Розділ: Політика
Widow of Ex-US Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain Supports Democrat Biden
Cindy McCain, widow of the late U.S. Republican presidential contender John McCain, is endorsing Democrat Joe Biden in the November election, and Republican President Donald Trump says he doesn’t care one bit.Cindy McCain, who spoke on Biden’s behalf at the Democratic National Convention last month, said on Twitter late Tuesday, “My husband John lived by a code: country first. We are Republicans, yes, but Americans foremost. There’s only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation, and that is @JoeBiden.”Prominent Republicans Endorse Biden at Democratic Convention Former Ohio Governor John Kasich, who was one of President Trump’s strongest rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is perhaps the most prominent Republican to both oppose Trump’s reelection and support Biden McCain said that she and Biden “don’t always agree on the issues, and I know he and John certainly had some passionate arguments, but he is a good and honest man. He will lead us with dignity. He will be a commander in chief that the finest fighting force in the history of the world can depend on, because he knows what it is like to send a child off to fight.”As McCain voiced her support for Biden again Wednesday on morning news shows, Trump said on Twitter, “I hardly know Cindy McCain other than having put her on a Committee at her husband’s request. Joe Biden was John McCain’s lapdog. So many BAD decisions on Endless Wars & the (Veterans Administration), which I brought from a horror show to HIGH APPROVAL. Never a fan of John. Cindy can have Sleepy Joe!”
I hardly know Cindy McCain other than having put her on a Committee at her husband’s request. Joe Biden was John McCain’s lapdog. So many BAD decisions on Endless Wars & the V.A., which I brought from a horror show to HIGH APPROVAL. Never a fan of John. Cindy can have Sleepy Joe!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2020
Trump had a stormy relationship with John McCain, disparaging his career as a naval aviator who spent more than five years as a North Vietnamese prisoner of war in the 1960s. Later as a senator from Arizona, McCain served for two decades in the U.S. Senate with Biden.McCain lost the 2008 presidential election to former U.S. President Barack Obama and died from brain cancer in 2018.In the first weeks of his presidential campaign in 2015, Trump said of McCain, “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”Trump Denies Report That He Spoke Disparagingly of US War DeadAtlantic reports that Trump called war dead ‘losers’Biden accepted her endorsement in a tweet of his own.”Cindy — I’m deeply honored to have your support and your friendship,” Biden said. “This election is bigger than any one political party. It requires all of us to come together as one America to restore the soul of the nation. Together, we’ll get it done.”More than 100 former McCain staffers also endorsed Biden last month despite having worked to beat him when he was Obama’s vice presidential running mate in 2008.”Given the incumbent president’s lack of competent leadership, his efforts to aggravate rather than bridge divisions among Americans, and his failure to uphold American values,” they wrote in their endorsement, “we believe the election of former Vice President Biden is clearly in the national interest.”John McCain spent more than 31 years as a senator representing Arizona, a state where Trump and Biden are locked in a tight race. A Washington-Post ABC News poll released Wednesday has them virtually tied, with 49 percent for Trump and 48 percent for Biden.
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By Polityk | 09/23/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
These 3 Issues Could Dominate Deliberation Over Next US Supreme Court Justice
Conservatives and liberals alike have much at stake with U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice of a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week after 27 years on the bench. Trump has promised to nominate a conservative, female jurist on Saturday to succeed Ginsburg, the most liberal member of the high court. Whoever Trump taps will cement a new 6-3 conservative majority and play a pivotal role in deciding issues of great consequence to millions of Americans. Among them: the fate of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act that provides health insurance to millions of people, immigration, abortion rights, and economic and social protections for the LGBTQ community. In recent years, the Supreme Court has blocked attempts to gut Obamacare and roll back abortion rights while expanding the rights of LGBTQ people. But those outcomes hailed by liberal forces were achieved by narrow margins. With the almost certain installation of a sixth conservative on the nine-member bench, the balance of power will greatly shift to conservative forces. These issues will likely dominate the looming Senate confirmation hearings. But the potential nominee – whether federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, Judge Barbara Lagoa of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Allison Jones Rushing of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, or some other candidate — will likely decline disclosing her views about them. “If she is asked about Obamacare and Roe and all these things, she’s just going to say, ‘I can’t discuss cases that might come before me,’ ” said Saikrishna Prakash, a University of Virginia law professor who knows Barrett professionally. Here is a look at three of the issues that could dominate deliberation over the choice of the next Supreme Court justice: Obamacare Ten years after its passage, Americans remain divided over the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, with just over 50% supporting it in polls. While the program narrowly enacted by Congress in March 2010 allows 20 million uninsured Americans to purchase subsidized health insurance, conservatives have long objected to mandatory provisions and say the system is not financially sustainable. Since its inception and rocky start, Obamacare has weathered repeated legal challenges, including two that made it all the way to the Supreme Court. On November 10, one week after the 2020 presidential election, the high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the third significant challenge – this one brought by 20 states led by Texas. The states contend that after Congress in 2017 eliminated tax penalties for individuals lacking insurance, the individual mandate to buy insurance was rendered unconstitutional, and they want the court to scrap the entire law. During the past two cases to reach the Supreme Court, Ginsburg and the court’s three other liberal justices joined conservative Chief Justice Roberts to preserve the law. “But this time will be different,” Russ Feingold, a former Democratic senator from Wisconsin and now president of the left-leaning American Constitution Society, said in a statement. “This time Justice Ginsburg will not be on the bench.” But it’s far from certain that a new conservative justice will vote to abolish Obamacare altogether even if she finds the individual mandate unconstitutional. Roberts and two fellow conservatives on the high court subscribe to a doctrine that says even if one part of a law is flawed, the rest should be preserved to the extent possible. Moreover, the Trump administration and Republican congressional leaders have yet to agree on a replacement health care system. Abortion rights Few issues are more divisive than abortion rights. Advocates see it as a reproductive right; religious conservatives say abortion is tantamount to murder. Ever since the high court legalized abortion in 1973 in a landmark ruling known as Roe v. Wade, conservatives have sought to chip away or overturn it. But the Supreme Court has over the years upheld the precedent, with retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Republican appointee, casting the swing vote. This year, Roberts, himself an abortion opponent, joined the liberal wing to strike down a new Louisiana law that would have severely restricted access to abortions, citing precedent in an earlier case. Now with the prospect of a sixth conservative on the court and more than a dozen abortion cases working their way through the courts, conservative anti-abortion activists see the opportunity for sweeping victories. Trump has already added two conservatives to the high court – Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh – almost certain to side with anti-abortion forces. “This third justice will give us the ability to overturn Roe with a 6-3 majority,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, said in a video released after Ginsburg’s death. LGBTQ Rights In recent years, with the U.S. Congress deadlocked and unable to act, the Supreme Court has issued a string of landmark decisions expanding LGBTQ rights. The culmination came when the high court legalized gay marriage in 2015. At the same time, however, the court has increasingly favored religious groups in disputes pitting religious liberty against LGBTQ rights. In 2018, the justices ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple on religious grounds. Another test will come in November when the court takes up a case involving a Catholic charity that does not allow same-sex couples to work as foster parents. Since Justice Anthony Kennedy, the LGBTQ community’s biggest champion on the court, stepped down two years ago, many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights activists have feared another conservative appointment could endanger their freedoms and rights. “There is an enormous amount at stake for the LGBTQ community in this fight,” Lamda Legal, a national legal rights organization, said in a statement highlighting the anti-civil rights records of the three leading candidates to succeed Ginsburg. But Prakash of the University of Virginia, noted that it was Gorsuch, Trump’s first high court appointee, who wrote a landmark 6-3 ruling this year expanding workplace anti- discrimination protections to LGBTQ workers in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. “Even if she (Barrett) disagreed with Bostock, it doesn’t matter,” Prakash said, referring to the case about LGBTQ workplace discrimination.
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By Polityk | 09/23/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Mourners to Bid Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Farewell
Colleagues, friends and admirers will begin paying their final respects Wednesday to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg’s casket will be brought to the Supreme Court building Wednesday morning for a private ceremony in the Great Hall, attended by her family and her fellow justices. The casket will then be moved to the building’s front steps and lie in repose for public viewing until Thursday, resting on the same wooden platform built for the casket of President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination in 1865. A further tribute will occur Friday when Ginsburg will be taken across the street to the U.S. Capitol, where she will lie in state in the building’s Statuary Hall, making her the first woman to receive such an honor. The public will be able to view the casket after a formal ceremony for invited guests. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks lay in honor in the Capitol’s historic Rotunda after her death in 2005, a designation due to the fact that she was not a government official. A statement by the U.S. Supreme Court says Ginsburg will be buried next week in a private ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony, the final resting place of such figures as President John F. Kennedy, his brothers Robert and Edward, both prominent U.S. senators, and heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis. Ginsburg died last Friday at the age of 87 of metastatic pancreatic cancer, ending a 27-year tenure on the nation’s highest court. Her status as leader of the court’s liberal minority, along with her work seeking legal equality for women and girls in all spheres of American life before becoming a jurist, made her a cultural icon, earning her the nickname “The Notorious R.B.G.” Her death has sparked a political battle over her replacement, with President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans vowing to name and confirm a new justice before the November 3 presidential election, which would give the court a solid 6-3 conservative majority. President Trump announced Tuesday that he will name his nominee for the lifetime appointment on Saturday.
