Politics Election category, Page 313
Fallout of ’08 bailout looms over Washington negotiations
WASHINGTON — In the fall of 2008, an unlikely alliance of lawmakers, regulators and Bush administration officials banded together to rescue an economy they feared was hours away from collapse. They also unwittingly reshaped American politics, unleashing a populist furor that lingers in both parties to this day. More than...
Pennsylvania eyes later primary as coronavirus outbreak continues
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is confirming another big increase in coronavirus cases Sunday as lawmakers are drafting legislation to delay the state’s April 28 primary election and relax rules around how mail-in ballots can be processed in advance of polls closing. Pennsylvania House State Government Committee Chairman Garth Everett, R-Lycoming, said...
Sen. Rand Paul says he has tested positive for coronavirus
WASHINGTON— Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the first case of covid-19 in the Senate and raising fears about the further transmission of the virus among Republicans at the Capitol. Paul, an eye surgeon, went into quarantine Sunday after learning his results. He...
Senate fails to advance covid-19 rescue package
WASHINGTON — Top-level negotiations between Congress and the White House churned late into the night over a now nearly $2 trillion economic rescue package, as the coronavirus crisis deepened, the nation shut down and the first U.S. senator tested positive for the disease. As President Donald Trump took to the...
Trump’s fate tied to an unknown: how fast economy recovers
BALTIMORE — The coronavirus has flung the U.S. economy into a dangerous tailspin, and President Donald Trump’s reelection hopes are caught in the sudden whirlwind. For the next seven months, Trump may be consigned to campaigning in a country beset by a fear of job loss, bankruptcy and disease. It...
Trump’s ‘coup de grâce’? Coronavirus tests a divided America
LARGO, Fla. — As restaurants across the country stacked chairs on tables and shut their doors to try to contain the deadly coronavirus, what would be the final visitors streamed into the Conservative Grounds coffee shop in Largo, Fla. Fox News played on the televisions. Patrons posed for photos in...
High-stakes negotiations begin on $1 trillion economic rescue
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trump administration officials launched high-stakes negotiations Friday with Senate Republicans and Democrats racing to draft a $1 trillion-plus economic rescue package amid the coronavirus outbreak. It’s the biggest effort yet from Washington to shore up households and the U.S. economy as the pandemic...
Trump moves on invoking powers to spur virus supplies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act to get needed medical supplies on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak, mobilizing the federal government to marshal the private sector to combat the pandemic. Trump had said earlier in the week he would tap the act as...
2020 campaigns go digital amid fears of coronavirus spread
WASHINGTON — No more rallies. No more door-knocking. And no more in-person fundraisers, raking in dollars from dozens of millionaires at once. The coronavirus has disrupted American life, and the 2020 presidential campaign is no exception. Amid calls for social distancing to stop the pandemic’s spread, President Donald Trump and...
Trump weighs controls on companies that take coronavirus bailouts
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday the government should take an equity stake in some companies that need bailouts because of devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. economy. Trump told a briefing he has executive authority to curb the impact on businesses. “There’s a lot of...
Tulsi Gabbard ends long-shot 2020 bid, gives support to BidenVideo
WASHINGTON — Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is suspending her presidential campaign, ending a long-shot effort that saw her feuding with Hillary Clinton and raising fears among Democrats that she would mount a third-party 2020 bid. She’s offering her full support to former Vice President Joe Biden. She made the announcement...
Alabama delays March 31 GOP Senate runoff to July 14
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama is postponing a closely watched Republican primary runoff between former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions and a formidable rival because of the coronavirus, the governor announced Wednesday. The Senate runoff between Sessions and former football coach Tommy Tuberville will now be held on July 14 instead of...
Alabama delays March 31 GOP Senate runoff to July
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The state of Alabama is postponing its scheduled March 31 primary runoff in the Senate race between Jeff Sessions and former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville. Saying having people stand in line to vote is too risky right now, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said the runoff...
Bernie Sanders set to ‘assess’ campaign, top aide saysVideo
WASHINGTON — After getting crushed in another round of presidential primary voting Tuesday, Bernie Sanders keeps pushing on — but it is unclear to where and for how long. In a statement Wednesday morning, Sanders’ campaign manager said the senator was “assessing” what to do next, but suggested he might...
Trump asks lawmakers for $46B more to battle coronavirus
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has sent lawmakers a $46 billion emergency funding request to help the government fight the coronavirus and to reverse cuts proposed just last month to the Centers for Disease Control, the front-line agency in fighting the battle. The huge request, delivered overnight, would deliver more...
Amid virus, Congress’ leaders resist call for remote voting
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders are resisting calls to let lawmakers vote remotely, a dispute pitting the scourge of the coronavirus against two centuries of tradition that underscores Washington’s struggle to adapt to recommendations that evolve daily about how to handle the pandemic. Advocates of the voting change cite the health...
With 3 more victories, Biden pulls further away from Sanders
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden swept to victory in Florida, Illinois and Arizona on Tuesday, increasingly pulling away with a Democratic presidential primary upended by the coronavirus and building pressure on Bernie Sanders to abandon his campaign. The former vice president’s third big night in as many weeks came amid tremendous...
Sen. Pat Toomey: Red tape hampers federal coronavirus response efforts, paid sick leave
The devil is in the details where coronavirus is concerned, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, said Tuesday. Red tape at the National Institutes of Health threatened to slow the certification of hospital-developed tests in Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley Republican said, until he asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the...
Ohio scraps Democratic primary, Florida workers a no-show
WASHINGTON — The Democratic presidential primary is consumed with uncertainty after leaders in Ohio called off Tuesday’s election just hours before polls were set to open, citing the need to combat the new coronavirus. Officials in Florida, Arizona and Illinois said they would move forward with the vote — but...
5 questions heading into Tuesday’s Democratic primariesVideo
Four states are scheduled to hold Democratic presidential primaries on Tuesday amid a global pandemic and outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Here are five questions ahead of voting: Will the elections take place? Nothing is certain in the age of the coronavirus. Two states scheduled to vote after Tuesday postponed...
‘Bigger than any one of us’: Biden, Sanders take on pandemic
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders sought in Sunday’s Democratic debate to cast themselves as best-positioned to lead the nation through a global pandemic, with Biden pledging to deploy the military to help with recovery efforts and Sanders using the crisis to pitch his long-sought...
Election-year spread of misinformation challenges local news
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — When a Republican running for Congress in the Chicago suburbs tweeted that her Democratic opponent’s town hall events were invite-only, they debunked it. When Illinois’ Democratic governor said a pension change would save the state as much as $25 billion, they rated that mostly false, too. The...
Trump considering ‘full’ pardon for ex-adviser Michael FlynnVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Sunday he is considering a full pardon for former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about dealings with Russia’s ambassador before Trump took office. Flynn attempted to withdraw the guilty plea in January, saying federal prosecutors...
Governors say Tuesday’s presidential primaries will go on
WASHINGTON — The governors of Illinois and Ohio on Sunday confirmed their states’ presidential primaries will continue as scheduled on Tuesday, even amidst the coronavirus outbreak. “We’re going to go ahead,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican who has moved aggressively to close schools and other institutions to limit spread...
Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders to debate against backdrop of global pandemic
WASHINGTON — When the two remaining Democratic presidential candidates return to the debate stage Sunday night, they will find that their party, the political stakes and the world look much different from when they last met less than three weeks ago. The fast-moving coronavirus was something of an afterthought in...
