Politics Election category, Page 242
Georgia Senate passes bill to nix no-excuse absentee voting
ATLANTA — Georgia’s state Senate narrowly passed a Republican-backed bill that would end no-excuse absentee voting Monday, the deadline that bills must generally pass out of one chamber to remain alive for the session. Senate Bill 241 would limit absentee voting to people 65 and older, those with a physical...
Biden order could change how colleges handle sex misconduct
WASHINGTON — In a first step toward reversing a contentious Trump administration policy, President Joe Biden on Monday ordered his administration to review federal rules guiding colleges in their handling of campus sexual assaults. In an executive order, Biden directed the Education Department to examine rules that the Trump administration...
GOP pushes bills to allow social media ‘censorship’ lawsuits
Republican state lawmakers are pushing for social media giants to face costly lawsuits for policing content on their websites, taking aim at a federal law that prevents internet companies from being sued for removing posts. GOP politicians in roughly two dozen states have introduced bills that would allow for civil...
Biden marking ‘Bloody Sunday’ by signing voting rights order
WASHINGTON — A new executive order from President Joe Biden directs federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote voting access, a move that comes as congressional Democrats press for a sweeping voting and elections bill to counter efforts to restrict voting access. His plan was being announced...
Trump offers early endorsement for loyal S.C. governor
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s bid for a second full term in 2022, continuing their yearslong alliance in a move to strengthen ties with the early-voting state that Trump won twice. In a statement through his Save America PAC, Trump...
Biden White House: Message discipline, no news conference
WASHINGTON — No news conference. No Oval Office address. No primetime speech to a joint session of Congress. President Joe Biden is the first executive in four decades to reach this point in his term without holding a formal question and answer session. It reflects a White House media strategy...
Minimum wage hike falls short as Senate debates virus bill
WASHINGTON — The Senate seemingly killed progressives’ last-ditch effort to include a minimum wage hike in the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief bill Friday, as the chamber began climactic votes on the huge package embodying President Joe Biden’s top legislative priority. Senators voted 58-42 against the increase, though the vote...
California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell sues Trump, allies over Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — Rep. Eric Swalwell, who served as a House manager in Donald Trump’s last impeachment, filed a lawsuit Friday against the former president, his son, lawyer and a Republican congressman whose actions he charges led to January’s insurrection. The California Democrat’s suit was filed Friday in federal court in...
Senate begins considering Democrats’ $1.9T coronavirus relief billVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted by the slimmest of margins Thursday to begin debating a $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief bill, after Democrats made eleventh-hour changes aimed at ensuring they could pull President Joe Biden’s top legislative priority through the precariously divided chamber. Democrats were hoping for Senate approval of the...
West Virginia sales tax would top U.S. states under income tax cut planVideo
West Virginia’s consumer sales tax rate would increase from 6% to 7.9% under a proposal submitted Thursday to the Legislature to eliminate the state’s personal income tax. The sales tax increase would give West Virginia the highest rate among all U.S. states. Puerto Rico has a double-digit sales tax. Republican...
CBO expects federal debt to double over next 30 years
The Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday that persistent budget deficits will cause the federal debt to double in size over the next 30 years. Following the 2008 financial crisis and the pandemic, the government has depended heavily on borrowing and low interest rates to help an ailing economy. But as...
Senate energy panel backs Deb Haaland for interior secretary
WASHINGTON — A key Senate committee on Thursday approved the nomination of New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to be interior secretary, clearing the way for a Senate vote that is likely to make her the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee...
Another Trump on the ballot? Lara Trump eyes Senate seat
RALEIGH, North Carolina — A Trump may be on the ballot next year — but not Donald Trump. The former president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is eyeing the North Carolina Senate seat being vacated by Republican Richard Burr. While many in the state are skeptical she will move forward, an entrance...
GOP state lawmakers seek to nullify federal gun limits
SALT LAKE CITY — With Democrats controlling the presidency and Congress, Republican state lawmakers concerned about the possibility of new federal gun control laws aren’t waiting to react. Legislation in at least a dozen states seeks to nullify any new restrictions, such as ammunition limits or a ban on certain...
Law enforcement on alert after plot warning at U.S. Capitol
WASHINGTON — Law enforcement was on high alert Thursday around the U.S. Capitol after intelligence uncovered a “possible plot” by a militia group to storm the iconic building yet again, two months after a mob of Donald Trump supporters smashed through windows and doors to try to stop Congress from...
Biden blasts Abbott for ‘big mistake’ and ‘Neanderthal thinking’ in lifting Texas’ covid-19 restrictions
WASHINGTON — A day after Gov. Greg Abbott announced an end to all pandemic-related precautions in Texas, President Joe Biden slammed him Wednesday for putting lives at risk by clinging to “Neanderthal thinking” rather than heeding advice from the nation’s top scientists. “I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told...
N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo addresses harassment claims, vows to stay in office
ALBANY, N.Y. — Besieged by sexual harassment allegations, a somber New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo apologized Wednesday, saying he “learned an important lesson” about his own behavior around women, but he said he intended to remain in office. “I now understand that I acted in a way that made people...
GOP takes aim at Biden’s health care pick on abortion rights
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s pick for health secretary is taking heat from Republicans for his actions in support of abortion rights. They want to define him — and the new administration — as out of the mainstream. The Senate Finance Committee deadlocked Wednesday along party lines on the nomination...
Top Pa. senator appoints colleague’s wife to lucrative Gaming Control Board seat
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 top Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate has quietly appointed the spouse of a colleague to a coveted spot...
Budget nominee Tanden withdraws nomination amid opposition
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, has withdrawn her nomination after she faced opposition from key Democratic and Republican senators for her controversial tweets. Her withdrawal marks the first high-profile defeat of one of Biden’s nominees. Eleven of the 23...
Biden’s plan to distribute virus aid benefits Democratic-led states, some GOP governors say
LINCOLN, Neb. — The Biden administration’s plan to funnel more coronavirus aid into states with greater unemployment has irked governors with lower jobless rates. The $1.9 trillion relief bill working its way through Congress allocates extra money to larger, mostly Democratic-run states with higher unemployment rates, while rural Midwestern and...
Senate confirms Raimondo as Biden commerce secretary
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to confirm Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo to serve as President Joe Biden’s commerce secretary and help guide the economy’s recovery during and after the coronavirus pandemic. The vote was 84-15. Raimondo, 49, was the first woman elected governor of Rhode Island and...
Biden choice for consumer watchdog agency makes debut in nomination hearing
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Joe Biden’s nominee to run the federal consumer watchdog agency faced some hostile questioning from Republican Senators on Tuesday, but appeared to be likely to be confirmed with Democrats controlling a majority in the Senate. Rohit Chopra, currently a Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission,...
Senate Dems sorting final details of $1.9T virus relief bill
WASHINGTON — Democrats sorted through lingering disagreements over emergency jobless benefits and other issues Tuesday and prepared to commence Senate debate on a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan that would deliver a major victory to President Joe Biden. With Democrats having no margin for error in the evenly split 50-50...
Censure of Sen. Toomey for Trump impeachment vote falls short
A sharply-split Republican State Committee in Pennsylvania voted Monday night to again express its displeasure with Sen. Pat Toomey’s vote last month to convict former President Donald Trump on an article of impeachment, but stopped short of voting to censure him. Committee members were given the choice of voting for...
