Lots of unknowns for upcoming legislative session, Dahms says
He was there to talk about the current state of the Minnesota Legislature. But Sen. Gary Dahms said it was hard to make any predictions about the upcoming session.
Category Archives: US Senate
Top Democrat rescinds offer of $25 billion for Trump’s wall
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has pulled back an offer of $25 billion for President Donald Trump's long-promised southern border wall, as lawmakers scrambled to figure out how to push a deal to protect 700,000 or more so-called Dreamer immigrants from deportation. Schumer had made the offer last Friday in a last-ditch effort to head off a government shutdown, then came scalding criticism from his party's liberal activist base that Democrats had given up too easily in reopening the government without more concrete promises on immigration.
Powell taking over as Fed chairman at time of economic calm
Jerome Powell has won Senate confirmation to head the U.S. central bank, inheriting an economy on a roll, a booming stock market and unemployment at a 17-year low. He will succeed Janet Yellen, the first woman to serve as Fed chairman, when her term ends on Feb. 3. The position is considered the government's most power economic job.
Harrison Ford, 75, heads to the gym wearing baggy shorts
Heading for a workout: Harrison Ford, 75, was snapped heading to a gym in Pacific Palisades in LA on Tuesday dressed in baggy shorts and a t-shirt under a rain jacket The actor has plenty of time on his hands to keep fit and indulge his passion for flying with no new movies lined up so far for 2018. Over the weekend, Ford joined another aviation-loving star john Travolta at the 15th annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards in Beverly Hills.
Senate approves Powell to follow Yellen as Fed chair
The Senate on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump's selection of Jerome Powell to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve beginning next month.
Watch: – Dreamers’ Storm Schumer’s NewYork City Home, Demand Amnesty – Now’
Dozens of illegal aliens surrounded Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's home in New York on Tuesday demanding that Congress pass legislation immediately to give millions of people in the United States illegally amnesty and a pathway to citizenship." We want a Clean Dream Act," the crowd chanted.
Duckworth, Saying She’s Pregnant, Would Be First Sitting Senator to Give Birth
Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, will become the first United States senator to give birth while in that office when she delivers her second child this spring, she announced on Tuesday. Ms. Duckworth, who gave birth to her daughter Abigail in November 2014 while serving in the House of Representatives, is already one of only 10 women who have given birth while serving in Congress.
The Latest: Trump rejects bipartisan immigration proposal
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the legislation brought forth by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois is "unacceptable" to Trump. Sanders adds that the legislation should be "declared dead on arrival" and does not meet White House requirements on border security.
Disappointed advocates rally, vent while a dreamersa hang in the balance
In the hours after U.S. senators struck a deal to end the government shutdown Monday, scores of immigrant advocates gathered near the U.S. Capitol to protest what they saw as the Democrats' decision to abandon the “dreamers,” young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. One by one, they called out the names of Democrats who voted with Republicans to end the shutdown, shouting, “Shame!” On Tuesday, the protesters will be back, rallying in Upper Senate Park and then visiting lawmakers' offices to demand the vote on immigration legislation that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has vaguely promised.
Kentucky high school shooting leaves 2 dead, at least 12 wounded
At least two people were killed Tuesday in Benton, Ky., after a shooter opened fire on students and faculty at a local high school. Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said at least 17 others were also injured in the attack on Marshall County High School, 12 of whom sustained gunshot wounds.
White House: Graham-Durbin immigration proposal ‘dead on arrival’
President Trump will not consider a bipartisan immigration proposal struck by Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin because it falls far short of the requirements Trump has laid out for any deal that helps Dreamers, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday. "I'd like to leave no doubt about where the White House stands on the Flake, Graham and Durbin agreement on immigration reform.
Twitter And Facebook Urged To Investigate Russian Role In #ReleaseTheMemo
Two lawmakers are calling for Facebook and Twitter to immediately investigate allegations that Russian accounts engaged in a social media campaign aimed at undermining Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the Trump campaign. "If these reports are accurate, we are witnessing an ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors," Senator Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff say in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
1 arrested in fatal Kentucky school shooting with multiple victims, KSP says
One of the multiple wounded victims has died in a shooting at Marshall County High School in Western Kentucky Tuesday, according to Kentucky State Police. "Much yet unknowna Please do not speculate or spread hearsaya Let's let the first responders do their job and be grateful that they are there to do it for us."
In ‘Jaw-Dropping’ Text, Peter Strzok Expressed ‘Concern’ About Joining Mueller Team
The FBI's top agent on the Trump-Russia investigation sent a text message last year that one top Republican senator says suggests he saw no evidence of Trump campaign collusion. The text message, which was sent by Peter Strzok, is "jaw-dropping," Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a radio interview on Tuesday.
Sessions Interviewed By Special Counsel Robert Mueller As Part Of Russia Inquiry
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed last week by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Sessions is the first member of President Trump's cabinet known to have been questioned by the special counsel's office in its investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
The Senate will take up immigration, but will the House and Trump follow?11 minutes ago
WASHINGTON – The deal that ended the government shutdown on Monday paved the way for Senate consideration of immigration legislation, but it did nothing to ensure that the House would act on such a bill – or that President Trump would sign it. That has raised fears among immigrant advocates that the shutdown-ending compromise merely sets up a repeat of what happened five years ago, when eight senators forged an immigration deal that passed the Senate but went nowhere in the House after the GOP's conservative base revolted against any attempt to give "amnesty" to illegal immigrants.
A budget deal with no winners, just losers
That was as long as Democrats could, or would, stand united against a Republican-backed temporary spending bill in pursuit of a plan to protect hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation. When the high-stakes game of chicken ended Monday evening, liberal activists were furious, Republicans were giddy, and vulnerable Senate Democrats were quietly relieved.
Democratsa DACA blink long overdue lesson in humility
The Democratic blink on DACA, led by none other than Sen. Chuck Schumer, was a long-time-coming lesson in humility for the left. "With State of Union, Obama faces Republican-led Congress for first time," the Chicago Tribune wrote in January of 2015.
Immigration talks: What’s next?
As the dust settled Monday on an agreement to reopen the government, the path forward for immigration remained as murky as ever. Democrats and Republicans who worked to break the impasse over the shutdown spun their vote to accept a slightly shorter continuing resolution as a victory because of a commitment to turn to immigration.
This bipartisan bill would permanently ban earmarks
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday to permanently eliminate earmarks, a system of spending in Congress that allows funds for a specific purpose to be drawn into a larger federal spending bill. "The swampiest of swamp creatures is what earmarks are," McCaskill said.