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There’s a wave coming, but it’s not the one you think

Most in Washington are debating whether there will be a red wave this November and, if so, how large it might be. Yet, whether it turns out to be a wave or a ripple for Republicans, the twin tides of progressivism and populism are bringing a much larger wave that will crash down on businesses. 

From The White House to statehouses, skepticism, scrutiny and pressure will rise as a new wave of politicians from both parties is elected in November for whom criticizing business has proven to be a resonant line of attack on the campaign trail and in office. This means businesses have more at stake this fall than just which party controls Congress and state legislatures.  

While businesses may expect Republicans to form a bulwark against excessive regulation and taxation, with the party likely to gain control of the U.S. House and possibly the Senate, the reality may be quite different. Like Democrats after the 2018 midterm election, Republicans are sharpening their knives to exert full oversight authority over an executive branch held by the opposing party. Companies and industries could get caught in the crosshairs of GOP-led investigations, just as they did when Democrats took control in January 2019.  

Those investigations are likely to include the Biden administration’s COVID-19 response, and health care firms working on these efforts undoubtedly will find themselves ensnared in such oversight. With funds flowing to green energy projects, Republicans will search for the next Solyndra among the beneficiaries. Financial institutions should anticipate questions as a GOP majority looks into the Biden administration pressuring investors against financing fossil fuel projects and toward embracing a broad range of environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) initiatives. 

As the administration moves forward with Medicare drug price negotiations and other measures to rein in prescription costs, Republicans are likely to be both friend and foe to the pharmaceutical industry. Fintech firms may find themselves caught between regulators and legislators as Republicans scrutinize the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s aggressive approach. Even investigations seemingly disconnected from business, such as Hunter Biden’s overseas business endeavors, have the potential to disrupt U.S.-China relations and other trade interests. 

Thus, for a range of sectors, a Republican Congress may not translate into relief, even as President Biden dusts off the “phone and pen” of executive action, leaving businesses fighting a two-front war in Washington.  

Further complicating businesses’ ability to navigate both Congress and state legislatures will be the number of new members populating those chambers, many of whom will be less experienced and more ideological than their predecessors. With at least 56 open seats on congressional ballots and potentially more than two dozen incumbents losing in November, the 118th Congress will be one of the largest freshman classes in three decades. This shift also will happen in state legislatures, where newcomers will win one in four seats thanks to the highest level of open seats in five election cycles.  

Among these open seats are legislative leaders such as Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey, and Wisconsin Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke. While the latter two decided to retire, rather than seek re-election in the face of primary challenges, Bowers was one of numerous Republican incumbents to lose in primaries this cycle. Thus far, Republican incumbents have been losing at over twice the rate of the past two election cycles, generally losing to more populist challengers. The same has been true to a lesser extent among Democrats. 

As a result, when state legislatures are sworn in next year, majority parties are likely to grow even more dominant in more than two-thirds of state legislative chambers. In other words, red state legislatures are going to get redder and blue state legislatures will get bluer, with even more states under solitary party control. That means fewer checks on partisan excesses. 

As the political center has fewer representatives in government, companies will have to navigate this widening gap in policy direction between states. Moderate Democrats who held back the excesses of progressivism and the free market mantra of Republicans that similarly curtailed populist impulses have both ebbed in recent election cycles, and the expectations for November suggest they will remain far out at sea. This reality places businesses in a precarious position as they face mounting pressure to choose sides in the debate. Yet when businesses do take a stand — or no stand — they are bound to alienate a swath of policymakers and stakeholders. Firms must understand that while they may have earned and maintained a great deal of trust, it will take a lot to ensure that trust withstands the growing tide of politicization.  

As the wave of competing pressures from fresher, more partisan faces in Congress and state legislatures hits shores, businesses will have to adjust how they approach their advocacy. They cannot wait for the election results to begin assessing risks and challenges, or what range of stakeholders and policymakers will shape those outcomes. Smart firms are spending this fall waxing their surfboards to ride the coming wave as smoothly as possible. That means assessing where and how risks could emerge next year, and mapping which stakeholders are likely to be allies or opponents in those debates. Firms that wait to build the knowledge they need to form an effective strategy are more likely to be drowned in the wave.  

Jeff Berkowitz is the founder and CEO of Delve, a Washington-based competitive intelligence and risk advisory firm for companies and industries. He spent more than a decade in politics and government, leading research and messaging operations at the White House and State Department, on presidential campaigns, and for national industry and advocacy organizations. Follow him on Twitter @jberk.

Source: TEST FEED1

Burr recovering from hip replacement surgery, will miss votes

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is recovering from hip replacement surgery and will miss votes this week, his office said, as the Senate reconvenes on Capitol Hill after a month-long recess.

