Voice of America - US Politics

Biden Risks Alienating Young Black Voters After Race Remarks

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 07:57:32 GMT

Joe Biden’s controversial remarks about race this week risk alienating young Black voters who despise President Donald Trump but are not inspired by his Democratic rival.

When pressed by Errol Barnett of CBS News on whether he’d taken a cognitive test, Biden responded that the question was akin to asking the Black reporter if he would take a drug test to see if “you’re taking cocaine or not? ... Are you a junkie?”

In a later interview with National Public Radio’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Biden seemed to draw distinctions between Black and Hispanic populations in the U.S. “Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things,” he told the Latina reporter.

He later walked back the comment.

Black voters as a whole delivered the Democratic nomination to Biden, powering his commanding win in the South Carolina primary, which rescued his floundering campaign. But that success was heavily dependent on older Black voters. In a general election where Democrats say no vote can be taken for granted, young Black activists and elected officials say this week’s missteps could make it harder to get their vote.

“Trump is terrible, and he’s a racist, and we have to get racists out of the White House. But then Biden keeps saying racist things,” said Mariah Parker, a 28-year-old county commissioner in Athens, Georgia. “It doesn’t make me feel much better that we actually will have an improvement for the Black community with one president over the other.”

Most Black voters view Trump as someone who exacerbates racial tensions and are unlikely to support his campaign in large numbers. But those who sit out the presidential election could sway the outcome in closely contested states.

AP VoteCast data illustrates the generational divide Biden is confronting.

Across 17 states where AP VoteCast surveyed Democratic voters during the primary, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders Sanders won 60 percent of voters under 30 overall, to Biden’s 19 percent. And while Biden was strongly supported by African American voters overall, Black voters under age 30 were slightly more likely to support Sanders than Biden, 44 percent to 38 percent.

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A Washington Post-Ipsos poll conducted in June suggested that while Biden had majority support among Black voters aged 18-39, there was skepticism about Biden himself. Among Black Americans under age 40 that were polled, 32 percent said they didn’t feel he was sympathetic to the problems of Black people. And 24 percent of respondents under 40 said they felt Biden is “biased” against Black people, in contrast to much lower percentages for middle-aged and senior respondents.

Part of the challenge for Biden, said activist Kristin Fulwylie Thomas, is the perception among young Black voters that he’s too moderate to deliver on issues that are important to them. The 31-year-old managing director of Equal Ground, an Orlando-based group working to boost turnout among Black voters across Florida, said she hears this concern from people in her community and voters across the state.

“What I’m seeing and what I’m hearing among young Black voters is that Biden was not their first choice, so folks are not excited to vote for him this November,” she said.

Every gaffe makes it harder for Biden to generate that excitement.

Michigan State Rep. Jewell Jones, who at 21 was the youngest elected official ever in Michigan, said that he’s seen a number of Biden’s comments on Black voters, along with his past support for the 1994 Crime Bill that contributed to mass incarceration of Black Americans, pop up on social media and raise questions among his peers.

“Young people are really holding people accountable these days,” he said. “Anything that comes up that they think is questionable, they’ll challenge.”

Jones, who is now 25, said the issue with young Black voters is “not necessarily skepticism about whether or not he’s able to do the job.”

“Young people today want to know, are politicians’ hearts in the right place?” he said.

The Biden campaign says they’re working hard to reach out to young Black voters, and point to events hosted by their young voter outreach coalition, League 46, as well as outreach geared specifically towards Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Black sororities, among an array of other events broadly geared toward the Black community nationwide.

Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor Randall Woodfin, who supports Biden, swept aside Biden’s comments this week. He noted that Biden, unlike Trump, later clarified his comments.

“I truly believe that he wants to do the right thing moving forward,” he said.

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Biden has put out an array of proposals focused on Black economic mobility, which include pledges to steer federal money and tax credits to small business and economic development programs for minority-owned firms and disadvantaged neighborhoods. Biden also said he’d encourage home ownership to help close wealth gaps among minority communities, among other policies.

On criminal justice reform, he’s called for a federal ban on police chokeholds, national standards for police use of force, mandatory data collection from local law enforcement, a new federal police oversight commission. He’s also embraced some progressive proposals that may appeal to younger voters, like forgiving some student loan debt and offering some free college.

But on a number of key issues being pushed by some young Black activists — like defunding or dismantling police forces, Medicare for All, and legalizing marijuana — Biden has thus far declined to embrace the most progressive policies.

As Jones put it: “The younger generation are not just asking for reform or just asking for change. They want a revolution.”

But some of the enthusiasm gap has to do with a generational split on voting within the Black community that has little to do with Biden, said Leah Daughtry, a Black operative who has twice served as CEO of the Democratic National Convention.

“For my generation and older, voting was this thing that was this great privilege because we didn’t always have it,” she said, noting that at 55, she was part of the first generation of Black women to get the right to vote. For younger Black Americans, “they don’t have the lived experience of not being able to.”

Still, Daughtry said that she was willing to give Biden “a pass” on his comments after listening to the full interview, but young voters might not be so forgiving.

“It’s absolutely a problem, and unfortunately the campaign appears to be having to spend time clarifying and cleaning them up,” she said. “For young people — when they see the one quote it would appear to confirm to them or solidify questions in their mind about the vice president’s intent and goals. And the best we can hope for is they will do further research. At worst you have some who will say it adds to their reasons for disillusionment.”

Trump Threatens to Take Executive Action on Economic Relief Package

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 03:44:18 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he is ready to take executive action after congressional lawmakers failed again to reach agreement on a relief package for the tens of millions of Americans who have lost their jobs following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump told a news conference that executive orders are being prepared to enhance unemployment benefits until the end of the year, defer student loan payments and forgive interest on the loans, and extend a moratorium on evictions. He said an executive order is also being prepared to defer payroll taxes until the end of the year.

It was not immediately clear if he has the legal authority to take the executive actions he has proposed. It was also not immediately clear how the actions, if implemented, would work. For example, if payroll taxes are deferred, it is not clear whether workers would then have to pay them retroactively at some point and whether that payment would be one large payment or stretched out over time.

Republican lawmakers are not interested in an economic relief package that costs more than $1 trillion. The bottom line for the Democrats is $2 trillion. There seems to be no room for negotiating away from those numbers for the politicians. Reports say the lawmakers have not scheduled any additional meetings.

