Politics Election category, Page 220
Biden, Democrats back at it, scaling back $3.5T plan
WASHINGTON — Democrats were back at it Friday, doggedly determined to rescue a scaled-back version of President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion government overhaul and salvage a related public works bill after a long night of frantic negotiations that resulted in no deal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was gathering the party’s...
U.S. tries to make nice with France after Australia sub snub
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit France next week as the Biden administration tries to smooth over hurt feelings and potentially more lasting damage caused by its exclusion of America’s oldest ally from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative, the State Department said Friday. The department said Blinken...
Idaho’s partial vote recount validates 2020 election tallies
BOISE — A partial recount of ballots cast during the last presidential election has validated the accuracy of the results, Idaho officials say, despite manipulation claims by Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The Idaho secretary of state’s office said Wednesday that a hand inspection of ballots in Camas...
Biden signs bill to avert partial government shutdown
WASHINGTON — With only hours to spare, President Joe Biden on Thursday evening signed legislation that would avoid a partial federal shutdown and keep the government funded through Dec. 3. Congress had passed the bill earlier Thursday. The back-to-back votes by the Senate and then the House averted one crisis,...
At last minute, Pa. lawmakers vote to extend dozens of covid-19 waivers
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania legislature unanimously voted Wednesday to extend dozens of regulatory waivers put into place last year to help...
Biden plan at stake, Pelosi pushes ahead for $3.5T deal
WASHINGTON — With President Joe Biden’s government overhaul at stake, Democrats charged into trouble Thursday as a promised vote on the first piece, a slimmer $1 trillion public works bill, faltered amid stalled talks on his more ambitious package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assembled her leadership team for an early...
South Dakota lawmakers question Gov. Kristi Noem’s meeting with daughter
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — South Dakota Republican and Democratic legislators alike said Wednesday that they want more details from Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration about a meeting last year that included the governor, her daughter and state employees overseeing an agency that had moved to deny her daughter’s application to become...
Alabama Gov. Ivey defends use of coronavirus funds for prisons
MONTGOMERY — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday defended her state’s plan to use pandemic relief funds to build new prisons —saying the $400 million expenditure is both allowed and needed — while a legislative committee swiftly advanced the construction plan. Ivey issued a response to U.S. House Judiciary Committee...
VA medical centers, other federal agencies to offer voter registration under Biden order
WASHINGTON — Veterans will be able to register to vote when they receive medical treatment. Job seekers may be able to do the same at federally funded employment centers. And local housing agencies may offer voter registration help to millions of Americans living in public housing. All of those steps...
GOP blocks bill to keep government going; new try aheadVideo
WASHINGTON — Republican senators blocked a bill Monday night to keep the government operating and allow federal borrowing, but Democrats aiming to avert a shutdown pledged to try again — at the same time pressing ahead on President Joe Biden’s big plans to reshape government. The efforts are not necessarily...
As daughter sought state license, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem summoned agency head
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Just days after a South Dakota agency moved to deny her daughter’s application to become a certified real estate appraiser, Gov. Kristi Noem summoned to her office the state employee who ran the agency, the woman’s direct supervisor and the state labor secretary. Noem’s daughter attended...
Pelosi vows infrastructure will pass this week, trims bigger billVideo
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged to pass a $550 billion infrastructure bill this week and signaled that the headline amount on a bigger package of spending and tax measures will be lowered from $3.5 trillion. In a nod to moderate Democrats eager to enact the road-and-bridges bill, Pelosi...
Pa. redistricting panel rolls back new policy to count incarcerated people in home districts, not state prisons
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — Thousands of people will be excluded from a new redistricting...
What’s the price of Biden’s plan? Democrats drive for zero
WASHINGTON — What will it cost to enact President Joe Biden’s massive expansion of social programs? Congress has authorized spending up to $3.5 trillion over a decade, but Biden is prodding Democrats to fully cover the cost of the legislation — by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, negotiating...
Pa. lawmakers know a dementia care crisis is coming. Will they agree on a response?
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf this week said he supports large investments to address a growing dementia care crisis in...
Biden risks losing support from Democrats amid D.C. gridlock
NEW YORK — President Joe Biden is losing support among critical groups in his political base as some of his core campaign promises falter, raising concerns among Democrats that the voters who put him in office may feel less enthusiastic about returning to the polls in next year’s midterm elections....
Rudy Giuliani not welcome at Fox News, report says
NEW YORK — It’s no coincidence that Fox News viewers haven’t been keeping up with the Giulianis in recent months, a new report claims. Rudy Giuliani, an ex lawyer for former President Donald Trump, has not appeared on the highly viewed cable channel for three months, according to Politico, which...
GOP review finds no proof Arizona election stolen from Trump
PHOENIX — A Republican-backed review of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona’s largest county ended Friday without producing proof to support former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election. After six months of searching for evidence of fraud, the firm hired by Republican lawmakers issued a report that...
New Florida bill replicates Texas’ broad abortion ban
TALLAHASSEE — An abortion bill similar to one signed into law in Texas was filed in Florida on Wednesday that would ban most abortions in the state and would allow lawsuits against doctors who violate it. The legislation filed by Republican Rep. Webster Barnaby immediately met with opposition from Democrats...
George Bush to headline fundraiser for Liz Cheney after Trump backs challenger
NEW YORK — Former President George W. Bush will headline a fundraiser next month for top Donald Trump critic Liz Cheney, turning her reelection race into a proxy war of sorts between the ex-presidents who represent two competing factions of the Republican Party. Bush will be the featured guest at...
Policing talks collapse in Congress, a setback for Biden, Democrats
WASHINGTON — Bipartisan congressional talks on overhauling policing practices have ended without an agreement, top bargainers from both parties said Wednesday, marking the collapse of an effort that began after killings of unarmed Black people by officers sparked protests across the United States. “It was clear that we were not...
Trump sues niece, NY Times over records behind ’18 tax story
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday sued his estranged niece and The New York Times over a 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax practices that was partly based on confidential documents she provided to the newspaper’s reporters. Trump’s lawsuit, filed in state court in New...
House OKs debt and funding plan, inviting clash with GOP in Senate
WASHINGTON — The House voted Tuesday night to fund the government into early December, suspend the federal debt limit and provide disaster and refugee aid, setting up a high-stakes showdown with Republicans who oppose the package despite the prospects of a looming fiscal crisis. The Democratic-led House passed the measure...
Woodward book: Trump lawyer pushed Mike Pence to overturn presidential election with 6-point memoVideo
A far-right-wing lawyer for former President Donald Trump reportedly sought to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to join the effort to overturn the 2020 election using a six-point legal memo. The outlandish memo urged Pence to use his supposed power while presiding over Congress to toss out the electoral votes...
Lawmakers attempt to revive nationwide eviction moratorium
Several progressive lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill that would reimpose a nationwide eviction moratorium at a time when deaths from covid-19 are running at their highest levels since early March. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said the bill would direct the secretary of Health and...
