First Thing: Joe Biden’s bold domestic agenda hangs in the balance |

Good morning,

The US president, Joe Biden, faces a make-or-break 24 hours over his proposed $1tn public works plan, considered crucial by progressive Democrats, amid some resistance towards his broader social policy agenda among centrists.

It comes as the White House also scrambles to push through an expansion of the social safety net, which requires almost total Democratic party unity across both houses for the votes to pass. At least two senators are sceptical, with Joe Manchin of West Virginia criticising “an all-or-nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces”.

The proposed laws would extend child tax credits, establish universal pre-kindergarten education, and create a federal family and medical leave system; as well as moving the US toward far greater use of renewable energies.

• Who pays? The wealthiest Americans and corporations would see tax increases; while the poor and middle class would see tax cuts, and those earning less than $400,000 annually would not be taxed more.

• “Precarious”. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki,said: “We’re obviously at a precarious and important time in these discussions … It’s like an episode of a TV show. Maybe the West Wing if something good happens.”

Top Republicans in shady rightwing group with extremists

Figures considered pillars of the Republican political establishment have been named on the list of the secretive Council for National Policy (CNP) alongside wealthy entrepreneurs and media moguls, with anti-abortion and anti-Islamic extremists also within their ranks.

The leaked document reveals that leaders of organizations that have been categorized as hate groups were members last year, and could remain so. The CNP was described as “a critical nexus for mainstreaming extremism from the far right into conservative circles”.

In videos obtained by the Washington Post in 2020, the CNP executive committee chairman, Bill Walton, told attendees of the upcoming election: “This is a spiritual battle we are in. This is good versus evil.”

• How influential is the CNP? Its meetings have played host to presidential aspirants such as George W Bush and 1999 and Mitt Romney in 2007, and sitting presidents, including Donald Trump in 2020.

• Corporations onboard. Members also include a Boeing vice-president, a key figure in the Coors brewing family, the founder of Forbes’s business media empire, a senior vice-president at Morgan Stanley, and the founder of Cinemark.

Top general links Afghan collapse with Trump-Taliban deal

Gen Frank McKenzie, the head of central command, said the…