BARBARA LEE

The House has approved a resolution that will pave the way for letting congressional staff join a union and engage in collective bargaining.

The House has emphatically approved a fresh $40 billion Ukraine aid package that beefs up President Joe Biden’s initial request.

The House has approved a bill decriminalizing marijuana and letting states set their own policies on pot.

Four men are going to trial for an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A top European Union official says Russia would have its access to financial markets and high-tech goods limited under Western sanctions being prepared in case it attacks Ukraine.

She Worked For Black Press For Over 48 YearsBy Evan Carlton WardSun-ReporterGail Cordelia Berkley-Armstrong, legendary awarding-winning Bay Area journalist and Sun-Reporter Editor, has died after a lengthy illness. “It is critical that the voices, perspectives and opinions of our community, the leaders and citizens working for change have an outlet in the Bay Area. Gail was an institution in Bay Area Journalism. She served on several Boards of Directors of community-based organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Bay Area Urban League, Inc., Bay Area United Fund, Dimensions Dance Theater, Inc. and Black Adoption Placement and Research Center. Gail will be greatly missed.”As a child, she was exposed to the diversity of cultures within the Bay Area and beyond by her mother – the late Etta Jordan Hill, an educator and artist.

Year after year, several thousand women in the U.S. carry an unintended pregnancy to term and then offer the baby for adoption.

It's a crowded scene outside the Supreme Court, where hundreds of abortion debate partisans are trading chants while justices hear highly anticipated arguments inside.

When U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal returns home to Seattle, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chairwoman always goes for a walk along the Puget Sound.

Three Democratic members of Congress have offered deeply personal testimony about their own abortions as a congressional committee looks at how to respond to conservative states that are passing laws limiting abortion access.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) has emerged as the most powerful House liberal by aggressively representing the priorities of her caucus and pushing leaders not to acquiesce to the demands of moderates in politically competitive districts whom liberals argue too often stand in the way of progress.

It was a mistake to believe that bombs and missiles and drones and tanks could ever bring peace.

The Taliban reportedly shot and killed a woman in Afghanistan on Tuesday for not wearing a burqa. This incident took […] The post Taliban reportedly shoots and kill Afghan woman for not wearing burqa appeared first on TheGrio.

Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the 2001 resolution that launched the U.S. war with Afghanistan.

Republicans excoriated the White House's strategy while Democrats criticized the haphazard manner of the U.S. withdrawal.

Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13) released the following statement on the ongoing protests in Cuba and being able to protest

The House votes to repeal 2002 military authorization for the Iraq War, with Biden's blessing

Black Americans are rejoicing after President Joe Biden signed legislation establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

In 2016, then-89-year-old activist Opal Lee marched 1,400 miles from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, DC, to raise awareness about Juneteenth.

The House vote is part of a growing bipartisan effort to scrap post-9/11 laws that gave presidents broad authority to wage war.

The House, with the backing of President Biden, is expected to approve legislation to repeal the 2002 authorization of use of military force in Iraq.

In the wake of 9/11, Congress approved two measures giving the president expansive war powers. An effort to repeal the 2002 authorization of force in Iraq has growing bipartisan support.

The Democratic-led House has passed legislation to repeal the 2002 authorization for use of military force in Iraq.

The bill to repeal the AUMF has the backing of the White House.

The White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are endorsing efforts to terminate the 2002 authorization of military force against Iraq.

The House is voting to repeal the 2002 war authorization in Iraq, and Chuck Schumer made it clear the Senate will follow suit.

The White House announced this week that it supports an effort to repeal the 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force.

Queen Elizabeth sat by herself at Prince Philip’s funeral and now will embark on the next phase of her reign alone.

Gavin Newsom says he'll appoint a Black woman to the U.S. Senate if Feinstein retires before her term ends in 2024. Gavin Newsom said Monday he'd appoint a Black woman to replace U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein if she retires before her term is up in 2024. “We have multiple names in mind and the answer is yes," he said during a interview on MSNBC's “The ReidOut" when asked if he would name a Black woman to the seat if given the chance. Newsom recently held that power after then-California Sen. Kamala Harris was elected vice president. He faced competing pressure to name a Latino and a Black woman and eventually chose Alex Padilla, making him California's first Latino U.S. senator.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)Joe Biden and Kamala Harris showcased American designers at their inauguration Wednesday, and Harris gave a nod to women's suffrage, Shirley Chisholm and her beloved sorority in pearls and purple. Pearls had a strong fashion showing, in line with a social media campaign that had inauguration watchers donning strands in support and celebration of Harris. “If there’s a message to be taken from today’s inauguration fashion, it’s that those who attended are signaling faith in unity and bipartisanship, as well as restoring truth and trust,” Torgerson said. Another inauguration fashion star on Twitter was Nikolas Ajagu, the husband of Harris' niece, Meena Harris. It was updated on January 21, 2021, to correct the fact that Meena Harris is Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece, not her sister.

