For Senate rules arbiter, minimum wage is latest minefield
It may not be definitive โ majority Democrats might try overriding an opinion they don't like. The House plans to vote Friday on its version of the relief bill, which includes the minimum wage increase. She listens to all the evidence,โ Sanders, the independent Vermont senator and chief sponsor of the minimum wage proposal, said in a recent interview. AdIf MacDonough decides the minimum wage hike should remain in the bill, it would likely survive because GOP opponents would need an unachievable 60 votes to remove it. But they might choose the rarely utilized, hardball tactic of having the presiding officer, presumably Harris, ignore her and announce that the minimum wage language meets the test to stay in the overall legislation.
Centrist Democrats flex muscles, create headaches for Biden
He can send the White House into a tailspin with a single five-minute interview or three-sentence statement. With a 50-50 split in the Senate leaving little room for error on tough votes, other moderate Democrats like Sens. He received a call from the White House shortly after his complaint to try to smooth things over. AdThe White House shares those political concerns. Their significance to the final vote on the COVID-19 bill means some moderates are already getting extra attention from the White House.
Biden's dilemma in virus aid fight: Go big or go bipartisan
FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2021, file photo President Joe Biden speaks about the economy in the State Dinning Room of the White House in Washington. One featured a public show of trying to reach across the political aisle, with bipartisan rhetoric and a White House invitation for Republican senators. But it's more likely that the White House will need to choose between the two extremes. โPresident Bidenโs got some pretty big tests in front of him when it comes to domestic policy. AdThe process of securing the $787 billion package โ aid broadly credited for helping boost an economy in free fall โ left a bad taste for the Obama-Biden White House.
Nevada jockeys to be first on presidential primary calendar
Democrats in Nevada are making a play to bump Iowa and New Hampshire from their early spots on presidential primary calendar. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)LAS VEGAS โ Democrats in Nevada are making a play to bump Iowa and New Hampshire from their early spots on the presidential primary calendar. Nevada Democrats also plan to make their case in the coming months to the DNC, which sets the party's nominating process. Some of the state party's governing committee acknowledge there's internal debate over whether the leadoff caucus is worth fighting over. But others say Iowa Democrats should instead be focused on winning elections โ after years of watching the state trend Republican.
Sheldon Adelson, billionaire casino mogul and GOP power broker, dies
Adelson died Monday night from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkinโs lymphoma, Las Vegas Sands announced Tuesday. โIf you do things differently, success will follow you like a shadow,โ he said during a 2014 talk to the gambling industry in Las Vegas. In politics, Adelson was a record-breaking campaign donor who had the ear of domestic and international leaders, including President Donald Trump. Late in 2015, Adelson secretly purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Soon his Macao revenue outstripped that of his Las Vegas holdings.
In Georgia, Biden's presidency meets early defining moment
For President-elect Joe Biden, his most defining congressional election is coming before he takes office. Both Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock must win Tuesday to split the Senate 50-50. To be sure, even a closely divided Democratic Senate wouldnโt give Biden everything he wants. While progressives say they've lowered their expectations of what's possible โ even under a Democratic Senate โ they still intend to push Biden. Besides misrepresenting Bidenโs and most Democratic senatorsโ policy preferences, that characterization ignores the reality of the Senateโs roster.
Biden's Homeland Security pick faces questions on 2015 probe
Now, seven years later, Mayorkas is President-elect Joe Bidenโs groundbreaking nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and that since-completed investigation has emerged as a potential stumbling block. โThat brand of leadership isnโt good for agency culture or the security of our nation,โ the Iowa Republican told The Associated Press on Thursday. Itโs an important moment for Homeland Security, the third-largest Cabinet agency. It was also not unusual for members of Congress to contact the agency about the EB-5 program. But Kenneth Palinkas, a senior official with the employee union at CIS, said he was widely liked by workers.
Biden's Homeland Security pick faces questions on old probe
Now, seven years later, Mayorkas is President-elect Joe Bidenโs groundbreaking nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and that since-completed investigation has emerged as a potential stumbling block. โThat brand of leadership isnโt good for agency culture or the security of our nation,โ the Iowa Republican told The Associated Press on Thursday. Itโs an important moment for Homeland Security, the third-largest Cabinet agency. It was also not unusual for members of Congress to contact him or the agency about the EB-5 program or other matters. But Kenneth Palinkas, a senior official with the employee union at CIS, said he was widely liked by workers.
Bloomberg's big spending struggles to sway election outcomes
His only win during a short-lived Democratic bid for the White House was in the territory of American Samoa. Yet after dumping $1.1 billion into his campaign, he waited until September to follow through on his vow to spend big to unseat Trump. The showing could raise questions about Bloomberg's ability to use his vast financial resources to sway politics in the future. Bloomberg advisers say it's unfair to blame him for not doing enough to help Biden in Florida. Democrats lost seats in the House on Election Day and failed to flip statehouse chambers they had targeted.
In 2020 finale, Trump combative, Biden on offense
Asked about it, Biden said โIโm not going to respond to anything he has to say. Trump is banking on a surge of enthusiasm from his most loyal supporters in addition to potential legal maneuvers. Biden devoted most of his time to Pennsylvania, where a win would leave Trump with an exceedingly narrow path. โItโs very telling that President Trump is focused not on his voters but on his lawyers, and his lawyers are not going to win the election for him,โ Bauer said. Biden's team pushed into states Trump won handily in 2016, hoping to deliver an Election Night knockout blow that could prevent further Republican challenges.
