S&P 500 Has Worst Week Since February  06/18 15:46

   Stocks sank again on Wall Street Friday, knocking the S&P 500 to its worst 
weekly loss since February, as more steam comes out of banks and other stocks 
that soared earlier this year with expectations for the economy and inflation.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks sank again on Wall Street Friday, knocking the S&P 
500 to its worst weekly loss since February, as more steam comes out of banks 
and other stocks that soared earlier this year with expectations for the 
economy and inflation.

   The S&P 500 fell 55.41 points, or 1.3%, to 4,166.45 in a widespread slump. 
It was the worst day for the index in a month as unease grows about the Federal 
Reserve making plans to eventually offer less help to markets.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 533.37 points, or 1.6%, to 33,290.08, 
and the Nasdaq composite fell 130.97, or 0.9%, to 14,030.38.

   Investors are still recalibrating their moves following the Federal 
Reserve's signal this week that it may raise short-term interest rates twice by 
late 2023, earlier than expected. The Fed also began talks about slowing its 
bond-buying program that's helping to keep longer-term rates low. On Friday, 
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on CNBC his personal 
prediction was that the first rate increase may come as soon as next year.

   It's an acknowledgment that a rebounding economy with near-record prices for 
homes and stocks may not need super low rates much longer. A recent burst of 
inflation may also be upping the pressure. But any pullback in Fed support 
would be a big change for markets, which have been feasting on ultra-low rates 
for more than a year. It marked a "U-turn on Easy Street," as strategists at 
BofA Global Research described it.

   That's hurt stocks of banks, oil producers and other companies whose profits 
are closely tied to the strength of the economy in particular. On the other 
side, stocks of companies able to grow almost regardless of the economy's 
fortunes have held up better.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is full of companies whose profits 
move more with the economy, lost 3.5% this past week. That's its worst since 
October. The Nasdaq composite, which has more high-growth tech stocks, dipped a 
much more modest 0.3%.

   Of course, all the major U.S. stock indexes remain relatively close to their 
record highs, as the economy continues to leap out of the recession caused by 
the pandemic. The S&P 500 is only about 2% below its all-time high set on 
Monday, and the Dow is within 5% of its record set last month.

   A measure of nervousness in the stock market, known as the VIX, rose Friday 
but is only back to where it was about a month ago.

    

   Banks are taking a hit from the shrinking gap between shorter- and 
longer-term interest rates, which helped send financial stocks in the S&P 500 
down 2.4% on Friday. That was one of the sharpest losses among the 11 sectors 
that make up the index.

   When the gap is wide, the industry can make big profits from borrowing cash 
in short-term markets and lending it out at longer-term rates. But short-term 
yields jumped sharply this week after the Fed's indication that it may be 
moving up the timeline for rate increases. The two-year Treasury yield rose to 
0.25% Friday from 0.23% a day before and from 0.16% a week before.

   The 10-year Treasury yield, which is less directly affected by Fed moves, 
ended the week close to where it started, though there were some jagged moves 
up and down in the interim. It sat at 1.43% Friday afternoon, down from 1.51% 
late Thursday but not far off from its 1.46% level a week earlier.

   The rate pressure helped send JPMorgan Chase down 2.5%, and it was one of 
the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. Bank of America dropped 2.6%.

   The quickly recovering economy and some supply shortages have helped send 
prices soaring across the economy recently, from lumber to airline tickets to 
used cars. The Fed has said it expects high inflation to be only "transitory," 
and prices for lumber at least have already started to moderate a bit. Much of 
Wall Street also says inflation looks to be only temporary, but part of the 
Fed's mission is to keep prices under control.

   "You just don't have the firms able to build capacity to meet demand," said 
Ken Johnson, investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. 
"Investors are nervous about that."

   The first action the Fed is likely to take would be a slowdown in its $120 
billion of monthly bond purchases, which are helping to keep mortgages cheap, 
but the Fed's chair said such a tapering is still likely a ways away.

   Besides keeping inflation steady, the Fed's other main job is to keep the 
job market healthy. Employment has been improving, but growth has slowed in 
recent months.

