DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ More than 100 U.S. political elites have family links to slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Reuters Graphic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +46 min

Then the war came, and according to the family history, Union soldiers plundered Sessions’ 27-room house. About 48 years old at the time, he did not stand a chance to succeed without slavery, the family history suggests. ‘A Better Nation’Some historians and genealogists say there is a valuable reason for white leaders – and other white Americans – to explore their links to slavery. Nicka Sewell-Smith, a professional genealogist with the family history website Ancestry.com, said people frequently ask her what to do with such documents. The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Meeks said in an interview that he has spent years trying to trace his family history back before 1870.

Persons: Black, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton, James Lankford, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Joe Biden, –, Donald Trump –, Jimmy Carter, George W, Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Trump’s, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch –, Asa Hutchinson, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, James Clyburn, Henry McMaster, ”, Henry Louis Gates Jr, Gates, ” “, ” Gates, enslavers, Tony Burroughs, Biden, Obama, McConnell, Burroughs, Joseph Maddox, Maddox, Sela, Rubin, James, Sal, Sam ”, Graham, Graham didn’t, Nancy Mace, Drucilla, Drucilla Mace, John Mace, Hector Godbolt, John Mace’s, Godbolt, “, ” Nancy Mace, Henry Coe, Duckworth, Coe, Margaret, Isaac, Warner, George …, Isaac Franklin –, “ There’s, ” Duckworth, George Floyd, Donald Trump, ” Biden, ‘, ’, Ben Affleck, ” Affleck, Independent Angus King, Mo Brooks, ” Brooks, Sean Kelley, Kelley, White, don’t, wasn’t, Richard Sessions, Pete Sessions, Richard’s, William Sessions, John Cowger, Tom Cotton of, ” Cotton’s, Cowger, Cotton, Archibald Crawford, Juneteenth, Shaheen, Pocahontas, Edmond Dillehay, Peter ”, Milly, Lankford, ” Lankford, Joe Wilson, Stephen H, Wilson, Boineau, General David Addison Weisiger, Wilson –, Addison Graves Wilson –, Weisiger “, ” Wilson, Daniel Weisiger, Daniel Weisiger’s, Samuel, Samuel Weisiger, Daniel, Julia Brownley, Jesse Brownley, Brownley, ” Brownley, Thomas Ferguson, Brooks, Manumission, Marie Jenkins Schwartz, ” “ It’s, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, Harvard’s Gates, Sherman, Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Nicka Sewell, Smith, Ancestry.com, ” Sewell, LaBrenda Garrett, Nelson, Garrett, Rick Larsen, John Wiggins, Larsen, – Gilbura, George, Agg –, ” Larsen, Gilbura, Agg, Gregory Meeks, Meeks, Jim Crow South, – Meeks, – “, ” Meeks, “ I’m, I’m, Tom Bergin, Makini Brice, Nicholas P, Brown, Donna Bryson, Lawrence Delevingne, Brad Heath, Andrea Januta, Gui Qing Koh, Tom Lasseter, Grant Smith, Maurice Tamman, Catherine Tai Design, John Emerson, Jane Ross, Emma Jehle, Jeremy Schultz, Blake Morrison Organizations: Reuters, Republicans, U.S, Supreme, Republican, Harvard University, PBS, United States Congress, Representative, WikiLeaks, Sony, Facebook, White, FedEx, National Museum of, 117th, Independent, University of Essex, Geographic, American Economic, Pete Sessions, Sessions, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jeanne Shaheen U.S, CNN, Biden, Trump, ” Reuters, South, South Carolina General Assembly, Confederate, statehouse, Congressional, Chesterfield County, Mount Vernon College, George Washington University, Mo Brooks Former U.S, “, New York Times, United, Federal Government, Union, Black, Southern, Democrat, House Foreign Affairs, Klux Klan Locations: U.S, America, Confederate States, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Carolina, Congress, Black, Northern, Southern, Illinois, Virginia, Frederick County , Virginia, United States, Minnesota, ”, Mo Brooks of Alabama, American, Texas, Mississippi, Chicot County , Arkansas, Chicot County, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Yell County, Yell County , Arkansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tulsa, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Frankfurt, Germany, Chesterfield County , Virginia, California, Portsmouth , Virginia, Alabama, Haywood County , North Carolina, Antebellum, United States of America, Washington, Nicholas County , Kentucky, Queens , New York, New York, York County, Mende, Sierra Leone, Africa, Bunce

☆ More than 100 U.S. political leaders have ancestors who were slaveholders
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Lawrence Delevingne | Thomson Reuters | Delevingne Works Primarily On Enterprise Stories Related To Finance. He Joined Reuters In | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

At least 100 members of the last sitting Congress are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people, representing at least 8% of Democrats in Congress and 28% of Republicans. President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president except Donald Trump are direct descendants of slaveholders: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Governors of 11 of the 50 U.S. states in 2022 were descendants of slaveholders, as were two U.S. Supreme Court justices. The Congressional slaveholding ancestors were among the richest in America before the Civil War; three-quarters were among the richest 10%. In researching America’s political elite, Reuters found names of more than 700 people enslaved by ancestors of the leaders.

