Summary
The White House press briefing has concluded, which brings us to the close of the politics liveblog. We’ll be back tomorrow morning with the latest ahead of the president’s State of the Union address. Here’s a look back at what happened today.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the president’s decision to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, which Republicans say should have happened immediately after the orb was discovered in US airspace and Beijing has called an overreaction. “What China did was unacceptable. We protected civilians and we gained more intel while protecting our own sensitive information.”
Previewing Biden’s speech tomorrow, Jean-Pierre said Biden has been “heavily engaged” in the writing process. He spent the weekend huddled with advisors and speechwriters fine-tuning the remarks, which she said he saw as an important opportunity to speak directly with the American people about his agenda. “There’ll be no question that this is a Joe Biden State of the Union speech,” she said.
She also reiterated that the Biden administration was willing to brief former Trump officials on intelligence discovered after they left office that China had sent at least three spy balloons into US airspace when they were in charge.
Brian Deese, the outgoing director of the National Economic Council, said the president intended to outline his economic agenda to the American people – touting his accomplishments while also making the case that more work needed to be done. He said the president would directly address the standoff with Republicans over raising the federal debt-limit. Echoing the president, Deese said the state of the US economy was “strong.”
The US is sending assistance to Turkey and Syria, including personnel to help with the search and rescue mission, after a devastating earthquake left thousands dead. The White House said Biden would speak directly to the president of Turkey on Monday.
Biden is en route back to the White House, after a delay that Jean-Pierre suggested was due to State of the Union prep.
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Jean-Pierre indicated that the president would address the US’s relationship with China in his address tomorrow, noting that foreign policy is always an important part of the speech, but she would not give specifics.
She said the US will keep “open lines of communication” with China. Asked how damaging the incident was to the US-China relationship, Jean-Pierre said it was “up to China to figure out what kind of relationship they want”.
She also said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would reschedule his planned visit to China, which was scrapped after the country’s balloon intruded into US airspace.
“When the time permits, we’ll see that trip back on the books,” she said.
She also defended the president’s decision to shoot down the balloon amid Republican criticism that he waited too long to take action: “What China did was unacceptable. We protected civilians and we got to gain more intel while protecting our own sensitive information.”
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Back at the White House, Deese has left the briefing room and Jean-Pierre is taking over.
The first question was about Biden’s delayed returned from Camp David. He was due to return to the White House at midday but has not arrived yet. Jean-Pierre said she had no updated ETA for the president, but suggested he was hunkered down working on Tuesday’s address.
Next she was asked about the aforementioned polling that suggests Democrats – and Americans broadly – are not eager from him to run again in 2024. Jean-Pierre, barred by the Hatch Act from discussing certain political activities, said she believes the midterms validated Biden’s vision for the country and repeated the president’s retort to naysayers: “watch me”.
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Meanwhile at the state department, spokesperson Ned Price has been talking about the Chinese balloon affair. He noted that the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had warned his counterpart, Wang Yi, on Friday that the US would take “appropriate actions to protect our interests”.
“It should not have come as a complete surprise” to Beijing when the balloon was shot down the following day, Price said. If it had been a US airship over China, “you can only imagine the response from Beijing”, he added.
Price said that the US and allies were reviewing the extent of the military threat from high-altitude balloon at the edge of the atmosphere, especially in light of the revelation that there had been several previous incursions by Chinese balloons which were not spotted at the time.
“We’re discussing this with our allies and partners, we’re comparing notes about what has happened to us in recent days, what has happened to us within recent years as well,” Price said. “We want to learn as much as we can about, not only what’s happened recently, but in recent years, and we’re going to take steps to protect our interests as appropriate.”
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Previewing more of Biden’s remarks in his state of the union address on Tuesday, Deese said Biden will speak about his values and principles for Social Security and Medicare. The White House has assailed Republicans who have proposed – or failed to rule out – cuts to the programs.
He said many of the specific policy proposals would be contained in the White House’s 2024 budget request to Congress.
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At the briefing, Deese repeated Biden’s assessment from last week: “I will just say what [Biden] said on Friday, which is that ‘the state of the economy is strong.’”
