Tag Archives : Build House

Caps on prescription drug price hikes most popular aspect of Inflation Reduction Act: poll

A cap on prescription drug price increases is the most popular part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the $430 billion climate, health care and tax package that President Biden signed into law Tuesday, according to a Politico-Morning Consult poll. 

The poll found that 76 percent of respondents strongly or somewhat support placing a limit on the amount that prescription drugs can increase, while only 13 percent strongly or somewhat oppose it. 

The results also showed that several other pieces of the legislation are overwhelmingly popular. 

More than 70 percent strongly or somewhat support the law’s provisions to allow Medicare to directly negotiate some prescription drug prices and to reduce the federal deficit by $300 billion in the next decade. Just over 10 percent oppose these provisions. 

More than 70 percent also support the act limiting annual out-of-pocket costs for Medicare recipients to $2,000, while 15 percent oppose it. 

Majorities also support the bill’s provisions to implement a 15-percent corporate minimum tax on the largest companies, provide $60 billion to incentivize clean energy manufacturing in the United States and invest $369 billion in climate and energy programs in the next 10 years. Less than a third of respondents said they oppose these initiatives. 

The poll found the least popular part of the legislation is its provision to give $80 billion to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to allow the agency to hire new agents and increase its ability to investigate and recover unpaid taxes. Only 40 percent of respondents said they strongly or somewhat support it, while 46 percent said they oppose it. 

Republicans have railed against the provision to increase the IRS’ funding, saying it will result in more audits on the middle and working class. 

Respondents were split on the question of if the act will lower inflation, which has risen to its highest level in decades in recent months but showed signs of alleviating somewhat last month. 

The poll’s results show 24 percent believe the law will lower inflation, 23 percent said it will not significantly affect inflation and 34 percent said it will make inflation worse. About 20 percent said they were not sure or had no opinion. 

The poll was conducted from August 12-14 among 2,005 registered voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Source: TEST FEED1

Cheney says she’s ‘thinking about’ running for president

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said hours after losing her reelection primary to Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman that she is “thinking about” running for president.

“That’s a decision that I’m gonna make in the coming months, and I’m not gonna make any announcements here this morning. But it is something that I am thinking about and I’ll make a decision in the coming months,” Cheney told NBC’s “Today” show early Wednesday when pressed on if she is thinking about a White House bid.

The disclosure came less than 12 hours after major networks projected that Cheney, the Wyoming Republican who hails from a political dynasty, lost to Hageman, Trump’s hand-picked candidate to take on one of his largest critics in Congress.

As of 7 a.m. on Wednesday and with more than 95 percent of the vote in, Hageman led Cheney, 66.3 percent to 28.9 percent, according to The New York Times.

Cheney during the NBC appearance initially dodged the question when asked if she is considering running for president, telling co-anchor Savannah Guthrie that she is focused on completing her time in Congress — both serving the people of Wyoming and finishing work on the Jan. 6 House select committee — and again vowing to do what it takes to keep Trump out of the Oval Office.

Speculation is rising about Cheney’s next political act now that her time in Congress has an expiration date. The three-term House lawmaker has been vague when discussing her political future, but has consistently said she will continue to oppose Trump and his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Cheney added to that speculation in a speech on election night while conceding the race to Hageman and asserting “now the real work begins.”

“So, I ask you tonight to join me. As we leave here, let us resolve that we will stand together — Republicans, Democrats, and independents — against those who would destroy our republic,” she said at the end of her speech.

“They are angry and they are determined, but they have not seen anything like the power of Americans united in defense of our Constitution and committed to the cause of freedom. There is no greater power on this Earth and with God’s help, we will prevail,” she added.

A reference to Abraham Lincoln in her concession speech further fueled the buzz regarding whether or not Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, will make a bid for the White House in 2024.

“The great and original champion of our party, Abraham Lincoln, was defeated in elections for the Senate and the House before he won the most important election of all. Lincoln ultimately prevailed, he saved our union, and he defined our obligation as Americans for all of history,” Liz Cheney said Tuesday night.