Persons: Black, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton, James Lankford, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Jimmy Carter, George W, Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama Organizations: Governors, Supreme, Reuters Locations: U.S, America

They include eight chief executives of the 11 states that formed the Confederate States of America, which seceded and waged war to preserve slavery. Although white people enslaved Black people in Northern states in early America, by the eve of the Civil War, slavery was almost entirely a Southern enterprise. South Carolina, where the Civil War began, illustrates the familial ties between lawmakers and the nation’s history of slavery. Each of the seven white lawmakers who served in the 117th Congress is a direct descendant of a slaveholder, Reuters found. In researching America’s political elite, Reuters found names – almost always just a first name – of 712 people enslaved by the ancestors of the political elite.

Persons: Black, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton, Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen, Joe Biden, –, Donald Trump –, Jimmy Carter, George W, Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch –, Asa Hutchinson, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, James Clyburn, Henry McMaster, ”, Henry Louis Gates Jr, Gates, ” “, ” Gates, enslavers, Tony Burroughs, Biden, Obama, McConnell, “ it’s, ” Burroughs, LINDSEY GRAHAM, Joseph Maddox, Maddox, Sela, Rubin, James, Sal, Sam ”, Graham, Graham didn’t, NANCY MACE, Nancy Mace, Drucilla Mace, John Mace, Hector Godbolt, John Mace’s, Godbolt, “, ” Nancy Mace, TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Duckworth, Henry Coe, Coe, Margaret, Isaac, Warner, George …, Isaac Franklin –, “ There’s, ” Duckworth, Tom Bergin, Makini Brice, Nicholas P, Brown, Donna Bryson, Lawrence Delevingne, Brad Heath, Andrea Januta, Gui Qing Koh, Tom Lasseter, Grant Smith, Maurice Tamman, Blake Morrison Organizations: U.S, Reuters, Republicans, Supreme, Republican, Harvard University, PBS, United States Congress, Geographic, Journalists, Black, Thomson Locations: America, U.S, Confederate States, Arkansas, North Dakota, Black, Northern, Southern, South Carolina, Congress, New Hampshire , Maine, Massachusetts, United States, Illinois, Virginia, Frederick County , Virginia

☆ Don't say anti-gay: As GOP approval for same-sex relationships plummets, Republican senators insist they're only coming after trans rights, not gay rights
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

GOP senators insist they don't hear about it from their voters — and that trans issues are different. "You mentioned that eight years ago, the Obergefell decision created a constitutional right to same-sex marriage," said Graham. Since the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision, same-sex marriage has largely faded as an issue targeted by Republicans, at least at the national level. "To be honest, I don't hear a lot about that issue," Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, one of the more eager Republican culture warriors, said of same-sex marriage. Still, support for the legality of same-sex marriage remains broadly popular — it's not the potent wedge issue it once was, such as during the 2004 presidential campaign when President George W. Bush campaigned on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Persons: —, Sen, Lindsey Graham of, Graham, Hodges, Josh Hawley, Hawley, George W, Bush, Cynthia Lummis, Ron DeSantis, Lummis, Drew Angerer, Thom Tillis, Republican Sen, you've, JD Vance, Ohio, Vance, it's, Anita Bryant's, Biden, Dr, Roger Marshall, Roger Marshall of, Marshall, I've Organizations: Pride, Service, Republican, Republicans, Gallup, Gov, Getty, Rights, House Locations: Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Wyoming, Florida, North Carolina, United States, statehouses, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Kansas

☆ He Tried to Save a Friend. They Charged Him With Murder.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Eli Saslow | Erin Schaff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Instead, they arrested and charged only one person, Askins, who had a criminal record of nonviolent drug offenses. His file showed that he had depression, anxiety and PTSD from being raped by a neighbor when he was 9. Mai left private practice and took a 40 percent pay cut to become a public defender in his home state because he wanted to work cases like this. He had imagined himself fighting for the underdog, standing and delivering in front of a jury like his idol, Clarence Darrow, whose trial victories helped advance the civil rights movement. In his almost two years as a public defender, he had never once taken a case to trial.