But he was pressed on the disconnect between Americans’ pessimism about their financial circumstances and the administration’s assessment that the economy is improving. “Is there a perception gap on inflation here,” one reporter asked Deese.
He said there wasn’t, and said lowering inflation and bringing down every day costs were the president’s top priority. He added that American’s fears about the economy were understandable given the uncertainty caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
This has been a very challenging period,” he said. “Even as personal household circumstances for the majority of people have improved, the economic anxiety is real.”
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Reporters are now hearing from Brian Deese, the outgoing director of the National Economic Council, who is touting the economic progress made over the past two years.
He emphasized that there is still “more work to do” but pointed to indicators – like easing inflation and gas prices – as signs that the administration’s policies were working.
“I think the core message is we have to make more progress but people should feel optimism that because of what have seen, because of the progress that we have made, we know how to make progress going forward,” he said.
He added that as part of that mission, Congress will need to keep lowering everyday costs for Americans, through initiatives that would bring down prescription drug prices and the cost of childcare and eldercare.
On the debt limit, Deese said Biden would make the explicit case in his State of the Union address that the “full faith and credit of the United States … isn’t something that anybody should use as a bargaining chip”
“The economic consequences of even questioning that bedrock principle can be quite severe – so you’ll hear that clearly from the president,” he continued, adding that Biden would demonstrate an “openness” and an “eagerness” to discuss with Republicans “the fiscal and economic priorities of the country, and where we can find common ground”.
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Biden to speak with Erdoğan after devastating earthquake
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre begins the briefing by extending condolences to Turkey and Syria after a once-in-a-century earthquake left at least 2,300 people dead and cities devastated.
She said US is in the process of sending additional personnel to support the Turkish search and rescue effort as well to assist in Syria. She said Biden would speak shortly with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
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Since the midterms, Democrats have largely rallied around Biden as their inevitable standard-bearer in 2024. But concerns remain about the president’s age and his hardiness for political battle, possibly in a re-match against Donald Trump or against a younger, rising Republican star.
To that end, new polling showing Trump leading Biden by three percentage points in a hypothetical 2024 matchup has rattled some Democrats.
Julián Castro, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services under Barack Obama who challenged Biden for the party’s nomination in 2020, called the poll “worrisome” in a tweet.
It’s the general consensus that Dems are content with Biden in a Trump rematch. But this poll undermines Biden’s central argument for re-nomination.
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) February 6, 2023
Two years is forever and it’s just one poll, but if he’s faring this poorly after a string of wins, that should be worrisome. https://t.co/n57XDeGtIe
Trump’s lead is within the margin of error, and two years is a lifetime in presidential politics, as Castro notes. But it was enough to prompt a prominent Democrat to reopen publicly the debate over whether Biden is the party’s best chance at winning the White House in two years.
New York representative George Santos has invited a former firefighter who was on the ground in NYC during 9/11 to tomorrow’s State of the Union, despite Santos’ own false claims about having family who died during to 9/11.
Santos has invited Michael Weinstock, a Democrat who once ran in Santos’ district and former volunteer, to attend the address.
Weinstock told the New York Times that he hopes to raise awareness about health conditions still facing 9/11 rescue workers.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll be able to stay focused enough on the issue of 9/11 responders receiving the health care that they need without being sullied by George Santos,” said Weinstock to the Times.
Santos is under investigation for several lies told during his campaign, including his claim that his mother died during 9/11.
It was later discovered that Santos’ mother passed in 2016, more than 10 years after the terrorist attack.
Read the full article here (paywall).
US working to collect Chinese balloon debris, officials say
Senior US officials said today that that the Biden administration is working to collect the debris of the Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot over the Atlantic Ocean.
General Glen David VanHerck of the United States Northern Command said that Navy ships are working to collect debris from the surveillance balloon and mapping out the ocean’s surface, reported ABC News.
NEW on Chinese balloon recovery: Gen. VanHerck of NORTHCOM says Navy ships are now collecting debris and mapping the ocean's surface -- they expect the debris field is around 1,500 square meters. EOD are out in a RHIB boat to pilot unmanned subs to scan for hazardous debris.