   "That gives investors some reassurance that the Fed isn't going to move on 
rates when the economy, from a labor market perspective, isn't back to where it 
was," Johnson said.

   Among the few winners in the market Friday was software maker Adobe. It rose 
2.6% after reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected and gave an encouraging forecast for the current quarter.

   Gun maker Smith & Wesson jumped 17.2% after raising its quarterly dividend 
and reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than expected.

New Videos Show Capitol Police Attacks 06/19 08:11

   Videos released under court order provide a chilling new look at the chaos 
at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, including body camera footage that shows a man 
charging at a police officer with a flagpole and tackling him to the ground.

   (AP) -- Videos released under court order provide a chilling new look at the 
chaos at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, including body camera footage that shows a 
man charging at a police officer with a flagpole and tackling him to the ground.

   Federal judges ordered the release of the videos after media organizations, 
including The Associated Press, went to court to request that the Department of 
Justice provide access. The videos are being presented as evidence in 
prosecutors' cases against three men charged with assaulting police.

   The new videos show a Marine Corps veteran and former New York City police 
officer wielding a flagpole as he attacks police, as well as rioters crushing 
another officer into a door as he screams in pain. Still another video shows a 
New Jersey man punching an officer in the head.

   The release comes at a time when Republican lawmakers in Washington 
increasingly try to downplay the siege, portraying the breach of the Capitol as 
a mostly peaceful protest despite the shocking violence that unfolded.

   Supporters of former President Donald Trump fought past police lines to 
storm the building and interrupt the certification of President Joe Biden's 
election win over Trump.

   The Justice Department has brought hundreds of criminal cases against the 
rioters. This week, a man linked to the antigovernment Three Percenters 
extremist movement was indicted on a new charge that he brought a 
semi-automatic handgun with him to the Capitol.

   Body camera video released in the case against former New York City 
policeman Thomas Webster shows the man holding a flagpole and shouting 
profanities at officers standing behind a metal barricade. Webster pushes the 
barricade and swings toward an officer with the flagpole. There's a violent 
scuffle, the officer manages to take the flagpole away from the man, and 
Webster appears to tackle the officer to the ground.

   Other images in court documents show Webster pinning the officer to the 
ground and grabbing at his face.

   Webster's lawyer wrote in court documents seeking his release from jail 
while he awaits trial that his client got upset when he saw police using pepper 
spray on the crowd. The lawyer, James Monroe, wrote that "as a former U.S. 
Marine and a member of law enforcement, defendant's moral instinct was to 
protect the innocent."

   Monroe said the officer provoked Webster by reaching across the barrier and 
punching him. The lawyer says Webster never actually struck the officer with 
the flagpole.

   Other footage released in the case against Patrick McCaughey III, a 
Connecticut man charged with assault, show police wearing helmets and face 
shields gathered in a Capitol doorway as the crowd pushes aggressively forward 
and shouts at them.

   At one point, Daniel Hodges of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department 
gets pinned against a door and a rioter rips off his mask. The mob shouts 
"heave ho" as it pushes forward. Hodges, whose mouth appears bloody, cries out 
as he's crushed between a riot shield and the door. McCaughey at one point 
points to Hodges and says "he's hurt," seemingly trying to alert the other 
officers. Hodges has recovered from his injuries.

   An email seeking comment was sent to an attorney for McCaughey.

   Democrats used the video of Hodges, which had been previously obtained by 
some media outlets, in their impeachment case against Trump accusing him of 
inciting the insurrection. The House impeached him -- the second of his 
presidency -- a week after the riot for telling his supporters that morning to 
"fight like hell" to overturn his defeat. The Senate acquitted him weeks later.

   Footage released in a third case shows a man identified as Scott Fairlamb 
and others yelling at police as the officers walk through the crowd outside the 
Capitol. Fairlamb then shoves an officer and punches at his head, hitting his 
face shield. An email seeking comment was sent to Fairlamb's attorney.

   Court documents filed this week also show another man, Guy Reffitt of Texas, 
has been indicted on new charges that he brought a rifle and handgun to 
Washington and carried the handgun onto Capitol grounds. He was arrested in 
January and previously pleaded not guilty to charges including obstruction of 
an official proceeding.