Millions of Americans recently saw the $600 enhancement to their weekly unemployment benefits come to an end. Social service agencies have warned that the lack of the additional funds for the unemployed could result in food insecurity and evictions for millions.

Who Will Win in 2020?

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 03:12:06 GMT

Ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, polls show presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leading President Donald Trump. While polls can reflect how popular a candidate is at a point in time, they don’t always predict the election result. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara spoke with two experts who have called the outcome of the election, not based on polls but on their own prediction models.

Last-ditch Virus Aid Talks Collapse; No New Help for Jobless

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 19:57:51 GMT

A last-ditch effort by Democrats to revive collapsing Capitol Hill talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money ended in disappointment on Friday, making it increasingly likely that Washington gridlock will mean more hardship for millions of people who are losing enhanced jobless benefits and further damage for an economy pummeled by the still-raging coronavirus.

"It was a disappointing meeting," declared top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, saying the White House had rejected an offer by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to curb Democratic demands by about $1 trillion. He urged the White House to "negotiate with Democrats and meet us in the middle. Don't say it's your way or no way."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, right, walk out of a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, Aug. 7, 2020.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, "Unfortunately we did not make any progress today."

With the collapse of the talks, he said President Donald Trump was now likely to issue executive orders on home evictions and on student loan debt.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said, "This is not a perfect answer — we'll be the first ones to say that — but it is all that we can do, and all the president can do within the confines of his executive power."

Friday's session followed a combative meeting on Thursday that, for the first time cast real doubt on the ability of the Trump administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill to come together on a fifth COVID-19 response bill. Pelosi summoned Mnuchin and Meadows in hopes of breathing life into the negotiations, which have been characterized by frustration and intransigence on both sides.

A breakdown in the talks would put at risk more than $100 billion to help reopen schools, a fresh round of $1,200 direct payments to most people and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments to help them avoid furloughing workers and cutting services as tax revenues shrivel.

In a news conference on Friday Pelosi said she offered a major concession to Republicans.

"We'll go down $1 trillion, you go up $1 trillion," Pelosi said. The figures are approximate, but a Pelosi spokesman said the speaker is in general terms seeking a "top line" of perhaps $2.4 trillion since the House-passed HEROES Act is scored at $3.45 trillion. Republicans say their starting offer was about $1 trillion but have offered some concessions on jobless benefits and aid to states, among others, that have brought the White House offer higher.

Mnuchin said that renewal of a $600 per-week pandemic jobless boost and huge demands by Democrats for aid to state and local governments are the key areas where they are stuck.

"There's a lot of areas of compromise," he said after Friday's meeting. "I think if we can reach an agreement on state and local and unemployment, we will reach an overall deal. And if we can't we can't."

Pelosi declared the talks all but dead until Meadows and Mnuchin give ground.

"I've told them 'come back when you are ready to give us a higher number,'" she said.

Democrats have offered to reduce her almost $1 trillion demand for state and local governments considerably, but some of Pelosi's proposed cost savings would accrue chiefly because she would shorten the timeframe for benefits like food stamps.

Pelosi and Schumer continue to insist on a huge aid package to address a surge in cases and deaths, double-digit joblessness and the threat of poverty for millions of the newly unemployed.

On Friday, they pointed to the new July jobs report to try to bolster their proposals. The report showed that the U.S. added 1.8 million jobs last month, a much lower increase than in May and June.

"It's clear the economy is losing steam," Schumer said. "That means we need big, bold investments in America to help average folks."

Senate Republicans have been split, with roughly half of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's rank and file opposed to another rescue bill at all. Four prior coronavirus response bills totaling almost $3 trillion have won approval on bipartisan votes despite intense wrangling, but conservatives have recoiled at the prospect of another Pelosi-brokered agreement with a whopping deficit-financed cost.

McConnell has sent the Senate home rather than forcing impatient senators to bide their time while Democrats play hardball. That suggests a vote won't come until late next week, if then.

Pelosi and Schumer have staked out a firm position to extend a lapsed $600-per-week bonus jobless benefit, demanded generous child care assistance and reiterated their insistence for food stamps and assistance to renters and homeowners facing eviction or foreclosure.

"This virus is like a freight train coming so fast and they are responding like a convoy going as slow as the slowest ship. It just doesn't work," Pelosi said Friday.

Postal Service Loses $2.2B in 3 Months as Virus Woes Persist

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 18:40:44 GMT

The U.S. Postal Service says it lost $2.2 billion in the three months that ended in June as the beleaguered agency, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, piles up financial losses that officials warn could top $20 billion over two years.

"Our financial position is dire, stemming from substantial declines in mail volume, a broken business model and a management strategy that has not adequately addressed these issues,'' Louis DeJoy, the new postmaster general, said Friday in his first public remarks since taking the job in June.

"Without dramatic change, there is no end in sight,'' DeJoy told the postal board of governors at a meeting Friday.

While package deliveries to homebound Americans were up more than 50%, that was offset by continued declines in first-class and business mail, even as costs increased significantly to pay for personal protective equipment and replace workers who got sick or chose to stay home in fear of the virus, DeJoy said.

Without an intervention from Congress, the agency faces an impending cash flow crisis, he said. The Postal Service is seeking an infusion of at least $10 billion to cover operating losses as well as regulatory changes that would undo a congressional requirement that the agency pre-fund billions of dollars in retiree health benefits.

Louis DeJoy, the 75th postmaster general of the United States and chief executive officer of the USPS. (USPS photo)

The agency is doing its part, said DeJoy, a Republican fundraiser and former supply chain executive who took command of the agency June 15. DeJoy, 63, of North Carolina, is a major donor to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. He is the first postmaster general in nearly two decades who is not a career postal employee.

Limits on overtime

In his first month on the job, DeJoy said, he directed the agency to vigorously "focus on the ingrained inefficiencies in our operations,'' including by applying strict limits on overtime.

"By running our operations on time and on schedule, and by not incurring unnecessary overtime or other costs, we will enhance our ability to be sustainable and ... continue to provide high-quality, affordable service,'' DeJoy said.

While not acknowledging widespread complaints by members of Congress about delivery delays nationwide, DeJoy said the agency would "aggressively monitor and quickly address service issues.''