— Matt Seyler (@MattSeyler) February 6, 2023
VanHerck called the lack of early detection on the balloon an “awareness gap,” reported Politico.
Just in: NORTHCOM commander, on the previous incidents of Chinese spy balloons overflying the US, says: "We did not detect those threats and that’s a domain awareness gap."
— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) February 6, 2023
The intel community, after the fact, assessed those threats through "additional means of collection," he said.
— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) February 6, 2023
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Interim summary
Joe Biden returns to the White House today from a weekend trip to Camp David, ahead of the State of the Union address tomorrow night. At 2.15pm today, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is due to brief the media in the west wing. It’s been a fairly tranquil start to the day in US politics news but stick with us for developments as they happen.
Here’s where things stand:
Former vice president Mike Pence postponed a visit to the key primary state of South Carolina today after his daughter went into labor in California. Speculation is rising that Pence, who’s essentially fallen out with Donald Trump, will run for the presidency in the 2024 election.
Federal investigators from the FBI are preparing to search Pence’s Indiana home, looking for additional classified materials, within the coming days, a fresh report today said, seeming to confirm last week’s initial report on this.
There’s a decline in the percentage of Americans who think the state of the USA is “strong,” according to the latest opinion poll, which shows predictable partisan splits.
Joe Biden is preparing to deliver his second state of the union address tomorrow evening, ready to tout his administration’s achievements so far and the relatively good state of the US economy right now, despite the event being clouded by rows over the Chinese spy balloon and the gaping hole in Biden’s legislative achievements on policing reform, especially embarrassing following the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis last month after a brutal beating by police.
Former US vice president Mike Pence was expected to visit South Carolina today, as the signals grow louder that he’ll make his own run for the White House in 2024 as a rival to the former boss he’s essentially fallen out with, Donald Trump. But that visit has been postponed.
Fresh reports say that Pence has decided to delay his trip to the crucial primary state because his oldest daughter, Charlotte Pence Bond, has gone into labor in California. The ex-veep and his wife, Karen Pence, headed for California instead and will reschedule the trip to South Carolina.
The news comes as there were more developments in reports that the FBI intends to search Pence’s home in Indiana for classified documents. Pence’s team had notified the National Archives last month that a “small” number of documents were discovered at his residence, it emerged last week. Pence has said he was unaware of their existence.
Meanwhile, Pence had been expected to drop in on North Charleston and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, today. The Charleston Post and Courier reported that Pence’s numerous visits to early primary states recently is fueling speculation about a 2024 presidential bid, while noting that Trump recently visited South Carolina and former state governor Nikki Haley is expected to announce her own 2024 bid in the state later this month.
South Carolina Republican US Senator Tim Scott is also, later this month, launching a Faith in America speaking tour and is also tipped as a possible 2024 candidate for the GOP nomination for president.
Pence revealed in his recently-published memoir, So Help Me God, that he blames Trump for events leading to the January 6, 2021, insurrection, when a pro-Trump mob attacked the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory.
Some of the mob chanted “Hang Mike Pence” after the outgoing president slammed him for his refusal to block certification in Congress, where the vice president holds the position of president of the US Senate, of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 election.
FBI to search Pence's home for classified materials – report
Federal investigators are preparing to search the Indiana home of former vice president Mike Pence for additional classified materials within the coming days, according to a new report by NBC News. The story confirms a report in the Wall Street Journal last week.
Pence’s team notified the National Archives last month that a “small” number of documents were discovered at his residence last month. Pence has said he was unaware of their existence. The revelation came after the discovery of classified materials at Biden’s home and office.
Both Pence and Biden have emphasized their cooperation with law enforcement, in stark contrast to Donald Trump, who defied a subpoena request to return to the National Archives hundreds of classified materials that he improperly took with him to his Florida resort after leaving the White House. Both Biden and Trump face special counsel inquires into their handling of the secret documents, though the cases are very different.
The FBI previously searched both of the locations associated with the president at his invitation, and found additional materials with classified markings at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. No classified materials were found during an FBI search of Biden’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, last week.
