Weekly Recap: January 27th - February 2nd
A recap of the big political stories affecting the United States this past week.
Yesterday the US launched retaliatory strikes against Iranian backed militias in Syria and Iraq in response to the drone strike that killed three American servicemembers and wounded many more. 84 Targets were hit by precision munitions dropped by B-1 bombers that were launched from the US and assisted by allied air forces in the region.
This was a loud message to the world that attacking US forces will not go unpunished and that the US can reach anyone, anywhere, even from our own shores.Â
Attacks by rebel groups have escalated in the Middle East since Israel began its attacks on Hamas forces in Palestine following the gruesome terrorist attack on Israel on Oct 7th that resulted in over 1,200 Israeli deaths and hundreds of hostages taken. While some hostages have been released through previous agreements, many hostages are still being held by Hamas.
Several nations, including the United States, paused their funding to UNRWA, a UN group that is focused on Palestinian aid. This pause came after accusations from Israel that twelve UNRWA members directly participated in the Oct 7th attack on Israel and thousands more have ties to Hamas. Israel presented evidence in private to different nations and media groups.
UNRWA has said they are launching a full investigation into these accusations and has implored nations to maintain their funding in order to aid the displaced Palestinian people.Â
This is the latest complication in a war that is straining the US alliance with Israel as the world condemns Israel’s strategy which has displaced millions of Palestinians and killed over 20,000 civilians including women and children. Netanyahu has directly said that he does not believe in a two state solution which is seen by many as the only path to peace.
President Biden is also taking heat from some Democrat voters for not condemning Israel and for continuing aid and weaponry used in these attacks. Both President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have attempted to hold meetings with Arab Americans in recent weeks but have been rebuffed by individuals who say it feels like a political stunt and believe Biden should have been doing more to protect Palestinian civilians.
House Republicans began their impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas claiming that he has not been enforcing US immigration laws. Their claim is that crisis along the southern border is his fault. Republicans have yet to cite a single federal law not being upheld and both Democrats and other Republicans alike have said this action is over policy disagreements which is not grounds for an impeachment.
Republicans have sped up their impeachment that has dragged on for years now that it is an election year. This increased impeachment effort comes at a time when Mayorkas is directly working with a bipartisan group of Senators to create an immigration bill that can address the border crisis. The text of that bill is going to be released this weekend and a vote is planned for early next week.
House Republicans have declared the bipartisan bill dead on arrival in the House despite having not yet read the bill as part of their election year strategy to keep the border crisis going while claiming that Trump and Republicans can fix it if elected.
The January jobs report came out and more than doubled estimates with 353,000 jobs created last month. This brings the total jobs created under Biden’s administration to 14.8 million. This is one piece of the impressive economic recovery that has happened under President Biden and is now confirmed to be the best post-pandemic economic recovery in the world.
US manufacturing is outpacing the world. The US economy is outpacing China’s for the first time since 1976. Unemployment has remained below 4% for two years straight. Wages are up and inflation is back down to the 2% target levels from before the pandemic.
The remarkable US economy will be one of the main headlines for Biden and Democrats throughout this election year.