DeJoy's remarks came as lawmakers from both parties called on the Postal Service to immediately reverse operational changes that are causing delays in deliveries across the country just as big volume increases are expected for mail-in election voting.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that changes imposed by DeJoy "threaten the timely delivery of mail — including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers and absentee ballots for voters — that is essential to millions of Americans.''

In separate letters, two Montana Republicans, Senator Steve Daines and Representative Greg Gianforte, also urged the Postal Service to reverse the July directive, which eliminates overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and mandates that mail be kept until the next day if distribution centers are running late.

FILE - Republican Greg Gianforte greets supporters after winning Montana's sole congressional seat, May 25, 2017, in Bozeman, Mont.

'Unacceptable'

And 84 House members — including four Republicans — signed yet another letter blasting the changes and urging an immediate reversal.

"Delaying mail service is unacceptable," Gianforte wrote Thursday to DeJoy. "Do not continue down this road."

In their letter, the 84 House members said it was "vital that the Postal Service does not reduce mail delivery hours, which could harm rural communities, seniors, small businesses and millions of Americans who rely on the mail for critical letters and packages.'' The letter was led by Representative Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, who has called DeJoy to testify at a hearing next month.

The flurry of letters came as the top Democrat on a Senate panel that oversees the Postal Service launched an investigation into the operational changes.

Michigan Senator Gary Peters of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said DeJoy had failed to provide answers about the service delays, despite repeated requests.

Peters is asking members of the public to provide their stories about delays or other problems with deliveries.

The Postal Service is reeling from mail delays and financial problems at a time when record numbers of mail ballots are expected in the November presidential election because of the coronavirus pandemic.

FILE- In this Dec. 14, 2017, photo, boxes for sorted mail are stacked at the main post office in Omaha, Neb.

Criticism from Trump

Trump, a vocal critic of the Postal Service, contended Wednesday that "the Post Office doesn't have enough time" to handle a significant increase in mail-in ballots. "I mean, you're talking about millions of votes. ... It's a catastrophe waiting to happen."

DeJoy met with Schumer and Pelosi on Wednesday in a closed-door session that Schumer called "a heated discussion." Democrats told DeJoy that "elections are sacred" and urged him not to impose cutbacks "at a time when all ballots count," Schumer said.

In his remarks to the postal board of governors, DeJoy disputed reports that the agency was slowing down election mail or any other mail. He called election mail handling "a robust and proven process."

While there will "likely be an unprecedented increase in election mail volume due to the pandemic, the Postal Service has ample capacity to deliver all election mail securely and on time in accordance with our delivery standards, and we will do so," DeJoy said. "However ... we cannot correct the errors of [state and local] election boards if they fail to deploy processes that take our normal processing and delivery standards into account."

Democrats have pushed for $10 billion for the Postal Service in talks with Republicans on a huge COVID-19 response bill. The figure is down from a $25 billion plan in a House-passed coronavirus measure. Key Republicans whose rural constituents are especially reliant on the post office support the idea.

Virus Aid Talks on Brink of Collapse; Sides 'Very Far Apart'

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 17:00:28 GMT

Washington talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money are teetering on the brink of collapse after a marathon meeting in the Capitol generated lots of recriminations but little progress on the top issues confronting negotiators.

"There's a handful of very big issues that we are still very far apart" on, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. He talked of impasses on aid to states and local governments and renewing supplemental unemployment benefits in the Thursday night meetings.

Both sides said the future of the talks is uncertain. No meeting is scheduled so far for Friday, an informal deadline to reach the broad outlines of an agreement. President Donald Trump is considering executive orders to address evictions and unemployment insurance, but they appear unlikely to have much impact.

A breakdown in the talks would put at risk more than $100 billion to help reopen schools, a fresh round of $1,200 direct payments to most people and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments to help them avoid furloughing workers and cutting services as tax revenues shrivel.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., emerged from Thursday's meeting to give a pessimistic update about the chances for an agreement.
"We're very far apart. It's most unfortunate," Pelosi said.

Both sides have adopted a hard line in the talks, though the Trump team is more open in disclosing a handful of its proposed compromises. Republicans were late to agree to the talks and have become frustrated by the inflexible tactics of Pelosi and Schumer, who have been exuding confidence in a political and legislative landscape that appeared tilted in their favor.

The Democratic pair say the federal coronavirus aid package needs to be huge to meet the moment: a surge in cases and deaths, double-digit joblessness and the threat of poverty for millions of the newly unemployed.
"We believe the patient needs a major operation while Republicans want to apply just a Band-Aid," Schumer said. "We won't let them just pass the Band-Aid, go home and leave America bleeding."

On Friday, the two pointed to the July jobs report to try to bolster their proposals. The report showed that the U.S. added 1.8 million jobs last month, a much lower increase than in May and June.

"The latest jobs report shows that the economic recovery spurred by the investments Congress has passed is losing steam and more investments are still urgently needed to protect the lives and livelihoods of the American people," Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement.

Senate Republicans have been split, with roughly half of McConnell's rank and file opposed to another rescue bill at all. Four prior coronavirus response bills totaling almost $3 trillion have passed on bipartisan votes despite intense wrangling, but conservatives recoiled at the prospect of another Pelosi-brokered agreement with a whopping deficit-financed cost.

The White House is also promising that Trump will attempt to use executive orders to address elements of the congressional package involving evictions and jobless benefits. But there's no evidence that the strategy would have much impact or be anything close to what's necessary, and Pelosi appeared unimpressed at a morning news conference.

"I don't think they know what they're talking about," Pelosi said dismissively Thursday.

Pelosi and Schumer staked out a firm position to extend a lapsed $600-per-week bonus jobless benefit, demanded generous child care assistance and reiterated their insistence for food stamps and assistance to renters and homeowners facing eviction or foreclosure.

"Don't nickel and dime our children," Pelosi said. "Don't say, 'We want to give a tax break to a business lunch and not give more money for children to have food stamps.'"

Pelosi was referring to a GOP proposal to increase the deduction for business meals from 50% to 100%. The idea seems likely to die, along with Trump's efforts to cut the Social Security payroll tax. But Schumer and Pelosi continue to push to restore a tax break for state and local taxes paid mostly by wealthier people with high incomes and valuable homes.

