Politics Now - USA

President Biden’s handling of the pandemic and coronavirus economy has helped fuel a 61-percent job approval rating as he enters his third month in office, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research published Wednesday. The study found an overwhelmingly positive job approval rating among Democrats — 96 percent — despite just 22 percent of Republicans saying they approve of the job he's doing. Biden’s overall approval from 6 in 10 Americans sits well above ratings measured for his predecessor, former President Trump Donald TrumpThe Hill's Morning Report - Biden seeks expanded government, tax hikes Georgia voter limits take root amid weakened Justice Department Battle rages over vaccine passports MORE, at the same point in 2017. ADVERTISEMENT The news service noted that Trump not once reached more than 50 percent in his overall approval rating in any AP-NORC poll during his presidency. Wednesday’s study found that COVID-19 remains th...

CARSON CITY, Nev. (KLAS) — Democrats in the Nevada Legislature hope to make mail-in voting, which expanded to all registered voters for the November election due to the pandemic, the law of the land. Assembly Bill 321 would require a person opt-out rather than opt-in to receiving a mail-in ballot. The proposal would also require election workers take a class on signature verification. Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson said the bill makes participating in democracy easier and more secure. “Voting is a right. It’s an absolute right,” Frierson said. “I think it’s incumbent on us to make sure every eligible voter has the ability to cast their ballot and participate. We’ve seen it in record numbers. As long as Nevadans are taking advantage of that opportunity, I believe we need to continue to make it available to them.” Nevada instituted a large mail-in ballot program amid the coronavirus pandemic, but its provisions are only applicable during states of emergencies. Nearly half of all votes i...

I don’t come to this conclusion lightly. The threats from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are not to be discounted. “Let me say this very clearly for all 99 of my colleagues,” the Kentucky Republican said March 16. “Nobody serving in this chamber can even begin — can even begin to imagine — what a completely scorched-earth Senate would look like.” Oh, yes they can. No one has handled the blowtorch in pursuit of his priorities more adroitly than McConnell. AD AD Having failed in making good on his 2010 promise to make Barack Obama a one-term president, McConnell put Republican legislative recalcitrance into overdrive. In the fall of Obama’s second term in 2013, Republicans blocked three of his nominees for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and, for the first time ever, they filibustered a defense secretary nominee. By November of that year, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had had enough. He ended the filibuster for lower federal court...

The Department of Defense on Wednesday announced that it was reversing a Donald Trump-era rule preventing transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, issuing the new policy on International Transgender Day of Visibility. “DoD and the Military Departments will institute policies to provide Service members a process by which they may transition gender while serving,” the 22-page information guide stated. “These policies are based on the conclusion that open service by transgender persons who are subject to the same high standards and procedures as other Service members with regard to medical fitness for duty, physical fitness, uniform and grooming standards, deployability, and retention is consistent with military service and readiness.” President Joe Biden had issued an executive order less than a week after taking office in January, which rescinded the previous administration’s policy — ceasing any further discharges on the basis of gender identity and ordering the military t...

“I believe Matt Gaetz,” Jordan told CNN congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles. “He should not be removed from the Judiciary Committee.” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) has called for Gaetz’s removal from the powerful House committee while the Justice Department investigates him. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Gaetz is suspected of paying for a minor with whom he had a sexual relationship to travel with him roughly two years ago, which may have violated federal sex trafficking laws. Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing and said he has not had any relationship with a 17-year-old. Jordan, who like Gaetz is an ardent conservative and Donald Trump ally, was one of a handful of Republicans to take a clear position on the investigation. But as many critics noted online, Jordan’s own history tarnishes him as a character reference on this issue. Tom Williams via Getty Images Jim Jordan faced criticism for defending his colleague Matt Gaetz given the multiple accusations that he covered up sexua...

New York (CNN Business) Some of the nation's most prominent Black business leaders are calling out their Fortune 500 peers for their muted response to new laws that restrict voting across the country. Merck chief executive Ken Frazier and Berkshire Hathaway director Kenneth Chenault were among the 72 Black executives who signed a letter released Wednesday challenging other corporate leaders to be more forceful in condemning what both said were deliberate attempts by Republicans to limit the number of Black Americans casting ballots in key states. "Many people died for the right of Blacks being able to vote," Chenault told CNN Business on Wednesday. "What we're calling on corporations to do is not just say they believe strongly in the right to vote. It's to publicly and directly oppose any discriminatory legislation and all measures designed to limit any individuals ability to vote." Former American Express CEO and current Berkshire Hathaway director Kenn...

Joe Biden has unveiled a sweeping $2 trillion infrastructure proposal that he promises will usher the US into the 21st century, create millions of jobs and put the nation on a footing to compete with an ascendant Chinese economy. “It’s big, yes. It’s bold, yes. And we can get it done,” the president said of his initial plan on infrastructure at an event in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The massive government spending package, which would be paid for by rolling back key components of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, is unlikely to receive any support from Republicans. The new proposal, which would be even more expensive than Mr Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief package from earlier this month, provides government spending in four main categories. $621bn for traditional transportation infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, and public transit. $650bn for “modern infrastructure” that will affect Americans “at home”: broadband internet expansion, revamped water systems and electricity grids, m...

