Category Archives: US Senate

Biden urges Senate to eliminate filibuster in voting rights pitch: ‘I’m tired of being quiet’ – as it happened

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The Republican who memorably resisted Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his election defeat in Georgia has said he will run for re-election on a platform of “integrity and truth”, against an opponent who as a churchman “should know better” than to advance the former president’s lies.

Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, became a household name after he turned down Trump’s demand that he “find 11,780 votes” in order to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the southern state. It was the first victory by a Democrat in a presidential race in Georgia since 1992.

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US Congress reports unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases – as it happened

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More than 140 mayors have asked the US Senate to act to pass two pieces of sweeping voting rights legislation. Both bills have been stalled for months because no Republicans support them.

Senate Democrats are expected to make a new push in the coming days to do away with the filibuster, a senate rule that requires a 60-vote supermajority to advance legislation. Republicans used the rule to block the voting rights bills several times last year.

One bill, the Freedom to Vote Act, would set sweeping national guarantees for voting access, including 15 days of early voting, as well as guaranteed automatic and same-day voter registration. The second measure, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would restore a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act that gives the federal government more oversight over US elections.

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Republicans woo Joe Manchin as senator clashes with Democrats

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Centrist senator has rejected the idea of joining GOP but has indicated openness to being an independent

For many Democrats, Joe Manchin has become an unshakeable problem. The centrist senator is at odds with other Democrats on everything from filibuster reform to climate policy, and he recently announced his opposition to the Build Back Better Act, the lynchpin of Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

But Republicans think Manchin now represents an opportunity to boost their numbers.

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White House rebukes Manchin after ‘no’ to Biden spending plan deals huge blow

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  • $1.75tn domestic spending plan all but dead in the water
  • Senator accused of ‘breach of commitment’ to president

The West Virginia senator Joe Manchin dealt a huge blow to Joe Biden on Sunday, saying “no” to the $1.75tn Build Back Better domestic spending plan. The White House issued a stinging rebuke in return, stoking a bitter war of words in a party sharply divided between moderates and progressives.

The White House accused Manchin of going back on his word.

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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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Bob Dole, former US senator and presidential nominee, in his own words – video

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Bob Dole, the long-time Kansas senator who was the Republican nominee for president in 1996, has died at the age of 98. Born in Russell, Kansas in 1923, Dole served in the US infantry in the second world war, suffering serious wounds in Italy and winning a medal for bravery.

In 1976 he was the Republican nominee for vice-president to Gerald Ford, in an election the sitting president lost to Jimmy Carter. Two decades later, aged 73, Dole won the nomination to take on Bill Clinton, to whom he lost.

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Bob Dole, giant of Republican politics and presidential nominee, dies aged 98

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  • Long-time power-broker lost 1996 election to Bill Clinton
  • Biden: ‘An American statesman like few in our history’
  • Obituary: Bob Dole, 1923-2021

Bob Dole, the long-time Kansas senator who was the Republican nominee for president in 1996, has died. He was 98.

In a statement, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation – founded by Dole’s wife, a former North Carolina senator and cabinet official – said: “It is with heavy hearts we announced that Senator Robert Joseph Dole died earlier this morning in his sleep. At his death at age 98 he had served the United States of America faithfully for 79 years.”

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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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How Manchin and Sinema’s status as Senate holdouts is proving lucrative

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The Democratic senators have received a flood of money from conservative donors, leading some to raise concerns of corruption

Two Democratic senators threatening to derail Joe Biden’s agenda have been condemned by anti-corruption watchdogs for accepting a flood of money from Republican and corporate donors.

Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema present the last hurdle to the US president’s social spending and climate package after it was passed by Democrats in the House of Representatives earlier this month.

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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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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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Senator behind billionaires tax denounces Elon Musk Twitter poll stunt

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  • Tesla owner offers to sell 10% of shares – as poll demands
  • Ron Wyden has proposed tax to help fund Biden plans

After Elon Musk asked his Twitter followers to vote on whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock, the architect of the proposed billionaires tax that prompted the move dismissed the tweet as a stunt.

“Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll,” said Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chair of the Senate finance committee. “It’s time for the billionaires income tax.”

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Biden hails ‘monumental step forward’ as Democrats pass infrastructure bill

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The president will sign $1tn package into law after House ended months-long standoff by approving bipartisan deal

Joe Biden saluted a “monumental step forward as a nation” on Saturday, after House Democrats finally reached agreement and sent a $1tn infrastructure package to his desk to be signed, a huge boost for an administration which has struggled for victories.

“This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,” Biden said, “and it’s long overdue.”

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Huma Abedin says kiss from unnamed senator was not sexual assault

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  • Clinton aide gives first interview for memoir Both/And
  • Abedin also discusses 2016 election and Anthony Weiner

In her first interview to promote her new book, Huma Abedin said she did not think an unnamed senator sexually assaulted her when he kissed her at his apartment, some time in the mid-2000s.

She also said she would “take to her grave” her part in the emails investigation which cost Hillary Clinton dearly in the 2016 presidential election, which the candidate lost to Donald Trump, though she knew it was not all her fault.

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Biden’s agenda remains unrealized as Democrats fail to close deal again

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Pelosi forced to postpone infrastructure vote on Thursday ahead of Biden’s meeting with world leaders in Rome

Joe Biden’s nearly $3tn domestic agenda remains unrealized after an 11th-hour push to rally Democrats around a pared-down package that he framed as historic, failed to close the deal in time for his meeting with world leaders in Rome at the G20 summit.

But after a dramatic Thursday of bold promises and dashed hopes, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, was forced to postpone a vote on a $1tn infrastructure bill for a second time in a month, as progressives demanded more assurances that a compromise $1.75tn social policy plan would also pass.

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Climate advocates who backed Sinema exasperated by blocking of Biden bill

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Arizona senator – who once led the state Green party – has refused to specify which parts of the $3.5tn budget bill she objects to

Wildfires, deadly heat, drought and flooding show how climate change has “already arrived” in Arizona and action is desperately needed, according to climate and progressive advocates who helped elect Kyrsten Sinema to represent the state in the Senate.

Many of them are wondering why their senator seems to have “turned her back” on her background in environmental politics and is now blocking Democrats’ multitrillion-dollar legislation to address climate change.

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Outrage over stalled US voting rights bill continues as activists say ‘we need action’ – live

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Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have arrived at the memorial for Dr Martin Luther King at the Tidal Basin in Washington.

The president and the vice-president will soon deliver remarks to mark the tenth anniversary of the dedication of the memorial. Stay tuned.

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Pressure mounts on ex-DoJ official Jeff Clark over Trump’s ‘election subversion scheme’

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Former assistant attorney general faces possible disbarment and charges after report details machinations on Trump’s behalf

Jeffrey Clark, a former top environmental lawyer at the Trump justice department accused of plotting with Trump to undermine the 2020 election results in Georgia and other states, is facing ethics investigations in Washington that could lead to possible disbarment, as well as a watchdog inquiry that might result in a criminal referral.

The mounting scrutiny of the ex-assistant attorney general, who led the justice department’s environment division for almost two years and then ran its civil division, was provoked by a report from the Senate judiciary committee whose Democratic chairman, Richard Durbin, has asked the DC bar’s disciplinary counsel to examine Clark’s conduct and possibly sanction him.

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