(WASHINGTON) — Roughly a dozen Texas Democrats who fled their state to come to Washington met Thursday in a Capitol Hill basement with the Senate Democrat who holds the key vote in Congress on voting rights legislation, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin.
But apparently, the subject of Manchin making an exception to the Senate’s filibuster rule for voting rights never came up.
Emerging from the hour-long meeting, Manchin told reporters, “It was a very good meeting. It was a very informative meeting, and basically, we’ve all come to a total agreement that what we want is basically to protect voting rights. That’s it. A voting rights bill with guardrails. That’s all.”
The centrist Democratic senator, who has refused to support an exception to the filibuster rule requiring 60 votes to move forward on most legislation in the 50-50 Senate, said that hot topic pushed by many voting rights activists wasn’t even discussed.
“A filibuster doesn’t need to (happen),” Manchin insisted after the meeting, claiming, “There shouldn’t be a Democrat or a Republican that wouldn’t or couldn’t or shouldn’t vote for something that truly just only deals with voting and the rights of voters.”
Later, the Texas Democrats confirmed to reporters that the filibuster indeed wasn’t mentioned, saying that was by design.
“I think enough people have discussed the filibuster with Joe Manchin. That’s the elephant sitting in the room. Everybody knows what the deal is,” said state Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso, the now-former speaker pro tempore of the Texas House after Republicans voted to strip him of that title.
The meeting comes a day after President Joe Biden made an impassioned speech calling Republican efforts to restrict voting rights an “assault on democracy” but didn’t mention Manchin or the Senate filibuster rule.
Manchin said he is working on legislation, but it is not clear if that would be a new effort, or if it would be the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, designed to restore and modernize the 1960s era- process of “pre-clearance” by the Justice Department that protected minority populations from discriminatory laws in states with a history of discrimination.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down a section of the federal Voting Rights Act that voided that pre-clearance process as outdated.
And Texas Democrats said they are “100%” confident that what Manchin is trying to do will protect what they want to accomplish.
“We were encouraged by his comments and I think we know what his path is and it’s to focus on something a lot more narrower than S.1 and to focus on something that specifically addresses voting rights and pre-clearance,” said state Sen. Carol Alvarado, referencing the sweeping election reform bill — calling for expanded mail-in and absentee voting, requiring automatic voter registration, and major campaign finance and ethics reforms — that the Senate voted down last month.
But whether there is sufficient bipartisan support for narrower legislation is also unclear, though Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski has said she will help rally her conference to back the effort.
Getting legislation through the Senate at this time would be extraordinarily difficult with infrastructure and budget bills expected to consume months of floor time starting next week.
ABC News’ Alisa Wiersama contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — As the first round of monthly child tax credits hit Americans’ bank accounts Thursday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris took a victory lap at the White House, speaking about the “historic day” for American families and emphasizing the sea change the payments could represent for millions of American children living in poverty.
“Today, for families all over our country, for children all over our country, help is here,” Harris said, before introducing the president. “This has never happened before. And America, yes, it is a big deal.”
Biden and Harris marked the rollout of checks and direct deposits from the child tax credit with a White House event featuring Americans set to benefit. Both leaders nodded to those families in their remarks.
“This has the potential to reduce child poverty in the same way that the Social Security reduced poverty for the elderly,” Biden said.
With the policy, families making less than $150,000 a year and single parents making less than $112,500 are now eligible for a credit of up to $3,600 per child. Payments will be going out to 39 million households, according to the IRS.
Biden frequently touted the payments as a “middle-class tax cut,” saying it’s geared toward “the folks who are struggling, or just looking for a little bit, as my dad would say, a little bit of breathing room.”
“Ninety-seven percent of the children receiving this credit come from working families, and the other 3% include kids being raised by retired grandparents or by someone with a serious disability,” he said.
Those families who qualify for the credit, which was expanded as part of Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, will receive monthly payments without taking any further action. Initial eligibility will be based on 2019 or 2020 tax returns, the IRS has said.
“I think this will be one of the things that the Vice President and I will be most proud of when our terms are up,” Biden added.
The president also took the chance from the bully pulpit to put pressure on Congress to extend the tax cut — since it’s set to expire in after a year.
“These tax cut payments are arriving automatically. But it didn’t happen automatically,” Biden said.
Through Democrats’ $3.5 trillion human infrastructure plan, the tax credit could get an extension. Biden argued the case, speaking directly to lawmakers.
“We shouldn’t let taxes go up on working families. We shouldn’t let child poverty continue to stain the conscience or drag down our economy. And so, I say to my colleagues in Congress: this tax cut for working families is something we should extend, not end next year,” he continued. “So I say to my colleagues in Congress. This tax cut for working families is something we should extend not end next year. And I say to all of you watching. Make sure your family, friends and community know about this tax cut.”
The latest expansion under Biden increased the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,000 for children over 6, and to $3,600 for children under 6.
While Biden laid out the mechanics of the payments in his remarks, he did not give a plan to reach families whose income is so low that they don’t usually pay taxes. The Treasury Department has estimated that automatic payments will go out to 88% of childrens’ families nationwide, but that leaves about 7.8 million children whose families would have to sign up to receive the payments. He urged families to visit Childtaxcredit.gov, but questions remain about the administration’s overall outreach effort.
Biden closed his remarks by highlighting some of his achievements in office, linking the “groundbreaking effort” of the child tax credit to the “wartime effort” to get Americans vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We’re proving that democracy can deliver for people and deliver in a timely way — saving lives, improving lives, helping fuel record-setting recovery, giving working families a fighting chance again,” he said.