Persons: Greg Abbott, “, Marco Rubio, Mai, Suge ”, Drake, Askins, he’d, Clarence Darrow Organizations: Gov, Prosecutors, Republican, Oklahoma City Locations: Oklahoma, Texas, ”, Arkansas, Alaska , California, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, dumpsters

☆ US lawmakers urge FTC to finalize new consumer protections for car buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - A group of 17 Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday urged the Federal Trade Commission to finalize new consumer protections for car buyers despite objections from auto dealers who argue the rules would actually raise the cost of buying a car. They argued that "unfair and deceptive practices involving motor vehicle dealers have widespread consequences." The lawmakers said the FTC should require dealers to provide a legally enforceable "Offering Price" "that includes all pre-installed and mandatory add-on products" and finalize regulations prohibiting specific misrepresentations, among other reforms. The FTC wants to ban fees for add-on products and services that provide no consumer benefits like "nitrogen-filled" tires that contain no more nitrogen than normal air. "Dealers also pack vehicle sales with mandatory and price-inflated add-ons, increasing the cost and creating further confusion and uncertainty about a vehicle’s ultimate price," the lawmakers wrote.

Persons: Ed Markey, Ron Wyden, Cory Booker, Brian Schatz, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Pramila Jayapal, David Shepardson, Chris Reese, David Gregorio, Leslie Adler Organizations: Democratic U.S, Wednesday, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Reuters, National Automobile Dealers Association, Center for Automotive Research, Alliance, Automotive Innovation, General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Thomson

☆ Republicans Against Inequality
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Vance, the Ohio Republican, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts progressive, have collaborated on a bill to claw back executive pay at failed banks. The two worked through the details through in-person conversations, weekend phone calls and late-night texts. Rubio this month published a book, “Decades of Decadence,” that criticizes the past 30 years of globalization. Tomorrow afternoon, these four Republican senators — Cotton, Rubio, Vance and Young — will speak at an event on Capitol Hill that’s meant to highlight the emergence of a populist conservative movement in economics. Cass is right about that: Income growth for most families has been sluggish for decades, trailing well behind economic growth.

Persons: J.D, Vance, Elizabeth Warren, Marco Rubio, Rubio, Todd Young, Tom Cotton of, Biden, — Cotton, Young —, ”, Oren Cass, Mitt Romney, Cass, ” Cass Organizations: Ohio Republican, Todd Young of Indiana, Capitol, Conservative, American Locations: Massachusetts, Marco Rubio of Florida, Tom Cotton of Arkansas

☆ Opinion | If the Supreme Court Won’t Fix Its Ethics Mess, Congress Should
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Erwin Chemerinsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Last month, when the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on whether to impose an ethics code on the court, some of the Republican senators on the committee decried the effort as political. Liberals and conservatives should want a Supreme Court that is above reproach. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Richard Blumenthal, along with other Democrats, have introduced the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act. Among other things, it would require the Supreme Court to adopt a code of conduct within 180 days of the bill’s enactment. It also would create a transparent process for the public to submit ethics complaints against justices, to be reviewed by a random panel of chief judges.

Persons: Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan, Antonin Scalia, Neil Gorsuch, Sheldon Whitehouse, Richard Blumenthal Organizations: Bloomberg Law, Republican

WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - The battle to raise the U.S. debt ceiling rekindled debate in Congress over funding for Ukraine, as House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday he had no immediate plans to take up legislation to boost defense spending beyond what was in last week's deal. McCarthy's comments could signal a tougher road through Congress when President Joe Biden next asks for additional funds for Ukraine. However, McCarthy, who negotiated the agreement with Biden, said he would not automatically allow a vote on supplemental spending legislation in the Republican-led House. SOME SENATE REPUBLICANS DISAGREEHowever, some Republican senators still said they believed a supplemental spending bill would be necessary. McCarthy said he supported Ukraine and helping Ukraine to defeat the Russian invasion but would want more information before moving ahead.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, Joe Biden, Lawmakers, Biden, McCarthy, Susan Collins, Patricia Zengerle, Bill Berkrot, Jamie Freed Organizations: Ukraine, Kyiv, Republicans, Democratic, Republican, Department of Defense, Capitol, SOME, House Republicans, Democrats, House, Thomson Locations: Congress, Ukraine, Russian, Russia