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By Polityk | 09/23/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
House Passes Stopgap Funding Bill, Averting Shutdown
In a sweeping bipartisan vote that takes a government shutdown off the table, the House passed a temporary governmentwide funding bill Tuesday night, shortly after President Donald Trump prevailed in a behind-the-scenes fight over his farm bailout. The stopgap measure will keep federal agencies fully up and running into December, giving lawmakers in the post-election congressional session time to digest the election and decide whether to pass the annual government funding bills by then or kick them to the next administration. The budget year ends Sept. 30. The 359-57 vote came after considerable behind-the-scenes battling over proposed add-ons. The final agreement gives the administration continued immediate authority to dole out Agriculture Department subsidies in the run-up to Election Day. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., retreated from an initial draft that sparked a furor with Republicans and farm-state Democrats. FILE – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Sept. 18, 2020.Instead, in talks Tuesday, Pelosi restored a farm aid funding patch sought by the administration, which has sparked the ire of Democrats who said it plays political favorites as it gives out bailout money to farmers and ranchers. In return, Pelosi won coronavirus-related food aid for the poor, including a higher food benefit for families whose children are unable to receive free or reduced-price lunches because schools are closed over the coronavirus. Another add-on would permit states to remove hurdles to food stamps and nutrition aid to low-income mothers that are more difficult to clear during the pandemic. The deal permitted the measure to speed through the House after a swift debate that should ensure smooth sailing in the GOP-held Senate before next Wednesday’s deadline. There’s no appetite on either side for a government shutdown. On Monday, Democrats released a version of the stopgap measure that did not contain the farm bailout provision, enraging Republicans and putting passage of the measure in doubt. It became apparent that Pelosi did not have the votes to pass it — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., dismissed it as a “rough draft” — and negotiations continued. FILE – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 21, 2020.Democrats complain that the Trump administration has favored Southern states such as Georgia — a key swing state and home of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue — and larger producers in distributing bailout funds. Farmers are suffering from low commodity prices and the effects of higher tariffs imposed by Trump. Trump announced a new $13 billion allotment of bailout funding at a political rally in Wisconsin last week. The legislation — called a continuing resolution, or CR, in Washington-speak — would keep every federal agency running at current funding levels through Dec. 11, which will keep the government afloat past an election that could reshuffle Washington’s balance of power. The measure also extends many programs whose funding or authorizations lapse on Sept. 30, including the federal flood insurance program, highway and transit programs, and a long set of extensions of various health programs, such as a provision to prevent Medicaid cuts to hospitals that serve many poor people. It also finances the possible transition to a new administration if Joe Biden wins the White House and would stave off an unwelcome COVID-19-caused increase in Medicare Part B premiums for outpatient doctor visits.
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By Polityk | 09/23/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Public Farewell to US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Begins Wednesday
Colleagues, friends and admirers will begin paying their final respects Wednesday to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg’s casket will be brought to the Supreme Court building Wednesday morning for a private ceremony in the Great Hall, attended by her family and her fellow justices. The casket will then be moved to the building’s front steps and lie in repose for public viewing until Thursday, resting on the same wooden platform built for the casket of President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination in 1865. A further tribute will occur Friday when Ginsburg will be taken across the street to the U.S. Capitol, where she will lie in state in the building’s Statuary Hall, making her the first woman to receive such an honor. The public will be able to view the casket after a formal ceremony for invited guests. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks lay in honor in the Capitol’s historic Rotunda after her death in 2005, a designation due to the fact that she was not a government official. A statement by the U.S. Supreme Court says Ginsburg will be buried next week in a private ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony, the final resting place of such figures as President John F. Kennedy, his brothers Robert and Edward, both prominent U.S. senators, and heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis. Ginsburg died last Friday at the age of 87 of metastatic pancreatic cancer, ending a 27-year tenure on the nation’s highest court. Her status as leader of the court’s liberal minority, along with her work seeking legal equality for women and girls in all spheres of American life before becoming a jurist, made her a cultural icon, earning her the nickname “The Notorious R.B.G.” Her death has sparked a political battle over her replacement, with President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans vowing to name and confirm a new justice before the November 3 presidential election, which would give the court a solid 6-3 conservative majority. President Trump announced Tuesday that he will name his nominee for the lifetime appointment on Saturday.
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By Polityk | 09/23/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
First US Presidential Debate Topics Released
The moderator of the Sept. 29 U.S. presidential debate between Democratic nominee Joe Biden and incumbent Republican President Donald Trump has released the six topics of discussion. Trump and former Vice President Biden will debate their records in office, the current Supreme Court vacancy, COVID-19, the economy, race and violence in American cities, and the integrity of the election. The topics were chosen by moderator Chris Wallace, a Fox News journalist. Starting at 9 p.m. Washington time, the candidates will have 15 minutes to debate each of the topics during the 90-minute encounter, which will take place without commercial interruption. The list of topics is subject to change due to news developments. The first debate is scheduled to take place at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.
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By Polityk | 09/23/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Voting Systems ‘Being Targeted’ as Presidential Election Nears
Increased security measures are not stopping cyber operatives from looking for ways to break into critical U.S. voting systems, according to officials charged with safeguarding the nation’s Nov. 3 presidential election. But exactly who is behind the ongoing efforts remains unclear. “Election systems, like IT systems generally, are being scanned, are being targeted, are being researched for vulnerabilities,” Matt Masterson, the Department of Homeland Security’s senior election security adviser, said Tuesday during a virtual event on election security hosted by Auburn University’s McCrary Institute. “What keeps me up at night is, is there something we’re not seeing? Is there something we’re not tracking?” he said. FILE – Senior Cybersecurity Adviser at the Department of Homeland Security Matthew Masterson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 22, 2019.U.S. officials have been preparing for new attacks on voting systems since 2016, when Russian-linked actors targeted all 50 states, managing to access voter registration databases in a handful of them. As part of that effort, officials have been working to install cyber intrusion detection sensors across the country, now allowing all states and more than 2,500 local jurisdictions to get real-time threat information. So far, the effort seems to be paying off. “We haven’t seen cyberattacks to date this year on voter registration databases or on any systems involved in primary voting,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said last week at a virtual conference hosted by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “To our knowledge, no foreign government has attempted to tamper with U.S. vote counts.” Indirect threatsBut Masterson warned U.S. adversaries may still be looking for a way into critical systems to meddle with the upcoming presidential election. “While we have no evidence of direct targeting of election infrastructure by nation states, we know and continue to see reports of scanning,” he said. There are also concerns that cyber actors looking to interfere with Election Day voting will launch an indirect attack, perhaps using ransomware to take down systems that could create difficulties, even though they are not directly involved in the election process. “We see cascading impacts where internet is lost, connectivity to websites is lost,” Masterson said. State and local officials are also being targeted, with cyber actors using spear-phishing and social engineering as ways to get passwords or other information that could give them access to critical systems. Disinformation campaigns Even so, some state election officials say thanks to the ongoing efforts of federal and state authorities, they are much better prepared than they were in 2016. “There is no doubt that we are in a tremendously better situation now, today, than we were during those elections,” said David Stafford, supervisor of elections for Escambia County, Florida. “We know who to call if something happens.” “Unfortunately, the threat has grown along with us,” he added. Some state officials remain uneasy about the possibility that where efforts to hack the U.S. election may fail, ongoing disinformation campaigns could succeed. “I do worry about in those last couple of days and on Election Day,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, who like Masterson and Stafford, spoke at the Auburn University event. “I keep telling people don’t click retweet,” she said. “It’s so easy to perpetuate. And of course, that’s what our foreign adversaries, that’s what our domestic adversaries, that’s what they want us to do to undermine confidence in the election.”
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By Polityk | 09/23/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump to Name Supreme Court Nominee Saturday
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he plans to announce his nominee Saturday for the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, while a key lawmaker said Senate Republicans have enough votes to confirm Trump’s choice before the November 3 presidential election.
Trump said on Twitter he would make the announcement at the White House. He earlier said the choice will be one of five conservative women he is considering, one of whom he met with Monday, appellate court judge Amy Coney Barrett.
Three Conservative Female Judges at Top of Trump’s Supreme Court ListUS leader appointed all three to federal appellate court judgeships and now could elevate one of them to a lifetime appointment to the top US courtFormer Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger in the election six weeks away, has called for the next president — whoever wins the election — to pick the Supreme Court nominee after his inauguration in January to a new White House term.
But Republicans are looking to take advantage of their current 53-47 Senate majority to tilt the court’s ideological balance further to the right — from its current 5-4 conservative edge to 6-3 – by approving Trump’s third conservative nominee to the country’s top court. The president earlier won Senate confirmation of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Supreme Court Pick Upends Unpredictable US ElectionDeath of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg puts political battle over her replacement at center of election, less than two months away Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee would oversee confirmation hearings for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, told Fox News late Monday night that Republicans have enough votes to approve his yet-to-be-named choice.
“The nominee is going to be supported by every Republican in the Judiciary Committee,” Graham said. “We’ve got the votes to confirm the justice on the floor of the Senate before the election and that’s what’s coming.”
Two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have announced they will vote against considering Trump’s nomination before the election, a less than 40-day time frame compared to the 70 days or more it typically has taken the Senate to consider past presidents’ Supreme Court nominees.
But no other Republican senator has joined them in looking to delay consideration of a nominee until after the election.
Romney OK with pre-election confirmation
Senator Mitt Romney, a frequent Trump critic, was the latest to voice approval for moving ahead.
“I intend to follow the Constitution and precedent in considering the president’s nominee,” Romney said in a statement Tuesday. “If the nominee reaches the Senate floor, I intend to vote based upon their qualifications.”