(AUSTIN) — While the focus in Texas politics is on state legislators and a stalled special session, the speculation over Matthew McConaughey’s possible run for governor of Texas continues to garner steady interest.
The Academy Award-winning actor has teased the idea of a potential 2022 gubernatorial run for months but more recently called it “an honest consideration.”
“What an awesome privilege, an awesome responsibility, awesome position of sacrifice and service,” McConaughey said about the potential run while featured on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in May. “It’s something I’m trying to look in the eye and give honest consideration.”
In March, he told GMA3’s T.J. Holmes simply that it’s a “consideration.”
“It’s consideration until it’s anything else. I’m weighing my options again about what is my role going forward,” he said.
The buzz around McConaughey’s entrance into politics comes as his state of Texas was thrust into the spotlight this week over Republican-backed efforts to revise the state’s election and voting laws, causing a large group of state Democratic Representatives to flee the state in an effort to block the bill by breaking quorum.
But even if McConaughey were to run, questions remain about the type of politician he might be. According to reporting by ABC Austin affiliate KVUE, the actor has only voted twice in Texas since 2012 — in the 2018 and 2020 general elections, as indictated by state voting records — and there is no record of him making campaign donations at the state or national level. He has also declined to say whether he would run as a Democrat or a Republican, the affiliate reported.
Although he lacks political experience, McConaughey has taught film production at his alma mater, the University of Texas, Austin, since 2015. During the pandemic, he created a tutorial on how to make a DIY face-mask. And when a deadly ice storm tore through Texas, McConaughey hosted a virtual benefit, enlisting help from his Hollywood friends to raise millions through his Just Keep Livin’ Foundation.
McConaughey wouldn’t be the first person to make the transition from the world of entertainment to politics. Former President Donald Trump and Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ran successful bids, but star status, while helpful, doesn’t ensure victory. Olympic Gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner is seeking to use her celebrity status to oust California Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election but has failed to gain momentum. In 2018, Soap opera star Antonio Sabato Jr. was unsuccessful in his bid for a California congressional seat as was Cynthia Nixon when she tried to unseat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Still, politicians have been closely looking out for McConaughey’s next move. The incumbent, Gov. Greg Abbott, said during an appearance on Fox News last week that he’s not dismissing McConaughey as a competitor. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is also taking McConaughey’s potential bid seriously, saying on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show last month that “a good-looking, charming, affable movie star can be a really formidable candidate on the ballot.”
“And I hope that doesn’t happen, but you know what? He’s going to have to make his own decision whether he’s going to run or not,” Cruz said.
The 2022 Texas gubernatorial election will take place on Nov. 8, 2022, with Abbott seeking reelection for a third term.
While it is unclear whether McConaughey will jump into the race, he would need to file a candidate declaration of intent by Dec. 13.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden lunched with Democrats on Capitol Hill Wednesday as the party proceeds with the delicate task of crafting two separate pieces of legislation worth a combined $4.1 trillion in new spending.
Biden’s attendance at the lunch comes following a late-night announcement from Democratic Senate leaders that they had agreed on a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, the first step in unlocking a process that could allow Democrats to pass some of Biden’s American Families plan priorities without any Republican support.
In an hour-long lunch meeting behind closed doors, Senate Democrats peppered Biden with questions about the new budget blueprint and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, according to numerous attendees.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with the chairman of the Budget Committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and panel member Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who has fought to reign in the broader legislation, walked the president and caucus through the outlines of the $4.1 trillion in proposed new spending.
According to a senior Democratic aide, the budget proposal includes an extension of the child tax credit expansion first carved out in March’s COVID-19 relief bill. Families with children under 6 years old receive $3,600 per year per child under that expansion and families of older children receive $3,000 per child.
The resolution also includes funding for a variety of climate initiatives, support for universal Pre-K, affordable child care, community college and paid family leave, and investments in affordable housing and small businesses, among other provisions.
Sanders said there is also “at least $120 billion” for immigration reform expected in the final product.
To pay for the massive package, Democrats are proposing raising taxes on the wealthy and big corporations, but won’t tax families making under $400,000, the aide said.
Sanders praised the resolution Wednesday as “the most consequential program in modern history of this country,” but the plan does fall significantly short of the $6 trillion he initially insisted on.
One senator who attended lunch with the president said Sanders gave an effusive speech regarding his former rival, saying he never imagined Biden would be “so progressive.”
“It was a freaking lovefest,” the senator told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott of the speech.
During the lunch Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who seriously contemplated jumping into the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, thanked Biden for using the word “union” repeatedly, though the context was not clear, according to the Democratic senator.
“You are the first president in the 30 years I’ve been in Washington that I still like. He said, ‘You haven’t sold us out yet’,” the senator paraphrased Brown as saying.
Biden addressed both the bipartisan and reconciliation infrastructure deals, but most senators were struck by the broader, sweeping message — that the president doesn’t want his neighbors in Scranton, Pennsylvania, being hurt by anything they would do. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Biden “made an incredibly compelling case that this is the moment to go big.”
But not all Democrats are on board with the plan yet, and details of the budget proposal are still coming together.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters he has a number of concerns with the proposal.
“I’m concerned about inflation. And so I want to see more of the details of what’s going on. I’m concerned also about maintaining the energy independence of the United States of America,” the moderate Democrat said.
And Murphy, a progressive, said he’s concerned that the $3.5 trillion is not big enough, particularly to take care of modernizing the northeastern corridor rail service.
Any single Democratic defection could be a serious obstacle for Democratic leadership. Reconciliation requires a simple majority, which means every Democratic vote plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris will be required to move this bill over the finish line.