   Reffitt's wife told authorities he's a member of a Three Percenters group, 
according to court documents. Prosecutors say Reffitt led a group of rioters up 
the Capitol steps and was stopped only after officers used pepper balls, impact 
projectiles and pepper spray.

   An email seeking comment was sent to Reffitt's attorney on Friday.

   More than 480 people are facing federal charges in the riot. Four have 
pleaded guilty so far, including a member of the Oath Keepers extremist group 
who has agreed to cooperate with investigators.

   A 49-year-old Indiana grandmother is expected next week to become the first 
Jan. 6 person to be sentenced. Anna Morgan Lloyd is pleading guilty to a 
misdemeanor charge for entering the Capitol. Prosecutors are asking for a 
sentence of probation with community service and $500 in restitution.

   After the riot, Morgan Lloyd described it on Facebook as the "most exciting 
day of my life," according to prosecutors. She wrote in a letter to the judge 
filed in court that she didn't see any violence at the Capitol and was 
"shocked" when she returned to her hotel and saw the news coverage.

   "At first it didn't dawn on me, but later I realized that if every person 
like me, who wasn't violent, was removed from that crowd, the ones who were 
violent may have lost the nerve to do what they did. For that I am sorry and 
take responsibility," she wrote.

   The powerful video footage was made public as Senate Republicans have 
blocked a bipartisan inquiry into the insurrection and as an increasing number 
of House Republicans have defended the rioters and played down the violence of 
the day.

   At a House Oversight and Reform hearing Tuesday, several Republicans 
questioned Democrats' efforts to examine the attack and said they should 
instead be focused on issues like border security or COVID-19 restrictions.

   Wisconsin Rep. Glenn Grothman grilled FBI Director Christopher Wray on 
whether some of those who were arrested for illegally entering the Capitol were 
in fact innocent. Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar repeated his arguments that a Trump 
supporter who was shot and killed by police while breaking into the House 
chamber, Ashli Babbitt, was "executed."

   At a hearing last month, GOP Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia said one video 
feed of the rioters looked like they were on a "normal tourist visit."

   Also Tuesday, 21 House Republicans voted against giving congressional medals 
of honor to Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police to thank them for their 
service that day. Dozens of those officers suffered injuries, including 
chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones as the rioters overran them and 
broke into the building.

EU: Sanctions for Lebanese Politicians 06/19 08:18

   

   BEIRUT (AP) -- The European Union's foreign policy chief Saturday berated 
Lebanese politicians for delays in forming a new Cabinet, warning the union 
could impose sanctions on those behind the political stalemate in the 
crisis-hit country.

   Josep Borrell made his comments at the presidential palace near the capital 
Beirut after meeting with President Michel Aoun. It was the first meeting in a 
two-day visit to Lebanon.

   Borrell's comments came amid reports in Lebanese media that France and the 
EU are putting together proposals for possible travel bans and freezes on 
assets of some politicians.

   Borrell said Lebanese politicians should quickly form a new government, 
implement reforms and reach a deal with the International Monetary Fund to 
start getting the tiny country out of its paralyzing economic and financial 
crisis.

   Lebanon's economic crisis -- triggered by decades of corruption and 
mismanagement -- began in late 2019 and has intensified in recent months. The 
World Bank said earlier this month the crisis is likely to rank as one of the 
worst the world has seen in more than 150 years, adding that the economy 
contracted 20.3% in 2020 and is expected to shrink 9.5% this year.

   Lebanon defaulted on paying back its debt for the first time in March, while 
talks with the International Monetary Fund on a bailout package stopped last 
year. The crisis has been the biggest threat to Lebanon's stability since the 
1975-90 civil war ended.

   A power struggle between premier-designate Saad Hariri on one side, and Aoun 
and his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, who heads the largest bloc in parliament, on 
the other. It has worsened the crisis despite warnings from world leaders and 
economic experts of the dire economic conditions tiny Lebanon is facing.

   Hariri was named to form a new government in October and has not succeeded 
so far. The government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigned days after a 
massive blast in Beirut on Aug. 4, that killed 211 people and injured more than 
6,000.