The Republican Senate majority, nine months ahead of the 2016 election, blocked consideration of Democratic President Barack Obama’s last Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.
Along with other Republicans, Romney said the fact that the party controls both the White House and Senate makes the current fight over a court nominee different than four years ago.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, leaves the Senate Chamber following a vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 21, 2020.“Historical precedent of election year nominations is that the Senate generally does not confirm an opposing party’s nominee but does confirm a nominee of its own,” Romney said.
Romney’s position does not mean Trump’s nominee will definitely have the votes to be confirmed, but it does mean that Graham, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans can push forward on Trump’s choice without delay.
Two other Republican senators thought to possibly oppose a pre-election vote on a court nominee — Cory Gardner of Colorado and Chuck Grassley of Iowa — said Monday they also do not oppose moving forward on filling the court vacancy.
Democrats unable to stop process
Democrats, in the Senate minority, are largely powerless to stop consideration of Trump’s eventual nominee and, at least so far, have tried to shame Republicans, heaping scorn on them for blocking Obama’s nominee in another presidential election year while looking to move swiftly on the prospective Trump selection.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 21, 2020.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Monday the coming confirmation clash could spell “the end of this supposedly great deliberative body.”
“If a Senate majority over the course of six years steals two Supreme Court seats using completely contradictory rationales, how could we expect to trust the other side again?” he asked. “How can we trust each other if, when push comes to shove, when the stakes are the highest, the other side will double-cross their own standards when it’s politically advantageous?”
Aside from considering the 48-year-old Barrett, a former University of Notre Dame law professor and favorite of conservative activists for the nomination, Trump is looking at three other appellate court judges, including another reported leading choice, Barbara Lagoa, the 52-year-old daughter of Cuban refugees who fled the island after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Also under consideration are appeals court judges Allison Jones Rushing and Joan Larsen, along with deputy White House counsel Kate Todd.
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By Polityk | 09/23/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Supreme Court Pick Upends Unpredictable US Election
The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has placed the political battle over her replacement at the center of the U.S. presidential election that is six weeks away. VOA’s Brian Padden reports that President Donald Trump’s determination to quickly fill the vacancy, and Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s call to let the winner of the presidential contest put forth a nominee, are reminding voters of the hot-button issues from health care to abortion rights that the court may soon decide.
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By Polityk | 09/22/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
House Democrats File Bill to Fund US Government But Leave Out New Farm Money
The U.S. Congress this week considers legislation to fund the federal government through mid-December, but a dispute over farm aid raised questions about whether lawmakers can avoid a government shutdown amid a pandemic just weeks before the Nov. 3 elections. With government funding lapsing on Sept. 30, House Democrats announced Monday they had filed the stopgap funding legislation, but angered Republicans by leaving out new money that President Donald Trump wanted for farmers. The House will take up the bill Tuesday, a Democratic aide said. The Senate could then act later this week. The new federal fiscal year starts Oct. 1. The bill is designed to give lawmakers more time to work out federal spending for the period through September 2021, including budgets for military operations, health care, national parks, space programs, and airport and border security. FILE – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 27, 2020.The spending proposal “will avert a catastrophic shutdown in the middle of the ongoing pandemic, wildfires and hurricanes, and keep government open until December 11, when we plan to have bipartisan legislation to fund the government for this fiscal year,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. But the measure’s December end date will require Congress to return to the government funding question again during its post-election lame-duck session, either during or after what could be a bruising fight to confirm Trump’s third Supreme Court nominee after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And the legislation does not include $21.1 billion the White House sought to replenish the Commodity Credit Corporation, a program to stabilize farm incomes, because Democrats considered this a “blank check” for “political favors,” said a House Democratic aide who asked not to be named. Trump promised more farm aid during a rally in Wisconsin last week. Republicans were not happy. FILE – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, July 20, 2020.”House Democrats’ rough draft of a government funding bill shamefully leaves out key relief and support that American farmers need. This is no time to add insult to injury and defund help for farmers and rural America,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote on Twitter. Republicans could seek to amend the document to add in the provision, but both chambers would ultimately need to pass the same version for the measure to go to Trump for signing into law. The bill proposes spending $14 billion to shore up a trust fund that pays for airport improvements and air traffic control operations. It also directs $13.6 billion to maintain current spending levels on highways and mass transit.
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By Polityk | 09/22/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Considering Five Women for Supreme Court Vacancy
U.S. President Donald Trump met at the White House on Monday with one of the five women on his list to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to sources. The 87-year-old liberal icon died last Friday after a lengthy battle with cancer. Trump said he would announce his nominee after funeral services for her later this week. The president mentioned Amy Coney Barrett by name, along with Barbara Lagoa, as he spoke to reporters before boarding his Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn. He did not confirm meeting with Barrett. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor at Notre Dame University, poses in an undated photograph obtained from Notre Dame University, Sept. 19, 2020.Later in remarks in Dayton, in the Midwestern state of Ohio, Trump said he would announce his choice probably on Saturday, but possibly the day before. “It will be a brilliant person,” the president said. “It will be a woman.” Both Barrett, a 48-year-old Midwestern Catholic, and Lagoa, a 52-year-old Cuban American from Florida, are conservatives whom Trump appointed to federal appellate court judgeships in recent years. The president told reporters he might meet with Lagoa later this week when he travels to Miami. “I don’t know her, but I hear she’s outstanding,” he added. Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Lagoa, currently a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, poses in a photograph from 2019 obtained Sept. 19, 2020.Others reported to be on Trump’s short list are Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Joan Larsen, Fourth Circuit Judge Allison Jones Rushing and deputy White House counsel Kate Todd. Timing of voteThe president, in his Monday afternoon remarks to reporters, called on the Republican- controlled Senate to vote on confirmation before the Nov. 3 election. “I’d much rather have a vote before the election,” Trump said. “We have plenty of time to do it.” That is a reversal from the position he took four years ago when a Supreme Court seat became vacant in the final year of former President Barack Obama’s second term. “I think the next president should make the pick,” he said in 2016. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee hoping to prevent Trump’s reelection, said the victor in the November election should make the court selection after being inaugurated for a new White House term in January. Trump on Monday said there was “zero chance” that Democrats wouldn’t try to fill a Supreme Court vacancy if they controlled both the presidency and the Senate as Republicans currently do. FILE – Allison Jones Rushing testifies before a Senate Judiciary confirmation hearing on her nomination to be a United States circuit judge for the Fourth Circuit, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 17, 2018.Ginsburg will lie in repose at the Supreme Court Wednesday and Thursday, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Ginsburg will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol on Friday. Trump’s Supreme Court pick of another conservative, his third after winning Senate confirmation of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, would tip the current 5-4 conservative edge on the country’s top court to 6-3. The new choice could affect decisions on legalized abortion in the U.S., immigration, health care, voting rights, gun ownership restrictions, religious liberty and an array of other issues for more than a generation. ‘Ginsburg’s dying wish’Trump’s anticipated court selection has touched off a rancorous political debate in Washington: should the nomination be considered before the election or after? After would effectively allow the American electorate to have a say by deciding the presidential election, which would allow the winner — either Biden or Trump — to make the choice at the start of a new four-year term. In 2016, Republicans refused to allow consideration of Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February of that year. They argued that high court vacancies should be left unfilled during an election year so the American people can weigh in on the choice. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the Republican Party’s change in position and said no vote should take place until next year. “That was Justice Ginsburg’s dying wish. And it may be the Senate’s only, last hope,” Schumer said. FILE – Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen moderates a panel discussion during the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in Washington, Nov. 17, 2016.Trump is questioning whether Ginsburg actually told her granddaughter just before dying that she hoped her seat would not be filled until after the presidential election. “It just sounds to me like it would be somebody else. It could be, and it might not be, too. It was just too convenient,” the president said to reporters. 2016 vs. 2020″No wonder Americans have so little faith in government and in this Senate, led by the Republican majority,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defended his positions in both 2016 and 2020, saying the difference is that four years ago, different parties were controlling the Senate and White House, whereas now, the same party controls both. He said historical precedent has been on his side in both cases. “There was clear precedent behind the predictable outcome that came out of 2016. And there is even more overwhelming precedent behind the fact that this Senate will vote on this nomination this year,” McConnell said. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said Monday that voters chose Republicans to lead the Senate in the 2018 elections in part because they were committed to supporting Trump’s Supreme Court nominees. “We should honor that mandate,” he said, speaking from the Senate floor. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but two Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — said over the weekend they would oppose voting on Trump’s eventual nominee before the election. Trump criticized both lawmakers, claiming they were “very badly hurt” politically by their statements. If two more Republicans say no to a preelection vote, consideration of the nominee would be scuttled until at least the post-election, lame duck session of Congress. If one more Republican objects, Vice President Mike Pence could break the 50-50 deadlock in the Senate in favor of considering Trump’s nominee. Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.
