Politics

The Hill reports: Rep. Tom Rice says he regrets his vote against certifying two states’ electoral votes for President Joe Biden in the hours after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. It may not be for the reason you expect. The South Carolinian says he still believes there were “real issues with the election.” “In retrospect I should have voted to …

Mediaite reports: “It’s hard to educate people on this,” Crenshaw said during the latest episode of his Hold These Truths podcast. “When you attack fossil fuels, oil and gas, you raise the prices for those fossil fuels.” Crenshaw continued that Democrats won’t fully embrace nuclear energy because of popular television shows. “They don’t like nuclear because they watch the Simpsons …

The New York Times reports: Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Senate Republican and a potential future leader, is seriously considering retiring after next year, a prospect that has set off an intensifying private campaign from other Republicans urging him to seek re-election. Mr. Thune is only 60, but a combination of family concerns and former President Donald …

The Washington Post reports: An unvaccinated Houston-area man in his 50s is the first recorded fatality associated with the omicron variant in the Texas county — and may be the first U.S. death publicly attributed to it. The man, who tested positive for the omicron variant before his death, according to Harris County Public Health (HCPC), had previously been infected …

The Guardian reports: The biggest power company in the US is pushing policy changes that would hamstring rooftop solar power in Florida, delivering legislation for a state lawmaker to introduce, according to records obtained by the Miami Herald and Floodlight. Florida Power & Light (FPL), whose work with dark money political committees helped secure Republican control of the state Senate, …

The Washington Post reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated there will be a “full program of events” to mark the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the confirmation of President Biden’s electoral college win, a siege that resulted in five deaths and left some 140 …

ABC News reports: Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), a key leader among centrist House Democrats, announced Monday that she won’t seek reelection next year as her party faces increasingly tough odds for keeping its majorities in Congress. Murphy, a co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, said in a video announcement that she wanted to spend more time with her family, including …

The Washington Post reports: Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed Monday to hold a vote early next year on a roughly $2 trillion bill to overhaul the country’s health-care, education, climate, immigration and tax laws, despite Sunday’s announcement by Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) that he could not support President Biden’s signature legislation. Although the Build Back Better …

CNN reports: Sen. Elizabeth Warren tested positive Sunday for the coronavirus, according to a tweet from her official account. The Massachusetts Democrat, who is vaccinated and boosted, said she is experiencing mild symptoms. Warren was on the Senate floor last week before the chamber went on recess. The announcement came as the emergence of the Omicron variant has thrust the …

Law & Crime reports: A then-Catholic school student who was recorded on video standing in front of a Native American protester in Washington, D.C. has announced a settlement with NBC more than two years after filing a multi-million-dollar defamation claim. Nicholas Sandmann wrote on Twitter Friday night that the “terms are confidential.” NBC was one of several broadcast networks and …

The Daily Beast reports: In a blistering statement, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Manchin’s comments on Fox were “at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances.” She said Manchin had personally delivered President Biden a written outline for the bill this week, of “the same …

Atlanta’s CBS News affiliate reports: Statesman, guardsman and even Bulldog are just a few of the titles former Senator Johnny Isakson has held throughout his life of service to our country. Isakson passed away Sunday morning at age 76 after battling Parkinson’s disease. When then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced in 1998 that he was resigning from the U.S. House of …

The Hill reports: Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said on Sunday that a reelection bid by former President Trump would be “bad” for the GOP and the nation. “Fox News Sunday” host Bret Baier asked Hogan if he believed that the Republican Party could win in 2024 with Trump as its nominee. “I think that’d be bad for the party …

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) on Sunday said that he could not support Democrats’ roughly $2 trillion bill to overhaul the country’s health care, education, immigration, climate and tax laws, dealing a potentially fatal blow to the final piece of President Biden’s economic agenda. “I can’t move forward. I cannot vote to continue with this piece …

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump has hit a wall in his efforts to oust Mitch McConnell as GOP leader. Despite months of attacks, the Trump-led campaign to depose the Senate minority leader has resulted in firm pledges from just two Republican candidates and no senators, and it has failed to turn up a formidable challenger to run against McConnell. …

The New York Times reports: The federal government on Thursday permanently lifted a major restriction on access to abortion pills. It will allow patients to receive the medication by mail instead of requiring them to obtain the pills in person from specially certified health providers. The decision, by the Food and Drug Administration, comes as the Supreme Court is considering …

Florida Politics reports: DeSantis is the choice of 30% of those surveyed in a field not including the 45th President, up four points from the same survey in November. Other candidates were far behind. Former Vice President Mike Pence is in an increasingly distant second place, down three points to 12%. Donald Trump Jr. and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of …

Politico reports: Rep. Alan Lowenthal will not run for reelection, adding to a generational changing of the guard in California politics. The Long Beach Democrat said in a statement that he would not seek a sixth term in Congress, choosing instead to “pass the baton” and spend time with family. Lowenthal’s current seat is safely Democratic and will likely remain …

YouGov reports: Barack Obama retains his position as world’s most admired man in YouGov’s international survey this year, having wrested the position from long-time incumbent Bill Gates last year. Michelle Obama likewise holds on to her position as world’s most admired woman for the third year running. In fact, the top three spots for each sex are unchanged since last …

The Insider reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday rejected the idea of banning members of Congress and their spouses from holding and trading individual stocks while in office. “This is a free market, and people — we are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that,” Pelosi said when asked by Insider at her weekly …