влада, вибори, народ
US Senate Approves $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to approve a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The package includes about $550 billion in new spending and would pay for roads, water systems and improving access to broadband internet. Tuesday’s vote follows extensive negotiations between a group of Democrats and Republicans. There are those who oppose the measure on both sides, including Democrats who say it does not go far enough to address the nation’s needs and Republicans who object to the scope and price tag. But in the evenly split Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, the package is expected to have the support of more than two-thirds of the members. Approval in the Senate would send the measure to the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are expected to consider it in September. “Let me say this, it has taken quite a long time, and there have been detours and everything else, but this will do a whole lot of good for America, and the Senate can be proud it has passed this,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday. Republican Senator Rob Portman, who was involved in the bipartisan negotiations, called the package “the largest in our nation’s history.”Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, walk out of a budget resolution meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.“After decades of inaction, we will finally deliver the safe, reliable, and modern infrastructure our economy & our country so desperately needs,” Portman tweeted late Monday. Schumer said Monday that after the vote on the infrastructure bill, the Senate would turn its attention to a $3.5 trillion, 10-year plan that includes items such as universal preschool, free community college, and money for affordable housing and clean energy programs. The larger package has the support of Democrats in the Senate, but not Republicans. Democrats are likely to proceed under a special process known as a budget reconciliation. That would allow the bill to advance with only a simple majority and not be subject to a potential filibuster, a move by the minority Republicans to block or delay a vote. A budget resolution would allow Democrats to pass spending legislation later in the year, also with a simple majority, to fill out the specifics of the programs. Debate on the $3.5 trillion plan is expected to continue for several months. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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By Polityk | 08/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
В університеті імені Карпенка-Карого кажуть, що не отримували скарг на домагання
Міністерство культури й інформаційної політики України ініціювало службове розслідування і закликало керівництво університету сприяти оперативній і всебічній перевірці фактів, наведених колишніми студентками
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By Gromada | 08/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US Senate to Vote on $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
The U.S. Senate is expected to give its approval Tuesday to a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The package includes about $550 billion in new spending and would pay for roads, water systems and improving access to broadband internet. Tuesday’s vote follows extensive negotiations between a group of Democrats and Republicans. There are those who oppose the measure on both sides, including Democrats who say it does not go far enough to address the nation’s needs and Republicans who object to the scope and price tag. But in the evenly split Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, the package is expected to have the support of more than two-thirds of the members. Approval in the Senate would send the measure to the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are expected to consider it in September. “Let me say this, it has taken quite a long time, and there have been detours and everything else, but this will do a whole lot of good for America, and the Senate can be proud it has passed this,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday. Republican Senator Rob Portman, who was involved in the bipartisan negotiations, called the package “the largest in our nation’s history.”Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, walk out of a budget resolution meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.“After decades of inaction, we will finally deliver the safe, reliable, and modern infrastructure our economy & our country so desperately needs,” Portman tweeted late Monday. Schumer said Monday that after the vote on the infrastructure bill, the Senate would turn its attention to a $3.5 trillion, 10-year plan that includes items such as universal preschool, free community college, and money for affordable housing and clean energy programs. The larger package has the support of Democrats in the Senate, but not Republicans. Democrats are likely to proceed under a special process known as a budget reconciliation. That would allow the bill to advance with only a simple majority and not be subject to a potential filibuster, a move by the minority Republicans to block or delay a vote. A budget resolution would allow Democrats to pass spending legislation later in the year, also with a simple majority, to fill out the specifics of the programs. Debate on the $3.5 trillion plan is expected to continue for several months. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
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By Polityk | 08/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
10 серпня – що очікувати в цей день і що було в історії
Виповнюється 80 років від дня народження Романа Лубківського (1941–2015), українського письменника, поета, перекладача, дипломата
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By Gromada | 08/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Infrastructure on Track as Bipartisan US Senate Coalition Grows