–Updated at 8:02 a.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Should we break up Facebook to save it?

Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. reported a sharper-than-expected fall in earnings in late July, with its stock dropping to about half its value at the beginning of the year (it has since recovered slightly, part of a broader market “moderating inflation” narrative and relief rally). The company faces myriad headwinds detailed by market analysts, including a loss of user and advertising share from its flagship Facebook and Instagram platforms to TikTok, a decline in e-commerce spending as the impact of the COVID pandemic wanes, and significant investment associated with its development of the “metaverse” and related virtual and augmented reality technologies.

While Meta is no longer composed solely of Facebook, advertising revenue from the Facebook and Facebook Messenger platforms comprise a substantial majority of the company’s overall revenue, and the Facebook brand remains synonymous with “social media” in the minds of many. Having long ago lost its “cool factor” to upstart competitors Snapchat and TikTok, Facebook’s recent financial performance suggests that its ability to harvest a groundbreaking legacy product in order to invest in other areas such as the metaverse — as Microsoft has done with its Windows and Office software products — may be at risk.

The trajectory of my own experience as a Facebook user is illustrative of the product’s evolution.  As a GenX-er, I was older than its original millennial demographic, but was invited by a former colleague to join in 2007 shortly after it was made available to the general public. 

Like many of my generation, I didn’t “get it” at first, but gradually I came to see the value (and fun) of using it to connect with friends and acquaintances, and reach those with whom I had lost contact — a tangible benefit to anyone who (as I do) lives far from where they grew up. By 2009, I’d built a friends list approaching 1,000 people, and with the advent of the smartphone the amount of time that I (and many others) spent on Facebook increased considerably. During this period, the late aughts and early 2010s, Facebook continually improved its user experience and functionality and a news feed of simple status updates and photos posted from digital cameras to online albums morphed into one including photo snaps posted from mobile phones, links to articles, private groups, and much more.

Most significantly, during this golden age, Facebook came closest to becoming the sort of “digital commons” many had hoped social media could provide. As one with an abiding and lifelong interest in politics, public policy and current events, I found that a thoughtful post or article link could spur spirited but generally civil discourse on topics, and that such exchanges could kindle new friendships and deepen existing relationships.

And then, something happened.

Much has been reported about “the algorithm” in the context of not just Facebook but other social media and technology platforms, and I write from the perspective of a “typical user” and not that of a technologist. But the end result was obvious: Facebook became, around 2014 or 2015, a lot less fun, and at times even stressful. Exchanges once bounded by a level of decorum similar to in-person interactions took on the raucous tenor one would expect of anonymous gaming platforms, and “flame wars” breaking out in comment threads became common. While this phenomenon accelerated during President Obama’s second term, the 2016 presidential campaign, electoral outcome, and subsequent Trump administration exacerbated these characteristics. My time on the site began a gradual decline.

Apart from my experience, Facebook took various other actions during this period that undermined user trust and enjoyment of the platform. The Cambridge Analytica scandal, which harvested the personal data of Facebook users without their consent for use in political campaigns, alienated many users — particularly when it was discovered that the Trump campaign used the data. At the same time, Facebook was accused of suppressing politically conservative content and right-leaning media brands; just last fall, the Wall Street Journal published internal material from anonymous sources at Facebook revealing that it had suppressed the traffic of Breitbart News (and that of other conservative publishers) by up to 20 percent.

The pandemic ushered in additional changes, ranging from merely annoying to outrageous, which further degraded the user experience. While advertising, games and other third-party applications had long cluttered the site, Facebook generally had respected specific news feed posts. Now, “fact-checking,” COVID-resource legends, “sensitive content” notifications and outright post suppression and user bans were implemented for “wrong thinking.” 

