White House looks to salvage Biden's domestic agenda

The White House is hoping to salvage what it can of President Biden’s agenda after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) all but struck a fatal blow to talks on climate and tax provisions. Rather than publicly sparring with Manchin or going back to the drawing board for a reworked deal, the White House is hoping to take any wins it can get in the short time between summer and the midterms, when Republicans appear to have a good chance at retaking both chambers of Congress. White House officials and their allies believe passing a slimmed down reconciliation bill that addresses presc

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White House says it won’t declare climate emergency this week

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that President Biden won’t declare a climate emergency this week, but that doesn’t mean he won’t do it eventually.  “He’s going to take, as I said, additional climate actions in that vein tomorrow and he’s going to continue, he’s not going to just stop with the actions of tomorrow, but I would not plan [an] announcement this week on [a] national climate emergency,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during a press briefing. “Everything’s on the table, it’s just not going to be this week on that decision,” she added.&nbs

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Improving maternal health care in America

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that Black women experience maternal mortality two to three times higher than that of white women. The estimated national maternal mortality rate in the United States is about 17 per 100,000 live births –– but it is about 43 per 100,000 live births for Black women.    We both are advocates and supporters of proposals that address public health disparities in

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Secret Service arrests individual for entering road near Jill Biden's motorcade

The Secret Service arrested an individual on Monday evening for allegedly entering a restricted roadway near first lady Jill Biden’s motorcade and attempting to evade officers. The Secret Service said in a statement that uniformed division officers ordered the individual to stop at approximately 5:02 p.m. on Monday, but that they attempted to flee from the officers. The agency said the motorcade’s movement was unaffected. “The individual was detained after attempting to flee from officers, two of whom were transported to an area hospital for evaluation following a minor

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DOJ pitches Senate on use of anti-mafia laws to seize Russian assets

The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked Congress for permission on Tuesday to use a sweeping set of laws originally designed to break up the mafia as part of their efforts to pursue the assets of the Russian elite following the country’s war in Ukraine. The DOJ wants to include violations of sanctions and export controls in its definition of racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO Act, which allowed federal prosecutors in the 1980s and 1990s to go after organized crime rings on charges of extortion and murder for hire. Under curre

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