Republicans have been clear from the onset they won’t support spending beyond the bipartisan infrastructure package being negotiated separately.
“To me that $3.5 trillion that was announced last night really is the extreme Democrats’ freight train to socialism,” said Sen. John Barrasso, the number three Senate Republican. “This is something that they are going to need every Democrat to pass because there is not a single Republican in the House or in the Senate who is going to support this level of taxing and spending.”
Despite the Republican blowback to the budget resolution, members of the bipartisan group working on negotiating the separate, $1.2 trillion bipartisan plan, said they are not concerned about the budget proposal throwing their package off course.
“There are two very different bills that are totally separate tracks — one is bipartisan, responsible, no tax increases, the other is, you know, a huge spending spree at a time when we’re already at record levels of deficit and debt,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who has been leading bipartisan negotiations on behalf of Republicans. “So I’m concerned about it, but they don’t relate to one another.”
“I think it’s a real mistake what they’re doing but it doesn’t affect us at all,” Portman said.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., another member of the bipartisan group, said their efforts are “totally separate.”
“They’re not linked, it is going to increase our debt or else increase taxes, but in terms of our effort it shouldn’t have an impact,” he said.
Bill text is not yet available for either the budget deal or the bipartisan infrastructure plan and senators face fast-approaching deadlines, set by Biden, for swift action before the August recess.
Schumer has said he intends to hold a vote on both the bipartisan deal and the budget package before the Senate takes its summer break.
ABC News’ Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration will begin evacuation flights in late July for Afghans who have aided the U.S. military and diplomatic missions, according to a senior administration official.
President Joe Biden earlier this month said all U.S. combat forces will be out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31 and defended his decision to leave the country in the face of Taliban gains in the area.
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Scott Miller, returned from Afghanistan to Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday after he handed over his command at a ceremony in Kabul on Monday.
The evacuation effort, dubbed Operation Allies Refuge, will relocate Afghans who have applied for a U.S. Special Immigrant Visa and their families to a safe third country, but it is still unclear how many of these translators, guides and other contractors will be moved and to exactly where.
“Our objective is to get individuals who are eligible relocated, out of the country, in advance of the removal — of the withdrawal of troops at the end of August,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.
The administration also has not specified when flights will depart, citing security concerns, but the senior administration official told ABC News that they will meet Biden’s commitment to begin flights by late July.
“Our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us,” Biden said in an address on Afghanistan on Thursday.
Earlier this month, a U.S. official told ABC News that Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — Afghanistan’s neighbors to the north — have all been under consideration as third-country options, while a second official said the list includes the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, both of which are home to U.S. military facilities where Afghans could be brought.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that the administration is also now considering using U.S. military installations in the continental U.S. “for short-term use,” as well as U.S. military installations in other countries that have “appropriate temporary residences and associated support infrastructure,” he said.
At this point in time, however, no final decision has been made yet, Kirby added.
This week, the president’s homeland security adviser Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Zalmay Khalilzad, the special representative for Afghanistan, are leading a delegation to Uzbekistan to discuss security and economic development opportunities for Afghanistan and other countries in the region, the White House announced Wednesday.
There are approximately 18,000 Afghans who have applied for Special Immigrant Visas, with many of them now fearing for their lives as the Taliban gain more districts in a summer offensive against the Afghan government. Within that group, 9,000 still have to complete their applications while the other half are having their cases adjudicated now, according to a State Department spokesperson.
At least 300 Afghan interpreters have been killed since 2014 because they worked for the U.S., according to the advocacy group No One Left Behind, although the Taliban have said in recent weeks that they will not harm them as they pursue power.
In April, Biden announced the withdrawal of all remaining U.S. forces from Afghanistan before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that brought them there — although last Thursday he bumped that deadline up to Aug. 31.
But as U.S. and NATO forces exit, the Taliban have seized dozens of districts in a summer offensive that has killed hundreds of Afghan service members or seen them surrender. The Pentagon said this week it seems apparent the militant group is intent on taking power by force, even as the State Department calls for them to return to negotiations with the Afghan government, hosted by Qatar in its capital Doha.
The Biden administration has tried to reinvigorate those talks, which have been all but dead since the two sides agreed on an agenda late last year.
The senior administration official said Wednesday that the U.S. “remains confident that Afghanistan’s Armed Forces have the tools and capability to defend their country and that the conflict will ultimately have to be resolved at the negotiating table.”
But advocates say that time is running out for these Afghan interpreters and other contractors, while analysts warn that the country could be headed for civil war. The United Nations refugee agency warned Tuesday that the country is facing “imminent humanitarian crisis,” calling for an urgent end to violence.
The White House’s announcement Wednesday is “a vital step forward in honoring the promise we made to Afghan allies who faithfully served our mission,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of the country’s largest refugee resettlement agencies.
But “there are still far too many questions left unanswered, including who exactly and how many people are eligible for evacuation,” she added. “With partners estimating that 49% of those at risk reside outside of Kabul, how will those outside the capital access safety?”
(WASHINGTON) — For the first time in history, some Senate Democrats on Wednesday moved to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, proposing to the remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, one of the leaders of the effort, promised to use his “clout” to make decriminalization a Senate priority.
“This is monumental,” Schumer told reporters. “At long last we are taking steps in the Senate to right the wrongs of the failed war on drugs.”
While Schumer conceded that Democrats do not yet unanimously support the draft decriminalization bill he unveiled, he said the announcement marks an important step in combatting injustice, especially among communities of color.