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By Polityk | 09/22/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Plans to Promote ‘Patriotic Education’
U.S. President Donald Trump recently announced plans to promote “patriotic education” in U.S. schools, saying he wants to protect children from indoctrination by the “radical left” which, he said, sees America as a “racist nation.” This latest move by Trump reflects the debate on racial justice that’s heating up ahead of the November election, with both candidates holding starkly different views. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
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By Polityk | 09/22/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Considering 5 for Supreme Court Vacancy
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he has narrowed his list of possible Supreme Court nominees down to five people and expects to announce his choice to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Friday or Saturday.Trump has said he will name a woman and identified three of his choices as Amy Coney Barrett, Barbara Lagoa and Allison Jones Rushing, three conservatives he appointed to federal appellate court judgeships in recent years. He declined to name the other two possible choices in a wide-ranging interview on the court vacancy and other issues on the Fox & Friends show.“The bottom line is we won the election, we have an obligation to do what’s right and act as quickly as possible,” Trump said, dismissing the contention by his Democratic challenger in the November 3 election, former Vice President Joe Biden, that the winner ought to make the court selection after being inaugurated for a new White House term in January.Trump said the Senate should vote to confirm his nominee before the election, now six weeks away. The U.S. leader said there was “zero chance” that Democrats wouldn’t try to fill a Supreme Court vacancy if they controlled both the presidency and the Senate as Republicans do currently.FILE – Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gestures to students before she speaks at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Oct. 3, 2019.Trump said he would make the announcement after services later this week for Ginsburg, the 87-year-old liberal icon who died last Friday after a lengthy battle with cancer.“I think it will be on Friday or Saturday and we want to pay respect, it looks like we will have services on Thursday or Friday, as I understand it, and I think we should, with all due respect for Justice Ginsburg, wait for services to be over,” the president said.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Ginsburg will lie in state in the Capitol on Friday. Trump’s Supreme Court pick of another conservative, his third after already winning Senate confirmation of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, would tip the current 5-4 conservative edge on the country’s top court to 6-3.The new choice, which conservative political figures are applauding with anticipation and liberals fearing, could affect decisions on legalized abortion in the U.S., immigration, health care, voting rights, gun ownership restrictions, religious liberty and an array of other issues for more than a generation.Trump cited the relative youth of his three identified choices — Barrett is 48 and Lagoa is 52 — and said any of them could serve on the court for decades. “You’d like to go young because they’ll be there a long time,” he said.U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor at Notre Dame University, poses in an undated photograph obtained from Notre Dame University, Sept 19, 2020.Referring to Rushing, Trump sarcastically said, “One of the people were talking about is 38 and could be there 50 years. The Democrats would be thrilled about that.”“They are all very smart,” he said of his possible choices. “They are all very qualified. It could be any one of them.” He said their appellate rulings “abide by the Constitution” and that they personally adhere to “very high moral values.”Trump’s anticipated court selection has already touched off a rancorous political debate in Washington over whether the nomination should be considered before the election rather than effectively let the American electorate have a say by deciding the presidential election and then leaving the winner, either Biden or Trump, to make the choice at the start of a new four-year term.Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Lagoa, currently a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, poses in a photograph from 2019 obtained Sept. 19, 2020.In 2016, Republicans refused to allow consideration of former President Barack Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February of that year. They argued that high court vacancies should be left unfilled during an election year so the American people can weigh in on the choice.Then-candidate Donald Trump also said the nomination should wait until a new president was sworn in.“I think the next president should make the pick, and I think they shouldn’t go forward, and I believe I’m pretty much in line with what the Republicans are saying,” he told CNN in March of 2016.Trump said Monday that the difference from then is that Obama, a Democrat, did not have a Democratic-controlled Senate to consider his choice of Garland.“If you have the Senate, you can do what you want,” Trump said.Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said over the weekend they would oppose voting on Trump’s eventual nominee before the election.Trump criticized both lawmakers, claiming they were “very badly hurt” politically by their statements.If two more Republicans say no to a pre-election vote, consideration of the nominee would be scuttled until at least the post-election lame duck session of Congress. If one more Republican objects, Vice President Mike Pence would break the 50-50 deadlock in the Senate in favor of considering Trump’s nominee.If there is a post-election debate on Trump’s court selection, it could come at a time when Biden is president-elect and with Democrats poised to take control of the chamber in early January. Or Trump could have won re-election and Republicans retained control of the Senate. Or, in still another scenario, one party could have won the White House and the other taken control of the Senate.
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By Polityk | 09/22/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Democrats, Republicans Clash Over Naming Supreme Court Pick Before Election
As the country mourns Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, President Donald Trump has vowed to nominate a successor this week. The head of the Senate said he would move to confirm the nominee, but Democrats are pushing back. Two key Republican senators said they would argue to wait for a Supreme Court confirmation vote until after election. What’s clear is that both parties see this as a key battle just six weeks before Election Day. Michelle Quinn reports.
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By Polityk | 09/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Democrats, Republicans Draw New Battle Lines Over Supreme Court Ahead of Election
As the country mourns Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, President Donald Trump has vowed to nominate a successor this week. The head of the Senate said he would move to confirm the nominee, but Democrats are pushing back. Two key Republican senators said they would argue to wait for a Supreme Court confirmation vote until after election. What’s clear is that both parties see this as a key battle just six weeks before Election Day. Michelle Quinn reports.
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By Polityk | 09/21/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Political Brawl Erupts Over US Supreme Court Vacancy
Battle lines were drawn across America’s political landscape Saturday over the replacement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose death Friday silenced the court’s best-known liberal voice and raised the possibility of a 6-3 conservative majority on the bench.The vacancy came weeks before the November 3 general election that will decide whether President Donald Trump gets a second term in office as well as which party will control the chambers of Congress. How and when the vacancy is filled will have immediate political impact and could leave a permanent imprint on how the Senate functions and America is governed.Conservatives, eager at the prospect of a third Trump-nominated high court justice, cheered Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s pledge late Friday that Trump’s eventual pick “will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” He did not offer a timetable.’They should not falter’“President Trump and Senate Republicans have worked hard to overturn decades of liberal activism in our court system and they should not falter now,” Washington-based Heritage Foundation’s political arm, Heritage Action, said in a statement. “Republicans must exercise the power of confirmation that voters have entrusted in them[.]”Liberal groups and Democrats, meanwhile, girded for battle.“I’ve never seen political hypocrisy at this level [magnitude],” veteran Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said on NPR, noting that in 2016 McConnell refused to allow consideration of former President Barack Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, arguing that high court vacancies should be left unfilled during an election year so the American people can weigh in on the choice.FILE – Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is pictured at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 5, 2020.“This is a flip-flop, it’s pure politics,” Leahy, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said. “It is going to stain the Supreme Court.”Leahy and other Democrats wrote a letter to the committee’s chairman, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, saying, “There cannot be one set of rules for a Republican president and one set for a Democratic president, and considering a nominee before the next inauguration would be wholly inappropriate.”For his part, Graham, rejected such calls, noting that in 2013, Democrats changed Senate rules to hasten the confirmation of Obama’s judicial nominees and unsuccessfully sought to block Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, whose 2018 confirmation was roiled by an allegation of sexual misconduct.“In light of these two events I will support @realDonaldTrump in any effort to move forward regarding the recent [Supreme Court] vacancy,” Graham tweeted.FILE – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina prepares to hear testimony in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, June 3, 2020.Republicans have a 53-47 Senate majority and can afford three defections from their ranks and still confirm a nominee with a simple majority, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a potential 50-50 tie.Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has said she would not vote for a Supreme Court pick before the election. Others may or may not follow suit.The looming fight added uncertainty and suspense to an election season already brimming with both. Political observers mulled how a high court vacancy may energize voter turnout to the benefit of either political party. Some argued against jumping to conclusions.’Not clear’“In a world of slim majorities & few persuadable voters, it’s not clear that we know how a controversial SCOTUS confirmation battle before November would affect Senate elections and control of the chamber,” Brookings Institution political analyst Sarah Binder wrote on Twitter.Whether Trump succeeds in filling the high court vacancy, the mere effort appears to be strengthening Democrats’ resolve to change how Washington works should they win control of the Senate next year.For months, many Democrats have signaled a desire to eliminate the filibuster that requires three-fifths consent for most legislation to advance in the chamber.FILE – Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 24, 2017.Tweeting shortly after McConnell’s statement backing an eventual Trump Supreme Court nominee, Hawaii Democratic Senator Brian Schatz said, “It is going to be very hard after the procedural violence that Mitch McConnell has inflicted on the Senate and the country for anyone to justify us playing it soft next year just to satisfy pundits. We must use the power that voters give us to deliver the change we are promising.”In addition, some Democrats have suggested expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court from nine to 11 if they win control of the chamber.Republicans contend the Democrats’ fury is unjustified and that 2020 is nothing like 2016, when Garland was blocked from consideration. The Senate and White House were controlled by different political parties at that time.“By contrast, Americans reelected our [Republican] majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary,” McConnell said in Friday’s statement.The finger-pointing and recriminations since Ginsburg’s death are the latest examples of escalating partisan tactics that have transformed the judicial confirmation process from what was once a mostly bipartisan endeavor into a near-constant brawl.Bork hearings, Obama nomineesRepublicans were incensed when Democrats banded together in opposition to former President Ronald Reagan’s ultraconservative Supreme Court nominee, Robert Bork, in 1987. Democrats cried foul from 2009 to 2013 when Republicans drastically slowed the consideration of Obama’s judicial nominees, prompting Democrats to change the Senate rules and eliminate the filibuster for all but high court nominees. Republicans went one step further and eliminated the filibuster for all nominees in 2017.Today, analysts say, America is in uncharted territory as the nation grapples with a Supreme Court vacancy weeks ahead of a general election.“We rarely have these situations where someone passes away and leaves the court, right before an election,” said University of Virginia presidential studies director Barbara Perry, who described the situation as unprecedented in modern times.“So, we’ll have to stay tuned to see what happens,” she added.
