Розділ: Політика
Biden Goes for Cherries Not Speeches on Campaign-style Michigan Trip
President Joe Biden focused on cherries Saturday during a trip to Michigan — and cherry pie and cherry ice cream — and voters who were mask-free as coronavirus restrictions have eased. It had all the hallmarks of a campaign stop that he couldn’t make last year.Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer greeted Biden when he arrived midday in Traverse City, which is hosting the National Cherry Festival, an event that attracted Presidents Herbert Hoover and Gerald Ford in the past.They skipped the festival in favor of a cherry farm in nearby Antrim County, where Biden pitched his immigration plans while chatting with two couples from Guatemala who were picking fruit. He then greeted a long line of enthusiastic supporters stretched out behind a rope.President Joe Biden holds an ice cream cone as he visits Moomers Homemade Ice Cream in Traverse City, Mich., July 3, 2021.His trip was billed as part of a broader campaign by the administration to drum up public support for his bipartisan infrastructure package and other polices geared toward families and education. But the president was out for direct contact with voters and refrained from delivering remarks about his policy proposals.Whitmer told reporters she spoke to Biden about infrastructure, although not about any projects for Michigan specifically.”I’m the fix-the-damn-roads governor, so I talk infrastructure with everybody, including the president,” she said. In recent flooding, she said the state saw “under-invested infrastructure collide with climate change” and the freeways were under water.”So this is an important moment. And that’s why this infrastructure package is so important. That’s also why I got the president rocky road fudge from Mackinac Island for his trip here,” she said.Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow also said she spoke with the president about the infrastructure package as they toured the cherry farm, noting that her cellphone signal dropped to one bar and that the proposed broadband buildout was needed.Biden’s host at King Orchards, Juliette King McAvoy, introduced him to the two Guatemalan couples, who she said had been working on the farm for 35 years. He told them he was proposing a pathway to citizenship for farmworkers. Biden then picked a cherry out of one of their baskets and ate it. He later bought pies at the farm’s market, including three varieties of cherry.Before leaving Michigan, he stopped at Moomers Homemade Ice Cream in Traverse City, where he bought Cherries Moobilie cones for Stabenow and Gary Peters, Michigan’s other Democratic senator. But for himself it was vanilla with chocolate chips in a waffle cone.Told it was cherry country, Biden said, “Yeah, but I’m more of a chocolate chip guy.”Preparations take place for an Independence Day celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 3, 2021.First lady Jill Biden also was on the road Saturday, traveling to Maine and New Hampshire, while Vice President Kamala Harris was visiting a union training center in Las Vegas.The president has said the key to getting his $973 billion deal passed in Congress involves taking the case straight to voters. While Republicans and Democrats might squabble in Washington, Biden’s theory is that lawmakers of both parties want to deliver for their constituents.White House officials negotiated a compromise with a bipartisan group of senators led by Republican Rob Portman of Ohio and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.The agreement, announced in June, features $109 billion on roads and highways, $15 billion on electric vehicle infrastructure and transit systems and $65 billion toward broadband, among other expenditures on airports, drinking water systems and resiliency efforts to tackle climate change.It would be funded by COVID-19 relief that was approved in 2020 but unspent, repurposed money for enhanced unemployment benefits and increased enforcement by the IRS on wealthier Americans who avoid taxes. The financing also depends on leasing 5G telecommunications spectrum, the strategic petroleum reserve and the potential economic growth produced by the investments.Biden intends to pass additional initiatives on education and families as well as tax increases on the wealthy and corporations through the budget reconciliation process. This would allow the passage of Biden’s priorities by a simple majority vote, avoiding the 60-vote hurdle in a Senate split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.
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By Polityk | 07/04/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Wealthy Americans Scramble as Biden Targets Protected Assets for Taxation
As U.S. President Joe Biden looks for revenue sources to fund his proposed social spending programs, America’s richest people are facing the possibility that popular methods of passing enormous wealth from generation to generation while avoiding taxes could be disappearing.The Biden administration has made no secret of its belief that capital gains — money earned from the sale of assets, like stocks, that have appreciated in value — don’t deserve to be taxed at a lower rate than earnings from labor as they are under current law.Capital gains are taxed at a maximum of 20%, compared with a maximum federal marginal tax rate of 37% for income acquired through labor.However, raising tax rates is a politically poisonous task in Washington.As an alternative, the administration is pushing an effort to make more capital gains subject to taxation in the first place, and it is tying that effort to the president’s American Families Plan, a legislative initiative that would fund child care, early childhood education, higher education, health care and more.’People want to get ahead of this’The outline of a plan to capture taxes on capital gains has come into sharper focus in recent weeks, and appears to go further than many observers realized at first.In March, the Treasury Department revealed a proposal to do away with a controversial treatment of inherited assets — called the “step-up in basis” — and paired it with proposed changes to the tax treatment of trusts, the estate planning vehicles that the wealthy would most likely turn to as an alternative.FILE – A Fidelity Investments office in Los Angeles, June 16, 2016. Wealthy individuals are checking in with financial advisers about suggested changes in tax treatment of capital gains and trusts.As a result, attorneys who help wealthy individuals with estate planning are being besieged by clients demanding to know what to expect in the future and how to minimize the impact of any pending changes.“It’s the busiest I’ve been in 25 years,” said Randall A. Denha, who runs a boutique estate planning firm in Michigan. “There are a lot of people asking questions, especially those that have a more substantial estate, because people want to get ahead of this.”’Basis’ explainedUnder current law, appreciated assets that are passed from generation to generation receive special treatment that eliminates what, in some cases, would otherwise be huge tax obligations for wealthy Americans.Purchased for $315 in 1980, a single share of Berkshire Hathaway, the giant holding company run by billionaire Warren Buffett, would have been worth nearly $420,000 when the markets closed on June 30 of this year. If the owner were to sell that stock today, he or she would have to pay capital gains tax on the difference between the current share price and the “basis” cost —the $315 that was paid for it in 1980.If that same owner were to die today and pass the share on to an heir, the gain would be effectively wiped away because of what is called a “step-up in basis.” Heirs inherit an asset at its market value at the time of inheritance. If an heir sold that share of Berkshire Hathaway immediately on receipt, the $420,000 would be the heir’s virtually tax-free.By eliminating the step-up in basis, hundreds of thousands of dollars suddenly become taxable where previously they were not.A rich person’s problemPractically speaking, the changes the Biden administration is considering would have no real effect on the overwhelming majority of Americans. The proposals being considered would exempt the first $1 million in gains from capital gains taxes, a far larger amount than the entire value of the average estate.FILE – For the very wealthy, one way of shielding assets from taxation is to place them in a trust, which is a legal entity that holds the assets without transferring ownership.For the very wealthy, one way of shielding assets from taxation is to place them in a trust, which is a legal entity that holds the assets on behalf of beneficiaries without transferring ownership. Some, known in the financial industry as “dynasty” trusts, can span generations, allowing enormous wealth to grow tax-free for decades.In a world in which the step-up in basis rules cease to exist, trusts would be the obvious solution for wealthy individuals looking to protect valuable assets from taxation — something the Biden administration has plainly anticipated.The reason, said Beth Shapiro Kaufman, a partner with the law firm Caplin & Drysdale in Washington, is simple: “The trust never dies.” And the Biden administration, she said, “doesn’t want trusts to be the loophole if they go forward” with changes to capital gains taxes.New treatment of trustsUnder current law, assets held in trust are not taxed as they appreciate, and even when the trustee decides to transfer ownership of some of the trust’s assets, such as stocks, to a beneficiary, no tax is paid on the gains until the beneficiary actually sells the asset.The Biden administration proposes treating that interim step — the transfer of ownership — as a “realization” event, requiring the beneficiary to treat the transaction as income subject to capital gains tax.Even more significant for the extremely wealthy is a requirement that all trust assets be taxed on their appreciation once every 90 years. It’s a way of getting around the fact that the trust never dies by effectively creating the equivalent of a “death” once in what amounts to a longer than average lifetime.Uncertain futureIf the administration is able to push these changes through, it will face some challenges implementing them, warned Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation in Washington.“There have to be adequate provisions for folks who don’t have the cash to pay taxes when there is a ‘realization event,’ ” he said. Additionally, there will inevitably be cases where heirs have no way of knowing the basis for an asset that they have inherited. “Is there going to be sufficient protection in the law for those folks who are in good faith in a situation where they don’t have that information?” he said.And further, he pointed out, what policymakers in Washington do during one administration can be undone in another, meaning there is no guarantee that changes in the tax treatment of inherited wealth will endure.“I think even advocates will want to make sure they get it right, because they are relying on it as a revenue source to fund permanent programs,” he said.
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By Polityk | 07/03/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Women Make Up 60% of White House Staff, Diversity Total at 44%
Women make up 60% of the White House staff appointed by President Joe Biden, while people from racially or ethnically diverse communities account for 44%, the White House said Thursday as it released an annual personnel report to Congress. The White House said the report — which includes the names, titles and salaries of all political appointees — showed that the Biden administration was the most diverse in U.S. history, in line with the Democratic president’s commitment to build an administration that looks like America. The report also showed a pay gap between men and women of just under 1%, with the women earning $93,752 on average, while men earn $94,639. White House press secretary Jen Psaki and chief of staff Ron Klain are among the top earners, drawing a salary of $180,000 a year, as is Elizabeth Hone, a longtime Federal Communications Commission attorney hired as a special adviser on broadband, who gets $183,164 a year. The administration hired 1,500 presidential appointees across the federal government in the first 100 days in office, double the number hired by any prior administration in that time period. The Biden administration’s “roughly equal” pay for women and men stands in sharp contrast to the former Trump administration, which had a gender pay gap of 20%, and the Obama administration, which had a gender pay gap of 11% in its final year in office. The Pew Research Center reported in May that the overall pay gap for women and men in the United States was about 16%, which means it would take an average woman 42 extra days of work a year to earn what a man did. Women and people of color have slightly less representation in the 59 senior staff members at the White House, with women accounting for 56%, and people from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds accounting for 36%.
