The Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, says the bill that would direct $2,000 coronavirus relief payments to Americans has 'no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate'. After Donald Trump and Democrats pushed for larger relief cheques, McConnell said he would not be 'bullied' by Democrats into quickly approving the measure. House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, criticised McConnell for adding a delay to the payments.'These Republicans in the Senate seem to have an endless tolerance for other people's sadness,' she said
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Mitch McConnell says ‘no realistic path’ for $2,000 relief checks bill
Attempts by Donald Trump and Democrats for bigger coronavirus relief checks fade in the Senate
Donald Trump’s demand for $2,000 relief checks to Americans struggling financially with the pandemic was all but dead after Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that a proposal from Democrats had “no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate”.
Declaring that he would not be “bullied” by Democrats into quickly approving the measure, McConnell effectively denied a final request for legislative action by the president in the waning days of his administration.
Continue reading...Democrats in Georgia’s runoff elections raise more than $200m in two months
Races will decide which party controls the Senate and, in turn, the legislative power of President-elect Joe Biden
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both running for crucial US Senate seats in Georgia that will decide the fate of Joe Biden’s new administration, have raised over $100m each in just two months.
The announcement of the recent record-breaking hauls – which considerably exceed that of their Republican opponents – comes with less than two weeks to go until the runoff races are decided in special elections on 5 January.
Continue reading...Trump claims to be ‘working tirelessly’ but leaves Covid relief in disarray
- President flies to Florida after throwing party ‘under a bus’
- Democrats seize chance to push for $2,000 payments
- Has Donald Trump finally split the Republican party?
Donald Trump went to his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday, after claiming to be “working tirelessly for the American people” with a schedule that included “many meetings and calls”. Back in Washington, a Democratic proposal to increase direct payments to Americans under the Covid relief bill, from $600 to $2,000, was blocked.
Related: Donald Trump's latest wave of pardons includes Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner
Continue reading...Trump loyalists aim to block Biden’s goal to rejoin Iran and Paris agreements
Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham urge Trump to submit Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate agreement to Senate to undercut future attempts to revive them
Two prominent Trump loyalists in the US Senate, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, are reportedly pressing the president to submit the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement to the chamber for ratification, in a last-minute attempt to scupper Democratic plans to take America back into the accords.
Related: Senior Republican says party’s final election challenge will ‘go down like a shot dog’
Continue reading...‘Help is on the way’: Covid relief bill deal agreed, says Mitch McConnell
- Republican Senate leader says text of bill on $900bn package being finalized
- The two US vaccines – here’s what you need to know
Top congressional leaders have announced agreement on a $900bn coronavirus aid package after late-night discussions on Sunday.
“We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time: more help is on the way,” said Republican Senate leader Mitch MCConnell. “Moments ago, in consultation with our committees, the four leaders of the Senate and House finalised an agreement for another major rescue package for the American people.”
Continue reading...Trump attempt to overturn election is ‘nutty and loopy’, Romney says
- Utah Republican decries flirtation with Flynn martial law plan
- Trump wanted conspiracy theorist Powell as special counsel
Donald Trump’s flirtation with declaring martial law in battleground states and appointing a conspiracy theorist as special counsel to help his attempt to overturn defeat by Joe Biden are “really sad” and “nutty and loopy”, Mitt Romney said on Sunday.
Related: Biden mulls punishments for Russia over suspected role in government hack
Continue reading...Congress passes spending bill to fund government through Sunday – live
- Measure passes hours before government was to shut down
- Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi receive shots
- Joe Biden has said he will receive vaccine in public
- Mike Pence gets vaccine on TV
- FDA panel clears way for emergency use of Moderna’s vaccine
- Supreme court dismisses challenge to Trump’s census proposal
- McConnell: ‘I’m even more optimistic’ about Covid relief deal
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The Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna’s vaccine for emergency use. This is the second coronavirus vaccine to gain approval in the US.
The government can now begin to distribute 5.9m doses of the Moderna vaccine across the US.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said they were optimistic they could reach a deal on a coronavirus stimulus bill this weekend.
The $900bn proposal currently on the table has been held up over an attempt by Republicans to curtail the Federal Reserve’s lending power - limiting its emergency lending efforts amid a deep economic crisis. Democrats said the provision would tie president-elect Joe Biden’s hands as he tries to rein in the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Continue reading...Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell acknowledges Biden/Harris victory – video
Republican Mitch McConnell on Tuesday congratulated the Democratic president-elect, Joe Biden, and vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, on their election victories, ending his long silence on the outcome of the presidential race. In remarks on the Senate floor on Tuesday morning, the Senate majority leader acknowledged the Democrats' winning the White House following Monday's formal result issued by the electoral college
Continue reading...Georgia Republican senator had ‘no idea’ she posed with neo-Nazi
Kelly Loeffler spokesman disavows photo of her posing with white supremacist Chester Doles at campaign event
The campaign of the Georgia Republican senator Kelly Loeffler is disavowing a photo circulating on social media of her posing with a longtime white supremacist at a recent campaign event, with less than a month to go until the runoff elections that will determine the balance of the US Senate.
Loeffler did not know who Chester Doles was when she took a picture with him, her campaign spokesman, Stephen Lawson, said on Sunday. The picture was taken on Friday at a campaign event in Dawsonville, Georgia.
Continue reading...Trump’s attacks on election integrity ‘disgust me’, says senior Georgia Republican
- Lieutenant governor: ‘Trump did not win the state of Georgia’
- President made numerous false claims in incoherent speech
- Does a Trump presidential library – or theme park – lie ahead?