“I’ll be closely monitoring votes during my absence and look forward to rejoining my colleagues in Congress next week,” Burr said in a statement.

The senator added that the procedure was successful and he’s “doing well” while recovering in his home state of North Carolina. 

Burr is the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The retiring senator’s seat is up for grabs in this year’s midterm elections.

Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley (D) won their respective primary elections to advance to the November election to replace Burr.

–-Developing

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A Louisiana law keeps special needs kids from getting care — one woman wants to change it

In a recent lawsuit, the Louisiana Department of Health admitted what every parent of a special needs child knows: There is always a need for more care for this population. Parents need time away from the rigors of child-rearing, whether it be to work, run errands, or simply have time to themselves. 

Yet state officials are blocking a longtime social worker, Ursula Newell-Davis, from offering care to special needs kids in New Orleans. In fact, they automatically deny nearly 75 percent of people who apply annually without regard to the applicant’s qualifications. In her lawsuit against the officials, the government defended the law for one reason: It said it would rather conserve its resources for doing things other than licensing new providers like her. So far, that argument has succeeded in court. 

Newell-Davis seeks to provide what’s called “respite services,” or short-term care for disabled children, adults and the elderly. Because she’s been a social worker for over two decades in New Orleans, she has seen that her clients often lack access to respite care. The unfortunate consequence is that sometimes kids are left alone. Left unsupervised, these children sometimes fail to take care of their hygiene, feed themselves, or change their clothes — leading to their being bullied in school for wearing the same thing two days in a row. Others turn to the wrong crowds and fall into crime.  

Alternatively, parents may forego time to themselves, with heartbreaking results. One of Newell-Davis’s former clients described falling into depression, losing her job, and then losing her home while struggling to take care of her special needs child without any support. Newell-Davis has been able to help New Orleans families through drug addiction, mental health challenges, and homelessness in her capacity as a social worker. Now she seeks to offer respite care, too. Her clients rave about her ability to connect with their kids, particularly special needs kids — a skill likely gained because Newell-Davis has a special needs child of her own. So in 2019, she sought to open a respite care business to serve the greater New Orleans area.  

There is arguably nobody more qualified than she, but Louisiana has made her dream impossible. Before anyone can offer respite services in the state, they must undergo a Facility Needs Review with state health officials. This process has nothing to do with a person’s qualifications or fitness for the job; it relates solely to whether the state believes another care provider is “needed.” Newell-Davis included studies showing that early intervention results in better outcomes for children and described talking to local officials who encouraged her to apply. But in a two-page form letter, she was rejected solely because the state determined she wasn’t needed in New Orleans.  

This law might seem strange, but similar requirements are common in the health care industry. Louisiana’s Facility Need Review is just a variation of what’s called a “certificate of need” law in about half of states. These laws are little more than a protectionist regulation that allows established businesses, in alliance with state officials, to deny competitors the opportunity to enter the marketplace. 

In other states, incumbent businesses can actually protest new applications and show up at their hearing to testify that no new company is needed. Research shows that need-review laws predictably lead to lower access to care, and there is no evidence that they lower costs or improve quality. Instead, they deprive people such as Newell-Davis of economic opportunity and keep disadvantaged populations from services they need.

Because need-review laws deprive people of their ability to earn a living without any discernible public benefit, they raise serious constitutional concerns. So, Newell-Davis sued, arguing that the law deprives her of liberty without due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. That amendment was intended to guarantee individuals equal protection of the law and vast protection of civil rights, including the right to pursue a livelihood. But earlier this year, a federal court upheld Louisiana’s need-review law on the theory that it was rational for the state to focus its resources on regulating existing businesses, rather than protecting the right of individuals to start new ones.  

Newell-Davis’s case is on appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which likely will decide her case sometime next year. In the meanwhile, she’ll continue her job as a social worker — hoping for the opportunity to provide kids with the care they need. 

Anastasia Boden is a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit legal organization that defends Americans’ liberties when threatened by government overreach and abuse. She fights for equality before the law and the constitutional right to earn a living, including Ursula Newell-Davis’s case. Follow her on Twitter @Anastasia_esq.

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More than 100 students baptized without parents' permission at North Carolina school

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) — A North Carolina school apologized after baptizing more than 100 children without their parent’s permission, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

Northwood Temple Academy, a private Christian school in Fayetteville, posted on Facebook on Thursday, “I feel it in my bones, You’re about to move! Today we had over 100 middle and high school students spontaneously declare their faith and get baptized today. We will have more pictures of these powerful moments posted over the next couple of days!”