McConnell, R-Ky., is likely to have to assume a higher profile if the talks are to come to a successful close, but he issued a grim assessment of the situation Thursday, again complaining that Pelosi and Schumer are not negotiating in good faith.

"Day after day, they've stonewalled the president's team. Day by day, they've tried to invent new euphemisms to create the illusion of progress," McConnell said.

Frustration was palpable among Republican senators shuttling in and out of a GOP lunch session, some of whom say Schumer is intent on using the situation as a hammer against Republicans. Schumer is desperate to win the Senate majority just as Republicans are in trying to hold on in a terrible political year.

"As long as they calculate that they're better off politically doing nothing, it's going to be hard for us to move forward," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. "And that's the calculation they've made, it appears."

McConnell is sending the Senate home rather than forcing impatient senators to bide their time while Democrats play hardball. That suggests a vote won't come until late next week or even after.

White House negotiators made some concessions on jobless benefits and aid to state and local governments in a Tuesday session — and then promptly got scalded by Republicans after details leaked out.

Appeals Court Revives House Lawsuit for McGahn Testimony

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 16:28:25 GMT

A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday revived House Democrats' lawsuit to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before a congressional committee, but left other legal issues unresolved with time growing short in the current Congress.

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 7-2 in ruling that the House Judiciary Committee can make its claims in court, reversing the judgment of a three-judge panel that would have ended the court fight.

The matter now returns to the panel for consideration of other legal issues. The current House of Representatives session ends on Jan. 3. That time crunch means ``the chances that the Committee hears McGahn's testimony anytime soon are vanishingly slim,`` dissenting Judge Thomas Griffith wrote. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson also dissented.

The Judiciary Committee first subpoenaed McGahn in April 2019 as it examined potential obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Trump directed McGahn not to appear and the Democratic-led panel filed a federal lawsuit to force McGahn to testify.

A trial judge ruled in November that the president's close advisers do not have the absolute immunity from testifying to Congress that the administration claimed. Griffith and Henderson formed the majority when the appellate panel said in February that the Constitution forbids federal courts from refereeing this kind of dispute between the other two branches of government.

On Friday, the full court said the panel reached the wrong decision. Lawmakers can ask the courts ``for judicial enforcement of congressional subpoenas when necessary,`` Judge Judith Rogers wrote.

Congress needs detailed information about the executive branch for both oversight and impeachment, she wrote.

House lawmakers had sought McGahn's testimony because he was a vital witness for Mueller, whose report detailed the president's outrage over the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump's efforts to curtail it.

In interviews with Mueller's team, McGahn described being called at home by the president on the night of June 17, 2017, and being directed to call the Justice Department and say Mueller had conflicts of interest and should be removed. McGahn declined the command, deciding he would resign rather than carry it out, the report said.

Once that episode became public in the news media, Mueller's report said, the president demanded that McGahn dispute the news stories and asked him why he had told Mueller about it and why he had taken notes of their conversations. McGahn refused to back down.

If McGahn is ever to testify, it's unclear his testimony would include any new revelations beyond what Mueller has already released. Mueller concluded that he could not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice but also that there was insufficient evidence to prove a criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia.

Trump Loses Bid to Add Fourth Debate with Biden in Early September

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 02:18:48 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump's reelection campaign on Thursday lost its bid to add a fourth debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden in early September.

In rejecting the request, the Commission on Presidential Debates said it remains committed to the current schedule of three 90-minute debates beginning in late September.

It would only add a fourth debate, or move an existing debate to earlier in the month, if both sides in the campaign for the November 3 election agreed to it, it said.

Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani had asked for either a fourth debate in the first week of September or for the first debate to be moved up from September 29 because voters in some states would already be able to cast votes before then.

The commission said voters will have a choice whether to watch a debate before casting a ballot, adding voters "are under no compulsion to return their ballots before the debates."

Trump, a Republican, is trailing Biden in most national opinion polls.

The battleground state of North Carolina is scheduled to begin sending out mail-in ballots to registered voters who requested them on September 4, with several other states to follow in September. A massive surge in mail-in voting is expected because of fears the coronavirus may spread at public polling places.

In a response to the commission, Giuliani said the campaign was "disappointed" by the rejection and still believed Americans deserve to see the candidates "compare their records and visions for the United States before actual voting begins.”

The Biden campaign said it was pleased Trump had accepted the commission invitation to debate.

"As we have said for months, the commission will determine the dates and times of the debates, and Joe Biden will be there," Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo said.

The commission has organized three debates and one vice presidential debate during each presidential campaign since 2000. The presidential debates are set for September 29 in Ohio, October 15 in Florida and October 22 in Tennessee.

Trump, McConnell Huddle; Virus Aid Talks at Risk of Collapse

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 21:47:46 GMT

President Donald Trump huddled at the White House Thursday with the Senate's top Republican over a vital COVID-19 rescue package, but hopes on Capitol Hill for a deal were souring and there was increasing worry that GOP negotiations with Democrats might collapse.

The impasse in the negotiations is putting at risk more than $100 billion to help reopen schools, a fresh round of $1,200 direct payments to most people, and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments to help them avoid furloughing workers and cutting services as tax revenues shrivel.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is a key player in the troubled talks and possesses far more experience than Trump's administration negotiating team, which is publicly frustrated by the inflexible tactics of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The Democratic duo has not yielded much ground from an unprecedented $3.5 trillion House-passed rescue package.

McConnell seemed to downplay the significance of the Trump meeting, telling a reporter merely that "we talked a little bit about everything."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., joined by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 6, 2020.

And Pelosi and Schumer were still exuding confidence in a political and legislative landscape that's tilted in their favor. Trump and McConnell both badly want an agreement, but Democrats control the House and may actually provide the lion's share of votes in the Senate. The votes, as Pelosi often says, are the currency of the realm.

The Democratic duo has stayed in sync throughout the talks — which they demanded — even reminding reporters Thursday that their relationship dates to Schumer's time as a hard-charging House member in the 1980s and early 1990s.

They say the federal coronavirus aid package needs to be huge in order to meet the moment: a surge in cases and deaths, double-digit joblessness, and the threat of poverty for millions of the newly unemployed.

"We believe the patient needs a major operation while Republicans want to apply just a Band-Aid," Schumer said. "We won't let them just pass the Band-Aid, go home and leave America bleeding."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrives at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 6, 2020.