“The war on drugs has really been a war on people, particularly people of color,” Schumer said. “The waste of human resources because of the historic over-criminalization has been one of the great historical wrongs for the last decades and we are going to change it.”
Schumer said the draft bill, being proposed with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. also aims to expunge criminal records and create banking systems that give small and minority businesses a seat at the table.
Wyden called the bill, “cannabis common sense.”
Booker, who has long advocated for decriminalization, said the need for such a bill is urgent.
“Lives are being destroyed every single day and the hypocrisy of this is that, right here in the Capitol now, people running for Congress, people running for Senate, people running for president of the United States, who readily admit that they’ve used marijuana, but we have children in this country people all over this nation, our veterans, black and brown people, low income people, now bearing the stain of having a criminal conviction for doing things that half of the last four presidents admitted to doing,” he said.
To date, some 18 states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana and 37 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, now allow the medical use of the drug.
“The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act will ensure that Americans — especially Black and Brown Americans — no longer have to fear arrest or be barred from public housing or federal financial aid for higher education for using cannabis in states where it’s legal,” the discussion draft reads. “State-compliant cannabis businesses will finally be treated like other businesses and allowed access to essential financial services, like bank accounts and loans. Medical research will no longer be stifled.”
But a number of Republicans, led by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., oppose legalization.
“I do not have any plans to endorse the legalization of marijuana,” McConnell said in 2018 when he announced his support for legalizing hemp, noting that they are “entirely separate plants.”
The federal legislation would allow states to craft their own cannabis laws, just as states do with alcohol. It would end the confusion in some states that have legalized the product in various forms, but where consumers of marijuana could face potential civil and criminal penalties.
A new federal excise tax would also be created by the legislation similar to alcohol and tobacco.
Cannabis would be taxed at 10% in the first year after the legislation becomes law. That rate “would increase annually to 15 percent, 20 percent, and 25 percent in the following years. Beginning in year five and thereafter, the tax would be levied on a per-ounce rate in the case of cannabis flower, or a per-milligram of THC rate in the case of any cannabis extract,” according to the discussion draft.
The legislation, if approved, would have an immediate effect on the lives of many, freeing some in prison for non-violent offenses.
“The bill automatically expunges federal non-violent marijuana crimes and allows an individual currently serving time in federal prison for non-violent marijuana crimes to petition a court for resentencing,” the draft states.
It would also reinvest new federal tax revenue into minority communities most affected by the 1980’s “War on Drugs” and ensure that no past marijuana-related crimes are used to refuse someone federal public assistance.
The proposed legislation would incentivize states and localities with federal aid to expunge criminal records for cannabis offenses in exchange for funding under two new Small Business Administration programs designed to help hard-hit communities.
“The Cannabis Opportunity Program will provide funding to eligible states and localities to make loans to assist small businesses in the cannabis industry owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The Equitable Licensing Grant Program will provide funding to eligible states and localities to implement cannabis licensing programs that minimize barriers for individuals adversely affected by the War on Drugs,” the draft says of the two new SBA programs.
Research into the effects of marijuana would be improved, as well, according to sponsors.
“Researchers have stated that the cannabis produced for research is not comparable to cannabis used in adult-use and medicinal markets nationwide, and that the (Drug Enforcement Agency)’s past failures to expand federally-approved production of cannabis have further limited the productivity of their research,” the draft states.
The House passed legislation last year removing marijuana from the controlled substances list and the legislation was reintroduced in May.
(BALTIMORE) — A Baltimore judge has shut down efforts by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to put an early end to enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits.
Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill of the Circuit Court for Baltimore issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday ordering that immediate action be taken to ensure Maryland residents continue to receive “any and all” expanded unemployment benefits available to them through federal programs.
The legal action came in response to multiple cases challenging Hogan’s decision, which was announced in early June. The Republican governor said at the time that many businesses were facing “severe worker shortages” and “we look forward to getting more Marylanders back to work.”
Fletcher-Hill wrote the plaintiffs demonstrated that they “will suffer irreparable harm” if the injunction was not issued, and have shown that the issuance of it “is in the public interest.”
Federal pandemic unemployment benefits include an extra $300 a week and also expand eligibility to allow more people who may not have previously qualified (such as independent contractors) to receive jobless aid. The bolstered federal unemployment insurance programs were set to last through early September, though Hogan sought to cut them off in July.
A slew of states have similarly sought to curtail the enhanced federal unemployment benefits programs. Many Republican governors, including Hogan, have argued these benefits are dissuading people from seeking work as the economy begins to bounce back from the pandemic-induced downturn. An apparent labor shortage in the restaurant industry as many businesses reopen at once has also left some employers struggling to find staff.
Many economists have refuted the argument that enhanced unemployment benefits are preventing people from working. Low hiring numbers have also sparked a debate about dismal wages in the service industry.
A spokesperson for Hogan’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment Wednesday, but told The Baltimore Sun that the governor won’t challenge the decision.
“While we firmly believe the law is on our side, actual adjudication of the case would extend beyond the end of the federal programs, foregoing the possibility of pursuing the matter further,” Michael Ricci, Hogan’s director of communications, told the local outlet.
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration will begin evacuation flights in late July for Afghans who have aided the U.S. military and diplomatic missions, according to a senior administration official.
President Joe Biden earlier this month said all U.S. combat forces will be out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31 and defended his decision to leave the country in the face of Taliban gains in the area.
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Scott Miller, returned from Afghanistan to Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday after he handed over his command at a ceremony in Kabul on Monday.