After weeks of fits, starts and delays, the United States Senate is on track to give final approval to the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, with a growing coalition of Democrats and Republicans prepared to lift the first phase of President Joe Biden’s rebuilding agenda to passage. Final Senate votes are expected Tuesday, and the bill would then go to the House. All told, some 70 senators appear poised to carry the bipartisan package to passage, a potentially robust tally of lawmakers eager to tap the billions in new spending for their states and show voters back home they can deliver. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it’s “the first time the Senate has come together around such a package in decades.” U.S. Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, carries his empty lunch box back into the Capitol as the Senate continues to work through the bipartisan infrastructure bill, in Washington, August 9, 2021.The often-elusive political center is holding steady, a rare partnership with Biden’s White House. On the left, the Democrats have withstood the complaints of liberals who say the proposal falls short of what’s needed to provide a down payment on one of the president’s top priorities. From the right, the Republicans are largely ignoring the criticism from their most conservative and far-flung voices, including a barrage of name-calling from former President Donald Trump as he tries to derail the package. Together, a sizable number of business, farm and labor groups back the package, which proposes nearly $550 billion in new spending on what are typically mainstays of federal spending: roads, bridges, broadband internet, water pipes, and other public works systems that cities and states often cannot afford on their own. “This has been a different sort of process,” said Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator of the group of 10 senators who drafted the package. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the top Republican negotiator on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, works from his office on Capitol Hill, Aug. 9, 2021.Portman, a former White House budget director for George W. Bush, said the investments being made have been talked about for years, yet never seem to get done. “We’ll be getting it right for the American people,” he said. The top Democratic negotiator, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, said she was trying to follow the example of fellow Arizonan John McCain to “reach bipartisan agreements that try to bring the country together.” U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-AZ, arrives to deliver a floor speech as the U.S. Senate appears on track for passage of a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, August 9, 2021.Still, not all senators are on board. Despite the momentum, action ground to a halt over the weekend when Senator Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican allied with Trump, refused to speed up the process. Other Republican senators objected to the size, scope and financing of the package, particularly concerned after the Congressional Budget Office said it would add $256 billion to deficits over the decade. Two Republicans, Senators Jerry Moran of Kansas and Todd Young of Indiana, had been part of initial negotiations shaping the package but ultimately announced they could not support it. Rather than pressure lawmakers, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has stayed behind the scenes for much of the bipartisan work. He has cast his own votes repeatedly to allow the bill to progress, calling the bill a compromise. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky walks off the Senate floor in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.Trump called Hagerty, who had been his ambassador to Japan, on Sunday, and the senator argued for taking more time for debate and amendments, in part because he wants to slow the march toward Biden’s second phase, a $3.5 trillion bill that Republicans fully oppose. The outline for the bigger $3.5 trillion package is on deck next in the Senate — a more liberal undertaking of child care, elder care and other programs that is much more partisan and expected to draw only Democratic support. That debate is expected to extend into the fall. Unlike Biden’s bigger $3.5 trillion package, which would be paid for by higher tax rates for corporations and the wealthy, the bipartisan package is to be funded by repurposing other money and with other spending cuts and revenue streams. The bill’s backers argue that the budget office’s analysis was unable to take into account certain revenue streams — including from future economic growth. Senators have spent the past week processing nearly two dozen amendments to the 2,700-page package, but so far none has substantially changed its framework. One remaining issue, over tax compliance for cryptocurrency brokers, appeared close to being resolved after senators announced they had worked with the Treasury Department to clarify the intent. But an effort to quickly adopt the cryptocurrency compromise was derailed by senators who wanted their own amendments, including one to add $50 billion for shipbuilding and other defense infrastructure. It’s unclear whether any further amendments will be adopted. The House is expected to consider both Biden infrastructure packages when it returns from recess in September. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the two bills will be considered together, but on Monday a bipartisan group of centrist lawmakers urged her to bring their smaller plan forward quickly, raising concerns about the bigger bill, in a sign of the complicated politics ahead. “This once-in-a-century investment deserves its own consideration,” wrote Democratic Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Jared Golden as well as others in a letter obtained by The Associated Press. “We cannot afford unnecessary delays.”
