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☆ Bill would give Biden new powers to prepare for the next pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN Business —The Covid-19 pandemic exposed glaring weaknesses in America’s medical supply chains, causing a frantic scramble for masks, respirators and other gear needed to fight the virus. Now, a bipartisan effort in Congress is attempting to boost medical supply chain resilience and ease the country’s reliance on less friendly nations like China for critical medical supplies – before the next disaster strikes. The bill aims to improve supply chain resilience by giving the White House the ability to diversify and expand supply networks while simultaneously eliminating unneeded trade barriers. Earlier this month, the White House hailed the end of the supply chain nightmare that had sent consumer prices surging and left some store shelves empty. The administration released a scorecard that indicated dozens of recommendations from a 2021 supply chain review have been implemented, including some related to strained medical supply chains.

Persons: Democratic Sen, Tom Carper, Republican Sen, Thom Tillis, Joe Biden, America’s “, “, ” Carper, Tillis, Carper, ” Tillis Organizations: New York CNN Business, Democratic, Republican, CNN, White House, International Trade, Global Competitiveness, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, Reliance, Trade Organization, GE Healthcare, House, Department of Health, Human Services, United States Trade, Trade, Force Locations: China, United States, America, Covid, Mexico, Malaysia, Shanghai

Here's what some Republican lawmakers are saying today about Trump:Sen. Lindsey Graham acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations of mishandling of classified documents laid out in the federal indictment of Donald Trump. Graham also invoked classified documents investigations into President Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Graham said he would continue to support Trump, but would not clarify if he'd keep supporting Trump should the former president be convicted. "I intend to support the president," Graham, adding he doesn't think the case will go to trial before the election. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, attacked the Biden administration ahead of the arraignment of Trump this afternoon.

Persons: Steve Scalise, Francis Chung, Donald Trump, Sen, Lindsey Graham, Graham, Biden, Hillary Clinton, CNN's Manu Raju, Trump, Thom Tillis, “, ”, Tillis, Donald J, Chuck Grassley, ” Scalise, Scalise, Joe Biden's, Eric Schmitt, ” Trump, Schmitt, ” Schmitt Organizations: Republican, Trump, Presidential Records, Presidential, ”, United, Biden Locations: United States, Missouri, Trump

☆ Biden, McCarthy aim to break US debt-ceiling standoff as default crisis looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Analysts do not expect an immediate deal to avert a historic default, which the Treasury Department has warned could come as soon as June 1. Forecasters warn a default would likely send the U.S. economy into deep recession with soaring unemployment. Outside observers including people who have participated in past fiscal negotiations and business lobby groups have laid out a range of potential compromises largely revolving around extending the debt ceiling past the November 2024 presidential elections while freezing spending. But it is not catastrophic," Democratic Senator Chris Coons said, referring to past shutdowns, adding, "default would be catastrophic." Worries about the standoff have already started to weigh on financial markets, but a default would have a far more immediate effect on average Americans.

☆ 'High wire act': U.S. Congress gears up for immigration reform as Title 42 ends
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

It has been 37 years since Congress passed significant immigration reform, but a persistently high volume of migrants and an acute labor shortage have galvanized lawmakers. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said the end of Title 42 "sets the table" for Congress to craft new border-control laws as Republicans predict a wave of new arrivals. STARS ALIGNINGThe U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business association, has launched a campaign urging Congress to act. Republicans argue that is where the border security component comes in. Finally, passage of an immigration bill coupled with beefed-up border security could boost President Joe Biden's re-election campaign and give Republican candidates something to cheer too.

☆ Top Senate Democrats push for new ethics rules in wake of Clarence Thomas report as Republicans defend justice
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Manu Raju | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Plus some Democrats on the panel, like Sen. Dick Blumenthal, want to go much further than Durbin in the Thomas probe – exposing divisions within the ranks. “I hope that Chief Justice Roberts reads his story this morning and understands something has to be done,” Durbin told CNN. “The reputation of the Supreme Court is at stake here. “The drip, drip, drip of these destructive disclosures is going to destroy the United States Supreme Court unless there is an effective proper investigation,” he said. “The court is responsible for their own guidelines in that regard,” Romney told CNN.

