From March 25 to April 2, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harriswill visit Accra, Ghana; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Lusaka, Zambia.
The trip would build on the recent U.S.-Africa Leaders Meeting that President Bidenconducted in Washington in December 2022.
The trip will strengthen the United States’ partnerships throughout Africa and advance our shared efforts on security and economic prosperity.
Throughout the trip, in partnership with African governments and the private sector, Mrs Harris will advance efforts to expand access to the digital economy, support climate adaptation and resilience, and strengthen business ties and investment, including through innovation, entrepreneurship, and the economic empowerment of women.
The Vice President will meet with President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, President Samia Hassan of Tanzania, and President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia.
They will discuss regional and global priorities, including our shared commitment to democracy, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, food security, and the effects of Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine, among other issues.
The Vice President will strengthen people-to-people ties and engage with civil society, including young leaders, business representatives, entrepreneurs, and members of the African Diaspora.
The Senate on Sunday afternoon passed Democrats’ $750 billion health care, tax, and climate bill, in a significant victory for President Joe Biden and his party.
The package is the product of painstaking negotiations, and its final passage would give Democrats a chance to achieve major policy objectives ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
The Democrat-controlled House, which is expected to take up the legislation on Friday, August 12, must approve the bill before Biden can sign it into law.
The sweeping bill — named the Inflation Reduction Act — would represent the largest climate investment in US history and make major changes to health policy by giving Medicare the power for the first time to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs and extend expiring health care subsidies for three years.
The legislation would reduce the deficit, be paid for through new taxes — including a 15% minimum tax on large corporations and a 1% tax on stock buybacks — and boost the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to collect.
It would raise over $700 billion in government revenue over 10 years and spend over $430 billion to reduce carbon emissions and extend subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and use the rest of the new revenue to reduce the deficit.
Senate Democrats, with a narrow 50-seat majority, stayed unified to pass the legislation, using a special, filibuster-proof process to approve the measure without Republican votes.
The final passage came after a marathon series of contentious amendment votes known as a “vote-a-rama” that stretched nearly 16 hours from late Saturday night until Sunday afternoon.
The 79-year-old is experiencing mild symptoms, including a runny nose and fatigue. His doctor says he is responding well to medication.
Mr Biden has continued working while in isolation, according to the White House, and on Thursday tweeted that he was “doing great”.
The president is expected to resume normal duties once he tests negative.
An update released on Friday by the president’s physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, noted Mr Biden had a slight fever on Thursday evening that responded well to Tylenol.
In a Zoom meeting with his economic and energy advisers on Friday, Mr Biden sounded hoarse but said he was “feeling much better than I sound”.
The president is still also being treated with Paxlovid, an anti-viral medicine that helps stop the Covid virus from multiplying in the body. This, in turn, allows the immune system to better combat the infection.
In a news briefing at the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she had spoken to the president and that “he wants to remind Americans to get vaccinated”.
Ms Jean-Pierre added that the president had been “very active” and felt well enough to work an eight-hour day, which also included virtually receiving the president’s daily briefing produced by US intelligence agencies.
Dr Ashish Jha, the White House’s Covid response co-ordinator, said that Mr Biden had “slept well last night”.
“He ate his breakfast and lunch, fully,” he added. “He actually showed me his plate.”
Dr O’Connor added that he believes the president – who is fully vaccinated and boosted – “will respond favourably [to the medication], as most maximally protected patients do.”
“There has been nothing in the course of his illness so far which gives me cause to alter that initial expectation,” Dr O’Connor said.
The presidential doctor’s assessment was echoed by his chief medical adviser, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr Anthony Fauci, who told CBS that he “fully expects” Mr Biden to “do very well”.
“[Mr Biden] is generally a healthy person. He has been vaccinated and boosted twice… and is feeling well enough to perform duties from the White House,” Dr Fauci added.
White House officials have confirmed that Vice-President Kamala Harris, as well as the First Lady, Jill Biden, have so far tested negative for the virus. Both were being considered a close contact of the president.
The president is continuing to isolate in the White House, while his wife – following her original schedule – will travel home to Wilmington, Delaware, for the weekend.
On Friday reporters grilled White House officials as to why a maskless Ms Harris had hugged someone during an event earlier in the day in Washington DC.
Image source, EPAImage caption, An unmasked Kamala Harris at a conference on Friday
Close contacts of Covid-infected patients are supposed to wear a face covering at all times around other people, under US health guidelines.
Mr Biden is now the second US president to contract Covid-19 while in office. His predecessor, Donald Trump. was admitted to hospital for three days in October 2020 after falling ill with the virus.
To date, there have been 89.7 million Covid cases in the US and more than one million deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cases are again rising and have gone up by over 25% in the last month, according to CDC data.