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By Polityk | 08/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Democrats Unveil Sweeping Social Safety Net Plan
U.S. Senate Democrats on Monday unveiled a sweeping $3.5 trillion social safety net proposal that would sharply expand the role of the national government in the lives of millions of Americans. The plan formally embraces many of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promises to give impoverished people a better shot at joining middle-class American life. At the same time, it would expand government services across an array of existing and new programs. It would provide universal free prekindergarten schooling for 3- and 4-year-old children and two years of free community college classes for high school graduates. For older Americans, the plan would boost federal spending for added health care benefits, with first-time funding for dental, vision and hearing aid care. The Democrats’ plan, already being uniformly pilloried by Republican lawmakers as too costly and a vast overreach toward a socialist wish list of government largesse, also would invest new sums to fight climate change, change federal immigration laws and attempt to lower prescription drug prices. Some Democratic lawmakers have also voiced reservations about the massive cost of the proposal. The Senate Democrats say they would pay for the package with higher taxes on corporations and individuals earning more than $400,000 a year, which Republicans also oppose because the changes would undo some of the tax cuts they enacted in 2017 under former President Donald Trump. The new spending proposal is in addition to the estimated $1 trillion infrastructure package for road and bridge repair, broadband internet construction, and rail and transit expansion that is nearing approval in the Senate, possibly on Tuesday. The Senate is likely to approve the infrastructure measure with unanimous Democratic support and about one-third of the 50-member Republican bloc of lawmakers before sending it to the House of Representatives, where some Democrats say the package is too small, and passage is uncertain. Some House Democratic progressives say they won’t vote for the infrastructure package, another Biden priority, until they can approve the social safety net legislation. FILE – In this image from Senate TV, Vice President Kamala Harris sits in the chair on the Senate floor to cast her first tie-breaking vote at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 5, 2021.Senate Democrats, with no Republican support, hope to push through the broad outlines of the new social safety net spending plan in the coming days on a simple majority vote in the politically divided Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote for the Democrats. But any eventual legislation, with specific spending proposals, could take Congress months for consideration and enactment. In introducing the $3.5 trillion package, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told Democratic colleagues in a letter, “At its core, this legislation is about restoring the middle class in the 21st Century and giving more Americans the opportunity to get there.” “By making education, health care, childcare, and housing more affordable, we can give tens of millions of families a leg up,” Schumer said. The social safety net legislation was largely drafted by one of the Senate’s most liberal lawmakers, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In a statement, Sanders said, “For too many decades, Congress has ignored the needs of the working class, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.” “Now is the time for bold action,” he said. “Now is the time to restore faith in ordinary Americans that their government can work for them, and not just wealthy campaign contributors.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky walks towards the Senate chamber in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.But the Senate Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is scoffing at the Democratic proposal. He said last week that discussion of it “will thrust the Senate into an ultrapartisan showdown over the staggering, reckless taxing and spending spree” that Democrats want. He said Schumer is making Democrats vote on “nothing less than Chairman Sanders’ dream shopping list. Every American family will know exactly where their senator stands.” Nathan Brand, a Republican National Committee spokesperson, said, “As Democrats unveil their reckless tax-and-spend spree today, Americans are reminded just how out of touch Biden, Schumer and (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi are from the struggles everyday Americans are facing.” “From skyrocketing prices to an out-of-control border crisis to rising crime across the country, voters will hold Democrats accountable for abandoning working families in order to desperately push their radical left-wing agenda,” Brand said.
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By Polityk | 08/10/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
В Умані завершують підготовку до прийому паломників-хасидів – МОЗ
Зараз епідеміологічна ситуація в Україні, високі рівні охоплення вакцинацією у світі та своєчасна підготовка до цього святкування, дозволяє прийняти паломників, заявив головний санітарний лікар Ігор Кузін
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By Gromada | 08/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
9 серпня – що очікувати в цей день і що було в історії
Рівно рік тому в Білорусі відбулися президентські вибори, результати яких спричинили в країні масові протести і не були визнані міжнародною спільнотою
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By Gromada | 08/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US Senate Pushing Toward Final Vote on Infrastructure Bill
The U.S. Senate was working toward another procedural vote late Sunday on a $1 trillion infrastructure package, pushing toward a final vote on the measure expected Tuesday.