☆ ProPublica: GOP megadonor paid private school tuition for grandnephew of Justice Clarence Thomas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A Texas billionaire and GOP megadonor paid boarding school tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ grandnephew, and the justice did not report the financial assistance for the child he helped raised on his annual disclosures, according to a new ProPublica report – the latest revelation raising ethical questions around the high court. The ProPublica report on Thursday revealed that the billionaire Harlan Crow paid tuition for Mark Martin, who lived with Thomas’ family as a child and for whom the justice became a legal guardian. ProPublica cited a 2009 bank statement and an interview with a former administrator at the Georgia boarding school Martin attended. The former administrator at the school, Hidden Lake Academy, told ProPublica that Crow paid for Martin’s tuition for the year or so Martin was at the boarding school. The administrator said, according to ProPublica, that he had been told by Crow that Crow also paid for Martin’s tuition at another school, the Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia, which is Crow’s alma mater.

☆ Biden should sanction Huawei Cloud, other Chinese firms -senators
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - A group of nine Republican senators on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to impose sanctions on Huawei Cloud and other Chinese cloud service providers, citing national security concerns, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The senators said Huawei Cloud launched its "Sky Computing Constellation" in co-sponsorship with Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute also known as "Spacety China" in 2021. Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK), did not immediately comment. Reuters reported in January 2022 that the Biden administration was reviewing the cloud business of e-commerce giant Alibaba to determine whether it poses a risk to U.S. national security. The letter said the Biden administration should consider further investigation or actions against China’s other cloud service providers including Baidu Cloud and Tencent Cloud which may impact U.S. national security.

WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - Democratic and Republican U.S. senators urged the Biden administration on Friday to share information with the International Criminal Court that could assist as it pursues war crimes charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last week, the court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The legal move will obligate the court's 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory. Although the United States is not a party to the ICC, Biden said last week that Putin has clearly committed war crimes, adding that the ICC warrant was justified. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Liz Cheney blasts DeSantis over his comments about Russia's invasion of Ukraine: 'Weakness is Putin's greatest weapon'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The governor told Tucker Carlson in a statement that the war should not be a priority for the US. "This is not 'a territorial dispute,'" Cheney said in a statement to The New York Times. Ron DeSantis in a statement Tuesday, saying the Governor was "wrong" for his comments on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "Weakness is provocative and American officials who advocate this type of weakness are Putin's greatest weapon. Abandoning Ukraine would make broader conflict, including with China and other American adversaries, more likely," Cheney said in the statement to the Times.

☆ Mitch McConnell slams Fox News — but spares Kevin McCarthy — over Tucker Carlson's depiction of January 6 footage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Bryan Metzger | Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mitch McConnell slammed Fox News for airing Tucker Carlson's misleading portrayal of January 6. He held up a letter from the Capitol Police chief calling the depiction "offensive and misleading." But he notably declined to fault House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for handing over the footage. At the top of his weekly press conference at the Capitol, McConnell produced a print-out of an internal letter from US Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manager describing the footage as "offensive and misleading." But he later declined to criticize House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for handing over 40,000 hours of footage to Carlson in the first place.

In North Carolina, party activists are seeking to punish Republican Senator Thom Tillis for his support for same-sex marriage rights. North Carolina State Representative Mark Brody, who supports censuring Sen. Tillis, says it is better to address differences directly. Law, who served as a senior member of Trump's 2016 and 2020 campaigns in Nevada, and the county party did not respond to requests for comment. Although Tillis retains support among the party establishment, Jim Womack, a county party chair, says the Senator’s critics are gaining strength. “The North Carolina Republican party will eventually be decentralized to the point where the grassroots will actually run the party,” Womack said.

☆ A growing group of lawmakers think TikTok is 'digital fentanyl' and want to ban it. Many others remain skeptical.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Some members of Congress have begun pushing to ban TikTok in the US. "I'm a little less enthusiastic about an all-out ban of it," said Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. "I'm an incrementalist on a lot of things, and I would be on this as well," said Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on social media and the internet's impact on children. Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, another committee member, said she's most concerned about how social media platforms are impacting kids.