That morning, three students had their scheduled baptisms at the school as part of Spiritual Emphasis Week. The offer was then extended to other students who had not been scheduled. More than 100 students in total were baptized.

Renee McLamb, the head of the school, sent families a letter to explain.

“The Spirit of the Lord moved and the invitation to accept the Lord and be baptized was given and the students just began to respond to the presence of the Lord,” McLamb said in the letter, which was obtained by the Observer.

The school says it typically notifies and invites parents to be present for any baptisms that happen on campus, and “it was not the intention of any faculty member to do anything behind a parent’s back or in any kind of secret way.”

“I do understand that parents would desire to be a part of something so wonderful happening in the lives of their children, and so I apologize that we did not take that into consideration in that moment,” McLamb said. “I pray that at the end of the day we will all rejoice because God truly did a work in the lives of our students.”

McLamb told the paper that the school should have given students a chance to contact parents and ask permission. “We were not expecting such an overwhelming response to the message that was spoken, but as a mother I certainly can empathize with why some parents were upset,” she said.

McLamb said that most of the parents that contacted her were glad, but some were unhappy with the move. Some of the children had already been baptized, and at least one family was concerned that a second baptism could undo the first.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Trump nets special master win; what’s on fall agenda?

The battle between presidents current and former took center stage again on Labor Day as former President Trump notched a key legal win against the Department of Justice and President Biden sought to separate the reasonable Republicans from the unreasonable ones during his holiday travels.

A federal judge on Monday granted Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review materials that were seized by the FBI during its search of his Mar-a-Lago residence on Aug. 8. In the process, District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, blocked prosecutors from continuing to review the seized documents until the special master completes their review (The Hill). 

“The Court is mindful that restraints on criminal prosecutions are disfavored, but finds that these unprecedented circumstances call for a brief pause to allow for neutral, third-party review to ensure a just process with adequate safeguards,” Cannon wrote in her 24-page order.

Cannon asked the Justice Department and Trump’s attorneys to submit a joint filing by Friday that includes a proposed special master candidate list. In the interim, she added that the documents will not be returned to the former president. 

A Department of Justice spokesman said that it was reviewing the decision but did not indicate if it might appeal the decision.

Cannon added in her ruling that the special master appointment “shall not impede” the intelligence community’s review of the records that is attempting to determine whether Trump’s possession of top-secret items was harmful to national security (Politico). However, her decision also means that Trump’s lawyers will also be able to review what the special master will see.  

She also shed new light on the search, writing in the order that included in the records and documents seized by the government were some of Trump’s “medical documents, correspondence related to taxes, and accounting information” (The New York Times).

Trump’s legal team did not comment on the decision. 

The news came two days after the former president held his first campaign rally since the Mar-a-Lago search, which included an extended screed against the Justice Department and the ongoing investigation into his actions. 

Meanwhile, Biden on Monday used Labor Day to campaign for Democratic candidates in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, two important swing states, while backing unions that helped get him elected, hailing strides since 2021 on his watch and warning audiences that extremist Republicans are putting America’s future at risk.

The president returned late Monday to Pennsylvania for the third time in less than a week and just two days after Trump staged his own rally in the state. Just outside Pittsburgh in a county he won in 2020 by more than 20 points, Biden spoke mostly off the cuff at a union hall. 

“If I have to be in a foxhole, I want John Fetterman in there with me,” he said of Pennsylvania’s Democratic lieutenant governor who is running against Republican Mehmet Oz for an open Senate seat. 

The president, speaking as if he and Trump are combatants atop 2022 ballots, told union workers that “the former defeated president” poses a test for every voter who does not want to journey down “this sliding path of oblivion.”

“It’s clear which way he wants to look. It’s clear which way the new MAGA Republicans are. They’re extreme. And democracy is really at stake,” he said. “You can’t be a democracy when you support violence when you don’t like the outcome of an election. You can’t call yourself a democracy when you don’t, in fact, count the votes that people legitimately cast and count that as what you are. You can’t be a democracy and call yourself one if you continue to do what they’re doing.” 

In Milwaukee at a union event called Laborfest earlier on Monday, the president also took aim at “MAGA Republicans,” referring to Trump’s presidential campaign slogan (The Hill and Politico).

“Not every Republican is a MAGA Republican,” Biden clarified (Reuters). “Not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology. I know because I’ve been able to work with mainstream Republicans my whole career. But the extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division.”

Trump used a fundraising email on Monday to repeat a Saturday broadside against Biden, calling the president “an enemy of the state.” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted on Labor Day that Biden “is the most anti-worker president in modern history,” noting that high inflation had taken a bite out of American wages, income and savings (The Associated Press).

