Politics Election category, Page 229
Biden to sign bill making Juneteenth a federal holidayVideo
WASHINGTON — The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the nation. The House voted 415-14 on Wednesday to make Juneteenth, or June 19th, the 12th federal holiday. President Joe Biden is scheduled to sign the bill into law on Thursday. Juneteenth...
West Virginia Sen. Manchin proposes changes to Democrats’ voting bill
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin is proposing an extensive list of changes to his party’s sweeping elections and voting bill, raising hopes among Democrats that they could unite behind the legislation even if the measure is nearly certain to be blocked by Republicans in a showdown Senate vote next week....
Biden administration extends protections to transgender students
The Education Department on Wednesday expanded its interpretation of federal sex protections to include transgender and gay students, a move that reverses Trump-era policy and stands against proposals in many states to bar transgender girls from school sports. In a new policy directive, the department said discrimination based on a...
Senate approves bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday
WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, or June 19th, a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The bill would lead to Juneteenth becoming the 12th federal holiday. It is expected to easily pass the House, which would send it...
Military defends Jan. 6 response as House steps up investigations
WASHINGTON — A top Army leader defended the Pentagon’s response to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, telling a House panel Tuesday that the National Guard was delayed for hours because it had to properly prepare for the deployment and that senior military leaders had determined beforehand that...
Emails show Trump pressured Justice Dept. over 2020 election
WASHINGTON — During the last weeks of his presidency, Donald Trump and his allies pressured the Justice Department to investigate unsubstantiated claims of widespread 2020 election fraud that even his former attorney general declared without evidence, newly released emails show. The emails, released Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee, reveal...
Senate votes to confirm Biden pick for D.C. appeals court
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Monday confirmed the first appellate court judge of President Joe Biden’s tenure, elevating a judge with strong prospects of landing on the president’s short list should a Supreme Court vacancy arise. Senators voted 53-44 to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Court of...
Ligonier approves resolution to support anti-gerrymandering bill
Ligonier officials joined more than 362 municipalities and 24 counties across the state, signing onto resolutions asking the General Assembly to pass a bill outlawing gerrymandering. The small borough in Eastern Westmoreland County last week joined only two other Westmoreland municipalities—North Huntingdon and Trafford— that have gone on record in...
Florida Gov. Desantis signs bill requiring moment for school prayer
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visited a South Florida Jewish temple to denounce anti-Semitism and stand with Israel, as the Republican governor cloaked himself in religion Monday while signing a bill into law that would require public schools in his state to set aside at least one minute of...
Pennsylvania Republicans eye referendums to get past vetoes
HARRISBURG — Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Legislature are increasingly looking to take a different avenue to write laws, voter referendums, to get around Gov. Tom Wolf and make policy that the Democrat cannot block with his veto pen. On Friday, Republicans unveiled a proposed constitutional amendment to expand Pennsylvania’s existing...
Biden at NATO: Ready to talk China, Russia and soothe allies
BRUSSELS — President Joe Biden made his entrance at the NATO summit aiming to consult European allies on efforts to counter provocative actions by China and Russia while highlighting the U.S. commitment to the 30-country alliance that was frequently maligned by predecessor Donald Trump. The summit Monday comes as Biden...
Pelosi demands Trump-era attorneys general testify on subpoenasVideo
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded that Trump-era officials testify under oath about the Justice Department’s effort to secretly subpoena data from House Democrats and the news media. Former attorneys general Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions, along with Rod Rosenstein, a former deputy attorney general, must answer to questions about subpoenas...
Exodus of election officials raises concerns of partisanship
There is no shortage of job openings for local election officials in Michigan. It’s the same in Pennsylvania. Wisconsin, too. After facing threats and intimidation during the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath, and now the potential of new punishments in certain states, county officials who run elections are quitting...
Biden urges G-7 leaders to call out, compete with China
CARBIS BAY, England — Leaders of the world’s largest economies on Saturday unveiled an infrastructure plan for the developing world to compete with China’s efforts, but the democracies didn’t immediately agree on how to publicly call out Beijing, including for its forced labor practices. The proposal on labor practices is...
GOP governors tie economy to relaxed approach to coronavirus
JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. — Republican governors running for reelection have begun trumpeting the party’s more hands-off approach to the coronavirus pandemic, trying to flip the script on an issue that helped Democrats win the White House and control of Capitol Hill in 2020. GOP governors, especially in populous, diverse Sun...
Oregon legislator is 1st-ever ousted after Statehouse breach
SALEM, Ore. — Republican lawmakers voted with majority Democrats in the Oregon House of Representatives to take the historic step of expelling a Republican member who let violent, far-right protesters into the state Capitol on Dec. 21. Legislators said on the House floor that this could be the most important...
Justice Dept., Congress probing Trump seizures of Dems’ data
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s internal watchdog launched an investigation Friday after revelations that former President Donald Trump’s administration secretly seized phone data from at least two House Democrats as part of an aggressive leaks probe. Democrats called the seizures “harrowing” and an abuse of power. The announcement by Inspector...
Biden nominee’s link to 1989 logging sabotage blasted by GOP
BILLINGS, Mont. — President Joe Biden’s nominee to oversee federal lands in the U.S. West is facing Republican pressure to withdraw over her ties to environmental activists convicted of spiking trees to sabotage a national forest timber sale more than 30 years ago. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, the ranking Republican...
Lucky number: Biden is 13th U.S. president set to meet queen
LONDON — Imagine trying to make an impression on someone who’s met, well, almost everyone. Such is the challenge for President Joe Biden, who is set to sip tea with Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday at Windsor Castle after a Group of Seven leaders’ summit in southwestern England. Biden will...
Senators eye $579B in new infrastructure spending, $1T plan
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators is eyeing an infrastructure deal with $579 billion in new spending as negotiators try to strike a nearly $1 trillion deal on President Joe Biden’s top priority, according to those briefed on the plan. The 10 senators have been huddling behind closed doors,...
Pa. legislature ends coronavirus disaster declaration, keeps 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 has voted to immediately end Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus disaster declaration using a new power granted...
Rep. Omar says she wasn’t equating U.S., Israel and terrorists
WASHINGTON — Rep. Ilhan Omar tried edging away Thursday from a bitter fight with Jewish Democratic lawmakers who’d accused her of likening the U.S. and Israel to Hamas and Afghanistan’s Taliban, saying her remarks were “in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries.” A three-paragraph statement by the Minnesota...
Pa. GOP proposes major election overhaul, including stricter voter ID and in-person early voting
This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy. Pennsylvania Republicans unveiled their first proposal for overhauling the state’s election system Thursday, with lawmakers in the state House...
Independent Marlin Woods to announce bid for Pittsburgh mayor
A 48-year-old East Liberty man who works as a benefits consultant will be announcing an independent run for Pittsburgh mayor Thursday evening. “Leadership is my product and I believe in it,” Marlin Woods said in an interview before his campaign kickoff, which is set for 6 p.m. at Highland Park...
Home health aides protest at Reschenthaler’s Greensburg officeVideo
A group of about two dozen home care workers and community activists converged on U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler’s office in Greensburg on Wednesday to rally support for the American Jobs Act and speak to the role low-paid caregivers play in the nation’s health system. The group — led by United...