There appears to be solid support for the spending deal that would help repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, expand broadband internet service, modernize rail and public transit systems and replace dangerous lead-pipe drinking water infrastructure.
In a 67-27 vote Saturday, senators limited extended debate on the legislation, but a few Republican senators insisted on 30 hours of required public discussion.
“We can get this done the easy way or the hard way. In either case, the Senate will stay in session until we finish our work,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech before the vote. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives with his security detail as senators convene for a rare weekend session to continue work on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 8, 2021.The legislation calls for the largest investment in decades toward U.S. physical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, airports and waterways. Separately, Democrats are initiating a $3.5 trillion spending deal for social safety net programs that has drawn no Republican support.
The infrastructure package is one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, in part to show voters that the White House and Congress can agree on bipartisan efforts to benefit the country at a time when politically divided Washington lawmakers are stalemated on numerous other issues.
Before the Saturday vote to advance the infrastructure bill, Biden tweeted, “We can’t just build back to the way things were before COVID-19, we have to build back better. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and my Build Back Better plan will grow our economy and create an average of 2 million good-paying jobs every year over the next decade.”
Even though he, too, proposed infrastructure spending that failed to materialize, former President Donald Trump has attacked Republicans who support Biden’s package, saying they should wait until they control Congress again.
But a long-time Trump ally, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top-ranking Republican, indicated his support for the bill. Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to the chamber late Saturday afternoon, Aug. 7, 2021, after the Senate voted to advance the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 7, 2021.”Republicans and Democrats have radically different visions these days, but both those visions include physical infrastructure that works for all of our citizens,” McConnell told the Senate. “The investments this bill will make are not just necessary, in many cases, they are overdue. Our country has real needs in this area.”
If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.
The package includes $550 million in new spending, along with $450 billion in previously approved funds.
The deal includes $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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By Polityk | 08/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Ex-Justice Official Said to Have Been Pressured by Trump on Election
Former President Donald Trump mounted an intense pressure campaign on the U.S. Justice Department to overturn his election defeat in his final weeks in office, the department’s head during that time testified to lawmakers, a senior Senate Democrat said on Sunday.Former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen provided “invaluable” testimony during seven hours of a closed-door hearing on Saturday, in which he implicated Trump in an attempt to subvert the election result, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin told CNN’s “State of the Union.”According to Durbin, Rosen testified that Trump directly pressured him to falsely assert that continuing election fraud investigations cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s victory.”It was real. Very real. And it was very specific,” Durbin said of Trump’s pressure on Rosen. “The former president is not subtle when he wants something.”Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised Rosen, a conservative lawyer, for his voluntary cooperation with the committee’s ongoing investigation into Trump’s actions after the election.”I have to say history is going to be very kind to Mr. Rosen when this is all over. When he was initially appointed, I didn’t think that was the case. I was wrong,” Durbin said, adding: “It’s a good thing for America we had someone like Rosen in that position.”Rosen’s testimony came a week after a House of Representatives committee released Justice Department documents showing Trump had urged top officials last year to falsely claim his election defeat was corrupt.”Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” Trump told Rosen, referring to Republicans, in a December 27 phone call, according to handwritten notes taken by a Rosen aide.The notes showed Rosen told Trump the department could not and would not “change the outcome of the election.”Durbin said in the CNN interview that his committee also wants testimony from former Attorney General Bill Barr, who Rosen replaced during the final weeks of Trump’s presidency.Barr stepped down in December, shortly after the Electoral College confirmed Trump’s loss to Biden.Barr had angered Trump by not supporting his false claims that the November 3 election result had been tainted by widespread fraud. Multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump’s administration rejected those claims as unfounded.Durbin said he also wants to hear from former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who reportedly plotted with Trump to try to oust Rosen so he could take over the Justice Department.”I would like to bring in Jeffrey Clark, for example,” Durbin said. “He was the heir apparent in Trump’s mind if Rosen was not going to do his bidding. And Rosen stood fast and didn’t.”When asked if Trump engaged in an attempted coup, Durbin said: “It was leading up to that process.”Durbin declined to say whether Trump should face criminal charges for his efforts to subvert the election, saying it was too early in the investigation to answer that question.Last week, Douglas Collins, said the former president would not attempt to keep former Justice Department officials from testifying before either the House or the Senate committees, according to the New York Times.