▪ The Washington Post: In Milwaukee on Monday, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D), the party’s Senate nominee, steered clear of Biden’s event.

▪ The Associated Press: Red wave crashing? GOP momentum slips as fall sprint begins.

▪ The New York Times: As midterms near, election rule raises a dilemma for Trump inquiries.

Related Articles

▪ The Hill’s Max Greenwood takes a look at seven November contests that could determine control of the House next year.

▪ Bloomberg News: Biden accuses Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) of targeting Social Security benefits.

▪ The New York Times: An illustrated guide to what the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago, according to the Justice Department’s detailed inventory.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Elizabeth II, who is vacationing in Scotland, today is expected to formally appoint British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, 47, as prime minister, succeeding Boris Johnson, who stepped down under pressure this summer and today will deliver his resignation to the queen (Reuters). Truss will be the 15th prime minister to serve during Elizabeth II’s long reign.

Truss was the choice on Monday of a majority of Conservative Party members who voted for their new party leader. Her challenges ahead: recession risks, energy shortages and rising consumer prices, which she campaigned to resolve (The Associated Press). For instance, she has vowed to deliver tax cuts (Reuters). This afternoon, Truss is expected to make her first speech as leader of a nation of 67 million people (The Associated Press).

▪ The Guardian unpacks Truss’s victory speech and four things she said and what she may have meant.

▪ Politico Europe: How Truss won.

▪ CNN: What’s next for Johnson? Many believe the ex-prime minister is not done with politics. 

Russia is keeping its main gas pipeline to Germany shut, triggering fear and uncertainty throughout Europe, including in financial markets. In Ukraine, the government made its boldest claim yet of success on the battlefield in its week-old counteroffensive against Russian forces in the south (Reuters). 

Inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency today will report their findings after inspection of the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine, Europe’s largest such facility, currently occupied by Russian forces. The agency plans to brief the U.N. Security Council about its report today (The New York Times). Repeated shelling over the past month damaged all of the plant’s connections to four high-voltage external power lines, forcing it to use a lower-voltage reserve line to power the cooling equipment needed to prevent meltdowns, the Times reported.

On Monday, the plant’s working reactor was disconnected from its lower-voltage reserve power line. Energoatom, the state nuclear company, reported the dangerous disruption. 

“Today, as a result of a fire caused by shelling, the [last working] transmission line was disconnected,” Energoatom said in a statement (Reuters).

The IAEA is leaving a two-person team of inspectors at the plant for the foreseeable future, the agency’s chief Rafael Grossi said last Thursday (The Wall Street Journal).

Biden, asked Monday evening as he returned to the White House if Russia should be designated a state sponsor of terrorism, responded to reporters with a single word: “No.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday warned that the plant is “one step away from a radiation disaster” because of near constant Russian shelling.

“Today the last power transmission line connecting the plant to the energy system of Ukraine was damaged due to another Russian provocative shelling. Again — this is the second time — due to Russian provocation, the Zaporizhzhia plant is one step away from a radiation disaster,” Zelensky said during a presidential address (The Hill).

▪ The Associated Press: Russia sanctions 25 more Americans, including Sean Penn, Ben Stiller.

▪ Reuters: U.S. says Russia is buying artillery ammunition from North Korea.

China experienced a 6.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday in which 46 people were reported killed and 16 were missing in the province of Sichuan (CBS News). The quake triggered landslides and shook buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu.

The Israeli military said Monday following an investigation that veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in May while covering Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, was likely mistakenly shot to death by an Israeli soldier. No charges are expected (Politico).

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ CONGRESS 

Senators return to work this afternoon facing a deadline to keep the government funded and a push by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to pass an energy-permitting bill that he demanded as a condition for supporting the Democrats’ recently approved climate, health care and tax law, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

Democratic lawmakers will turn their immediate attention to confirming more of Biden’s judicial nominees. By the end of the month, Congress must also pass legislation to avoid a government shutdown and reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration’s user-fee agreements for prescription drugs, generic drugs and medical devices, the Journal reports.

A vote on a bill to codify same-sex marriage, which passed the House in July and has drawn some GOP support in the Senate, remains up in the air. Some senators also want to take up changes to the Electoral Count Act, a bipartisan effort that aims to clarify how presidential election disputes are resolved.

The White House also asked Congress for an additional $47.1 billion in emergency funding to combat COVID-19 and the monkeypox virus and to back Ukraine in the war with Russia, as well as spending for natural disasters. Many Republicans have balked at continuing to use emergency funding that adds to the deficit to address the pandemic. A deal to continue to fund the government’s pandemic response fell apart in April. 

