A driver uses a fast-charging station for electric vehicles at John F. Kennedy airport on April 2, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee discussed on Wednesday ways to boost U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing to be more competitive globally.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the Democratic chairman of the committee, began a hearing Wednesday by calling electric vehicle production “an economic, national security and climate imperative.”
Whitehouse highlighted the expanding global market for electric vehicles, noting that in 2023, 20% of vehicles sold around the world were electric.
“We want to be a part of that action,” Whitehouse said.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican, requested the hearing. He pointed out several times the automotive industry’s importance to the state. South Carolina is a national leader in vehicle assembly and the top tire exporter in the country, according to the state’s Department of Commerce.
Graham said the future of vehicle manufacturing is in electric vehicles and urged policies to remain competitive in the global automobile market.
His position was out of step from many in his party.
Republicans have voiced opposition to increased electric vehicle manufacturing and many oppose President Joe Biden’s goal of having 50% of vehicle sales be electric by 2030. Former President Donald Trump opposes Biden’s support of electric vehicles and said it would ruin the economies of automaker states.
But Graham, a Trump ally and a staunchly conservative lawmaker, embraced the idea of U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing and looked to strengthen U.S. infrastructure.
“So the bottom line is: This is coming, whether we like it or not,” Graham said. “And I think there’s an upside to it, to be honest with you.”
Several lawmakers raised concerns in the hearing over whether the electric grid could handle increased demand from electric vehicle charging.
Graham raised the question of where the power will come from to fuel a larger fleet of electric cars.
“Grid demand will go through the roof,” if half of cars in use are electric, he said. “How can you generate enough power to accommodate electric vehicles?”
Jesse Jenkins, a professor of engineering and energy systems at Princeton University, said by 2035 electric vehicles will consume 17% of current total U.S. electricity.
“To put it another way, by 2035, EVs will consume nearly as much electricity as is produced today by the entire fleet of nuclear power plants or all non hydro-renewables combined,” Jenkins said.
Britta Gross, the director of transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute, said strain on the grid from electric vehicles could be minimized by charging at off-peak hours.
Power demand is typically highest in the mornings and evenings. Charging vehicles at night when demand is low “can help minimize the new grid investments and ensure an affordable transition,” she said.
International competition was another highly discussed topic in Wednesday’s hearing.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, a state with a large automotive industry, raised concerns about the U.S.’s ability to compete with China, which leads the world in electric vehicle manufacturing and has poured government funds into subsidies and tax breaks to promote electric car development.
“There is not a level playing field,” said Stabenow. “Specifically, China is coming for us.”
David Schwietert, the chief government affairs and policy officer for the Alliance For Automotive Innovation, told the committee that Congress must provide incentives for manufacturers “to build resilience” for the future of electric vehicle production.
“We need to look beyond just five or 10 years,” Schwietert said. “We need to ensure that policies are in place to ensure the U.S. is protected, not just tomorrow but well beyond.”
Graham also pressed witnesses about China’s position in the global electric vehicle market, asking Maureen Hinman, co-founder and chairwoman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a bipartisan economic policy institute, if Chinese dominance in the market was “irreversible.”
“Absolutely not,” Hinman said. “I think the U.S. and its allies and friends, if we move quickly to create agile, responsive and coordinated policies, could flip the script and reestablish market dynamics in a global economy.”
Not all Republicans on the committee were as welcoming to the electric vehicle conversation as Graham.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, said he was not opposed to electric vehicles and that he owns a plug-in hybrid car, but that the government should not spend to entice manufacturing and ownership of the vehicles.
“Why do we need government subsidies?” Johnson asked witnesses. “I would say you don’t.”
“Let the marketplace dictate the speed of this innovation. Stop subsidizing this,” he said.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana also pressed witnesses on the need for subsidies, repeatedly asking “if they’re so swell, how come we have to pay people to buy them?”
Kennedy speculated that many Americans have to be incentivized to buy electric vehicles because they are more expensive to operate. The median household income in Louisiana is $55,000 a year, which is below the national median, he pointed out.
A study by the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council found that while electric vehicles are just under $3,000 more up front than a gas-powered car, they ultimately cost less to fuel and maintain over time.
]]>Supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris react to her speaking during a campaign rally at West Allis Central High School on July 23, 2024 in West Allis, Wisconsin. Harris made her first campaign appearance as the party’s presidential candidate, with an endorsement from President Joe Biden. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
In her search for a running mate in her presidential bid, Vice President Kamala Harris is said to be eyeing a clutch of contenders with executive experience enhanced by an outside-the-Beltway flavor — at least five governors from the Rust Belt, South and Midwest.
Harris, if nominated by Democrats and elected, would be the first woman to serve as president, the first president of South Asian descent and the second Black president. She joined the U.S. Senate in 2017 after a career in California state politics.
That background may compel her to seek a white governor without D.C. baggage, experts said, a description several reported contenders fit. Most observers expect Harris to choose a man, though Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would also make a strong case.
Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Roy Cooper of North Carolina are seen as top-tier candidates to balance Harris’ profile. And U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who had a high-profile career before politics as an astronaut and Navy captain, would also complement Harris.
Selecting another woman, most likely Whitmer, may contradict the conventional political wisdom to seek a counterweight, but would allow the Democratic ticket to highlight one of its strongest campaign messages in advocacy of reproductive rights.
But experts told States Newsroom multiple factors swirl around a vice presidential pick, expected in coming weeks as Harris seeks election as the Democratic presidential nominee in a virtual roll call vote as soon as Aug. 1, following President Joe Biden’s decision to not run. She could try for that desired balance, or play to her own strengths, or bestow the honor on a swing state key to a win.
Ultimately, Harris’ selection will send a message about her decision-making as president, said Joel Goldstein, a professor of law emeritus at Saint Louis University and an expert on the vice presidency.
“Oftentimes the impact a running mate can have is as much in the messages it sends about the presidential candidate as it is something that the running mate contributes independently,” Goldstein said.
Presidential nominees typically look for a running mate who will even out perceived weaknesses among different constituencies of their party.
Think, for example, of Trump picking Indiana Gov. Mike Pence in 2016, hoping the selection of a mild-mannered Midwesterner with deep ties to the GOP’s evangelical community would temper the bombastic New Yorker’s reputation among the party’s social conservatives.
Or the youthful Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 selecting Biden, who’d spent decades in the Senate by then and unsuccessfully sought the presidency, to counter criticisms that Obama was too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.
Goldstein said a vice presidential pick should not typically be the selector’s “ideological clone” so that it “broadens the appeal of the ticket” to wider populations around the country.
Voters often see women candidates and candidates of color as more liberal than their voting record would reflect, which could lead Harris to favor a running mate seen as more moderate.
Harris has several choices that could reach voters for whom she doesn’t have a natural appeal.
Choosing a white male governor from the Midwest or South would provide demographic and geographic balance, Rebecca Pearcey, a Democratic campaign veteran and partner with the public affairs firm Bryson Gillette, said.
Walz, who grew up in a town of 400, and Beshear, the popular two-term governor of a rural, red state, would complement Harris’ roots growing up in Oakland, California, and dealing with Bay Area politics, she said.
“You’re covering a lot of bases by picking somebody from a very different demographic background than the candidate,” Pearcey said. “Which I think is smart.”
While presidential candidates generally seek a running mate for balance, they don’t always, Christopher Devine, a political science professor at the University of Dayton who has written two books on vice presidential candidates, said.
A running mate who emphasizes an advantage can also help a ticket, he said.
“When it’s something that’s actually a strength of yours, there’s nothing wrong with doubling down,” Devine said.
In 1992, Bill Clinton, the Arkansas governor, chose another younger Southern Democrat in U.S. Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee, but that helped emphasize the appeal of the youthful “New Democrat” candidate.
If Harris decides to go that route, Whitmer, who centered her 2022 reelection race on abortion rights, would be the “obvious” choice, Devine said.
“If they see that as a strength that Harris is a better messenger on this issue because she’s a woman –?which obviously is what the Biden campaign believed – then maybe picking a woman is helpful,” he said.