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By Polityk | 09/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Ginsburg’s Death to Trigger Confirmation Process for Successor
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell promised shortly after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was announced Friday that he would bring President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace her to a full Senate vote.“President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate,” McConnell said in a statement that did not indicate when it would happen.Nonetheless, the death of the liberal Supreme Court justice triggers a confirmation process mandated by the Constitution that begins with the president.Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that the president “shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint … judges to the Supreme Court.”After Trump, a Republican, nominates the person of his choice, the selection is sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, currently with 22 members (12 Republicans and 10 Democrats).Three stepsThe committee then starts a three-step process beginning with a prehearing investigation into the nominee’s background, followed by a public hearing, during which the nominee is questioned. The committee then submits a report to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation, a negative one or no recommendation at all.The committee also can refuse to submit a report on the nomination if most members oppose the nominee, preventing the full Senate from considering the nominee.If the committee votes to report the nomination to the full Senate, the 100-member body must enter a special “executive session” to consider the nomination, typically with the Senate majority leader asking members for unanimous consent.If unanimous consent cannot be achieved, a member can move that the Senate consider the nominee. If the motion is made during the executive session, it can be debated and even blocked by a political delaying tactic known as a filibuster.Ending debate on the motion to allow a Senate vote would require a supermajority of 60 votes, a tall order considering the balance in the Senate, currently made up of 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents.If the motion to consider the nominee is made in a regular legislative session, the nomination will be considered by the full Senate. Senate rules, however, allow a vote on the nomination to also be blocked by filibuster.Simple majority for confirmationA full Senate vote to confirm the nominee requires a simple majority. If the nominee is confirmed, the Senate secretary will send the confirmation vote to the president to sign a commission appointing the person to the Supreme Court.Aside from the traditional confirmation process, Article II of the Constitution also says the president “shall have the power to fill up all the vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate” and that the appointment can remain effective until the end of the Senate’s next session, which began January 3, 2020, and ends January 3, 2021.A Senate confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee typically has taken about 70 days, much longer than the time remaining before the November 3 presidential election. The Senate is currently scheduled to recess in mid-October, but the schedule could change.The Senate can act on the nomination until January 20, 2021, the date of the presidential inauguration. If Trump is reelected and his nominee has not been confirmed by the inauguration, he could nominate his choice a second time when his second term in office begins.
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By Polityk | 09/20/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Calls on Senate to Vote ‘Without Delay’ on His Supreme Court Pick
President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the Republican-run Senate to consider “without delay” his upcoming nomination to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just six weeks before the election.The White House was making preparations to select a nominee for the seat held by Ginsburg, who spent her final years on the bench as the unquestioned leader of the court’s liberal wing.Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, vowed on Friday night, hours after Ginsburg’s death, to call a vote for whomever Trump nominated. Democrats said Republicans should follow the precedent they set in 2016 by not considering a Supreme Court choice in the run-up to an election.Trump made his view clear in a tweet Saturday: “We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!”.@GOP We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2020Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said any vote should come after the Nov. 3 election. “Voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice to consider,” Biden said.The impending clash over the vacant seat — when to fill it and with whom — is sure to significantly affect the stretch run of the presidential race, further stirring passions in a nation already reeling from the pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 people, left millions unemployed and heightened partisan tensions and anger.McConnell, who sets the calendar in the Senate and has made judicial appointments his priority, declared unequivocally in a statement that Trump’s nominee would receive a confirmation vote in the chamber. In 2016, McConnell refused to consider President Barack Obama’s choice for the high court months ahead of the election, eventually preventing a vote.As the nation learned of Ginsburg’s death, Trump was unaware, speaking for more than an hour and a half at a Minnesota rally without mentioning it. He huddled with aides after stepping off stage but acted surprised when he spoke with reporters moments later, saying he did not know she had died.Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Dies at 87Ginsburg, a stalwart liberal and the second woman to serve on the court, died Friday from complications with cancer The president told reporters that Ginsburg was “an amazing woman who led an amazing life.” Aides had worried how the Minnesota crowd would react if Trump mentioned her death from the stage, according to a White House official not authorized to publicly discuss private deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.But Trump had noted in his rally speech that the next presidential term could offer him as many as four appointments to the nine-member court, whose members are confirmed for life. “This is going to be the most important election in the history of our country and we have to get it right,” he added.A confirmation vote in the Senate is not guaranteed, even with a Republican majority. McConnell has not indicated if he bring a vote before the election.Typically it takes several months to vet and hold hearings on a Supreme Court nominee, and time is short ahead of the election. Key senators may be reluctant to cast votes so close to the election. With a slim GOP majority, 53 seats in the 100-member chamber, Trump’s choice could afford to lose only a few.McConnell did not specify the timing, but trying for confirmation in a post-election lame-duck session if Trump had lost to Biden or Republicans had lost the Senate would carry further political complications.Democrats immediate denounced McConnell’s move as hypocritical, pointing out that he refused to call hearings for Merrick Garland, Obama’s pick, 237 days before the 2016 election. The 2020 election is 46 days away.Battle Heats Up Over Justice Ginsburg’s ReplacementDeath of the liberal justice gives President Donald Trump an opportunity to add another conservative to the bench, shifting the court’s ideological balanceSenate Democratic leader Charles Schumer, in a tweet, echoed word for word what McConnell said in 2016 about the Garland nomination: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”Trump said last month that he would “absolutely” try to fill a vacancy if one came up before the end of his first term. “I would move quickly, ” Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “Why not? I mean, they would. The Democrats would if they were in this position.”Trump last week added 20 names to his list of candidates he’s pledged to choose from if he has future vacancies to fill. He contrasted his list with unnamed “radical justices” he claimed Biden would nominate who would “fundamentally transform America without a single vote of Congress.”Trump released a similar list in 2016 in a bid to win over conservative and evangelical voters who had doubts about his conservative credentials. Among those on his current list: Sens. Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton, former Solicitor General Noel Francisco and Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Chicago, long a favorite of conservatives.The average number of days to confirm a justice, according to the Congressional Research Service, is 69, which would be after the election. But some Republicans quickly noted that Ginsburg was confirmed in just 42 days.Four GOP defections could defeat a nomination, while a tie vote could be broken by Vice President Mike Pence.Among the senators to watch are Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah and others.Collins is in a tight race for her own reelection, as are several other GOP senators, including Cory Gardner in Colorado. Murkowski and Romney have been critical of Trump and protective of the institution of the Senate.Some Republicans, including Collins and Murkowski, have suggested previously that hearings should wait if a seat were to open. And because the Arizona Senate race is a special election, that seat could be filled as early as November 30 — which would narrow the window for McConnell if the Democratic candidate, Mark Kelly, hangs onto his lead.In a note to his GOP colleagues Friday night, McConnell urged them to “keep their powder dry” and not rush to declare a position on whether a Trump nominee should get a vote this year.“For those of you who are unsure how to answer, or for those inclined to oppose giving a nominee a vote, I urge you all to keep your powder dry,” McConnell wrote. “This is not the time to prematurely lock yourselves into a position you may later regret.”McConnell argued that there would be enough time to fill the vacancy and he restated his argument that the 2016 Senate precedent — in which a GOP-held Senate blocked Obama’s election-year nomination — did not establish a rule that applies to the Ginsburg case. Under McConnell, the Senate changed the confirmation rules to allow for a simple majority.Obama called for Republicans to wait, saying “a basic principle of the law – and of everyday fairness – is that we apply rules with consistency and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment.”One difference from 2016 is that, despite the vacancy resulting from Ginsburg’s death, conservatives have a working majority of five justices on a range of issues. When Antonin Scalia died four years ago, the court was divided between four liberals and four conservatives.The next pick could shape important decisions, including on abortion rights, as well as any legal challenges that may stem from the 2020 election. The 2018 hearings on Trump’s second pick, now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, turned into a bitter partisan battle after sexual assault allegations were made.Biden has promised to nominate a Black woman to the high court if given the chance. He has said he’s also working on a list of potential nominees, but the campaign has given no indication that it will release names before the election.