Between now and Election Day, senators are scheduled to be back in Washington for four weeks, then gone a week and then tentatively back for two weeks in October, according to the Journal and the Senate’s calendar.

Politico: Democrats weigh gay marriage vote in pre-election sprint.

➤ ADMINISTRATION

With distractions during Labor Day weekend, Morning Report recaps personnel changes of note in the West Wing and abroad.

John Podesta — a savvy strategist during the Clinton and Obama administrations, a former White House chief of staff, a campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 White House run against Trump, and a wonk when it comes to climate policy — is back in the West Wing.

He’ll join Biden’s team as the senior adviser for clean energy innovation and implementation, overseeing the federal disbursement of new clean energy investments while also expanding the reunion of veterans in the West Wing who first teamed up in the 1990s and have rotated in and out of Democratic politics and governance for decades (Ron Klain, Steve Ricchetti, Bruce Reed, Susan Rice, Gene Sperling and Neera Tanden, to name a few).

National climate adviser Gina McCarthy will leave her post Sept. 16, a long-expected move that comes after the passage this summer of a historic climate law (The New York Times). McCarthy deputy Ali Zaidi will succeed her. (Her departure date coincides with a planned White House extravaganza with lawmakers and invited guests to celebrate the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act.)

OIRA: Biden announced he will nominate environmental law expert Richard Revesz to lead his Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget, an important post that some in his party believe has taken way too long to fill. Republicans competing in midterm contests and on Capitol Hill, as well as state officials, criticize what they assert are overzealous and costly federal regulations under the Biden administration. Revesz, who founded the think tank Institute for Policy Integrity, spent years on some of the Environmental Protection Agency’s advisory panels and was in the running to lead the agency before the job went to Michael Regan (E&E).

NASA: Artemis I, the unmanned U.S. rocket that is supposed to carry the Orion capsule to the moon, encountered hydrogen leaks and other problems that twice kept it grounded amid criticism that the project is too expensive (Florida Today). NASA this week may decide to wait until later this year to try again (CNN).

State Department: John Sullivan on Sunday became a former U.S. ambassador to Russia after nearly three years in Moscow that spanned the Trump and Biden administrations. His retirement from government service comes amid Russia’s war in Ukraine as well as U.S.-Russian disputes over detained Americans. His exit had been expected this fall but was accelerated because of a family medical issue (The Associated Press).

OPINION

■ Abortion and Trump are giving Democrats a shot, by Michelle Cottle, editorial board member, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3wVmU1F 

■ Can Britain’s conservatives find their way again? by Gerard Baker, editor at large, The Wall Street Journal. https://on.wsj.com/3epAa8C 

■ Why Liz Truss may surprise us, by Sebastian Mallaby, contributing columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3RFBYc0 

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will meet at 9 a.m. for a pro forma session and return to work in the Capitol on Sept. 13.

The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. and will resume consideration of the nomination of John Lee to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the 7th Circuit.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. He will lead a meeting of his Cabinet at 1:15 p.m.

Vice President Harris will participate in the Cabinet meeting this afternoon. 

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at noon.

🖥  Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

ELSEWHERE

➤ STATE WATCH

At least 12 mass shootings took place nationwide over Labor Day weekend, leaving at least 14 people dead, according to Gun Violence Archive. The mass shootings, defined as incidents in which four or more people were shot or killed, took place in cities including Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and Norfolk, Va. The deadliest shooting took place in Saint Paul, Minn., where three people died and two others were injured on Sunday (The Hill).

➤ PANDEMIC & HEALTH

The jobs market kept humming along, according to the August jobs report released on Friday. However, the labor force participation rate remains 1 percentage point below its February 2020 level, representing roughly 1.6 million people. As The Hill’s Sylvan Lane reports, part of that discrepancy could be due to the thousands or millions of Americans who remain on the sidelines due to long COVID-19 symptoms that have left them too sick to work.  “We don’t know what proportion of people are having very debilitating symptoms with a lot of certainty,” said Julia Raifman, an assistant professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

China imposed new COVID-19 lockdowns that impact some 60 million people, daily life and the collective exhaustion of China’s population. The New York Times reported with a closeup view from Chengdu, which entered mandatory stay-at-home orders on Friday. “The longer a lockdown goes, the more problems emerge, and the harder it is to tolerate it,” said Matthew Chen, a white-collar worker in his 30s, who noted that the Chengdu government had not given a timeline for reopening.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,047,563. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 407, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

➤ CYBER RISKS

Companies are increasing their investments in cybersecurity and seeking to hire more cyber professionals due to a rise in cyberattacks over the past year but are having trouble doing so amid a shortage of cyber workers across industries. The Hill’s Ines Kagubare spoke to several security experts and industry leaders in the financial, health care and energy sectors to gauge how those critical industries are seeking to keep their networks secure amid the growing number of cyberattacks.