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By Polityk | 07/02/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Pelosi Poised to Appoint Panel to Investigate Jan. 6 Capitol Attack
After months of disagreement, the U.S. House is set to vote on a select committee to investigate the events of Jan. 6, when supporters of former President Donald Trump rioted at the U.S. Capitol. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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By Polityk | 07/01/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Dies at 88
Donald Rumsfeld, a forceful U.S. defense secretary who was the main architect of the Iraq war until President George W. Bush replaced him as the United States found itself bogged down after 3.5 years of fighting, has died at age 88, his family said in a statement on Wednesday.”It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Donald Rumsfeld, an American statesman and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather,” the statement said. “At 88, he was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico.”The statement did not say when Rumsfeld died.Rumsfeld, who ranks with Vietnam War-era defense secretary Robert McNamara as the most powerful men to hold the post, brought charisma and bombast to the Pentagon job, projecting the Bush administration’s muscular approach to world affairs.Then President George W. Bush makes a statement to reporters while Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld look on following a Cabinet meeting, March 20, 2003.With Rumsfeld in charge, U.S. forces swiftly toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein but failed to maintain law and order in the aftermath, and Iraq descended into chaos with a bloody insurgency and violence between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims. U.S. troops remained in Iraq until 2011, long after he left his post.Rumsfeld played a leading role ahead of the war in making the case to the world for the March 2003 invasion. He warned of the dangers of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction but no such weapons were ever discovered.Only McNamara served as defense secretary for longer than Rumsfeld, who had two stints – from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, for whom he also served as White House chief of staff, and from 2001 to 2006 under Bush.Rumsfeld was known for imperious treatment of some military officers and members of Congress and infighting with other members of the Bush team, including Secretary of State Colin Powell. He also alienated U.S. allies in Europe.In 2004, Bush twice refused to accept Rumsfeld’s offer to resign after photos surfaced of U.S. personnel abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. The scandal triggered international condemnation of the United States.The United States faced global condemnation after the photos showed U.S. troops smiling, laughing and giving thumbs up as prisoners were forced into sexually abusive and humiliating positions including a naked human pyramid and simulated sex. One photo showed a prisoner forced to stand on a small box, his head covered in a black hood, with wires attached to his body.Rumsfeld personally authorized harsh interrogation techniques for detainees. The U.S. treatment of detainees in Iraq and foreign terrorism suspects at a special prison set up under Rumsfeld at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, drew international condemnation, with human rights activists and others saying prisoners were tortured.He was a close ally of Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, who had worked for Rumsfeld during the 1970s Republican presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ford.Rumsfeld became a lightning rod for criticism and, with the Iraq war largely a stalemate and public support eroding, Bush replaced him in November 2006 over Cheney’s objections.Days after vowing Rumsfeld would remain for the rest of his term, Bush announced his departure a day after mid-term elections in which Democrats took control of Congress from Bush’s Republicans amid voter anger over the Iraq War.Robert Gates, a soft-spoken but demanding former CIA director, took over from Rumsfeld in December 2006 and made sweeping strategic and military leadership changes in Iraq.Many historians and military experts blamed Rumsfeld for decisions that led to difficulties in Iraq. For example, Rumsfeld insisted on a relatively small invasion force, rejecting the views of many generals. The force then was insufficient to stabilize Iraq when Saddam fell.Rumsfeld also was accused of being slow to recognize the emergence of the insurgency in 2003 and the threat it posed.The U.S. occupation leader under Rumsfeld, L. Paul Bremer, quickly made two fateful decisions. One dissolved the Iraqi military, putting thousands of armed men on the streets rather than harnessing Iraqi soldiers as a reconstruction force as originally planned.The second barred from Iraq’s government even junior members of the former ruling Baath Party, essentially emptying the various ministries of the people who made the government operate.Rumsfeld also oversaw the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the Taliban leaders who had harbored the al Qaeda leaders responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. As he did in Iraq two years later, Rumsfeld sent a small force to Afghanistan, quickly chased the Taliban from power and then failed to establish law and order.U.S. forces during Rumsfeld’s tenure also were unable to track down Osama bin Laden. The al Qaeda chief slipped past a modest force of U.S. special operations troops and CIA officers along with allied Afghan fighters in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001. U.S. forces killed him in 2011.Critics argue that had Rumsfeld devoted more troops to the Afghan effort, bin Laden may have been taken. But as he wrote in “Rumsfeld’s Rules,” his compilation of truisms dating to the 1970s: “If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.”Another quote from “Rumsfeld’s Rules” was equally apt: “It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.”Rumsfeld was known for his rollicking news conferences in which he sparred with reporters and offered memorable quotes.Speaking in 2002 about whether Iraq would give weapons of mass destruction to terrorists, he said: “Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”Rumsfeld later titled his memoir “Known and Unknown.””Stuff happens,” he told reporters in April 2003 amid rampant lawlessness in Baghdad after U.S. troops captured the Iraqi capital.During his time away from public service, Rumsfeld became wealthy as a successful businessman, serving as chief executive of two Fortune 500 companies. In 1988, he briefly ran for the Republican U.S. presidential nomination.Rumsfeld also served as a Navy pilot, U.S. NATO ambassador and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He and wife Joyce had three children.
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By Polityk | 07/01/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US House Voting to Investigate January 6 Attack on Capitol
The House of Representatives is poised Wednesday to create a select committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump as lawmakers were certifying that Democrat Joe Biden had defeated him in last November’s election. The vote, formalizing creation of the committee that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced last week, is likely to occur almost entirely along party lines, with the slim Democratic House majority voting in favor and most Republicans against. Under the House resolution creating the committee, it would include 13 members, eight of them appointed by Pelosi and five named by Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican minority leader, “in consultation” with Pelosi, meaning she could veto his selections. A Pelosi aide said she is considering naming a Republican among her eight selections. FILE – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at the Capitol, May 13, 2021.But it remains unclear whether McCarthy plans to appoint any Republicans. He declined to answer questions about it on Tuesday, telling reporters, “The speaker has never talked to me about it.” A key House Republican leader, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, on Tuesday recommended that Republican lawmakers oppose creation of the select committee, and some of the Republicans who favored creation of a bipartisan commission say they will vote against the select committee. The vote on the select House committee comes after the House, but not the Senate, approved creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack on the Capitol, when about 800 people stormed past law enforcement officials, some of them smashing windows and doors, ransacking congressional offices and scuffling with police. FILE – Supporters of President Donald Trump gather outside the US Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Five people were left dead from the chaos, with one protester shot dead by police. More than 500 people have been charged with an array of criminal offenses, some as minor as trespassing and others more serious, such as assaulting police or vandalizing the Capitol, which sustained $1.5 million overall in property damage. Many of the suspects were identified by friends and relatives in scenes captured on security cameras or in videos shot by the rioters themselves and posted on social media. Most of the criminal cases have yet to be adjudicated, although defense lawyers have been negotiating dozens of deals with federal prosecutors for their clients to plead guilty. Trump’s role in inciting the riot is expected to be a key consideration for the select committee, as well as security failures at the Capitol. At a rally near the White House an hour before the mayhem unfolded 16 blocks away at the Capitol, Trump urged supporters to “fight like hell” to block Biden’s certification as winner of the Electoral College vote that determines the outcome of U.S. presidential elections. McCarthy’s phone call with Trump as the riot unfolded could be explored as well. To this day, Trump has made baseless claims that vote fraud cost him a second four-year term in the White House. He never called Biden to formally concede the election outcome and did not attend Biden’s January 20 inauguration. Now Trump is mulling whether to make another run for the presidency in 2024 and retains a wide base of support among Republican voters. Trump has started to endorse some congressional candidates who are opposing lawmakers who either voted to impeach or convict him in connection with the January 6 attack. The House impeached him for his role in the insurrection that day, but the Senate acquitted him in February after Biden had already assumed the presidency. FILE – Rioters storm the Capitol, in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.”It is imperative that we seek the truth of what happened,” she said. “To do that, we had hoped that Congress would establish an independent, bipartisan 9/11-type commission. We were successful with a strong bipartisan vote in the House, but [Senate minority leader] Mitch McConnell asked [Republican] senators to ‘do him a personal favor’ and vote against the commission. Despite the support of seven Republican senators, there is no prospect for a commission at this time.” She said the select committee “will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of the attack. It will report on conclusions and recommendations for preventing any future assault. And it will find the truth.”