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By Polityk | 09/19/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
FBI Director Warns of ‘Drumbeat’ of Russian Disinformation, Stoking Trump’s Ire
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday warned lawmakers that Russia is not letting up in its efforts to sway the outcome of the November presidential election by trying to hurt the campaign of Democratic candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden – testimony that appears not to be sitting well with U.S. President Donald Trump.Wray, testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, described the Kremlin’s influence operations as “very, very active” on social media, on its own state-run media and through various proxies.The aim of these influence operations is “primarily to denigrate Vice President Biden and what the Russians see as kind of an anti-Russian establishment,” he said.Wray’s public appraisal of the stepped-up Russian influence operations is his first since the U.S. presidential campaign entered its final stretch. It is also in line with a rare public assessment offered in early August by the nation’s top counterintelligence official, William Evanina.Evanina, though, also warned Russian-linked actors were “seeking to boost” Trump’s candidacy, something the FBI’s Wray did not say when asked about Russian meddling.Trump, who has been known to take top intelligence and law enforcement officials to task on social media, responded late Thursday, calling the FBI director by his first name.“But Chris, you don’t see any activity from China, even though it is a FAR greater threat than Russia, Russia, Russia,” Trump wrote, adding “They will both, plus others, be able to interfere in our 2020 Election with our totally vulnerable Unsolicited (Counterfeit?) Ballot Scam. Check it out!”But Chris, you don’t see any activity from China, even though it is a FAR greater threat than Russia, Russia, Russia. They will both, plus others, be able to interfere in our 2020 Election with our totally vulnerable Unsolicited (Counterfeit?) Ballot Scam. Check it out! https://t.co/mH3vrHWvS8— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2020Despite the president’s allegations about mail-in ballots, allegations he has raised repeatedly, the FBI director told lawmakers just hours earlier such concerns were baseless.”We have not seen, to date, a coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election,” Wray said, echoing assurances given by senior U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity just last month.Instead, Wray said, his fears have centered on the barrage of disinformation, from Russia and others, targeting U.S. voters.“What concerns me the most is the steady drumbeat of misinformation and amplification of smaller cyber intrusions,” Wray said. “I worry they will contribute over time to a lack of confidence of (among) American voters.”“That would be a perception, not reality. I think Americans can and should have confidence in our election system and certainly in our democracy,” he added.Antifa & US protestsThe FBI director also clashed with Trump, over antifa, a left-wing protest movement that has been increasingly visible in demonstrations that have spread across the country.“We look as antifa as more of an ideology or a movement than an organization,” Wray told lawmakers, adding there is no evidence that antifa is behind any sort of coordinated campaign to incite violence at protests that have gripped parts of the country.In another tweet late Thursday, Trump chastised both Wray and the entire FBI for allowing antifa, “to get away with “‘murder.’”“I look at them as a bunch of well-funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller inspired FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source,” the president said….And I look at them as a bunch of well funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller inspired FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source, and allows them to get away with “murder”. LAW & ORDER! https://t.co/yHLzB0RQ8e— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2020But during his testimony before lawmakers, Wray said that while the FBI does have “quite a number of properly predicated investigations into violent anarchist extremists, any number of whom self-identify with the antifa movement,” the evidence does not support claims of a larger conspiracy.“Much of the violence that we’re seeing does not appear to be organized or attributed to any one particular group or movement,” the FBI director said.Instead, he described attempts by antifa and other movements, like the right-wing Boogaloo Boys, to organize in order to instigate violence as ad hoc.”We are seeing, in certain pockets, more kind of regionally organized folks coalescing, often coordinating on the ground in the middle of protests,” Wray said, adding that such attempts can even cross ideological lines, such as in one incident earlier this month in which two self-described Boogaloo Boys attempted to join with the Palestinian terror group Hamas.ICYMI: Self-described “Boogaloo Bois” charged w/attempting to provide #Hamas firearms/parts Per @FBI 30yo Michael Solomon of Minnesota & 22yo Benjamin Teeter of #NorthCarolina are part of a sub-group called the “Boojahideen” & felt their anti-US gvt views aligned w/Hamas— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) September 4, 2020Republican pushbackWray’s explanations, however, did not impress some Republican lawmakers, including Representative Dan Crenshaw, from Texas, who has been supportive of the president.“It seems strange to me that we can’t call it a group,” Crenshaw told Wray.“This is an ideology that organizes locally. It coordinates regionally and nationally. It wears a standardized uniform. It collects funds to buy high powered lasers to blind federal officers,” Crenshaw said. “It just seems to be more than an ideology.”US-based extremistsWray also told lawmakers the FBI sees U.S.-based violent extremists, whether influenced by jihadist ideology or ideology emanating domestically, as the biggest threat to the country.“Racially motivated violent extremism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larger group,” he said, noting there have been a total of 120 arrests for domestic terrorism so far this year.
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By Polityk | 09/19/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
More US Coronavirus Relief Still Possible After Trump Signals Interest
U.S. President Donald Trump rekindled hope this week for a second coronavirus relief package for millions of financially ailing Americans who lost jobs because of the pandemic-induced economic slowdown, when he urged Republican lawmakers to support economic relief legislation.Trump suddenly expressed support Wednesday for a $1.5 trillion bill proposed by the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of House members, that would provide a fresh round of $1,200 stimulus checks to individuals.A new round of stimulus checks was excluded from a roughly $500 billion plan Senate Republicans failed to pass earlier this month, capping months of unsuccessful negotiations to bring a second round of economic aid to millions of Americans.The $3 trillion CARES Act was passed in March by bipartisan agreement, providing unemployed workers with an extra $600 a week in benefits, but that expired at the end of July.Trump’s expression of support for the $1.5 trillion bill could reenergize stalled negotiations and apply more pressure to Democratic and Republican congressional leaders before Congress goes on recess. Lawmakers are expected to leave Washington to campaign in their home districts after passing a continuing resolution funding the government past a September 30 budget deadline.FILE – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, speaks to reporters following a meeting at the Capitol on a COVID-19 relief bill, Aug. 1, 2020, in Washington.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was already facing mounting criticism from House Democrats, including those locked in tight reelection bids.Trump did not commit to supporting the entire Problem Solvers proposal, which has already been rejected by leaders of both parties. Republicans maintained the $1.5 trillion measure was too costly, while Democrats argued it did not provide enough relief.Trump’s renewed interest in a relief bill was followed Wednesday by a phone conversation between Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, their first such discussion of the issue in more than two weeks.As more Democrats call for action on a bill before recess, Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer implied that Trump’s renewed interest confirmed that their support for more relief was the right position.”We are encouraged that after months of the Senate Republicans insisting on shortchanging the massive needs of the American people, President Trump is now calling on Republicans to ‘go for the much higher numbers’ in the next coronavirus relief package,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement. The two leaders also said they hoped Trump’s negotiators would “finally meet us halfway with a bill that is equal to the massive health and economic crises gripping our nation.”But Trump framed the matter differently, claiming on Twitter Wednesday that “heartless” Democrats did not want to “give STIMULUS PAYMENTS to people who desperately need the money, and whose fault it was NOT that the plague came in from China.”The Democrats in fact pushed a $3 trillion bill through the House in May that included more stimulus payments. But they rejected Republican counteroffers that provided a much smaller sum and did not include several provisions in the Democratic plan, including assistance to the states.FILE – White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, right, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrive at the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Capitol to resume talks on a COVID-19 relief bill, Aug. 1, 2020, in Washington.A separate $1 trillion bill put forward by Republican leaders that also included an additional round of stimulus checks failed to gain traction in the Senate in July because of GOP infighting over its size, scope and details.While the U.S. economy is showing some signs of recovery, including increased retail spending and hospitality industry hiring, other segments have been slower to recover. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rates remain high, with 29.77 million Americans receiving benefits through state and federal programs for the week ending August 29, the latest data available.The United States continues to lead the world in confirmed COVID-19 deaths, with more than 198,100 as of Friday afternoon EDT, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. is also home to a world-leading 6.7 million coronavirus infections.
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By Polityk | 09/19/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
FBI Director Warns of ‘Drumbeat’ of Russian Disinformation, Stoking the Ire of President Trump
FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday warned lawmakers that Russia is not letting up in its efforts to sway the outcome of the November presidential election by trying to hurt the campaign of Democratic candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden – testimony that appears not to be sitting well with U.S. President Donald Trump.Wray, testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, described the Kremlin’s influence operations as “very, very active” on social media, on its own state-run media and through various proxies.The aim of these influence operations is “primarily to denigrate Vice President Biden and what the Russians see as kind of an anti-Russian establishment,” he said.Wray’s public appraisal of the stepped-up Russian influence operations is his first since the U.S. presidential campaign entered its final stretch. It is also in line with a rare public assessment offered in early August by the nation’s top counterintelligence official, William Evanina.Evanina, though, also warned Russian-linked actors were “seeking to boost” Trump’s candidacy, something the FBI’s Wray did not say when asked about Russian meddling.Trump, who has been known to take top intelligence and law enforcement officials to task on social media, responded late Thursday, calling the FBI director by his first name.“But Chris, you don’t see any activity from China, even though it is a FAR greater threat than Russia, Russia, Russia,” Trump wrote, adding “They will both, plus others, be able to interfere in our 2020 Election with our totally vulnerable Unsolicited (Counterfeit?) Ballot Scam. Check it out!”But Chris, you don’t see any activity from China, even though it is a FAR greater threat than Russia, Russia, Russia. They will both, plus others, be able to interfere in our 2020 Election with our totally vulnerable Unsolicited (Counterfeit?) Ballot Scam. Check it out! https://t.co/mH3vrHWvS8— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2020Despite the president’s allegations about mail-in ballots, allegations he has raised repeatedly, the FBI director told lawmakers just hours earlier such concerns were baseless.”We have not seen, to date, a coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election,” Wray said, echoing assurances given by senior U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity just last month.Instead, Wray said, his fears have centered on the barrage of disinformation, from Russia and others, targeting U.S. voters.“What concerns me the most is the steady drumbeat of misinformation and amplification of smaller cyber intrusions,” Wray said. “I worry they will contribute over time to a lack of confidence of (among) American voters.”“That would be a perception, not reality. I think Americans can and should have confidence in our election system and certainly in our democracy,” he added.Antifa & US protestsThe FBI director also clashed with Trump, over antifa, a left-wing protest movement that has been increasingly visible in demonstrations that have spread across the country.“We look as antifa as more of an ideology or a movement than an organization,” Wray told lawmakers, adding there is no evidence that antifa is behind any sort of coordinated campaign to incite violence at protests that have gripped parts of the country.In another tweet late Thursday, Trump chastised both Wray and the entire FBI for allowing antifa, “to get away with “‘murder.’”“I look at them as a bunch of well-funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller inspired FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source,” the president said….And I look at them as a bunch of well funded ANARCHISTS & THUGS who are protected because the Comey/Mueller inspired FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source, and allows them to get away with “murder”. LAW & ORDER! https://t.co/yHLzB0RQ8e— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2020But during his testimony before lawmakers, Wray said that while the FBI does have “quite a number of properly predicated investigations into violent anarchist extremists, any number of whom self-identify with the antifa movement,” the evidence does not support claims of a larger conspiracy.“Much of the violence that we’re seeing does not appear to be organized or attributed to any one particular group or movement,” the FBI director said.Instead, he described attempts by antifa and other movements, like the right-wing Boogaloo Boys, to organize in order to instigate violence as ad hoc.”We are seeing, in certain pockets, more kind of regionally organized folks coalescing, often coordinating on the ground in the middle of protests,” Wray said, adding that such attempts can even cross ideological lines, such as in one incident earlier this month in which two self-described Boogaloo Boys attempted to join with the Palestinian terror group Hamas.ICYMI: Self-described “Boogaloo Bois” charged w/attempting to provide #Hamas firearms/parts Per @FBI 30yo Michael Solomon of Minnesota & 22yo Benjamin Teeter of #NorthCarolina are part of a sub-group called the “Boojahideen” & felt their anti-US gvt views aligned w/Hamas— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) September 4, 2020Republican pushbackWray’s explanations, however, did not impress some Republican lawmakers, including Representative Dan Crenshaw, from Texas, who has been supportive of the president.“It seems strange to me that we can’t call it a group,” Crenshaw told Wray.“This is an ideology that organizes locally. It coordinates regionally and nationally. It wears a standardized uniform. It collects funds to buy high powered lasers to blind federal officers,” Crenshaw said. “It just seems to be more than an ideology.”US-based extremistsWray also told lawmakers the FBI sees U.S.-based violent extremists, whether influenced by jihadist ideology or ideology emanating domestically, as the biggest threat to the country.“Racially motivated violent extremism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larger group,” he said, noting there have been a total of 120 arrests for domestic terrorism so far this year.