The evacuation effort, dubbed Operation Allies Refuge, will relocate Afghans who have applied for a U.S. Special Immigrant Visa and their families to a safe third country, but it is still unclear how many of these translators, guides and other contractors will be moved and to where exactly.
The administration also has not specified when flights will depart, citing security concerns, but the senior administration official told ABC News that they will meet Biden’s commitment to begin flights by late July.
“Our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us,” Biden said in an address on Afghanistan on Thursday.
Earlier this month, a U.S. official told ABC News that Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — Afghanistan’s neighbors to the north — have all been under consideration, while a second official said the list includes the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, both of which are home to U.S. military facilities where Afghans could be brought.
This week, the president’s Homeland Security Adviser Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad are leading a delegation to Uzbekistan to discuss security and economic development opportunities for Afghanistan and other countries in the region, the White House announced Wednesday.
There are approximately 18,000 Afghans who have applied for Special Immigrant Visas, with many of them now fearing for their lives as the Taliban gain more districts in a summer offensive against the Afghan government. Within that group, 9,000 still have to complete their applications while the other half are having their cases adjudicated now, according to a State Department spokesperson.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats said they have reached a $3.5 trillion budget agreement. This is the first step in unlocking a process that Democrats plan to use to pass many of President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan priorities with a simple majority of votes.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this budget package, coupled with the bipartisan infrastructure bill currently being negotiated amongst members, comes “very, very close” to what Biden asked for when he laid out his families plan.
“Every major program that President Biden asked us for is funded in a robust way,” Schumer said. “In addition we are making some additions to that.”
On the heels of this announcement, Schumer said the president will join Senate Democrats for their caucus lunch Wednesday to discuss the plan with lawmakers.
Schumer announced the package alongside members of the Budget Committee, though it’s still not certain that all Democrats will support the measure. Unanimous support will be necessary to pass the bill.
The package will be, according to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., fully paid for. He did not give details on how the reconciliation bill will be funded, but Democrats have favored a hike in corporate tax rates, not unlike the one Biden originally proposed.
“There are times for really big things, this is one of those times,” Warner said. “The plan we’ve put together, which is fully paid for, will make the investments in American families, will take on the existential threat of climate change in a way that will meet the needs, leading the world on this critical issue.”
The $3.5 trillion topline still falls short of the $6 trillion that Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders had been hoping for, but Schumer announced Tuesday night that the reconciliation instructions include a “robust expansion” of Medicare, something that has been a longstanding priority for Sanders.
“This is in our a view a pivotal moment in American history,” Sanders said. “For a very long time the American people have seen the very rich getting richer and government developing policies which allow them to pay in some cases not a nickel. What this legislation says among many many other things is that those days are gone. The wealthy and large corporations are going to start paying their fair share of taxes so we can protect the working families of this country.”
Senate Democrats have long said they intend to use a process called reconciliation, which allows them to sidestep the usual 60-vote threshold and pass legislation with a simple majority, to pass parts of Biden’s infrastructure agenda that are not addressed in the separate bipartisan infrastructure deal.
The bipartisan infrastructure plan is also at a critical juncture as that group of senators works to publish the text of their $1.2 trillion legislation — something negotiators do not expect will happen this week. But once that bill is made public, there’s a serious potential obstacle — whether the proposed revenue will actually cover the $600 billion in new spending.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, raised a red flag Tuesday saying that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) — which provides lawmakers with a “score,” or price tag, for legislation based on proposed spending and revenue — cannot price out or “score” some of the ways negotiators propose to pay for the bill.
The first way that can’t be scored is the plan to raise money from beefed up IRS enforcement. The bipartisan group of 10 senators, of which Romney is a part, has estimated that for $40 billion of investment in going after those who do not pay taxes, that would net $100 billion in return.
Romney said the CBO has not traditionally issued an official “score” on such matters, which could spell danger for Republicans who are already wary of beefing up a federal agency which has proved politically controversial in the past.
“The CBO won’t score that because they say, ‘Well, the government’s entitled to all of its tax revenue, so you can’t get a score for actually getting more of it,'” Romney told reporters.
“Generally, the CBO’s assessment of tax gaps is that they do not rely on them for scoring purposes and I would presume that would be the case here. But we recognize that there were some things that we saw as a source of revenue that the CBO might not be able to score,” he said.
But Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who is leading the bipartisan effort along with Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, told ABC News in an interview that the CBO is expected to give an estimate of revenue from the tax-gap proposal, though it would not be an official score.
“They will separately analyze it and they will give us, not the official score, but they’ll give us an analysis, which we’ve relied on in the past,” Portman said.
A group of 22 senators, including the 10 who crafted the original package and 12 other Democrats and Republicans who initially signed on to support it, huddled in the Capitol for two hours on Tuesday evening over dinner, wine and cannoli. Several lawmakers touted significant progress in negotiations toward the final bill text, but there remains disagreement among them on how to pay for the bipartisan package, especially with the CBO score hanging in the balance.
The senators have set a Thursday deadline to work out their remaining differences.
“I think that’s our next real goal is to try to get something done so we can show some positive results,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said of the Thursday deadline.
Still, several negotiators left Tuesday’s meeting conceding that the deadline is a “tall order.”
Republican Whip John Thune said that if the CBO returns a score that reflects a bill that is not fully paid for, it could spook some of his members.
“It makes it harder,” the senator from South Dakota said. “I think some of our members would be open to perhaps some amount of debt financing but the majority I think would have to be paid for in a critical way which is a challenge that we’ve had since the beginning of this.”
But for some Republicans, the CBO score is not a deciding factor.