It’s become a cliche of the genre, but modern presidents to use the annual address to declare the state of the union “strong.” But Americans increasingly disagree with the diagnosis, according to a new poll from Monmouth University. Naturally, opinions diverge greatly on partisan lines.
NATIONAL POLL: Belief that the state of the union is strong has steadily decreased from 55% in 2018 to 39% now.
— MonmouthPoll (@MonmouthPoll) February 6, 2023
STRONG by PARTY 2023 (2018):
DEM – 58% (42%)
IND – 33% (52%)
REP – 29% (76%)https://t.co/nEWJNaSOpW pic.twitter.com/fC1QkFSw3I
Worrying for Biden, who has staked his presidency on proving that democracies can still deliver for their people, the poll found that most Americans – nearly 6 in 10 – believe the current government in Washington has had a negative impact on most people’s lives.
“Fundamental faith in the American system continues to erode, even when taking into account the fact that partisan views shift depending on who occupies the White House,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
He added: “Washington is not seen as a force for good, but it doesn’t have to be this way according to most Americans. The question is whether Washington specifically and the country more generally can overcome the lack of trust that permeates our current political climate.”
The state of the union address likely presents Biden’s with his biggest TV audience of the year – a rare chance to lay out his vision directly to the American people.
Biden, according to his Twitter account, is spending the morning polishing the primetime remarks – and maybe polishing off a few chocolate chip cookies as well.
Getting ready. pic.twitter.com/UhERyDuxTO
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 6, 2023
This year’s speech, halfway through his first term, will take on heightened importance ahead of the expected announcement that he will run for re-election.
Viewers may also be watching the traditionally-lengthy address for signs that the 80-year-old president as the stamina – and mental acuity – to serve another four year term.
Holding court before a join session of Congress, Biden is expected to tout his legislative achievements, especially the laws passed with bipartisan support, and urge Republicans to continue to work with him to advance the business of the American people. It’s an unlikely prospect amid the deep partisan divide and the looming 2024 elections, but the White House hopes the gesture will leave Americans with the impression of a reasonable president blocked at every turn by an unreasonable opposition party.
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The death of Tyre Nichols days after the 29-year-old father was brutally beaten by Memphis police has renewed calls for Congressional action.
Nichols family, joined by activists and civil rights leaders, have been clear: they want Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. But with Republicans now in control of the House, expectations that Congress will pass federal police reform are low.
The Guardian’s Joan Greve breaks down the debate in this helpful explainer.
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The relationship between the nation’s capital and the nation’s capitol is complicated, to put it mildly. This week, those tensions will take center stage on Capitol Hill, where House Republicans are moving ahead with a pair of resolutions that would override two bills passed by the DC Council.
One involves an overhaul of the city’s criminal code and the other would allow non-citizens to vote in local elections starting in 2024.
It has been decades since Congress last voted to overturn a DC law and the effort is unlikely to succeed this time. Doing so requires approval by both chambers of Congress and the president’s signature. But the clock is ticking: local DC laws are subject to a 30-day Congressional review period before they can be enacted.
Even if the House passes the resolutions, the Senate is not expected to take them up in time.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s nonvoting Delegate to Congress, has urged lawmakers to oppose the disapproval resolutions, which she called “profoundly undemocratic and paternalistic”.
“The nearly 700,000 DC residents, a majority of whom are Black and Brown, are worthy and capable of self-government,” she wrote in a letter to members of Congress, according to the Washington Post. “Congress, which is not accountable to DC residents, should not interfere with legislation duly enacted by the duly elected DC government.”
Separately, House Republicans have found themselves in an unlikely alliance with local DC officials, including the city’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, as part of their push to get federal workers to return to in-person work.
Federal workers represent a substantial part of the city’s workforce, and their absence has had a devastating impact on the city’s economy.
House Republicans recently introduced the Show Up Act, which would compel federal agencies to enforce pre-pandemic tele-work policies. While Bowser has not endorsed the measure, she has urged Biden to do more to encourage federal employees to return to work, or to let DC use the still-empty buildings for housing or other purposes.