Most important for Harris is to pick someone voters believe is qualified, Devine said.
“Perceptions of a running mate’s readiness to be vice president or even president can actually affect how voters see the presidential candidate’s judgment,” he said.
Pearcey agreed.
“She has to have an eye on ready-to-govern,” Pearcey said of Harris. “Who’s ready to step into the role of vice president and can take on some policy initiatives?”
Harris’ vice presidential pick would also have to be someone voters could see assuming the role of the president if Harris was no longer able to fulfill her term.
Kathleen Dolan, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, pointed to previous vice presidential picks, like the late Sen. John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin of Alaska, that left some voters wondering if they were ready to govern.
Dolan also noted that Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, doesn’t have the political experience many expect in a vice president. Vance, 39, has been the junior senator from Ohio since 2023 and before that had no political experience.
“I think she (Harris) will probably be focused on somebody who has more government experience, probably not somebody quite as young as Sen. Vance,” Dolan said.
That could work against Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who ran a surprisingly strong race in the 2020 Democratic primary, but whose only elected experience is as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
“He’s been a mayor and he’s been a secretary for a couple of years,” Dolan said. “So he doesn’t have the political background.”
Candidates for president and vice president also need to be able to work together, experts said.
Part of Harris’ process for vetting candidates will include her chemistry with each, Thomas Mills, a Democratic consultant, said.
Mills noted Clinton and Gore’s bond with each other was part of their appeal.
“There was chemistry between them,” he said. “And it was pretty clear on the campaign trail.”
Two governors under consideration –?Beshear and Cooper –?have existing relationships with Harris from when all three were state attorneys general last decade.
The list of reported contenders, which also includes Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, is more full of governors than usual.
That could be because Harris is looking for someone with a record of delivering results and navigating the political currents in a busy state capital.
“It goes to the ability to govern,” Pearcey said.
And governors’ need to balance their states’ budgets and deliver tangible results gives them a more moderate, practical image, Devine said.
“Governors tend to deal with more pragmatic issues and they’re not as mixed up in the most divisive national issues,” he said. “Maybe voters will see them as more moderate and pragmatic.”
And choosing a governor would not be as disruptive for federal politics.
If Kelly, the only member of Congress thought to be in contention, became vice president, it would force Democrats to defend his Senate seat in 2026, creating a swing-state campaign in a midterm election that typically disfavors the president’s party.
Running mates are often chosen to appeal to the electorate of a particular battleground state or region.
That would boost the case for Shapiro, whose nearly 15-point win in the critical state of Pennsylvania in 2022 is a strong part of his resume, as well as Kelly and Whitmer.
But there is actually little data to support the home-state advantage theory, Devine said. And making a choice voters see as politically motivated could backfire, which could come into play for Shapiro, who has been in office for less than two years.
“If they are picking Josh Shapiro to win Pennsylvania –?like, if he was the governor of New Jersey they wouldn’t bother –?then I think that’s a bad pick,” Devine said. “If they believe in him because he’s perceived as a moderate, then that could be a good swing-state strategy.”
Dolan said Harris’ week-old campaign has differed in which swing states it’s targeting and that her vice presidential pick would have to appeal to a wide range of electorates.
She said the Harris campaign may be trying to broaden its reach to voters outside the Rust Belt states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania in which Biden invested.
“I think they see a potential for different electoral combinations, and that the more diverse populations of places like Arizona or Georgia or Nevada could help in ways that they wouldn’t have helped President Biden,” said Dolan. Harris’ running mate would have to reach these additional audiences as well.
Adding Cooper to the presidential ticket would create a unique challenge in North Carolina.
Under the state’s constitution, whenever the governor leaves the state, the lieutenant governor assumes the power of that office. That might be a problem for North Carolina Democrats, who describe Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson as a right-wing Republican.
With Cooper on the campaign trail in contested states across the country, Robinson, who is the GOP candidate to replace the term-limited Cooper, would have his hands on the levers of state executive power.
“I’m tempted to say that it makes him not really a viable candidate,” Devine said. “Is he that far above the other candidates that it’s worth just messing up North Carolina politics?”
But Mills, who is based in North Carolina, said Robinson’s own race for governor would temper the risk of giving him the power of the office. Leading up to Election Day, Robinson will likely be proceeding with caution.
“That’s somewhat of a concern,” Mills said of the state’s succession rules’ impact on Cooper’s chances. “But I don’t think it’s that much of a concern, because it would be an awful risky thing going down the stretch as the gubernatorial candidate for him to look like he overreached.”
Asher Hildebrand, a public policy professor at Duke University, also made clear that Robinson probably wouldn’t have a major impact while Cooper would be campaigning.
“It would be pretty extraordinary for Robinson to do anything that couldn’t be undone immediately by Cooper through executive order,” Hildebrand said.
]]>The leading Democrat on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday highlighted the spending cuts proposed by House Republicans in fiscal 2025 appropriations bills. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
The cuts to labor, health care and education proposed in a U.S. House Republican bill this week are previews of what would happen to federal agencies under a second Trump term, a key House Democrat said Tuesday.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters Tuesday that the major spending cuts in Republicans’ fiscal 2025 proposal to fund the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education would have significant impacts on workers, families and students.
The bill would cut the Labor Department budget by 22%, the HHS budget by 6%, and the Education Department by 14%.
DeLauro referenced Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint for a possible second Trump presidency, saying Republicans are already trying to implement the policies through spending bills.
“What we’re going to do as Appropriations (Democrats) is look at that Project 2025 and the appropriations bills and look at what they are already trying to move forward through the appropriations process,” she said at a Tuesday press conference.
She also pointed out Republican leaders’ inability to pass spending bills, referring to the narrowly avoided government shutdown in September and a failed vote on the Legislative Branch spending bill this month.
“They cannot govern,” she said. “This is chaos.”
Rep. Robert Aderholt, an Alabama Republican who is chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, called the proposed budget cuts “common sense reforms” that would “ultimately save taxpayer dollars” in a press release earlier this month after the House Appropriations Committee approved the bill.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, of Oklahoma, said in a statement that the legislation would protect Americans from policies championed by President Joe Biden, which are largely opposed by congressional Republicans.
“Importantly, the bill reins in the Biden Administration’s burdensome overreach and divisive policy agenda,” Cole said.
The legislation proposes major cuts in federal funding for labor programs. It would decrease the Department of Labor’s budget by $3 billion from current levels.
Fred Redmond, the secretary-treasurer of AFL-CIO, a national labor coalition, highlighted the elimination of $900 million for youth job training programs, saying it took away a program “at the exact moment that young people are looking for good, stable jobs.”
He also criticized Republicans for pushing a pro-worker narrative at last week’s Republican National Convention.
“We know it was all just talk,” he said. “This is the platform. No matter how many different ways they tried to dress it up in Milwaukee, this is what they want to do.”
The legislation would make a nearly 12% cut to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which enforced workers safety regulations. If the bill is enacted, OSHA would receive $75 million less than the current fiscal year.
Speakers at DeLauro’s event also highlighted the bill’s impacts for health care, especially reproductive care.
Kimberly Diaz Scott, the vice president of National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, a group that advocates for family planning providers, said the funding bills are “a laundry list of attempts” to take away Americans’ access to reproductive health care.
The legislation would decrease funding to the Department of Health and Human Services by just over 6%, or $7.5 billion, from current levels.
The bill would cut over $280 million for Title X Family Planning that provides funding to help people access contraception, pregnancy testing and counseling, and sexually transmitted infection services. It is designed to provide access to these services for those with low-incomes or who are uninsured.
Republicans have targeted the program, which provides funding for reproductive care clinics including Planned Parenthood, for decades.
Scott emphasized that the elimination of these programs would especially affect communities that face difficulty accessing these services.
“These attacks are part of a larger agenda to roll back the progress we have made toward gender equality,” she said. “Each of these policies seek to control and limit bodily autonomy, to deny people the right to make their decisions about their own bodies and their own lives.”
The legislation would also cut Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spending by $1.8 billion, eliminating funding for research focused on preventing suicide, firearm injury and deaths, and opioid overdoses prevention.
