Politics Election category, Page 236
Countering Biden, GOP pitches $568B for infrastructureVideo
WASHINGTON — A group of Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled a public works proposal with a much smaller price tag and a narrower definition of infrastructure than what President Joe Biden has proposed, highlighting the stark differences between the two sides that will be difficult to bridge in the coming...
Senate passes bill, 94-1, targeting hate crimes against Asian AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved a bill designed to make it easier for law enforcement to investigate hate crimes against Asian Americans, which have surged amid the covid-19 pandemic. In a rare, if fleeting, moment of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, senators approved the bill 94-1. Republican Sen. Josh...
D.C. statehood approved by House as Senate fight looms
WASHINGTON — A decades-long movement to reshape the American political map took a further step Thursday as the House of Representatives approved a bill to make the nation’s capital the 51st state. Voting along party lines with minority Republicans in opposition, the House approved the bill 216-208. That’s likely the...
Biden gets Vanita Gupta confirmed for DOJ as post-Chauvin tempers flareVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted narrowly to confirm Vanita Gupta, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the No. 3 position at the Justice Department, in a near party-line vote after a debate that invoked the national dialogue over police reform and civil rights in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing. The...
Amtrak’s proposed $80 billion windfall: Too much or too little?
WASHINGTON — The $80 billion that President Joe Biden proposes to give Amtrak over eight years in his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal would be a windfall for an enterprise that typically receives $2 billion from the federal government per year. But both critics and those who share Biden’s goal of...
Ohio Republicans aim to rename state park after Donald Trump
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A GOP-backed bill introduced Monday would change the name of an Ohio state park to honor former President Donald Trump. The bill primarily sponsored by freshman state Rep. Mike Loychik to rename Mosquito Lake State Park to Donald J. Trump State Park is the latest attempt by...
Church leaders seek Home Depot boycott on Georgia voting law
ATLANTA — A group of religious leaders is calling for a boycott of Georgia-based Home Depot, saying the home improvement giant hasn’t done enough to oppose the state’s new voting laws. African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Reginald Jackson said the company has remained “silent and indifferent” to his efforts to rally...
Bush criticizes GOP isolationism, anti-immigration rhetoric
WASHINGTON — George W. Bush says the Republican Party he served as president has become “isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist” and says he’s especially concerned about anti-immigration rhetoric. “It’s a beautiful country we have and yet it’s not beautiful when we condemn, call people names and scare...
New York AG investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s use of aides on book
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s attorney general is investigating whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo broke the law by having members of his staff help write and promote his pandemic leadership book. In a letter dated April 13, but made public Monday, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli authorized State Attorney General Letitia James...
Lou Barletta, eyeing a run for governor, starts raising money
HARRISBURG — Lou Barletta, the Trump-backing former congressman and immigration hawk who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate, has taken a step toward possibly running for governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 and begun a political action committee to raise money. Barletta told The Associated Press a month ago that he was...
Republicans want to reprimand Rep. Maxine Waters for police protest remarks
WASHINGTON — House Republicans are rallying around efforts to try to reprimand Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California for comments she made over the weekend encouraging protesters awaiting a verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. If Chauvin, who is standing trial for the death of...
New conservative group would save ‘Anglo-Saxon’ traditions
WASHINGTON — Hard-right House Republicans on Friday were discussing forming an America First Caucus, which one document described as championing “Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and warning that mass immigration was putting the “unique identity” of the U.S. at risk. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the paper, which was first...
Japan’s leader urges strong alliance in visit to White House
WASHINGTON — Calling democracy the foundation for global prosperity, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met with President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday in a bid to underscore the two countries’ alliance as a counter to an autocratic and increasingly assertive China. The visit was Biden’s first face-to-face...
House GOP Minority Leader takes cash from casino mogul accused of misconduct
WASHINGTON — A major House Republican fundraising committee overseen by GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy received over $770,000 from Steve Wynn, a Las Vegas casino mogul who stepped down from his company in 2018 after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. The donation, which Wynn made in late March,...
Georgia governor gets GOP primary challenge from former Dem
ATLANTA — Former Democrat Vernon Jones crowd-surfed across adoring Trump supporters in October after speaking at one of the former president’s campaign rallies. Now the scandal-plagued politician hopes to surf their discontent to a Republican primary victory over Gov. Brian Kemp. Jones announced Friday that he would challenge the incumbent...
As America embraces voting early, GOP moves to restrict it
Nearly seven of every 10 voters cast their ballots before Election Day in 2020. Republicans are moving to make it harder for that to happen again, potentially affecting the voting preferences of millions of Americans. The GOP’s campaign to place new restrictions on mail-in and early voting in certain states...
House GOP leader: Won’t punish Rep. Matt Gaetz unless charges filedVideo
WASHINGTON — Rep. Matt Gaetz, under federal investigation for sex trafficking allegations, is “innocent until proven guilty” and Republicans don’t plan to punish him unless charges are filed, the House GOP leader said Thursday. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., also told reporters that in a private conversation, the Florida...
Trump allies work to craft a platform going beyond fealty to himVideo
WASHINGTON — Former Cabinet members and top officials in Donald Trump’s administration, including economic adviser Larry Kudlow, have launched a new think tank in an effort to create a policy platform out of the former president’s chaotic approach to governing. The 40-person America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit with a...
Democrats begin long-shot push to expand the Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — A group of congressional Democrats introduced legislation Thursday to add four seats to the Supreme Court, a long-shot bid designed to counter the court’s rightward tilt during the Trump administration and criticized by Republicans as a potential power grab that would reduce the public’s trust in the judiciary....
In a year of reckoning, slavery reparations bill moves forward in the House
WASHINGTON — A House committee late Wednesday advanced legislation, first introduced in 1989, that would study the issue of awarding reparations to the descendants of American slaves. The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to send a bill to the House floor for the first time to create a...
No. 2 House Republican says GOP would act against Rep. Matt GaetzVideo
WASHINGTON — The No. 2 House Republican leader said Wednesday that party leaders would “take action” against Rep. Matt Gaetz if the Justice Department formally moves against the Florida lawmaker, who is under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking. The remarks by Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana made him the...
Pitt law professor Jerry Dickinson will run for seat held by Rep. Mike Doyle in 2022
A Swissvale attorney and law professor who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle in the 2020 Democratic primary will run for the seat again in 2022 when Doyle’s term expires. Jerry Dickinson, 34, announced his candidacy for the seat Doyle has held since 1995. A constitutional law professor at the...
Pennsylvania’s shrinking delegation will mean hard decisions
HARRISBURG — There may be nothing more nerve-wracking for a member of Congress than redistricting, when the once-a-decade redrawing of district boundaries injects a dose of uncertainty into their political careers. In Pennsylvania, redrawing the districts to correspond with population shifts identified by the 2020 census will have a particularly...
Leaders of GM, Ford among objectors to Michigan voting restrictions
LANSING, Mich. — The leaders of three-dozen major Michigan-based companies, including General Motors and Ford, on Tuesday objected to Republican-sponsored election bills that would make it harder to vote in Michigan and other states. The businesses issued a joint statement saying they are united for principles such as equitable access...
IRS chief expects new child payments to start this summer
WASHINGTON — It’s a strain, but the head of the IRS said Tuesday he expects to meet the July 1 deadline in the new pandemic relief law for starting a groundbreaking tax program aimed at reducing child poverty. That means new advance monthly payments of as much as $300 per...