After a Wednesday session that produced no progress, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were returning to Pelosi's Capitol suite to confront the gulf in their negotiating stances. Both sides have set a goal of agreeing on a deal by week's end — though that is appearing increasingly out of reach.

The White House is also promising that Trump will attempt to use executive orders to address elements of the congressional package involving evictions and jobless benefits. But there's no evidence that the strategy would have much impact or be anything close to what's necessary, and Pelosi appeared unimpressed at a morning news conference.

"I don't think they know what they're talking about," Pelosi said dismissively.

Addressing reporters, Pelosi and Schumer staked out a firm position to extend a lapsed $600-per-week bonus jobless benefit, demanded generous child care assistance and reiterated their demand for food stamps and assistance to renters and homeowners facing eviction or foreclosure.

"Don't nickel and dime our children," Pelosi said. "Don't say we want to give a tax break to a business lunch and not give more money for children to have food stamps."

Pelosi was referring to a GOP proposal to increase the deduction for business meals from 50% to 100%. The idea seems likely to die, along with President Donald Trump's efforts to cut the Social Security payroll tax. But Schumer and Pelosi continue to push to restore a tax break for state and local taxes paid mostly by wealthier people with high incomes and valuable homes.

McConnell, R-Ky., is likely to have to assume a higher profile if the talks are to come to a successful close, but he issued a grim assessment of the situation on Thursday, again complaining that Pelosi and Schumer are not negotiating in good faith.

"Day after day, they've stonewalled the president's team. Day by day, they've tried to invent new euphemisms to create the illusion of progress," McConnell said Thursday.

Frustration was palpable among Republican senators shuttling in and out of a GOP lunch session, some of whom say Schumer is intent on using the situation as a hammer against Republicans.

"As long as they calculate that they're better off politically doing nothing, it's going to be hard for us to move forward," said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. "And that's the calculation they've made, it appears."

McConnell is sending the Senate home rather than forcing impatient senators to bide their time while Democrats play hardball. That suggests a vote won't come until late next week or even after. Progress has been scant in the talks despite more than a week of negotiation.

White House negotiators made some concessions on jobless benefits and aid to state and local governments in a Tuesday session — and then promptly got scalded by Republicans after details leaked out.

But Pelosi, a sometimes imperious force whose experience in negotiations is far more extensive than Meadows, will likely have to make some concessions soon. Her dollar figure for aid to states and local governments far exceeds what independent experts such as Moody's Analytics recommend, for example, and her position in favor of restoring the expensive state and local tax break is probably unsustainable.

"She's not going to allow the negotiations to collapse. She knows what the right moment is to pull the trigger and to try and close the deal," said Democratic lobbyist Steve Elmendorf. "But she also knows when to wait and to let the other side come to you."

Trump Ties COVID-19 Vaccine Timing to November Election

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 19:14:48 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump is predicting a COVID-19 vaccine might be ready by this year’s election, less than 90 days away.

“I’m optimistic that it’ll probably be around that date,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn on Thursday.

“It wouldn’t hurt” his reelection chances to have the vaccine available by the November 3 election, he acknowledged. “I’m doing it not for the election. I want it fast because I want to save a lot of lives.”

Later, during remarks at a washing machine factory in Ohio, Trump reiterated there would be a vaccine soon: “I hope long before the end of the year.”

The scientific community, including prominent infectious disease experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is member of the White House coronavirus task force, however, expects that none of the numerous vaccine candidates now undergoing human trials will be ready until the end of the year or early 2021.

Fauci Predicts Millions of Doses of COVID Vaccine Could Be Available by Early 2021

But top US infectious disease expert says coronavirus will never be totally eradicated

Trump spoke Thursday about the vaccine and the therapeutic treatments for COVID-19 patients during a visit to the critical election swing state of Ohio, where polls show him in a virtual tie with the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.

FILE - Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about his plans to combat racial inequality at a campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware, July 28, 2020.

“We’re going to win bigger in Ohio than we did four years ago,” predicted Trump, speaking to a group of supporters on arrival in Cleveland on Thursday.

“He’s against God. He’s against guns,” Trump said of Biden. “I don’t think he’s going to do well in Ohio.”

No Republican candidate has ever won the presidential election, or reelection, without taking Ohio. Trump, in 2016, captured nearly 52% of the vote in the state against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump’s standing in Ohio and other key states this year has been hurt by unfavorable public perception of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump promised a revival for American manufacturing, something he highlighted in his remarks Thursday at a Whirlpool factory.

The president told the company’s workers he had gone beyond fulfilling the economic commitments made during the campaign four years ago.

“We produce more than I promise,” he said.

President Donald Trump wears a mask as he talks with employees as he tours the Whirlpool Corporation facility in Clyde, Ohio, Aug. 6, 2020.

During the next four years, Trump said, he will bring back American jobs and factories using every tool at his disposal, including tariffs, countervailing duties and new trade deals.

At the factory, the president announced that earlier in the day he had signed a proclamation reimposing 10% tariffs on some Canadian aluminum products.

Canada vowed to hit back against the tariffs.

"In response to the American tariffs, Canada intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said.

Trump also on Thursday signed an executive order intended to ensure that essential medicines are manufactured in the United States.

Earlier, at Burke Lakefront Airport in downtown Cleveland, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine had been scheduled to greet the president on the tarmac. However, just before Trump’s departure from Washington, the governor’s office announced that DeWine had tested positive for the coronavirus following standard protocol testing ahead of meeting the president.

FILE - Ohio Governor Mike DeWine speaks during an interview at the Governor's Residence in Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 13, 2019.

In a second more sensitive COVID-19 test administered Thursday in Columbus, DeWine tested negative for the coronavirus, according to the governor’s office.

Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, who also took a COVID-19 test Thursday but had a negative result, stood in for the governor to greet Trump.

DeWine, in late July, issued a statewide mask mandate after previously reversing course on the idea in April.

Breaking ranks with other Republican governors, DeWine was one of the first state leaders to take steps to slow the spread of the virus, including promoting wearing of masks and social distancing.

Ohio has reported nearly 100,000 COVID-19 cases and about 3,600 deaths, according to the state health department’s COVID website.  