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By Polityk | 07/01/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden, Western Governors Discuss Wildfire Response
U.S. President Joe Biden is holding talks Wednesday with a group of governors from eight Western states about wildfire preparedness as much of the region deals with drought. Biden and other administration officials are speaking from the White House with the governors joining by video.White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last week the meeting will “focus on how the federal government can improve wildfire preparedness and response efforts, protect public safety, and deliver assistance to our people in times of urgent need.” Those attending include Democratic governors Gavin Newsom of California, Jared Polis of Colorado, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Steve Sisolak of Nevada, Kate Brown of Oregon and Jay Inslee of Washington, along with Republican governors Spencer Cox of Utah and Mark Gordon of Wyoming. Not among the group are three other Republican governors from the region: Doug Ducey of Arizona, Brad Little of Idaho and Greg Gianforte of Montana. Gianforte tweeted Friday that he was “disappointed to learn in news stories” that the president “didn’t offer a seat at the table to Montana and other states facing a severe wildfire season.” Disappointed to learn in news stories that @POTUS didn’t offer a seat at the table to Montana and other states facing a severe wildfire season.I hope his call for working together wasn’t just lip service and Montana’s invitation is just lost in the mail.https://t.co/MLnCbeHBFw— Governor Greg Gianforte (@GovGianforte) June 25, 2021The National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates the mobilization of resources to battle wildfires in the United States, has warned that many Western states are facing a greater than usual likelihood that significant wildfires will occur in the next few months. The U.S. Drought Monitor reports wide areas of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah are experiencing extreme or exceptional drought.
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By Polityk | 06/30/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Can Money Absolve Sins of the Past?
The issue of reparations — making amends for historical wrongs perpetrated against a group or population — has always been highly controversial. But to the victims of atrocities like genocide and slavery, offering such compensation should be a no-brainer. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo looks at examples of reparations as they relate to the debate over reparations for African Americans in the U.S.Henry Ridgwell contributed to this report.
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By Polityk | 06/29/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Pushes for Adoption of Infrastructure Package
U.S. President Joe Biden heads to the midwestern state of Wisconsin Tuesday, making a pitch for congressional passage of a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure package to repair the country’s crumbling roads and bridges, and at the same time boost blue-collar employment.
Biden is visiting the small city of La Crosse, population 52,000, and will tour its public transit center before speaking about what he sees as the merits of the infrastructure package he negotiated last week with a group of 10 centrist U.S. senators, five Republicans and five Democrats. WATCH LIVE at 2:00pm
He told a group of Democratic donors Monday night the spending package “signals to the world that we can function, we can deliver. We can do significant things and show that America is back.”
The measure focuses on fixing deteriorating roads and bridges that Americans encounter every day. But Biden emphasized it also would greatly expand high-speed internet in the U.S. in rural communities, replace lead pipes that imperil drinking water systems, install electric vehicle charging stations and invest in public transit systems.A White House memo said the construction package is four times the size of the infrastructure investment adopted after the Great Recession of 2008-2009 and the biggest since the Depression of the 1930s spawned President Franklin Roosevelt’s massive New Deal spending.
The package includes the largest investment in passenger rail services since the creation of the country’s Amtrak system. In Wisconsin alone, the White House said, the measure would help repair 979 bridges and more than 3,100 kilometers of highways in poor condition.
The White House emphasized that 90% of the jobs generated by the infrastructure spending could go to workers without college degrees.
“This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,” the memo says.
Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 8 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 16 MB720p | 35 MB1080p | 65 MBOriginal | 74 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioBiden’s push for adoption of the infrastructure package got off to a rocky start last week.
He announced it jointly with the bipartisan group of lawmakers, only to shortly later tell reporters he would reject it if Congress did not also approve trillions of dollars in new social spending legislation that he wants to aid families and advance clean energy but that most Republicans adamantly oppose.
On Saturday, Biden said that his comments “created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent.” Key Republican ‘Trusts’ Biden on Infrastructure Deal Mitt Romney says he believes the US leader still stands by the roads-and-bridges repair package he negotiated with a centrist group of senators
Biden walked back the infrastructure veto threat and said he wholeheartedly supports it and the still-developing social spending legislation, while recognizing that Republicans would try to defeat the so-called “human infrastructure” legislation. If Congress eventually approves the social safety legislation, it could be that only Democratic lawmakers vote for it.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden is “eager” for Congress to approve both bills and that the president is going to “work his heart out” to make it happen.
“The president intends to sign both pieces of legislation into law,” Psaki said.
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By Polityk | 06/29/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
House to Vote on Bill Launching Probe of Capitol Insurrection
A new committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol would have 13 members and the power to subpoena witnesses, according to legislation released by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday. The House is expected to vote on the bill this week. The effort comes after Senate Republicans blocked the formation of an independent, bipartisan commission to probe the attack, in which hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s supporters violently broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. The new, partisan House panel would have eight members appointed by Pelosi and five appointed “after consultation with” Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. A Pelosi aide said the speaker is considering including a Republican among her appointments, which would bring the likely partisan split to 7-6. The aide was granted anonymity to discuss her thinking. Pelosi said in a statement that January 6 was “one of the darkest days in our nation’s history” and that the committee will seek the truth about it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, June 28, 2021.”The select committee will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of the attack and report recommendations for preventing any future assault,” she said. Many Republicans were concerned about such a partisan probe, since majority Democrats are likely to investigate Trump’s role in the siege and the right-wing groups that were present for it. Almost three dozen House Republicans voted to create an independent panel, which would have had an even partisan split among members. Seven Republicans in the Senate supported moving forward on that bill, but that was short of the 10 Senate Republicans who would be necessary to pass it. As laid out in Pelosi’s legislation, the new select committee would have subpoena power and no specific end date. The panel can issue interim reports as it conducts the probe. Trump is not explicitly referenced in the legislation, which directs the select committee to investigate “facts, circumstances and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.” The panel would also study “influencing factors that fomented such an attack on American representative democracy while engaged in a constitutional process.” The House passed the bill to form an independent commission last month, and Pelosi said it was her preference to have an independent panel lead the inquiry. But she said last week that Congress could not wait any longer to begin a deeper look at the insurrection so she would form the select panel. She has not said who will lead it. FILE – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York speaks with reporters at the Capitol, June 22, 2021.Still, Pelosi said the select committee could be complementary to an independent panel should one ever be formed and that she is “hopeful there could be a commission at some point.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he might hold a second vote, but there’s no indication that any Republican votes have changed. Many Republicans have made clear that they want to move on from the January 6 attack, brushing aside the many unanswered questions about the insurrection, including how the government and law enforcement missed intelligence leading up to the rioting, and the role of Trump before and during the insurrection. Others in the Republican Party have gone further, with one suggesting the rioters looked like tourists, and another insisting that a Trump supporter named Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed while trying to break into the House chamber, was “executed.” Two officers who battled the rioters, Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone and Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, have been lobbying Republicans to support an independent commission and met with McCarthy on Friday. Afterward, they said they had asked McCarthy to denounce Republican comments downplaying the violence. FILE – Michael Fanone, a Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer, leaves a meeting with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., at the Capitol in Washington, June 25, 2021.In the absence of an independent commission, Fanone said he asked McCarthy for a commitment not to put “the wrong people” on the new select panel and that McCarthy said he would take it seriously. McCarthy’s office did not respond to requests for comment on either the meeting or the legislation to form the select committee. The officers also asked McCarthy to denounce 21 Republicans who voted earlier this month against giving medals of honor to the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police to thank them for their service on January 6. Dozens of those officers suffered injuries, including chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones. McCarthy, who voted for the measure, told them he would deal with those members privately. Seven people died during and after the rioting, including Babbitt and three other Trump supporters who died of medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner later determined he died of natural causes.
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By Polityk | 06/29/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Key Republican ‘Trusts’ Biden on Infrastructure Deal
A key U.S. Republican lawmaker said Sunday he takes President Joe Biden at his word that he has no intention of vetoing a $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure Biden agreed to last week even though initially the U.S. leader said he would reject it if Congress does not also approve social spending legislation. FILE – Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, arrives for a meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 23, 2021.Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, one of the five Republican centrists who negotiated the infrastructure package with Biden to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, told CNN, “I do trust the president” to sign the funding measure if Congress approves it alone in the coming months. Biden created confusion about his support for the politically bipartisan roads-and-bridges bill by first saying Thursday he had agreed to the deal with the handful of opposition lawmakers. Shortly after, Biden said he would veto it if it was not passed by Congress in tandem with trillions more in spending on expanding the social safety for U.S. families and advancing the use of clean energy. On Saturday, Biden said that his comments “created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent.” Biden said he hopes Congress approves both pieces of legislation, even though he well understands Republicans will oppose the social safety net spending, with that legislation likely only garnering support from Democrats in the politically divided Congress. “So, to be clear: our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem,” Biden said. “We will let the American people—and the Congress—decide.” Romney said, “We Republicans are saying, ‘Absolutely, no,’ to what Democrats are calling the “human infrastructure” spending. “Don’t raise taxes; fix the (roads and bridges) infrastructure,” Romney said. “Get it done.” But Romney added, “I think [Biden] is making a huge mistake” with the social spending bill. “We’re not going to sign up for a multi-trillion-dollar bill.” Another of the Republicans who negotiated the infrastructure package with Biden, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” show that the lawmakers who negotiated with Biden had been assured it would not be linked with the Democratic package on spending to benefit families. “Why is that important?” Cassidy said. “First, there’s bipartisan opposition to the non-hard infrastructure portion of [the Democrats’] bill. Bipartisan in both chambers, that’s Number One. Number Two, Republicans think that portion is bad for our country. We have an inflation rate that is higher than it’s been in quite some time. And that bill would make it higher.” “This infrastructure bill is good for America, for all Americans,” Cassidy said. “It is going to make us more productive; it’s going to create lots of jobs.”