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has a story to counter allegations that he faces a federal criminal investigation into accusations of sex trafficking. It goes like this: Gaetz is actually a victim, but of a separate extortion scheme. A former prosecutor — now a lawyer in Pensacola — allegedly approached Gaetz’s father with the extortion threat, sparking the Gaetz clan to spring into action: they contacted the FBI, resulting in a meeting between Gaetz’s father and the alleged extortionist while the elder Gaetz was wearing a wire. When the New York Times story came out, the Florida Republican maintains, that blew up the final piece of the FBI’s sting operation: the elder Gaetz had planned to wire $4.5 million to the alleged extortionist, thereby nailing the case. Gaetz let this account out in dribs and drabs, with most of it appearing in a bizarre interview with Tucker Carlson Tuesday night. Gaetz’s father Don has provided a similar story to Politico, saying that the FBI had him wired up in a bid...

The federal investigation into Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is focused on allegations that the junior congressman had a sexual relationship with at least one minor, and is scrutinizing the Republican's conduct not only in Florida but outside the politician's home state too, three sources familiar with the investigation tell ABC News. The investigation, first reported by the New York Times Tuesday and confirmed by ABC News, has sent shockwaves through Republican circles, particularly among close associates of former President Donald Trump, who considered Gaetz a staunch ally and loyal friend. "I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false," Gaetz told Fox News' Tucker Carlson in an interview Tuesday night. "That is false and records will bear that out to be false." Sources told ABC News the investigation has been going on for months and began during the Trump administration. Former Attorney General Bill Barr was briefed on the investi...

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is pictured inside the company's office in Bengaluru, India, April 20, 2018. REUTERS/Abhishek N. Chinnappa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Wednesday singled out Amazon.com Inc for not paying federal taxes during his address in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as he spoke about raising the burden of taxes on multinational companies and hiking the corporate tax rate. Biden’s infrastructure plan unveiled earlier in the day increases the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and changes the tax code to close loopholes that allow companies to move profits overseas, according to a 25-page briefing paper released by the White House. Biden said Amazon was one of 91 Fortune 500 companies that “use various loopholes where they pay not a single solitary penny in federal income tax,” in sharp contrast to middle class families paying over 20% tax rates. “I don’t want to punish them but that’s just wrong,” he said. In response, an Amazon spokeswoman pointed to ...

The Biden administration will remove dozens of Trump-appointed experts previously appointed to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Washington Post reports. EPA Administrator Michael Regan would remove more than 40 experts who were on the EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) during the Trump administration – as the agency works to reconfigure its panels, it was revealed on Wednesday. It is unusual for an administration to completely remove members from a panel who were appointed by the past administration, but President Joe Biden has indicated he would approach environmental policies like air pollution and fracking differently than his predecessor. "Scientific integrity is one of EPA's foundational values - and as Administrator, I am committed to ensuring that every decision we make meets rigorous scientific standards," Mr Regan said in a statement. "Resetting these two scientific advisory committees will ...

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey has spoken out against the recent changes to voter laws in Georgia that activists said would suppress voters, calling the new legislation "unacceptable". "We always opposed this legislation," Mr Quincey said on Wednesday when speaking to CNBC. "Let me be crystal clear and unequivocal, this legislation is unacceptable, it is a step backward and it does not promote principles that we have stood for here in Georgia, around broad access to voting, around voter convenience, about ensuring election integrity, and this is frankly just a step backwards," the British-born businessman added. Coca-Cola, which has its headquarters in Georgia, alongside other companies has faced pressure from political activists to speak out and condemn the SB202 legislation that was signed last week by Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican. In a statement released on Monday, the company said that it was "disappointed in the outcome" but it didn't ...

Documents Show Trump Officials Skirted Rules to Reward Politically Connected and Untested Firms With Huge Pandemic Contracts House Democrats investigating the COVID-19 response say Trump adviser Peter Navarro pressured agencies to award deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Emails exchanged between Trump official Peter Navarro and Airboss Defense Group CEO Patrick Callahan show that the company sold respirators to FEMA before any contract was awarded and expected to be paid upfront, breaking from typical protocol. “Consider it done,” Navarro wrote. Series: Coronavirus The U.S. Response to COVID-19 ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. A top adviser to former President Donald Trump pressured agency officials to reward politically connected or otherwise untested companies with hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts as part of a chaotic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, accor...

I'm not a fan of pro wrestling so I have never watched two grown men simultaneously try to throw each other out of the ring. But having watched the entire interview Fox News host Tucker Carlson held with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Tuesday night, I now see the appeal. No one grabbed anyone by the shoulders — the two were not even in the same room — but it was nonetheless a riveting pas de deux of insinuation and attempted blackmail. It was a rare moment of comeuppance for two of the most ridiculous, yet sinister, figures in American politics, and impossible to look away from. It was, in other words, great TV. And that is what Fox News is good at, turning politics into a campy wrestling match, devoid of meaningful content but full of stock characters locked in asinine conflicts. The network's instinct for good TV has elevated figures like Gaetz, a spoiled mediocrity who, in another time, would simply be a faceless grifter warming the congressional seat Daddy bought him, at least...