Harris will make history Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, when she becomes the nations first Black, South Asian and female vice president. Biden and Harris knew each other prior to the 2020 presidential campaign in part through Harris’ friendship with Biden’s deceased son, Beau. Since joining the ticket, and particularly since the election, Harris has made efforts to deepen their relationship and is in frequent contact with the president-elect, people close to Harris say. “The relationship of the vice president to the president is the most important relationship. Harris is said to be looking at Biden’s vice presidency as a guide for her own.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020 file photo, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speaks as she and President-elect Joe Biden introduce their nominees and appointees to key national security and foreign policy posts at The Queen theater, in Wilmington, Del. – Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will resign her Senate seat on Monday, two days before she and President-elect Joe Biden are inaugurated. Harris is the first woman ever elected vice president — and the first Black woman and first woman of South Asian descent to serve in that office. The wins by Ossoff and Warnock in Georgia ensured a 50-50 Senate, positioning Harris as the tie-breaking vote for Democratic control. Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, have enjoyed conversations and debates over how Emhoff should be addressed when Harris takes office.

Now Biden will have to do it with President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial beginning potentially as soon as his first day in office. “We’re going to have to move simultaneously in a whole bunch of areas.”Biden has so far stayed largely out of public deliberations over Trump's impeachment for inciting a riot. So let him do his job — and let the Senate do their work,” said California Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat. And there’s the prospect they could further exacerbate the already fraught atmosphere on Capitol Hill, politicizing Biden’s agenda and making it tougher for him to get support from winnable Republican senators. And Democrats on Capitol Hill are barreling ahead as well, refusing to accept the prospect that impeachment will deter them from their legislative goals.

Now Biden will have to do it with President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial beginning potentially as soon as his first day in office. “We’re going to have to move simultaneously in a whole bunch of areas.”Biden has so far stayed largely out of public deliberations over Trump's impeachment for inciting a riot. So let him do his job — and let the Senate do their work,” said California Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat. And there’s the prospect they could further exacerbate the already fraught atmosphere on Capitol Hill, politicizing Biden’s agenda and making it tougher for him to get support from winnable Republican senators. And Democrats on Capitol Hill are barreling ahead as well, refusing to accept the prospect that impeachment will deter them from their legislative goals.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference on the day after violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. “It has been an epiphany for the world to see that there are people in our country led by this president, for the moment, who have chosen their whiteness over democracy,” Pelosi said. Pelosi says, “The complicity, not only the complicity, the instigation of the president of United States, must and will be addressed.”___1:25 p.m. Flight attendants have expressed concern that their flights could be carrying supporters of President Donald Trump who took part in Wednesday’s violent protest and siege of the U.S. Capitol. ___2:25 a.m.Democrats in Congress are laying the groundwork to impeach President Donald Trump.

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2019, file photo, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla talks during a news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. California Gov. Newsom also rejected pleas from a host of prominent Black leaders to replace Harris, the Senate’s only Black woman, with another African American woman, such as U.S. Reps. Karen Bass or Barbara Lee. If confirmed, she would become the first Black woman to hold the office, giving Newsom two history-making picks in one day. Given the timing, however, it appeared the choice was intended at least partly to quell criticism for not choosing a Black woman to replace Harris. With Padilla, Newsom gets a political soul mate and a loyalist.

Gavin Newsom speaks at a COVID-19 testing facility in Valencia, Calif. As California Gov. Gavin Newsom's shoulders as he considers his pick to serve out the rest of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' Senate term through 2022. The South saw its highest number of Black Senate candidates ever this year, but none won races outright. Labor icon Dolores Huerta and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice want Newsom to appoint a Black woman. De Leon won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party and prominent labor unions, in part because of his support for immigrant rights and aggressive policies to curb climate change.

This image from House Television shows the final vote, 228-164, in the House on passage of a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level. (House Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled House on Friday approved a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level, reversing what supporters call a failed policy of criminalizing pot use and taking steps to address racial disparities in enforcement of federal drug laws. “Whatever one’s views are on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal use, the policy of arrests, prosecution and incarceration at the federal level has proven unwise and unjust.″Drug reform advocates called the House vote historic, noting it is the first time comprehensive legislation to decriminalize marijuana has passed the full House or Senate. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., called the House bill an important racial justice measure. Instead of allowing a vote on the GOP bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is “actually focused more on legalizing pot,'' Scalise said.

