Politics Election category, Page 224
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul threatens a Senate bottleneck to protest covid-19 restrictions
As schools wrestle with mask mandates and government agencies grapple with in-office work, Rand Paul is promising to pick a fight against continued coronavirus restrictions. And he’s threatening to gum up work in the U.S. Senate well into the future to make his point. The junior senator from Kentucky said...
Infrastructure senators brush off criticism from left, right
WASHINGTON — Often elusive, the political center is holding steady in the Senate as a coalition of Democratic and Republican senators brushes off critics to push the $1 trillion infrastructure package toward final passage. On the left, the Democrats have withstood the complaints of liberals who say the proposal falls...
Senators push infrastructure bill a step closer to passageVideo
WASHINGTON — Senators hoisted the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package over another hurdle late Sunday, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans pushing it closer to passage despite a few holdouts trying to derail one of President Joe Biden’s top priorities. The rare bipartisan momentum was holding steady, a reflection of...
Mark Zuckerberg’s cash fuels GOP suspicion and new election rules
When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated $400 million to help fund election offices as they scrambled to deal with the coronavirus pandemic late last summer, he said he hoped he would never have to do it again. Republican legislatures are granting him that wish. At least eight GOP-controlled states have...
Texas Democrats continue holdout, don’t show for new session
Texas Democrats still refused to return to the state Capitol on Saturday as Gov. Greg Abbott began a third attempt at passing new election laws, prolonging a monthslong standoff that ramped up in July when dozens of Democratic state lawmakers left the state and hunkered down in Washington, D.C. “A...
Budget office: Infrastructure bill adds $256 billion to deficits
WASHINGTON — Nearing decision time, senators are wrapping up work on the bipartisan infrastructure plan and talks were underway Thursday to expedite consideration of the nearly $1 trillion proposal, with votes expected in the days ahead. A much anticipated analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office concluded that...
South Carolina House lawmaker suing Pelosi over mask rule says he has covid
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Rep. Ralph Norman, one of the three congressional Republicans suing Speaker Nancy Pelosi over fines for not wearing masks during a vote on the U.S. House floor, has contracted a breakthrough case of covid-19, the second member of South Carolina’s delegation to do so. Norman, who has...
Biden, reversing Trump order, announces tougher car pollution standardsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden introduced plans Thursday to strengthen car pollution standards through 2026, putting the United States on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — though not as quickly as many environmentalists say is needed. The proposed standards, written by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation...
Majority of New York Assembly would oust Cuomo if he doesn’t quitVideo
ALBANY, N.Y. — A majority of state Assembly members support beginning impeachment proceedings against Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he doesn’t resign over investigative findings that he sexually harassed at least 11 women, according to an Associated Press count Wednesday. At least 83 of the body’s 150 members have said publicly...
Biden chides Republican governors who resist vaccine rules
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden called on resistant Republican governors to “get out of the way” of vaccine rules aimed at containing the more transmissible and dangerous covid-19 variant. He backed city and private mandates requiring people to be vaccinated to go about some daily activities. Speaking Tuesday from the...
Trump-backed Mike Carey, centrist Shontel Brown win Ohio U.S. House races
COLUMBUS — Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist backed by former President Donald Trump, won a Republican primary Tuesday for an open U.S. House seat in central Ohio that tested Trump’s status as kingmaker. While centrist County Councilwoman Shontel Brown held off progressive Nina Turner in the race for the other...
CDC issues new eviction ban for most of U.S. through Oct. 3
WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday issued a new moratorium on evictions that would last until October 3, as the Biden administration sought to quell intensifying criticism that it was allowing vulnerable renters to lose their homes during a pandemic. The new moratorium could help...
Andrew Cuomo defiant after probe says he sexually harassed 11 women
NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced mounting pressure Tuesday to resign, including from President Joe Biden and other onetime Democratic allies, after an investigation found he sexually harassed nearly a dozen women and worked to retaliate against one of his accusers. “I think he should resign,” Biden...
Democrats demand Kevin McCarthy to recant Pelosi taunt as tensions rise
WASHINGTON — Several House Democrats have called on House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to apologize to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or resign after audio surfaced of him saying at a weekend fundraiser that it would be “hard not to hit her” with a gavel if he’s sworn in as speaker...
Biden bipartisan infrastructure bill timeline: What’s next?Video
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators is hoping to approve an expansive infrastructure bill this week after months of negotiation, compromise and delay. The bill, which contains $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges and broadband internet access, is the first part of President Joe Biden’s “Build Back...
Trump’s kingmaker status faces test in Ohio special election
GROVE CITY, Ohio — As soon as it became clear last week that a Texas congressional candidate backed by Donald Trump would be defeated in a special election, the former president’s allies quickly shifted their attention to Ohio to ward off another embarrassing loss. Make America Great Again, a super...
Senators produce bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure billVideo
WASHINGTON — After much delay, senators unveiled a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package Sunday night, wrapping up days of painstaking work on the inches-thick bill and launching what is certain to be a lengthy debate over President Joe Biden’s big priority. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act clocked in...
Senators hope to wrap up draft of infrastructure bill Sunday
WASHINGTON — The Senate will reconvene in a rare weekend session on Sunday as negotiators work on the text of a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Despite the delays, two senators predicted that the text would be released within the day and the bill passed by the end of the...
Evictions looming, Biden fails to get Congress to extend ban
WASHINGTON — A nationwide eviction moratorium is set to expire Saturday after President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress worked furiously but ultimately failed to align on a long-shot strategy to prevent millions of Americans from being forced from their homes during a covid-19 surge. More than 3.6 million Americans...
$1 trillion infrastructure plan clears another Senate hurdle
WASHINGTON — The Senate further advanced a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan Friday with a bipartisan group of senators helping it clear one more hurdle and bracing to see if support can hold during the next few days of debate and efforts to amend it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer,...
Justice Dept. says IRS must give Trump tax returns to Congress
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department, in a reversal, says the Treasury Department must provide the House Ways and Means Committee former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, apparently ending a long legal showdown over the records. In a memo dated Friday, Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel said the committee chairman “has...
Trump urged Justice officials to declare election ‘corrupt’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump urged senior Justice Department officials to declare the 2020 election results “corrupt” in a December phone call, according to handwritten notes from one of the participants in the conversation. The notes of the Dec. 27 call, released Friday by the House Oversight Committee, underscore the...
CDC mask guidance met with hostility by leading Republicans
SALT LAKE CITY — One of the Republican Party’s most prominent rising stars is mocking new government recommendations calling for more widespread use of masks to blunt a coronavirus surge. “Did you not get the CDC’s memo?” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joked Wednesday before an almost entirely unmasked audience of...
Conservatives want to boot Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger from House GOPVideo
WASHINGTON — Conservative lawmakers made a push Thursday to boot Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger out of the House GOP because the two defied party leaders and joined the chamber’s special committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The effort by the...
Congress passes bill to fund Capitol security, Afghan visas
WASHINGTON — Congress overwhelmingly passed emergency legislation Thursday that would bolster security at the Capitol, repay outstanding debts from the violent Jan. 6 insurrection and increase the number of visas for allies who worked alongside Americans in the Afghanistan war. The $2.1 billion bill now goes to President Joe Biden...