☆ Republicans are mostly ignoring a $9.4 million sexual assault lawsuit against the Trump-aligned head of CPAC
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

A GOP staffer accused CPAC head Matt Schlapp of sexually assaulting him, filing a $9.4 million lawsuit. A screenshot of the staffer's texts with Matt Schlapp on the morning after the assault on October 20, 2022. "I had a private life before Matt Schlapp, and I want to have that life post-Matt Schlapp," he said. "Those are simply allegations, and I'm not going to comment on them," said Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee. "All matters pertaining to CPAC, I leave to CPAC internally," he said when asked if Matt Schlapp should remain atop the organization.

☆ Judge in FTX bankruptcy case rejects motion to remove elite NYC lawyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —One of America’s elite white-collar law firms has emerged as a contentious figure in the complex FTX saga. A judge ruled that the bankrupt crypto platform could retain Sullivan & Cromwell as legal counsel, overruling objections from FTX customers who accused the firm of conflicts of interest. Then FTX’s former top lawyer supported the motion in a court filing, which included additional allegations that one of his former colleagues improperly funneled FTX business to Sullivan & Cromwell. Friedberg alleged that that lawyer funneled business to Sullivan & Cromwell, hoping to curry favor with the firm to which he hoped to eventually return. Earlier this month, a group of US senators also raised objections to Sullivan & Cromwell’s participation in the FTX bankruptcy.

REUTERS/Tom BrennerWASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Over 200 advocates from around the United States converged on Capitol Hill this week with an 11th-hour mission: persuade lawmakers to provide citizenship to "Dreamer" immigrants who illegally entered the United States as children. Addinelly Moreno Soto, a 31-year-old communications aide who came to the United States from Mexico at age 3, trekked to the Capitol from San Antonio with her husband hoping to meet with her state's U.S. Senator John Cornyn, an influential Republican whose support could help advance a deal that has eluded Congress for more than a decade. The end-of-year push comes as a window is closing for Congress to find a compromise to protect "Dreamers", many of whom speak English and have jobs, families and children in the United States but lack permanent status. Tillis himself has been skeptical about whether Congress will have time to pass the legislation before the year’s end.

☆ Advocates Urge Congress to Pass Permanent Residency Status for Afghans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesConvincing Republican senatorsThe House version of the Afghan Adjustment Act has 143 co-sponsors, including 10 Republicans. Demonstrators gather to support Afghan evacuees outside the Capitol on Nov. 16, 2022. At the moment, one prospect to advance the Afghan Adjustment Act is by attaching it to that larger spending bill, advocates say. But negotiations on the omnibus are ongoing, and whether the Afghan Adjustment Act will be included is up in the air. Yet without a deal by then, passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act appears doomed, advocates say, keeping Afghan evacuees in perpetual legal limbo.

President Joe Biden signed legislation Tuesday to codify federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages in a ceremony at the White House. Biden also quoted directly from a 2012 interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press" in which he came out in public support of same-sex marriage ahead of then-President Barack Obama. The legislation Biden signed was drafted by a bipartisan group led by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., the first openly gay person elected to the Senate. President Joe Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday. The amendment included language saying that religious organizations would not be required to perform same-sex marriages and that the federal government would not be required to protect polygamous marriages.

☆ Effort to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas will only complicate the immigration puzzle
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

They want the incoming Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee to launch an impeachment investigation of Mayorkas ASAP in early January. While their alleged crimes are very different, any impeachment effort against Mayorkas would likely end similarly: Belknap was acquitted in a Senate trial. Democrats, controlling the Senate majority, would surely do the same if Republicans could even muster the majority needed to impeach Mayorkas. McCarthy would rather just see Mayorkas resign, although there’s no indication Mayorkas will. “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure.