   "We cannot understand that nine months after the resignation of a prime 
minister, there is still no government in Lebanon," Borrell said. "Only an 
urgent agreement with the International Monetary Fund will rescue the country 
from a financial collapse."

   "There is no time to waste. You are at the edge of the financial collapse," 
he said in English.

   Borrell said the EU stands ready to assist Lebanon and its people but warned 
that if there is further obstruction to solutions to the multi-dimensional 
crisis "we will have to consider other courses of actions as some member states 
have proposed."

   "The council of the European Union has been including other options, 
including targeted sanctions," Borrell said. "Of course we prefer not to go 
down this road and we hope that we will not have to but it is in the hands of 
the Lebanese leadership."

   Borrel rejected claims by some Lebanese politicians that refugees are the 
cause of the crisis, saying it is "homemade."

   "It is not fair (to say) that the crisis in Lebanon comes from the presence 
of refugees," he said referring to a nearly 1 million Syrian refugees who fled 
the war in their country to Lebanon.

Dems Eye Health Care After SCOTUS Win  06/19 08:20

   With the Affordable Care Act now secure in the framework of the nation's 
health care programs, Democrats are eager to leap above and beyond.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- With the Affordable Care Act now secure in the framework 
of the nation's health care programs, Democrats are eager to leap above and 
beyond.

   They want to expand insurance coverage for working-age people and their 
families, add new benefits to Medicare for older people and reduce prescription 
drug costs for patients and taxpayers.

   But health care is expensive, there's concern about deficits and with 
Democrats holding only bare majorities in Congress, a winnowing down of 
expectations seems likely later this year.

   For now, Democrats are savoring Thursday's Supreme Court decision upholding 
"Obamacare" for the third time in a decade. The latest challenge to the law had 
been seen as a stretch by many legal experts, but a 7-2 vote from the 
conservative court was unexpected.

   "I think Democrats once again know they have a moment in time, and they want 
to make the most of it," said Kathleen Sebelius, health secretary under 
President Barack Obama during the passage and implementation of the health law. 
"I think people are fired up and ready to go."

   There is no shortage of proposals. Some, such as authorizing Medicare to 
negotiate prescription drug prices, could potentially save hundreds of billions 
of dollars, depending on how they are structured. But coverage and benefit 
expansions could cost an equal or even much greater amount.

   Complex budget procedures that Democrats plan to use to pass President Joe 
Biden's domestic agenda by a simple majority vote in the Senate may also limit 
the types of proposals that can be considered.

   "There is a sorting going on," said John McDonough, who was a senior 
Democratic aide in the Senate during the debate over the health law. "Not all 
of these ideas are viable, but you don't always know which ones at the start." 
McDonough is now a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

   Democrats' ideas fall under two big headings: expanding coverage and 
benefits through public programs such as Medicare and the Obama law, and using 
the power of government to rein in the price of prescription drugs. In theory, 
savings from prescription drugs can pay for program expansions without adding 
to the deficit or raising taxes.

   "These are not proposals in the single-digit billions," said Marc Goldwein, 
senior policy director with the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 
"We're talking $100 billion, $200 billion or more -- but in different 
directions. The more they save, the more they can spend." His group advocates 
for reducing federal deficits, and Goldwein adds that "it's my hope they abide 
by the basic rule that you pay for what you're willing to spend."

   Early on, a hierarchy of proposals has started to emerge.

   At the top of the list, and most likely to be included, is Biden's plan to 
permanently extend more generous HealthCare.gov insurance subsidies. They're 
now provided through the end of next year under his COVID-19 relief bill. The 
price tag is estimated at $163 billion over 10 years.

   Another health law issue involves figuring out how to cover more than 2 
million low-income people in mainly Southern states that have not expanded 
their Medicaid programs. A federal fix is not just a matter of pumping more 
money in because of arcane legal issues involving Medicaid.

   Also uncertain is the outlook for authorizing Medicare to negotiate 
prescription drug prices.