Even worse, beyond a general downgrading (akin to Twitter’s “shadow bans”) of conservative content, Facebook removed links to the New York Post’s coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 presidential campaign, purportedly to slow the spread of “potentially false information.” Post-elections polls suggested suppression of the laptop story, now widely acknowledged by mainstream media, may have affected the outcome of the election. By 2022, many users, myself included, had left or significantly reduced their time on the platform.

In leaving Facebook, whether literally or substantively, is anything lost? As the first-mover social media application, many users have a history and maintain significant content on the platform, which has allowed old friends to reconnect and far-flung families to stay in closer touch. It’s a place not subject to the vagaries of changes in email addresses and phone numbers, and evidences a classic example of the network effect — that everyone is there (even if some, dispiritedly) creates its value. As such, it remains the “place to go” (at least for those over 30) for announcing major life events or other news, and its groups and Messenger functions further enhance its functionality. That it no longer credibly “keeps up with the Joneses” (as evidenced by its loss of share to TikTok) ironically allows its users to transcend the need to be tech-savvy or “hip” in order to use it.

Can these “good” aspects of Facebook be saved, while jettisoning those aspects that turn off users?

Setting its recent challenges against the still-considerable network effect of its large user base, perhaps Meta (and Facebook users) would be better served by splitting the company along the lines of the “good bank/bad bank” structures typically used to hive off troubled assets from the healthy parts of financial institutions. 

In this construct, the “good bank” would be the social media assets, i.e., Facebook (along with FB Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp), designed to recapture its halcyon “digital commons” heyday of the early 2010s. A “walled garden” with only private accounts (Facebook currently allows both public and private accounts) would check the Twitter phenomenon of woke cancellation mobs. The user experience would focus on status updates, photos and article links.  Groups, which are inherently private, would remain, and while advertising would continue — it is the company’s business model, after all — “2012 Facebook” could consider alternative economic models with paid accounts that limit or restrict advertising and third-party applications. Similarly, content moderation would be apolitical; while extremist/violent content would be prohibited, bogus “fact-checking” and “sensitive content” (and other) legends would be removed. There also could be better policing of bot accounts.

For those finding the 2012 Facebook not to their liking, the “bad bank” (or “Meta”) could take everything else, including Facebook’s existing policies around “community standards” and “safety,” content suppression, account bans and all the rest of it. Games, applications, unlimited advertising and data mining would flourish, as would innovation, including the metaverse. Meta would be an open platform, akin to Twitter, and free to users. As with the current Facebook, it would combine the company’s preferences (not necessarily those of its users) with respect to community standards with new features and functionality.

Such a bifurcation of Facebook would be an interesting social experiment and would allow users to decide whether they prefer the Facebook of 2012 or that of 2022, while allowing for account continuity. I’d be willing to bet a significant number would opt for Facebook 2012. No matter the percentages, however, splitting the company in this way would give users what they want, while maximizing shareholder value.

Richard J. Shinder is the founder of Theatine Partners, a financial consultancy, and a frequent lecturer, speaker and panelist on business and financial topics. He has written extensively on economic, financial, geopolitical, cultural and corporate governance-related issues. Follow him on Twitter @RichardJShinder.

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — Cheney trounced; Murkowski advances

A Republican Party dominated by former President Trump was mostly pleased with primary results in Wyoming and Alaska last night, while President Biden, eager to slide his party’s message into today’s news coverage, said at a White House bill signing ceremony that “Democrats sided with the American people and every single Republican in the Congress sided with the special interests.”

In Wyoming, Rep. Liz Cheney (R), who knew she was in an uphill climb while asking primary voters to look past her strident opposition to Trump, was soundly defeated by GOP challenger Harriet Hageman, who embraced Trump’s falsehoods about a stolen 2020 election and leveraged his endorsement in a deep red state (The Hill). NBC News and CBS News both called the race shortly after 10 p.m. ET on primary night.

The ouster of Cheney was anticipated. Polls for months showed that Hageman was the heavy favorite — and they were proven right. As of this morning, Hageman won 66 percent of the vote, more than double Cheney’s total.

