President condemns Trump’s ‘big lie’ about a stolen election but fails to mention filibuster in 20-minute Philadelphia speech
Joe Biden has made an impassioned attack on racist voting laws sweeping America, warning that “the 21st-century Jim Crow assault is real” and demanding of Republicans: “Have you no shame?”
Related: Biden defends voting rights – but no word on ending the filibuster
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Two-thirds of Americans believe democracy is under threat, polls finds
This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live US politics coverage from Los Angeles.
NEW: Two-thirds of U.S. adults believe that American democracy is under threat according to the latest @NewsHour/@NPR/@maristpoll. https://t.co/TnYS66pXqA
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Continue reading...The Fox News anchor Chris Wallace made headlines of his own on Sunday, by pointing out to a senior Republican that he and the rest of his party recently voted against $350bn in funding for law enforcement.
Related: Keith Ellison urges Congress to act on stalled police reform after Chauvin sentencing
Continue reading...A lead Republican negotiator has welcomed Joe Biden’s withdrawal of his threat to veto a $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure bill unless a separate Democratic spending plan also passes Congress.
Related: White House seeks to put infrastructure deal back on track after Biden blunder
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Rising homicide rates and gun violence has become a major issue in local political races, including in the New York mayoral primary elections.
For Joe Biden, rising concern about crime has proved to be a politically convenient opportunity for him to boost gun control reforms he touted as a candidate. But the president’s wide-ranging policy proposals are sure to divide Democrats.
We can't let legitimate concerns about shootings and homicides undermine momentum to overhaul law enforcement. We can't repeat the mistakes of the past and think that we can arrest our way out of rising gun violence. https://t.co/0ifVpEJCFE
Biden is speaking at the White House to explain his administration’s plans to address crime and gun trafficking.
My colleague David Smith is covering the event live:
Joe Biden: “Crime historically rises during the summer.” As we open after the pandemic; the summer spike might be higher than usual. pic.twitter.com/XfWoQ0JGQd
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Good morning, live blog readers. Yesterday may have been the longest day of the year but today may feel longer for Democrats as tension builds in Washington towards the big vote on whether to advance legislation on massive voting rights reforms. It’s going to be a lively day, so let’s get started.
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New York City’s contentious mayoral primary campaign is coming to a close, with voters heading to the polls tomorrow to choose the Democratic nominee, who is expected to become the next mayor in the November general election.
The former presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, was initially a frontrunner in the race to be New York’s next mayor, but recent polls have shown that he has slipped.
Related: Early frontrunner Andrew Yang slips in New York mayoral poll
Related: New York City’s tumultuous mayor’s race closes as voters struggle to choose
The Biden administration plans to support criminal justice reform legislation that would end the disparity in sentences between crack and powder cocaine, according to a report in the Washington Post.
NEWS w/@seungminkim:
Biden admin plans to endorse specific legislation Tues that would end disparity in sentences between crack and powder cocaine offenses that Pres. Biden helped create decades ago, according to ppl with knowledge of the situation. https://t.co/zcWzdRRVdD
The current disparity is not based on evidence yet has caused significant harm for decades, particularly to individuals, families, and communities of color. The continuation of this sentencing disparity is a significant injustice in our legal system, and it is past time for it to end. Therefore, the administration urges the swift passage of the ‘Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act’.
Continue reading...Key issues such as election reform, voting rights and gun control have seen Republican pushback
Joe Biden’s far-reaching domestic agenda in the US is facing serious setbacks on a range of issues as the political quagmire of a tightly contested Senate is seeing Democratic ambitions sharply curtailed in the face of Republican obstruction.
On a number of key fronts such as pushing election reform and voting rights, gun control and moving forwards on LGBTQ civil rights, there has been an effective pushback by Republicans – and a handful of conservative Democrats – that is forcing Biden and the wider Democratic party on to the back foot.
Continue reading...Cold reality intrudes on Biden’s first few months as leftist Democrats frustrated with president’s agenda stalling in Congress
They were pointed questions, not personal criticisms. But they will have conveyed a warning to Joe Biden that the patience of the left of the Democratic party and its leaders in ‘the Squad’ of progressive politicians is not infinite.
“Are we passing the deal that helps working people the most?” asked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the firebrand New York congresswoman and best known member of the squad. “Are we passing the deal that makes the most jobs? Are we passing a deal that brings down the most climate emissions? Are we passing a deal that raises wages and actually improves our infrastructure for the next generation?”
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– Joan E Greve and Maanvi Singh
The history of the race massacre in Elaine, Arkansas, has always been contested.
It is widely accepted that in 1919, a group of white men, with the backing of federal troops, tortured and killed scores of Black residents – the exact number is disputed but assumed to number at least in the hundreds – who were starting to organize against the exploitation of their labor. The massacre came at the tail end of what would become known as the “red summer”, a season of racial terror fueled by white resentment of the strides Black people were making across the country.
Related: ‘We want our land back’: for descendants of the Elaine massacre, history is far from settled
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A Republican congressman “ran as quickly as he could, like a coward” when a police officer injured in the attack on Congress on 6 January saw him and tried to shake his hand, the officer said.
