President Biden said his predecessor should not receive intelligence briefings, which are routinely given to former presidents.
Asked if former President Trump should receive routine intelligence updates and have access to classified information, Biden told Norah O’Donnell on “CBS Evening News”: “I think not.”
“I just think there’s no need for him to have intelligence briefings,” Biden said in the interview teased Friday. “What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
The president refused to weigh in on whether the Senate should convict Trump for incitement of an insurrection related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, even after he’s out of office. “I’ll let the Senate make that decision,” Biden said.
The president was asked where he was willing to budge on his robust $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, which Republicans say is too costly. Biden admitted that he wouldn’t be able to keep a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15: “Apparently that’s not going to occur,” he said.
Biden said he instead hoped for a stand-alone bill to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25, where it’s been since 2009, to $15. He said the raise could be gradual.
Biden did, however, say he was willing to negotiate who got the proposed $1,400 stimulus checks. Members of both parties are considering phasing out checks for those who earn over $50,000 and ending them entirely for those who earn over $75,000.
The plan to raise the federal minimum wage was removed after senators backed an amendment from Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa.
“A $15 federal minimum wage would be devastating for our hardest-hit small businesses at a time when they can least afford it,” Ernst said on the Senate floor.
“We should not have a one-size-fits-all policy set by Washington politicians,” she said. “We all support higher wages, but a $15 federal minimum wage would be counterproductive.”
In a marathon session of voting on amendments to pass COVID relief as a budget reconciliation bill, senators backed Ernst.
The Senate adopted a budget resolution for coronavirus relief 51-50, with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. It’s not a final bill, but it allows the Senate to write and pass a final bill under the budget reconciliation rules, which would let Democrats approve a coronavirus stimulus plan by a simple majority and avoid a filibuster.