   House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., passed a robust bill in the House 
almost two years ago, and the issue remains a priority for congressional 
Democrats as well as Biden. The 2019 legislation would have saved the 
government more than $450 billion over 10 years through Medicare price 
negotiations, but Pelosi's tough approach to the politically powerful 
pharmaceutical industry is seen as a problem for some Senate Democrats.

   The catch is that without big savings from prescription drugs, it gets 
harder to deliver other parts of the health care agenda. For example, adding 
dental, vision and hearing benefits to Medicare could cost about $360 billion 
over 10 years.

   Some ideas that energize progressive Democrats may have the hardest time 
getting through the winnowing process.

   That could be the case with the proposal for a new "public option" health 
insurance plan to be offered alongside subsidized private coverage through 
HealthCare.gov. It's not clear whether such a proposal can pass muster under 
the budget rules that would allow the Biden agenda to clear the Senate without 
Republican votes.

   Separately, a proposal to lower Medicare's eligibility age to 60 from 65 
could prove tricky. Republicans are already pointing out that Medicare's giant 
trust fund is expected to be in the red in 2026. They say that letting more 
people into the program would only weaken it further. Democrats may not want to 
be pulled into a debate over Medicare's solvency.

   "Health care has been a Democratic issue from the get-go," said health 
economist Gail Wilensky, an adviser to Republicans and former Medicare 
administrator. "At the moment their focus is still going to be on expansion. 
How they pay for that is not clear."

Pence Heckled at FL Conservative Conf. 06/19 08:28

   

   ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Some attendees at a conference in Florida for 
conservative activists heckled former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday 
during a speech.

   A few attendees shouted, "Traitor!" as Pence spoke at the Faith and Freedom 
Coalition's Road to Majority Policy Conference at a resort in Orlando. Pence 
ignored the shouts and plowed through his address.

   "It's great to be back with so many patriots, dedicated to faith and freedom 
and the road to the majority!" Pence said.

   At least one of the hecklers was removed by security, according to the 
Orlando Sentinel.

   Many supporters of former President Donald Trump have been angry with Pence 
after the former vice president said he did not have the power to overturn 
Democrat Joe Biden's election victory. During the Jan. 6 storming of the 
Capitol, angry protesters chanted, "Hang Mike Pence!"

Hard-Line Judiciary Head Wins Iran Vote06/19 08:30

   

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran's hard-line judiciary chief won the 
country's presidential election in a landslide victory Saturday, propelling the 
supreme leader's protege into Tehran's highest civilian position in a vote that 
appeared to see the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history.

   Initial results showed Ebrahim Raisi won 17.8 million votes in the contest, 
dwarfing those of the race's sole moderate candidate. However, Raisi dominated 
the election only after a panel under the watch of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali 
Khamenei disqualified his strongest competition.

   His candidacy, and the sense the election served more as a coronation for 
him, sparked widespread apathy among eligible voters in the Islamic Republic, 
which has held up turnout as a sign of support for the theocracy since its 1979 
Islamic Revolution. Some, including former hard-line President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad, called for a boycott.

   In initial results, former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei won 
3.3 million votes and moderate Abdolnasser Hemmati got 2.4 million, said Jamal 
Orf, the head of Iran's Interior Ministry election headquarters. The race's 
fourth candidate, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, had around 1 million votes, 
Orf said.

   Hemmati offered his congratulations on Instagram to Raisi early Saturday.

   "I hope your administration provides causes for pride for the Islamic 
Republic of Iran, improves the economy and life with comfort and welfare for 
the great nation of Iran," he wrote.

   On Twitter, Rezaei praised Khamenei and the Iranian people for taking part 
in the vote.

   "God willing, the decisive election of my esteemed brother, Ayatollah Dr. 
Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, promises the establishment of a strong and popular 
government to solve the country's problems," Rezaei wrote.

   The quick concessions, while not unusual in Iran's previous elections, 
signaled what semiofficial news agencies inside Iran had been hinting at for 
hours: That the carefully controlled vote had been a blowout win for Raisi amid 
the boycott calls.

