Politics Election category, Page 241
Arkansas lawmakers enact transgender youth treatment ban
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas lawmakers on Tuesday made the state the first to ban gender confirming treatments and surgery for transgender youth, enacting the prohibition over the governor’s objections. The Republican-controlled House and Senate voted to override GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the measure, which prohibits doctors from providing...
McConnell: It’s ‘stupid’ for corporations to speak out on politicsVideo
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday “it’s quite stupid” for corporations to speak out politically, intensifying his warnings for big business to stand down as Congress delves into voting rights, President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package and other defining issues. Speaking in Kentucky, the GOP leader said he...
The deciding vote in Pa.’s high-stakes political redistricting could be yours, if lawmakers agree
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — Liz Forrest doesn’t expect four of Pennsylvania’s most powerful lawmakers...
Biden boosted by Senate rules as GOP bucks infrastructure
WASHINGTON — With an appeal to think big, President Joe Biden is promoting his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan directly to Americans, summoning public support to push past the Republicans lining up against the massive effort they sum up as big taxes, big spending and big government. Republicans in Congress are...
‘Not a monk’: Rep. Matt Gaetz says he won’t resign over ‘false’ sex allegations
WASHINGTON — Rep. Matt Gaetz said Monday he will not leave Congress and denied accusations that he had sex with an underage girl, suggesting that he’s being targeted by political foes because he “loathes the swamp.” In a column appearing in the Washington Examiner, a conservative news outlet, the embattled...
Some members of Pa. delegation say Capitol security must increase after attackVideo
With a security review of the Capitol already underway following the Jan. 6 insurrection, some members of Pennsylvania’s delegation are weighing in on what they would like to see happen in the wake of yet another deadly attack. On Friday, the Capitol was attacked for the second time this year...
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott won’t throw pitch, rebuffing MLB voting-rights stance
AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that he won’t throw the ceremonial first pitch as planned at the Texas Rangers’ home opener — the latest jab in a fight that’s pushing corporate America into the political battle over voting rights. The Republican governor informed the Rangers via a...
After new voting law, McConnell warns CEOs: ‘Stay out of politics’Video
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says it’s a “big lie” to call the new voting law in Georgia racist and he warned big business to “stay out of politics” after major corporations and even Major League Baseball distanced themselves from the state amid vast public pressure. McConnell particularly...
Biden’s big infrastructure plan hits McConnell-GOP blockade
WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are making the politically brazen bet that it’s more advantageous to oppose President Joe Biden’s ambitious ” Rebuild America” agenda than to lend support for the costly $2.3 trillion undertaking for roads, bridges and other infrastructure investments. Much the way Republicans provided no votes for...
AP-NORC poll: Border woes dent Biden approval on immigration
WASHINGTON — More Americans disapprove than approve of how President Joe Biden is handling the sharply increasing number of unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, and approval of his efforts on larger immigration policy falls short of other top issues — suggesting it could be a weak point...
Corporations gave over $50M to voting restriction backers
When executives from Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines spoke out against Georgia’s new voting law as unduly restrictive last week, it seemed to signal a new activism springing from corporate America. But if leaders of the nation’s most prominent companies are going to reject lawmakers who support restrictive voting measures,...
Supreme Court dismisses case over Trump and Twitter critics
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a case over former President Donald Trump’s efforts to block critics from his personal Twitter account. The court said there was nothing left to the case after Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter and ended his presidential term in January. Twitter banned Trump two...
Pa. cannabis legalization remains unlikely as neighboring states go for it
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. A version of this story originally appeared in our free weekly newsletter. New Jersey. New York. Virginia. One by one, Pennsylvania’s neighbors are moving to legalize recreational...
A man ahead of his time: Sen. John Heinz remembered 30 years after tragic death
Henry John Heinz III was a man in his prime. The 52-year-old U.S. senator and heir to the H.J. Heinz food empire had everything going for him April 4, 1991, the morning he climbed aboard a small, twin-propeller plane in Williamsport. The short flight to Philadelphia was for him to...
Big effort aims to elect candidates with science backgrounds
RALEIGH, N.C. — An advocacy group plans to spend millions next year to elect more doctors, scientists and other professionals to office, arguing the pandemic and Donald Trump’s handling of it have powerfully underscored a need to bring people with scientific backgrounds into policymaking. 314 Action, a nonprofit organization with...
Prosecutors examine possible payments for sex in Gaetz probe
Federal prosecutors are examining whether Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and a political ally who is facing sex trafficking allegations may have paid underage girls or offered them gifts in exchange for sex, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday. The scrutiny of Gaetz stemmed from...
Republicans trod well-worn path to court to sue Biden
WASHINGTON — These are busy days for Republican state attorneys general, filing repeated lawsuits that claim President Joe Biden and his administration are overstepping their authority on immigration, climate change, the environment and taxes. Most of the action is in federal courts where former President Donald Trump was able to...
Biden’s infrastructure bill will face uphill battle in Congress
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden this week passed the baton on his massive infrastructure plan to Democrats on Capitol Hill, who are already making demands on what the plan should include. It marks the start of what is likely to be a four-month grueling marathon to get the package through...
Mitch McConnell urges fellow Republicans to get covid-19 vaccines
LOUISVILLE, Ky — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urged his fellow Republicans to be vaccinated against covid-19 during a visit to a western Kentucky hospital Thursday. “As a Republican man, I wasn’t reluctant to get it when I was eligible and I would encourage everybody to do that,” he said....
Biden launches community corps to boost covid vaccinations
WASHINGTON — Seeking to overcome vaccine hesitancy, the Biden administration on Thursday stepped up its outreach efforts to skeptical Americans, launching a coalition of community, religious and celebrity partners to promote covid-19 shots in hard-hit communities. The administration’s “We Can Do This” campaign features television and social media ads, but...
New GOP-led voting restrictions move forward in Texas
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Republicans advanced a slate of proposed new voting restrictions Thursday that would reduce options to cast ballots, limit polling hours and hand more power to partisan poll watchers. All those efforts are rolled into a single bill that cleared the GOP-controlled state Senate — a key...
Gaetz staying on Judiciary panel, despite investigation
WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a prominent, outspoken conservative and a close ally of former President Donald Trump who has been under federal investigation for a former relationship, would lose his House seat if convicted of a felony. But there are no rules addressing lawmakers under investigation. House Minority...
Braddock Mayor Chardae Jones spurns John Fetterman, endorses Rep. Kenyatta for SenateVideo
Braddock Mayor Chardae Jones on Wednesday endorsed state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta in next year’s U.S. Senate race over her predecessor and fellow resident, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. “When it comes to his beliefs against fracking and his involvement in mental health policy it was a no-brainer to endorse Rep. Malcolm...
In Pittsburgh visit, Biden unveils $2 trillion American Jobs Plan
President Joe Biden traveled to suburban Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon to unveil a $2.3 trillion plan intended to revive the nation’s pandemic-battered economy through new infrastructure and transportation-related projects around the country. Biden deemed his newly released American Jobs Plan to be the greatest American investment “since we built the...
Hunter Biden says he wouldn’t repeat work for Ukrainian firm
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter says his service on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, which Republicans tried to turn into a negative during the 2020 presidential campaign, wasn’t unethical and didn’t represent a lack of judgment on his part. But the younger Biden wouldn’t do it...