Many Democrats, especially progressives, argue that aggressively combating climate change and expanding America’s social safety net are just as important as repairing physical infrastructure. Biden proposed raising taxes on some U.S. corporations to pay for an initial infrastructure plan of about $2 trillion.
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By Polityk | 06/28/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Blinken in Italy for Meetings With Top Leaders, Pope
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s multination trip to Europe takes him to Italy Sunday for several days of meetings with top Italian leaders, Pope Francis, Group of 20 leaders and ministerial-level officials.After being warmly welcomed in France and Germany, Blinken left Paris on Sunday for Rome, where he is meeting with the Italian foreign minister, United Nations food security agencies and U.S. Embassy officials. He also already met with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio will co-chair a meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Rome on Monday, when he also meets with Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President Sergio Mattarella to discuss the Syrian civil war and the humanitarian needs in that country. The State Department says Syria remains a big concern, with tens of thousands of women and children in humanitarian camps subject to security issues as members of the Islamic State terrorist group work to exploit the camps to recruit the next generation of fighters.Also Monday, Blinken goes to Vatican City for meetings with Pope Francis and Archbishop Paul Gallagher. Among the topics he and Vatican officials are expected to discuss are climate change, human trafficking and debt relief for impoverished countries.His meeting with the pope comes ahead of an expected October meeting between the pontiff and U.S. President Joe Biden, the second Catholic U.S. president.At a recent conference, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops voted to draft a statement on Communion that may rebuke Catholic political figures, including Biden, who defend abortion rights but personally oppose the practice.During his visit to Paris on Friday, Blinken warned that the absence of an interim agreement to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities could prompt the U.S. to abandon efforts to rejoin a nuclear deal.“We’ll see if we can bridge the differences, but they’re real, and we have to — we have to be able to bridge them,” Blinken said at a briefing in Paris after meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian.“I would tell you that with regard to the [International Atomic Energy Agency], this remains a serious concern, a concern that we’ve communicated to Iran, and it needs to be … resolved.” Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, accompanied by Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Mathias Cormann, of Australia, speaks at the OECD headquarters in Paris, June 25, 2021.The top U.S. diplomat arrived in France from Germany, where on Thursday he and German leaders said the U.S. and Germany were partnering to counter Holocaust denial and antisemitism, an effort the secretary of state said will “ensure that current and future generations learn about the Holocaust and also learn from it.”Speaking at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Blinken said Holocaust denial and antisemitism go hand in hand with homophobia, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination, and have become “a rallying cry for those who seek to tear down our democracies.”The top U.S. diplomat also met Thursday with Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba on the heels of an international conference focused on supporting Libya’s transition to a permanent, stable government.Wednesday’s conference, hosted by Germany and the United Nations, included officials from 17 countries and reinforced support for national elections in Libya scheduled for late December.Libya has experienced political instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi from power. Rival governments operated in separate parts of the country for years before a cease-fire deal in October that included a demand for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days.This report includes information from Reuters and AFP.
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By Polityk | 06/28/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Blinken in Italy on Sunday for Meetings with Top Leaders, Pope
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s multination trip to Europe takes him to Italy Sunday for several days of meetings with top Italian leaders, Pope Francis, Group of 20 leaders and ministerial-level officials.After being warmly welcomed in France and Germany, Blinken left Paris on Sunday for Rome, where he meets with the Italian foreign minister, United Nations food security agencies and U.S. Embassy officials. He will also meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio will co-chair a meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Rome on Monday, when he also meets with Prime Minister Mario Draghi and President Sergio Mattarella to discuss the Syrian civil war and the humanitarian needs in that country. The State Department says Syria remains a big concern, with tens of thousands of women and children in humanitarian camps subject to security issues as members of the Islamic State terrorist group work to exploit the camps to recruit the next generation of fighters.Also Monday, Blinken goes to Vatican City for meetings with Pope Francis and Archbishop Paul Gallagher. Among the topics he and Vatican officials are expected to discuss are climate change, human trafficking and debt relief for impoverished countries.His meeting with the pope comes ahead of an expected October meeting between the pontiff and U.S. President Joe Biden, the second Catholic U.S. president.At a recent conference, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops voted to draft a statement on Communion that may rebuke Catholic political figures, including Biden, who defend abortion rights but personally oppose the practice.During his visit to Paris on Friday, Blinken warned that the absence of an interim agreement to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities could prompt the U.S. to abandon efforts to rejoin a nuclear deal.“We’ll see if we can bridge the differences, but they’re real, and we have to — we have to be able to bridge them,” Blinken said at a briefing in Paris after meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian.“I would tell you that with regard to the [International Atomic Energy Agency], this remains a serious concern, a concern that we’ve communicated to Iran, and it needs to be … resolved.” Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, accompanied by Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Mathias Cormann, of Australia, speaks at the OECD headquarters in Paris, June 25, 2021.The top U.S. diplomat arrived in France from Germany, where on Thursday he and German leaders said the U.S. and Germany were partnering to counter Holocaust denial and antisemitism, an effort the secretary of state said will “ensure that current and future generations learn about the Holocaust and also learn from it.”Speaking at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Blinken said Holocaust denial and antisemitism go hand in hand with homophobia, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination, and have become “a rallying cry for those who seek to tear down our democracies.”The top U.S. diplomat also met Thursday with Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba on the heels of an international conference focused on supporting Libya’s transition to a permanent, stable government.Wednesday’s conference, hosted by Germany and the United Nations, included officials from 17 countries and reinforced support for national elections in Libya scheduled for late December.Libya has experienced political instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi from power. Rival governments operated in separate parts of the country for years before a cease-fire deal in October that included a demand for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days.This report includes information from Reuters and AFP.
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By Polityk | 06/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
No Veto Threat on Infrastructure Deal, Biden Says
Aiming to preserve a fragile bipartisan deal on infrastructure, President Joe Biden said Saturday that he didn’t mean to suggest he would veto the bill unless Congress also passed a larger package to expand the social safety net.Speaking Thursday when the deal was reached, Biden said the two packages needed to move in “tandem” and “if they don’t come, I’m not signing. Real simple.”Those comments sparked criticism from some Republican lawmakers who were party to the deal. Biden sought Saturday to clarify his position.”My comments also created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent,” he said.Tension easesBiden had been holding out hope of reaching a bipartisan deal on infrastructure — a yearslong Washington priority — with Democrats pursuing the larger second bill on party lines through the budget reconciliation process.Tensions appeared to have cooled Saturday after White House negotiators Steve Ricchetti and Louisa Terrell assured senators that Biden remained enthusiastic about the deal.”My hope is that we’ll still get this done,” said Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator, in an interview Friday with The Associated Press.”It’s really good for America. Our infrastructure is in bad shape,” he said. “It’s about time to get it done.”The sudden swings point to the difficult path ahead for what promises to be a long process of turning Biden’s nearly $4 trillion infrastructure proposals into law.What had been a celebratory moment for Biden and a group of 10 senators this past week with the announcement of a rare bipartisan accord was jolted by Biden’s insistence at a news conference that he would not sign this initial bill unless Congress also passed his broader package of proposed investments.FILE – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York speaks to news reporters following the announcement of a bipartisan deal on infrastructure, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 24, 2021.The two measures were always expected to move together through Congress: the bipartisan plan and a second bill that would advance under special rules allowing for passage solely with majority Democrats votes. But the president then conditioned one on the other.Some senators felt blindsided by what they said was a shift in their understanding of his position.The White House didn’t explicitly walk back Biden’s remarks, but the message conveyed in the latest round of calls and public statements sought to allay senators’ concerns.In Biden’s call to the Democratic negotiator, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the president said he looked forward to signing both bills, the White House said.Not all senators were swayed by the White House outreach, which came after a tumultuous past month of on-again, off-again negotiations over Biden’s top legislative priority.Companion packageThe Democrats’ two-track strategy has been to consider both the bipartisan deal and their own more sweeping priorities side by side, as a way to assure liberals the smaller deal won’t be the only one.But Biden’s pledge to essentially veto or refuse to sign the bipartisan accord without the companion package, now eyed at nearly $6 trillion in child care, Medicare and other investments, was an additional step that throws the process into doubt.A bipartisan accord has been important for the White House as it tries to show centrist Democrats, including Sinema, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and others that it is working with Republicans before Biden tries to push the broader package through Congress.”There’s a lot of conversations taking place right now as to what the president meant,” said Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., in an interview with a Fox affiliate in New Orleans shared by his office.Cassidy noted that the president may have misspoken and said he hoped “it won’t be as if we crafted something just to give the president a point of leverage to get something that Republicans disagree with.”Ten Republican senators would be needed to pass the bipartisan accord in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most bills.While the senators in the bipartisan group are among some of the more independent-minded lawmakers, known for bucking their party’s leadership, it appears criticism by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Biden’s approach could peel away GOP support.
