In a narrow 51–48 vote early Saturday morning, Senate Republicans approved a budget resolution that paves the way for extending former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and significantly reducing federal spending. The vote followed a late-night legislative session and unlocks the use of budget reconciliation — a procedural tool that allows Republicans to sidestep Read More…
(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump is endorsing conservative Judge Brad Schimel in his race against liberal Judge Susan Crawford for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Calling Crawford a “radical left liberal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social she “has repeatedly given child molesters, rapists, women beaters and domestic abusers ‘light’ sentences. “She is the handpicked Read More…
(The Center Square) – Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate to amend the tax code to incentivize businesses to hire military spouses. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., working with Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., introduced the Military Spouse Hiring Act aimed at boosting military spouse employment, a Read More…
A recent national poll reveals that 60% of voters support the idea of requiring paper ballots in U.S. elections, a measure that has gained significant attention following advocacy by former President Donald Trump. The proposal, which aims to strengthen election integrity, has sparked widespread discussion on both sides of the political spectrum. The survey, conducted Read More…
Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is elevating a longtime top political adviser to the president to the role of deputy campaign manager. Bill Stepien, who formerly served as White House political director and had been advising the reelection effort, will serve under Brad Parscale, who has been campaign manager since 2018. Those familiar with the decision, Read More…
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will ask donors to give as much as $620,600 to support his White House bid and down-ballot candidates, dramatically expanding his fundraising capability to compete with President Trump’s big-money machine. The Biden Victory Fund, a committee that raises money with the Democratic National Committee, on Saturday filed an agreement that Read More…
Joe Biden’s shortlist for vice president is deep in Democratic talent, filled with governors, senators and former rivals for the presidential nomination. But one of the least-known among them is attracting an increasing amount of attention from Biden advisers, donors and Democrats in Congress — Val Demings. The presumptive nominee himself acknowledged her appeal after Read More…
(Bloomberg) — Michigan closed down its capitol in Lansing on Thursday and canceled its legislative session rather than face the possibility of an armed protest and death threats against Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The gathering, meant to advocate opening the state for business despite the coronavirus pandemic, followed one April 30 that resulted in pictures Read More…
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has been named the most bipartisan member of the Senate for the seventh year in a row by the Georgetown University and the Lugar Center, based on a voting index compiled by the two organizations. Collins, a Republican seeking her fifth term, is in what is expected to be her toughest Read More…
The Supreme Court on Wednesday wrestled with a dispute over whether Electoral College voters have a constitutional right to diverge from their state’s popular vote in two cases that could have implications for November’s presidential election. The arguments featured hypotheticals about what would happen if electors were to take a bribe, get hacked by a Read More…
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday named the co-chairs and members of their joint task forces meant to shore up Democratic Party unity ahead of November’s general election. The announcement follows through on a pledge the two men made last month — when Sanders, the runner-up in the Democratic Read More…
Even after the White House’s delayed response to the coronavirus outbreak, unprecedented job losses and a bruising recession, investors and betting markets are still putting their money on President Trump to win re-election. The big picture: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden holds a sizable lead in most national and individual swing state polls — but money managers Read More…
Kamala Harris was written off as a possible vice presidential pick for Joe Biden last year after a cutting debate performance where she seemed to suggest he was racially insensitive. Now, Harris is not only in top contention, but Biden aides, surrogates and major donors see her as the best fit at the onset of Read More…
(CNN)A liberal super PAC set up to help Democrats take back the Senate will spend $700,000 on a new ad to attack Sen. Steve Daines, a Montana Republican, sending another signal that Democrats are expanding the map to compete in even deep-red states as they try to flip the Senate in 2020. Senate Majority PAC told Read More…
The Democratic-led committee threatened to subpoena Bezos if he does not comply. Amazon’s stock fell after the announcement. Seven bipartisan members of the committee said in a letter to Bezos that a recent Wall Street Journal report on Amazon’s use of third-party seller data appears to show that Amazon may have misled Congress in previous statements. “If Read More…
