Politics Election category, Page 221
Debt limit linked to vital spending bill in risky political move
WASHINGTON — House Democrats will include a suspension of the U.S. debt ceiling in a must-pass spending bill needed to keep the government open past the end of this month, a risky move that ensures a potentially damaging showdown with Republicans. The debt ceiling would be suspended through December 2022,...
Senate parliamentarian deals blow to Dems’ immigration push
WASHINGTON — Democrats can’t use their $3.5 trillion package bolstering social and climate programs to give millions of immigrants a chance to become citizens, the Senate’s parliamentarian said late Sunday, a crushing blow to what was the party’s clearest pathway in years to attaining that long-sought goal. The decision by...
Recall vote highlights California’s geopolitical divisions
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California recall election was a blowout win for Gov. Gavin Newsom that reinforced the state’s political divisions: The Democratic governor won big support in coastal areas and urban centers, while the rural north and agricultural inland, with far fewer voters, largely wanted him gone. “It’s almost...
Biden angers France, EU with new Australia, UK initiative
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s decision to form a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain to counter China is angering France and the European Union. They’re feeling left out and seeing it as a return to the Trump era. The security initiative, unveiled this week, appears to have brought...
Fact check: Biden’s shaky claims on jobs, gasoline
WASHINGTON — Boasting that government policies can make a difference in improving the economy, President Joe Biden went too far Thursday in taking credit for job growth since taking office. He also made a dubious suggestion that wrongdoing is behind higher gasoline prices — something that his administration will seek...
White House warns that debt limit showdown could hurt states
The White House is warning state and local governments about severe cuts to disaster relief, Medicaid, infrastructure grants. school money and other programs if Congress fails to raise the U.S. debt limit. A fact sheet for state and local officials that was obtained by The Associated Press is an attempt...
Milley: Calls to China were ‘perfectly’ within scope of job
ATHENS, Greece — The top U.S. military officer said Friday that calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the final stormy months of Donald Trump’s presidency were “perfectly within the duties and responsibilities” of his job. In his first public comments on the conversations, Gen. Mark Milley such said...
House Republican who voted to impeach Trump won’t run again
AKRON, Ohio — The first of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol announced Thursday night he will not seek reelection next year. U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio would have faced Max Miller...
Democrats push for changes to California recall efforts
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom handily defeated a recall election that could have removed him from office, but his Democratic allies in the Legislature already are seeking changes that could make it harder to mount such a challenge in the future. Those changes could include raising the standard...
Pa. Senate GOP moves to collect private voter information in controversial review of 2020 election
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 state Senate committee undertaking a controversial review of last year’s presidential election results on Wednesday authorized subpoenas for...
Dire warning from Newsom helped turn California recall tide
LOS ANGELES — An ominous four-word message issued by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign on the morning of Aug. 5 served as the shock Democrats needed to take seriously a recall election that could remove him from office: “This recall is close.” Newsom’s warning in a fundraising email came just...
Arizona Supreme Court allows release of Senate audit records
PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an effort by the state Senate to keep secret records of its ongoing review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County that are in the possession of the contractors conducting the recount. The high court without comment rejected the appeal filed...
‘The medium is the message’: Ocasio-Cortez defends polarizing ‘Tax the Rich’ Met Gala dress
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ruffled lots of feathers with her 2021 Met Gala dress — and not the fashionable kind. After some called the New York Democrat a hypocrite for condemning wealth inequality at the lavish, star-studded red-carpet event, the New York congresswoman defended her decision Monday to attend the...
Book: Top U.S. officer feared Trump could order China strike
Fearful of Donald Trump’s actions in his final weeks as president, the United States’ top military officer twice assured his Chinese counterpart that the two nations would not go to war, according to a forthcoming book. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng of...
Biden makes push for California’s Newsom as recall nears end
LONG BEACH, Calif. — California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom ended his campaign to retain his job in a recall election with a final push from President Joe Biden, who warned that the outcome of the contest could shape the country’s direction on the pandemic, reproductive rights and the battle to...
GOP pushes unfounded fraud claims before California recallVideo
SACRAMENTO — California Republicans were trying to contain a fire of their own making a day before voting ends in the recall election against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, persuading their voters to turn out Tuesday even as party leaders promoted unsubstantiated claims that the race was rigged or compromised by...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis threatens ‘millions’ in fines for vaccine mandatesVideo
ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday threatened local governments with $5,000 fines per violation for requiring their employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus that has overrun hospitals and killed tens of thousands across the state. Local municipalities, such as Orange County and the city of Gainesville,...
Crowds gather to protest President Joe Biden’s Idaho visit
BOISE, Idaho — More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Boise, Idaho, on Monday morning during a visit by President Joe Biden to express their displeasure about his coronavirus plan, the election and other issues. Biden came to Boise as part of a swing through three Western states to promote his...
House Democrats post record August fundraising ahead of 2022
WASHINGTON — The campaign organization aiming to maintain Democratic control of the House in the 2022 midterm races raised $10 million last month, its best August haul ever during a year without a national election. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says that nearly 250,000 grassroots donors provided $6.6 million, accounting...
W.Va. Sen. Joe Manchin favors trimming Biden budget plan by more than halfVideo
WASHINGTON — A Democratic senator vital to the fate of President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion plan for social and environmental spending said Sunday he won’t support even half that amount or the ambitious timetable envisioned for passing it. The stand by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was described as unacceptable by...
Vulnerable Democrats push for local priorities in budget
DES MOINES, Iowa — U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne of Iowa was slow to get behind a $1 trillion infrastructure bill after the Senate passed it last month. It wasn’t the price tag that tripped up the Democrat from a swing House district. It was that none of the money was...
Pa. school mask lawsuit backed by group that challenged 2020 election results
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 — Just before the start of the holiday weekend, the top Republican in the state Senate sued Democratic Gov. Tom...
Biden’s vaccine rules ignite instant, hot GOP opposition
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s aggressive push to require millions of U.S. workers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus is running into a wall of resistance from Republican leaders threatening everything from lawsuits to civil disobedience, plunging the country deeper into culture wars that have festered since the onset of...
Justice Department sues Texas over state’s new abortion lawVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department on Thursday sued Texas over a new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.” The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas, asks a federal judge to declare that the law is invalid, “to...
Republicans start election ‘investigation’ in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — Republicans in Pennsylvania’s state Senate held their first hearing Thursday in what they call a “forensic investigation” into last year’s presidential election, an underwhelming affair that Democrats nevertheless say is an extension of a national campaign to attack voting rights following former President Donald Trump’s loss. Republicans maintain...