Donald Trump’s attacks on Republican officials in Georgia and insistence his defeat by Joe Biden must be overturned are disgusting, the Republican lieutenant governor of the southern state said on Sunday.
Related: Just 27 of 249 Republicans in Congress willing to say Trump lost, survey finds
Continue reading...‘If I lost, I’d be a very gracious loser’: Trump pushes false fraud claims in Georgia – video
Donald Trump campaigned for two Republican senators in Georgia on Saturday, at a rally that some in the party feared could end up hurting their chances by focusing on his efforts to reverse his own election defeat. In his first rally appearance since he lost to Joe Biden, Trump repeated baseless claims of widespread fraud in the presidential election. The crucial January runoff will determine which party controls the Senate
Continue reading...Trump heads for Georgia but claims of fraud may damage Senate Republicans
- President and first lady set for rally ahead of January runoffs
- Analysts: refusal to accept loss to Biden may depress turnout
- David Litt: Claims of ‘fraud’ have a long history. They are false
Donald Trump will return to the campaign trail on Saturday – not, notionally at least, in his quixotic and doomed attempt to deny defeat by Joe Biden, but in support of two Republicans who face January run-offs which will decide control of the US Senate.
Related: I beg your pardon? Does Trump really plan to absolve himself and his family?
Continue reading...Facebook and Twitter CEOs face Senate hearing over handling of 2020 US election – video
The chief executive officers of Twitter and Facebook appear before a US Senate hearing to testify about allegations of anti-conservative bias and their handling of the 2020 election. Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg face questioning for the second time in as many months, with Republican lawmakers alleging – without evidence – censorship of conservative views
Continue reading...Twitter and Facebook CEOs to testify on alleged anti-conservative bias
Senate hearing was called in response to how the companies’ platforms handled a New York Post article about Joe Biden
The chief executive officers of Twitter and Facebook are taking the stand Tuesday to testify, again, about allegations of anti-conservative bias on their platforms.
Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey were subpoenaed in October to appear at Tuesday’s hearing with the Senate judiciary committee in order to “review the companies’ handling of the 2020 election”.
Continue reading...Biden warns ‘more people may die’ if Trump refuses to cooperate on transition – live
- Biden urges Trump team to work with him on Covid planning
- ‘The idea that [Trump] is playing golf is beyond my comprehension’
- National security adviser appears to accept Trump lost election
- Campaign reportedly withdraws illegally processed ballots claim
According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, if Donald Trump wants a statewide recount, he will have to pay $7.9m.
The president lost the state by more than 20,000 votes - which means a recount is very unlikely to change the fact that he lost. Even if a recount, miraculously, left Trump ahead in the state, Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes are not enough to change the election outcome.
Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, told the Washington Post that senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina was among several members of his party who pressured him to toss out legally cast ballots so that Trump could win the state.
From the Post:
In a wide-ranging interview about the 2020 election, Raffensperger expressed exasperation with a string of baseless allegations coming from Trump and his allies about the integrity of the Georgia results, including claims that Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado-based manufacturer of Georgia’s voting machines, is a “leftist” company with ties to Venezuela that engineered thousands of Trump votes not to be counted.
The atmosphere has grown so contentious, Raffensperger said, that both he and his wife, Tricia, have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read, “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.”
Continue reading...Joe Biden administration: president-elect assembles a diverse cabinet
Susan Rice is being considered for secretary of state and Michele Flournoy is reportedly top choice for defence secretary
Joe Biden is piecing together what he has promised to be a diverse cabinet, with Michele Flournoy reportedly top choice for US defence secretary and Susan Rice considered a frontrunner for secretary of state.
Continue reading...‘They know their vote matters’: the Georgia Senate runoffs battle is already on
Trump’s defeat in the reliably red state has shown Democratic voters the power of their ballot, activists say as they focus on Ossoff and Warnock’s races
Donald Trump may have forced a recount of the votes in Georgia that helped end his presidency, but the activists who organised the surge in turnout that helped defeat him have already turned their attention to two elections that will decide who controls the US Senate and the course of Joe Biden’s presidency.
Tens of millions of dollars are pouring in to the Georgia runoff races, which can be expected to draw Biden back to the campaign trail as voters have the opportunity to make history by defeating the state’s two Republican senators to give the new president control of both houses of Congress.
Continue reading...Donald Trump fires defense secretary Mark Esper – US politics live
- President announces ‘Mark Esper has been terminated’
- Biden gets to work as president-elect while Trump refuses to concede
- US coronavirus cases near 10m as Ben Carson tests positive
- Republicans back Trump challenge to Biden election victory
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Another adviser to Donald Trump has reportedly tested positive for coronavirus, amid an apparent outbreak among the president’s team.
According to Bloomberg News, David Bossie has now tested positive for the virus.
BREAKING: Trump outside adviser David Bossie tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, sources tell me.
Susan Collins has become one of the few Republican lawmakers to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory in the presidential election.
“First, I would offer my congratulations to President-elect Biden on his apparent victory – he loves this country, and I wish him every success. Presidential transitions are important, and the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect should be given every opportunity to ensure that they are ready to govern on January 20th,” Collins said in a new statement.
My statement on the 2020 Presidential election results: pic.twitter.com/8NY1WpaJpC
Continue reading...Will Mitch McConnell strangle Joe Biden’s legislative program at birth?
The Kentucky senator revels in the nickname the Grim Reaper and tried to frustrate the previous Democratic president at every turn
After celebrating the winning of a Joe Biden presidency, Democrats are waking to the hangover of figuring out how to govern under the shadow of a runaway pandemic and the potential for gridlock imposed by the man who likes to call himself the Grim Reaper, the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell.
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