'See You in Court': ACLU Files Nearly 400 Cases Versus Trump

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 14:18:49 GMT

The day after Donald Trump's election in November 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a message to him on its website: "See you in court."

As president, Trump hasn't personally squared off against the ACLU from the witness stand, but the broader warning has been borne out. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories.

Among other successes for the ACLU, it prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court case blocking the administration from placing a citizenship question on the 2020 census. It also spearheaded legal efforts that curtailed the policy of separating many migrant children from their parents.

"The assault on civil liberties and civil rights is greater under this administration than any other in modern history," said the ACLU's president, Anthony Romero. "It's meant we've been living with a three-alarm fire in every part of our house."

Since the day Trump took office, the ACLU — according to a breakdown it provided to The Associated Press — has filed 237 lawsuits against the administration and about 160 other legal actions, including Freedom of Information Act requests, ethics complaints and administrative complaints.

Of the lawsuits, 174 have dealt with immigrant rights, targeting the family separation policy, detention and deportation practices and the administration's repeated attempts to make it harder to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The other lawsuits address an array of issues high on the ACLU's agenda: voting rights, LGBT rights, racial justice and others. In one long-running case, the ACLU succeeded in blocking the administration's policy of barring young immigrant women in government custody from getting abortions.

"Donald Trump has provided a full employment program for ACLU lawyers on all of our issues," Romero said.

By comparison, the ACLU says it filed 13 lawsuits and other legal actions against President George W. Bush's administration in his first term, mostly alleging encroachments on civil liberties related to counter-terrorism policies.

Many of the ACLU's recent lawsuits remain unresolved. Of those that have been decided, Romero said, the ACLU has won far more often than it has lost, though a precise breakdown was unavailable.

Among the setbacks, ACLU national legal director David Cole said, one of the most disappointing involved Trump's efforts to ban foreign nationals from several predominantly Muslim countries. Lawsuits by the ACLU and its allies successfully blocked implementation of the first two versions of the ban, but the Supreme Court allowed a third version to go into effect in 2018.

By a similar 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court also allowed the implementation of the Trump administration policy barring transgender people from enlisting in the military. Lower courts had supported efforts by the ACLU and other groups to scrap the ban.

Another LGBT rights case recently ended in a major victory for the ACLU and its allies when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that gays, lesbians and transgender people were protected from employment discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One of the ACLU's clients, Aimee Stephens, was fired from her job at a Michigan funeral home because she was transgender; she died just a few weeks before the high court ruled in her favor.

There's no question the ACLU has caught the attention of Trump and his administration.
The Republican president, at an "Evangelicals for Trump" rally in January, derided the ACLU as a "group of beauties" who had filed a lawsuit accusing public schools in Smith County, Tennessee, of improperly promoting Christian religious beliefs.

"We will not allow faithful Americans to be bullied by the hard left," Trump said.

In a May 2018 speech, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions assailed the ACLU for a lawsuit that led to a drop in stop-and-frisk arrests by Chicago police.

"If you want crime to go up, let the ACLU run the police department," Sessions said.

Recently, the ACLU has drawn criticism from a longtime supporter, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley. He worries that the organization is aligning too closely with the Democratic Party and is now less willing than in the past to support unpopular causes, such as the free-speech rights of far-right activists.

In an email, Turley questioned the wisdom of the "torrent of lawsuits" against the Trump administration.

"The result was less of a sniper strategy and more of a saturated bombing strategy," he wrote.
Even as it spars with the administration, the ACLU notes that Trump's presidency has been beneficial in some respects — fueling huge increases in donations and membership.

Romero says the ACLU national office and its state affiliates received about $175 million in donations in the three months after Trump's election. It says it has increased its headquarters staff from 386 to 605 and now has 122 attorneys, up from 84 in November 2016.

Membership has soared from about 400,000 to more than 1.8 million. Romero says many of the newcomers have been asking how they can help as volunteers in bolstering voting rights, immigrants' rights and other causes.

Demonstrating its increased interest in electoral politics, the ACLU had directed $28 million of its national funds to its affiliates in battleground states such as Florida, Arizona and Texas. Since 2016, Romero said, the ACLU of Texas has been able to double its budget to $8.5 million and its staff to 65 employees.

Biden’s Challenge: Keeping Up Momentum

Thu, 06 Aug 2020 01:26:55 GMT

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is leading in the polls over incumbent President Donald Trump but must rally and unite his party’s progressive wing while appealing to the broader electorate if he hopes to win November’s presidential election. The continuing coronavirus pandemic makes traditional campaigning difficult, and Biden campaign officials now say he will not travel to his party’s convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to accept the presidential nomination. VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports on the strengths and vulnerabilities of the man Democrats hope will win the White House.
Produced by: Mike O’Sullivan

Professor Predicts Biden Will Beat Trump in November Vote

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 22:07:22 GMT

A history professor who has correctly predicted the outcome of every U.S. presidential election since 1984 says Democrat Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.

Appearing in a video streaming from the opinion pages of The New York Times, Allan Lichtman, an American University professor, said he uses what he calls his “13 keys” system to forecast election results.

Lichtman’s keys include whether a candidate is an incumbent, the long-term and short-term economic conditions, scandals, social unrest, and the candidates’ personality and appeal.

"The keys predict that Trump will lose the White House," but not by a landslide, Lichtman said.

Lichtman gives Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, the edge in seven keys, including social unrest, the coronavirus outbreak and how it is destabilizing the economy, and the Trump impeachment.

FILE - Allan Lichtman of American University in Washington, D.C., is pictured at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, May 24, 2011.

Six for Trump

Trump has the advantage in six keys. They include the president’s incumbency, no serious Republican primary challengers, no major foreign military failures, and what Lichtman says is Biden’s lack of charisma.

Although Lichtman is predicting a close election, a CNN roundup of the latest polls showed Biden winning by a landslide. A Fox News poll found the election a bit closer, but with Biden winning.

But no matter whether a voter is a Republican or a Democrat, Lichtman said, citizen participation is essential.

"It's up to you, the voter, to decide the future of our democracy," he said. "So, get out and vote. Vote in person. Vote by mail."

Lichtman has correctly called every presidential election since Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984.

He forecast Al Gore, a Democrat, beating Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and stands by his prediction. Gore barely won the popular vote, but the Supreme Court ruled in Bush’s favor after a long dispute over inconclusive ballots cast in Florida.

