Politics and Government

The White House brought out the billionaires, the CEOs and the union executives Friday to help sell President Joe Biden's climate-friendly transformation of the U.S. economy at his virtual summit of world leaders.

The proposal, which hinges on higher taxes on corporations and top earners, is integral to a House budget plan but must be aligned with a Senate version that doesn’t raise new revenue.

The Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would help combat the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a bipartisan denunciation of such violence during the coronavirus pandemic and a modest step toward legislating in a chamber where most of President Joe Biden's agenda has stalled.

The five-year spending outline is much more narrowly focused on traditional infrastructure than the president's sweeping proposal.

Just a week ago, only 33 countries were on the U.S. "do not travel" list. New additions include Canada, Mexico, Germany and the U.K.

The effort to make Washington, D.C., the 51st star on the U.S. flag has never had more support. But the measure's fate in the Senate is uncertain.

President Joe Biden convened leaders of the world's most powerful countries on Thursday to try to spur global efforts against climate change, drawing commitments from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate on cutting emissions despite their own sharp rivalries with the United States.

The Minnesota House is working on a bill that limits police officers' authority to make traffic stops for minor issues, does more to flag problem officers, and increases transparency in critical investigations. But those measures are far from certain to reach the governor’s desk.

The guilty verdict against the former officer has added new urgency around stalled talks on legislation to ban chokeholds and end qualified immunity for police. But the path remains far from clear.

In celebrating the milestone, the president also announced the administration would begin offering tax credits to employers who give workers time off to get vaccinated.