Biden's American Rescue Plan is Catholic social doctrine in action

NCR  Mar 12, 2021

Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress passed the $1.9 billion American Rescue Plan, (ARP) and President Joe Biden signed it into law yesterday. The new law includes efforts to confront the pandemic and the economic consequences of the pandemic, but it also addresses child poverty and other long-standing issues of economic inequality. Biden promised to "build back better," and this law is a major step toward redeeming that promise.

The plan constitutes a decisive repudiation of trickle-down economics in favor of a bottom-up approach to economic stimulus that is far more consistent with Catholic social teaching.

"This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation — the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going — a fighting chance," the president said after the House passed the final legislation on Wednesday.

Biden and the Democrats have placed a big bet. If this stimulus package fails to stimulate the economy, if unemployment is still horrifically high next year, if children are still unable to go to schools in some cities because the poor ventilation in the school buildings make them viral incubators, if child poverty continues at its unconscionably high rate, the Democrats will pay a political price for this American Rescue Plan, and they will deserve to pay a price. And if it works, the Republicans might pay a price for having been bystanders at a time when so many of our fellow citizens are in profound pain. Whatever the political calculus, we all can hope that it works and, as Catholics, take some pride in the fact that our values and habits of ethical thought have played a role in coming to the nation's aid.

Tulsi Gabbard Asks Biden: “Have You Declared Martial Law?”

Summit 25 January, 2021

“What is it that they are trying to accomplish now by creating an enduring presence?”

Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard asked Joe Biden if he had declared martial law after it was revealed that thousands of troops stationed in the capital will remain there until March.

As we highlighted earlier, at least 5,000 National Guard soldiers will remain in DC until the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump is completed, a process which won’t be concluded for at least six weeks.

“President @JoeBiden, have you declared martial law? Because that is what it’s starting to look and feel like. Let our troops get back home to their families,” Gabbard tweeted.

In Biden’s Cabinet, Catholics and Jews dominate

Religion News January 19, 2021

Joe Biden’s Cabinet is set to make history in a number of ways.

If all the nominees the president-elect has chosen are confirmed, the Cabinet — including the vice president, the heads of 15 executive departments and eight other key positions — will be the most racially and ethnically diverse ever. Among them are six African Americans, four Hispanics, three Asian Americans and one Native American. Half the nominees are women — the most ever nominated for a presidential Cabinet.

In terms of their religious backgrounds, the Cabinet nominees are also diverse. Like the president-elect, the majority — at least eight — are Catholic.  But five Jews have also been nominated, two Black Baptists and, if the surgeon general is included (often not), two Hindus. (A handful of Cabinet picks do not appear to identify with any religion.)

One group not represented? White evangelicals, the group most loyal to President Donald Trump.

Joe Biden will visit the Vatican to discuss his fight to cure cancer

Vice President Joe Biden, shown at a Washington forum in March, has visited some of America's top medical centers as part of his "moonshot" to cure cancer.
(Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Michael A. MemoliContact Reporter

Vice President Joe Biden, who has traveled to some America's leading medical centers in recent weeks as part of what he has called his moonshot to cure cancer, will soon take his quest to the Vatican.
Biden will address a major conference on the progress of regenerative medicine in Vatican City on April 29, the vice president's office said Wednesday.
The gathering, hosted by the Stem for Life Foundation and the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, will also draw leading physicians, ethicists and philanthropists to discuss the potential of emerging research to treat cancer and other diseases. The initiative has been championed by Pope Francis, who worked as a chemist before he entered the priesthood and has written in support of scientific progress.
Biden will be the latest leading U.S. political figure to attend a major gathering at the Vatican. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, will travel there this week to address a separate summit on social, economic and environmental issues.

Other details on the vice president's three-day trip to Rome and the Vatican, including a possible meeting with Francis, had not yet been determined, his office said.
Biden, the nation's first Catholic vice president, attended Francis' papal inauguration in 2013 and attended multiple events during the Catholic leader's visit to the U.S. last fall, including his address to Congress and departure from Philadelphia after the World Meeting of Families there.
Biden has praised Francis' message of inclusion, writing in Time magazine that the pope "put a welcome sign on the front door of the Church." Biden has also spoken of Francis' personal empathy toward him and his family since the death last May of Biden’s eldest son, Beau, and the role of his faith in coping with personal tragedy.
The vice president's effort to cure cancer, first announced by Biden as he said last fall that he would not run for president, was formally launched this year in President Obama's State of the Union address. Biden has since traveled to Duke University, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University and other research centers as part of his effort to bring stakeholders together in search of a cure.          LATimes