The FBI took steps in early 2017 to close its investigation into former Trump adviser Michael Flynn before abruptly reversing course, according to new documents filed in Flynn’s pending legal effort to rescind his guilty plea for lying to federal agents. The filings indicate that by Jan. 4, 2017, the FBI had drafted a document Read More…
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s remarkable comeback from the depths of a fifth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary to all but locking up the Democratic nomination this month can be traced to his overwhelming support among black voters. And one critical endorsement — from South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn — helped reinforce that support at a tenuous moment in his Read More…
A planning commissioner for the city of Vallejo, Calfornia has resigned from his position after throwing his pet cat and appearing to consume an alcoholic beverage during a publicly-accessible Zoom meeting between city officials, Vallejo Times-Herald reported. During the Planning Commission’s meeting on April 20 — the group’s first teleconference amid the coronavirus pandemic — Chris Platzer told Read More…
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) argued Wednesday that many Americans should protest economic insecurity by refusing to work after coronavirus-related restrictions are lifted. “When we talk about this idea of reopening society, you know, only in America does the president — when the president tweets about liberation — does he mean go back to work. When Read More…
In 2017, actress Alyssa Milano became one of the early advocates for the #MeToo movement when she tweeted, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted, write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” Legions of women went public with their stories in response. Two-and-a-half years later, Milano took to Twitter again — this time, to explain Read More…
The battle over whether for-profit Alaska Native corporations should get a slice of the $8 billion in coronavirus relief intended for U.S. tribes exploded Thursday into a Twitter fight among U.S. senators, an Alaska-born Interior Department official and the governor. Let’s get you caught up: Congress has agreed to give $150 billion in relief Read More…
Some of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ top campaign surrogates spoke to the New York Times about what it means that their former candidate, the leader of a massive grassroots movement, has endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Why it matters: Convincing progressives to support Biden is viewed as key to building the coalition needed to defeat President Trump Read More…
Critics are blasting Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for staging a “photo op” Tuesday in the US ZIP code hardest hit by the coronavirus. A small group gathered in the virally blighted neighborhood of Corona, Queens, in AOC’s district, to hear a pitch for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to offer funeral assistance. Read More…
Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president on Monday during a livestream with the two men, telling Biden “we need you in the White House.” “I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I Read More…
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said he hopes to approve further funding Thursday to buoy small businesses devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. “I will work with Secretary Mnuchin and Leader Schumer and hope to approve further funding for the Paycheck Protection Program by unanimous consent or voice vote during the next scheduled Senate session on Thursday,” he Read More…
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the United States as a “brutal, barbarian society” for the “vast majority of working-class Americans.” As Ocasio-Cortez was discussing certain policies she wishes Congress would adopt to combat the coronavirus, including canceling rent payment and reforming healthcare, she blasted the U.S. as a “barbarian Read More…
MILWAUKEE — The 2020 Democratic National Convention has officially been postponed until August due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Democratic Party announced Thursday. The convention was originally scheduled for July 13-17. It will now be held the week of August 17. “In our current climate of uncertainty, we believe the smartest approach is to take Read More…
(CNN) – Outside groups aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have launched a three-pronged attack on Republican Rep. Doug Collins’ professional record, attempting to portray him as weak on crime in order to doom his Senate campaign in Georgia against a GOP incumbent. The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) and One Nation spent nearly Read More…
Who will lead the revolution? With Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign just about Berned out, some are looking to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her friends to pick up where the 78-year-old socialist left off. “There is definitely an opportunity for her and other members of the squad,” Jabari Brisport, a Democratic Socialist-endorsed candidate running for state Senate in Read More…
