Category Archives: Democrats

Joe Manchin says he ‘cannot get there’ on Build Back Better bill – video

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Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who is key to President Joe Biden's hopes of passing a $1.75tn domestic investment bill, has said he will not support the package.

Manchin has been a key holdout on the White House's Build Back Better plan, which aims to bolster the social safety net and fight climate change, and is the cornerstone of Biden's legislative agenda.

'I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,' Manchin told Fox News, citing concerns about inflation. 'I just can't. I have tried everything humanly possible.'

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Rahm Emanuel leads confirmed Biden nominees in late-night logjam break

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Ex-Obama chief of staff will go to Japan after deal for vote on Russia pipeline sanctions ends Republican Senate resistance

The former Obama White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was among more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden nominees confirmed by the Senate early on Saturday.

The Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, broke a Republican-stoked logjam by agreeing to schedule a vote on sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.

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Biden: ‘I’ve never seen anything like the unrelenting assault on the right to vote’ – live

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During South Carolina State University’s commencement ceremony this morning, Joe Biden also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the historically Black college.

In his remarks at South Carolina State University’s commencement ceremony, Joe Biden also addressed Congress’ failure to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

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Democrats fear threats to US democracy: ‘We were one vice-president away from a coup’ – live

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The Guardian’s Edward Helmore, Nikhita Chulani, Harvey Symons and Arnel Hecimovic report:

Powerful tornadoes barrelled through five US states on Friday, levelling houses and factories and bringing down power lines. In Kentucky, the worst-hit state, one tornado alone followed an extraordinarily long and destructive path of more than 200 miles.

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Biden faces vaccine mandate pushback from own party despite support of scientists

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Two Democratic senators push back against president’s rules for large businesses as cases continue to rise in the US

Two Democratic senators have resisted Joe Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large businesses, illustrating problems the US president faces even within a faction of his own party, despite having the support of scientists and public health experts.

The US Senate on Wednesday evening voted to overturn the mandate as new cases and hospitalizations continue rising in the country.

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Biden’s carbon-neutral order praised for ‘aligning government power with climate goals’ – live

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Joe Biden took a few questions from reporters this morning, as he left the White House to start his trip to Kansas City, Missouri.

Asked about his summit yesterday with Vladimir Putin, Biden said, “I was very straightforward. There were no minced words.”

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Biden holds virtual summit with Putin amid fears of Ukraine invasion – live

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Russian state television shared a clip of the start of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden’s virtual summit this morning, which started about 45 minutes ago.

The clip shows the American and Russian leaders greeting each other before beginning their discussion about the situation in Ukraine.

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Covid: Biden says to beat Omicron variant ‘we have to shut it down worldwide’ – as it happened

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After their remarks, the members of the taskforce took a handful of questions from reporters. Fauci was asked when scientists will have a better understanding of the risks posed by the Omicron variant. He said they would have a clearer picture in the “next few weeks”.

But he said it could take longer to understand the impact of Omicron and whether it will overtake Delta as the dominant strain in the US.

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House leaders reach deal to fund government as shutdown looms – live

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to questions on the departure of top Kamala Harris staffer Symone Sanders saying that departures from the White House after the first year is expected, downplaying reports that Sanders’ departure confirms reports of turmoil in the vice president’s office.

“It’s a normal course of events that people are ready to do something new, they’re ready to spend time with their families, they’re ready to sleep more. That’s to be expected in the first 18 months to two years of any White House,” Psaki said.”

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Trump chief of staff Meadows to cooperate with Capitol attack panel – live

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Mark Meadows, formerly Donald Trump’s chief of staff, has reached an agreement to cooperate, at least initially, with the bipartisan House committee investigating the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6 this year by extremist supporters of the-then president, according to CNN.

Meadows is providing records and agreeing to appear for an initial interview, the cable news company is reporting in an exclusive published moments ago.

Meadows’ lawyer George Terwilliger said in a statement to CNN that there is now an understanding between the two parties on how information can be exchanged moving forward, stating that his client and the committee are open to engaging on a certain set of topics as they work out how to deal with information that the committee is seeking that could fall under executive privilege.

But the agreement could be fragile if the two sides do not agree on what is privileged information. News of the understanding comes as Trump’s lawyers argued in front of a federal appeals court in Washington that the former President should be able to assert executive privilege over records from the committee.

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Trump challenges media and Democrats to debate his electoral fraud lie

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Donald Trump has challenged leading editors and politicians to debate him in public over his lie that Joe Biden beat him in 2020 through electoral fraud.

In a typically rambling statement on Sunday, the former president complained about “the heads of the various papers [and] far left politicians” and said: “If anyone would like a public debate on the facts, not the fiction, please let me know. It will be a ratings bonanza for television!”

