Tag Archives: Congress

ABC News reports: Masks will no longer be required in the House chamber when President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday night, a major reversal in the politically controversial policy that reinforces his message that the pandemic is receding and America is getting back to something closer to normal. On Sunday, the U.S. Capitol’s attending physician …

Roll Call reports: CQ Roll Call asked every member of Congress whether they had received a death threat since 2020. Of the 147 who responded, 110 — or about 75 percent — said yes. While more Democrats replied to our inquiry than Republicans, 95 to 52, death threats were pervasive among both parties: 74 percent of Democrats said they had …

The Associated Press reports: Acting as part of a Democratic plan to expedite consideration of the bills in the Senate, the House approved the new measure on a party-line vote of 220 to 203 after a heated partisan debate in which lawmakers clashed over the state of election laws across the country. The new legislation combined two separate bills already …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The first detailed results of the 2020 census show that the total white population shrank for the first time in the nation’s history as the U.S. diversified and continued to grow more rapidly in the South and Southwest. The nation’s population grew just 7.4% during the decade, the second slowest on record for a decennial …

The New York Times reports: Ms. Cheney had spent much of a recent congressional recess in Wyoming and yet was rarely seen in public. The appearances she did make — a visit to the Chamber of Commerce in Casper, a hospital opening (with her father) in Star Valley — were barely publicized beforehand, in large part for security concerns. She …

NBC News reports: LGBTQ civil servants and service members were systematically fired or forced to resign due to their sexual orientation or gender identity over the past seven decades, and a proposed bill is seeking to have the federal government issue an official apology acknowledging its past discriminatory policies. The bill, introduced Thursday by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., says the …

The Hill reports: A tech vendor used by dozens of House offices on Capitol Hill for constituent outreach services has reportedly been hit by a ransomware attack, becoming the latest victim in a series of cyberattacks to target U.S.-based entities. Punchbowl News reported Tuesday that almost 60 House offices, from both parties, have not been able to retrieve constituent information …

Roll Call reports: The advent of self-driving cars is raising questions in the insurance sector about who should pay when the vehicles crash and how insurers will set equitable rates. When cars can operate themselves, the central question will be whether accidents are the manufacturer’s responsibility and therefore covered by product liability insurance or whether the fault would lie with …

The Insider reports: Sen. Elizabeth Warren plans to introduce legislation during this congressional session that would bar members of Congress and other top government officials from buying and selling individual stocks, she told Insider. “It is a no-brainer,” said Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat. “Every senator, member of Congress, president, Cabinet secretary, federal judge, and other senior officials in charge of …

The Hill reports: U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) said Friday that threats to lawmakers have more than doubled compared to last year. Threats have risen by 107 percent since last year, the USCP said in a statement on Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton’s latest report to Congress. “As the Department has previously reported, the number of threats made against Congress …

The Hill reports: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) estimated that about 75 percent of House members have been vaccinated, a figure unchanged since March. Until more members get vaccinated, Pelosi said, the House won’t return to pre-pandemic operations. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), for example, isn’t planning to get a vaccine because he previously tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies last year, even …

The Washington Post reports: A bipartisan pair of senators on Friday introduced a resolution that would allow their chamber to do the House has been doing for months now: vote remotely during a national crisis, such as a pandemic. Under the change proposed by Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), remote voting could take …

CBS News reports: Most viewers who tuned in to watch President Biden’s speech liked what they heard and came away feeling optimistic about America. Speech viewers described the president as “Presidential, “Caring,” “Inspiring” and “Bold.” And history was made tonight with two women seated behind the president during an address to Congress, and a big majority of those who watched …

Politico reports: President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session Congress was the most ambitious ideological statement made by any Democratic president in decades—couched in language that made it sound as if he wasn’t making an ideological argument at all. Make no mistake that he was. He called for trillions in new spending in a robust expansion of government’s role …

CNN reports: A highly engaged writer, President Biden has spent hours debating the language and themes of his speech with his team, according to people familiar with his preparation. He has also consulted with members of his family. He has reviewed drafts and sent back handwritten revisions in the margins, along with dictating portions of his speech during writing sessions …

Fox News reports: Sen. Joni Ernst, the vice chair of the Senate GOP conference, will lead a “prebuttal” Wednesday afternoon to President Biden’s joint address to Congress. Ernst, R-Iowa, and at least five other Republicans will deliver a series of speeches on the Senate floor to protest how Biden has handled his first 100 days and to accuse the Democrat …

Roll Call reports: Within hours after the Census Bureau’s release of census apportionment results, the first wave of redistricting lawsuits hit federal courthouses in what is likely to be a flood of legal battles leading up to the 2022 congressional elections. A national Democratic redistricting group backed three voter lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Louisiana, the “first of many steps” …

The Washington Post reports: Biden’s speech, to be delivered on the eve of his 100th day in office, will look very different from past presidential speeches, with no guests, no designated survivor and fewer than half of lawmakers allowed to attend in person. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the first lady will attend but will not be surrounded …

The Washington Post reports: With demand for the coronavirus vaccine beginning to wane, a group of Republican lawmakers with medical degrees have released a two-minute ad seeking to assure skeptical Americans that the vaccines are safe and necessary. The GOP lawmakers, some of them wearing white lab coats, use language directed at Republicans who are more likely to say they’re …

Via email from syndicated columnist Erick Erickson: The census numbers are out. Texas is going to gain two seats. Florida will gain a seat. So too will North Carolina. New York will lose one. California will stay the same. But the overall number in the United States House of Representatives will remain at 435. The House has been fixed at …