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By Polityk | 09/18/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump, Biden Question Each Other’s Fitness for Office
U.S. President Donald Trump and his election challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, on Thursday accused each other as being unfit for office.Trump, who is 74, characterized his 78-year-old opponent as “shot” and “weak” and alleged that “something is off” with Biden’s mental state.Speaking at a political rally in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin, 47 days before the election, the Republican president added that Biden “doesn’t know he’s alive.”Biden, in Pennsylvania, criticized Trump as being “totally irrational” in his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and discouraging people from following the scientific advice of the government’s own health experts.“You’ve got to level with the American people — shoot from the shoulder,” said Biden. “The president should step down.”If Trump had acted earlier, he would have saved thousands of American lives from the coronavirus, according to Biden.“He knew it and he did nothing,” Biden said. “It’s close to criminal.””I’ve been doing this a long time. I never, ever thought I would see such a thoroughly, totally irresponsible administration,” said Biden.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 13 MB480p | 19 MB540p | 26 MB720p | 55 MB1080p | 106 MBOriginal | 118 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioWhile Biden was still at the drive-in event organized and broadcast live by CNN from the parking lot of baseball stadium in Moosic, Pennsylvania, Trump took to the podium at an airport in Mosinee, Wisconsin, with Air Force One as his backdrop.Both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are battleground states for the November 3 election.In recent weeks in Pennsylvania, polls have shown Trump closing the gap with Biden, who still holds approximately a lead of 4 percentage points.In Wisconsin, an average of major recent polls indicates Biden leading Trump by nearly 7 points.Trump, speaking to an estimated crowd of 1,000 people, quickly made note of Biden’s event, which overlapped his, creating a split screen moment for political junkies.”He’s up there tonight getting softball questions from (program host) Anderson Cooper,” said the president. “They don’t ask me questions like that.”Trump hurled insults throughout his 90-minute rally at the former vice president and the Democratic Party nominee’s running mate, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris.“Wait till you see what (Vice President) Mike Pence does to her in the debates,” said Trump.Pence and Harris are scheduled to face off in one debate of the vice-presidential candidates in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 7.Trump and Biden are to spar in person three times before the November election. Their first debate will be on September 29 in Cleveland, Ohio.“I have gone back and talked about and looked at not only the things he said, but making sure I can concisely say what I’m for and what I’m going to do,” Biden said about his preparation for the debates.Biden said there is not yet a person in his campaign playing Trump for the debate preparation.“There are a couple of people, they ask me questions if they were like as if they were President Trump,” said the former vice president. “But I’m looking forward to it.”Trump, earlier this week, when asked how we was getting ready for the encounters with Biden said he is following his normal routine “by just doing what I’m doing.”Patsy Widakuswara in Mosinee, Wisconsin, contributed to this story.
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By Polityk | 09/18/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Judge Blocks Postal Service Changes That Slowed Mail
A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them “a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” before the November election.Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, said he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service.The states challenged the Postal Service’s so-called leave behind policy, where trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time regardless of whether there is more mail to load. They also sought to force the Postal Service to treat election mail as first-class mail.The judge noted after a hearing that President Donald Trump had repeatedly attacked voting by mail by making unfounded claims that it is rife with fraud. Many more voters are expected to vote by mail this November because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the states have expressed concern that delays might result in voters not receiving ballots or registration forms in time.”The states have demonstrated the defendants are involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service,” Bastian said.He also said the changes created “a substantial possibility many voters will be disenfranchised.”Bastian, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said he planned to issue a written order later in the day but that it would be substantially the same as that sought by the states.Following a national uproar, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major donor to Trump and the GOP, announced he was suspending some changes, including the removal of iconic blue mailboxes in many cities and the decommissioning of mail processing machines.But other changes remained in place, and the states – including the battlegrounds of Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada – asked the court to block them. The states sought to have the leave behind policy revoked; election mail treated as first-class mail rather than as slower-moving categories; the reinstallation of any mail processing machines needed to ensure the prompt handling of election mail; and that the court hold DeJoy to his promise to suspend other changes.Led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the states said the Postal Service made the changes without first bringing them to the Postal Regulatory Commission for public comment and an advisory opinion, as required by federal law. They also said the changes interfered with their constitutional authority to administer their elections.At the hearing, Justice Department attorney Joseph Borson sought to assure the judge that the Postal Service would handle election mail promptly, noting that a surge of ballots in the mail would pale in comparison to increases from, say, holiday cards.He also said slowdowns caused by the leave behind policy had gotten better since it was first implemented, and that the Postal Service in reality had made no changes with regard to how it classifies and processes election mail. DeJoy has repeatedly insisted that processing election mail remains the organization’s top priority.”There’s been a lot of confusion in the briefing and in the press about what the Postal Service has done,” Borson said. “The states are accusing us of making changes we have not in fact made.”Voters who are worried about their ballots being counted “can simply promptly drop their ballots in the mail,” he said, and states can help by mailing registration form or absentee ballots early.Borson also insisted that the states also were required to bring their challenge not in court, but before the Postal Regulatory Commission itself – even though by law the commission has 90 days to respond. Bastian rejected that notion, saying there was no time for that with the election just seven weeks away.The states conceded that mail delays have eased since the service cuts first created a national uproar in July, but they said on-time deliveries remain well below their prior levels, meaning millions of pieces of mail that would otherwise arrive on time no longer are.They also noted some of the effects the changes had already wrought: Michigan spent $2 million earlier this year on envelopes that met election mail standards – only to learn that the Postal Service wouldn’t treat them as first-class mail. In Madison, Wisconsin, the number of ballots that weren’t counted because they arrived late for the August primary doubled from the August 2018 primary.The other states suing include Washington, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia – all led by Democratic attorneys general.Pennsylvania is leading a separate multistate lawsuit over the changes, and New York and Montana have filed their own challenges.