After conceding to Hageman, the three-term lawmaker addressed supporters in Jackson, Wyo., telling them that she will do “whatever it takes” to deny Trump a second White House term.

“Two years ago, I won this primary with 73 percent of the votes. I could easily have done the same again, the path was clear, but it would have required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election,” Cheney said. “It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel a democratic system and attack the foundations of our Republic. That was a path I could not and would not take.”

“The primary election is over,” Cheney continued. “But now the real work begins”(The Hill).

Cheney has not ruled out her own 2024 presidential bid, either as a Republican or an independent. “In coming weeks, Liz will be launching an organization to educate the American people about the ongoing threat to our Republic, and to mobilize a unified effort to oppose any Donald Trump campaign for president,” Cheney’s spokesman told Politico Playbook.

She will continue as the vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee, which will resume investigative hearings next month before submitting a final report due before the end of the year. 

Cheney’s defeat also means that only two of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in 2021 will appear on general election ballots in November (The New York Times). 

▪ The New York Times: Cheney, Trump’s chief antagonist, loses in a landslide.

▪ Politico: How Team Trump systematically snuffed out Cheney’s reign in Congress.

▪ The Hill: Five questions about Liz Cheney’s political future

▪ Philip Bump, The Washington Post: Cheney’s loss is suddenly an afterthought in the GOP embrace of Trump.

▪ The Hill: Key takeaways from Cheney’s loss in Wyoming. 

In Alaska, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R), another Trump critic who supported his impeachment, advanced to the November general election after finishing at least in the top two of an all-party primary in a bid for a fourth full term in office (The Hill).

Murkowski and Kelly Tshibaka, the Trump-backed candidate in the race, both secured spots in the general election. As of this morning, Murkowski raked in 43.7 percent of the vote, with Tshibaka winning 40.4 percent with 65 percent of precincts reporting. No other candidate has garnered more than 6.2 percent.

Unlike a traditional primary contest, Alaska has a new system in place this year where the top four candidates regardless of party affiliation advance to the November general election, where the winner will be determined by ranked-choice voting. This has bolstered Murkowski’s chances as her chances of winning another term would be diminished in a normal system.

The incumbent Republican is the lone GOP senator standing for reelection after voting to convict Trump last year for his actions surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. 

On the House side, Democrat Mary Peltola leads the special election contest to replace the late Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska). According to the latest numbers, she leads with 37.8 percent backing to 32.1 percent for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). Republican Nick Begich sits in third with 28.6 percent with 64 percent of precincts reporting.

The winner would serve out the remainder of Young’s term this year. 

However, a Peltola win does not necessarily spell the end of Palin’s comeback. The three candidates all separately advanced to the general election to fill Young’s seat for the next term. Peltola leads Palin, who Trump endorsed, by a 3.7-percentage point margin (The Hill). 

The Hill: FBI search cements Trump’s hold on GOP.       

Biden on Tuesday swept into the White House from South Carolina en route to Wilmington, Del., and gathered some Democratic lawmakers who made it possible to sign into law the $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which attracted zero Republican support in Congress this month (The Hill).

The law includes provisions to lower some prescription drug costs, hold down health insurance premium increases under the Affordable Care Act, raise some taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and battle climate change. Biden, who handed maverick-minded Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) a pen he used to sign the compromise law, called its provisions “historic” (The Washington Post).

Biden, lawmakers, members of the Cabinet and advocacy groups have begun what they say will be a coast-to-coast effort to explain the law’s benefits to voters, hoping they can hammer home a persuasive midterm storyline that Democrats delivered for everyday families while the GOP sought to block changes opposed by “special interests.”

“We’re delivering results for the American people,” the president said. “We didn’t tear down. We built up. We didn’t look back. We look forward.” 

The Wall Street Journal: What’s in Democrats’ bill on climate, health and tax policy?

Related Articles

▪ USA Today: The Justice Department on Tuesday said it was returning two expired and one active diplomatic passport to Trump from its Aug. 8 search at Mar-a-Lago.

