Reuters US Domestic News Summary

9 executive order and subsequent White House guidance requiring all covered federal contractor employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 8 unless they got a religious or medical exemption. Explainer-Democratic 'billionaires tax' proposal likely to face legal challenges The proposal by U.S. Senate Democrats to tax billionaires https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-democrat-unveils-billionaires-tax-biden-agenda-2021-10-27 ' tradeable assets to help finance President Joe Biden's social spending agenda will almost certainly face lawsuits, tax experts said.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Oklahoma must postpone execution set for Thursday, court rules

Oklahoma must postpone the executions of condemned inmates John Grant and Julius Jones while a legal challenge to the state's lethal injection protocol is adjudicated, a U.S. appeals court panel ruled on Wednesday. The execution of Grant, which was scheduled for 4 p.m. on Thursday, will now go forward only if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the ruling by a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals.

Democrats at odds over 'billionaires tax' to fund sweeping Biden agenda

Senior Democrats in the U.S. Congress were at odds on Wednesday over a proposal to tax billionaires' assets to help pay for President Joe Biden's social and climate-change agenda, leaving it unclear if the idea had enough support to become law.

The Senate's top tax writer, Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, unveiled the idea early on Wednesday, but by afternoon his House of Representatives counterpart, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, said the idea appeared to be too complex to succeed.

Biden likely to head to COP26 without a final U.S. climate deal

President Joe Biden is expected to head to Europe without an agreement on measures to combat climate change as chances dimmed that deeply divided Democrats in Congress would agree on Wednesday on a broader spending deal. Biden is expected to leave on Thursday morning for a meeting of G20 leaders in Rome and then the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. The Glasgow conference was expected to be a showcase for Biden to demonstrate U.S. efforts to tackle climate change and ask other countries to adopt similar measures.

Head of New York City firefighters union says members 'insulted' by vaccine mandate

The head of the New York City firefighters union said on Wednesday he had instructed unvaccinated members to keep working, even though they feel "insulted" by Mayor Bill de Blasio's order to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination by Friday or be placed on unpaid leave. "I have told my members that if they choose to remain unvaccinated, they must still report for duty," Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, told a news conference.

Biden vows to stand with Asia on freedom, hits at China on Taiwan

President Joe Biden told Southeast Asian nations on Wednesday the United States would stand with them in defending freedom of the seas and democracy and called China's actions towards Taiwan "coercive" and a threat to peace and stability. Speaking at a virtual East Asia Summit attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Biden said Washington would start talks with partners in the Indo-Pacific about developing a regional economic framework, something critics say his regional strategy has lacked.

Blinken says he ordered reviews of State Dept's evacuation efforts out of Afghanistan

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed on Wednesday that he has ordered a series of internal reviews of the State Department's planning and execution of the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan and the relocation efforts, operations that were widely criticized as chaotic. The United States' two decades-long occupation of Afghanistan culminated in a hastily organized airlift in August in which more than 124,000 civilians including Americans, Afghans and others were evacuated as the Taliban took over. But thousands of other U.S.-allied Afghans at risk of Taliban persecution were left behind.

White House signals flexibility over Dec. 8 vaccine deadline

The Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccination deadline will not require immediate action on the part of employers against unvaccinated employees when it comes into force on Dec. 8, the White House coronavirus response coordinator said on Wednesday. Some lawyers previously interpreted President Joe Biden's Sept. 9 executive order and subsequent White House guidance requiring all covered federal contractor employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 8 unless they got a religious or medical exemption.

Explainer-Democratic 'billionaires tax' proposal likely to face legal challenges

The proposal by U.S. Senate Democrats to tax billionaires https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-democrat-unveils-billionaires-tax-biden-agenda-2021-10-27 ' tradeable assets to help finance President Joe Biden's social spending agenda will almost certainly face lawsuits, tax experts said. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that Biden supports the so-called "billionaires' tax" and believes it is legal.

Accused U.S. Capitol rioter made false medical claims in jail, prosecutors say

Federal prosecutors said on Wednesday that an accused participant in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump made false claims about his medical needs while in jail awaiting trial. That came two weeks after a judge ruled https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-says-dc-jail-violated-civil-rights-jan-6-defendant-2021-10-13 that Washington, D.C. Department of Corrections officials violated the rights of Christopher Worrell, a member of the right-wing Proud Boys, by limiting his access to medical care.

States have placed orders of COVID-19 vaccine for children, says White House

U.S. states have placed initial orders of COVID-19 vaccines for children and millions of doses will be shipped as soon as health regulators authorize their use, the White House said on Wednesday. The Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine could be available for children ages 5 to 11 as soon as next week after an expert panel on Tuesday voted https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-advisers-weigh-pfizerbiontech-covid-19-vaccine-children-2021-10-26 overwhelmingly to recommend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorize it.

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