Washington — The Supreme Court will consider a pair of cases involving the use of race in admissions processes at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, it said Monday. With the decision to take up the bids brought by students who applied to the schools, members of the …
Read More »McCarthy says he won’t cooperate with request to speak to January 6 committee
The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol is asking House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to voluntarily provide information. But McCarthy said in a statement Wednesday night that he has “concluded to not participate with this select committee.” January 6 select committee chair Bennie Thompson …
Read More »Schumer vows Senate vote on $1.75 trillion social spending plan despite Manchin opposition
Washington — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged Monday that the Senate will take up President Biden’s nearly $2 trillion plan to expand the social safety net and combat climate change despite West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin pulling his support for the legislation. In a letter to his fellow Senate …
Read More »House approves debt limit framework that will allow it to pass Senate with 51 votes
The House on Tuesday night approved a framework that would allow the Senate to raise the debt limit with a simple majority, or 51 votes. The fast-track process would require Democrats in the Senate to introduce the legislation to raise the debt limit by a certain amount, rather than suspending …
Read More »Inflation may keep rising next year, in part due to COVID
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Congress that while the Federal Reserve continues to expect inflation will move down “significantly” over the next year, it “now appears that factors pushing inflation upward will linger well into next year.” The new COVID-19 variant Omicron could have a negative impact on employment …
Read More »First lady Jill Biden and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy kick off kids vaccination campaign
First lady Jill Biden and Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, will be visiting a children’s vaccination clinic at a school in McLean, Virginia, with historic significance in vaccine delivery. Franklin Sherman Elementary School was the first school in the nation to give children the polio vaccine in 1954. Jill …
Read More »Supreme Court rejects religious groups’ challenge of New York abortion rule
Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday kicked back to the lower courts a bid by religious organizations in New York who challenged a state regulation requiring employer health insurance plans to cover abortions. In a brief order, the high court tossed out a state court ruling upholding the rule …
Read More »Cruz pushes TikTok over company’s ties to China in social media giant’s first
TikTok‘s head of public policy Michael Beckerman told lawmakers at a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday that the social media company considers ByteDance, its Beijing-based parent company, to be a part of its “corporate group.” The acknowledgment, which came after intense questioning from Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, is a …
Read More »Congressman Jim Clyburn says Democrats will trim social spending bill “carefully”
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn says Democrats are modifying the Build Back Better Act, Democrats’ massive social spending bill with care, as they try to forge a compromise acceptable to both moderates and progressives in the party. “We’ll trim it down very very carefully — and with a whole lot …
Read More »California Governor Gavin Newsom’s team confident he’ll beat recall attempt
Governor Gavin Newsom’s team is supremely confident it has enough “No on recall” votes to keep Newsom in the statehouse. “There’s no scenario where we lose tomorrow,” said Sean Clegg, a senior adviser to Newsom. “We see the blue giant waking up. I don’t see evidence of a red giant …
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