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‘The goal was to silence people’: historian Joanne Freeman on congressional violence

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Paul Gosar was censured for a video depicting a colleague’s murder but physical assaults were a feature of the pre-civil war era

As the House debated whether the Republican congressman Paul Gosar should be censured for depicting the murder of his colleague, one Democratic leader took a moment to reflect on the chamber’s long history of violence.

Speaking on the House floor last week, the majority leader, Steny Hoyer, argued that Gosar had grossly violated the chamber’s rules of conduct by sharing an altered anime video showing him killing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.

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While Americans mark Thanksgiving, Republicans panned over Harris attack

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Criticism of vice-president over French cookware purchase backfires as people point out Donald Trump’s presidential largesse

An attack on Kamala Harris for buying expensive French cookware rebounded on the Republican party over Thanksgiving, moving social media users to compare the vice-president’s culinary outlay with the cost to taxpayers of Donald Trump’s four years in power.

On a visit to Paris earlier this month, Harris reportedly spent more than $500 on cookware at E Dehillerin, a shop near the Louvre museum. She told reporters she was making the purchase with Thanksgiving cooking in mind, prompting laughter when she said her husband, Doug Emhoff, was her “apprentice” in the kitchen.

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Ilhan Omar: Lauren Boebert’s ‘Jihad Squad’ bigotry is ‘no laughing matter’

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Islamophobic remarks by Lauren Boebert are “no laughing matter”, Ilhan Omar said, demanding action from congressional leaders – after the Colorado Republican said sorry.

“Saying I am a suicide bomber is no laughing matter,” the Minnesota Democrat tweeted. “[House Republican leader] Kevin McCarthy and [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi need to take appropriate action, normalising this bigotry not only endangers my life but the lives of all Muslims. Anti-Muslim bigotry has no place in Congress.”

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House committee subpoenas far-right groups and leaders over Capitol attack – as it happened

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In case you missed it yesterday: the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection issued five more subpoenas to right-wing political operatives, including former Trump associate Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Hugo Lowell reports:

The subpoenas demanding documents and testimony expand the select committee’s inquiry focused on the planning and financing of the rally at the Ellipse, by targeting operatives who appear to have had contacts with the Trump White House.

House investigators issued subpoenas to the veteran operatives Stone and Jones, Trump’s spokesperson Taylor Budowich, and the pro-Trump activists Dustin Stockton and his wife, Jennifer Lawrence.

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Biden pushes back against progressive criticism over renominating Powell as Fed chair – live

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America’s democracy will be at “critical risk” if the US Senate fails to pass sweeping voting rights legislation, more than 150 scholars of American democratic systems said in an open letter published Sunday.

The academics called on the US Senate to get rid of the filibuster, the rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation through the upper chamber.

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House Democrats pass Biden’s expansive Build Back Better policy plan

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Bill now goes back to the Senate, where it faces total opposition from Republicans and an uphill battle against centrist Democrats

Joe Biden has hailed the US House of Representatives for passing a $1.75tn social and climate spending bill, a central pillar of his agenda that must now go before the Senate.

The Democratic majority in the House approved the Build Back Better Act on Friday despite fierce opposition from Republicans.

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Kamala Harris pushes back on criticism that she’s underused as vice-president – live

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In a letter to the Democratic caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi provided an update on the Build Back Better Act, the bill formerly known as the reconciliation bill, which has also been referred to a time or two as the “human infrastructure” bill.

“Very soon, the American people will have an historic cause for celebration, with the passage of the transformative Build Back Better Act,” Pelosi wrote.

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‘What is so hard about saying this is wrong?’, says AOC over Paul Gosar’s violent tweet – video

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Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has blasted Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy for failing to condemn the violent tweet of fellow Republican Paul Gosar ahead of a censure vote against him. The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives was poised to punish a Republican lawmaker over an anime video that depicted him killing Ocasio-Cortez and swinging two swords at President Joe Biden. ‘What is so hard, what is so hard about saying that this is wrong?’ Ocasio-Cortez said. ‘This is not about me. This is not about representative Gosar. But, this is about what we are willing to accept.’ 

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House begins debate on vote to censure Paul Gosar over violent video aimed at AOC and Biden – live

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The Republican congressman stands to lose his position on the oversight committee for what Nancy Pelosi called ‘an insult to the insitution’

Quick update on the resolution to censure Republican congressman Paul Gosar over the video depicting violence against progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:

Jacob Chansley, the self-described “QAnon Shaman” who was photographed marching through the US Capitol with a spear and horned helmet during the 6 January attack, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for his role in the insurrection.

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