Tag: Biden

Countries hoarding food supplies as prices spike, hunger crisis looms

Laurel Duggan – May 25, 2022

Countries are imposing export restrictions on food in light of shortage concerns sparked by the war in Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Export restrictions were quickly imposed after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine to increase domestic supply and slow the rise of prices, but the trend could exacerbate rising global food prices and shortages, according to the WSJ. Ukraine and Russia are both major exporters of grains and vegetable oils.

Restrictions on food or fertilizer exports were put in place in 26 countries in 2022, according to the WSJ. Economists told the outlet these restrictions would temporarily ease the pain of food shortages in the countries that use them, but are a temporary measure that contributes to higher food prices globally.

India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, banned wheat exports May 13 as domestic prices jumped while Indonesia, which produces 60% of the world’s palm oil, blocked exports of the substance in late April before lifting the ban in late May. Ghana barred maize, rice and soybean exports; Argentina banned beef exports; and Iran and Egypt blocked the export of numerous foods, according to the WSJ.

“It’s one of these classic things where there’s really a short-term sugar high for the government … And then you end up with the same scarcity problem you had before,” said Simon Evenett, professor of international trade and economic development at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, according to the WSJ.

Food prices rose nearly 30% over the past year, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, with the trend accelerating following the invasion of Ukraine. President Joe Biden expressed concern about the food shortages March 24.

“With regard to food shortages, yes, we did talk about food shortages,” Biden said. “And it’s gonna be real.”

https://www.wnd.com

48 GOP Senators Vow Support for Hyde Amendment

Jeffrey Rodack – June 3, 2022

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., led 47 other Republican senators in pledging to block any bill that would undermine the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion.

Daines, founder and chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, and his colleagues made the pledge in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“We write to express our unwavering support for the Hyde Amendment and all other longstanding pro-life protections,” the letter says. “For more than 45 years, the Hyde Amendment has ensured that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund abortions, saving the lives of nearly 2.5 million preborn children. As you know, the Hyde Amendment is supported by both a substantial majority of the American public and a bipartisan majority of sitting United States Senators, and was most recently signed into law by President [Joe] Biden in Public Law 117-103.

“On February 5, 2021, we wrote to you that ‘We are committed to vote against the advancement of any legislation that would eliminate or weaken the Hyde Amendment or any other current-law pro-life protections, or otherwise undermine existing Federal pro-life policy.’ We firmly renew this commitment for FY 2023.”

The senators added:  “We urge you to start where we finished by making a baseline commitment to maintain the same pro-life protections that were included in Public Law 117-103, and to eschew any taxpayer-funded giveaways that benefit the multi-billion-dollar abortion industry.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, one who signed the letter, noted it has been endorsed by a host of organizations, including Americans United for Life and the Alliance Defending Freedom.

https://www.newsmax.com

Joe Biden Wants to Force Christian Hospitals to Kill Babies in Abortions or Shut Down

Micaiah Bilger – Apr 8, 2022

Christian and conservative organizations raised alarms this week about a potential new pro-abortion mandate from the Biden administration that could shut down Christian health care throughout the U.S.

Catholic News Service reports conservative leaders discovered the plans for the radical new regulation buried in a legal memorandum from the pro-abortion Leadership Conference and a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcement.

Crafted to be an anti-sex discrimination provision under the Affordable Care Act, the anticipated regulation likely would force Catholic and Christian hospitals, doctors, other medical workers and insurance companies to provide abortions, transgender surgeries and other procedures with no religious exemptions, according to the report.

“The general public has almost no awareness of what may be coming,” Doug Wilson, CEO of the Catholic Benefits Association, told CNS. “It is written to end Catholic health care. The requirements are so far beyond Catholic teaching that Catholic employers of every sort would be faced with complying or shutting down.”

Wilson’s organization is part of a coalition of Catholic, evangelical Christian and conservative organizations working to oppose the anticipated regulation and planning potential lawsuits if the Biden administration implements it.

He said they discovered the plan in November in a 74-page court filing and quickly began spreading the word.

https://www.lifenews.com

Can the President Constitutionally Restrict His Nomination to a Black Woman?