   As night fell Friday, turnout appeared far lower than in Iran's last 
presidential election in 2017. At one polling place inside a mosque in central 
Tehran, a Shiite cleric played soccer with a young boy as most of its workers 
napped in a courtyard. At another, officials watched videos on their mobile 
phones as state television blared beside them, offering only tight shots of 
locations around the country -- as opposed to the long, snaking lines of past 
elections.

   Balloting came to a close at 2.a.m. Saturday, after the government extended 
voting to accommodate what it called "crowding" at several polling places 
nationwide. Paper ballots, stuffed into large plastic boxes, were to be counted 
by hand through the night, and authorities said they expected to have initial 
results and turnout figures Saturday morning at the earliest.

   "My vote will not change anything in this election, the number of people who 
are voting for Raisi is huge and Hemmati does not have the necessary skills for 
this," said Hediyeh, a 25-year-old woman who gave only her first name while 
hurrying to a taxi in Haft-e Tir Square after avoiding the polls. "I have no 
candidate here."

   Iranian state television sought to downplay the turnout, pointing to the 
Gulf Arab sheikhdoms surrounding it ruled by hereditary leaders, and the lower 
participation in Western democracies. After a day of amplifying officials' 
attempts to get out the vote, state TV broadcast scenes of jam-packed voting 
booths in several provinces overnight, seeking to portray a last-minute rush to 
the polls.

   But since the 1979 revolution overthrew the shah, Iran's theocracy has cited 
voter turnout as a sign of its legitimacy, beginning with its first referendum 
that won 98.2% support that simply asked whether or not people wanted an 
Islamic Republic.

   The disqualifications affected reformists and those backing Rouhani, whose 
administration both reached the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and saw it 
disintegrate three years later with then-President Donald Trump's unilateral 
withdrawal of America from the accord.

   Voter apathy also has been fed by the devastated state of the economy and 
subdued campaigning amid months of surging coronavirus cases. Poll workers wore 
gloves and masks, and some wiped down ballot boxes with disinfectants.

   If elected, Raisi would be the first serving Iranian president sanctioned by 
the U.S. government even before entering office over his involvement in the 
mass execution of political prisoners in 1988, as well as his time as the head 
of Iran's internationally criticized judiciary -- one of the world's top 
executioners.

   It also would put hard-liners firmly in control across the government as 
negotiations in Vienna continue to try to save a tattered deal meant to limit 
Iran's nuclear program at a time when Tehran is enriching uranium at its 
highest levels ever, though it still remains short of weapons-grade levels. 
Tensions remain high with both the U.S. and Israel, which is believed to have 
carried out a series of attacks targeting Iranian nuclear sites as well as 
assassinating the scientist who created its military atomic program decades 
earlier.

   Whoever wins will likely serve two four-year terms and thus could be at the 
helm at what could be one of the most crucial moments for the country in 
decades -- the death of the 82-year-old Khamenei. Speculation already has begun 
that Raisi might be a contender for the position, along with Khamenei's son, 
Mojtaba.

Biden Objects to Raising Gas Tax       06/19 08:33

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House made clear Friday that President Joe 
Biden was opposed to letting the federal gasoline tax rise at the rate of 
inflation to help pay for an infrastructure package that a bipartisan group of 
21 senators is trying to craft.

   The gas tax increase was part of an early package that called for $579 
billion in new spending on roads, bridges, rail and public transit. It's 
unclear if it will make the final cut and the White House seems intent on 
making sure it doesn't.

   "The President has been clear throughout these negotiations: He is adamantly 
opposed to raising taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year," White 
House spokesman Andrew Bates said. "After the extraordinarily hard times that 
ordinary Americans endured in 2020 -- job losses, shrinking incomes, squeezed 
budgets -- he is simply not going to allow Congress to raise taxes on those who 
suffered the most."

   The federal gas tax stands at 18.4 cents a gallon and has not increased 
since 1993. It helps pay for highways and mass transit programs around the 
country. Congress has traditionally relied on the user-pay principle to pay for 
road and bridge work, but is increasingly relying on general funds to 
accomplish that task. Lawmakers from both parties are wary of attack ads 
accusing them of supporting a hike in gas prices.

   Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance 
Committee, said that indexing the gas tax to inflation was a nonstarter for him.