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By Polityk | 08/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Білоруси Одеси пройшлися маршем до річниці акцій проти фальсифікацій виборів
Акції проходять в багатьох містах України та в інших країнах, де живуть білоруси
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By Gromada | 08/09/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
У штабі ООС зафіксували два обстріли протягом дня, без втрат
«Про всі факти порушень з боку російсько-окупаційних військ Українська сторона СЦКК повідомила представників Місії ОБСЄ»
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By Gromada | 08/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
У Кривому Розі чоловік підірвав гранату, його госпіталізували
Ніхто з перехожих та мешканців будинку поряд не постраждав, щодо поліцейських інформація уточнюється
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By Gromada | 08/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Помер художник Олександр Ройтбурд
Причиною смерті стало онкологічне захворювання
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By Gromada | 08/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US Senate Advances Infrastructure Bill Toward Final Vote
The U.S. Senate advanced a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package in a procedural vote Saturday, an indication the measure will eventually be approved in a final vote.A late-night session Thursday had ended with no compromises on the measure.“We can get this done the easy way or the hard way. In either case, the Senate will stay in session until we finish our work,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech before Saturday’s vote. “It’s up to my Republican colleagues how long it takes.”In a 67-27 vote showing solid bipartisan backing, senators invoked cloture, or limited debate on the legislation; such a move requires 60 votes from the 100-member Senate, meaning at least 10 Republicans were needed to join the 50 Democratic senators to cut off debate.Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chair of the Senate Finance Committee, stops for a reporter as the Senate votes to advance the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 7, 2021.Roads, bridges, waterwaysThe bill, one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, would provide for the largest investment in decades in U.S. physical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, airports and waterways.It would also advance broadband internet service throughout the country, expand rail and transit services, and replace lead-piped drinking water systems.The cloture vote allowed for a final vote later Saturday or Sunday.Before the vote, Biden tweeted:We can’t just build back to the way things were before COVID-19, we have to build back better. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and my Build Back Better plan will grow our economy, and create an average of 2 million good-paying jobs every year over the next decade.— President Biden (@POTUS) FILE – House Transportation Committee Chair Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., center, joins Democratic leaders to discuss their legislative agenda, including infrastructure, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, July 30, 2021.If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.Biden has been vocal in his support for the infrastructure bill, aiming not only to describe the improvements that would be made across the U.S. but also to convince voters that major legislation can still be approved in politically fractious Washington.The measure includes $550 million in new spending and $450 billion in previously approved funds. There’s $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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By Polityk | 08/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Senate Votes on Infrastructure Bill
The U.S. Senate is holding a procedural vote Saturday on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, after a late-night session Thursday ended with no compromises.“We’ve worked long, hard and collaboratively to finish this important bipartisan bill,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said just before midnight Thursday, according to The Associated Press.”We very much want to finish,” he said in announcing a cloture vote set for Saturday at noon EDT.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters about the bipartisan infrastructure bill at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2021.A vote to invoke cloture would end debate on the massive bill and allow for a final vote by the Senate later Saturday or Sunday. Three-fifths of the chamber’s senators — 60 of the 100 — would need to vote to invoke cloture to advance the bill.The package, one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, would provide tens of billions of dollars to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, advance broadband internet service throughout the country, expand rail and transit services and replace lead-piped drinking water systems.Schumer, however, admonished Republicans for their actions on Thursday.”We have been trying to vote on amendments all day but have encountered numerous objections from the other side,” he said, referring to Republicans.FILE – A man holds a token featuring the symbol of a cryptocurrency at his shop in Sandy, Utah.Among the amendments discussed were a provision to tax cryptocurrency and a demand for billions of dollars in new Defense Department improvements, according to a Reuters report.For the bill to make it to the Senate floor for a final vote, at least 10 Republicans must join the 50 Democratic senators to invoke cloture, ending debate.The infrastructure bill would then be submitted to a final vote by simple majority in the Senate, likely Saturday or Sunday.If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, August 3, 2021.Biden has been vocal in his support for the infrastructure bill, aiming not only to describe the improvements that would be made across the U.S. but also to convince voters that major legislation can still be approved in politically fractious Washington.It includes $550 million in new spending, along with $450 billion in previously approved funds.The package includes $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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By Polityk | 08/08/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