The Republican bill would also force a decrease of 14%, or $8.6 billion, to the Department of Education.
Title I grants, which provide federal funding for schools with students from low-income backgrounds, would face a decrease of $4.7 billion. That drop accounts for more than half of the $8.5 billion cut to all K-12 education, including special education programs. Public schools are required by law to provide special education to students who meet the qualifications.
Michael J. Barnes, the superintendent of the Mayfield City School District in Ohio, said federal funding is vital to public schools
“These funds are not just numbers on a balance sheet in my district, and districts across our country. They translate into real opportunities for our most disadvantaged students,” he said.
Another major cut in the bill is a $124 million decrease for mental health services in schools. In 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on youth mental health, highlighting how large a toll the pandemic had on the country’s youth.
Barnes noted that funding for public school programs will help the U.S. in the long term, growing the economy, providing social mobility and improving public health and safety.
“It is not just an expenditure,” he said. “It is an investment in our future.”
]]>A supporter holds a sign as members of the San Francisco Democratic Party rally in support of Kamala Harris, following the announcement by President Joe Biden that he is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, on July 22, 2024 at City Hall in San Francisco, California. Biden has endorsed Harris, the former San Francisco district attorney, to be the Democratic nominee. (Photo by Loren Elliott/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris’ path to the Democratic nomination cleared Monday as she secured endorsements from potential rivals and other high-profile party members the day after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid.
A swarm of Democratic legislative leaders, governors -— including some thought to harbor presidential ambitions of their own — and influential unions as well as key outside groups endorsed her within 24 hours of Biden’s unscheduled Sunday afternoon announcement, while no serious challenger emerged.
In Harris’ first public appearance since Biden’s announcement and endorsement of her, the vice president met with college sports champions at the White House. She opened her brief remarks with a tribute to Biden, who, while recovering from COVID-19, was “feeling much better” Monday, she said.
“Joe Biden’s legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern history,” she said. “In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who have served two terms in office.”
Harris was also scheduled to travel to the campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, late Monday to meet with campaign staff, according to the White House.
Several key Democrats had not publicly backed her by Monday afternoon. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and former President Barack Obama had not offered endorsements.
Jeffries told reporters that he and Schumer were planning to meet with Harris “shortly.” While Jeffries did not endorse Harris, he said she has “excited the House Democratic Caucus and she’s exciting the country.”
But endorsements rolled in from Capitol Hill.
Top congressional Democrats like the No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and the No. 2 House Democrat, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, also early Monday gave Harris their support.
And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said in a statement that she supported Harris and noted her work advocating for reproductive rights — a topic that Democrats have centered various campaigns on following the end of Roe v. Wade.
“Politically, make no mistake,” Pelosi said. “Kamala Harris as a woman in politics is brilliantly astute — and I have full confidence that she will lead us to victory in November.”
The chair of the campaign arm for House Democrats, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, also gave her support to Harris.
Harris has also earned the backing of all the House Democratic leaders of influential congressional caucuses.
That includes Reps. Steven Horsford of Nevada of the Congressional Black Caucus, Nanette Barragán of California of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Pramila Jayapal of Washington of the Progressive Caucus and Judy Chu of California of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
Obama did not yet endorse Harris but in a lengthy statement Sunday said he has “extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
Similarly, in 2020 the former two-term president waited until Biden was formally nominated by the Democratic National Committee before he gave an endorsement.
The DNC will move forward with the process to formally nominate a presidential candidate Wednesday when its Rules Committee meets in a public virtual session amid ongoing efforts to set up a virtual roll call vote ahead of the convention next month in Chicago.
No serious challenger to Harris’ nomination had emerged by Monday afternoon, as independent Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia said in a morning MSNBC interview he would not seek the Democratic nomination.
Following Biden’s endorsement of Harris, several Democratic governors have also offered their support for the vice president, including the governors speculated to be among Harris’ choices for a running mate and would-be rivals for the nomination.
Govs. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Wes Moore of Maryland and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois all offered their endorsements in the day since Biden withdrew from the race.
Beshear announced his support for Harris in a television interview Monday morning. He wouldn’t say if he’d like to join Harris’ ticket, but said in a statement on X that the vice president will “bring our country together and move us past the anger politics we’ve seen in recent years.”
Other governors around the country also offered their support, including Jared Polis of Colorado, Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Laura Kelly of Kansas, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Katie Hobbs of Arizona, Janet Mills of Maine, Jay Inslee of Washington state, and Maura Healey of Massachusetts.
Governors from Oregon and Rhode Island, both Democrats, have yet to voice their support for Harris. Both thanked Biden for his service as president on X.
Several state parties endorsed Harris or indicated they would support her.
North Carolina Democrats voted to endorse a ticket of Harris and Cooper, their term-limited governor, NC Newsline reported.
At Beshear’s request, Kentucky Democrats voted “overwhelmingly” to back Harris, the Kentucky Lantern reported.
New Hampshire’s state party coalesced behind Harris at a Sunday evening meeting, according to the New Hampshire Bulletin.
Maine Democrats were scheduled to meet Monday night and are likely to consider a proposal to switch the party’s support from Biden to Harris, the Maine Morning Star said.
Several influential Democrat-aligned organizations announced their support for Harris.
Emily’s List, which works to elect Democratic women who favor abortion rights, tweeted its endorsement Sunday.
LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign also backed Harris, noting her early support for marriage equality and other work on LGBTQ issues.
UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights group, also endorsed Harris.
Gen-Z for Change, formerly called TikTok for Biden, had withheld an endorsement of the president over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war in which more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed. But quickly following the announcement from Biden to step out of the race, the organization gave an endorsement to Harris.
The political action committees of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus also backed Harris.
Harris has also garnered the backing of several labor unions in the day since announcing her bid for office. The Service Employees International Union, which represents 2 million service workers including health care and property and public services, announced its endorsement for Harris Sunday.
In a written statement, SEIU President April Verrett said “SEIU is ALL IN” for Harris and that the vice president “has made sure to use every lever of government to do everything possible to make things better for working people.”
The American Federation of Teachers unanimously endorsed Harris Sunday. AFT represents 1.7 million education professionals across the country, ranging from teachers and paraprofessionals to school health care workers and higher education faculty.
The United Farm Workers also quickly switched its support from Biden to Harris on Sunday afternoon. The union said it “could not be prouder to endorse her for President of the United States,” in a written statement, citing her support of farm workers during her time as an attorney general and senator in California.
SEIU, AFT and UFW all endorsed Biden for president in 2020 and this year prior to his withdrawal from the race.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has not endorsed in the presidential race, but invited Harris to a roundtable with rank-and-file members. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien addressed the Republican National Convention last week. The union endorsed Biden in 2020 but had not voiced its support for his reelection this year.
Notably, the UAW has not announced an endorsement for Harris. Biden walked the picket line in Michigan during the historic autoworker protests last September. The UAW thanked Biden for his service in a statement Sunday.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Voters walk into cast their ballots at the Center Point Church on Nov. 8, 2022 in Orem, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would require individuals registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship to participate in federal elections.
The legislation, passed 221-198, would also require states to check their voter rolls for registered noncitizens.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE, is intended to prevent noncitizens from voting. That act is already illegal, since under current U.S. law, only citizens can vote in federal elections, but the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 prohibits states from confirming citizenship status.
Voting laws vary by state, with some states like Georgia and Wisconsin requiring photo identification and others, such as Pennsylvania and New Mexico, requiring no documentation at all.
States that do mandate photo identification or other documents use driver’s licenses, military ID cards, student ID cards, birth certificates, tribal ID cards, or even a recent utility bill.
The SAVE Act, introduced by GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas in May, would require most individuals to have a passport to register to vote.
Only about 48% of U.S. citizens have a passport, according to State Department data. Driver’s license and tribal ID cards typically do not prove a person’s citizenship and couldn’t be used to register under the SAVE Act.
Data also indicates that noncitizen voting is not a prevalent issue, as many House Republicans have said.