Pelosi wants 'big' health care, infrastructure push in 2021
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON โ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing a 2021 legislative agenda with two โgreat, big initiativesโ โ expanding health care access and rebuilding American infrastructure โ that are longtime Democratic priorities aligned with Joe Bidenโs platform and taking on fresh urgency in the COVID-19 crisis. A prospective Democratic agenda is coming together even as Pelosi and the Trump administration are still negotiating a potential coronavirus aid package that has stalled before Tuesday's election. While Biden's plan goes further than the House Democratic bill, it's not as far-reaching as some of the โMedicare for Allโ proposals sought by liberal lawmakers. Much of the Houseโs legislative priorities stalled in the GOP-controlled Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took pride in stopping them.
Reid says Biden should end Senate filibuster after 3 weeks
Reid said if Democrats win the presidency and the Senate, Joe Biden should take no more than three weeks to test bipartisanship before ending the filibuster so they can pass bills over Republican obstruction. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)WASHINGTON โ Former Senate leader Harry Reid says if Democrats win the presidency and the Senate, Joe Biden should take โno more than three weeksโ to test bipartisanship before ending the filibuster so Democrats can overcome what they call Republican obstruction and pass bills. "Biden โ who wants always to get along with people โ I understand that,โ Reid said by telephone from Nevada. From afar, the onetime majority leader has made his views known before but rarely has he suggested a deadline for action. โThatโs true,โ said Reid, who was majority leader during Obama's first term and helped pass the Affordable Care Act and other landmark legislation.
McConnell's legacy: Wielding majority power to reshape court
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Ky., takes the elevator as he leaves a Senate Republican policy meeting on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON โ Itโs legacy time for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. For better or worse, this will be how McConnellโs tenure as a Senate leader will be measured. Absent a robust legislative agenda aligned with Trump, McConnell set out on the Senateโs other main role โ confirmations. Along with the two Supreme Court justices, he has installed more than 200 federal appellate and trial court judges in the Trump era.
How Ginsburg's death could reshape the presidential campaign
The Supreme Court says Ginsburg has died of metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)NEW YORK โ A presidential campaign that was already tugging at the nationโs most searing divides has been jolted by the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, potentially reshaping the election at a moment when some Americans were beginning to cast ballots. That decision cast a long political shadow, prompting Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor who mounted a spirited bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, to make expansion of the Supreme Court a centerpiece of his campaign. Some Democrats privately concede that the Supreme Court vacancy could shift attention away from the virus, which has been a central element of Biden's campaign. The president, seeking to build the same type of energy that surrounded his 2016 bid, released another list of potential Supreme Court nominees this month.
Trump looks west, eyeing new paths to White House
But Trump's campaign has invested heavily in the state, relying on its ground game to turn out voters. โNevada Trump Victory has over 50 staffers in the state and has contacted over 2 million voters,โ said state GOP chairman Michael McDonald. Polling in both North Carolina and Florida also shows a competitive race, and there is increasing concern within the Trump campaign about Arizona. If Arizona slips away, Trump campaign officials privately acknowledge that it would complicate his path to 270 electoral votes. Associated Press writers Michelle Price in Las Vegas and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report.
The Ultimate Recovery: Cycles of pain anchor Biden's moment
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., pass each other as Harris moves tot the podium. Get up, was the motto of Joe Bidens father, Joe, Sr. Get up!___BIDEN, BEFOREIn the 1972 campaign, Joe Biden is a snapshot of a candidate rushing toward what seems an unbounded future. Bush's vice president, is backing Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, a fellow Hoosier. My beautiful boy.An excruciating moment is captured in a photograph from the funeral a week later., An honor guard carried the flag-draped casket past the grieving vice president.
Alex Trebek expects to mark 2-year cancer survival in 2021
LOS ANGELES Alex Trebek says hes responding exceptionally well to treatment for pancreatic cancer and expects to mark his two-year survival next February. His doctor has said hes counting on that milestone, the Jeopardy! host said, so I expect to be around cause he said I will be around. After interviewer T.J. Holmes told Trebek he looked and sounded great, the TV host drolly replied: Here I am, folks. Eat me up.The experimental immunotherapy treatment Trebek is receiving is the same used by former Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada in his fight against pancreatic cancer, Good Morning America said. Trebek said hes had difficult days, calling his wife, Jean, a saint for her unwavering support as he's faced moments of sadness and depression.
No longer Dana White's dream, UFC's Fight Island is real
A few months later, the project that came to be known as Fight Island is real and ready for competition. And while Fight Island is not exactly the idyllic scene evoked by its name, the octagon inside an air-conditioned arena on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island also sits inside a bubble that seems highly unlikely to burst. Rather than a deserted tropical paradise, Yas Island is a modern tourist destination with amusement parks, malls and a Formula One racetrack. Fight Island will host four UFC events in 14 days, starting with three championship fights at UFC 251 this weekend. I dont know, White said.
Civil unrest could influence Biden's search for running mate
WASHINGTON Joe Bidens search for a running mate could be reshaped by the police killing of George Floyd and the unrest it has ignited across the country, raising questions about contenders with law-and-order backgrounds and intensifying pressure on the presumptive Democratic nominee to select a black woman. Biden, who has already pledged to pick a woman, has cast a wide net in his search. Biden was pressed to pick a black woman on Monday when he visited a black church in Wilmington, Delaware. Well, weve never seen a black woman selected as a vice presidential candidate, she said. Its important for him to see the candidate, talk to the candidate, get body language from the candidate.
Pentagon officially releases UFO videos
The Pentagon has officially released three short videos showing "unidentified aerial phenomena" that had previously been released by a private company. The videos show what appear to be unidentified flying objects rapidly moving while recorded by infrared cameras. Two of the videos contain service members reacting in awe at how quickly the objects are moving. In 2017, one of the pilots who saw one of the unidentified objects in 2004 told CNN that it moved in ways he couldn't explain. Reid tweeted Monday that he was "glad" the Pentagon officially released the videos, but that "it only scratches the surface of research and materials available.