Vice President Pence is hiring a former George W. Bush administration official to serve as his office’s legal counsel. Pence’s office confirmed Monday that Gregory Jacob will take over the role being vacated by Matt Morgan, who is joining the Trump reelection campaign as director of litigation and legislation. “Greg is a man of deep professional experience, but also one Read More…
Don’t get AOC started on bailing out corporate America over coronavirus. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens) fired a political shot across the bow of the airline industry and others hoping for multi-billion dollar taxpayer bailouts as the crisis worsens. “If there is so much as a DIME of corporate bailout money in the next relief package, Read More…
(The Center Square) – U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii announced Thursday that she is ending her Democratic presidential campaign and endorsing former Vice President Joe Biden. “I know Vice President Biden and his wife and am grateful to have called his son Beau, who also served in the National Guard, a friend,” Gabbard said Read More…
Kentucky delayed its primary election on Monday, becoming the latest state to take the step to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The state will move its nominating contest to June 23 from the originally planned May 19, Secretary of State Michael Adams announced. He said he made the decision with Gov. Andy Beshear during Read More…
Even the leader of the Squad is conceding a big defeat for Bernie Sanders. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens) conceded a major setback for her progressive hero after Joe Biden crushed Sanders in Michigan and several other states. “There’s no sugarcoating it. (It’s) a tough night,” Ocasio-Cortez told supporters on an Instagram video. Ocasio-Cortez sought to Read More…
WASHINGTON – There is more at stake in the race between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders than simply who will top the Democratic Party’s ticket in November. It’s a battle to control the direction the party will take over the next decade, and to define and shape the party’s core message. Read More…
Democrats are doing everything they can to position themselves to win back the U.S. Senate. It still might not be enough. Monday, term-limited Montana governor and former 2020 presidential candidate Steve Bullock announced he’s running for Senate there, putting up Democrats’ strongest candidate to take this seat from Republicans. The same happened in Colorado when Read More…
Unseating a longtime congressman in a primary is hard. It’s especially hard to do in a district where the family of the incumbent holds a handful of other elected offices, where there are schools named after the guy you’re trying to defeat. In Texas’s Twenty-eighth Congressional District, 26-year-old immigration lawyer Jessica Cisneros came close, though. Read More…
(AP) — Moderate Democrats are continuing to coalesce around Joe Biden following his strong performance in Super Tuesday primaries, which reset the 2020 Democratic race as a two-man contest between Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Biden’s campaign announced Friday he had secured backing from Maggie Hassan, a first-term New Hampshire senator and former governor, who did not Read More…
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar ended her Democratic presidential campaign on Monday and endorse rival Joe Biden in an effort to unify moderate voters behind the former vice president’s White House bid. She is flying to Dallas and plans to join Biden at his rally Monday night. Klobuchar outlasted several better-known and better-funded Democrats, thanks to Read More…
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Elizabeth Warren can win debates, but not states: There’s a chance she will walk away from Super Tuesday having not carried any of the first 18 contests, including her home state of Massachusetts. Yet she, her campaign and their close allies say she’s in the race all the way to the convention, despite her Read More…
President Donald Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale briefed Republican senators on Wednesday about the campaign’s effort to expand the electoral map and assure Trump’s path to reelection. “They are more than ready for 2020,” said Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), a close Trump ally. “They’re going to be expanding the map.” “They’ve been working hard, whereas Read More…
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Monday unveiled a $640 billion housing plan that includes tax credits for first-time homebuyers and low-income renters, as well as more federal assistance for the country’s poorest renters. The former vice president’s team sees his proposals as especially important in aiding African Americans and Latinos, two advisers said on the condition Read More…
More than 500 social-media campaigners in California are being offered $2,500 a month to spread Mike Bloomberg’s message as “deputy field operatives.” However, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times, the small slice of the candidate’s vast personal fortune has not ensured the operatives’ dedication or loyalty. The newly formed social-media army has been Read More…
Democrats are growing alarmed about Republican attempts to prop up an insurgent liberal candidate in North Carolina — fearful that GOP meddling will undercut the party’s prospects in a key Senate contest. What seems like a generic campaign ad pitching Erica Smith, a North Carolina state senator, as “the only proven progressive” in the state’s Read More…