“I was very cordial,” Michael Fanone told CNN on Wednesday of his interaction with Andrew Clyde, in a Capitol elevator earlier that day.
Related: Officer injured in Capitol attack says Republican ran from him ‘like a coward’
Continue reading...Biden signs bill at jubilant ceremony as US takes steps to confront shameful history
The US will officially recognize Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in America, as a federal holiday after Joe Biden signed a bill into law on Thursday.
At a jubilant White House ceremony, the president emphasized the need for the US to reckon with its history, even when that history is shameful.
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Andrew Brown Jr, a Black man who was shot by North Carolina deputies in April, died of a gunshot to the head, a state autopsy confirmed.
An independent autopsy commissioned by Brown’s family had found the same. But a North Carolina prosecutor said Brown’s death at the hands of officers “while tragic, was justified”. The prosecutor also would not release body-camera video of the confrontation.
Continue reading...Christopher Wray faces grilling from Democratic lawmakers over lead-up to 6 January insurrection
The FBI director, Christopher Wray, has said that the bureau considers the 6 January Capitol attack an act of “domestic terrorism” and suggested that “serious charges” were still to come in its continuing criminal investigation.
Testifying before Congress on Thursday, the director rubbished Donald Trump’s claims about a stolen presidential election. “We did not find evidence of fraud that could have changed the outcome of the election,” he told lawmakers on the House judiciary committee.
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Democratic Florida Representative Val Demings has announced she is running for Senate, challenging Republican Marco Rubio for his seat.
I'm running for U.S. Senate because I will never tire of standing up for what is right. Never tire of serving Florida. Never tire of doing good.
Join my campaign today: https://t.co/rHVPBuSzKU pic.twitter.com/HuWB80Mrxh
https://t.co/kPlysL0aZd pic.twitter.com/06iEZMpmfS
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Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has been taking some criticism for her blunt speech in Guatemala to Central American migrants to “do not come” to US, is now getting some backlash from Republicans for an NBC interview she did on this same trip.
Reminder: Joe Biden tasked Harris in March with efforts to stem migration at the US-Mexican border. On her first foreign trip, NBC’s Lester Holt asked if she had any plans to visit the border.
“We have to deal with what's happening at the border.”@VP Kamala Harris spoke exclusively with @LesterHoltNBC on her first trip overseas, how the administration is addressing the immigration crisis, and if she plans to visit the southern border herself. pic.twitter.com/sA4We7peeR
LESTER HOLT: You haven't been to the border.
KAMALA HARRIS: And I haven't been to Europe. pic.twitter.com/Vj6M261Nx3
Vice-President Kamala Harris is in Mexico now, meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
President Lopez Obrador shows Vice President Harris a Diego Rivera mural at the national palace. Asked if he will do more about border enforcement, Lopez Obrador said “We will touch on that subject but always addressing the fundamental root causes” pic.twitter.com/URiJdWaUM9
Continue reading...The story of how Republicans undermined the 6 January inquiry is informed by eight House and Senate aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity
Days before the Senate voted down the creation of a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol attack, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, was adamant: he would oppose the bill, regardless of any amendments – and he expected his colleagues to follow suit.
The commission that would have likely found Donald Trump and some Republicans responsible for the insurrection posed an existential threat to the GOP ahead of the midterms, he said, and would complicate efforts to regain the majority in Congress.
Continue reading...Talks continue on a compromise over infrastructure but GOP intransigeance on a Capitol riot commission does not bode well
It’s become a familiar process in the Joe Biden era.
Biden and Democrats say they will work with Republicans. Republicans say they want a seat at the negotiating table. Then the prospect of Democrats going alone begins to hover over the negotiations.
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Democratic Senator Bob Casey signaled this morning that it may be time to move on from negotiating with Republicans and instead pass an infrastructure bill using reconciliation, allowing Democrats to circumvent the Senate filibuster.
Asked whether it was time to focus on setting up a reconciliation pathway for the infrastructure bill, Casey told CNN anchor Jim Sciutto, “I think we’re getting to that point, Jim. It’s an old expression, fish or cut bait.”
Me: “IS IT TIME TO MOVE ON TO RECONCILIATION (on infrastructure)?”@SenBobCasey: “I THINK WE'RE GETTING TO THAT POINT, JIM. IT'S AN OLD EXPRESSION, FISH OR CUT BAIT” pic.twitter.com/T0HLUKygrL
The Guardian’s Sam Levine and Daniel Strauss report:
After six months of aggressive Republican efforts to restrict voting access, Democrats are facing new questions about how they will actually pass voting rights reforms through Congress.
Related: ‘A ticking timebomb’: Democrats’ push for voting rights law faces tortuous path
Continue reading...Democrats have yet to convince their entire Senate caucus to back the House-passed For the People Act – let alone beat the filibuster
After six months of aggressive Republican efforts to restrict voting access, Democrats are facing new questions about how they will actually pass voting rights reforms through Congress.
The most recent hand-wringing comes as Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democratic senator, made clear earlier this month he still is not on board with the For the People Act, which would require early voting, automatic and same-day registration, and prevent the severe manipulation of district boundaries for partisan gain.
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