From CNN, I'm Fez Jameel with the 5 Things You Need to Know for Tuesday, August 20th. It was a ceremonial send-off for President Joe Biden at the DNC last night. America! America!
I gave my best to you! CNN's David Ryan was at the convention. Fez, Biden's speech began with more than 4 minutes of applause from the crowd here in Chicago as they chanted, We Love Joe, and ended with Kamala Harris hugging him on stage as he passed the torch to his vice president. In between, Biden said he wasn't angry at those who demanded he step aside after his disastrous debate on CNN.
He said he gave his best to America, and also did his best to sum up the arc of his decades-long career. Too young to be in the Senate because I wasn't 30 yet. I'm too old to stay as president. Biden also noticeably went out of his way to credit Harris for helping him pass various pieces of legislation and said he would be out there campaigning hard for Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz.
As David mentioned, Vice President Kamala Harris made an unexpected appearance on stage last night, thanking Biden for his leadership and service. While the DNC was underway, the Harris campaign came out with a big policy announcement. It says Harris will push to increase the corporate tax rate from the current 21% to 28%. That shows how she plans to pay for the tax relief to working a middle-class American she unveiled a few days ago as part of economic policy.
It would also reverse a major part of former President Donald Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered the corporate income tax rate from 35%. Trump, meanwhile, was campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania yesterday, where he told Reuters he would consider ending a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles, while also musing about appointing Tesla owner Elon Musk to a cabinet or advisory role. The Israeli military says it's recovered the bodies of six hostages in an overnight operation in Gaza. All but one had previously been confirmed dead by Israeli authorities.
This comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Egypt today, after he said Israel accepted a proposal to bridge gaps in ceasefire negotiations yesterday. Blinken says the ball is now in Hamas' court. The next important step is for Hamas to say yes, and then in the coming days for all the expert investigators to get together to work on clear understandings on implementing the ebree. Fewer babies are being born in the U.S.
CDC data shows a fertility rate fell 3% last year to a historic low of 54.5 births for every 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 44. Now, if you compare it to 2007, when the fertility rate was at its most recent high, general fertility rate has declined by 21%. Scientists say there are a number of reasons for this, including the fact people are getting married later and less often, spend more years in school, and take longer to get economically established as a steady job. Coming up, Disney makes a U-turn on a wrongful death lawsuit.
Disney has reversed course on a wrongful death lawsuit. The plaintiff in the case alleged that his late wife had a fatal allergic reaction from a meal she ate at a Disney Park restaurant in 2023. In court documents, the company argued that the widower's Disney Plus streaming service contract and the fact he used the Walt Disney Parks website to buy Epcot-centered tickets meant the company was shielded from a lawsuit. It instead wanted the dispute to go to arbitration.
But in a statement to CNN yesterday, the chairman of Disney Experiences said the company was waiving its right to arbitration. The case can now go to court. That's all for now. I'll be back with our next episode, which drops at 9 a.m.
Eastern.