Politics Election category, Page 309
Rep. Justin Amash exploring 2020 run for Libertarian nomination
WASHINGTON — Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said Tuesday that he is launching an exploratory committee for the 2020 Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. The Republican-turned-independent said on Twitter that the U.S. was ready for new leadership. He also posted a link to a new campaign website. “Americans are ready for...
Joe Biden wins Ohio’s mail-in primary delayed by coronavirusVideo
COLUMBUS — Joe Biden won Ohio’s presidential primary Tuesday, clinching a contest that was less about the Democratic nomination and more about how states can conduct elections in the era of the coronavirus. The primary was the first major test of statewide elections via mail amid an outbreak. And the...
Trump orders meat processing plants to remain openVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took executive action Tuesday to order meat processing plants to stay open amid concerns over growing coronavirus cases and the impact on the nation’s food supply. The order uses the Defense Production Act to classify meat processing as critical infrastructure to try to prevent a...
AP source: Hillary Clinton to endorse Joe BidenVideo
Hillary Clinton will endorse Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy on Tuesday, according to a Democrat who requested anonymity to discuss the plan. The Biden campaign said Clinton would join the presumptive Democratic nominee for a virtual town hall later Tuesday to discuss the impact of the coronavirus on women. Clinton teased...
House won’t resume as planned next week due to virus risk
WASHINGTON — Facing fierce blowback, House Democratic leadership announced Tuesday the House will not resume session next week as planned because of risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer declared the sudden about-face a day after a lawmakers revolted. He said after discussions with the Capitol physician,...
Trump says coronavirus testing ‘not a problem,’ but doubts persistVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House released new guidelines Monday aimed at answering criticism that America’s coronavirus testing has been too slow, and President Donald Trump tried to pivot toward a focus on “reopening” the nation. Still, there were doubts from public health experts that the White House’s new testing targets...
AG William Barr to prosecutors: Look for unconstitutional coronavirus rules
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.” The memo to U.S. attorneys directs the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights...
Supreme Court rules insurers can collect $12 billion under Obamacare
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that when Congress makes a promise to pay, the government must indeed pay up, even if a later Congress changes its mind. That’s the essence of what could be a $12 billion win for health insurers who joined the Obamacare program in its...
Virus leads New York to nix Democratic presidential primaryVideo
ALBANY, N.Y. — In an unprecedented move, New York has canceled its Democratic presidential primary that was scheduled for June 23 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic members of the State’s Board of Elections voted Monday to nix the primary. New York will still hold its congressional and state-level primaries...
AP-NORC poll: Rising support for mail voting amid pandemicVideo
WASHINGTON — Americans’ support for mail-in voting has jumped amid concerns about the safety of polling places during the coronavirus pandemic, but a wide partisan divide suggests President Donald Trump’s public campaign against vote by mail may be resonating with his Republican backers. A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC...
Cuomo: ‘I dare you’ to let states declare coronavirus bankruptcy in scathing attack on GOP
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo angrily challenged Republicans to force hard-hit states to declare bankruptcy instead of giving them stimulus aid to cope with the coronavirus crisis. “Pass the law. I dare you,” he said. “You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in...
Sizing up Trump’s green-card halt: Is it just temporary?
SAN DIEGO — Pamela Austin, a recruiter at Adventist Health Bakersfield in California, made seven job offers to foreign nurses in February and just finished a first round of interviews with 12 more candidates. They are from all over the world, including the United Kingdom, Philippines, Australia and Malaysia. The...
Trump touts idea of injecting disinfectant, light into the body to combat coronavirusVideo
President Trump suggested that medical experts should somehow try to find a way to inject light or disinfectants into the human body as a means to kill coronavirus — methods that are either not possible or highly dangerous. Trump touted the idea Thursday after William Bryan, who leads the Department...
Congress passes expanded small-business loan funding to address coronavirus shutdowns
WASHINGTON — With unemployment claims topping 26 million in the last five weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic, the House voted Thursday to approve another half-trillion dollars in federal relief to replenish a depleted small-business loan program and provide money for hospitals and testing. The bill includes $310 billion for...
Trump campaign tests lines of attack against Biden
NEW YORK — Air Force One is mostly grounded. Fundraisers are canceled. And the closest thing to a campaign rally is President Trump’s nightly coronavirus briefing. The president’s reelection campaign has been thoroughly upended by the coronavirus. But Trump’s team has revived a plan to quickly define Joe Biden, painting...
Florida Rep. Donna Shalala failed to disclose stock sales in 2019 in violation of federal lawVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, the lone House Democrat on the committee set up to oversee $500 billion in taxpayer money being used for coronavirus-related payouts to large businesses, violated federal law when she failed to disclose stock sales while serving in Congress. Shalala, of Florida, told the Miami...
Pennsylvania boosting efforts to promote voting by mail
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is boosting its efforts to get voters to cast their primary election ballots by mail, saying it would help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The administration sent 4.2 million postcards to primary voters and is mounting an awareness campaign on radio, television, social media, streaming...
Senate approves $500B aid for small businesses dealing with coronavirus shutdownsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a deal to increase funding for a popular small business loan program that ran out of money last week as businesses scrambled for a lifeline during the coronavirus pandemic. The House is expected to pass the measure Thursday, giving members time to...
Senate report says Kremlin support for Trump in 2016 is accurateVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to back Donald Trump’s campaign over that of rival Hillary Clinton was based on sound intelligence-gathering processes and analysis, the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a report released Tuesday. While reviewing intelligence agencies’ assessment of the Kremlin’s...
Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in 2016Video
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan Senate report released Tuesday confirms the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to sow chaos. Senators warned that it could happen again this presidential election year. The heavily redacted report from the Senate Intelligence Committee is part of the panel’s...
Trump says he’ll ‘suspend immigration,’ offers no details
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he will sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States” because of the coronavirus. “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I...
As mail voting pushed, some fear loss of in-person option
ATLANTA — Scrambling to address voting concerns during a pandemic, election officials across the country are eliminating polling places or scaling back opportunities for people to cast ballots in person — a move raising concerns among voting rights groups and some Democrats who say some voters could be disenfranchised. In...
Trump administration, Democrats near deal for more coronavirus aid to small businessesVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration and congressional Democrats expressed optimism Sunday that more than $450 billion in loans and aid to Americans most affected by the coronavirus outbreak will be enacted this week, providing a measure of financial help as the U.S. death toll passes 40,000. The bulk of the...
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin takes credit for putting Trump’s name on stimulus checksVideo
Since it was announced that President Trump’s name was being added to millions of paper economic stimulus checks, many have wondered how that decision came to be. In a shocking twist, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said it was all his idea. In an interview, Mnuchin said that since it would...
Biden wins mail-in Wyoming Democratic caucus
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Joe Biden has won Wyoming’s Democratic presidential caucus, which had been postponed for two weeks and scaled back to only mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic, state party officials said Sunday. The results were announced less than two weeks after Bernie Sanders dropped out and endorsed...