Kentucky election officials say noncitizens aren’t voting in the state
According to The Associated Press, states such as North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, California, and Texas reviewed their voter rolls between 2016 and 2022. These audits found that fewer than 50 noncitizens in each state had voted in recent elections, out of upwards of 23 million total votes per state.
The measure is unlikely to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
House Republicans have stood staunchly in favor of Roy’s bill, H.R.8281.
On the House floor Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, urged his colleagues to pass the bill, saying it was “one of the most important votes that members of this chamber will ever take in their entire careers.”
Last month, Johnson’s office released a 22-page report asserting the SAVE Act was critical for American election integrity.
Johnson blamed the Democratic Party for keeping American “borders wide open to every country on the planet,” and claimed Democrats “want illegal aliens voting in our elections.”
On Monday, the Biden administration issued a Statement of Administration Policy against the legislation, saying there is no cause for concern about noncitizen voting and that it would only hinder the voting rights of eligible Americans.
Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, urged his House colleagues during Wednesday floor debate to vote no on the bill, saying it would be devastating for all American voters.
“This bill is about scaring Americans, this bill is about silencing Americans, this bill is about disenfranchising Americans,” he said. “This bill is about further damaging the foundations of our democracy.”
But House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil backed the legislation during a Rules Committee hearing.
“In the past few decades, Americans’ faith in the integrity of our elections has eroded and it is Congress’ responsibility to restore confidence in our election system,” said Steil, a Wisconsin Republican. “The SAVE Act would do just that.”
Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana in a Monday press conference called the bill “a safeguard to ensure that only American citizens vote in America’s elections.”
Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York during Wednesday floor debate alluded to the broader implications of the SAVE Act, looking towards the November election and the possibility of a second term for President Joe Biden.
He said Republicans could use the bill “as a cover, already trying to set up an excuse for what may happen in November.”
Voting rights advocates have expressed concern over the SAVE Act, saying it contains many falsehoods and conspiracy theories that perpetuate extreme views.
At a Tuesday press conference hosted by America’s Voice, an immigrant advocacy nonprofit, Sean Morales-Doyle from the Brennan Center for Justice said the bill plays into greater themes of racism and xenophobia.
“It’s also a very damaging lie with an ulterior motive: to lay the groundwork for challenging legitimate election results down the road,” he said.
One House member equated the bill to a “Jim Crow poll tax” during floor debate. Jennifer McClellan, a Virginia Democrat, said she “is not aware of any single proof of citizenship document that doesn’t cost an individual money to get it.”
Wesley Hunt, a Republican from Texas, responded that “Jim Crow is over.”
]]>U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters as he leaves a meeting at the U.S. Capitol on July 08, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Jeffries reiterated his support for President Joe Biden, saying the party is backing Biden to defeat the Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats appeared to quell some inner tumult over supporting President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, after highly anticipated internal meetings Tuesday showed the president retained considerable support from the Congressional Black Caucus and other lawmakers in public statements.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Democrats from both chambers largely declined to detail their closed-door conversations. But they said they are lining up behind Biden, nearly two weeks after his debate performance set in motion prolonged speculation about his fitness for office. The party meetings among lawmakers were the first since the June 27 debate.
Biden issued a defiant letter to party members Monday saying that he will not exit the race, and Democrats interviewed by States Newsroom insisted they are uniting as the party heads toward his official nomination later this summer.
Lawmakers left open whether perfect harmony was achieved — a New Jersey Democrat at day’s end joined a handful of other Democrats urging Biden to drop out — but one message was clear: They do not want to see former President Donald Trump in the Oval Office again.
Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada briskly exited the House chamber and said Democrats are focused on “beating Donald Trump and electing Democrats to the House majority.” The CBC met with Biden virtually Monday night.
When asked whether Biden’s unsteady debate performance and the anxiety it’s caused presents an obstacle for House colleagues running in tight races, Horsford answered, “The president is the nominee.”
While a steady stream of Democrats said they would back Biden, New Jersey Democrat Mikie Sherrill became the seventh House Democrat urging Biden to drop out of the race.
“I know President Biden cares deeply about the future of our country. That’s why I am asking that he declare that he won’t run for reelection,” Sherrill posted on social media shortly before 5 p.m. Eastern.
Those who spoke out against Biden’s reelection bid in previous days included Angie Craig of Minnesota, Lloyd Doggett of Texas, Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, Mike Quigley of Illinois and Adam Smith of Washington.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, of New York, who was among those calling for Biden to exit the race in a private call on Sunday, walked back his comments Tuesday when he told reporters “we have to support him.”
At the White House briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said expressions of support from members of the Congressional Black Caucus were key to solidifying Biden’s backing among Hill Democrats.
“We respect members of Congress,” Jean-Pierre said. “We respect their view. But I also want to say there’s also a long list of congressional members who have been very clear in support of this president.”
Jean-Pierre cited strong statements of support from CBC members Joyce Beatty of Ohio and Troy Carter of Louisiana following the caucus’ virtual meeting with Biden on Monday.
Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia said Tuesday members had an opportunity to “express themselves” during the closed-door House Democratic meeting.
“Leadership listened, and I think what needs to happen is we need to all come together to decide that we’re not going to be a circular firing squad with Joe Biden in the middle,” Johnson said. “We are going to abide by his decision, and if his decision, as he has previously stated, is to stay in, then he’s gonna be our nominee and we need to all get behind him.”
When asked by States Newsroom whether House Democrats in vulnerable seats now face more potholes on the road to November, potentially costing the party a chance to flip the House, Johnson replied, “No, I think (Biden’s) got a strong record to run on, and the opposition, Donald Trump, has to run against that strong record. So we need to start running on our record, and against the nominee of the other party. And the American people know the difference.”
Democratic senators, leaving a nearly two-hour private lunch meeting later Tuesday, had similar comments to their House counterparts, reiterating the president is their nominee, though worries remained.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said that everyone knows about Biden’s age, but that alone won’t lead the party to bump him out as their nominee.
“We concluded that Joe Biden is old, and we found out, and the polling came back that he’s old,” Fetterman said. “But guess what? We also agreed that, you know, like, he’s our guy, and that’s where we’re at.”
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a longtime friend and close ally of Biden, argued that Trump is a far worse choice than Biden.
“Donald Trump had a terrible debate,” Coons said. “Donald Trump said things on that debate stage over and over and over that were outright lies filled with vengeance, violated the basic standards of our democracy, and yet we are spending all of our time talking about one candidate’s performance and not the other. Donald Trump’s performance on that debate stage should be disqualifying.”
Coons said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke during the meeting, saying “broadly constructive things, just sort of setting the groundwork of our discussion.”
Coons said he was “not gonna get into the private conversation we just had in the caucus” when asked whether anyone at the meeting called for Biden to not be the nominee. But he added that “folks expressed a range of views in ways that I think were constructive and positive.”
Vice President Kamala Harris’ viability as a potential replacement for Biden didn’t come up during the meeting, Coons said.
Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock underlined his support for Biden following the meeting, saying “what I think is most important right now is what the American people think.”
“We’re getting feedback on that. I think it’s important for the president in this moment, in any moment, to hear what the people are saying. That’s what democracy is all about,” Warnock said. “Donald Trump, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to believe much in democracy. He said he wants to be a dictator on day one, and with their ruling several days ago, the Supreme Court is setting the table for him to continue to be a dictator. That’s what’s at stake in this election: democracy itself.”
Asked whether Biden is the best person to defeat Trump, Warnock said Biden is “making that case as campaigns do” and “hearing back from the American people.”
Asked whether Biden can win Georgia, he said: “I can tell you that no one thought I could win Georgia but I did.”
Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont told States Newsroom that House Democrats’ meeting led to some cohesion.
“The unity as it exists is that we’re all completely committed to making sure that Trump is not the next president,” Balint said. “That’s the unity, and the unity of wanting the president to be out campaigning vigorously on his record.”
Balint, holding in her hand a copy of the Stop the Comstock Act, said, tearing up, that she worries about a nationwide abortion ban and other priorities in the far-right Project 2025 publication.
