Day 83: Ending Forever Wars

Capitol Police Officer William Evans lay in honor today, after he was killed on duty at the Campus. “He was defined by his dignity, his decency, his loyalty, and his courage,” President Joe Biden said from the Rotunda.

In all his years at the Capitol, never has so much “responsibility been placed on the shoulders” of the CPO as in recent months, Biden acknowledged, having served in the Senate since 1973. Evans was struck by a vehicle in a second attack on the Capitol this year.

Later in the day, Biden met with the Congressional Black Caucus while his team announced a complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by September 11th. It’s a beginning to his campaign promise to end “forever wars” in the Middle East and to the apparent residual Civil War that’s played out in disproportionate suffering and lack of suffrage among Black and Brown Americans.

In addition to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, Biden discussed with the CBC how his American Jobs Plan is a “generational investment” in employment opportunities — including his Administration’s own commitment to diversity — climate justice, equitable transportation and affordable housing.

Via proclamation, Biden also recognized Pan American Day and said that regionally, he’s looking to strengthen partnerships with neighboring nations on a number of issues from Covid to immigration.

“No nation can address today’s challenges alone or hide from them behind walls,” he said. “A secure, economically prosperous, and democratic hemisphere is overwhelmingly in the economic and national security interest of the United States …

“The people of our hemisphere want governments that are accountable to voters and deliver real benefits: good-paying jobs that allow hard-working people to provide for their families, education for their children, security in their communities, and a future where equal opportunity and fundamental human and political rights are guaranteed to all people.”