Biden hails 850,000 monthly US jobs and says: ‘This is historic progress’ – live | US news

It’s been a lively morning in US politics news out of Washington, DC. Here’s where the day stands so far:

• The US jobs report showed the economy added 850,000 jobs last month. In remarks celebrating the jobs report this morning, Joe Biden said the latest numbers represented “historic progress”. “Put simply: our economy is on the move, and we have Covid-19 on the run,” Biden said.
• Joe Biden addressed concerns that the Delta variant of coronavirus could spread at July 4th celebrations this weekend. “I am concerned that people who have not gotten vaccinated have the capacity to catch the variant and spread the variant to other people who have not been vaccinated.”
• The US economy was boosted by this mornings job report. American companies continue to take on staff as demand picks up. The 850K gains were more than the 700,000 increase which Wall Street expected, and the stock market rose as a result.
• More legal troubles likely ahead for Trump Organization after tax crime charges. Manhattan prosecutors filed tax crime charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, yesterday.In a 15-count indictment, prosecutors charged Weisselberg and his associates with engaging in a 15-year-long scheme to receive company perks without paying proper taxes on them. The charges marked a new chapter in the long-running investigation into Donald Trump’s family business and New York state attorney general Letitia James said this is just the beginning.

Joe Biden also addressed concerns that the delta variant of coronavirus could spread at July 4th celebrations this weekend.

“I am concerned that people who have not gotten vaccinated have the capacity to catch the variant and spread the variant to other people who have not been vaccinated,” Biden said.

“I am not concerned there’s going to be a major outbreak, in other words that we’re going to have another epidemic nationwide. But I am concerned lives will be lost.”

Biden’s comments come a day after the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the delta variant now accounts for nearly a quarter of all new coronavirus cases in the US.

The CDC director, Dr Rochelle Walensky, noted there are about 1,000 US counties where less than 30% of the community is vaccinated. The variant poses a particularly serious threat to those areas with lower vaccination rates.

The Biden administration had set a goal of getting 70% of American adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4, but the country has fallen slightly short of that objective.

Another reporter asked Joe Biden whether he was “confident” that Congress would enact his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan.

The question prompted a laugh from the president, who asked the reporters, “Who wants to put money on anything that Congress is going to do? Look, folks, this is a process.”

Biden said he was going to “try to be as persuasive as I can” to convince lawmakers that his plans will help the nation’s economic recovery.

The president’s comments come as Congress considers action on both the bipartisan infrastructure framework and a Democratic reconciliation bill.

Joe Biden took a few questions from reporters after concluding his prepared remarks on the June jobs report.

The first couple of questions focused on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, as service members leave the crucial airbase of Bagram north of Kabul after 20 years.

Asked whether the withdrawal of troops would be complete in the next few days, Biden said no but noted the US is “on track” with their plans to leave Afghanistan.

The president pushed back against concerns that the Afghan government will fail once the US leaves, saying, “We were in that war for 20 years.” He added, “I think they have the capacity to be able to sustain the government.”

When a reporter asked another question about Afghanistan, Biden tried to brush it aside. “I want to talk about happy things, man,” the president said.

Joe Biden argued the strong June jobs report is a “direct result” of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

However, the president emphasized that more work still needs to be done, urging Congress to pass his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan.

“Now’s the time to accelerate the progress we’ve been making,” Biden said.

The president’s comments come as Democratic congressional leaders work to advance the bipartisan infrastructure framework, as well as a separate reconciliation bill to cover other infrastructure proposals.

Joe Biden is now delivering remarks on this morning’s jobs report, which showed the US economy added 850,000 jobs last month.

The president said the report “brought us something else to celebrate” in addition to Independence Day, which will occur on Sunday.

Biden noted that more than 3 million jobs have been created since he took office, which is the most of any president in the first five months of his term.

“This is historic progress, pulling our economy out of the worst crisis in 100 years,” Biden said. “Put simply: our economy is on the move, and we have Covid-19 on the run.”

Joe Biden will soon deliver remarks on the strong June jobs report, and it seems likely the president will take a victory lap about the economy adding 850,000 jobs last month.

Biden and his aides have been tweeting out messages like this since the report came out, citing the numbers as evidence of how the president’s economic strategy is proving effective:

The president’s senior advisers have also made a point to compare Biden’s jobs record so far to that of Donald Trump. From Biden’s chief of staff:

The Washington Post’s Heather Long said the latest US jobs report demonstrates how raising wages is an effective strategy for attracting workers.

The leisure and hospitality industry, where pay has increased by 3.6% in the past three months, accounted for 40% of the 850,000 jobs added last month.

In the face of increasing legal scrutiny on his company, Donald Trump has remained defiant, attacking the New York investigation as politically motivated.

“Do people see the Radical Left prosecutors, and what they are trying to do to 75M+++ Voters and Patriots, for what it is?” Trump said in a statement yesterday.

The former president’s attacks on New York prosecutors may energize his loyal supporters, but it won’t stop the investigation from continuing or protect his family business from legal exposure.

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

Manhattan prosecutors filed tax crime charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, yesterday.

In a 15-count indictment, prosecutors charged Weisselberg and his associates with engaging in a 15-year-long scheme to receive company perks without paying proper taxes on them.

The charges marked a new chapter in the long-running investigation into Donald Trump’s family business, and more trouble may lie ahead for the company.

The New York Times reports:

In the next phase of the broader investigation into Mr. Trump and his company, the prosecutors are expected to continue scrutinizing whether the Trump Organization manipulated property values to obtain loans and tax benefits, among other potential financial crimes, according to people familiar with the matter.

New York Attorney General Letitia James indicated there may be more charges to come, saying in a statement yesterday, “This investigation will continue, and we will follow the facts and the law wherever they may lead.”

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.