Election Day is over but California already is consumed with its next high-profile political contest the competition to fill Kamala Harris' soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat. Padilla is one of a group of people being considered as one of the candidates for the Senate pick. A group of Black California lawmakers have organized a lobbying drive behind U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, who represents parts of Los Angeles and its suburbs. And they could wait: California’s other Senate seat is held by 87-year-old Dianne Feinstein, the chamber’s oldest member. Does Newsom run the risk of angering groups who lose out on the Senate pick and who might make his re-election bid more difficult?

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks at Carpenters Local Union 1912 in Phoenix, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, to kick off a small business bus tour. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526.

During the past week, Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News that Harris would assume the presidency within “three months” of Biden's inauguration. During a conversation with Rush Limbaugh, he warned that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would “replace” Biden with Harris. Trump's focus on Harris is building as he tries to regain an advantage against Biden, who is leading most national and battleground state polls three weeks before the election. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally, is pushing the president to make Harris a campaign centerpiece. “This is a desire not to run against Joe Biden, to run against anybody but Joe Biden,” he said.

In her first two days as Joe Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris has fired off the campaign's sharpest criticism of President Donald Trump's shortcomings. And Harris herself was a critic of Bidens record on race, notably assailing him during a primary debate for previously opposing federally mandated busing. But Harris signaled Wednesday that shell offer a strong defense of Bidens record on race. Harris is already delivering for the campaign in a tangible way: With a record-breaking fundraising haul. Through her nearly two decades in California politics, Harris built a network of deep-pocketed donors in Hollywood and the state's legal circles.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is already being lobbied by hopefuls and numerous names are emerging in the early speculation. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool Photo via AP, File)LOS ANGELES The possible election of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris as vice president has kicked off widespread speculation in California about who might replace her. Gavin Newsom, who would choose a replacement if Joe Biden and Harris defeat President Donald Trumps ticket. For Newsom, the list choices is long and the political risks many, especially with a national reckoning on racial injustice underway.

Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman who has made her mark as one of Congress' most outspoken progressives, described it on the House floor Thursday. She said Yoho, one of the House's most conservative members, put his finger in her face and called her disgusting, crazy and dangerous. I want to thank him for showing the world that you can be a powerful man and accost women," she said. You can be married and accost women.More than a dozen other Democrats also spoke, mostly women, in remarks that included taunts of House Republicans' overwhelmingly white male membership and warnings that the numbers of women lawmakers will only grow. We're not going away, said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. There is going to be more power in the hands of women across this country.

Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, both former presidential candidates, are expected to announce a package in coming days, with a House bill coming soon. Both the Senate and House efforts are expected to include changes to police accountability laws, such as revising immunity provisions, and creating a database of police use-of-force incidents. We have a moral moment in our country, Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the CBC, said on a conference call Wednesday. With Democrats in the majority, the bills will almost certainly pass the House. She acknowledged the opposition the bills will likely face, but called on fellow lawmakers to consider the option of doing nothing.

People participate in a protest in Times Square against military conflict with Iran on January 08, 2020 in New York. The Democratic-led House of Representatives voted on Thursday to approve two measures that will constrain President Donald Trump's ability to go to war with Iran. One of the measures would block funding for any use of offensive military force in or against Iran without congressional approval. Democrats, wary of getting bogged down in a new Middle East conflict, have sought to require Trump to seek authorization for future uses of military force. "Today, Congress passed two historic pieces of legislation to reassert our authority over matters of war and peace."

We crossed the border into Tijuana, Mexico, and we met with a group of Black immigrants from Cameroon, Sierra Leone, and other African countries. The child was sent to Illinois while the mother, who spoke French, was detained at the border, Bass stated. Trump has done everything he can to block that and to make the United States not compliant with international law, Bass noted. Thousands of African and Caribbean immigrants who immigrate to the United States of America are treated as if they are invisible, Bass stated. Black America has to rise up.

It's likely to face a tougher battle in the Republican-controlled Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes marijuana legalization. The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill Wednesday that legalizes marijuana on the federal level, removing it from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. "The criminalization of marijuana has been a mistake," Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said during the markup of the bill. In response, Nadler said that House Democrats can "negotiate" with the Senate, acknowledging Republicans won't take the bill "as is." The committee approval comes two months after the House passed legislation that would protect banks that serve marijuana businesses in states where the substance is legal.