Alan M. Dershowitz – January 28, 2022

Imagine a president announcing that since no Muslim has ever been appointed to the Supreme Court, he pledges to nominate the first Muslim justice. That would undoubtedly be unconstitutional since Article VI of the Constitution specifies that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” The spirit of that prohibition — coupled with the 14th and 19th amendments—would certainly seem to apply to race and gender as well. It is wrong, and perhaps unconstitutional, for a president to impose a racial or gender test for nomination to the Supreme Court. If a president were to announce that he intended to nominate only a white male, constitutional scholars would rightfully object. So, what is the difference?

Supporters of President Biden’s announcement will argue that there is a big difference between prohibiting a person from serving based on religion, race or gender, and affirmatively giving preference based on these criteria. That is sophistry. By limiting his choice to a Black woman, President Biden has disqualified every non-Black woman and man in America. There are a considerable number of highly qualified Black women, and I would applaud the nomination of any one of them. But that is not the issue. The issue is exclusion.

The Supreme Court has a long history of exclusion. For more than a century-and-a-quarter after the religious prohibition was incorporated into the Constitution, presidents excluded all Jewish candidates and most Catholic candidates. The Supreme Court was an institution reserved primarily for white Protestant males. That was wrong and unconstitutional. But two wrongs, even if one of them is a “good” wrong, do not make a constitutional right.

The Black woman who is eventually nominated for the job will suffer reputationally from the president’s announcement. She will not be regarded as the most qualified person to be nominated, but only as the most qualified Black woman. That is insulting, even if not intended to be.

Senator Charles Schumer compounded President Biden’s error by announcing that regardless of who the president nominated, she will be confirmed by the Democratic controlled Senate. That, too, politicizes the Supreme Court nominating process. The Senate is supposed to deliberate on the qualifications of each nominee and confirm or reject her or him on the merits, not on the basis of who nominated her.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org

Biden Becomes 1st President to Omit ‘God’ from National Day of Prayer Proclamation

Michael Foust – May 6, 2021

President Biden on Wednesday issued a National Day of Prayer proclamation that touted the “power of prayer” and invited Americans to “give thanks,” although the proclamation’s absence of the word “God” sparked criticism and marked the first time that’s happened in modern history.

By a 1952 law, every U.S. president must issue a proclamation designating a National Day of Prayer. This year the day fell on May 6.

“Today, we remember and celebrate the role that the healing balm of prayer can play in our lives and in the life of our Nation,” the proclamation reads. “As we continue to confront the crises and challenges of our time – from a deadly pandemic, to the loss of lives and livelihoods in its wake, to a reckoning on racial justice, to the existential threat of climate change – Americans of faith can call upon the power of prayer to provide hope and uplift us for the work ahead.”

On the National Day of Prayer, “we unite with purpose and resolve, and recommit ourselves to the core freedoms that helped define and guide our Nation from its earliest days,” it reads.

“We celebrate our incredible good fortune that, as Americans, we can exercise our convictions freely – no matter our faith or beliefs,” it reads. “Let us find in our prayers, however they are delivered, the determination to overcome adversity, rise above our differences, and come together as one Nation to meet this moment in history.”

The proclamation, though, omits the word “God,” making Biden the first president not to include “God” in his proclamation in the modern history of National Day of Prayer proclamations. The omission is ironic, because secular groups in recent months have criticized Biden for discussing religion too much.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

FDA Lifts Restriction on Remote Prescriptions of Abortion Drugs

– April 13, 2021

The Biden administration cited the coronavirus pandemic to give the green light to at-home, self-administered abortions on Monday.

The FDA said it will allow the prescription of an abortion pill, mifepristone, through the mail, reversing Trump administration restrictions on remote prescription of abortion drugs. The agency wrote that because “the in-person dispensing of mifepristone for medical termination of early pregnancy may present additional COVID-related risks to patients and healthcare personnel because it may involve a clinic visit solely for this purpose,” it will allow doctors and nurses to prescribe the medication remotely.

The letter, sent on Monday to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, states that the agency will exercise “enforcement discretion” in allowing abortion medication to be prescribed without requiring an in-person doctor’s visit.

Republican lawmakers warned against removing the requirement that the abortion medication be prescribed in person. Sen. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) accused the Biden administration of exploiting the pandemic to advance the interests of the abortion industry.

“This move by the FDA is just using COVID-19 as a cover to dispense abortion-inducing medication remotely,” Sasse said. “We are over a year into this pandemic with health care largely returning to safe, in-person delivery. This isn’t about pandemic caution—it’s a political move to increase abortions.”

https://freebeacon.com