The nearly 1,000-page policy roadmap is a product of the Heritage Foundation in anticipation of Republicans gaining control of the White House and Congress. Trump and his campaign have repeatedly distanced themselves from the document.
“Trump is a demagogue, I am the child of a man whose father was killed in the Holocaust. I’m really like ‘What can I do day in and day out to make sure we don’t lose the House?’ because we are the blue line,” Balint said.
The Comstock Act is an 1873 law that could provide an avenue for a future Republican presidential administration to ban the mailing of abortion medications. Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced companion bills to repeal the sections of the law that could hinder abortion access.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told States Newsroom that Biden has “actively thrown weight behind the lawmaking and policy ideas of younger and progressive members,” and that she remains committed to supporting him.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said after the Democratic senators’ meeting that he wasn’t “even gonna get into that,” when asked whether he wants Biden to remain the nominee.
“The fact is, the president has said he is running,” Wyden said. “So, that’s the lay of the land today.”
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who faces a challenging reelection bid this November, said he didn’t want to characterize what other senators said about Biden during the meeting.
Casey said it’s up to political pundits and analysts to determine how Biden remaining the presidential nominee might affect the Pennsylvania race as well as others.
“I’ve got to continue to do my work in the Senate and also to be a candidate, so I can’t sit around being an analyst,” Casey said.
When back home in the Keystone State, he said, voters tend to talk to him more about issues they’re concerned about, including reproductive rights and the cost of living.
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly declined to comment on Democrats’ meeting and referred to his prior statements about Biden.
Kelly on Monday evening told reporters that the differences between Biden and Trump “could not be clearer.”
Biden, he said, has “delivered to the American people over and over again,” on climate change, prescription drug prices, infrastructure, and semiconductor manufacturing.
“On the other hand, you have Donald Trump, a convicted felon and now a criminal who has no business running for president,” Kelly said.
“Joe Biden is our nominee. Millions of people voted for Joe Biden to be on the ballot,” Kelly said. “He’s on the ballot, and I truly believe he’s gonna win in November.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said when asked about Biden during a press conference that “as I’ve said before, I’m with Joe.”
Schumer declined to answer questions about Democrats potentially nominating a different presidential candidate and about Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray’s statement Monday night critical of Biden.
“As I’ve said before, I’m with Joe,” Schumer reiterated.
Murray’s statement said Biden “must seriously consider the best way to preserve his incredible legacy and secure it for the future.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, deferred a question about Biden’s debate performance to Democratic leadership.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he had to leave the lunch early for a previously scheduled meeting with the Dutch prime minister, but said he doesn’t have concerns Biden will make the right choice on whether to stay in the race.
“Look, as I’ve said, I trust the president’s judgment, he understands the stakes in this election and he’s in the best position to make this decision,” Van Hollen said.
New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján said Democrats discussed several issues during the closed-door meeting, but declined to talk about what was said, though he reiterated his support for Biden’s candidacy.
“I look forward to voting for President Joe Biden to be president of the United States,” Luján said.
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff said the meeting was “a constructive caucus discussion,” and that he supports Biden’s reelection campaign.
Delaware Sen. Tom Carper said he spoke during the meeting, but declined to specify what his comments were.
Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper said the lunch went “fine,” but declined to opine on where the party was moving on Biden’s nomination nor his own beliefs about the president’s ongoing candidacy.
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed declined to answer any questions after the lunch.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana on Tuesday accused the Democratic Party of covering up Biden’s “glaring problem.”
“The Democrats had misled us. They need to be held accountable for that,” he said, during the House GOP’s regularly scheduled press conference.
Johnson also said the 25th Amendment “is appropriate” in this situation. If Biden’s Cabinet declares he is unfit for office, Vice President Kamala Harris would take over presidential duties.
“The notion that the 25th Amendment would be appropriate here is something that most Republicans and frankly, most Americans would agree with,” he said.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Elise Stefanik of New York, chair of the House Republican Conference, echoed Johnson’s concerns.
Stefanik called Biden “unfit to be our commander in chief” and accused the Democratic Party of concealing Biden’s mental acuity. “The cover-up is over and accountability is here.”
Jacob Fischler contributed to this report.
]]>People sit with their feet in the fountain at the World War II Monument amidst a heat wave on the National Mall on June 19, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Temperatures in Washington reached 98 degrees as heat rose drastically throughout the East Coast. (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – Senior Biden administration officials announced a proposed rule Tuesday to prevent heat-related illness in the workplace, as climate change brings hotter temperatures around the nation.
In a call to reporters Monday, officials spoke on background about the new rule, which the administration sent to the Federal Register Tuesday for review. Depending on the heat index, the rule would require employers to monitor workers’ heat exposure, provide cool-down areas and take mandatory cool-down breaks.
This new rule comes as extreme temperatures will engulf much of the country at some point during the year. Heat waves occur more frequently now compared to the 1960s, from an average of two per year to six in the 2020s, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency. Heat waves have also increased in duration and intensity.
Officials also pointed to record-breaking heat waves in June, high temperature predictions for the Fourth of July holiday and above-average predicted temperatures for July.
The rule would cover 35 million workers whose job responsibilities include being in the heat and require activities that could raise core body temperatures. This includes those working in construction, agriculture and landscaping, as well as those in indoor environments, like kitchen workers, who are exposed to heat indexes of 80 degrees or higher.
A notable aspect of the proposed rule includes acclimatization requirements. New or returning workers who are not used to the heat levels must be given a gradual increase in workload or a 15-minute rest break every two hours.
According to a senior administration official, 75% of workers who die on the job due to heat-related illnesses die in the first week. This rule would “significantly reduce the number of worker-related deaths, injuries and illnesses,” the official said.
Along with this new rule, the administration officials announced $1 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding for 93 different communities and tribal nations. This includes $50 million to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for stormwater pumping to mitigate flooding and $6 million to Greensboro, North Carolina for an improved flood drainage channel.
Through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, the funding will go towards developing infrastructure that is more prepared to handle extreme weather events.
Officials pointed to increases in wildfires, hurricanes and flooding as growing concerns for Americans.
“In addition to posing direct threats to lives and livelihoods, major weather events have significant economic impacts,” said one official.
Another senior official from the administration spoke of how these announced actions are part of President Joe Biden’s larger commitment to strengthen the country against the growing threats of climate change.
“We are taking action, bold action, historic action and action that’s delivering real meaningful, visible difference on the ground,” the official said.
]]>The Brandon Shores Power Plant in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, burns coal to generate power. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – Despite policies the Biden administration has championed to target climate change, recent findings show carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at an all-time high, raising the stakes for November’s presidential election among advocates for aggressive climate action.
Recent data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicate that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been at record high levels the past two years. The jump from 2022 to 2024 is the largest two-year increase NOAA has recorded in the 50 years the agency has collected data.
As the presidential election approaches, key policy measures to curb climate change are at a turning point, advocates say, with a second Donald Trump presidency likely to defer to fossil fuel interests and roll back much of the environmental progress made under Biden.
The record jump in carbon dioxide came despite President Joe Biden’s focus on environmental and climate issues. Biden’s administration has taken more action on climate —?by issuing executive orders, proposing and supporting ambitious legislation and setting carbon-reduction goals —?than any of his predecessors, according to an analysis by the liberal think tank Center for American Progress.
On the campaign trail in 2019, Biden told voters, “We’re going to end fossil fuel.”
His campaign then announced in July 2020 its plan to eliminate energy production through fossil fuels by 2035.
And in the early days of his presidency, Biden promised to cut 2005-level emissions in half by 2030.
According to the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based research organization, the U.S. is on track to achieve that goal.
A study in January 2024 revealed that greenhouse gas emissions — which include many types of gases along with carbon dioxide — were down 2% in 2023 from the previous year and were down more than 17% compared to 2005 levels. At the same time, the U.S. gross domestic product, a figure that approximates total economic output, grew by over 2%.
“What this suggests is that the Biden administration’s climate policies are beginning to work and that we’re bending the curve of emissions downward,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, the executive director of the conservation group Western Environmental Law Center.