US Senate to Hold Key Vote on Infrastructure Bill
The U.S. Senate plans to hold a procedural vote Saturday on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, after a late-night session Thursday ended with no compromises.“We’ve worked long, hard and collaboratively to finish this important bipartisan bill,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said just before midnight Thursday, according to The Associated Press.”We very much want to finish,” he said in announcing a cloture vote set for Saturday at noon EDT.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters about the bipartisan infrastructure bill at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2021.A vote to invoke cloture would end debate on the massive bill and allow for a final vote by the Senate later Saturday or Sunday. Three-fifths of the chamber’s senators — 60 of the 100 — would need to vote to invoke cloture to advance the bill.The package, one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, would provide tens of billions of dollars to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, advance broadband internet service throughout the country, expand rail and transit services and replace lead-piped drinking water systems.Schumer, however, admonished Republicans for their actions on Thursday.”We have been trying to vote on amendments all day but have encountered numerous objections from the other side,” he said, referring to Republicans.FILE – A man holds a token featuring the symbol of a cryptocurrency at his shop in Sandy, Utah.Among the amendments discussed were a provision to tax cryptocurrency and a demand for billions of dollars in new Defense Department improvements, according to a Reuters report.For the bill to make it to the Senate floor for a final vote, at least 10 Republicans must join the 50 Democratic senators to invoke cloture, ending debate.The infrastructure bill would then be submitted to a final vote by simple majority in the Senate, likely Saturday or Sunday.If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, August 3, 2021.Biden has been vocal in his support for the infrastructure bill, aiming not only to describe the improvements that would be made across the U.S. but also to convince voters that major legislation can still be approved in politically fractious Washington.It includes $550 million in new spending, along with $450 billion in previously approved funds.The package includes $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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By Polityk | 08/07/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
«Квіти України» внесли до реєстру державних пам’яток
Це означає, що будівлю не можна зруйнувати або перебудувати, заявив міністр Олександр Ткаченко
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By Gromada | 08/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Українського військового викрили на зборі розвідданих для російської розвідки – СБУ
За попередніми даними відомства, до протиправної діяльності військового залучив його родич-кадровий офіцер Збройних Сил Росії
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By Gromada | 08/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Бойовики 10 разів порушували режим тиші протягом доби – штаб ООС
Від початку доби 6 серпня у штабі не фіксували порушень режиму тиші
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By Gromada | 08/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
6 серпня – що очікувати в цей день і що було в історії
Розпочнеться 15-й ювілейний музичний фестиваль «Бандерштат»
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By Gromada | 08/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
US Senate to Try to Finish $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Saturday
The U.S. Senate, unable to finalize a $1 trillion infrastructure bill Thursday, will try again Saturday when it are scheduled to hold a vote on limiting debate and moving toward passage of the hard-fought legislation.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer struggled throughout the day to reach closure on a bipartisan bill that would trigger new construction projects throughout the United States to expand or refurbish roads, highways, bridges, airports and other public works, many of them in substandard condition.Following hours of closed-door negotiations, senators failed to reach an agreement on remaining amendments to the bill, beyond the dozens already debated this week.”We have been trying to vote on amendments all day but have encountered numerous objections from the other side,” Schumer said, referring to Republicans.Action on the legislation, which is at the top of Democratic President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, was held up by a flurry of demands from various senators, including a controversial move by some Republicans demanding billions of dollars in new Defense Department improvements, according to lawmakers.A separate disagreement over a cryptocurrency provision in the infrastructure bill also was simmering.