US Supreme Court Approval Rating at Highest in Over Decade

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 20:25:12 GMT

At a time when other branches of the U.S. government remain relatively unpopular, public approval of the Supreme Court has risen to its highest level in more than a decade, according to a new Gallup survey.

The survey, released on Wednesday, found that 58% of Americans approve of the way the high court is handling its job, its highest rating since 2009.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks during a panel discussion celebrating Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to be a Supreme Court Justice, Sept. 25, 2019, at the Library of Congress in Washington.

The nine-member court’s approval rating had hovered around 50% in recent years after rising as high as 61% in 2009, fueled in part by the historic appointment of the first Hispanic justice, Sonia Sotomayor.

The Supreme Court’s high approval rating contrasts sharply with that of the rest of the U.S. government. Just 25% of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job, according to an earlier Gallup survey, while 38% say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the presidency.

The Supreme Court is split between five conservative justices appointed by Republican presidents and four liberals appointed by Democratic presidents, a right-leaning ideological divide that has persisted since the 1970s.

While its 5-4 rulings on politically charged issues receive the most attention, a large number of its decisions are reached unanimously.

The latest survey, conducted between July 1 and 23, comes on the heels of one of the most consequential Supreme Court terms in recent years during which the justices issued a series of landmark rulings.

They dismissed the Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration program, struck down a Louisiana anti-abortion law, and expanded anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ workers.

At the same time, the court ruled that states cannot exclude religious schools from funding for private education, opined that Catholic school teachers cannot sue their employers for discrimination and upheld exemptions from Obamacare’s birth control mandate.

On July 9, the court’s final day of the term, the justices issued a pair of mixed rulings regarding subpoenas for President Donald Trump’s financial records. While ruling that Trump is not immune from a New York grand jury subpoena, the justices put a stop to congressional efforts to obtain the president and his family’s business records.

Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, said that in evaluating the high court, Americans often “conjure up one or two recent cases, and based on that, determine their support or opposition.”

He added that Americans often ignore “countless consequential actions that may bypass the headlines.”

Biden to Skip Milwaukee Trip for Presidential Nomination Acceptance

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 19:02:13 GMT

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has decided to not travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to accept the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s national convention this month out of fear of the “worsening” coronavirus pandemic, convention organizers said Wednesday.

The party said none of the planned convention speakers would go to the Midwestern city, in order to “prevent risking the health of our host community as well as the convention’s production teams, security officials, community partners, media and others." Normally about 50,000 convention delegates, workers and media would have gone to the four-day event starting August 17.

Much of the convention will now be conducted virtually, likely from several cities. That means there will be none of the hoopla that typically accompanies the quadrennial event, which culminates with the presidential nomination acceptance speech and thousands of red, white and blue balloons cascading from the convention hall rafters.

Convention organizers said Biden would now make his August 20 nomination acceptance speech in his home state of Delaware.

With the recent surge in coronavirus cases in the U.S., both Democratic and Republican party officials have sharply curtailed their conventions, normally a keystone of U.S. presidential campaigns. The national election will be on November 3.

Republicans in North Carolina

The Republicans are holding their scaled-down convention to nominate President Donald Trump in Charlotte, North Carolina, starting August 24.

Some events, including Trump’s acceptance speech, had been moved to Jacksonville, Florida, when North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, refused to guarantee, because of coronavirus fears, that Republicans would be allowed to pack a basketball arena there for their convention.

But as the number of confirmed virus cases spiked in Florida, Trump also dropped Jacksonville as the site of his speech.

Trump has not definitively said where he will deliver his presidential renomination acceptance speech, although he told the “Fox & Friends” show Wednesday, “I’ll probably do mine live from the White House.”

In curbing the Democrats’ plans for Milwaukee, party chair Tom Perez said, "From the very beginning of this pandemic, we put the health and safety of the American people first. We followed the science, listened to doctors and public health experts, and we continued making adjustments to our plans in order to protect lives."

Trump Campaign Sues to Block Nevada Mail-in Voting

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 16:34:46 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign and the national Republican Party have sued to block the western state of Nevada from sending a mail-in ballot to every registered voter in the state, even as Trump says absentee voting is fine by him in his adopted home state of Florida.

The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday claims the Nevada voting plan approved by the state legislature Sunday night will result in “inevitable” fraud in the Nov. 3 national presidential election.

President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Aug. 4, 2020, in Washington.

In an interview on the “Fox & Friends” television show Wednesday, Trump sought to draw a distinction between absentee voting — when states send voters applications for ballots which they must return before being sent an actual ballot — and states like Nevada that are planning to automatically mail all registered voters a ballot.

"Absentee is OK because you have to go through a process," said Trump, who has voted by mail in Florida. "What they're going to do [in Nevada] is blanket the state. Anybody who ever walked, frankly, will get one."

For weeks, Trump has disparaged mail-in voting across the country as potentially rife with fraud and claimed that it will lead to a “rigged” election stolen by Democrats to defeat him.

But he abruptly reversed course Tuesday on mail-in voting in Florida, a state critical to his reelection chances, after surveys showed that some Republican voters were more inclined than Democrats to not vote by mail after Trump’s repeated complaints about the practice.

Trump won Florida en route to his 2016 upset victory, and he almost certainly will have to win the state again for a second four-year term. The southeastern state has 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency through the Electoral College, the indirect voting system in which state-by-state voting outcome determines the national outcome, not the national popular vote.

FILE - A Miami-Dade County Elections Department employee places a vote-by-mail ballot for the August 18 primary election into a box for rejected ballots at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, in Doral, Florida, July 30, 2020.

Trump claimed in the television interview that Florida’s mail-in voting is more reliable because it has had “two good governors,” Republicans Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott. Nevada’s Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, is a Trump critic.

"They have an infrastructure that’s taken years to build," Trump said about Florida's mail-in voting system.

Despite Trump’s complaints, election fraud is rare in the U.S. But the vast increase in mail-in voting expected this year as voters shun in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic could lead to substantial vote-counting problems.

In some state elections this year, officials have been overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of extra mailed-in ballots compared to previous elections. In some instances, with the tedious vote-counting of the mailed-in ballots, it has taken weeks for the outcomes of close elections to be determined, contrary to the usual practice in the U.S. when winners and losers are most often known within hours of polls closing on Election Night.