“It’s less crucial for me. I’d like most of it to be paid for,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., part of a separate larger group of 20 negotiators who are part of a consensus-minded group seeking compromises on a number of measures. “I’m willing to accept some things that won’t score, like how much can be done on the private investment side.”
“My test is — is it paid for in my own mind?” Romney said. “Will we be able to –to not add to the deficit? And I know there are some things that we’re relying on as pay for’s that will probably not receive a CBO score, but nonetheless are real. I think my colleagues will know that.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she agreed that the score should be considered, but is not a be-all-end-all.
“Are we all going to pass out if the score doesn’t come out exactly the way we want? No,” Murkowski said. “What we’ve been looking at is alright, is this something where we really missed or is this something where we can adjust?”
And though many Republicans support private investment in public works projects — so-called public-private partnerships — they could be concerned that the CBO is not expected to be able to put a revenue price tag on that either. It’s something the group has estimated should bring in more than $100 billion.
But for Portman, he sees Republicans understanding that — knowing that private investments provide leverage for public funding and often yield a profit down the road.
“You know there are differences between funding for social programs and funding for fixed assets into the future that are going to create more economic activity and help the economy, and that’s what this is. This is not immediate funding. This is long term funding for fixed assets,” Portman told ABC News.
Some Democrats in the bipartisan group have, throughout negotiations, said they want the infrastructure bill to be credibly paid for. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said the CBO score presents additional challenges in striking a deal.
“It’s tough. This is — this is tough,” King said. “And part of the problem is that the CBO has some very conservative views about what they’ll score.”
Some dismissed concerns on Tuesday of a lower-than-planned estimate.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said he still has questions about how CBO will come to its final determination.
“I don’t know what kind of math they use but it isn’t the math that I learned in high school,” Tester said.
And though Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell repeatedly over the recent two-week recess said he would be looking to see that the $1.2 trillion bipartisan plan is “credibly paid for,” Portman, with whom McConnell is close, said he thinks the senator from Kentucky will understand the sparse nature of the eventual CBO analysis.
“He realizes this is infrastructure and is different than other things,” said Portman, who added that he thinks — despite the bumpy road to floor consideration — the group will get the 10 Republicans necessary for final passage of the legislation, if every Democrat supports it.
“Ten? Oh yeah, for sure,” Portman said.
The group of 22 is still projecting a positive outcome for the bipartisan bill.
“I mean, I’m optimistic that we’re going to find a path forward,” Rounds said. “People in there really are trying hard to listen to each other’s concerns and find (a deal).”
(PHILADELPHIA) — President Joe Biden in a fiery speech on Tuesday decried Republican efforts to limit ballot access across the country as a “21st Century Jim Crow assault,” while warning Americans that the GOP push to restrict voting and “selfish” challenge of the 2020 election results were “the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War.”
His use of the bully pulpit from Philadelphia to invoke the Constitution comes as his administration wades more aggressively into the fight over ballot access at the urging of civil rights groups and Democrats as Republican-led legislatures advance new voting restrictions in places like Texas and Congress remains deadlocked over proposed legislation.
Here are Biden’s full remarks, as released by the White House:
2:46 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) I see an awful lot of good friends out there. Please have a seat if you have one.
I — let me begin by saying I used to be important. (Laughter.) I used to be the chairman of the board of this place. And Jeffrey Rosen allowed me to do that for a while.
But thank you all for being here. I truly appreciate it. Governor, it’s above and beyond the call. Mr. Mayor, I’d compli- — I thought you were a great mayor — still think you are — but your judgment in fiancées is even stronger. And — but — but all of you. And a good friend, Bobby Brady. I see so many friends out. Al Sharpton — Al, how are you, pal? It’s great to see you. (Applause.)
And I’m — I’m going to get in trouble here because I’m going to recognize my congresswoman from the state of Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester — (applause) — and her sister who used to run my office. Stand up. (Applause.)
Well, folks, good afternoon. There’s a serious subject I’d like to talk about today. I’m here in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center — the city and the place where the story of “We the People” — “We the People” began.
It’s a story that’s neither simple nor straightforward. That’s because the story is the sum of our parts, and all those parts are fundamentally human. And being human is to be imperfect, driven by appetite and ambition as much as by goodness and grace.
But some things in America should be simple and straightforward.
Perhaps the most important of those things — the most fundamental of those things — is the right to vote. The right to vote freely. (Applause) The right to vote freely, the right — the right to vote fairly, the right to have your vote counted. The democratic threshold is liberty. With it, anything is possible. Without it, nothing — nothing.
And for our democracy and the work — and to deliver our work and [for] our people, it’s up to all of us to protect that right. This is a test of our time and what I’m here to talk about today.
Just think about the past election.
A 102-year-old woman in Arkansas who voted for the first time on the very spot she once picked cotton.
A 94-year-old woman in Michigan who voted early and in person in her seventy-se- — 72nd consecutive election. You know what she said? She said this election was, quote, “the most important vote that we ever had.”
The daughter who voted in the memory of her dad who died of COVID-19 so others wouldn’t have the experience of pain and darkness and loss that she was going through. Patients out there.
And the parents — the parents who voted for school their children will learn in.
Sons and daughters voted for the planet they’re going to live on.
Young people just turning 18 and everyone who, for the first time in their lives, thought they could truly make a difference.
America — America and Americans of every background voted. They voted for good jobs and higher wages. They voted for racial equity and justice. They voted to make healthcare a right, not a privilege.
And the reason that Americans went to vote and the lengths they went to vote — to be able to vote in this past election were absolutely extraordinary. In fact, the fact that so many election officials across the country made it easier and safer for them to be able to vote in the middle of a pandemic was remarkable.
