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☆ Lev Parnas invited by House Oversight Democrats as witness for Biden impeachment hearing
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Annie Grayer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

House Democrats on the Oversight Committee have selected an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, who played a role in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, to be their witness at the panel’s hearing on Wednesday, a source with Oversight Committee Democrats told CNN. House Republicans had embraced the dirt Parnas was peddling but he has since called it out as nonsense. Hunter Biden declined the invitation from Republicans to appear at this hearing. Last year, Parnas sent House Oversight Chair James Comer a letter discrediting the many theories peddled by Republicans and called on Comer to end his investigation into the Biden family. “There is simply no merit to investigating this matter any further.”Prior to selecting Parnas, Democrats had been considering Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen to be their witness.

Persons: Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s, Lev Parnas, Giuliani, Trump, Joe Biden, Hunter, Parnas, “ Lev Parnas, ”, Jamie Raskin, “, Tony Bobulinski, Biden, Jason Galanis, Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, Joe Biden corruptly, Republican pushback, James Comer, Comer, ” Parnas, Michael Cohen, “ Cohen Organizations: CNN, Republicans, GOP, Maryland, Republican, Biden, FBI Locations: Ukrainian, Ukraine

But that outburst of direct democracy has been limited to just half the states. About 167 million people live in 25 other states where such direct democracy is not currently an option. The number of ballot measures seeking to restrict the initiative and referendum process dipped in 2016 and has since risen. Measures seeking to restrict direct democracy peaked from 1995 to 2004 but significantly outpaced those seeking to expand direct democracy throughout the entire period of 1960 through 2022. Californians have considered 391 ballot initiatives — approving 137 of them — following campaigns that in recent years have cost tens of millions of dollars.

Persons: ”, John Matsusaka, Daniel Smith, Todd Donovan, that's, it's, Matsusaka, Michael Smith, ” Donovan, It's, it’s, ” Matsusaka Organizations: Initiative, University of Southern, South, University of Florida, Western Washington University, REPUBLICAN PUSHBACK Republican, Republican, Democratic, BIG, Oregon, Voters, Emporia State University, Referendum Locations: Maine, Ohio, University of Southern California, South Dakota, Mississippi, Alaska, Wyoming, Illinois, Florida, Arizona , Arkansas , Ohio, Arizona, Oregon, California, Kansas

☆ US attorneys general condemn credit-card firms for backtracking on gun sale code
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 16 (Reuters) - A coalition of 14 attorneys general condemned payment networks majors including Visa Inc (V.N), American Express Co (AXP.N) and Mastercard Inc (MA.N) for pausing work on a merchant code to help detect suspicious gun sales in the United States. Visa, Mastercard and American Express did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Senators Bob Menendez and Elizabeth Warren have also called on federal regulators to help speed up the adoption of the MCC by payment networks. The MCC, aimed at identifying firearms sellers, would identify the type of store where consumers shopped, though not the individual items they bought. Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Overall, the budget would increase federal spending in the twelve months starting in October to $6.8 trillion from the $6.2 trillion expected to be spent in the current fiscal year. Biden's budget proposal faces stiff opposition from Republican lawmakers emboldened by winning control of the House of Representatives in November's midterm elections. Biden, asked for areas of possible compromise with Republicans, told reporters at the White House: "We'll see what their budget is." Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget advocacy group, said the budget did not go nearly far enough to rein in dangerous debt levels. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan Washington think tank, said Biden deserved credit for for putting forward $3 trillion in deficit reduction.

☆ Visa, Mastercard pause work on new payments code for firearms sellers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Ross Kerber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved the new merchant category code (MCC) in September to help detect suspicious firearms and ammunition sales to combat gun violence. A Mastercard representative said on Thursday via email that such bills would cause "inconsistency" in how the code could be applied by merchants, banks and payment networks. "It's for that reason that we have decided to pause work on the implementation of the firearms-specific MCC," said the Mastercard representative, Seth Eisen. Accordingly, Visa is pausing implementation of the MCC," Visa said in a statement sent by a spokesperson. The moves mark a setback for gun-control activists, though the payment networks stopped short of saying they would reject the code outright.

