USA News and Discussions

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weatheriscool
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24 House Republicans break with leadership, vote with Democrats to pass chip bill
Source: ABC News

Another major legislative win for Democrats came Thursday, when -- over Republican objections of "corporate welfare" -- a bipartisan group in the House passed a bill that funds the nation’s science and technology industries with billions to boost domestic production of crucial semiconductor chips and additional research and development.

The bill cleared the chamber in a 243-187 vote (with one "present" vote) despite late-hour pushes from GOP leadership against the legislation. Twenty-four Republicans joined Democrats in backing the measure, which now heads to the White House for President Joe Biden's signature.

One lawmaker, Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., whose grandfather Irwin Jacobs founded semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm, voted "present."

“If you want to know who hates this bill, who lobbies against it -- the Chinese Communist Party. Why? Because they know it'll help us compete against them," Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a major advocate of the package, told reporters while criticizing fellow Republicans for opposing the bill.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 5953709fed
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House passes assault-style weapons ban
Source: CNN
(CNN)The House of Representatives voted Friday evening to ban assault-style weapons, sending the bill to the Senate where it's not expected to advance. The final vote was 217-213. Democrats Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Kurt Schrader of Oregon voted against the ban. Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Chris Jacobs of New York voted for the bill.

While the legislation is not expected to amass the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, many Democrats in the House cited a string of recent mass shootings involving such firearms as a pressing reason to outlaw them. "Today, our Democratic Majority will take up and pass the Assault Weapons Ban legislation: a crucial step in our ongoing fight against the deadly epidemic of gun violence in our nation," Pelosi said in a letter to members of her caucus ahead of the vote.

Friday's vote came as progressives, moderates and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are divided on how to handle the policing funding component of a broader public safety package, which was not included in Friday's series of votes. While negotiations on that proposal are continuing, according to sources, the key negotiators were hoping to settle both issues in hopes of having a vote on both packages as soon as Friday. Moderate and vulnerable Democrats had been pushing for a vote on the policing legislation before they leave town in an effort to rebut GOP attacks over defunding the police, but members of the CBC had concerns and have been pushing for accountability language.

The deal to try to combine both pieces of legislation came together late Thursday night, and was negotiated between Pelosi, Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio, and moderate Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. But other members of the Congressional Black and Progressive caucuses were frustrated that they were kept out of the loop, which is ultimately why Democratic leadership decided to separate the bills.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/29/politics ... index.html
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Trump Says Mar-a-Lago Resort Searched by Feds
by Abigail Weinberg
August 8, 2022

Introduction:
(Mother Jones ) In a potentially explosive development in the investigations into the former president, Donald Trump said that the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday.

The investigation appeared to involve classified documents that Trump allegedly took with him from the White House to his personal estate in Palm Beach, Florida, according to a New York Times report that cited two people familiar with the search. Three sources also confirmed the nature of the search to CNN.

“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump wrote in a statement. “They even broke into my safe!”


(See article linked below for Twitter feeds on this topic)

As my colleague Inae Oh reported earlier this year, Trump stands accused of improperly taking classified national security records to Mar-a-Lago in 15 boxes of documents. At the time, the Justice Department said that it would investigate possible violations of the Presidential Records Act, which governs how presidents preserve all sorts of documents, including classified information.
Source: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... i-search/
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caltrek
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At Long Last, the Senate Has Passed Sweeping Climate Legislation
by Julie Lurie
August 7, 2022

Introduction:
(Mother Jones) After years of stagnant climate policy, months of excruciating political negotiations, and a marathon weekend of back-to-back voting, the Senate passed the Democrats’ sweeping climate and health care bill on Sunday.

The estimated $740 billion package, entitled the Inflation Reduction Act, includes close to $400 billion in climate spending—by far the largest climate investment in the nation’s history. The plan would be largely paid for by new taxes, including a 15 percent minimum tax on the handful of corporations with annual profits about $1 billion.

