Politics Election category, Page 336
Trump administration drops Obama-era water protection ruleVideo
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The Trump administration Thursday revoked an Obama-era regulation that shielded many U.S. wetlands and streams from pollution but was opposed by developers and farmers who said it hurt economic development and infringed on property rights. Environmental groups criticized the administration’s action, the latest in a series...
Judge blocks Tennessee voter signup penalties, citing harm
NASHVILLE — A federal judge has blocked Tennessee’s new restrictions for registering voters from taking effect on Oct. 1, saying Thursday that any benefit of the law won’t likely outweigh its potential harm. The ruling, for now, sets aside a law that goes beyond other states by fining groups that...
GOP sides with Trump on wall; Dems now threaten filibuster
WASHINGTON — A Republican-controlled Senate committee Thursday rejected Democratic attempts to cut President Donald Trump’s border wall request and his moves to pay for the project without congressional approval. Democrats threatened to filibuster a Pentagon spending bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee lined up behind Trump in party-line votes approving an...
House committee approves guidelines for impeachment hearings
WASHINGTON — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler says there’s no confusion about what his committee is doing: It’s an impeachment investigation, no matter how you want to phrase it. Nadler tried to clear up any misconceptions Thursday as the committee approved guidelines for impeachment hearings on President Donald Trump...
Publix: Only officers should openly carry guns in its stores
LAKELAND, Fla. — If you’re carrying a gun, the Publix supermarket chain doesn’t want to see it. Publix is joining a growing number of retailers in asking customers not to openly carry firearms in its stores, even if state laws allow it. The company announced the move by email in...
Trump suggests he might soften Iran sanctions, day after firing John Bolton
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump opened the door Wednesday to lifting some sanctions on Iran in an effort to set up a meeting with that country’s leaders, a softening of his “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran just a day after the firing of national security adviser John Bolton. Trump has...
Next Democratic presidential debate airs Thursday night on ABC
The first presidential debate of the 2020 election season to include all of the major Democratic candidates at one venue — at the same time — is set to take place Thursday. After the DNC upped the standards to qualify for this debate, only 10 of the previous 20-plus candidates...
House passes bill to permanently ban offshore drilling off Florida’s Gulf CoastVideo
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday to permanently ban offshore drilling off Florida’s Gulf Coast, a move Florida lawmakers said will help the state’s tourism industry and military installations. The bill, Protecting and Securing Florida’s Coastline Act, passed on a vote of 248-180, with 21 Republicans...
Supreme Court allows Trump administration broad enforcement of asylum limits
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is allowing nationwide enforcement of a new Trump administration rule that prevents most Central American immigrants from seeking asylum in the United States. The justices’ order late Wednesday temporarily undoes a lower-court ruling that had blocked the new asylum policy in some states along the...
In ‘substantive’ call, Pat Toomey tells Trump to ‘seize an opportunity’ on gun background checks
For nearly 40 minutes Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and two of his colleagues from across the aisle huddled around a phone, fielding what they described as thoughtful questions from President Donald Trump about hammering out a bill to expand gun background checks. Afterward, the Pennsylvania Republican once again told...
GOP holds N.C. House seat but shows weakness in suburbs
RALEIGH — Conservative Republican Dan Bishop won a special election Tuesday for an open House seat in North Carolina, averting a demoralizing Democratic capture of a district the GOP has held for nearly six decades. But his narrow victory didn’t erase questions about whether President Donald Trump and his party’s...
At rally, Trump paints bleak picture of Democratic controlVideo
HAVELOCK, N.C. — Trying to prove his political clout by pushing a Republican to victory in a special election, President Donald Trump used a North Carolina rally Monday to paint a bleak picture of a nation he claimed would be overrun with crime, poverty and immigrants if Democrats seize power...
Trump says he didn’t know Air Force crew stayed at his resort
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he didn’t know about the overnight stay of a U.S. Air Force crew at his Scotland golf resort amid new scrutiny of government spending at properties owned by the president. “I know nothing about an Air Force plane landing at an airport (which I...
Judiciary panel to set rules for impeachment investigation
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee will vote Thursday to establish rules for hearings on impeachment, escalating the panel’s investigations of President Donald Trump even as many Democrats remain wary of the effort. The resolution is a technical step, and the panel would still have to introduce impeachment articles against...
Mark Sanford officially launches long-shot bid to take down Donald TrumpVideo
WASHINGTON — Mark Sanford will challenge Donald Trump for the GOP nomination for president — a long-shot bid that will pit him against the Republican establishment around the country and in his home state of South Carolina, where Trump remains extremely popular. Sanford made his decision after several weeks of...
Mike Pompeo: Taliban ‘overreached’ in attack that killed American soldierVideo
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that Taliban “overreached” with a car bomb attack in Kabul that killed an American soldier, leading President Donald Trump to call off closely-held Afghanistan peace talks planned for Camp David. Pompeo said the Trump administration has recalled envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who...
South Carolina, Kansas GOP scrap 2020 presidential preference votes
Republican leaders in South Carolina and Kansas have voted to scrap their presidential nominating contests in 2020, while party officials Nevada were deciding whether to follow suit as the GOP erects more hurdles for the long shots challenging President Donald Trump. Canceling primaries, caucuses and other voting is not an...
Iowa Rep. Steve King says he drank from toilet at migrant detention facility and it was ‘pretty good’Video
Republican Rep. Steve King said that he drank from a toilet that also serves as a water fountain during a recent visit to a migrant detention facility and the water was “actually pretty good.” “I actually went into that cell where it was reported that they were advised they had...
Veteran Wisconsin GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner says he’ll retire
WASHINGTON — Veteran Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner announced his retirement from Congress on Wednesday, making the former House Judiciary Committee chairman the 15th GOP lawmaker to say he will step aside before next year’s elections. Sensenbrenner, 76, was first elected in 1978 and is the second-longest serving current member...
Trump administration switches off rule for thriftier light bulbs
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration turned its deregulatory focus Wednesday to light bulbs, scrapping a rule that would have phased out less energy efficient incandescent bulbs. The move slows a years-long push by Congress and past administrations to switch Americans to LED bulbs and other lighting using less electricity. President...
Brexit turmoil continues as lawmakers defy U.K.’s Johnson
LONDON — British lawmakers battling Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to leave the European Union without a divorce deal cleared their first big hurdle Wednesday, approving in principle a bill to block his actions and sending it on for further debate. In a second straight day of parliamentary turmoil, the...
Mitch McConnell says he’s waiting on Trump to chart path on guns
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are waiting for the White House to chart a path forward on gun violence legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, effectively putting the burden on President Donald Trump to decide the GOP’s legislative response to the spate of mass shootings that included another deadly...
Pence aide defends stay at Trump property in Ireland
DUBLIN — A top aide to Vice President Mike Pence is defending Pence’s decision to stay at one of President Donald Trump’s properties while in Ireland amid criticism by Democrats that he is enriching Trump at taxpayers’ expense. Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, told reporters aboard Air Force Two...
Trump: ‘I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard of a Category 5’ hurricane. There have been 4 during his presidencyVideo
During a Federal Emergency Management Agency briefing Sunday about Hurricane Dorian, President Trump expressed disbelief that a Category 5 storm was possible. “I’ve seen some Category 4s, you don’t even see that many of them. But a Category 5 is something that, I don’t know if I’ve ever even heard...
Trump says he’ll work with Congress to stop mass shootings
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump expressed a commitment Sunday, hours after the latest deadly mass shooting, to work with a divided Congress to “stop the menace of mass attacks.” He said any measures must satisfy the competing goals of protecting public safety and the constitutional right to gun ownership and...
