A monthslong standoff between congressional Republicans and the White House appears to be nearing an end with the House passage of a bill to raise the debt ceiling late Wednesday. The deal, a compromise to shrink federal spending and avoid default, was forged by President Biden and House Speaker Kevin …
Read More »Republicans’ reactions to Trump sexual abuse verdict range from defending him to disgust
The reaction among prominent Republicans to a jury in New York finding former President Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse range from disgust over the allegations to dismissal of its impact, with several of his GOP rivals for the 2024 presidential nomination declining to criticize him directly over the verdict. …
Read More »House passes GOP bill to bar trans athletes on girls and women’s teams
Washington — The Republican-led House passed a bill Thursday that would bar schools and colleges that receive federal money from allowing transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male to compete on girls or women’s sports teams or athletic events. The legislation, known as the Protection of Women …
Read More »EPA to propose car pollution limits that would require major increase in EV sales
The Biden administration will propose strict new automobile pollution limits this week that would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030 and as many as two of every three by 2032, according to industry and environmental officials briefed on the plan. …
Read More »Janet Protasiewicz defeats Dan Kelly in Wisconsin Supreme Court race, flipping control of the court
A Democratic-backed Milwaukee judge won the high stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court race Tuesday, ensuring liberals will take over majority control of the court for the first time in 15 years with the fate of the state’s abortion ban pending. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, 60, defeated former Justice Dan …
Read More »Biden promises federal support in visit to Mississippi town hit by deadly tornado
Rolling Fork, Mississippi — President Biden saw for himself the flattened homes, broken furniture and upended lives left behind by last week’s deadly tornado in Mississippi and pledged Friday that the federal government is not leaving until the area is back on its feet. In the close-knit community of Rolling …
Read More »Biden signs executive order restricting government’s use of commercial spyware
Washington — The U.S. government will restrict its use of commercial spyware tools that have been used to surveil human rights activists, journalists and dissidents around the world, under an executive order issued Monday by President Biden. The order responds to growing U.S. and global concerns about programs that can …
Read More »Will you receive Social Security checks when you qualify?
Olivia Mitchell, a professor of business economics and public policy at Wharton, has warned her millennial children, now in their 30s, to lower their expectations about the Social Security checks they’ll receive when they retire. “They’re going to have to work longer,” Mitchell said. “They’re going to have to save …
Read More »Biden, McCarthy meet at White House amid debt limit standoff
Washington — President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met Wednesday afternoon at the White House amid a looming showdown over raising the debt ceiling, their first meeting alone since Republicans took control of the House and McCarthy claimed the speaker’s gavel. Their conversation took place as tensions between the …
Read More »Harris rallies against GOP push to roll back abortion rights
Vice President Kamala Harris railed against efforts in Washington and in Republican-led states to restrict abortion on what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, invoking fundamental American values such as freedom to make the case for protecting abortion access despite the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate …
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