▪ The New York Times: The FBI interviewed Trump White House lawyers about federal documents the former president took with him to Florida in 2021. “It’s not theirs, it’s mine,” Trump told advisers who sought to turn materials stored at Mar-a-Lago over to the National Archives.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ MORE POLITICS 

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and Trump lawyer, is scheduled to appear before a special grand jury today in Atlanta after finding out he is a target of a probe into 2020 electoral interference. 

Giuliani, who headed up Trump’s push to remain in the White House despite losing the 2020 contest, has become a top target in the investigation by Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney. A lawyer for the ex-Trump lawyer said that Giuliani is likely to invoke attorney-client privilege if asked questions about his conversations with the former president.

“If these people think he’s going to talk about conversations between him and President Trump, they’re delusional,” said Robert Costello, Giuliani’s lawyer (The New York Times).

Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill: Trump’s declassification claim may offer limited defense.

In Maryland, Biden will headline a Democratic National Committee event Aug. 25 to kick off the final, autumn lap in the election cycle and offer his endorsement for Wes Moore, the Democratic nominee to become the next governor of the state, according to the The Washington Post.

▪ The New York Times: Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s (D-N.Y.) campaign pitch: A man can’t do my job.

▪ The Hill: Democrats, Republicans equally angry ahead of midterms: poll.

An issue that galvanizes some progressive voters, including in red states where Republicans dominate, is abortion rights. Biden, who casts himself as a Catholic who supports “a right to choose,” prefers to describe protecting basic freedoms and reproductive rights rather than use the word abortion. 

Vice President Harris this summer spoke to state legislators and other advocates in favor of a federal codification of Roe v. Wade and strategized about restrictive state abortion laws in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn a constitutional right to abortion.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), another Catholic who has spent years navigating around abortion issues (including when he was a vice presidential nominee in 2016), is supposed to be his party’s lead sponsor to restore Roe in the Senate, which members of his party find an awkward fit, The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports.

“The idea that a pro-life white male Senator has emerged as the face of the Democratic response by pushing legislation that falls far short of codifying Roe and still has no chance of passing is just impossible to justify,” said one Democratic operative. “It would be one thing if he were actually able to move legislation, but everyone knows he can’t, and it’s an extreme example of how inept Democrats are at offense.” 

▪ The Associated Press: South Carolina lawmakers consider near total abortion ban.

▪ NBC News: No NBA games will be played on Election Day, Nov. 8. The absence of games on that date is an attempt by the multibillion-dollar professional basketball league to increase voter participation in this year’s midterm elections. 

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤  ADMINISTRATION

The Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule on Tuesday to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter, a move the Biden administration says will lower the high costs and improve access to the devices for all ages. Hearing aids are expected to start being sold over the counter at drug and retail stores by mid-October. 

“This action makes good on my commitment to lower costs for American families, delivering nearly $3,000 in savings to American families for a pair of hearing aids and giving people more choices to improve their health and wellbeing,” Biden said in a statement (The Hill).

🦠 First lady Jill Biden on Tuesday tested positive for COVID-19 while vacationing in South Carolina with members of the Biden family. With “cold-like symptoms” that began on Monday and a positive PCR test on Tuesday, the first lady, 71, began taking the antiviral drug Paxlovid. The White House said she will isolate from others in South Carolina for at least five days and return home after two consecutive negative tests. The president recently experienced a bout with COVID-19, and then a rebound case after taking Paxlovid while the first lady remained in Delaware before both left for a Kiawah Island vacation (The Wall Street Journal).

OPINION

■ Liz Cheney and other jilted lovers need to move on from the GOP, by Gary Abernathy, contributing columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3pqYKbg

■ Hopeful signs for Democrats in the 2022 midterms, by William A. Galston, columnist, The Wall Street Journal. https://on.wsj.com/3K1ouV2 

■ Future remote workers need to network more — in college, by Conor Sen, columnist, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/3QsGcTT

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will meet on Friday at 11 a.m. for a pro forma session. It will reconvene on Sept. 13.

