors and pass vetting and background checks. The decisions were seen as a shift to the right by some immigrant advocates who criticized the administration for moving away from promises to be more humane on immigration policies.
The next person named to the job will have a different focus. With a divided Congress and lower expectations for passing major legislation, the new domestic policy adviser will be working on implementing the policies.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
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.