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By Polityk | 06/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Trump Knocks Immigration, Touts Republicans in Ohio Rally
At his first rally since leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump on Saturday lambasted the Biden administration’s immigration policies and urged his supporters to help Republicans take back majorities in Congress.While Trump has made speeches at Republican events since his election defeat by Democratic President Joe Biden, the rally in a state he carried in the 2020 election marks a return to the kind of freewheeling mass gatherings that have been critical to retaining the support of his base.Trump left office in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, shortly after a speech in which he repeated his false claims that his election defeat was the result of fraud. He survived a second impeachment and has kept a broad influence over the Republican Party, in part by leaving open the question of whether he will run for office again in 2024.On Saturday, to a crowd of thousands of cheering supporters, Trump highlighted some of his regular list of grievances, with criticism of U.S. elections and a particular focus on the rising number of immigrants crossing into the United States along its southern border.”We will take back the House, we will take back the Senate, and we will take back America, and we will do it soon,” he said.Democrats’ thin majorities in both chambers of Congress will be on the line in the 2022 midterm elections and history favors Republicans’ chances of gaining seats in those contests.Trump’s return to a big rally marks the start of public events lashing out at elected Republicans who he views as having crossed him.In Ohio he campaigned for former White House aide Max Miller, who has launched a primary challenge against Representative Anthony Gonzalez, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that left five dead including a Capitol Police officer.Trump has vowed to campaign against all 10. He has also endorsed a challenger to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the only one of the seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict him in his January impeachment trial who is up for reelection in 2022.The Ohio event in Wellington, about 64 kilometers southwest of Cleveland, was the first of three public appearances. Next is a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on June 30 and a rally in Sarasota, Florida, on July 3.Supporters said they hoped Trump would use such events to help unify the party behind like-minded candidates for Congress.”Continuing these rallies is extremely important,” said Jessica Dicken, a 30-year-old stay-at-home mom from southeast Ohio, adding Trump could be “a voice for the more conservative movement here in Ohio and across the nation.”‘We’ll lose our country’Trump has continued to feud with other senior Republicans. He has lashed out at former Vice President Mike Pence, who he falsely claims could have stopped Congress from certifying Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, as well as at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for calling Trump “practically and morally responsible” for that day’s violence.Pence defended his actions in a Thursday speech at the Ronald Reagan library.”There’s more at stake than our party and our political fortunes in this moment,” Pence said. “If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won’t just lose elections — we’ll lose our country.”Trump’s repeated false claims of election fraud have taken hold of Republican voters. Some 53% of Republicans believe Trump won the 2020 election and blame his loss on illegal voting, and one quarter of the overall public agreed that Trump won, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.Republican strategist Matt Dole said both Trump and those vying to stay close to him benefited from such public displays of bonhomie. Some of the candidates now seeking his endorsement have made disparaging comments about Trump in the past.”These are marriages of convenience,” said Dole, who is based in Ohio. “Donald Trump is using these opportunities to keep his name out there, to keep the base motivated.”
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By Polityk | 06/27/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Vice President Wraps Up Visit to Mexico Border
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped up her first trip to the U.S. southern border on Friday, saying the Biden administration had “made progress” in addressing the record number of migrants who have reached the border in recent months. The migration surge under U.S. President Joe Biden has cast a spotlight on the plight of Central Americans who face dangerous conditions and human traffickers as they travel to the United States. The situation has drawn criticism from both Republicans and some Democrats. During her trip, Harris appeared to cast at least some of the blame for the border problems on the previous administration, telling faith-based leaders, shelter operators and legal service providers in El Paso, Texas, “We inherited a tough situation.” “In five months, we’ve made progress, but there’s still more work to be done. But we’ve made progress,” she said. The vice president’s trip is part of the Biden administration’s effort to curb the surge in migrants attempting to enter the United States, with increased attention to the root causes of migration from Central America. Vice President Kamala Harris talks to Gloria Chavez, Chief Patrol Agent of the El Paso Sector, as she tours the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Central Processing Center, in El Paso, Texas, June 25, 2021.”The stories that I heard today reinforce the nature of those root causes,” Harris said, adding, “It is going to require, as we have been doing, a comprehensive approach that acknowledges each piece of this.” During her visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Harris made an unannounced visit to the Paso del Norte port of entry, where she toured a processing area for migrants, including an area for unaccompanied children. She spoke with a border patrol agent who told her conditions have improved at the facility in the past two years. The vice president was accompanied by Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas, whom she commended for “doing a great job.” Vice President Kamala Harris greets Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as she arrives to board Air Force Two, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., en route to El Paso, Texas, June 25, 2021.Prior to visiting the border, Harris made a stop at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility and met with Representative Veronica Escobar in El Paso. “I’m glad to be here. It was always the plan to come here, and I think we’re going to have a good productive day,” she said after arriving in El Paso. While at the CBP facility, the vice president reportedly met with five young migrant girls. Harris visited Guatemala and Mexico earlier this month, pointedly telling migrants, “Do not come” to the U.S. But thousands of migrants from those two countries, along with those from Honduras and El Salvador, have been making the long trek to the border, many on foot, escaping poverty and crime in their homelands, they say. U.S. border agents are facing the biggest number of undocumented migrants in two decades. They caught more than 180,000 at the border in May, mostly single adults. The figure was up slightly from the 170,000-plus numbers in both March and April. Most of the migrants are coming from Latin America, but many also are from Ecuador, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti and some African nations. The surge has grown since President Joe Biden and Harris took office in January, with Biden saying he was adopting what he called a more humane stance on migration than that of the Trump administration. Biden picked Harris to oversee efforts to curb the migration by addressing the root causes in Latin America of people leaving their homelands. Vice President Kamala Harris looks at photos as she visits the Paso del Norte (PDN) Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas, June 25, 2021.Biden has ended construction of former President Donald Trump’s border wall, and unlike his predecessor, who expelled the migrants to their home countries, he is allowing unaccompanied children to enter the U.S. But like Trump, Biden is refusing to allow families and single adults to enter. CBP said the average daily number of children in its custody had dropped to 640. Another 16,200 migrant children are being held by U.S. health authorities while the government attempts to place them with relatives already living in the U.S. or with vetted caregivers willing to take them into their homes. Republicans have blamed Biden for the border surge. Before meeting with Harris in early June, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei also told CBS News that when Biden took office, “the very next day, the coyotes were here organizing groups of children to take them to the United States.” Harris faced frequent questions on her foreign trip about why she had not visited the border. Frustrated at the questions, she told NBC News she also had not visited Europe since taking office. Opposition Republicans have criticized her not visiting crowded migrant holding facilities at the border, at one point posting an image of a milk carton with her picture that was captioned “Missing at the border.” After the Harris trip was announced, Trump, who is weighing another run for the presidency in 2024, said in a statement, “After months of ignoring the crisis at the Southern Border, it is great that we got Kamala Harris to finally go and see the tremendous destruction and death that they’ve created—a direct result of Biden ending my very tough but fair border policies.” Trump said that if he and Texas Governor Greg Abbott were not planning to visit the border themselves next week, “she would have never gone!”
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By Polityk | 06/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Officer Asks McCarthy to Denounce GOP Remarks on Capitol Riot
A police officer who was injured in the January 6 Capitol insurrection confronted House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy in a meeting on Friday, asking him to publicly denounce statements by GOP members who have voted against honoring police and have downplayed the violence of the attack.Officer Michael Fanone has said for weeks that he wanted to meet with McCarthy, who has opposed the formation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack and has remained loyal to former President Donald Trump. It was a violent mob of Trump’s supporters that laid siege to the Capitol and interrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory after Trump told them to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat.Fanone said after the meeting that he had asked McCarthy to denounce 21 House Republicans who recently voted against giving police officers a congressional medal of honor for defending the Capitol, and also Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde, who compared video of the rioters to a “tourist visit.”He said McCarthy told him he would “address it in a personal level with some of those members,” a response he said wasn’t satisfactory. McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the meeting.As the House Republican leader, Fanone said, “it’s important to hear those denouncements publicly.” And as a police officer who served that day, he said, “that’s not what I want to hear.”Harry Dunn, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who faced rioters on Jan. 6, talks to reporters as he leaves a meeting with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., at the Capitol in Washington, June 25, 2021.McCarthy and Fanone were joined by Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who was also among the officers who responded to the rioting. Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, was also expected to be in the meeting but did not speak to reporters afterward. Brian Sicknick collapsed and died after engaging with the mob, and a medical examiner later ruled that he died of natural causes.The meeting came as many Republicans have made clear that they want to move on from the January 6 attack — frustrating law enforcement officers who were brutally beaten by the rioters as they pushed past them and broke into the building. Senate Republicans have blocked an independent, bipartisan investigation of the attack, and some House members are increasingly downplaying the insurrection. Fanone said he found Clyde’s comments “disgusting.”Dunn said afterward that it was an “emotional meeting.” He declined to go into detail and thanked McCarthy for his time.Accountability, justice”He was receptive, and I think ultimately, we have the same goal. It’s just going to take a little time getting there, I guess,” Dunn said.The goal, Dunn said, is “accountability, justice for everybody that was involved.”As the officers and family members push for answers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she was creating a special committee to investigate the attack. She said a partisan-led probe was the only option left after Senate Republicans blocked the commission.Fanone, Dunn and Gladys Sicknick have all aggressively lobbied for the independent panel — which would be modeled after a similar panel that investigated the September 11 terrorist attacks — and they visited the offices of several Republican senators before the vote last month. Seven Republican senators voted with Democrats to consider the legislation that would form the bipartisan panel, but it still fell short of the 60 votes needed to move forward.FILE – Rioters storm the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.Fanone was one of many Metropolitan Police officers who were called in to help deal with the increasingly chaotic scene as delays kept the National Guard away. He has described being dragged down the Capitol steps by rioters who shocked him with a stun gun and beat him.Dunn, a Capitol Police officer, has similarly described fighting the rioters in hand-to-hand combat and being the target of racial slurs as he tried to hold them back.Both officers said they discussed the select committee with McCarthy, who said earlier Friday that he couldn’t comment on it because he hadn’t talked to Pelosi.Fanone said he asked for a commitment not to put “the wrong people” on the panel and that McCarthy said he would take it seriously.Dunn confirmed that account, saying McCarthy “committed to us to taking it serious.”Defense of riotersIn addition to Clyde, other Republicans have increasingly made statements defending the rioters and have spread conspiracy theories about what happened that day. Arizona Representative Paul Gosar has repeatedly insisted that a Trump supporter who was shot and killed that day while trying to break into the House chamber was “executed.” Others have suggested that the Justice Department should not be charging the insurrectionists with crimes.And last week, the 21 Republicans voted against giving medals of honor to the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police to thank them for their service on January 6. Dozens of those officers suffered major injuries, including chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones. McCarthy voted for the measure.Seven people died during and after the rioting, including Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was shot and killed, and three other Trump supporters who died of medical emergencies. In addition to Sicknick, two police officers died by suicide in the days that followed.Fanone made clear that the last several months had taken a toll. He said he was “mentally and physically exhausted” and that he felt isolated.”This experience is not something that I enjoy doing,” he said. “I don’t want to be up here on Capitol Hill. I want to be with my daughters. But I see this as an extension of my service on January 6th.”