The Senate convenes on Friday at 2:30 p.m. for a pro forma session during its summer recess, which ends Sept. 6.

The president has no public events scheduled. He is in Wilmington, Del.

The first lady is in South Carolina at a private residence while isolating with a confirmed case of COVID-19 and cold-like symptoms. 

The vice president has no public events. She and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are in Kauai, Hawaii.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks at 11 a.m. at a State Department event to mark anniversaries of the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship, Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program, Donald M. Payne International Development Fellowship, and Foreign Affairs IT Fellowship Program.

Economic indicator: The Commerce Department at 8:30 a.m. will report on U.S. retail sales in July, a key data point eyed by the Federal Reserve and many economists.

🖥  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  

➤ POLIO, POX, PANDEMIC & HEALTH

Back to school alert: Polio vaccines are effective and required for children entering kindergarten in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, although states allow medical exemptions and, in some cases, religious or philosophical exemptions. Which states are highest and lowest for inoculation rates among kindergarteners? Highest: Mississippi and Louisiana. Lowest: Idaho and Washington, D.C. (NBC News).

State and local health authorities are facing new obstacles in the monkeypox response in the week since the Food and Drug Administration authorized Jynneos vaccine doses to be divided into fifths to expand the available supply using intradermal inoculations (injections under the skin). Clinicians, scientists and public health specialists question whether the technique, which requires skill and practice, can be performed effectively in all settings and with speed to try to expand the available supply of medication to a larger at-risk population (The Hill). 

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,037,970. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 415, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Axios: Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act sees new life in holdout states such as North Carolina, Georgia, Wyoming, Alabama and Texas.

➤ INTERNATIONAL

A suspected Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied Crimea on Tuesday forced the evacuation of more than 3,000 people in what is believed to be the second attack on the peninsula in a matter of days. Moscow labeled the attack on Mayskoye, a Crimean village, an “act of sabotage.” Kyiv did not take responsibility for the blast (The Associated Press). 

The Ukrainian energy agency responsible for the oversight and safe operation of the nation’s nuclear power plants said on Tuesday that Russian hackers had launched an ambitious but failed cyber attack. The Ukrainian power grid and the company’s oversight of the nation’s 15 working nuclear reactors were not disrupted (The New York Times).

Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged on Tuesday that the U.S. is using Ukraine as a proxy in order to maintain its standing in the world. “They need conflicts to retain their hegemony,” Putin said during a security conference that included military officials from Latin America, Asia and Africa. “That’s why they have turned the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder. The situation in Ukraine shows that the United States is trying to drag the conflict out, and it acts in exactly the same way trying to fuel conflicts in Asia, Africa and Latin America” (The Associated Press). 

▪ The Washington Post: Road to war: U.S. struggled to convince allies, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, of risk of invasion.

▪ The Washington Post: Interview with Zelensky.

In the United Kingdom, inflation topped 10 percent in July (up from June) in a record not seen since 1982. Economists expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates again next month (Reuters).

In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro and challenger and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is leading in all polls and wears a bulletproof vest for all appearances, on Tuesday campaigned among fears of violence. Bolsonaro, the far-right leader and a former army captain, has raised concerns that he could reject results if he loses the October vote. His candidacy was endorsed months ago by Trump (The Associated Press). 

➤ ENVIRONMENT 

The sweeping legislation signed by Biden on Tuesday is hailed as Congress’s first meaningful action to curb climate change, but it’s a law that also props up fossil fuels at a time of high gasoline prices and election-year economic pressures. The Hill’s Rachel Frazin explains what’s in the new law to reduce greenhouse gasses and move to alternatives to fossil fuels. 

The federal government had to step in when seven states along the Colorado River missed a federally imposed deadline to develop a new water-sharing agreement amid a 22-year drought (The Hill). … The federal Bureau of Reclamation on Tuesday spared those states from imminent water cutbacks with renewed warnings that drastic conservation is needed to protect dwindling reservoirs from overuse and severe drought exacerbated by climate change (Reuters).

