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Capital Journal |
Good morning from the WSJ Washington bureau. We produce this newsletter each weekday to deliver exclusive insights and analysis from our reporting team in Washington. Sign up. |
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Biden's Day: President Biden participates in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's virtual retreat on Covid-19. He heads to Camp David for the weekend. Shoring Up: The Biden administration is set to decide whether to continue a Trump-era policy that allows federal funds to be used for replenishing shores with sand from protected areas. Retail: U.S. shoppers likely boosted spending at retailers in June, but weak auto sales linked to supply disruptions could have restrained revenue gains. |
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| Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong a year ago. PHOTO: JAYNE RUSSELL/ZUMA PRESS |
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The Biden administration is warning American businesses about the increasing risks of operating in Hong Kong as China’s tightening grip on the city causes business conditions to deteriorate. An advisory to be issued today cites the risks of electronic surveillance without warrants and of having to surrender corporate and customer data to the government, report William Mauldin and Alex Leary. |
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China’s aggressiveness on the world stage has refocused Washington’s foreign-assistance game, report Stu Woo and Daniel Michaels. U.S. officials say the International Development Finance Corp., or DFC, is the initiative’s most powerful tool. Its $60 billion investment cap exceeds the combined resources of its counterparts in the G-7 nations. The Trump administration was quick to use the DFC, to offer loans to get Ethiopia to shun Huawei's 5G equipment, among other things. The Biden administration wants to use it to offset China's vaccine diplomacy. Foreign assistance in developing countries is inherently risky. Congress is still debating which countries should qualify for funding. |
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Since Myanmar’s coup, Russia has emerged as a key backer of the junta, lending the junta recognition and counterbalancing its reliance on Beijing for weapons and other support while the U.S. and other Western nations try to isolate the military-led government, reports Brett Forrest. |
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Some of the former Colombian soldiers arrested for suspected involvement in the assassination of Haiti’s president took part in a training program with the U.S. military, the Pentagon said on Thursday. They are among the thousands of troops from that country to have received U.S. military training, reports Nancy A. Youssef. |
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PHOTO: TOM BRENNER/ REUTERS |
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Mr. Biden and Angela Merkel emphasized a commitment to work together Thursday, on what was likely Ms. Merkel's final visit to the White House as Germany’s chancellor, despite diverging interests over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and other matters, reports Vivian Salama. |
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| Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) PHOTO: CAROLINE BREHMAN/ZUMA PRESS |
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Efforts to firm up a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure agreement before an initial vote next week have been snarled by disagreements over expanding the Internal Revenue Service, report Andrew Duehren and Kristina Peterson. Lawmakers and aides said the group the negotiated the deal may abandon an effort to raise revenue through enhanced enforcement at the agency. That would mean they'd have to find alternative ways to cover the full cost of the spending. |
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PHOTO: ROD LAMKEY - CNP/ZUMA PRESS |
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The Senate confirmed Nellie Liang to the top Treasury post for managing U.S. debt as the Biden administration proposes trillions of dollars in new spending. Ms. Liang, who specialized in financial stability issues at the Fed, was confirmed 72-27, reports Kate Davidson. |
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PHOTO: ROD LAMKEY - CNP/ZUMA PRESS |
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David Chipman, Mr. Biden's pick to lead ATF, faces a narrow path to confirmation, with uncertain support among Senate Democrats and intensive lobbying by groups opposed to the former ATF agent turned gun-control advocate, report Julie Bykowicz and Kristina Peterson. |
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Groups on Both Sides of Abortion Debate Prepare for 2022 Battle |
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Anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List plans to mount a $73 million campaign in the 2022 midterms to topple Democratic congressional majorities, especially in the Senate. It sees a decades-long effort to install an anti-abortion judiciary and build power at the state level nearing its pinnacle with a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court advantage and a slew of challenges to Roe v. Wade coming through the litigation pipeline. Planned Parenthood, on the other side of the issue, has also begun its effort to defend the Democratic Senate majority. In recent weeks the organization’s New Hampshire affiliate has been running digital ads against Gov. Chris Sununu, the top Republican choice to run against Sen. Maggie Hassan, though he has not said definitively whether he’ll run. He recently signed a budget that enacts new abortion restrictions. Planned Parenthood’s political arm has not yet finalized its 2022 budget, a spokesman said. |
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📣 How important do you think abortion will be as an issue in the 2022 midterm elections? Share your thoughts. |
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USTR appointment: Kamau Marshall, a former communications staffer to Joe Biden during his presidential bid and a longtime Democratic aide, has landed at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He will be the deputy assistant USTR for media and public affairs in the USTR's executive office of the president. The new gig reunites him with economic policy, part of his portfolio during the Biden campaign, as the administration's trade posture toward China is taking shape. Mr. Marshall had also served on the inaugural committee for Mr. Biden; since then, he's done private consulting for venture capitalists, advocacy groups and elected officials. —Joshua Jamerson |
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189,024,605 cases world-wide and 4,068,772 deaths. 33,977,713 cases in the U.S. and 608,406 deaths. Source: Johns Hopkins University, as of 7 a.m. ET. |
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Canada could reopen the border to U.S. tourists in mid-August, after closing it to most Americans since March 2020. |
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Los Angeles County will again require the use of masks indoors, following a sharp rise in coronavirus infections. |
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| Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Dina Srinivasan, an antitrust scholar Photos: Julia Robinson for The Wall Street Journal; Christie Hemm Klok for the Wall Street Journal |
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The partnership of Ken Paxton, the Republican Texas attorney general, and Dina Srinivasan, a left-leaning independent scholar, in a lawsuit against Google is part of a wave of bipartisan scrutiny of technology giants, reports Tripp Mickle. |
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PHOTO: WILLIAM PRATT/U.S. ARMY |
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Michael Brown, director of a Pentagon unit that works with tech companies, withdrew his nomination to become the Defense Department’s undersecretary for acquisition due to an inspector general’s investigation into his office, reports Brett Forrest. |
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China sent regulators including state-security and police officials to Didi Global’s ride-hailing business as part of a cybersecurity investigation. |
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Intel is exploring a deal to buy GlobalFoundries, one of the largest specialist chip-production companies, in what would be its largest acquisition ever. |
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Coronavirus "surge teams" meant to increase vaccination rates have yet to hit some of the Midwest and Southern states hardest hit by the new Delta variant. (Politico) Heightened American economic competition with China has helped Japan reinvigorate its relationship with Washington. (Foreign Affairs) Some of the country's biggest retailers are using facial recognition on their customers, largely without their knowledge. (Vox) |
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This newsletter is a production of the WSJ Washington bureau. Our newsletter editors are Kate Milani, Troy McCullough, James Graff, and Toula Vlahou. Send feedback to capitaljournal@wsj.com. You can follow politics coverage on our Politics page and at @wsjpolitics on Twitter. |
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