The bill represents a fraction of the climate investment that Democrats dreamed of when Joe Biden took office, but it includes policies that are expected to help America cut its climate pollution by 40 percent by 2030. (As Vox notes, that’s a bit less dramatic than it sounds: The baseline for the reduction is 2005, when emissions peaked, and the nation was on track to reduce its emissions by 20 percent by 2030 without the legislation.) If enacted, the policy will fund tax credits and rebates for renewable energy, energy efficiency technology, and electric cars. It will also fund climate resilience and pollution monitoring projects in vulnerable communities, and penalize fossil fuel companies for excess methane emissions.

Though the package has made news for its climate measures, it also includes important healthcare reforms, including policies that would enable Medicare to negotiate certain prescription drug prices for the first time, extend expiring subsidies that help millions of people afford health insurance, and cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors on Medicare to $2,000 a year.

After overcoming initial opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin and last-minute pushback from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Democrats were united in the 51-50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. The legislation now heads to the House.
Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... s-senate/

caltrek’s comment: Apparently, not a single Republican voted for the measure. Can somebody please explain to me again about how there is no difference between the Republicans and the Democrats on the climate issue?

From where I sit, there appears to be at least $400 billion worth of difference. (Although in another article in Mother Jones the number was given as $370 billion). Will it be enough?

Maybe not, but $400 billion (or $370 billion) is still better than nothing. If it is not enough, it is because of the collective foot dragging that has paralyzed this nation prior to this action (and other recent actions taken by Biden and the Democrats). Foot dragging that was particularly acute under the Republicans, though Democrats should share some blame on that score.
Last edited by caltrek on Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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More on the legislation just passed by the Senate:
(Courthouse News)
  • (It will include) a cap on monthly insulin prices for people who use Medicare and an extension of subsidies under the Affordable Care Act for people purchasing their own insurance. The aid program was set to expire this year, but will now be funded through 2025.
  • (Concessions to Manchin include) mandates for oil and gas leases in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico that appear in conflict with the incentives for offshore wind, electric vehicles and other clean energy infrastructure.
    Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/sweeping ... erm-boost/
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    The GOP Suddenly Wants to Defund Law Enforcement After Feds Raid Mar-a-Lago
    by Kay Bouza
    August 9, 2022

    Introduction:
    (Rolling Stone) After years defending the continued militarization of law enforcement agencies across the United States, Republican lawmakers appeared to have a change of heart Monday after learning the FBI executed a search at the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump. Faced with the possibility that the “good guys” aren’t necessarily on their side, prominent members of the party that made backing the blue a central tenet of its political platform began spouting rhetoric that belied their professed allegiance to the “rule of law.”

    “The GOP majority must defund all forms of tyranny throughout Biden’s government,” prominent right-wing figurehead Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) wrote on Twitter, tagging the official FBI account. She later added: “Weaponizing the FBI to raid President Trump’s home makes Watergate look like nothing.” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), meanwhile, embraced the GOP’s favored doomsday approach. “We must destroy the FBI,” he tweeted. “We must save America.”

    As the primary law enforcement agency of the United States government whose self-described mission is “to uphold the rule of law,” the Department of Justice and its associated agencies are essentially America’s police force. Any efforts to defund or dismantle these agencies would is akin to liberal activists’ calls to reduce or restructure funding for local police forces — a concept Trump regularly used as a scare tactic to push voters away from Democrats. Yet, as is to be expected, irony is an art that remains lost on the most fervent of right-wing Republicans.
    Read more here: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ ... i-1394486/

    caltrek’s comment: Proving the old adage, as modified by yours truly, that a conservative is a liberal who has gotten mugged, while a liberal is a conservative who has gotten arrested.
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    The raid on Mar-a-Lago was based largely on information from an FBI confidential human source, one who was able to identify what classified documents former President Trump was still hiding and even the location of those documents, two senior government officials told Newsweek.
    Down with the orange bandit.

    https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-info ... re-1732283
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    Trump is now under criminal investigation for potential violation of the Espionage Act. Possibly relating to classified nuclear documents. 

    He's now doing his usual what-aboutism, accusing Obama of something similar and typing in BLOCK CAPS!!1. 

    Trump says he declassified every document seized by the FBI. But the fact is, the President does not have this ability for documents that are classified by statute (like nuclear secrets and identification of intelligence operatives).

    This is going to be very interesting. Could they FINALLY nail him? The violations carry up to 10 years in prison per document.
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