Jennifer Epstein Profile picture
Bloomberg News reporter covering New York residential real estate, recovering White House correspondent. jepstein32@bloomberg.net
Dec 7, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
President Biden has accepted Saule Omarova's request that her name be withdrawn for the nomination for Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, per a statement from him. Biden: "Saule would have brought invaluable insight and perspective to our important work on behalf of the American people. But unfortunately, from the very beginning of her nomination, Saule was subjected to inappropriate personal attacks that were far beyond the pale."
Nov 19, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
President Biden’s health assessment notes two notable changes since his last report was released in 2019, more throat clearing and a change in his gait. His physician’s letter concludes the reasons for those changes were fairly minor issues. whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl… Biden’s “gait appears to be perceptibly stiffer and less fluid than it has been in the past,” his doctor notes. Neurological exam found “no signs of stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's or ascending lateral sclerosis” but did ID “a mild peripheral neuropathy in both feet.”
Oct 14, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
President Biden’s commission considering Supreme Court reforms appears to have consensus in support of term limits for justices and says expanding the court is legal but may not be wise. Also writes positively of creating a code of conduct for justices. bloomberg.com/news/articles/… WH’s SCOTUS commission calls for more transparency around recusals and notes observers have widespread support for barring justices, their spouses and dependent spouses from owning individual stocks. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Aug 6, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
NEWS: Biden administration is extending pandemic relief for student debt through January 31, 2022. The administration says this is the FINAL extension of the freeze of fed loan payments, 0% interest rate, pause on collections of defaulted loans. w/
@JanetLorin on @TheTerminal (deleted tweet from a few mins ago in which I forgot that Jan. 2021 is in the past)
Jun 1, 2021 8 tweets 2 min read
"The events we speak of today took place 100 years ago and yet I'm the first president in 100 years to ever come to Tulsa" to acknowledge the massacre on Black people, Biden says. "Just because history is silent it does not mean that it did not take place," Biden says. "And while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing."
May 27, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
Sen. Capito and three other Republican senators roll out their new infrastructure counter offer to the White House: $928 billion. It includes new net spending of at least $257 billion, per @elwasson. @elwasson The GOP's offers over baseline spending:
$91 billion for roads and bridges
$48 billion for water infrastructure
$25 billion for airports
$65 billion for broadband
$22 billion for freight and passenger rail
$6 billion for water storage in the West
May 20, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Biden on the hate crimes bill that passed with bipartisan support: "I'm proud today of our political system, the United States Congress. I'm proud today that Democrats and Republicans have stood up together to say something." "Every time we're silent, every time we let hate flourish, we make a lie of who we are as a nation," Biden says, raising his voice. "I mean it literally."
May 17, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
SCOOP: President Biden’s income fell dramatically to $607,336 in 2020 as he dropped lucrative speaking engagements to campaign, but he still earned enough to pay the higher tax rates he’s proposed for wealthy people. The Bidens paid $157,414 in federal income tax, 25.9%. The Bidens reported holding cash and investments totaling between $1.2 million and $2.88 million, per their financial disclosure form filed Monday with the Office of Government Ethics and obtained first by Bloomberg News. That's down from their filing last year.
Apr 20, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
After speaking to George Floyd's family, President Biden tells reporters in the Oval he's "praying the verdict is the right verdict" in the Chauvin trial. He adds he only made that comment bc the jury is sequestered, per @josh_wingrove. @josh_wingrove "It's overwhelming, in my view. I wouldn't say that unless the jury was sequestered," Biden says.
Apr 1, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
At his first cabinet meeting, President Biden said he's asking five members to, along w White House staff, "represent me in dealing with Congress, engage the public in selling the plan, and help work out the details" of jobs plan Buttigieg, Granholm, Fudge, Raimondo, Walsh. The press-facing part of President Biden's first cabinet meeting was very different from President Trump's: less than three minutes in all and the only speaker was the president – no statements of praise from cabinet members.
Mar 31, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
"Two years ago I began my campaign" in Pittsburgh "saying I was running to rebuild the backbone of America. Today, I return as the president to lay out the vision" of how to do that, Biden says as he rolls out the American Jobs Plan. bloom.bg/3fBxMdz Biden says his "is a vision not seen through the eyes of Wall Street and Washington but the eyes of hardworking people."
Mar 6, 2021 6 tweets 3 min read
NEW: Six weeks in, President Biden has shown his style to be as quiet and serious as he’d promised. It belies his big moves on policy, from 54 exec actions signed to pushing for a $1.9T trillion stimulus to be followed by infrastructure and immigration. bloomberg.com/news/articles/… President Biden’s days begin with a workout in the residence gym (with CNN or MSNBC on the TV — staff later have to figure it out based on what he’s asking about), a casual breakfast with Jill and, by 7:30, he’s reading for the day ahead in the residence. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Mar 3, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
"I think it's a big mistake,” President Biden says of Texas and other states relaxing covid restrictions. “I hope everyone has realized by now these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease." "The last thing, the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking" that everything's fine and masks aren't needed, Biden says. "It still matters."
Mar 2, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Confirmed: The White House is withdrawing Neera Tanden's nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget, people familiar tell me and @Jordanfabian. @Jordanfabian The @WHCOS has said that Neera Tanden would get another job in the administration if not confirmed to OMB.
Mar 2, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
One year ago at around this time, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg walked into a chicken joint: Then, at a separate event from Buttigieg’s, Amy Klobuchar endorsed Biden.
Mar 1, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Homeland Security Sec. Mayorkas says at WH press briefing that the Biden admin is working to "replace the cruelty of the last administration with an orderly, humane and safe immigration process ... It is hard and it will take time but rest assured we are going to get it done." Mayorkas said when he took office he "learned that we did not have the facilities available or equipped to administer the humanitarian laws that our Congress passed years ago." He adds: "Quite frankly, the entire system was gutted."
Mar 1, 2021 8 tweets 3 min read
NEW: President Biden weighs in on the push to unionize Amazon workers in Alabama, telling workers to make their “voice heard.” He says it’s up them to decide how to vote but makes clear that he believes unions help workers. Story on @theterminal. Biden in new video: “Let me be really clear: it’s not up to me to decide whether anyone should decide a union. But let me be even more clear: it’s not up to an employer to decide that either. The choice to join a union is up to the workers – full stop, full stop.”
Feb 26, 2021 9 tweets 5 min read
*MINIMUM-WAGE INCREASE RULED OUT OF ORDER FOR SENATE RELIEF BILL via @elwasson *SENATE PARLIMENTARIAN RULED MINIMUM-WAGE BOOST OUT OF ORDER
Feb 19, 2021 5 tweets 1 min read
To those who say the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill is took big, Biden says, "Let me ask them, what would they have me cut? What would they have me leave out?" "My hope is that the Republicans in Congress listen to their constituents," Biden says, pointing to polls that show widespread support for his covid relief proposal.
Feb 17, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Biden on #CancelStudentDebt: "I'm prepared to write off the $10,000 debt but not 50 because I don't think I have the authority to do it by signing." Schumer & Warren push back on Biden comments: "The Biden administration has said it is reviewing options for cancelling up to $50,000 in student debt by executive action, and we are confident they will agree with the standards Obama and Trump used..."
Feb 1, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
NEW: President Biden has invited Sen. Collins and the other Republican senators who signed the letter to him to meet with him at the White House early this week “for a full exchange of ideas.” Clear WH sees GOP 10’s $600B offer to Biden’s $1.9T plan, proposed 2+ weeks ago, as insufficient. Psaki: “With the virus posing a grave threat to the country, and economic conditions grim for so many, the need for action is urgent, and the scale of what must be done is large.”