Category Archives: US Senate

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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Schumer ‘poisoned the well’ over debt limit, McConnell says in insult-laden letter

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Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, sought to fight his way out of a corner on Friday by releasing an angry letter in which he blamed Democrats for the impasse over the debt ceiling he broke by ending a refusal to co-operate he had said was absolute.

In the letter to Joe Biden, McConnell complained about a speech in which the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, attacked Republicans for their behaviour.

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Progressive Democrats draw strength from muscle-flexing in Congress

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The left of the party is celebrating holding firm on insisting on both parts of Biden’s domestic agenda over centrist objections

When House Democrats were forced to delay their planned vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this month, the reaction from progressives was a bit surprising considering it is a key part of Joe Biden’s domestic agenda.

Rather than lamenting the delay of the vote, progressive groups praised the Democratic lawmakers who had demanded the scheduling change.

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Trump’s Washington DC hotel lost $74m during presidency, documents reveal – live

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Steve Bannon has informed the House committee investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol that he will not be cooperating with their subpoena to provide related documents.

This comes after Politico reported yesterday that Donald Trump has directed Bannon and three other former aides - former social media czar Dan Scavino, former defense department official Kash Patel and former chief of staff Mark Meadows - to ignore the subpoena, likely because he will attempt to block their testimony in court.

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Biden talks up vaccine mandates and says unvaccinated have ‘put our economy at risk’ – as it happened

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Now almost a full year later, Republicans in several states are still continuing their partisan reviews of the 2020 election results

“They have slight differences tactically, but they all share the same strategic goals, which are primarily to continue to sow doubt about the integrity of American elections overall,” said David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, and an election administration expert who has denounced the reviews. “I don’t know that there’s a word to describe how concerning it is.”

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Senate approves short-term deal to raise debt ceiling and avert economic crisis

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Agreement would extend US borrowing authority into December but larger disputes remain

The US Senate has approved a deal to extend the government’s borrowing authority into December. The compromise between Republican and Democratic leaders would temporarily avert an unprecedented federal default that experts say would have devastated the economy.

With a 50-48 vote, senators agreed to increase the borrowing limit by $480bn, sufficient to prevent the US government from defaulting by keeping debt payments up until 3 December.

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Senator urges more Facebook whistleblowers to come forward – live

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• Richard Blumenthal also calls on Mark Zuckerberg to testify

• Senator Chris Coons says there may be 50 votes for filibuster reform

• Senate to vote on raising debt ceiling

So now that the Democrats don’t have the 50 votes needed to make a change to the filibuster rules ahead of the debt ceiling vote today, they could always appeal to the Republicans...by not calling it a filibuster, or a change to filibuster rules with the debt ceiling, etc.

However, that route doesn’t look promising either, according to Republican senator Josh Hawley:

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Facebook whistleblower to take her story before the US Senate

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Frances Haugen, who came forward accusing the company of putting profit over safety, will testify in Washington on Tuesday

A former Facebook employee who has accused the company of putting profit over safety will take her damning accusations to Washington on Tuesday when she testifies to US senators.

Frances Haugen, 37, came forward on Sunday as the whistleblower behind a series of damaging reports in the Wall Street Journal that have heaped further political pressure on the tech giant. Haugen told the news program 60 Minutes that Facebook’s priority was making money over doing what was good for the public.

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Biden says debt limit must be raised because of ‘reckless’ policies under Trump – live

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Another piece to the whole debt ceiling todo is the infrastructure bill and the $3.5tn reconciliation bill (also known as the Build Back Better Act).

Republicans have long balked at the amount of spending proposed by the Democrats in each of these key pieces of legislation for the Biden administration and are using them to justify voting against raising the debt limit - they’re saying the Democrats are spending too much domestically.

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Sanders urges progressives to stand firm in Democratic battle over Biden agenda

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Party locked in a bitter struggle over two massive legislative bills that could make or break the Biden presidency

Bernie Sanders, the leftwing firebrand who has drawn the fight against poverty and inequality into the mainstream of American politics, issued a call to arms on Sunday for fellow progressives to stand firm in the intensifying battle over the future of Joe Biden’s economic and social policy agenda.

With the Democratic party locked in a bitter struggle over two massive legislative bills that could make or break the Biden presidency, Sanders said the outcome of the next few weeks would be critical not just for the future of American working families but also for the country’s political future.

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Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema: the centrists blocking Biden’s agenda

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The West Virginia and Arizona senators’ resistance threatens to upend Biden’s entire presidency – is self-preservation to blame?

Donald Trump’s favorite insult for political opponents inside his own party is “Rino” – Republican in name only. By such logic, Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are the epitome of Dinos, two elected Democrats whose dogged resistance to Joe Biden’s social agenda threatens/threatened to upend his entire presidency.

Their standoff with the party’s progressive wing over the price tag of Biden’s ambitious reform package has become almost more of a hazard to his legacy than anything the Republicans, currently in a narrow minority in both chambers of Congress, can throw at it.

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Democrats brace for bruising October talks as Biden agenda stalls in Congress

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Two massive economic and social packages have reached an impasse, threatening to derail Biden’s first term in office

Warring factions of the Democratic party are bracing themselves for a potentially bruising month of negotiations over the two massive economic and social packages that have reached an impasse in Congress threatening to derail Joe Biden’s first term in office.

With Democratic leaders racing against a new 31 October deadline to pass the legislation, and with pressure building on the White House from both centrist and progressive wings of the party, the centerpiece of Biden’s agenda now hangs in the balance. Democratic prospects in next year’s midterm elections are also at stake.

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Biden upbeat on rare Capitol Hill visit but domestic agenda hangs in jeopardy

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President meets Democrats for talks and insists ‘it doesn’t matter whether it’s six minutes or six weeks – we’re going to get it done’

Democrats returned to the Capitol on Friday deeply divided but determined to make progress on Joe Biden’s ambitious economic vision, after an embarrassing setback delayed a planned vote on a related $1tn measure to improve the nation’s infrastructure.

Biden on Friday made a rare visit to Capitol Hill to meet privately with House Democrats amid a stalemate that has put his sprawling domestic agenda in jeopardy. The visit comes after after the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, delayed a vote on part of his economic agenda, a bipartisan $1tn public works measure, on Thursday night after a frantic day of negotiations failed to produce a deal.

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