Biden has also set the U.S. economy on a path away from “fossil fuel and carbon-intensive economic sectors,” Schlenker-Goodrich added.
He pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act — the sweeping climate, health and taxes law Congress passed in 2022 with only Democratic votes and major backing from the Biden White House — as a significant investment in tackling climate change and building the U.S. economy around climate-friendly practices.
Biden signed the law in August 2022. It provided $369 billion in tax credits and spending for renewable energy programs, including electric vehicle tax credits, and provides incentives for climate-smart agriculture.
By 2030, the IRA will also create more than 1.5 million jobs in clean energy manufacturing and add $250 billion to the economy, according to projections? from the Labor Energy Partnership, a collaboration between the organized labor giant AFL-CIO and the Energy Future Initiative, a D.C.-based clean energy policy nonprofit.
The climate-focused law and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law that Biden signed in 2021 provide vital resources to developing climate-friendly practices, Schlenker-Goodrich said.
“The key is to set a foundation through U.S. infrastructure,” he said.
The administration has continued to pursue climate initiatives.
Following the NOAA announcement of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, the Department of Energy and NOAA signed a memorandum of agreement to collaborate in the future on climate initiatives related to marine carbon dioxide removal and research. The effort is “an important pathway” to reach their emissions goal in 2050, according to a NOAA press release.
“Under the assumption that the Biden administration has a second term, the second term should be devoted to looking at how we can facilitate a just transition away from our dependency on oil and gas,” Schlenker-Goodrich said.
The American Petroleum Institute, the leading oil and gas industry group, did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Trump has criticized Biden’s record on climate and energy and has pledged to defer more to the oil and gas industry.
At an April meeting at Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s South Florida club and residence, Trump told the country’s top oil executives that if elected, he’d reverse Biden’s environmental policies and stop all future ones, according to the Washington Post. In exchange, Trump asked them to contribute $1 billion to his campaign.
Following the meeting, Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon launched an inquiry and called into question the reported quid-pro-quo fundraising tactics.
“Whether it’s Donald Trump’s promises to roll back climate policies in exchange for $1 billion in campaign cash or the fossil fuel industry’s collusion to jack up prices at the pump, Mr. Trump and Big Oil have proven they are willing to sell out Americans to pad their own pockets,” Whitehouse said in a written statement to States Newsroom.
“Let me be clear: A Trump Presidency would be disastrous for climate progress and for our efforts to shore up our economy against climate damages.”
The Biden campaign called attention to Trump’s ties with the fossil fuel industry as well, writing in a statement that Trump intends to work in their favor.
“Donald Trump calls climate change a ‘hoax’ and promises oil and gas executives they’ll get whatever they want behind closed doors if they donate to his campaign,” a campaign spokesperson wrote. “Our planet needs a president who will fight the climate crisis, not someone who pretends it doesn’t exist.”
When asked what a Trump presidency would look like for climate change, Schlenker-Goodrich of Western Environmental Law Center said, “it would prove disastrous.”
“When it comes to climate action, they’re going to do everything they possibly can, within their power and likely go beyond what those legal boundaries are, to support the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our country’s energy transition,” he said.
During Trump’s term, his administration was “largely successful in weakening existing environmental regulations” that were set during Barack Obama’s presidency, according to the Brookings Institution.
By August 2020, the Trump administration had taken 74 actions to weaken environmental protections, according to the Brookings analysis.
The 2024 Trump campaign has already outlined the former president’s plans to change environmental and energy policy if elected in November. This includes drilling for natural gas and oil, or what Trump often calls “liquid gold.”
Trump also plans to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords as he did in 2019 and combat Democratic efforts to implement the Green New Deal, an ambitious climate platform backed by members of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, according to his campaign website. He also plans to reverse Biden’s efforts to manufacture more affordable electric vehicles in the U.S.
His priorities include ensuring the lowest energy prices for Americans, reducing inflation, and bringing more jobs to U.S. workers through fossil fuel industries, a campaign spokesperson said, adding that the Biden administration has done the opposite.
“No one has done more damage to the American oil and gas industry than Joe Biden,” the spokesperson wrote.
]]>Democratic Reps. Maxwell Frost of Florida, at lectern, and Barbara Lee of California, at left, at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, called on Congress to pass gun reform legislation. The surgeon general earlier in the week declared gun violence a public health emergency. (Photo by Lia Chien/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – Democratic U.S. House members pushed for legislative action to address gun violence Wednesday, the day after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared the issue a public health crisis.
Murthy released a 40-page advisory Tuesday. It called gun violence the leading cause of death for children and adolescents, causing just over 4,600 deaths in 2022. More than 48,000 Americans died from gun violence in 2022, an increase of 16,000 from 2010, according to the report.
The report counted mass shootings, suicides by firearm and firearm injuries. According to the advisory, 79% of U.S. adults experience stress from the possibility of a mass shooting and youth are over 20% more likely to use antidepressants following exposure to fatal school shootings.
The advisory came after a weekend of mass shootings in Alabama, Ohio, and Arkansas.
Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat from Florida, hosted a press conference to applaud the surgeon general and urged his House colleagues to pursue more gun reforms.
“This declaration is a significant step forward in the fight to protect our communities and our children because it’s a holistic thing,” he said. “It looks at ending gun violence in many different ways.”
Frost, the youngest member of Congress and former March for Our Lives national organizing director, listed ideas to address gun violence in the advisory.
That list included regulations to keep guns out of “the wrong hands” through measures such as universal background checks.
The government could also support community violence intervention, such as programs in high-risk communities designed to deter gun violence and help those affected.
Finally, and “one of the most important,” said Frost, is “creating a society where people don’t feel the need to use guns to solve their problems in the first place.”
Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from California, urged her congressional colleagues to use the “renewed sense of urgency” created by the report to require universal background checks and safe storage of firearms.
“Just basics,” she said.
Frost and Lee were joined by Dr. Joseph Sakran, an anti-gun activist and trauma surgeon and associate director of emergency general surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, a city plagued by gun violence.
He called the advisory “a historic step” that will “empower policymakers and push them to develop programs and policies that will impact not just cities but the entire country.”
He also referenced upcoming elections that he said would determine what gun reform measures could pass.
In a separate press conference Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Mike Thompson and Salud Carbajal of California, Lucy McBath of Georgia, Joe Neguse of Colorado and Robin Kelly of Illinois announced they would file a measure to force a floor vote on a bill McBath introduced.
The bill would allow federal courts to issue risk protection orders. It would allow police or family members to ask a court for a temporary order, preventing people at risk of harming themselves or others from possessing or purchasing firearms.
According to Everytown, a gun safety advocacy group, 21 states have adopted similar laws. Research has shown they reduce firearm suicides and stop mass shootings, according to studies in Indiana, Connecticut and California.
In 2022, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Community Safety Act. The legislation provided funding and support for states with red flag laws to ensure they are “constitutionally implemented,” according to the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.
Thompson, the chair of the House Democrats’ Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, said McBath’s bill would help complement the 2022 law.
“Congresswoman McBath’s bill will ensure that the work that we did in that legislation and the money that we’re able to secure can be better spent across all 50 states and save lives,” he said.
Thompson said a discharge petition, a procedural tool to force a floor vote, is the only way to bring the bill to the House floor because House Republican leadership opposes gun control legislation.
Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has not been in favor of gun control legislation and told Fox News last year he doesn’t see gun laws as being effective.
McBath told reporters Wednesday she hopes rank-and-file Republicans buck their party leaders on the bill. She said that in private conversations, many Republicans have agreed with her that Congress should pass gun reform.
“I think they’re just afraid to stand on the other side of their Republican colleagues,” McBath said. “But I think deep down they know that they have constituents that are dying unnecessarily.”
Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse echoed McBath’s concerns over Republican inaction and urged Republican colleagues to support McBath’s bill.
“Talk is cheap,” Neguse said. “There’s an opportunity for so-called moderate Republicans in the House Republican Conference to prove that they support these red flag laws. They can do so by simply walking onto the floor and signing the discharge petition.”