▪ The Associated Press: Arizona and Nevada will face cuts next year in the amount of water they can draw from the Colorado River if changes are not made, federal officials announced Tuesday. Western states have thus far failed to respond to a federal ultimatum to figure out how to cut their water use by at least 15 percent.

▪ The Associated Press: The Columbia River’s salmon in the state of Washington are at the core of ancient religion.

THE CLOSER

And finally … For 72 years, eight brides in one family have said “yes” to the same wedding dress, a tradition that began at a Chicago department store in 1950 (The Washington Post).

Adele Larson Stoneberg was the original, 21-year-old bride who selected a classic white satin dress at Marshall Field’s and invested $100. She loaned her gown to her two sisters when they married. Then, as the years went on, her daughter and three nieces asked if they could wear it as they walked down the aisle. Her granddaughter, Serena Stoneberg Lipari, wore the dress in the same Chicago church for her wedding on Aug. 5.

“There was no question that I would become the eighth bride to wear the dress,” Lipari, 27, said about the long-sleeved gown with a floor-length train, high collar and tiny elegant buttons down the back.

“When I started to walk down the aisle and thought about my grandmother also wearing the dress, the emotion hit me,” Lipari said. “I felt a special connection to her on my wedding day.”

Julie Frank Mackey, a cousin who in 2013 became the seventh bride to wear the dress, says it’s the best kind of “borrowed” talisman for generations of brides. “Everyone who has been married in the dress has had a long-lasting, healthy marriage, so we like to think it brings good luck,” she said. “We hope to continue to preserve the dress — and the tradition — for many weddings to come.” 

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. Follow us on Twitter (@alweaver22 & @asimendinger) and suggest this newsletter to friends!

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TikTok to crack down on paid influencer political ads ahead of midterms

TikTok will label all content related to the midterm elections and crack down on paid influencer political ads as part of its plans to prepare for the upcoming midterm elections, the company announced Wednesday. 

The popular video sharing app will label content identified as being related to the elections, and all content from accounts that belong to governments, politicians and political parties in the U.S. 

The labels will direct users to click to enter the TikTok Elections Center, a resource with information available in more than 45 languages about elections and voting access created with partner organizations. 

The center launches Wednesday, six weeks earlier than it did ahead of the 2020 election. TikTok head of safety Eric Han said the earlier launch date will help “capture more of the midterms conversation over the summer months.”

TikTok’s ban on political advertising includes content influencers are paid to create, but the paid influencer content can be harder to detect than a traditional ad. 

As part of the effort to mitigate such content, over the next few weeks TikTok will publish a series of educational content on the Creator Portal and host briefings with creators and agencies to explain the rules. If TikTok discovers political content was paid for and not properly disclosed, it will be removed from the platform. 

The platform also has a tool that allows creators to disclose when they’re working with a branded partner, which it did not have in 2020. 

TikTok is pledging to weed out election misinformation and harassment targeting election workers as well.

As posts are being fact checked, they will be ineligible for recommendation into users’ “For You” feeds, the place where users largely engage with content on the app. Posts that are found to be misinformation will be removed. 

If a post is deemed “unsubstantiated,” but not false, it will remain on the app but stay ineligible for recommendation. Users will also be prompted to reconsider sharing posts that are deemed “unsubstantiated.” 

TikTok’s announcement comes as other platforms, such as Meta, are rolling out plans to tackle election misinformation. Social media companies have faced scrutiny in the last few election cycles over their handling of misinformation. 

TikTok is facing another facet of scrutiny over national security concerns stemming from fears that the Chinese government could access information about U.S. users through user data on TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based Byte Dance.

The House’s Chief Administration Officer warned lawmakers last week about security concerns tied to the app, as more lawmakers use it to reach voters — especially young voters. 