☆ Tim Scott's campaign kicks off with more cash than his rivals
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Bridget Bowman | Bridget Bowman Is A Deputy Editor For Nbc'S Political Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., may not have the highest poll numbers, but he kicks off his presidential campaign flush with another precious campaign resource: money. Scott is likely entering the 2024 race with more cash than his GOP rivals. The senator's federal campaign committee had $21.9 million in its account as of March 31, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election. Former President Donald Trump's campaign had $13.9 million in its account, while biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has largely self-funded his campaign, had $9.4 million on hand. Those senators had between $2.2 million (Graham) and $4.1 million (Rubio) in their presidential or Senate campaign accounts before launching their runs for the White House.

☆ House Republicans are planning to vote on a bill this week to deprive over '40 million hard-working' student-loan borrowers of debt cancellation, the White House says — and if passed, Biden will veto
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Republicans are planning to bring a bill overturning student-debt relief to the House floor for a vote this week. The White House said in a Monday statement that Biden will veto the bill if it makes it to his desk. "This resolution is an unprecedented attempt to undercut our historic economic recovery and would deprive more than 40 million hard-working Americans of much-needed student debt relief," the OMB said. Biden's broad debt relief plan has been blocked since November due to two conservative-backed lawsuits that paused the implementation of the plan. While the resolution could pass the House given the Republican majority, if faces a much trickier path in the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House.

May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate is expected to vote Thursday on whether to confirm President Joe Biden's nominee to a federal appeals court a day after Senator Joe Manchin became the first one of Biden's fellow Democrats to vote against one of his judicial picks. Her confirmation faced a new obstacle on Wednesday night when Manchin, a moderate Democrat, broke ranks to oppose advancing her nomination. Her nomination advanced Wednesday on a 50-48 vote after two Republican senators did not participate, teeing it up for final consideration by the full Senate. If Manchin again opposes Abudu during the final vote on her confirmation, Vice President Kamala Harris could be called in to break a tie. That court flipped to a majority of Republican-appointed judges under then-President Donald Trump, who picked six of the 11 active judges.

☆ JD Vance defends Trump's comments that Republicans should let the US default, saying the former president was giving 'political advice' and doing 'fundamentally the right thing'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. JD Vance defended Trump's comments to Axios, saying he was just giving "political advice." "I say to the Republicans out there, congressmen and senators, if they don't give you massive cuts you are going to have to do a default," Trump said. Sen. JD Vance argued that Trump was just trying to help his party. Vance told Axios that "what the president is doing is really giving political advice ... not financial advice." GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, for example, told Axios that he disagreed with Trump's comments and that "there is no world in which [a default] happens."

☆ Ted Cruz accused JD Vance of empowering 'the radical Green Movement' by aligning with Democrats on a bill to prevent rail disasters like the East Palestine crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

JD Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, proposed the Rail Safety Act in March. "All of us were moved by the testimony of the witnesses" from East Palestine, Cruz said. "We cannot undo the psychological, economic, and physical toll of the derailment in East Palestine," Vance noted, but "there will be another East Palestine in this country if we do not pass the Railway Safety Act." "I earnestly hoped that we would reach a bipartisan consensus," Cruz said, but "this bill is overly and needlessly prescriptive." Nonetheless, Cruz doubted the bill would pass the Senate with 60 votes, let alone the House.

☆ Credit card companies need to explain the 'exorbitant' late fees they're charging customers, says Elizabeth Warren
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to know if credit card companies stand with the banks. Currently, credit card companies are permitted to fine consumers up to $41 for each missed credit card payment — no questions asked. The other nine credit card companies Warren sent the letter to did not immediately reply to a request for comment. She wanted to know why reducing credit card late fees would be any different. Warren also asked each credit card company to answer how much money they collect in credit card fees each year — and the proportion from low-income earners — and the actual cost of collecting those fees.

☆ Mitch McConnell says he 'would love to have had' Kyrsten Sinema caucus with Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Despite leaving the Democratic Party, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema says she'll never become a Republican. McConnell added that the "decision was made" when she decided to keep caucusing with Democrats. The Arizona senator, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent in December, nonetheless continues to informally caucus with her old colleagues, at least on paper. But in an interview with CNN published on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged that he would welcome Sinema to the Senate Republican conference — but that there's no active discussion of the idea. "I mean, I just, I'm laughing because I literally just spent time explaining how broken the two parties are," Sinema added.