As a result, in 2020, more people voted in America than ever — ever in the history of America, in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic. (Applause.)
All told, more than 150 [million] Americans of every age, of every race, of every background exercised their right to vote.
They voted early. They voted absentee. They voted in person. They voted by mail. They voted by drop box. And then they got their families and friends to go out and vote.
Election officials, the entire electoral system, withstood unrelenting political attacks, physical threats, intimidation, and pressure. They did so with unyielding courage andfaith in our democracy.
With recount after recount after recount, court case after court case, the 2020 election was the most scrutinized election ever in American history. Challenge after challenge brought to local, state, and election officials; state legislatures; state and federal courts — even to the United States Supreme Court not once, but twice.
More than 80 judges, including those appointed by my predecessor, heard the arguments. In every case, neither cause nor evidence was found to undermine the national achievement of administering this historic election in the face of such extraordinary challenges.
Audits, recounts were conducted in Arizona, in Wisconsin. In Georgia, it was recounted three times.
It’s clear. For those who challenge the results and question the integrity of the election: No other election has ever been held under such scrutiny and such high standards.
The Big Lie is just that: a big lie. (Applause.)
The 2020 election — it’s not hyperbole to suggest — the most examined and the fullest expression of the will of the people in the history of this nation. This should be celebrated — the example of America at its best. But instead, we continue to see an example of human nature at its worst — something darker and more sinister.
In America, if you lose, you accept the results. You follow the Constitution. You try again. You don’t call facts “fake” and then try to bring down the American experiment just because you’re unhappy. That’s not statesmanship. (Applause.)
That’s not statesmanship; that’s selfishness. That’s not democracy; it’s the denial of the right to vote. It suppresses. It subjugates.
The denial of full and free and fair elections is the most un-American thing that any of us can imagine, the most undemocratic, the most unpatriotic, and yet, sadly, not unprecedented.
From denying enslaved people fu- — full citizenship until the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments after the Civil War; to denying women the right to vote until the 19th Amendment 100 years ago; to poll taxes and literacy tests, and the Ku Klux Klan campaigns of violence and terror that lasted into the ’50s and ’60s; to the Supreme Court decision in 2013 and then again just two weeks ago –- a decision that weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act; to the willful attacks — election attacks in 2020; and then to a whole other level of threat — the violence and the deadly insurrection on the Capitol on January 6th.
I just got back from Europe, speaking to the G7 and to NATO. They wonder — not a joke — they wonder, Gov — they ask me, “Is it going to be okay?” The citadel of democracy in the world, “Is it o- — going to be okay?”
Time and again, we’ve weathered threats to the right to vote in free and fair elections. And each time, we found a way to overcome. And that’s what we must do today.
Vice President Harris and I have spent our careers doing this work. And I’ve asked her to lead, to bring people together to protect the right to vote and our democracy. And it starts with continuing the fight to pass H.R.1, the For the People Act. (Applause.)
That bill — that bill would help end voter suppression in the states, get dark money out of politics, give voice to the people at the grassroots level, create a fairer district maps, and end partisan political gerrymandering.
Last month, Republicans opposed even debating, even considering For the People Act. Senate Democrats stood united to protect our democracy and the sanctity of the vote. We must pass the For the People Act. It’s a national imperative.
We must also fight for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore and expand — (applause) — to restore and expand voting protections and prevent voter suppression. All the congresswomen and men here — there’s a bunch of you — you knew John, many of you.
Just weeks ago, the Supreme Court yet again weakened the Voting Rights Act and upheld what Justice Kagan called, quote, “a significant race-based disparity in voting opportunities.”
The Court’s decision, as harmful as is, does not limit the — Congress’ ability to repair the damage done. That’s the important point. It puts the burden back on Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act to its intended strength.
As soon as Congress passes the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, I will sign it and let the whole world see it. (Applause.) That will be an important moment.
And the world is wondering — the world is wondering — and Dwight knows what I’m talking about, for real. You know, the world is wondering, “What is America going to do?”
But we also have to clear-eyed about the obstruction we face. Legislation is one tool, but not the only tool. And it’s not the only measure of our obligation to defend democracy today.
For example, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the United States Department of Justice is going to be using its authorities to challenge the onslaught of state laws undermining voting rights in old and new ways. (Applause.)
The focus — the focus will be on dismantling racially discriminatory laws, like the recent challenge to Georgia’s vicious anti-voting law.
The Department of Justice will do so with a voting rights division that — at my request — is doubling its size in enforcement staff. (Applause)
Civil rights groups — civil rights groups and other organizations have announced their plans to stay vigilant and challenge these odious laws in the courts.
In Texas, for example, Republican-led state legislature wants to allow partisan poll watchers to intimidate voters and imperil impartial poll workers. They want voters to dive [drive] farther and be able to be in a position where they wonder who’s watching them and intimidating them; to wait longer to vote. To drive a hell of lot lo- — excuse me — a long way — (laughter) — to get to vote. They want to make it so hard and inconvenient that they hope people don’t vote at all. That’s what this is about.
This year alone, 17 states have enacted — not just proposed, but enacted — 28 new laws to make it harder for Americans to vote, not to mention — and catch this — nearly 400 additional bills Republican members of the state legislatures are trying to pass.
The 21st century Jim Crow assault is real. It’s unrelenting, and we’re going to challenge it vigorously.
While — (applause) — while this broad assault against voting rights is not unprecedented, it’s taking on a new and, literally, pernicious forms.