THE CLOSER

And finally … Beautiful elkhorn coral once dominated the watery blue Caribbean, but just like other vital coral species around the world, it has been so decimated by environmental hazards that it is rarely seen alive these days. 

Scientists at the Florida Aquarium say they made a breakthrough to reproduce elkhorn coral using aquarium technology, which they say is a historic step that could help revitalize Caribbean ecosystems and offer land dwellers some extra ocean fortification from the fury of hurricanes (CNN).

“This is a critical step to preventing elkhorn coral from going extinct,” said Keri O’Neil, the senior scientist that oversees the Tampa aquarium’s spawning lab. “As these reefs die, they begin to erode away and we lose that coastal protection as well as all of the habitat that these reefs provide for fish and other species,” she said.

Bravo!

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This week: Democrats eye vote on marriage equality as Senate reconvenes

The Senate is set to reconvene Tuesday afternoon after a month-long recess, officially kicking off the home stretch to the November midterm elections.

The upper chamber broke for the August recess after Democrats passed their multi-billion dollar climate, taxes and health care bill, which crossed the finish line with the help of Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. The House later cleared the bill, which President Biden signed into law.

Now, with two months left until the November midterm elections, the caucus is looking to pass a bill that would protect marriage equality on the federal level, requiring that an individual be considered married if the marriage is validated by the law of the state in which is was performed.  

The legislation, titled the Respect for Marriage Act, would also ban state officials from denying full faith and credit to an out-of-state marriage on the basis of sex, race or ethnicity, as well as allowing the attorney general to undertake law enforcement actions, and giving individuals harmed by the measure a private right of action.

Additionally, the bill calls for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, the legislation former President Clinton signed into law in 1996 that acknowledged that marriage is “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”

The House passed the bill in July in a 267-157 vote, with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting the measure.

The lower chamber cleared the legislation nearly one month after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that protected access to abortion as a constitutional right.

The ruling, which was officially released after a draft majority opinion leaked, shook the nation, with Republicans celebrating the reversal of the landmark ruling and Democrats sounding the alarm about the future of women’s rights in the U.S.

Senate passage of a marriage equality bill was initially thought to be an uphill battle because of widespread GOP opposition, but Democrats saw a glimmer of hope when 47 House Republicans backed the measure.

Democrats are now making the marriage equality bill a top priority in the final two-month sprint to Election Day.

“We will have a vote on marriage equality,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters last month when asked what is on the upper chamber’s schedule in September.

Schumer would not give details on when a vote would take place.

Asked on Twitter if he is excited for any votes once the Senate reconvenes, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the chief deputy whip, responded “Marriage equality.”

But it remains unclear if there are enough Republican votes to push the marriage equality bill over the finish line. Assuming all Democrats are on board, at least 10 Republicans are needed to bypass a legislative filibuster.

Right now, three are in the “yes” column: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who sponsored the bill, and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who previously told reporters that he “probably will” vote for the measure.

Between eight and 10 Republicans are potential “yes” votes.

Axios reported last month that a coalition of senators were working on changes to the House-passed bill that would help it clear the upper chamber.

The office of Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), another sponsor of the bill, told the outlet that she and Collins were working “to build more support with Republicans” with a particular focus on religious protections.

They were specifically looking at implementing “more clarity that the legislation would not take away any religious liberty or conscience protections.”

“I’m looking at protections for religion,” centrist Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has voted with Democrats some previous high-profile votes, told reporters in the Capitol last month.

But time is running out.

Republicans are widely expected to take control of the House in the November midterm elections, which would end Democrats’ full control of Washington and make it significantly more difficult for lawmakers on the left to enact legislation.

Schumer told reporters last month that the Senate will also focus on confirming judges in September. On Tuesday, the upper chamber is scheduled to hold a cloture vote on Judge John Z. Lee’s nomination to the Seventh Circuit.

Additionally, the Senate has to pass government funding and reauthorize Food and Drug Administration User Fees before Sept. 30.

Source: TEST FEED1

Seven races that could determine control of the House

Democrats are riding high after a recent spate of special election wins and improving polling results, but the House majority remains firmly up for grabs in November.

Republicans need to flip just five seats this year to recapture control of the lower chamber. And while both parties have staked out their respective offensive and defensive opportunities, there are a handful of races that could offer hints about how election night might shake out.

Here are seven races that could determine which party controls the House.

NY-19

Democrat Pat Ryan’s win in the special election for New York’s 19th District late last month gave the party a shot in the arm heading into the fall campaign season. 