☆ Republicans dismiss fears that their debt ceiling bill would make the housing crisis worse for 1 million families as 'scaremongering'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

House Republicans' debt ceiling bill would cut significant funding from federal housing services. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said the agency would suffer "the most devastating impacts in HUD's history" if the funding cuts in the bill are made law. He went on, "It's being positioned as congressional Republicans are heartless because they want to pass these spending cuts. "The House bill reduces spending to the levels we had in 2022. The last I checked, 2022 was not a horrid apocalypse sweeping across our country," Cruz told Insider on Wednesday.

☆ Opinion | Dianne Feinstein Has to Act
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Without Senator Dianne Feinstein, there might never have been an assault weapons ban in 1994. Or the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994. Her absence is a failure that deprives American voters of full representation on legislation and appointments that will affect them for decades to come. (Proxy voting is allowed in the committee, but a proxy cannot be the decisive vote if the committee is otherwise evenly divided, as it often is.) Ms. Feinstein offered to step away from the committee, but Republican senators blocked any effort at appointing a temporary replacement.

☆ US proposes new checks on land sales to foreigners near military bases
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - Buying land near eight U.S. military bases could become more difficult for foreign companies and citizens under a Treasury Department rule proposed by the Biden administration on Friday. Grand Forks Air Force Base houses air and space operations and includes a unit that operates military drones. The Air Force, Republican senators and community members voiced opposition to the real estate deal. The Grand Forks City Council in February voted to terminate its development agreement with Fufeng, preventing it from building the mill. North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer welcomed news of the proposed rule, which could have blocked the land sale to Fufeng.

☆ '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.

☆ Sen. JD Vance defends Tucker Carlson over leaked 'how white men fight' text: 'He says far more controversial things publicly every single day'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Tucker Carlson bemoaned that a group of Trump supporters didn't fight like "white men," per a leaked text. "By the way, I don't think that's why he was fired," the Ohio senator added. "I don't know why that would justify somebody getting fired, especially when you're talking about a private text message." "I'm highly skeptical that text message caused them to fire Tucker Carlson. "Once a week, I worry that something terrible will happen to Tucker Carlson," said Vance.

☆ This GOP senator declared DeSantis the 'leader of the Republican Party.' Despite his recent struggles, she still thinks that holds true.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sen. Cynthia Lummis declared that Ron DeSantis was the "current leader" of her party in November. Ron DeSantis — not former President Donald Trump — was the "current leader of the Republican Party." That's why I think he's the leader of the party." Her initial November comments in support of DeSantis came on the heels of a poor midterm performance that many in the party blamed on Trump. In 2020, the party notably opted not to adopt a platform, citing pandemic-era restrictions and its "strong support" for Trump.

☆ Trump's Senate backers are fine with him skipping 2024 primary debates: 'Most of it's for entertainment anyway'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Trump is threatening to skip 2024 primary debates, and his Senate backers are just fine with that. In brief interviews with Insider at the Capitol on Tuesday, some of the 11 Republican senators who've endorsed Trump backed him up on those arguments. He famously skipped a primary debate before the 2016 Iowa caucus, allowing other candidates to criticize him without him being able to respond. Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, announced in April that the first GOP primary debate would be held in August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On Sunday, when asked about Trump's threat to skip the debates, she said simply that it was "his choice."

☆ Cannabis stocks light up after a group of lawmakers again seeks to protect banks that work with legal marijuana businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Cannabis stocks jumped Thursday as lawmakers sought again to pass a bill to protect banks that work with legal pot firms. The SAFE Banking Act of 2023 was refiled by Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate. The Secure and Fair Enforcement, or SAFE, Banking Act was refiled late Wednesday by House and Senate lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties. They say the proposal is aimed at dealing with safety concerns stemming from legal cannabis businesses being locked out of banking services. Merkley said there's now a path for the first time for the SAFE Banking Act to move through the Senate Banking Committee and to a Senate floor vote.

☆ US official says Chinese cloud companies like Huawei could pose threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday that Chinese cloud computing companies like Huawei Cloud and Alibaba Cloud (9988.HK) could pose a threat to U.S. security and vowed to review a request to add them to an export control list. A group of nine Republican senators on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to impose sanctions on Huawei Technologies Co's (HWT.UL) cloud unit, Alibaba Cloud and other Chinese cloud service providers. They want Raimondo to add the companies to the Entity List, which imposes U.S. export controls on foreign companies. Raimondo said the Chinese cloud companies could pose a threat. In May 2019, the Commerce Department added Huawei to the export control list over U.S. security concerns.

Search resuls for: "Republican Senators"

25 mentions found