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By Polityk | 08/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Wants America to Speed the Shift to Electric Cars
Within nine years, half of all new vehicles sold in the United States should be zero-emission cars and trucks, according to an President Joe Biden signs an executive order on increasing production of electric vehicles after speaking on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Aug. 5, 2021.Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have announced moves to eliminate what Biden called the “short-sighted rollbacks” of near-term fuel efficiency and emissions standards set by the Trump administration. “They also let the federal tax credit expire, penalizing auto workers, who were at the time selling the most electric vehicles in the world and the United States,” added Biden. Leading automotive manufacturers are making voluntary commitments in line with the administration’s goals. Ford, General Motors and Stellantis said in a joint statement Thursday they hope “to achieve sales of 40-50% of annual U.S. volumes of electric vehicles (battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles) by 2030 in order to move the nation closer to a zero-emissions future consistent with Paris climate goals.” In a separate joint statement, automakers BMW, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and Volvo are calling for a ”strong nationwide greenhouse gas emissions standard, continued investments in charging infrastructure, and broad consumer incentives for all electric vehicle purchases.” Notably absent from the automakers’ joint statements, which were also released by the White House, is Japan’s Toyota, the top-selling carmaker in the United States. “You can count on Toyota to do our part,” Ted Ogawa, the automaker’s North American chief executive, President Joe Biden walks with United Auto Workers Local 600 president Bernie Ricky before he speaks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Aug. 5, 2021.Biden’s actions and the automotive industry’s response are being praised by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), which calls transportation the biggest source of climate pollution in the United States. “The Big Three and other automakers have invested billions of dollars in developing zero-emitting vehicles — a testament to the enormous economic, job and consumer benefits that these vehicles will deliver,” EDF President Fred Krupp said in a statement sent to VOA. “Now, we must all work together to build on that announcement and eliminate pollution from all new passenger cars by 2035, and all new freight trucks and buses by 2040. It’s a goal that’s ambitious but achievable. America can win this race, and our prize will be good jobs, savings at the gas pump for American families, cleaner air and a safer climate.” The American Petroleum Institute (API) said it and its member companies “support transportation initiatives that both reduce emissions and ensure affordable vehicle choices for Americans.” “The best way to accelerate U.S. climate progress is through an economy-wide carbon price policy rather than costly market mandates,” Ron Chittim, the group’s vice president of downstream policy, said in a statement to VOA. The petroleum industry has pledged to improve the environmental performance of its fuels, contending vehicles powered by modern combustion engines or batteries can produce comparable greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing to retirement. API, which is the national trade association for the oil and natural gas industry, is also calling for the EPA to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions on a life cycle analysis approach to ensure consistent accounting and a level playing field across various fuel and vehicle technologies. There are also concerns being expressed that Biden’s goals cannot be met without relying on lithium and several specific rare earth minerals (neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium), which are used for permanent magnets in the drive chains for electric vehicles. Those elements “are mostly available only from China, which has acknowledged its poor track record for environmental protection in its mining and production of these minerals,” according to Pini Althaus, chief executive officer of USA Rare Earth. “The U.S. must have some level of domestic production or we simply will not be able to reach this goal,” Althaus told VOA in a statement. The strategic minerals mining company wants the United States to emulate Australia, Japan and South Korea and provide assistance to local producers of these materials.