☆ Business groups optimistic Congress may finally strike immigration deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Shannon-Pettypiece-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Shannon Pettypiece | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON — Some of the largest business groups in Washington are making a last-ditch effort to get Congress to pass immigration legislation before the end of the year and are optimistic a bipartisan agreement could fall into place. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., began circulating the contours of a possible deal. Businesses have been calling on Congress to change the immigration system and make it easier for them to hire foreign workers for years, but the situation has grown increasingly dire since the pandemic. We hope it can be successful.”Republicans who have been involved in past efforts to change immigration laws poured cold water on the Sinema-Tillis push. I appreciate them working on it — there’s a deal to be done down the road — but it’s not money, it’s policy.”

Sinema herself, however, said she would not caucus with the Republican Party, according to an interview Politico published on Friday. It will be up to Senate Democrats to foil Republican initiatives. Sinema and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin have kept Washington in suspense over the last two years as they repeatedly withheld needed votes for legislation sought by Biden. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) walks from her hideaway office to the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. August 2, 2022. Just this week, Sinema and Republican Senator Thom Tillis unveiled an immigration reform plan that is getting bipartisan attention in the Senate.

WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation Thursday that enshrines federal protections for marriages of same-sex and interracial couples. Thirty-nine House Republicans supported the legislation Thursday and one voted present. The revisions to the bill meant the House had to vote again after passing an earlier version in July. It reflects the rapidly growing U.S. public support for legal same-sex marriage, which hit a new high of 71% in June, according to Gallup tracking polls — up from 27% in 1996. In the Senate, 12 Republicans voted with unanimous Democrats to pass the bill, which sent it back to the House.

☆ Mitch McConnell could've tried to block a bill to protect same-sex marriage. He stayed silent about it instead.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mitch McConnell never publicly offered his position on a bill to protect same-sex marriage. Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina on amendments to the bill, told Insider. "You know, the leader has to look at his conference," Tillis told Insider, referencing his own time as the Speaker of the North Carolina House. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a conservative opponent of the bill, told Insider that "of course" he wished McConnell had taken a vocal position on the bill. As Sinema stood up to embrace the Iowa Republican, McConnell rose from his seat and voted no.

But first: The results from five counties will help tell us if Democrat Raphael Warnock is on track to win tonight’s Senate runoff in Georgia. Warnock got 56.9% of the vote in Cobb when he won the Jan. 2021 runoff, and he got just under that last November (56.8%). And in Gwinnett, Warnock got 60.6% of the vote in the 2021 runoff, compared with 58.9% last month against Walker. In rural Chattooga — one of NBC News’ “County to County” counties — Warnock got just 20.5% when he won the 2021 runoff, and he got less than that in the November general election (19.8%). Data Download: The number of the day is … $7.79 billionThat’s how much money was spent on political television, radio and digital ads this entire cycle (starting the day after the 2021 Georgia Senate runoff through today’s runoff), per AdImpact.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan Senate duo has launched a last-minute push to enact immigration reform before the end of the year. Under the proposal, the boost in border security would include higher salaries for border patrol agents, and increased staffing and other resources for border patrol and border protection. “They have clearly found a successful equation here," the Senate aide said. If they can strike a deal, pro-immigration reform members are hoping to attach their proposal to a bill to keep the government funded that must pass later this month. I’ve been in touch w/ my colleagues & will carefully review their proposal,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., tweeted on Monday.

☆ Factbox: Who are 12 U.S. Senate Republicans who voted to protect same-sex marriage?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here is what they said about supporting the Respect for Marriage Act, which some social conservatives object to:SUSAN COLLINS, MAINECollins is one of the most moderate Senate Republicans. LISA MURKOWSKI, ALASKAMurkowski, a moderate Senate Republican, was the third Republican senator in 2013 to come out in support of same-sex marriage. DAN SULLIVAN, ALASKASullivan said he disagreed with the 2015 Supreme Court decision that established the national right to same-sex marriage. CYNTHIA LUMMIS, WYOMINGAlthough she also believes in "traditional" marriage, Lummis said she believed the separation of church and state was more important than individual religious opinions. She told Politico that although she believes "in traditional marriage," her stance evolved with growing popular support for same-sex marriage.

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