Axios reports: The Senate voted 51-49 on Wednesday to confirm Vanita Gupta as associate attorney general, the third-highest ranking official at the Justice Department. Why it matters: Most Republicans strongly opposed her nomination, which faced procedural hurdles after the Senate Judiciary Committee split 11-11 along party lines on whether to approve her. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the lone Republican …
Read More »HUD Restores Hurricane Relief For Puerto Rico
NBC News reports: Under Trump, HUD had previously approved a total of $20 billion for the island’s reconstruction, a historic amount. But the agency stalled the release of the aid in 2019 and imposed additional restrictions and requirements last year on how Puerto Rico could gain access to the funds, citing corruption and financial mismanagement concerns. “Puerto Rico needs to …
Read More »Dem Rep. Val Demings Has Wild Shouting Match With Jim Jordan Over Hate Crime Bill: “Did I Strike A Nerve?”
The Washington Post reports: Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) was midway through an impassioned speech on Tuesday accusing Republicans of using police officers as “pawns” in their efforts to amend a hate-crime bill when Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) interrupted to object. “I have the floor, Mr. Jordan,” Demings exclaimed, banging her open palm on the table. “Did I strike a nerve?” …
Read More »Maxine Waters: “I’m Not Celebrating, I’m Relieved”
ABC News reports: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said she was relieved when former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd on Tuesday. “Someone said it better than me: I’m not celebrating. I’m relieved,” Waters told reporters after the verdict was read. Waters had been on the receiving end of intense backlash from Republicans following remarks she …
Read More »Kamala Harris: “This Verdict Will Not Heal The Pain”
“This verdict is but a piece of it. And it will not heal the pain that existed for generations, that has existed for generations among people who have experienced and first-hand witnessed what now a broader public is seeing because of smartphones and the ubiquity of our ability to videotape in real time what is happening in front of our …
Read More »BREAKING: Former VP Walter Mondale Dies At Age 93
The Washington Post reports: Walter F. Mondale, the former Democratic senator and vice president whose unusually candid and forward-looking bid for the pinnacle of American politics was blocked by President Ronald Reagan’s landslide reelection victory in 1984, died April 19 at his home in Minneapolis. He was 93. Family friend and spokeswoman Kathy Tunheim announced the death but did not …
Read More »Andrew Yang Holds Lead In New York City Mayoral Poll
Spectrum News reports: For the past few months, Andrew Yang has been treated as the frontrunner in the mayor’s race by both the media and his fellow candidates, despite the fact there had been few reliable polls in the race. Now comes supporting evidence: our exclusive Spectrum News NY1/Ipsos poll, released Monday, shows Yang firmly in the lead. In one …
Read More »Pelosi Won’t Bring SCOTUS Expansion Bill To Floor
CBS News reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she does not intend to bring a Democratic-backed bill that would add four seats to the Supreme Court to the House floor, stalling the measure just as lawmakers were poised to formally unveil it. “I don’t know that that’s a good idea or a bad idea. I think that’s an idea …
Read More »Obama: We Badly Need To Reimagine Policing In USA
A statement from former President Barack Obama: Our hearts are heavy over yet another shooting of a Black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of police. It’s important to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but this is also a reminder of just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country. The fact that this …
Read More »New Biden Commission Will Study SCOTUS Reform
The Washington Post reports: President Biden created a bipartisan commission Friday to study structural changes to the Supreme Court, giving the group 180 days to produce a report on a range of thorny topics including court expansion and term limits. The commission, composed of 36 legal scholars, former federal judges and practicing lawyers, fulfills Biden’s campaign promise to establish such …
Read More »Manchin Calls For Bipartisanship: The Riot Changed Me
CNN reports: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia cited the deadly attack on January 6 at the US Capitol as an event that changed his perspective on a divided Washington, saying, “You can’t have this many people split to where they want to go to war with each other,” as he calls for Democrats and Republicans to work together …
Read More »LIVE VIDEO: Biden Unveils Executive Actions On Guns
USA Today reports: President Joe Biden is set to unveil six executive actions aimed at curbing gun violence on Thursday, following a string of mass shootings that has put pressure on the administration to act the president’s long-held campaign promise to tackle gun control. The president also is expected to announce his nomination of David Chipman as the director of …
Read More »Dem Kentucky Gov Signs Bill Making It Easier To Vote
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports: Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law Wednesday a significant election reform bill that will make it easier for Kentuckians to vote early, bucking a national trend of more restrictive election laws in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Even with the expansions included in the bill, the state’s voting laws in many ways remain more restrictive …
Read More »Manchin Adamant Against Any Changes To Filibuster
The Washington Post reports: Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III said Wednesday that under no circumstances would he vote to eliminate or weaken the legislative filibuster in his most definitive statement yet on the topic, dealing a blow to Democrats’ hopes of pushing major aspects of President Biden’s agenda through Congress. The West Virginia senator also suggested in an op-ed published …
Read More »District Attorney Won’t Prosecute Dem Georgia State Rep Arrested For Knocking On Gov. Brian Kemp’s Door
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports: Fulton County’s district attorney said Wednesday that she won’t prosecute the Democratic lawmaker who was arrested last month after she knocked repeatedly on the door of Gov. Brian Kemp’s state office as he was on live television touting a sweeping new elections law. District Attorney Fani Willis said she considers the case closed after reviewing the …
Read More »POLL: Dem Identification +9 Over GOP After Biden Win
Bloomberg News reports: A new poll conducted since President Donald Trump left office shows a 9-point gap between the number of Americans who identify as Democrats or lean Democratic, compared to those aligned with the Republican Party, the largest gap in almost a decade. A Gallup poll conducted from January to March showed that 49% of respondents consider themselves Democrats …
Read More »Sinema Won’t Budge On Ending Or Changing Filibuster
The Wall Street Journal reports: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has emerged as the staunchest Democratic defender of the filibuster, brushing off fire from the outspoken progressive wing of her party as she tries to stake out a bipartisan reputation in a battleground state. “When you have a place that’s broken and not working, and many would say that’s the Senate today, …
Read More »House Dems Target 22 GOP Seats To Flip In Midterms
The Washington Post reports: House Democrats on Tuesday released a list of 22 seats they plan to target in the 2022 midterm elections, largely in the suburbs where the party gained ground during Donald Trump’s presidency. “Every Republican member on this battlefield voted against putting money in people’s pockets and getting shots into people’s arms,” said Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.), …
Read More »Dem Rep. Alcee Hastings Dies Of Cancer At Age 84
Miami’s ABC News affiliate reports: Alcee Hastings, the longtime Congressman who served South Florida for decades and fought for civil rights, has died at 84 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. First elected in 1992, Hastings was in his 15th term in Congress representing District 20, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter …
Read More »Manchin Opposes Key Aspect Of Infrastructure Bill
The Week reports: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), a moderate Democrat who more or less serves as the 50-50 upper chamber’s swing vote these days, gave President Biden’s infrastructure proposal — as it’s currently written — a thumbs down on Monday. In a radio interview with West Virginia’s MetroNews, Manchin said raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, as envisioned …
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