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By Polityk | 08/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Biden Signs Bill Awarding Medals to US Capitol Riot Responders
President Joe Biden on Thursday offered “profound gratitude” to law enforcement officers who responded to the January 6 Capitol insurrection as he signed legislation to award them Congressional Gold Medals for their service. The president thanked the officers for saving the lives of members of Congress during those “tragic hours” of the attack seven months ago. The medal is the highest honor Congress can bestow. Joined by members of Congress, law enforcement officers and the families of police who died following the attack, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held the formal signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Many officers were brutally beaten and injured that day as the violent mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters pushed past them to break into the Capitol and interrupt the certification of Biden’s victory. Many of the insurrectionists repeated Trump’s false claims about widespread election fraud as they hunted for lawmakers and tried to beat down the doors of the House chamber with lawmakers inside. Some of the officers, including four who testified at a House hearing last week, have spoken openly about the lasting mental and physical scars. “My fellow Americans, let’s remember what this was all about,” Biden said of the siege. “It was a violent attempt to overturn the will of the American people, to seek power at all costs, to replace the ballot with brute force. To destroy, not to build. Without democracy, nothing is possible. With it, everything is.” President Joe Biden listens to Vice President Kamala Harris speak in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, Aug. 5, 2021.The Senate passed the legislation unanimously earlier this week. The new law will place the medals in four locations — Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution. Biden said the medals will be at the Smithsonian “so all visitors can understand what happened that day.” The Senate passed the legislation by voice vote, with no Republican objections. The House passed the bill in June, with 21 Republicans who have downplayed the insurrection in Trump’s defense voting against it. Trump, along with many Republicans still loyal to him, has tried to rebrand the rioting as a peaceful protest, even as law enforcement officers who responded that day have detailed the violence and made clear the toll it has taken on them. The four officers who testified in the emotional hearing last week detailed near-death experiences as the rioters beat and crushed them on their way into the building. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges described foaming at the mouth, bleeding and screaming as the rioters tried to gouge out his eye and crush him between two heavy doors. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn said a large group of people shouted the N-word at him as he was trying to keep them from breaching the House chamber. Both were at the White House ceremony, along with several other officers. The officers testified at the first hearing of a new House committee investigating the insurrection. Most House Republicans have staunchly opposed the Democrat-led panel, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proposed after Senate Republicans blocked the formation of a bipartisan commission. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has called the committee a “sham” and criticized Pelosi for rejecting two of the members he tried to appoint to the panel.Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California hugs Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Aug. 5, 2021.Instead, McCarthy and other Republican leaders still loyal to Trump withdrew all their appointments and have tried to pin blame for the insurrection of Trump’s supporters on Pelosi, falsely claiming she was responsible for delays in military assistance that day. Biden said at Thursday’s ceremony that “we cannot allow history to be rewritten” and the officers’ heroism cannot be forgotten. “We have to understand what happened,” Biden said. “The honest and unvarnished truth. We have to face it.” At least nine people who were at the Capitol that day died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that immediately followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes. Last week, the Metropolitan Police announced that two more of their officers who had responded to the insurrection had died by suicide. Officer Kyle DeFreytag was found dead on July 10 and Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead in his home Thursday. The circumstances that lead to their deaths are unknown. “We are grieving as a department,” the police said in a statement. In a ceremony to send the bill to the president, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that January 6 was “a moment, a day of extraordinary tragedy for our country” and praised the Capitol Police for their bravery and patriotism. “I’m so sad that it took a tragedy of this nature for the recognition to be given to them,” Pelosi said. The Congressional Gold Medal has been handed out by the legislative branch since 1776. Previous recipients include George Washington, Sir Winston Churchill, Bob Hope and Robert Frost. In recent years, Congress has awarded the medals to former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason, who became a leading advocate for people struggling with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and biker Greg LeMond.
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By Polityk | 08/06/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика
Затриманому в Кабміні ветерану Прохничу просять арешт без права на заставу – адвокат
Запобіжний захід Прохничу обиратимуть 6 серпня, повідомляє Тарас Безпалий
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By Gromada | 08/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
Активіста в Криму засудили до обмеження волі – Денісова назвала це переслідуванням за його участь у Меджлісі
Ільвера Аметова засудили до восьми місяців обмеження волі за «незаконне зберігання частин вогнепальної зброї»
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By Gromada | 08/05/2021 | Повідомлення, Суспільство