One silver lining for the president is that Americans are generally unhappy with all of their political leaders. The ABC News/Washington Post survey contains clear warning signs for House Republicans, who recently assumed control of the chamber.
More than 7 in 10 Americans have little to no confidence in the leadership of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And the public largely disapproves Republican brinkmanship over the federal debt ceiling, the poll found.
Only about a quarter of Americans agree with House Republicans’ threat to block Congress from raising the nation’s borrowing limit, triggering a debt-default, as a means of extracting steep federal spending cuts. Two-thirds of Americans, by contrast, support the White House’s position that the issues should be dealt with separately. The poll found Americans are very concerned about the consequences of a default, which economists have warned would be catastrophic.
Americans are also skeptical of Republicans’ desire to investigate anti-conservative bias within the government, the survey found. Despite an unexpectedly weak performance in the November midterms, House Republicans are barreling forward with a slew of politically-charged investigations, wielding their narrow-majority in the chamber to go after the president, his family and his administration.
The views expressed in the poll are a cautionary tale for a party that has so far showed more interest in investigating the president’s son than the business of governing.
The state of the union is sour, at least according to a handful of new polls released on the eve of the president’s annual address to Congress.
Though Democrats defied expectations – and history – with their performance in the November midterms, Americans are largely unhappy with the president or his party. Facing weak job approval ratings, Biden receives little credit for his legislative accomplishments, massive federal investments aimed at rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, boosting the domestic semiconductor industry and lowering healthcare costs for seniors and veterans.
Discontent is particularly high on the economy, despite signs the outlook is brightening. Inflation is easing, the unemployment rate is at its lowest in decades and job growth remains strong.
Yet more than two-thirds of Americans express just some ore no confidence in Biden to make the right decisions for the country’s future, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post survey.
It also found that more than four in 10 Americans believe they are worse off financially since Biden took office, a polling high going back nearly four decades.
Meanwhile, the country remains wary of Biden’s desire to seek a second term, even among his own party. Just 37% of Democrats say they hope he stands for re-election, down from 52% in the weeks before the November midterm elections, a new poll from the The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found.
Biden has stated publicly that he intends to run, and his team is laying the groundwork for a second campaign, but the 80-year-old president has yet to formally announce his decision, expected sometime in the Spring.
Asked previously about the lack of enthusiasm, especially among his own voters, surrounding a possible re-election bid, Biden retorted: “Watch me.”
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Biden has offered his condolences after the catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake and its powerful aftershock left more than 1,700 people dead in Turkey and Syria.
I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria. I have directed my team to continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with Turkiye and provide any and all needed assistance.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 6, 2023
In a statement, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US was “profoundly concerned” by the devastating reports of mass causalities.
We stand ready to provide any and all needed assistance. President Biden has directed USAID and other federal government partners to assess US response options to help those most affected. We will continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with the Government of Turkey.”
For the latest on the catastrophic quake, follow our live blog here:
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Good morning, US politics blog readers.
Joe Biden is finalizing his State of the Union address after a weekend spent working on the remarks at Camp David. It will be his first address to a divided Congress and comes amid sharp criticism from Republicans over the week-long wait to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon. Military officials determined that downing the balloon over land from such high altitude could pose unnecessary risk to the people and property below and advised that shooting it over water was safer.
The Biden administration has said that the suspected surveillance balloon entered the US on three occasions while Donald Trump was president, though officials have not provided more details on how or when those incidents were discovered. According to Politico, the intelligence community has offered to brief Trump administration officials on the newly discovered intelligence, which they have said they were not aware of during their time in charge.
Meanwhile, we have a spate of new “State of the Union” polls, each containing a fair bit of pessimism about the direction of the country and confidence in Biden and his party.
Here’s what else we can expect today:
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters with National Economic Council director Brian Deese at 2.15pm ET.
Vice-President Kamala Harris will host a meeting focused on the root causes of migration from the Northern Triangle at 2pm ET.
The House has votes scheduled later this evening, while the Senate is out. It should be noted that despite the fervor of the new House Republican majority to launch its attacks on Biden, Congress generally is off to an unusually slow start this year.
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