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By Polityk | 06/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Says Georgia Voting Law Targets Black Voters, Sues to Block It
The Justice Department is suing Georgia over the state’s new election law, alleging Republican state lawmakers rushed through a sweeping overhaul with an intent to deny Black voters equal access to the ballot.
“Where we believe the rights of civil rights of Americans have been violated we will not hesitate to act,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday in announcing the lawsuit.
Republican lawmakers in the state pushed back immediately, pledging a forceful defense of Georgia’s law.
The Biden administration’s move comes two weeks after Garland said his department would scrutinize new laws in Republican-controlled states that tighten voting rules. He said the federal government would take action if prosecutors found unlawful activity.
The suit also comes as pressure grows on the Biden administration to respond to GOP-backed laws being pushed in the states this year. A Democratic effort to overhaul election laws was blocked this week by Republican senators.
As of mid-May, 22 restrictive laws had passed in at least 14 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which researches voting and supports expanded access. Justice Department officials hinted that prosecutors were looking at other voting laws across the United States and warned that the government would not stand by if there were illegal attempts to restrict voter access.
The increased enforcement of voting rights laws also signals that President Joe Biden and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke are making good on a promise to refocus the department around civil rights after a tumultuous four years during the Trump administration. Clarke was one of the nation’s leading civil rights attorneys before her nomination to lead the department’s civil rights division.Republican official harshly criticized
Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, said he would contest the suit. The Republican official was harshly criticized by then-President Donald Trump and his allies for rebuffing efforts to challenge the outcome of the state’s vote in the 2020 election. Raffensperger largely supported the new law and faces a primary challenge from a congressman backed by Trump.
“The Biden Administration has been spreading lies about Georgia’s election law for months,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “It is no surprise that they would operationalize their lies with the full force of the federal government. I look forward to meeting them, and beating them, in court.”
Gov. Brian Kemp, R-Ga., said in a statement the suit was “born out of the lies and misinformation the Biden administration has pushed.”
He accused Biden and other Democrats of “weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice to carry out their far-left agenda that undermines election integrity and empowers federal government overreach in our democracy.”Controversial aspects dropped
While much of the more controversial aspects of Georgia’s new voting law were dropped before it was passed, it is notable in its scope and for newly expansive powers granted to the state over local election offices.
The bill, known as SB 202, also adds a voter ID requirement for mail ballots, shortens the time period for requesting a mailed ballot and results in fewer ballot drop boxes available in metro Atlanta — provisions that drew the challenge from the federal government.
“The changes to absentee voting were not made in a vacuum,” Clarke said. “These changes come immediately after successful absentee voting in the 2020 election cycle, especially among Black voters. SB 202 seeks to halt and reverse this progress.”
In 2020, just two states had ID requirements for voters requesting a mailed ballot. Along with Georgia, lawmakers in Florida have also passed a law requiring additional identification for mail voting. Clarke described the Georgia law as adding “new and unnecessarily stringent” identification requirements to mail voting.Drop boxes allowed
In Georgia, drop boxes were permitted last year under an emergency rule prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. State Republicans have defended the new law as making drop boxes a permanent option for voters and requiring all counties to have at least one. But critics say the new limits mean there will be fewer drop boxes available in the state’s most populous communities.
For the entire metro Atlanta area, Democrats estimate the number of drop boxes will fall from 94 last year to no more than 23 for future elections based on the new formula of one drop box per 100,000 registered voters.
Clarke noted that metro Atlanta is home to the largest Black, voting-age population in the state.
The NAACP and civil rights leaders such as Stacey Abrams applauded the administration’s step. NAACP President Derrick Johnson said Georgia’s law was a “blatant assault on the American people’s most fundamental and sacred right, the right to vote.”
The law already is the subject of seven other federal suits filed by civil rights and election integrity groups that raise a number of claims under the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in voting.Supreme Court may weigh in
The Supreme Court also is weighing a voting rights dispute from Arizona that predates last year’s election in which the court could again significantly cut back on the use of the voting rights law.
Eight years ago Friday, the high court removed the Justice Department’s most effective tool in combating discriminatory voting laws: the requirement that states with a history of racial discrimination, mostly in the South, obtain advance approval of any voting changes from the government or a court.
The department also announced Friday it was creating a task force and advising FBI and U.S. attorneys to prioritize investigations of threats against election officials.
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By Polityk | 06/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Celebrates Pride Month, Highlighting LGBTQ Rights
President Joe Biden is celebrating Pride Month with a series of activities Friday, a reflection of the growing stature of the LGBTQ community at the White House despite the long history of widespread discrimination it has endured.Biden is naming a Jessica Stern as a special diplomatic envoy at the State Department for LGBTQ rights. Her responsibilities will involve ensuring that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect LGBTQ rights around the world. Stern is currently executive director of OutRight Action International, which defends human rights and works to prevent abuses of LGBTQ people.
In her new role, Stern also will help put in place a presidential memorandum to advance the rights of LGBTQ people, as well as bring together like-minded governments, nonprofits and corporations to uphold equality and dignity, according to the White House.
The focus also carries personal resonance for many in the Biden administration. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House’s principal deputy press secretary, tweeted out her own story Friday about coming out to her mother at the age of 16 and the revolted look in response that kept her sexuality a family secret for many years.
“I’m proud to be an out Black Queer woman and I have been for quite some time,” she wrote. “I’m happy to say, my Mother is now proud of ALL of who I am; she loves my partner, and she loves being a doting grandmother to the daughter we are raising.”
I am profoundly honored to be the Principal Deputy Press Secretary for @JoeBiden. I am especially thrilled to work alongside @jrpsaki whose leadership and stellar instincts will ensure we are positioned to effectively communicate the Biden-Harris agenda to all Americans.— Karine Jean-Pierre (@K_JeanPierre) November 29, 2020Jean-Pierre added that her journey toward acceptance was not easy, but it was worthwhile.
Later Friday, Biden plans to sign into law a measure that designates the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, as a national memorial. A mass shooting at the club in June 2016 left 49 people dead and 53 wounded in what was the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in U.S. history.
After the signing, Biden, a Democrat, is expected to make remarks on Pride Month.
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By Polityk | 06/26/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Texas Governor Abbott Leads GOP Push for Trump-Style Border Measures
Promises to build a wall. Descriptions of American homes “invaded” by immigrants and a trail of “carnage.” Plans to arrest border crossers and haul them to jail.
It’s not Donald Trump in 2016. It’s Texas Gov. Greg Abbott 2021.
The ambitious Republican is first among a group of GOP governors who have picked up where the former president left off when it comes to hard-line immigration measures.
In recent weeks, Abbott has rolled out get-tough plans and rhetoric not seen before even in Texas, where Republicans have spent a decade making border security the centerpiece of their agenda. Abbott, who is viewed as a potential presidential contender in 2024, even promised to continue building Trump’s border wall and has adopted a questionable method of helping paying for it: crowdsourcing and solicitations.
Abbott’s new push has been called political theater, which he has rejected as the number of border crossers remains high. But it has gained Trump’s attention. The former president is due to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border for the first time since leaving the White House in January. He will appear with Abbott on Wednesday and is expected to be joined in Texas by other GOP lawmakers.
The moves from Abbott and other Republican governors, including some with possible 2024 aspirations, are one sign of how Trump’s anti-immigration policies are outliving his presidency.
Republican leaders who want a future in the party continue to see support for aggressive border measures as a political winner, buoyed by 2020 results that suggest that Trump’s tact did not drive away drive away Latino voters as some Democrats predicted.
There are signs the Republican pressure is working. After weeks of criticism for not visiting the border, Vice President Kamala Harris is set to go to El Paso on Friday.
“From a Republican audience perspective, it’s a rock-solid issue for the governor,” said Matt Langston, a Republican strategist in Texas. “It is an issue that is going to pay dividends for Gov. Abbott.”
Abbott is not alone in that pursuit.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another potential presidential candidate, last week became the first governor to announce that he would deploy law enforcement from his own state to the nation’s 2,000-mile border with Mexico, although he gave scant details that left the extent of that commitment unclear.
Since Democratic Joe Biden took office as president, Abbott has tried position America’s biggest Republican-led state as the foremost antagonist to the federal government’s border policies. He suggested without evidence in the spring that migrants with COVID-19 were putting Texans at risk as a result of Biden easing Trump-era immigration measures. Abbot began June by moving to shutter more than 50 shelters that house thousands of migrant children.