But Ryan is running for a full term in November in New York’s 18th District, and Republicans have a real shot at capturing the state’s new 19th District. Marc Molinaro, who lost to Ryan in the special election, will be on the ballot once again, only this time he’ll be facing off against Democrat Josh Riley. 

The race for the new 19th District is a top priority for both parties. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) this week added Riley to its “Red to Blue” program, while Molinaro is seen as a top recruit for Republicans. 

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan handicapper, currently has the race ranked as a toss-up.

PA-08

Pennsylvania’s 8th District, which includes Wilkes-Barre and President Biden’s hometown of Scranton, leans toward Republicans; former President Trump carried it twice. 

But Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) has managed to pull off tough wins before, and if he can do so again this year in a political environment that’s expected to be difficult for Democrats, it could offer a sign of Democratic strength on election night.

Cartwright is facing Republican Jim Bognet for a second time after narrowly defeating him in 2020. But with Biden’s approval numbers still sagging, Bognet might have a better chance of ousting Cartwright this time. Internal polling from both campaigns suggests the race remains close.

The Cook Political Report currently rates the contest as a toss-up.

OH-01

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) is running for reelection to his Cincinnati-area House seat. But after redistricting redrew the contours of the district, he’s facing one of the toughest challenges of his 25-year career in Congress.

The district now leans slightly in Democrats’ favor, and the DCCC has named it one of their top targets. Under the new political lines, Biden would have won Chabot’s district in 2020 by about 9 percentage points.

The longtime congressman is set to face Cincinnati City Council member Greg Landsman in November. And while Democrats believe they have a good chance at flipping it in November, if Chabot pulls off a win, it would be seen as an indicator of Republican resilience in otherwise unfavorable territory.

The Cook Political Report has put the race in its toss-up column.

CT-05

Connecticut isn’t where most political observers would typically look for a competitive House race. But Republicans have grown increasingly optimistic in their chances of ousting Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) this fall despite her district’s Democratic tilt.

Her GOP challenger is former state Sen. George Logan. And while Logan’s campaign is lacking in funding, Republican outside groups are actively spending in the race, with the House GOP leadership-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) dropping two new ads in the district this week alone.

Of course, the district is something of a reach for Republicans. President Biden would have carried it in 2020 by more than 10 points under the new lines. But if Logan can pull off a win, it could be an early signal of a coming red wave.

The Cook Political Report rates the race as leaning Democratic.

VA-02

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) first flipped this seat in 2018, propelling the blue wave that helped Democrats recapture control of the House that year.

But the district is a bit redder under the new congressional lines, increasing the likelihood of a Republican win this year. 

Of course, Luria has a track record of winning tough elections. But with a national political environment that has worked against Democrats for much of the year, she’s in a more vulnerable spot than ever before.

If she pulls off a win, however, it could suggest that Democrats are poised to outperform expectations in districts where Republicans widened their advantage during the redistricting process.

Her Republican opponent this year is state Sen. Jen Kiggans. The Cook Political Report has the race in its toss-up column.

MN-02

Another 2018 blue wave Democrat, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), is facing Republican Tyler Kistner for a second time after eking out a 2-point win two years ago. 

Craig has outraised Kistner in the race and redistricting didn’t do much to reshape the partisan makeup of her suburban Minneapolis district. But again, Biden’s approval ratings are still underwater and while things may have improved somewhat for Democrats in recent months, it’s still a tough year for the party.

Both parties’ House campaign committees — the DCCC and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) — have put the district among their top electoral priorities for the year, and the major House-focused super PACs have already blocked off ad reservations in the area. 

The Cook Political Report currently puts the contest in the toss-up column. 

WA-08

Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) flipped this seat in 2018, becoming the first Democrat in 35 years to represent the district on Capitol Hill. 

She won a second term in 2020 by less than 4 points. And this year, she’s facing Republican Matt Larkin in a tougher political environment.

While Biden carried the district by a 7-point margin that same year and its partisan lean didn’t change after the redistricting process, the election could portend trouble for Democrats if Schrier ultimately falls to Larkin.

The Cook Political Report considers the race to be a toss-up.

Source: TEST FEED1

Irish regulator fines Meta $400M for breaking data protection laws

An Irish regulator has fined Meta, the parent company of Instagram, about $400 million because the social media platform broke data protection laws, specifically pertaining to children’s privacy on the app, multiple news outlets reported.

According to Politico, which was the first to report the news, the Irish Data Protection Commission penalized Meta with a fine of 405 million euros, just over $400 million, a sum that the regulator confirmed to the news outlet. 