Frost, in the opposite press conference, also shared his Democratic colleagues’ belief that Republicans will help pass gun reform laws. He referred to the surgeon general’s advisory, and urged listeners to use the statistics to support their cause.
“If we focus on the science and the data of this, I think there are some hearts and minds we can change on the Republican side to actually get things like universal background checks passed,” he said.
]]>Democratic women serving in the U.S. Senate held a press conference on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, about reproductive rights. Left to right, Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Patty Murray of Washington, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Mazie K. Hirono of Hawaii. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is at right. (Photo by Lia Chien/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats held a press conference Tuesday to stand up for reproductive rights and freedoms, criticizing a plan by a conservative think tank that if adopted would hinder abortion and contraception access in a Trump administration.
The lawmakers called attention to the potential restrictions former President Donald Trump could employ to reproductive health care if elected in November outlined in Project 2025, an almost 1,000-page conservative policy proposal.
The plan would restructure the federal government to be in line with Trump’s political beliefs. The Trump campaign has said other groups do not speak for it, but the project is led by former staffers, including the chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management in the Trump administration.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray from Washington state, who is? the former chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, led the press event. She was joined by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Jacky Rosen of Nevada.
Murray said Project 2025, drafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation, would pose a threat to access to reproductive care nationwide.
“Donald Trump and his allies are planning a detailed road map, they’ve given it out, to rip away a woman’s right to choose in every single state in America,” she said.
Murray addressed concerns about the Comstock Act, a key element of Republicans’ legal argument in restricting access to abortion in the United States.
In 1873, Congress passed the act to ban mailing of obscene matter, which includes abortion materials. In some interpretations of the law, the act could be used to prohibit mailing chemical abortion pills, like mifepristone. The Supreme Court last week unanimously rejected an effort to reduce access to mifepristone by anti-abortion groups.
Abortion pills accounted for 63% of abortions in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights nonprofit.
In line with the Roe v. Wade ruling that upheld abortion rights, chemical abortion pills were protected and it was legal to mail them. In December 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, the Department of Justice determined it is still legal to mail drugs like mifepristone despite the Comstock Act.
Still, Republicans potentially could use the Comstock Act to reduce abortion access under a second Trump presidency, the Project 2025 document indicates. Schumer highlighted a quote at Tuesday’s press conference from Jonathan F. Mitchell, an architect of Project 2025 and lifelong anti-abortion advocate.
“We don’t need a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books,” Mitchell said, quoted in the New York Times.
In May, Sen. Tina Smith from Minnesota announced she planned to introduce legislation to repeal the Comstock Act altogether.
Murray told reporters at Tuesday’s event the DOJ has said Republicans could not use the Comstock Act to restrict abortion access.
“Just let me make it very clear,” said Murray. “Our Department of Justice has made it very clear that Comstock does not apply.”
Schumer slammed Republicans for blocking Duckworth’s IVF access legislation last week. The bill needed 60 votes to advance but only received 48. Only two Republican senators voted to advance it: Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
“In the last two weeks, Senate Republicans have shown that for all their attempts to sound moderate on reproductive care, when it comes time to vote, they choose MAGA extremism,” said Schumer.
Schumer announced that he has begun the process of putting a new bill, the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act, on the legislative calendar. The proposed legislation co-sponsored by Murray and every Democratic woman in the Senate would express the sense of Congress that lawmakers should “enshrin(e) the protections of Roe into law,” Schumer said.
The power of the courts was also a prime focus of lawmakers at the press conference.
Klobuchar, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, noted how Trump’s appointments to federal courts had a major impact on not only the overturning of Roe, but in restricting reproductive care across the country, including abortion.
She highlighted that judges will be critical in protecting rights to legal standing in bringing cases and prohibiting extreme actions by a possible Trump administration. Senate Democrats are battling to keep control of the chamber in November’s elections.
“Every judge we confirm makes a difference,” she said. “We know the American people are with us. They are with us on having judges in place that actually respect the law.”
During Trump’s first term, he appointed three justices to the Supreme Court: Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. All three were confirmed to the court by the Senate and will remain significant in writing opinions far beyond Trump’s time in office.
Senators at Tuesday’s event called out a number of plans in Project 2025 that Democrats oppose. For example, the plan says the Department of Health and Human Services should make it clear states can defund Planned Parenthood in their Medicaid plans and should propose rules to disqualify Planned Parenthood from Medicaid.
“Planned Parenthood is often the only option for women with low incomes seeking contraception,” Hirono said.
Hirono also noted that Project 2025 proposed changing the name of the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Life.
“This isn’t about protecting life,” said Hirono. “This is about power and control and the Republicans’ obsession with controlling women’s bodies.”
Duckworth expressed frustration with Republicans who tell American voters that they care about women’s rights but don’t vote to protect them.
“When the rubber meets the road and we ask not just for empty words on Twitter before their vote, they won’t lift a finger to protect women in this country,” she said.
Murray vowed to protect women’s rights no matter the outcome of November’s election.
“We are fighting back,” said Murray. “We’re doing everything we can to protect women’s rights and we will be here to block anything that the Trump administration tries to do.”
]]>Omar Toumbou of Maryland speaks at a press conference hosted by the Ohio Immigrant Alliance on the U.S. Capitol grounds Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (Photo by Lia Chien/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – The Ohio Immigrant Alliance at a Tuesday press conference at the U.S. Capitol called on members of Congress to bring deported family members back home to the United States.
Present at the event were relatives of those deported asking for both Congress and President Joe Biden to reform the American immigration system and allow their loved ones to return, many of whom had lived in the U.S. for decades.
Lynn Tramonte, director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, and Suma Setty, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy, a D.C.-based nonprofit fighting for policy solutions for low-income groups, also launched their new?book, “Broken Hope: Deportation and the Road Home,” at the event.
“I just wanted to take a minute to ask you guys to think about what if somebody told you tomorrow, you had to walk away from everybody, and everything that you had built for 20 years?” said Tramonte. “That’s what deportation is. It’s an extreme consequence for a paperwork violation.”
Wafaa Hamdi, an Ohio resident, also spoke to the gathered crowd, flanked by her young niece and nephew at her side.
Her sister,?Tina Hamdi, of Dayton, Ohio, was deported in 2017 to Morocco, after serving a drug-related sentence that resulted from an abusive relationship, according to the National Immigrant Justice Center, a nonprofit that advocates for migrants and works with pro bono lawyers.
Tina came to the U.S. when she was 3 years old, and had resided under DACA status — a program for undocumented people brought to the United States as children — until her incarceration. She hasn’t seen her children in eight years, Wafaa Hamdi said.
“There’s a lot of kids, a lot of people in general, that have a loved one that they cannot see and that they used to go to sleep or wake up to every day and they no longer get to,” said Wafaa.
Tina’s son also spoke up. “I’m here because I miss my mom,” he tearfully said.
Deportation in the U.S. has been a contentious issue and top priority for presidents in recent decades.
Under President Barack Obama, average annual deportations?increased?by over 26,000 compared to the George W. Bush administration, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse of Syracuse University, a data research center.
When former President Donald Trump took office, deportations to Africa increased by 74 percent compared to the Obama administration, according to Tramonte and Setty. Trump also enacted several travel?bans?from primarily African and Muslim countries during his first year in office.
This year, TRAC?found?that deportations are up 50% under the Biden administration compared to the Trump administration levels in 2019, according to the publication Border Report. Many of these migrants had crossed the southern border.
Omar Toumbou, a Maryland resident, spoke to the effect historical Western colonization in Africa has had on deportations. Toumbou’s uncle, Abdoulaye Thiaw, was deported to Mauritania.
“Starting here with the will to want things to change will allow us to really start to break down these issues on a larger scale, to really understand what colonialism has truly done to the continent, and how it’s created such a broken, fractured structure to where countries don’t even have stabilization within their own governments,” said Toumbou.
Toumbou pointed to damaging effects of Western colonization, like political and economic instability, as the primary driver of Africans fleeing to the U.S. He said reformed immigration policies must take into account the systemic violence many Africans have fled.