Climate change meets crumbling infrastructure: Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers repair a subway tunnel damaged by Superstorm Sandy. | Trent Reeves / Metropolitan Transportation Authority via AP Early last summer, when it was already obvious that the pandemic was making a wreck of the economy, Joe Biden appeared to have a light bulb moment. He seemed to realize that everything had changed, and that, to keep up with history, he better change as well. “The blinders have been taken off,” Biden said in May. “Because of this COVID crisis, I think people are realizing, ‘My Lord. Look at what is possible. Look at the institutional changes we can make.”’ Progressives and unions have been urging the new president not to let the current crisis go to waste by squandering the opportunity to enact transformational economic and social reform. He’s taking their advice: With as much as $4 trillion of new spending to be unveiled over the coming weeks, it’s clear that the Biden administratio...

The Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy of California, told Fox News on Tuesday that Republicans would support removing Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, from his committee assignments if allegations that he traveled and had a sexual relationship with an underage girl are proven true. "Those are serious implications. If it comes out to be true, yes, we would remove him if that's the case," McCarthy told Fox News. "But right now Matt Gaetz says that it's not true and we don't have any information. So let's get all the information." Advertisement: Members of Congress were quick to react to a bombshell New York Times report that Gaetz has been under a DOJ investigation that began under former Attorney General Bill Barr's watch. Immediately following the allegations, Gaetz appeared on Fox News with host Tucker Carlson to tell his side of the story, which casts him as the victim of an elaborate $25 million extortion scheme carried o...

The Environmental Protection Agency is emptying out two top advisory panels stacked with experts picked under former President Donald Trump and will fill them with new members — the latest in a series of moves the Biden administration has taken with the goal of restoring integrity to science in decision-making. Both the Science Advisory Board and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee had come under scrutiny during the Trump administration over whether they were unduly influenced by outside experts with close ties to polluting industries. The EPA said Wednesday it would be seeking "a balanced group of experts" for the reconstituted panels. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the goal was to ensure "every decision we make meets rigorous scientific standards." "Resetting these two scientific advisory committees will ensure the agency receives the best possible scientific insight to support our work to protect human health and the environment," Regan sa...

President Biden's plan to connect all Americans with high-speed broadband includes proposals to boost competition, build more publicly owned networks, lower prices, and prioritize "future-proof" networks instead of ones that would quickly become outdated. In other words, the plan includes some of the broadband industry's least-favorite ideas and is sure to meet fierce resistance from cable and telecom lobby groups and Republicans. Biden's $100 billion broadband proposal is part of the American Jobs Plan described by the White House in a fact sheet released today. The broadband details released so far are a bit vague, and the plan could be changed in Congress, but there's a lot to like for Internet users. "The president believes we can bring affordable, reliable, high-speed broadband to every American through a historic investment of $100 billion," the fact sheet said. The $100 billion in broadband funding would be spread out over a number of years, a...

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is trying to tell us that he’s not going down alone. Last night, the much-maligned congressman lowkey tried to implicate Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson (and his wife) into his sex abuse allegations during an unusual interview on live television. Featured Video Hide According to a New York Times report, Gaetz, an ally of former President Donald Trump, is at the part of a Justice Department investigation into a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old. He potentially faces charges related to federal sex trafficking laws. Advertisement Hide The Times also reports that “the investigation was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under Attorney General William Barr” with senior Justice Department officials aware of the inquiry. Gaetz has not been charged “and the extent of his criminal exposure is unclear,” according to the Times. This is WILD.@MattGaetz to #Tucker: "It is a horrible allegation and it is a lie. The New York Times is running a sto...

AOC said talking about migrants at the US-Mexico border as a "surge" pushes a white supremacist idea. "It's not a border crisis. It's an imperialism crisis, it's a climate crisis, it's a trade crisis," she said. A rise in migrants and children crossing the border is a challenge for the Biden administration. See more stories on Insider's business page. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday said that referring to the rise in border crossings over the past few months as a "surge" or "invasion" smacks of white supremacy. "So much of our national conversation, which is not a conversation, about immigration, is driven by people who could not care less about immigrants. So often, people want to say, 'Why aren't you talking about the border crisis?' or 'Why aren't you talking about it in this way?' Well, we're talking about it, they just don't like how we're talking about it," she said ...

WASHINGTON – Rep. Matt Gaetz, a firebrand Florida Republican and close ally of former President Donald Trump, is under investigation over allegations that he had sex with an underage girl, according to media reports Tuesday. The revelation that the Justice Department is investigating Gaetz for potential violations of sex trafficking laws swiftly roiled national politics. Gaetz was accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paying for her travel, The New York Times first reported. The third-term congressman denied wrongdoing, insinuating that he and his family have been under the threat of extortion from a former Justice official. Gaetz has not been charged and said he is cooperating with the DOJ investigation. The allegations at the heart of the evolving controversy are the most serious charges levied at a congressman who is no stranger to political scandal. The broader story of the situation involves multiple elected officials and investigations in Florida and...