☆ Economists, activists warn lawmakers of looming debt default if Congress cannot agree to raise the debt ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's, said an impending default would "be a catastrophic blow to the already fragile economy." "Given the dramatic reduction in government spending in this scenario and the already fragile economy, the economy suffers a recession in 2024. "Bond investors, unsure of how this legal uncertainty would be resolved would demand a much higher interest rate in compensation. In his opening remarks, Holtz-Eakin also said that skirting default would have "serious and adverse economic effects." "House Republicans don't seem concerned about the upcoming debt limit deadline," Warren said in her opening remarks.

☆ Clarence Thomas was still making student loan payments when he joined the Supreme Court — and a fellow Yale law student suggested he declare bankruptcy to avoid the 'crushing weight' of payments: book
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Sarah Al-Arshani | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court will hear two challenges to Biden's student loan debt relief plan on Tuesday. In 2007, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote about the "crushing weight" of student debt in his own life. In his 2007 memoir "My Grandfather's Son," Thomas, the court's longest-serving justice, spoke of the "crushing weight" of student debt from his time at Yale Law School. In August, Biden announced plans to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year. Biden's Education Department has begun reforming the process to make it easier, but right now, the main focus is the president's broad debt relief plan.

Share this -Link copied'It's too much for me': Zelenskyy begins speech by thanking U.S. Zelenskyy began his remarks before a joint meeting of Congress at 7:40 p.m. "I think we share the exact same vision, that of a free, independent and prosperous Ukraine," Biden said. The Ukrainian president added that the soldier told him that "many (of) his brothers, this system saved." President Joe Biden holds a medal presented to him by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Share this -Link copiedPhoto: Zelenskyy shakes hands with Biden as he arrives President Joe Biden welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House.

☆ Biden says Ukraine, COVID are priorities; Senate Democrats push for spending bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Steve Holland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Top U.S. Democrats said on Tuesday that securing more funding for Ukraine and COVID-19 and passing a full-year spending bill are priorities before Republicans take control of the House of Representatives early next year. Later in the day, top Senate Democrats said passing a full-year spending bill, known as an omnibus, was vital for national security. A commonly floated alternative, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, would effectively freeze spending at current levels. Republicans are split on whether to support an omnibus spending bill or a CR, top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell told reporters. On Ukraine, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who attended the talks with Biden, gave a taste of what to expect if he takes over as House speaker as he hopes.

☆ The student-loan forgiveness application is officially live, and your debt relief is now being processed
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Biden officially launched the application site for student-loan forgiveness on Monday. On Monday, Biden announced that the site to apply for student-loan forgiveness is officially live, following a beta test of the website conducted over the weekend. These are the federal loans that are eligible for relief, per the department:Undergraduate loansGraduate loansSpousal loansAnd parent PLUS and grad PLUS loans. The department recommends borrowers apply before mid-November to get the relief into their accounts before payments resume early next year, and student-loan companies will notify borrowers once the relief is processed. During his remarks, Biden maintained he has the legal standing to enact this broad debt relief and he called Republican pushback "wrong and hypocritical" during his remarks.

☆ Covid Aid Left Out of Stopgap Funding Bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Stephanie Armour | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Facing Republican pushback, Congressional Democrats opted not to include billions of dollars in new funding for Covid-19 and monkeypox vaccines. WASHINGTON—Congressional Democrats opted not to include billions of dollars in new funding for Covid-19 and monkeypox in a must-pass government-funding bill, frustrating Biden administration officials who have called new funding crucial to the federal health response. The request had faced an uphill fight in Congress, with Republicans largely opposing new money for Covid-19 on top of previous rounds of aid and questioning whether it was necessary with cases of both monkeypox and Covid-19 dropping.

☆ After Biden's student-loan forgiveness, Democrats move to 'improve the lives' of borrowers with a bill to make future debt easier to pay off
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Democrats introduced a bill to make student loans easier to pay off after Biden's debt relief. The bill would improve PSLF while lowering interest rates on new student loans. "Simply put, by making loans cheaper to take out and easier to pay off, the LOAN Act will help improve the lives of student-loan borrowers — both now and in the future." Specifically, according to a fact sheet, the Democrats' bill would:Double the Pell Grant by raising the maximum award over five years to $13,000. But Democrats are continuing to laud the loan forgiveness, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is on board with taking the relief further.

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