His intentions to resume one of Trump’s best-known and incomplete promises — building more of the wall — is a step Texas has not previously taken amid a decade of escalating spending and deployments to the border with Mexico. Abbott said Texas will start by shifting $250 million in state dollars toward new barrier and finance more through crowdsourcing, setting up a webpage and post office box so supporters of the project can donate their own money. The project has so far raised more than $459,000, according to his office, although it did not provide the number of donors.
The last high-profile attempt to build a wall with crowdsourcing was led by Trump supporters and Steve Bannon, the president’s former chief strategist, who was later charged with duping thousands of donors to the project. Trump pardoned Bannon on his last day in office.
The promises of the new barrier come on top of plans for Texas state troopers to begin arresting border crossers and jailing them for state crimes, such as trespassing. Abbott said “homes are being invaded” along the border. Landowners are losing livestock and crops, Abbott said, because of “the carnage that is being caused by the people who are coming across the border.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 180,000 encounters on the Mexican border in May, the most since March 2000. But the numbers were boosted by a pandemic-related ban on seeking asylum that encouraged repeat attempts to cross because getting caught carried no legal consequences.
Nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children were picked up along the border in March, by far the highest month on record. April was second-highest and May was third-highest.
Abbott has rejected criticism that his measures are just for show.
“Anyone who thinks this is politics doesn’t have a clue what’s going on at the border,” Abbott said last week in the Texas Capitol. “Anyone who thinks this is politics doesn’t care about American citizens or Texas residents.”
Immigration has been a weak spot for Biden.
A poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in May showed that 43% of Americans approved of his handling of the issue, while 54% disapprove. Republicans across the U.S. have seized on that dissatisfaction, with even GOP governors in Idaho and Nebraska saying they, too, will send a small number of state law enforcement officers to the border.
Trump made dramatic inroads with Latino voters last year along the Texas border, which has long been a stronghold for Democrats but is also more socially conservative than the state’s liberal big cities. Texas’ Rio Grande Valley was a major backdrop of Trump’s anti-immigration policies, but wall construction and Border Patrol staffing also created jobs.
Some Democrats and immigrant rights groups have questioned the legality of Abbott’s plans, though no court challenges have yet been filed. U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, a border Democrat, said solutions are needed, but not the kind Abbott wants, to slow migration numbers. He said walls have never worked and that Abbott should invest in technology such as cameras and sensors.
“I think he’s got it horrifically wrong,” he said. “He may be talking to the national audience. But clearly, that doesn’t represent the majority of Texans.”
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By Polityk | 06/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Secretary of State Blinken to Meet with French President Macron
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in France, his latest stop in a multination tour, where he will meet Friday with President Emmanuel Macron, following up on U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent meetings with allies in the region to boost transatlantic relations. “During this trip to engage with the United States’ oldest ally, Secretary Blinken will emphasize the importance of maintaining transatlantic cooperation, addressing our joint response to the ongoing health crisis, tackling the climate crisis, and highlighting the strength of our long-standing bilateral partnership,” the State Department said Thursday in a statement. France’s President Emmanuel Macron addresses the media as he arrives on the first day of the EU summit at the European Council Building in Brussels, Belgium, June 24, 2021.France continues to be “a steadfast partner in the fight against terrorism,” the State Department said, adding the two countries “agree on the need to hold Russia accountable for its aggressive and destabilizing activities, including in Ukraine.” The U.S. and France collaborate on issues like “human rights, economic coercion and corruption” to counter the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to “erode the values and institutions that undergird the rules-based international order.” The U.S. “will continue to work with France in implementing climate finance to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy to achieve net-zero emissions by midcentury,” said the State Department. Earlier Thursday while in Berlin, Blinken said the United States and Germany are partnering to counter Holocaust denial and antisemitism, an effort the secretary of state said would “ensure that current and future generations learn about the Holocaust and also learn from it.” Media cover U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas as they talk inside the Holocaust Memorial, in Berlin, Germany, June 24, 2021.Speaking at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Blinken said Holocaust denial and antisemitism go hand in hand with homophobia, xenophobia, racism and other forms of discrimination, and have become “a rallying cry for those who seek to tear down our democracies.” “That’s why we have to find innovative ways to bring the history of the Holocaust to life, not only to understand the past, but also to guide our present and to shape our future,” the top U.S. diplomat said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas are served beers as they arrive to speak at a youth outreach event at the Clarchens Ballhaus in Berlin, June 24, 2021.He and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas signed a document on the partnership. Blinken said the two governments would work to strengthen education and counter denial and distortion, helping public servants and young people understand the Holocaust and antisemitism in depth and to feel a responsibility to stop atrocities. “This dialogue will help us remember all that can be lost, but also help us to see all that we can save if we choose — if we choose — to stand up rather than stand by,” said Blinken. Libya talks Earlier on Thursday, Blinken and Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba held talks in Berlin following an international conference focused on supporting Libya’s transition to a permanent, stable government. Wednesday’s conference, hosted by Germany and the United Nations, included officials from 17 countries and reinforced support for national elections in Libya scheduled for late December. A senior U.S. State Department official told reporters Wednesday that the elections are important “not just to legitimize a long-term, credible Libyan government,” but also to help achieve the goal of carrying out an existing call for all foreign fighters to leave the country. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, speaks as he meets with Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba, right, at the Berlin Marriott Hotel in Berlin, Germany, June 24, 2021.An official statement from conference attendees said that “all foreign forces and mercenaries need to be withdrawn from Libya without delay,” but on that point Turkey noted its reservations. The senior State Department official said Turkey sees its personnel in Libya acting as trainers based on an agreement it had with a previous interim government, the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord. Libya has experienced political instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi from power. Rival governments operated in separate parts of the country for years before a cease-fire deal in October that included a demand for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days. At a news conference following Wednesday’s conference, Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush said there was progress toward the exit of the foreign fighters and that “hopefully within the coming days mercenaries from both sides are going to be withdrawn.” Defeating Islamic State will be the focus of an upcoming conference co-hosted by Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in Rome. The top U.S. diplomat will also participate in a ministerial meeting in Italy to discuss Syria and the humanitarian needs in that country. Blinken is also scheduled to visit the Vatican, where Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, said the agenda includes combating climate change and human trafficking.
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By Polityk | 06/25/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
New York Court Suspends Rudy Giuliani’s Law License
An appeals court suspended Rudy Giuliani from practicing law in New York because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the presidential race.
An attorney disciplinary committee said in its motion to suspend Giuliani’s license that there was “uncontroverted evidence” that Giuliani had made false statements to the courts, the public and lawmakers as he pushed theories that the election was stolen through fraud.
“This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and of our current president, Joseph R. Biden,” the committee wrote. “The hallmark of our democracy is predicated on free and fair elections. False statements intended to foment a loss of confidence in our elections and resulting loss of confidence in government generally damage the proper functioning of a free society.”
The ruling, signed Thursday, will prevent Giuliani from representing clients as a lawyer.
In the decision, the committee wrote that Giuliani “communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large” as a lawyer for Trump.
Giuliani had claimed that the investigation into his conduct violated his First Amendment right of free speech and that he did not knowingly make false statements, according to the decision.
The court rejected those arguments, noting that in Pennsylvania, Giuliani failed to “provide a scintilla of evidence for any of the varying and wildly inconsistent numbers of dead people he factually represented voted in Philadelphia during the 2020 presidential election.”
A message seeking comment about the ruling was sent Thursday to Giuliani and his lawyer.
Giuliani was the primary mouthpiece for Trump’s lies after the 2020 election, standing at a press conference in front of Four Seasons Total Landscaping outside Philadelphia on the day the race was called for Biden and saying they would challenge what he claimed was a vast conspiracy by Democrats.
The lies around the 2020 election helped push an angry mob of pro-Trump rioters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a shocking effort to stop the certification of President Biden’s victory. And since that time, Republicans have used that lie to push stricter voting laws nationwide.
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By Polityk | 06/24/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Pelosi Creates Panel to ‘Seek The Truth’ on Capitol Attack
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made it official Thursday that she is creating a special committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol, saying it is “imperative that we seek the truth.”
The new committee comes after Republican senators blocked legislation that would have set up a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack. A violent mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters overran the police on Jan. 6, broke into the building and hunted for lawmakers as they tried to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
The House passed the bill to form a commission last month, and Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was her preference to have an independent panel lead the inquiry. But she said Congress cannot wait any longer to begin a deeper look at the insurrection.
“January 6 was a day of darkness for our country,” Pelosi said, and the “terror and trauma” to members and staff who were there is something she cannot forgive. She said there is no fixed timeline for the committee, which will investigate and report on the facts and causes of the attack and make recommendations to prevent it from happening again.
She did not say who will lead or serve on the committee.
Pelosi’s official announcement, two days after she signaled to colleagues that she would create the committee, means Democrats will lead what probably will be the most comprehensive look at the siege. More than three dozen Republicans in the House and seven Republican senators said they wanted to avoid a partisan investigation and supported the legislation to form a commission, which would have been modeled after a similar panel that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
But those numbers were not strong enough to overcome GOP opposition in the Senate, where support from 1O Republicans is needed to pass most bills if all Democrats vote yes. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said he may hold a second vote after the legislation failed to advance last month, but there’s no indication that Democrats can win the necessary support from three additional Republicans.
Pelosi says the select committee could be complimentary to an independent panel, and that she is “hopeful there could be a commission at some point.”