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By Polityk | 09/18/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump’s Advantage Over Biden on Economy Slipping
While former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden has held a steady six or seven-point lead over President Donald Trump in the national public opinion polls, Trump has held one clear advantage over Biden — on the question of who voters believe is best suited to handle a troubled economy. As recently as mid-August, a CNN poll indicated that 53% of voters believed Trump, the one-time New York real estate magnate, was the better candidate for economic issues, with 45% in the survey preferring Biden. But even that advantage has begun to dissipate. Just two weeks later, the same poll found Trump with a razor-thin 49% to 48% advantage. Other polling has shown a similar narrowing. Early September polling from CBS News and Quinnipiac showed a virtual tie in voters’ beliefs about who would better handle the economy. The reasons for the change are not completely clear, analysts say, but some of the movement is likely related to Biden taking a much more aggressive posture in challenging the president’s handling of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. While Trump has boasted that the 8.4 percent August unemployment rate was “much better than expected” and was down from the jaw-dropping 14.7 percent in April and 10.2 percent in July, the U.S. nonetheless is suffering historic economic hardship with roughly 14 million people out of work. FILE – Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event on manufacturing and buying American-made products at UAW Region 1 headquarters in Warren, Michigan, Sept. 9, 2020.”We all know it didn’t have to be this bad,” Biden said in a fiery speech last week charging Trump with neglecting those most affected by the economic slowdown. “It didn’t have to be this bad if the president just did his job.” Trump has relied on his go-to strategy of hyperbolic warnings of disaster if anybody but him is in the White House. In rally speeches and all-caps tweets, Trump regularly ties Biden to the most radical elements of the political left, claiming that a Biden presidency would usher in “socialism” and would lead to economic disaster. Polling evidence can vary. The Economist/YouGov poll, conducted weekly, asks voters whether they believe the economy would get better or worse under Trump or Biden. In that poll, Trump’s advantage had appeared to be shrinking, but polling out this week found that Trump has actually widened the gap. Of nearly 1,500 respondents, 39% said they believe the economy would improve under a second Trump term, while 38% believe it would get worse. The same poll found that 34% of respondents believe the economy would improve under Biden compared to 41% who said it would get worse. FILE – President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Winston-Salem, N.C., Sept. 8, 2020.From a big-picture perspective, the difference between the two candidates’ economic policies breaks down along fairly predictable party lines. Trump offers Republican-friendly promises of more tax cuts and reduced regulations, while Biden offers a more traditional Democratic line, with higher taxes on the wealthy and businesses and increased government spending on infrastructure and social welfare. Both men are proposing measures to entice businesses to hire more workers in the U.S. rather than offshoring jobs to lower-wage countries. Assessing the two candidates’ economic visions at a more granular level is difficult, in part because of the difference in detail that the two campaigns have offered. The Biden campaign has put out dozens of detailed position papers on economic policy issues, replete with specific proposals and figures. The Trump campaign, by contrast, has issued a set of bullet points with general themes and few specifics. Biden tax policyNowhere is this more apparent than in the area of tax policy — for both candidates arguably the most significant part of their economic agenda. The Biden campaign has issued more than 50 specific proposals on taxes alone, and the former vice president’s priorities are clear. He would raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and the top marginal income tax on individuals would go from 37% currently to 39.6%. Many of the tax increases the Biden campaign is proposing are tied to specific spending priorities, meant to fund things like expanded access to child care and major infrastructure projects. An analysis of Biden’s plans by the Tax Foundation, a leading independent tax policy nonprofit, found that over the coming decade, Biden’s plans would raise federal tax receipts by approximately $4 trillion, or about 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product. What Biden proposes would amount to a significant tax increase, but it is not, as Trump has repeatedly claimed, the largest in history. The rates Biden is proposing are also well within historical norms for the United States. And Biden says his tax hikes would target those making more than $400,000 a year. “Joe Biden is looking to primarily raise taxes on higher earners,” said Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation. “And that’s through higher tax rates on ordinary income, on income coming from investments, and business income.” Trump tax policyTrump signed a major Republican tax cut and jobs bill in 2017 and more recently proposed additional tax cuts as part of his second term agenda. Experts say the new plan is light on specifics, although in general it would expand existing tax breaks, create credits for specific industries, and unspecified tax cuts for individuals. “We have far less information on the details and the specifics of the Trump tax plan,” Watson said. The lack of detail coming from the Trump campaign is a real stumbling block for those searching for a clear picture of what an economic future under a second Trump term would look like. “For us as analysts, that provides a challenge,” said Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington. While her organization has plans to release a comprehensive analysis of the Biden plan next month, she said developing one for Trump is proving difficult. But the problem isn’t just for policy analysts, she pointed out. “It’s a challenge for voters who may be trying to compare the two plans.”
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By Polityk | 09/18/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Lawmakers Clash Over State Department Oversight
Top State Department aides Wednesday defended President Donald Trump’s firing of State Department Inspector General (IG) Steve Linick earlier this year, telling lawmakers the decision was within the White House’s executive authority.“The IG’s removal was not about retaliation on any specific report or investigation,” Brian Bulatao, State Department undersecretary of management, told lawmakers.But congressional Democrats allege Linick’s firing was connected to two investigations his office was conducting into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s conduct.The first investigation involved Pompeo’s emergency declaration that allowed the Trump administration to circumvent the U.S. Congress to approve $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Congressional Democrats expressed concern the arms would be used against civilians in the war in Yemen.“Many of us here in Congress saw the situation on the ground in Yemen and said, ‘Enough.’ We thought that before we shipped instruments of death overseas, adequate precautions should be in place to ensure those instruments would not be used to blow up school buses or funeral processions. We did not want the United States to be party to the slaughter of innocents,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel said during a hearing on the matter.The IG’s report found Pompeo’s emergency declaration did “not fully assess risks and implement mitigation measures to reduce civilian casualties and legal concerns associated with the transfer of PGMs (precision guided munitions) included in the Secretary’s May 2019 emergency certification.”Last week, Engel released internal documents from July that showed State Department officials asked the IG’s office to remove passages of the report expressing concerns about civilian casualties.Pompeo was also facing ethics concerns related to dinner parties he and his wife held at his home that he has said were related to his work at the State Department. Congressional Democrats noted that State Department officials were not present at the gatherings, saying the guest list appears related to the Secretary of State’s domestic political ambitions.FILE – State Department Inspector General Steve Linick departs after briefing House and Senate Intelligence committees at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 2, 2019.Republicans defended Trump’s decision to fire Linick as an example of his executive power.“The news of Inspector General Linick’s firing did come as a surprise,” Congressman Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Wednesday. “Inspectors general are an essential tool in helping Congress execute its constitutional oversight of the executive branch, and any time one is terminated, it naturally will raise some questions. However, inspectors general, like other officers in the executive branch, do serve at the pleasure of the president.”State Department aides say Linick was fired for numerous examples of poor job performance, including leaking information to the press, sending sensitive information to his personal email address and for failing to complete a timely audit of State Department financial procedures.“His failures were substantial and numerous, and fell into three broad categories — failure to execute on the core mission of the IG, failure to take care of the IG team and failure to lead with integrity,” Bulatao told lawmakers.Engel said he presumed the IG’s office was still investigating the concerns about Pompeo. Linick was one of five inspectors general fired earlier this spring.
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By Polityk | 09/17/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
No Signs of Cyberattacks Targeting US Election Systems
Top U.S. law enforcement, military and intelligence officials are expressing confidence in their ability to maintain the security of the upcoming presidential election, despite mounting evidence that several countries remain intent on meddling with the vote.Officials have been bracing for some sort of attack on the election for nearly four years, ever since the U.S. intelligence community concluded Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But with less than 50 days until voters head to the polls on November 3, they say there are no signs Russia or anyone else is trying to hack critical election systems.”We haven’t seen cyberattacks to date this year on voter registration databases or on any systems involved in primary voting,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday at a virtual summit hosted by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).And despite describing the FBI’s efforts to protect critical U.S. systems as a “never-ending battle,” Wray said it appears precautions put in place since the 2016 election are paying off.”To our knowledge, no foreign government has attempted to tamper with U.S. vote counts,” he said.Speaking at a separate virtual conference Wednesday, the commander of the U.S. Cyber Command also sought to assure voters ahead of Election Day.”I am very confident we will have a tremendous, continuing success based upon the work that has really come together across the interagency (government) and with our partners,” said General Paul Nakasone, who is also director of the National Security Agency.These assessments are in line with others offered by high-ranking U.S. officials in recent weeks about the threat to the presidential election — that while U.S. adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran are seeking to interfere with the election, those efforts have yet to penetrate systems the country will rely on to conduct the vote.“This will be the most secure election in modern history,” CISA Director Christopher Krebs said last week, repeating a phrase he has used numerous times since July.As part of the efforts to secure the election, the U.S. government has been working with states to increase the number of sensors watching for malicious cyberactivity. More than 90% of the country’s voting precincts now have systems in place to ensure there is a paper record of every vote cast, just in case something goes wrong.Senior officials have also downplayed concerns raised by President Donald Trump that an increased reliance on mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic could lead to “the most RIGGED Election in our nations (sic) history.”Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history – unless this stupidity is ended. We voted during World War One & World War Two with no problem, but now they are using Covid in order to cheat by using Mail-Ins!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2020“We have no information or intelligence that any nation-state threat actor is engaging in any kind of activity to undermine any part of the mail-in vote or ballots,” a senior U.S. intelligence official said last month, while briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity.Yet while U.S. officials are confident in the country’s strengthened voting infrastructure, they remain concerned about how adversaries are aiming to alter the outcome of the election with influence campaigns and propaganda.On Wednesday, Nakasone described influence operations as a threat that is only likely to get worse as technology continues to advance.“Influence operations, just in general, for us will be one of the things that we’ll be dealing with not just every two or four years,” he said. “I think we’re going to see it in our diplomatic processes. We’re going to see it in warfare. We’re going to see it in sowing civil distrust in different countries.”There are signs that China, Russia and Iran are ramping up their efforts.Last week, Microsoft announced it had uncovered evidence that hackers linked to all three suspect countries have been actively targeting Trump’s reelection campaign, as well as the campaign of his main challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.“Foreign activity groups have stepped up their efforts targeting the 2020 election as had been anticipated, and is consistent with what the U.S. government and others have reported,” Tom Burt, Microsoft corporate vice president for customer security, wrote in his blog last week.“The majority of these attacks were detected and stopped by security tools built into our products,” he added.Last month, William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, warned that China, Russia and Iran were all seeking to “undermine the American people’s confidence in our democratic process.”In that rare public assessment, Evanina said Russia appeared intent on hurting the Biden campaign, while some Kremlin-linked actors were “seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media and Russian television.”Evanina said both China and Iran appeared to favor Biden’s candidacy.But despite the concerns, there are lingering questions about what type of impact the Chinese, Russian and Iranian influence operations will have on U.S. voters when they actually cast their ballots.“Even if you can attribute an operation, even if you can really gather as much, it’s very hard to assess what the impact is,” said Daniel Kimmage, the principal deputy coordinator of the U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center. “It remains, I think, one of the outstanding challenges in this field.”
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By Polityk | 09/17/2020 | Повідомлення, Політика