   "It's another hit on working people," Wyden said.

   Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said a gas tax hike is a "Republican thing."

   "Democrats want to fund this by taxing people (earning) $400,000," Brown 
said.

   The White House is expecting to hear from the senators crafting the 
infrastructure package on Monday. It is scaled back from Biden's proposal, but 
Democrats are preparing to move other parts of Biden's agenda in separate 
legislation that they could pass using a tool that requires only a simple 
majority for approval.

   The bipartisan plan offers about $579 billion in new spending, including 
$110 billion on roads and highways, $66 billion on passenger and freight rail 
and $48 billion on public transit. An additional $47 billion would go toward 
efforts to fight climate change and there is money for electric vehicle 
charging stations.

   Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., described the infrastructure 
bill being negotiated a good start, but most Democrats don't believe it does 
enough on climate or on the amount of revenue raises, and doesn't address 
priorities like paid family leave. So they will proceed on two tracks that 
include a reconciliation package going beyond what's in the infrastructure bill.

Biden: 300M Vaccines in 150 Days       06/19 08:36

   President Joe Biden took a cautious victory lap Friday in his quest to bring 
the COVID-19 pandemic under control, announcing that 300 million vaccine shots 
have been administered in the 150 days since he took office.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden took a cautious victory lap Friday in 
his quest to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control, announcing that 300 
million vaccine shots have been administered in the 150 days since he took 
office.

   Biden credited scientists, companies, the American people and his 
whole-of-government effort. The president noted that the widespread vaccination 
campaign had set the stage for most Americans to have a relatively normal 
summer as businesses reopen and employers hire.

   "We're heading into a very different summer compared to last year," the 
president said. "A bright summer. Prayerfully, a summer of joy."

   But as Biden marks one milestone, he is in danger of failing to meet 
another: his target to have 70% of American adults at least partially 
vaccinated by July Fourth, in a little over two weeks.

   Overall, about 168 million American adults, or 65.1% of the U.S. population 
18 years and older, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as 
of Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

   The pace of new vaccinations in the U.S. has dropped significantly from a 
high of nearly 2 million per day about two months ago, jeopardizing Biden's 
ability to hit the 70% mark.

   The White House said its whole-of-government approach to the vaccination 
effort has put the virus in retreat, which in turn has brought COVID-19 cases, 
hospitalizations and deaths to their lowest levels in more than a year. But 
Biden noted in his remarks that some communities in states with lower 
vaccination rates are seeing cases and hospitalizations increase.

   The administration is in the middle of a monthlong blitz to combat vaccine 
hesitancy and the lack of urgency some people feel to get the shots, 
particularly in the South and Midwest.

   CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Friday that she expects the delta 
variant of the coronavirus will become the dominant strain in the U.S. That 
strain has become dominant in Britain after it was first detected in India.

   During an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America," she told Americans who 
get their shots that "you'll be protected against this delta variant."

   As part of the administration's vaccination push, Vice President Kamala 
Harris traveled to Atlanta on Friday to tour a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site 
at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor until 
his assassination in 1968. The current senior pastor is U.S. Sen. Raphael 
Warnock.

   Harris also spoke at a COVID-19 vaccination mobilization event at Clark 
Atlanta University, a historically Black school. She told students they "have 
the power to end this pandemic" by giving people information about the 
multitude of resources, such as free car rides and child care, that are 
available to help them get vaccinated.

   In Fulton County, Georgia, where Atlanta is located, 49% of residents have 
received at least one shot. Statewide, it is 42%, Harris said.

   "Getting vaccinated is about building the power of community," she said. 
"Getting vaccinated is about building the power of our country."

   The Biden administration insists that even if the 70% vaccination goal is 
unmet, it will have little effect on the overall U.S. recovery, which is 
already ahead of where Biden said it would be months ago.

   Biden wants to celebrate Independence Day as a "summer of freedom" from the 
virus.

   Earlier this week, the White House announced plans to host first responders, 
essential workers and service members and their families on the South Lawn for 
a cookout and to watch the fireworks over the National Mall.

   More than 1,000 guests are expected for what will be one of the largest 
events of Biden's presidency.-