Child tax credit tussle reflects debate over work incentives
President Joe Biden and leading Democratic lawmakers, including Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, have been fighting to make permanent a child tax credit that would give families at least $300 a month per child.
Biden plan would spend $16B to clean up old mines, oil wells
Hundreds of thousands of “orphaned” oil and gas wells and abandoned coal and hardrock mines pose serious safety hazards, while causing ongoing environmental damage. Biden's plan would not only create jobs, but help reduce methane and brine leaks that pollute the air and groundwater. Biden's plan, which needs approval by Congress, would jump-start the well-capping effort and expand it dramatically. About $8 billion has been disbursed to states for mine-reclamation projects in the past four decades, but Biden's plan would ramp up spending sharply. AdEnvironmental groups hailed the announcement, saying unplugged wells and abandoned mines pose a significant environmental threat.
Inspector general reviews Trump relocation of Space Command
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)DENVER – The Department of Defense's inspector general announced Friday that it was reviewing the Trump administration's last-minute decision to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. “Moving Space Command will disrupt the mission while risking our national security and economic vitality,” the senators said in a joint statement. We fully support the investigation.”Among other duties, the Space Command enables satellite-based navigation and troop communication and provides warning of missile launches. The Space Command differs from the U.S. Space Force, launched in December 2019 as the first new military service since the Air Force was created in 1947. The Space Command is not an individual military service but a central command for militarywide space operations.
Trial highlights: Trump grievances, angry outbursts and more
In a letter signed last week they wrote that “the First Amendment does not apply in impeachment proceedings, so it cannot provide a defense for President Trump." Another showed Biden talking about taking Trump “behind the gym” to “beat the hell out of him,” like in high school. Trump used the word "fight" while trying to undermine the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost. Dozens of legal challenges to the election put forth by Trump and his allies were dismissed. AdStill, Trump's lawyers said they were making a valid point by highlighting Democrats' use of the word "fight."
Biden hails transportation nominee Buttigieg as 'new voice'
Mayor Pete Buttigieg, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to be transportation secretary reacts to his nomination as Biden looks on during a news conference at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. – President-elect Joe Biden has introduced his one-time Democratic primary rival Pete Buttigieg as his nominee for transportation secretary, saying the 38-year-old can be “a new voice" in the fight against economic inequality, institutional racism and climate change. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet position. Emanuel was mentioned as a potential candidate for several Biden Cabinet posts but drew strong backlash from progressives. Biden’s selection of Buttigieg for transportation secretary drew praise from LGBTQ rights groups.
Biden calls transportation nominee Buttigieg 'a new voice'
Mayor Pete Buttigieg, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to be transportation secretary, speaks after Biden announced his nomination during a news conference at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. – President-elect Joe Biden introduced onetime Democratic primary rival Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday as his nominee for transportation secretary, saying the 38-year-old can be “a new voice" in the fight against economic inequality, institutional racism and climate change. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet position. Emanuel was mentioned as a potential candidate for several Biden Cabinet posts but drew strong backlash from progressives. Biden’s selection of Buttigieg for transportation secretary drew praise from LGBTQ rights groups.
New political group tries to rescue Hickenlooper in primary
Hickenlooper was supposed to be Democrats' worry-free solution to the Colorado Senate race, but he's stumbled badly in the weeks leading up to the party's June 30 primary. John Hickenlooper's standing in the Colorado Democratic Senate primary, a new political group is spending at least $1 million on a scathing attack ad against Hickenlooper's rival in the race. Romanoff is the underdog in the June 30 primary, running as a populist insurgent against the establishment's choice, Hickenlooper, who has raised significantly more money. Privately, Colorado Democrats have been concerned about how Hickenlooper will perform in the primary. Hours later, the attack ad against Romanoff, which Let's Turn Colorado Blue described as a seven-figure buy, began to circulate.
'A hot mess': Hickenlooper stumbles into Democratic primary
Hickenlooper defied a subpoena from the Colorado Ethics Commission, only testifying after the nonpartisan panel found him in contempt. Then the commission found he'd violated state ethics laws by accepting free travel while governor. This guy they put on a pedestal, he's a hot mess, said Democratic former state Rep. Joe Salazar, who often clashed with Hickenlooper in the statehouse. On Tuesday, both Gardner and the National Republican Senatorial Committee released ads bashing Hickenlooper, an unusual move during a Democratic primary. Then Senate Democrats, alarmed at an unwieldy primary for the party's nomination to challenge Gardner, recruited Hickenlooper to run for the Senate instead.
Trump admin opposes extending enhanced unemployment benefit
The payments are set to expire July 31, and Democrats have pushed a plan that would extend the enhanced benefit through January. Unemployment benefits will still be needed in August and beyond, but the circumstances that originally called for the $600 plus-up will have changed,'' Scalia said. Democrats challenged that view, saying the unemployment rate is likely to remain at historically high levels through the summer at least. Grassley said he hears from Iowans every day who wonder why they are earning less than others they know who are getting unemployment benefits. With the unemployment rate expected to remain in the mid-teens through July, lawmakers will face pressure to compromise on some form of renewed benefits for the jobless.
Buckle up: What to watch as impeachment trial takes off
What to watch as presidential impeachment arguments get underway in the Senate for only the third time in American history. That maroons 100 chatty senators — including four Democrats in the heat of a nomination fight — for the serious constitutional business of the impeachment trial, for hours at a time. Senate rules say the trial must proceed six days a week — all but Sunday — until it is resolved. ___THE PROSECUTORSThey could be heard practicing speeches in the shuttered Senate chamber late into Monday night. 51: The number of senators who must agree on almost anything to make it happen during an impeachment trial.
Dem: Officials who ignore subpoenas do so 'at their peril'
So subpoenas will be received by all of the people that the Congress wants to talk to. They will ignore those subpoenas at their peril," Himes, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day." On Tuesday, House Democrats issued a subpoena to US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland after the State Department directed him not to testify before Congress shortly before a scheduled hearing. The move scrambled Democrats' impeachment investigation, raising questions about whether they will be able to obtain testimony from other witnesses. "I mean Donald Trump has believed from the day he walked into the White House that he's above the law.
Readers' guide to the second Democratic debate
On the issues, it's likely that health care, immigration, climate change and the economy will dominate the discussion. "Bottom line is Medicare is the most popular health insurance program in America, far more popular than private health insurance policies," he said in an NBC interview in June. She has stressed her vision of making health care affordable for everyone, focusing on reducing and eliminating costs. "Your core health care needs to get physical and mental health care, we've learned the hard way that we can't rely on the corporate system to get that done." Bennet has touted his health care plan called "Medicare X," which he proposed alongside Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.