Many Republicans have made clear that they want to move on from the Jan. 6 attack, brushing aside the many unanswered questions about the insurrection, including how the government and law enforcement missed intelligence leading up to the rioting and the role of Trump before and during the attack.
Some Republicans have gone so far as to play down the violence, with one suggesting the rioters looked like tourists and another insisting that a woman, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed that day while trying to break into the House chamber through a window was “executed.”
Last week, 21 Republicans voted against giving medals of honor to the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police to thank them for their service on Jan. 6. Dozens of those officers suffered injuries, including chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones.
Seven people died during and after the rioting, including Babbitt, three other Trump supporters who died of medical emergencies and two police officers who died by suicide in the days that followed. A third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and later died after engaging with the protesters, but a medical examiner determined he died of natural causes.
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By Polityk | 06/24/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
NASA Head Seeks New Funding for Annual Moon Landings ‘Over a Dozen Years’
The U.S. space agency NASA aspires to land humans on the moon every year for 12 consecutive years, Administrator Bill Nelson testified to a congressional committee Wednesday in support of a request to boost the agency’s fiscal 2022 budget.Nelson acknowledged to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology that the agency’s budget for fiscal 2021 included $850 million toward the development of a lunar lander as part of an ambitious, roughly $3 billion Human Landing System program.“But there needs to be a landing each year for a dozen years, so there are many more awards to come if you all decide that it’s in the interest of the United States to appropriate that money,” Nelson said.The Biden administration has proposed a 6.6% increase to NASA’s current budget for 2022, amounting to a $24.8 billion request from Congress. The funding would support sending additional rovers to Mars, continuing International Space Station operations, initiating probes to Venus and sending manned flights to the moon by 2024.Former astronautNelson spent 18 years as a U.S. senator before President Joe Biden appointed him as NASA’s 14th administrator.Members of the Science, Space and Technology Committee asked Nelson how NASA would use the new funding to preserve America’s title as the world’s preeminent space agency through programs focused on space exploration, space technology and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).FILE – A worker monitors screens showing the interior of the Tianhe space station module after Chinese astronauts docked with and entered it, at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, June 17, 2021.Many of the questions were explicitly tied to concern about China’s advancements in space technology and exploration.”China clearly is in space for the long term, and we need to recognize that and respond accordingly,” committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson said early in the hearing.Nelson repeatedly emphasized that congressional approval of NASA’s proposed 2022 budget would better position the U.S. to compete with China by first returning humans to the moon and eventually landing them on Mars.China’s roverChina led the world in orbital space launches in 2018 and 2019, but it was overtaken by the U.S. in 2020 through partnerships with private aerospace companies such as SpaceX. China also was the second country ever to successfully land a rover on Mars, which it did in May.In response to China-oriented questions from Representative Michael Waltz, Nelson indicated he supported making the Wolf Amendment permanent. The 2011 law prohibits NASA from directly cooperating with the Chinese government and Chinese companies on any government-funded activities without the approval of Congress.“That doesn’t mean that we can’t find areas of cooperation, and those areas are deconfliction of space assets running into each other [and] trying to get them to participate in getting rid of all of that space junk,” Nelson said.Several members pressed Nelson for a concrete plan about how NASA would return to the moon, and he committed to releasing it soon after an August ruling is released by the Government Accountability Office regarding the agency’s Human Landing System.FILE – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Israel’s first spacecraft designed to land on the moon lifts off on the first privately funded lunar mission at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Feb. 21, 2019.The GAO is reviewing protests filed by aerospace company Blue Origin and information technology company Dynetics in response to a $2.9 billion contract assigned to SpaceX for assembly of the next lunar lander, which is part of NASA’s Artemis program. NASA has delayed the HLS contract with SpaceX until the GAO announces its decision.Project Artemis is a plan to return humans, specifically the first woman and first person of color, to the moon, which was initiated by the Trump administration.Nelson announced during the hearing that the first unmanned test flight for Project Artemis is set to launch in November, adding that the propulsion system to be used will be the “most powerful rocket ever.”Crunching numbersLawmakers noted that the Biden administration had asked for only $1.2 billion in its 2022 budget request for the HLS — roughly a third smaller than the Trump administration’s 2021 proposal.Nelson countered by pointing out that Congress only appropriated $850 million of the $3.3 billion NASA originally requested for fiscal 2021 to start developing a lunar lander.”The Congress appropriated $850 million, and so, you can only get so many pounds of potatoes out of a five-pound sack,” Nelson said. “If you all are generous, whatever vehicle you use … then we’re going to try to rev it up.”The 2022 budget request includes plans for five space launches under the Artemis program and the construction of a lunar satellite and a small space station that orbits the moon.The budget also proposes a $300 million increase in Earth science programs, an area of NASA funding cut by the Trump administration.The deadline to approve the budget, including allocations for NASA, is September 30.
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By Polityk | 06/24/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Lawmakers in Marathon Debate on Big Tech Regulation Bills
U.S. lawmakers debated into the night Wednesday over details of legislation aimed at curbing the power of Big Tech firms with a sweeping reform of antitrust laws.The House Judiciary Committee clashed over a series of bills with potentially massive implications for large online platforms and consumers who use them.The legislation could force an overhaul of the business practices of Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook, or potentially lead to a breakup of the dominant tech giants. But critics argue the measures could have unintended consequences that would hurt consumers and some of the most popular online services.Rep. David Cicilline, who headed a 16-month investigation that led to the legislation, said the bills are aimed at restoring competition in markets stymied by monopolies.”The digital marketplace suffers from a lack of competition. Many digital markets are defined by monopolies or duopoly control,” Cicilline said as the hearing opened.”Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are gatekeepers to the online economy. They bury or by rivals and abuse their monopoly power conduct that is harmful to consumers, competition, innovation and our democracy.”The bills would restrict how online platforms operate, notably whether tech giants operating them could favor their own products or services.The measures would also limit mergers or acquisitions by Big Tech firms aimed at limiting competition and make it easier for users to try new services by requiring data “portability” and “interoperability.”The fate of the bills remained unclear, with some Republicans and moderate Democrats expressing concerns despite bipartisan support.Clash points included whether it is right to target laws at four big tech companies and whether government agencies will hobble them instead of letting them adapt to competition.”The interoperability measure is a huge step backwards,” said Oregon Republican Cliff Bentz. “Big Tech is certainly not perfect. This bill is not the way to fix the problem.”Representative Zoe Lofgren said she hoped the bill would include more measures for data privacy and security but endorses the concept.“The big platforms have all your information. And if you can’t move it, then you’re really a prisoner of that platform,” she said. “Who wants to leave a platform if they’ve got all your baby pictures and all of your videos of your grandchildren, locked up?”As the session stretched into the night, some members of the body lobbied to adjourn and resume the work another day.’They make it worse’Republican Representative Ken Buck, a supporter of the overhaul, said the legislation “represents a scalpel, not a chainsaw, to deal with the most important aspects of antitrust reform,” in dealing with “these monopolists (who) routinely use their gatekeeper power to crush competitors, harm innovation and destroy the free market.”But Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican, criticized the effort, renewing his argument that Big Tech firms suppress conservative voices.”These bills don’t fix that problem — they make it worse,” Jordan said. “They don’t break up Big Tech. They don’t stop censorship.”Steve Chabot, another Republican, called the initiative “an effort for big government to take over Big Tech.”The panel approved on a 29-12 vote a bill that was the least controversial, increasing merger filing fees to give more funding for antitrust enforcement.Tech firms and others warned of negative consequences for popular services people rely on, potentially forcing Apple to remove its messaging apps from the iPhone or Google to stop displaying results from YouTube or Maps.Apple released a report arguing that one likely impact — opening up the iPhone to apps from outside platforms — could create security and privacy risks for users.Forcing Apple to allow “sideloading” of apps would mean “malicious actors would take advantage of the opportunity by devoting more resources to develop sophisticated attacks targeting iOS users,” the report said.Amazon vice president Brian Huseman warned of “significant negative effects” both for sellers and consumers using the e-commerce platform, and reduced-price competition.”It will be much harder for these third-party sellers to create awareness for their business,” Huseman said.”Removing the selection of these sellers from Amazon’s store would also create less price competition for products, and likely end up increasing prices for consumers. The committee is moving unnecessarily fast in pushing these bills forward.”The measures may also impact other firms including Microsoft, which has not been the focus of the House antitrust investigation but which links services such as Teams messaging and Bing search to its Windows platform, and possibly other firms.
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By Polityk | 06/24/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Senators Reach Agreement on Infrastructure Framework
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators said on Wednesday it had reached agreement on a framework for a $1.2 trillion infrastructure investment proposal that it planned to present to the White House on Thursday. A Democratic negotiator, Joe Manchin, said White House officials had signed off on the deal. The group of 21 senators, or “G-21,” has been working on an eight-year bipartisan framework to rebuild roads, bridges and other traditional infrastructure sought by Democratic President Joe Biden. A team of White House officials met during the afternoon with nine Democrats, one independent and 11 Republicans in the Senate, and was due to sit down with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi later in the day. The White House turned its attention to the group of 21 senators after Biden rejected a Republican infrastructure proposal just over two weeks ago. Asked earlier in the evening how he felt about the bipartisan plan, Biden told reporters: “I’ll tell you that when I get the final numbers tonight.” A sticking point is how to pay for it. Biden has pledged not to increase taxes on Americans earning less than $400,000 a year, while Republicans are determined to protect a 2017 cut in corporate taxes.
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By Polityk | 06/24/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