Trump contended that the outcome of the presidential election "could be for months and months. It could be for years." By law, however, the next U.S. president is set to be sworn in Jan. 20, 2021.

But Trump expressed hope that the coronavirus pandemic will have abated substantially in less than three months, making voters less fearful of heading to polls to vote in person.

"By the time we get there, we'll probably be in very good shape," he predicted. “November 3rd is a long way off. That’s an eternity, as far as I’m concerned.”

In the Nevada lawsuit, the Trump campaign and Republicans claimed the voting law is unconstitutional because it allows for ballots to be counted even if they are received up to Nov. 6, three days after the election, and even if they lack a postmark.

In a statement Monday after signing the legislation, Sisolak said the law would protect Nevadans and "safeguard their right to make their voices heard."

Marshall Tops Kobach in Kansas Senate Primary

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 11:45:53 GMT

Voters in the U.S. state of Kansas have picked Congressman Roger Marshall from a field of 11 Republican candidates, including former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, to be the nominee for U.S. Senate in the November election.

Marshall will now go up against Barbara Bollier in the contest to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts.

Roberts endorsed Marshall in the race, as did many Republican leaders who expressed concern that voters might not support Kobach and his more polarizing record.

In a House of Representatives primary in Kansas, first-term Congressman Steve Watkins will lose his seat after being defeated by state treasurer Jake LaTurner.

FILE - Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 30, 2019. ,

In Arizona, a November Senate matchup is now set between incumbent Republican Martha McSally and former astronaut and Democrat Mark Kelly.

Longtime Congressman Lacy Clay will lose his seat in the House of Representatives representing a Missouri district after voters in a Democratic primary chose progressive activist Cori Bush.

Election officials in Michigan are expected to declare a winner Wednesday in the House Democratic primary between incumbent Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones.

In another Michigan district, Iraq War veteran Peter Meijer won the Republican primary in the race to replace retiring Congressman Justin Amash.

Loyalty Questions Arise Over Biden’s Reported Top Choice for VP

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 00:35:16 GMT

Presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden has delayed announcing his pick for his vice-presidential running mate, amid speculation of internal opposition to frontrunner California Senator Kamala Harris. VOA’s Brian Padden reports that other possible choices are emerging who are reportedly seen as more of a team player than Harris, a past rival for the Democratic nomination who clashed with Biden during the primary campaign.

Produced by: Brian Padden

Voters in 5 US States Casting Primary Ballots

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 07:49:13 GMT

Five U.S. states are holding primary elections Tuesday, with a Republican battle for a Senate seat representing Kansas among the key races.

A total of 11 candidates are competing for the chance to be on the November general election ballot as voters make their pick to fill the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts.

Roberts has endorsed Congressman Roger Marshall, who also has the backing of other Republican leaders. Former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach and plumbing company founder Bob Hamilton are the other top contenders. Kobach lost a 2018 bid to be the governor of Kansas.

The last time a Republican candidate lost an election for a Senate seat representing Kansas was 1932. The Republican who wins Tuesday will likely be favored in November, but Democratic candidate Barbara Bollier has raised more money thus far than any of the Republicans and her party is pushing to regain a majority in the Senate.

Heading into the November election day, Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate advantage, while Democrats have the majority in the House of Representatives.

In the House, there is a Republican primary Tuesday for the 2nd congressional district in Kansas with incumbent Congressman Steve Watkins battling a challenge from State Treasurer Jake LaTurner.

LaTurner has said felony illegal voting charges against Watkins, which Watkins denies, make him vulnerable to losing the seat to a Democrat in November. Watkins has campaigned as a staunch conservative who backs President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump talks with Republican candidate for Kansas' 2nd Congressional District Steve Watkins during a campaign rally at Kansas Expocentre, Oct. 6, 2018 in Topeka, Kan.

In the state of Michigan, focus Tuesday will be on the 13th congressional district where Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is facing a Democratic primary challenge from Detroit City Council president Brenda Jones.

Tlaib finished 900 votes ahead of Jones in a six-person race in the party’s 2018 primary. This time it will just be those two candidates on the ballot.

Republicans are also battling for the chance to fill the seats of two retiring congressmen representing Michigan districts.

In the 3rd congressional district, five Republicans are competing for the seat currently held by Congressman Justin Amash, who left the Republican party a year ago.

Three Republicans are on the ballot in the race for the party’s nomination in the 10th district, which is currently represented by retiring Republican Congressman Paul Mitchell.

Voters in the state of Arizona are casting primary ballots to pick candidates for a special election to fill the remaining two years of the late Senator John McCain’s term.

Republican Martha McSally was appointed to the seat in 2018 and is facing a challenge from businessman Daniel McCarthy. In the Democratic race, former astronaut Mark Kelly is heavily favored over a write-in candidate.

Voters are also casting primary ballots for House seats in Arizona, as well as Missouri and Washington.

The general election is November 3, and winners will take office in January.

White House, Democrats Cite Some Progress Toward Coronavirus Aid Deal

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 05:02:55 GMT

White House officials and top congressional Democrats plan to meet again Tuesday after both sides cited some progress in their effort to find agreement on a new coronavirus aid package.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday staff members would meet overnight, and that she and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer would hold another round of talks Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

“We are moving down the track,” Pelosi told reporters after two hours of negotiations Monday. “We still have our differences. We are trying to have clearer understanding of what the needs are.”

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, center, waits in the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 3, 2020.

The two sides have been divided by the size of their proposed aid packages, with Democrats calling for $3 trillion in new spending and Republicans wanting to limit it to $1 trillion.

Among the items under discussion are sending out another round of stimulus payments, helping renters avoid eviction, aiding the Postal Service, and action to address $600-per-week federal unemployment payments that expired last week.

Republican leaders have put forth the idea of passing a smaller aid package that addresses some items while leaving negotiations on others for later, but Mnuchin signaled some flexibility Monday.

"We're open to a bigger package if we can reach an agreement," he told reporters.

Democrats have dismissed that approach, arguing instead that the federal government needs to take big action to confront the economic challenges facing the country.

“If we don’t have that response, it’ll take longer, more people will stay unemployed for a longer amount of time, more businesses will close, et cetera,” Schumer told reporters Monday.