The Data Protection Commission didn’t offer further details to Politico or to the New York Times, which also reported the news. But both outlets reported the fine was related to Meta violating the General Data Protection Regulation and how the data of children on the app is handled.

The Irish regulator launched an investigation into the app two years ago over phone numbers and email addresses that were available to the public from teenagers who had business accounts on the platform and for having the public-by-default accounts for children between the ages of 13 and 17, according to The New York Times. 

The development comes as Meta and other social media networks are under increasing scrutiny, especially following an explosive investigation published by The Wall Street Journal last year. The Journal published information obtained by a former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen that detailed the extent to which Facebook knew the Instagram was unhealthy for teens.

“This inquiry focused on old settings that we updated over a year ago, and we’ve since released many new features to help keep teens safe and their information private,” a Meta spokesperson told Politico regarding the Irish regulator’s fine. 

“Anyone under 18 automatically has their account set to private when they join Instagram, so only people they know can see what they post, and adults can’t message teens who don’t follow them. We engaged fully with the DPC throughout their inquiry, and we’re carefully reviewing their final decision.”

The Hill has reached out to Meta and the Data Protection Commission for comment. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Coast Guard announces suspension of search after Seattle-area plane crash leaves 9 missing

The Coast Guard announced on Monday that it was suspending its search for nine people missing following a plane crash in the Seattle-area that left one person dead.

The Coast Guard said in a release on Sunday that they had responded to an incident of a float plane crash that occurred that afternoon in Mutiny Bay, located near Seattle. The float plane had one child and nine adults on it, and officials do not know what caused the crash. 

“The Coast Guard has suspended its active search for the remaining nine missing individuals effective at noon. Coast Guard assets completed 26 search [sorties], covering 1,283 linear nautical miles and saturating an area of more than 2100 sq. nautical miles,” the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Northwest tweeted. 

“All next of kin have been notified of this decision. Our hearts go out to the families, loved ones and friends of those who remain missing and the deceased,” it added in a separate tweet.

According to the Coast Guard’s Sunday news release, the float plane was heading to the Renton Municipal Airport, located about 12 miles southeast of Seattle. 

Crews immediately recovered one body, with another nine missing. The identities of the deceased person and nine missing were not released.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden touts accomplishments, takes on GOP during swing state stops with general election sprint underway

President Biden visited two key swing states on Labor Day to tout Democratic accomplishments and go on offense against Republicans with the midterm elections just two months away.

Biden first made a stop in Wisconsin to speak at Milwaukee Laborfest, followed by a stop in Pittsburgh where he delivered remarks to the United Steelworkers of America Local Union 2227.

While Biden used both events to demonstrate his support for labor unions, he also used the trips as campaign stops to show what his administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress has accomplished while he’s been in office.

The “…American Rescue Plan also created and saved millions of jobs. Why? Because here in the state of Pennsylvania, and almost every state, didn’t have enough money to keep teachers on the payroll, to keep firefighters on the job, to keep police on the job, to keep people, nurses and docs on the job,” Biden said while in Pennsylvania.  

“And so what’d we do? We, in fact, gave them the money to make sure they did it. And this governor, your governor, spent it well.”

He also touted the bipartisan infrastructure law; aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act, including an aspect of the law that allows some drug prices to be negotiated by Medicare; and legislation boosting the domestic semiconductor industry amid a critical computer chip shortage.

Biden used the opportunity to go on offensive against Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), one of the most vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection in November, blasting him for comments that he thought Medicare and Social Security should be annually approved.

While in Pennsylvania, the president didn’t invoke Republican Senate nominee Mehmet Oz’s name but instead went after former President Trump more prominently in his remarks.

“All of us love the country. But you can’t love the country and say how much you love it when you only accept one of two outcomes from the election. Either you won or you were cheated. It doesn’t work that way,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s baseless allegations that the last election was stolen from him. 

And borrowing language he used during his prime-time speech last Thursday, he also went after “MAGA Republicans.”

“Not every Republican is a MAGA Republican. Not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology. I know because I’ve been able to work with mainstream Republicans my whole career. But the extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division,” Biden said in Wisconsin.

While Democratic Senate challenger Mandela Barnes, who is taking on Johnson in November, was not president during Biden’s speech, Biden gave him a shout out during his remarks in Wisconsin. 

Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman did attend the president’s event in the state. Biden quipped during his speech, “if I have to be in a foxhole. I want John Fetterman in there with me.”

Both Fetterman and Barnes are gearing up for tight races in critical battleground states that will help determine whether Democrats can retain control of the Senate past November. 

The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates Johnson’s seat as a “toss up” while it recently moved Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat from a “toss up” to “lean Democrat.”

Source: TEST FEED1