“A lot of these things are a result of decades of neglect and also decades of blatant assault on Africa as a continent,” he said. “We need to change the way that we actually look at the continent as a whole.”
The National Immigrant Justice Center launched its Chance to Come Home campaign in 2021. Its mission is for the Biden administration to establish a central process through the Department of Homeland Security for deported individuals to apply to return to America.
Biden signed a similar?order?in 2021 for deported veterans to apply to come back.
Democrats including Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Reps. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, Adriano Espaillat of New York and David Trone of Maryland support NIJC’s campaign and?urged?Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to establish a central system.
Members of the Ohio delegation have also taken steps to protect those from Mauritania from deportation. Over half of Mauritanians coming to Ohio?settled?in Cincinnati.
In January, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Reps. Mike Carey, Joyce Beatty, and Greg Landsman?introduced?the TPS for Mauritania Act of 2024 to grant Mauritanians in the U.S. Temporary Protected Status, which allows migrants to stay and work in the United States temporarily. Many other activist organizations?called?on President Biden last year to halt all deportations to Mauritania.
For now, several issues plague those facing deportation from the U.S.
Demba Ndiath, an Ohioan whose close family member was deported to Mauritania, said language barriers, inadequate translators, and a lack of financial services for legal services make it difficult for people to argue their case to stay.
Tramonte pushed for overall immigration court reform in the U.S. and called for support for NIJC’s Chance to Come Home campaign.
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance also planned to meet with the Ohio congressional delegation to push for immigration justice.
The stories of those far away were top of mind for everyone at Tuesday’s event. Ndiath reminded listeners that they were making a difference for their loved ones.
“I wish they could see everybody who’s here,” he said. “Standing up for them, meeting with members of Congress, advocating for them. I think we’re building hope for them.”
]]>LINCOLN PARK, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 02: River water floods West Williams Street on September 02, 2021 in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. NJ Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency as Tropical Storm Ida caused flooding and power outages throughout New Jersey as the Northeast was hit by record rain and tornadoes. Numerous deaths in New York and New Jersey have been blamed on the storm. NY Gov. Kathy Hochul has also declared a state of emergency. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Budget Committee debated the cause of the insurance crisis plaguing homeowners around the country at a Wednesday hearing, with Democrats identifying climate change as the ultimate driving force of rising premiums and Republicans pointing to high government spending and inflation.
Homeowners insurance premiums?have skyrocketed in recent years, following billions in damages,?which has led many insurance companies to drop?coverage. An uptick in extreme weather events has been a factor in rising costs.
Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse noted the example of Florida’s state-backed insurer Citizens in his opening statement.
As Florida faces an increased threat of hurricanes, heat waves and flooding, national insurers have dropped plans or raised prices in disaster-prone areas. Residents are left uninsured or priced out and instead turn to Citizens, an insurer of last resort backed by the state. Louisiana and California are facing similar problems.
Average homeowners insurance premiums in the Sunshine State total just over $4,000 a year, according to a March report from Florida Today. That’s well above the national average premium of about $2,700.
With so many residents using Citizens, the insurer’s payouts for damages could exceed its reserves, leading to even higher premiums for policyholders, Whitehouse said.
“Good luck with that,” Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, said. “Particularly if the surcharge goes to hundreds or even thousands of dollars.”
Whitehouse also highlighted the crisis isn’t contained to Florida. He cited a New York Times investigation that found in 2023, insurance companies lost money on homeowners policy coverage in 18 states.
“The states may surprise you,” said Whitehouse, noting how widespread the issue is. “The list includes Illinois, Michigan, Utah, Washington and Iowa.”
The Democratic senators present at Wednesday’s hearing and their witnesses all pointed to climate change as a major driver of high-damage claims and rising premium costs. They added the insurance crisis will only get worse with more extreme weather.
Rade Musulin, an actuary for Finity Consulting who testified on behalf of the Democrats, said Florida is an example of how dire the insurance crisis could become around the country.
“In the coming decades, we must prepare for the possibility of more extensive or more extreme hurricanes, and coastal flooding from Texas to New England,” he said. “Florida’s experience is a warning on what we may see in the future in other states.”
Extreme weather events will increase as the earth’s temperature rises, according to numerous government and nonprofit sources, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2021 report. Major hurricanes will be more common, floods will swell, and wildfires will ignite easier due to surging heatwaves.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregan, pressed the importance of climate resilience in order to solve this insurance crisis.
“It’s hugely irresponsible for us to just say we can fix the insurance market and fail to address the underlying causes that will get worse with every succeeding decade far into the future,” Merkley said.
Most committee Republicans, on the other hand, identified rising government spending and inflation as the main drivers of increased insurance prices.
“The majority hopes that we stop discussing our unchecked deficit spending that has fueled inflation, hammering hard working Americans and as I will say shortly, has something to do with driving up the cost of insurance,” Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is the ranking GOP member on the panel, said.
Grassley pointed to the increased costs of labor and materials to rebuild or repair homes, as well as more people moving to disaster-prone areas, as other factors contributing to high insurance premiums.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, stated that “the premise of this hearing is just completely off,” before asking Republican witness EJ Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, how much inflation and lawlessness was responsible for insurance hikes.
“If you just talk about government action, and include both a failure to respond to criminal activity, and inflation and regulatory costs, that explains 90%, approximately, of the increase that we’ve seen in insurance premiums over the last several years,” said Antoni.
Antoni did not expand on how he calculated that figure.
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah stood apart from his Republican colleagues and acknowledged climate change as a driver of insurance price increases.
But he said it would take a lot more than just American action to solve both crises.
“The idea that somehow we’re going to fix the climate and solve the insurance problem is pie in the sky,” Romney said. “It’s avoiding the reality that we can’t fix the climate because it’s a global issue, not an American issue.”
As the summer approaches, homeowners across the country brace for a season of extreme weather. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts an 85% chance of an above-normal hurricane season and heat waves are already surging in the West.
Whitehouse said it’s more important than ever for Congress to unite in a solution and called on Republicans to address the issue.
“It all begins with climate risk,” he said. “And a major party pretending that climate risk isn’t real imperils our federal budget and millions of Americans all across our country.”
]]>Chickens gather around a feeder at a farm on August 9, 2014, in Osage, Iowa. A new proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture rule would ban chicken companies from deducting farmers’ pay. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — A rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture would eliminate pay deductions for chicken producers, Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday.
Under the current poultry payment system, an incentive-based arrangement known within the industry as a tournament system, farmers who raise poultry earn a base payment from the companies that buy the product and bring it to a retail market.
Companies contract with producers to supply broiler chicks, feed, and veterinary care and then it’s up to the farmers to raise healthy, substantial chickens at a mutually agreed price.
Farmers have opportunities for bonuses based on the quality of their flock.
But companies can also deduct pay from producers’ base pay based on that year’s market. If demand is down or if one producer successfully raises more chickens than another producer, the chicken company can deduct pay from the lesser farmer’s contracted compensation.
The proposed rule would prohibit companies from deducting that pay.
“If you’re going to establish a base pay, then it can’t go below that,” Vilsack said at a Monday press conference.
Industry groups say the tournament system makes sense economically and promotes competition in the chicken industry.
But critics, including groups that advocate for farmers, say it often harms smaller farmers, leading to a more consolidated industry and a tougher market for producers.
Vilsack said Monday that the USDA’s proposed rule would not compromise the quality of meat sold to grocery shoppers around the country, but rather balance the relationship between producers and companies.
This rule is one of several new rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act enacted by President Joe Biden’s administration seeking to combat monopolization in the agricultural industry. Congress passed the Packers and Stockyards Act in 1921 to regulate competition in livestock markets.
In 2021, under Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, the administration aimed to ensure fair industry competition and equitable practices.
USDA finalized the Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity rule in March as part of this executive order. The rule addresses mistreatment and discrimination of livestock and poultry producers based on identity factors such as race, religion, national origin or sex.
The Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems rule now enters a public comment period where industry members, consumers and others can offer feedback. It may then be revised and if allowed, published as a final ruling in the Federal Register.
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