Politics Election category, Page 121
Biden will push higher taxes for the rich in State of the Union
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will advocate plans to increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations, as well as to lower prescription drug prices, in his State of the Union address next week, in what aides describe as an effort to lay out second-term proposals for protecting and implementing his...
Arizona voting laws that require proof of citizenship not discriminatory, U.S. judge rules
PHOENIX — A federal judge is upholding provisions of new Arizona laws that would require counties to verify the status of registered voters who haven’t provided proof of U.S. citizenship and cross-check voter registration information with various government databases. In a ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton concluded Arizona...
Takeaways from Hunter Biden’s combative deposition with Republican lawmakers
WASHINGTON — The transcript of the congressional deposition of Hunter Biden was released late Thursday, providing a full view of the contentious testimony that took place behind closed doors Wednesday as Republicans aggressively questioned the central figure in their impeachment inquiry. The nearly 230 pages of questioning laid bare the...
On the Rio Grande, 300 miles apart, Biden and Trump try to use immigration to election advantage
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — On the banks of the same Rio Grande but 300 miles apart, President Joe Biden and GOP challenger Donald Trump on Thursday surveyed the U.S.-Mexico border and tussled from a distance over who is to blame for the nation’s broken immigration system and how to fix it....
Missouri Republicans try to remove man with ties to KKK from party ballot
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Republican Party on Thursday denounced a GOP candidate for governor with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, saying party officials will go to court if necessary to remove him from the ticket. Southwestern Missouri man Darrell Leon McClanahan, who has described himself as “pro-white,”...
House lawmakers grill Lloyd Austin over secretive hospitalizationVideo
WASHINGTON — Members of the House Armed Services Committee interrogated Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday on the delay in notifying Congress and the president about his secretive hospitalization, in his first appearance before lawmakers since the episode initially roiled Capitol Hill in early January. Lawmakers sought to pin down...
Congress approves short-term extension to avoid shutdown, buy more time for final spending agreement
WASHINGTON — Congress passed another short-term spending measure Thursday that would keep one set of federal agencies operating through March 8 and another set through March 22, avoiding a shutdown for parts of the federal government that would otherwise kick in Saturday. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden...
Sen. Casey questions Wendy’s intent with dynamic pricing plans
Fast-food giant Wendy’s has come under fire this week for its plan to implement dynamic pricing at its restaurants. Now the move is drawing concerns from Pennsylvania politicians. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, sent a letter to Wendy’s CEO on Wednesday raising issues about their plans for dynamic — or...
What is Super Tuesday? Why it matters and what to watchVideo
The biggest day of this year’s primary campaign is approaching as 15 states, along with American Samoa, vote in contests known as Super Tuesday. The elections are a crucial moment for President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who are the overwhelming front-runners for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations, respectively....
Pennsylvania sets up election security task force ahead of 2024 presidential contest
HARRISBURG — Law enforcement agencies, civil defense officials and election administrators have begun meeting in Pennsylvania to coordinate how they will identify and fight election threats with the presidential contest just eight months away in the battleground state, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said Thursday. Shapiro created the Pennsylvania Election Threats...
Federal prison director tells senators about staffing ‘crisis’
WASHINGTON — Senators zeroed in on chronic staffing problems in the federal Bureau of Prisons on Wednesday, as the head of the agency said the system faces a “crisis” in recruiting and retaining employees. Long-standing staffing shortages were among the problems cited in a scathing watchdog report this month that...
Sen. Casey bill seeks to fight shrinkflation at grocery stores
Sen. Bob Casey is fighting supermarket shrinkflation. The Pennsylvania Democrat introduced a bill Wednesday that opposes the practice of shrinking everyday consumer goods such as cereal, potato chips, laundry detergent and toilet paper. The Shrinkflation Prevention Act targets corporations Casey, who is a co-sponsor of the bill, said are deceiving...
Republicans block Senate bill to protect nationwide access to IVF treatments
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would protect access to in vitro fertilization, objecting to a vote on the issue Wednesday even after widespread backlash to a recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that threatens the practice. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Mississippi Republican, objected to a request...
Congressional leaders reach tentative deal to prevent a government shutdown
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders reached a tentative agreement Wednesday to prevent a government shutdown for now, days before an end-of-the-week deadline that risked shuttering some federal operations, according to two people familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. Under the new plan being finalized, Congress would temporarily...
Montana Republican Rep. Rosendale seeks reelection after dropping U.S. Senate bid
HELENA, Mont. — Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale announced Wednesday that he will seek reelection to his U.S. House seat representing eastern Montana, after he abandoned a short-lived Senate campaign under pressure from party leaders. Rosendale, a hardline conservative, bucked Republican Senate leaders earlier this month by briefly seeking the GOP...
South Carolina’s push to be next-to-last state with hate crimes law stalls again
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Supporters who want to make South Carolina the next-to-last U.S. state to pass a hate crimes law increasing penalties for some crimes fueled by race, gender or sexual orientation are running out of time to get what could be a decisive vote on the issue in the...
McConnell to step down as Senate GOP leader in November after record run in the jobVideo
WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November. McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of...
Hunter Biden in defiant deposition blasts GOP, insists he did not involve his father in business
WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden was defiant Wednesday in a closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill, blasting a Republican impeachment inquiry into his father and the family’s business affairs as a “house of cards” built on “lies” as he faced a battery of probing questions from lawmakers. “For more than a year,...
McClelland’s Pa. Treasurer campaign raised and spent money months before it officially existed
Erin McClelland, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for state treasurer, campaigned and accepted donations months before registering a fundraising committee with the Pennsylvania Department of State, as candidates for state office are required to do. While McClelland’s campaign chairperson said the donations and spending were properly reported...
Michigan takeaways: Presidential primaries show warning signs for Trump and Biden
LANSING, Mich. — Joe Biden and Donald Trump easily won their party’s primaries in Michigan, but Tuesday’s results showed that both candidates have cause for concern in their bid to win the swing state in November. An “uncommitted” vote in Michigan’s Democratic primary was the first indication of how backlash...
Trump and Biden won Michigan. But ‘uncommitted’ votes demanded attention
DEARBORN, Mich. — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won the Michigan primaries on Tuesday, further solidifying the all-but-certain rematch between the two men — yet early results from the state were highlighting some of their biggest political vulnerabilities ahead of the November general election. A vigorous “uncommitted”...
Democrats criticize Trump remarks at Black conservative gala as self-serving
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Golden and scarlet balloons adorned an entrance guarded by the Secret Service that led straight to a bar abuzz with excited reunions, a line of attendees waiting to take pictures at a photo wall and a spacious auditorium set to celebrate a unique subset of the conservative...
California governor launches ads to fight abortion travel bans
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced an advertising campaign to combat proposals in several Republican-controlled states to prohibit out-of-state travel for abortions and other reproductive care. The multistate ad campaign and an online petition effort that launched this week, beginning with a TV commercial about a measure under consideration...
Biden, party leaders implore Speaker Johnson to help Ukraine in ‘intense’ Oval Office meeting
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders emerged from an “intense” Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden on Tuesday speaking optimistically about the prospects for avoiding a partial government shutdown, but with new uncertainty about aid for Ukraine and Israel as the president and others urgently warned Speaker Mike Johnson of the...
West Virginia Senate OKs bill requiring schools to show anti-abortion group fetal development video
CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s Republican-majority Senate greenlit a bill on Tuesday that would make a video on fetal development produced by an anti-abortion group required viewing in public schools. Live Action’s “Baby Olivia” video, which West Virginia lawmakers want to show in eighth and tenth-grade classrooms, has received criticism from...