It’s no longer just about who gets to vote or making it easier for eligible voters to vote. It’s about who gets to count the vote — who gets to count whether or not your vote counted at all. It’s about moving from independent election administrators who work for the people to polarized state legislatures and partisan actors who work for political parties.
To me, this is simple: This is election subversion. It’s the most dangerous threat to voting and the integrity of free and fair elections in our history. Never before have they decided who gets to count — count — what votes count.
Some — some legi- — state legislatures want to make it harder for you to vote. And if you vote, they want to be able to tell you your vote doesn’t count for any reason they make up.
They want the ability to reject the final count and ignore the will of the people if their preferred candidate loses.
And they’re trying — not only targeting people of color, they’re targeting voters of all races and backgrounds. It’s with a simple target: who did not vote for them. That’s the target.
It’s unconscionable. I mean, really, I — it’s hard to — it’s hard to declare just how critical this is. It’s simply unconscionable.
We’ve got to shore up our election system and address the threats of election subversion, not just from abroad — which I spent time with Putin talking about — but from home. From home.
We must ask those who represent us at the federal, state, and local levels: Will you deny the will of the people? Will you ignore their voices?
We have to ask: Are you on the side of truth or lies; fact or fiction; justice or injustice; democracy or autocracy? That’s what it’s coming down to.
Which brings me to perhaps the most important thing we have to do: We have to for- — forge a coalition of Americans of every background and political party — the advocates, the students, the faith leaders, the labor leaders, the business executives — and raise the urgency of this moment.
Because as much as people know they’re screwing around with the election process, I don’t think that most people think this is about who gets to count what vote counts — literally, not figuratively. You vote for certain electors to vote for somebody for President. State legislator comes along — under their proposal — and they say, “No, we don’t like those electors. We’re going to appoint other electors who are going to vote for the other guy or other woman.”
Because here’s the deal: In 2020, democracy was put to a test — first by the pandemic; then by a desperate attempt to deny the reality and the results of the election; and then by a violent and deadly insurrection on the Capitol, the citadel of our democracy.
I’ve been around a long time in public life. I thought I’ve seen it all or most of it all. But I never thought I’d see that, for real.
And in spite of what you see on television — and you saw it — you have senators saying it was just a day at the Capitol, just people visiting the Capitol.
Folks — but we met the test. Because of the extraordinary courage of election officials — many of them Republicans; our court system; and those brave Capitol police officers — because of them, democracy held.
Look how close it came. I mean, for real, how close it came. We’re going to face another test in 2022: a new wave of unprecedented voter suppression, and raw and sustained election subversion. We have to prepare now.
As I’ve said time and again: No matter what, you can never stop the American people from voting. They will decide, and the power must always be with the people.
That’s why, just like we did in 2020, we have to prepare for 2022. We’ll engage in an all-out effort to educate voters about the changing laws, register them to vote, and then get the vote out.
We’ll encourage people to run for office themselves at every level.
We will be asking my Republican friends — in Congress, in states, in cities, in counties — to stand up, for God’s sake, and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and the sacred right to vote. (Applause.) Have you no shame? (Applause.)
Whether it’s stopping foreign interference in our elections or the spread of disinformation from within, we have to work together.
Vice President Harris and I will be making it clear that there’s real peril in making raw power, rather than the idea of liberty, the centerpiece of the common life.
The Founders understood this. The women of Seneca Falls understood this. The brave, heroic foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement understood this. So must we.
This isn’t about Democrats and Republicans; it’s literally about who we are as Americans. It’s that basic. It’s about the kind of country we want today, the kind of country we want for our children and grandchildren tomorrow. And quite frankly, the whole world is watching. Folks — (applause).
I’m not being sentimental. I’m not preaching to you. I’m just giving it to you straight, as I promised I would always do — lay things out on the line and honor your trust with trust [truth].
So hear me clearly: There is an unfolding assault taking place in America today — an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections, an assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are — who we are as Americans.
For, make no mistake, bullies and merchants of fear and peddlers of lies are threatening the very foundation of our country.
It gives me no pleasure to say this. I never thought in my entire career I’d ever have to say it. But I swore an oath to you, to God — to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And that’s an oath that forms a sacred trust to defend America against all threats both foreign and domestic. (Applause.)
The assault on free and fair elections is just such a threat, literally. I’ve said it before: We’re are facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. That’s not hyperbole. Since the Civil War. The Confederates back then never breached the Capitol as insurrectionists did on January the 6th.
I’m not saying this to alarm you; I’m saying this because you should be alarmed.
I’m also saying this: There’s good news. It doesn’t have to be this way. It doesn’t have to be, for real. We have the means. We just need to show the will — the will to save and strengthen our democracy.
We did it in 20- — we did it in the 2020. The battle for the soul of America — in that battle, the people voted. Democracy prevailed. Our Constitution held. We have to do it again.
My fellow Americans, it requires fair-mindedness; devotion to justice; corny as it sounds, a love of country. It requires us to unite in common purpose, to declare here and now: We, the people, will never give up. (Applause.) We will not give in. We will overcome. We will do it together. And guaranteeing the right to vote, ensuring every vote is counted has always been the most patriotic thing we can do. (Applause.)
Just remember, our late friend John Lewis said, “Freedom is not a state; it is an act.” “Freedom is not a state; it is an act.” And we must act, and we will act. For our cause is just, our vision is clear, and our hearts are full. (Applause.)
For “We the People,” for our democracy, for America itself, we must act. (Applause.)
God bless you all. And may God protect our troops and all those stand watch over our democracy. (Applause.) But act. We’ve got to act. Thank you. (Applause.)