“The ‘TikTok’ mobile application has been deemed by the CAO Office of CyberSecurity to be a high-risk to users due to its lack of transparency in how it protects customer data, its requirement of excessive permissions, and the potential security risks involved with its use,” the office wrote in a memo released Tuesday.

TikTok pushed back on those claims in a memo Tuesday, according to a copy of the memo obtained by Politico. 

TikTok said the advisory sent out last week contains inaccurate information and needs to be rescinded. 

In response to security concerns, TikTok has pledged to move U.S. users’ data to third-party Oracle servers. 

Oracle is also vetting TikTok’s algorithms and content moderation models to make sure they are not manipulated by Chinese authorities, Han, TikTok’s head of safety, confirmed on a call with reporters Tuesday. The news was first reported by Axios.

Source: TEST FEED1

FBI search cements Trump’s hold on GOP

The conservative outcry over the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s estate in Florida has seemingly cemented Trump’s grip on the GOP electorate.

Both allies and Republicans less inclined to back a new run for the White House by the former president believe the outcry over the search effectively blunts any path for a challenger to run to the right of Trump. Would-be rivals in a 2024 primary, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), have fallen in line to back Trump and attack the FBI.

The former president may still face legal ramifications from the search, and the cloud of yet another investigation could make some voters nervous about his prospects in a general election. But in the short term, those close to Trump believe the search and subsequent outcry make it even likelier he will be the Republican nominee in 2024.

“On the Republican side, with the exception of never-Trumpers… virtually everybody else assumes the FBI is corrupt. They assume the Jan. 6 committee is a fake committee covered by fake news, and they presume there is an effort to martyr Trump,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

“If they keep this up, he won’t have a major opponent for the primary,” he added.

The FBI conducted a search last week of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, to recover classified and top secret documents that Trump took with him when he left the White House. 

The warrant showed federal officers suspected Trump had violated the Espionage Act and other laws.

But conservatives have uniformly rallied to Trump’s defense, accusing the FBI and Department of Justice of targeting the former president and rationalizing why Trump would have had highly sensitive materials at his Florida club more than a year after leaving office.

“It has recharged the Republican base and turned Trump into a victim, all but assuring that if Trump runs it will be more of a coronation rather than a primary election,” said John Thomas, a Republican consultant.

Trump has seen a slight polling boost in the aftermath of the search, providing some cushion after a New York Times poll released last month found that roughly half of GOP voters were willing to support another candidate in 2024.

A Politico-Morning Consult poll released last Thursday found that 57 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning independents would vote for Trump if the 2024 primary were held today, up from 53 percent a month ago. In that same timespan, DeSantis lost 6 percentage points of support.

DeSantis is among the potential 2024 challengers to Trump whose ambitions may temporarily be put in check because of the FBI raid. The Florida governor, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others who are considered possible presidential candidates have been forced to temporarily drop any subtle campaigns to highlight differences with Trump in favor of decrying the FBI search as an abuse of power.

“They’re enforcing the law based on who they like and who they don’t like,” DeSantis said at a Turning Point USA rally over the weekend. “That is not a republic — maybe it’s a banana republic when that happens.”

The lone holdouts have been the likes of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a would-be 2024 candidate who has argued in favor of letting the process play out to see what the search yielded. But Christie would likely run as a moderate alternative to Trump.

“Any pathway for DeSantis to primary him from the right just closed completely shut if Trump decides to run,” said one Republican operative with ties to the former president.

“Our voters now want revenge, and I suspect that will manifest into them concluding the best way they can get revenge is by sending Trump back to the White House,” they added.

While the FBI search may clear Trump’s path for a primary victory, lest any other candidate be seen as sympathetic to federal law enforcement, it raises familiar questions about Trump’s viability as a candidate in a general election.

A New York Times poll released last month showed Trump trailing Biden by 3 percentage points in a hypothetical rematch, despite Biden’s approval rating sinking into the low 30 percent range.

Trump is facing multiple investigations beyond the FBI search, any one of which could cloud his future. Others include a DOJ investigation related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and a Georgia investigation over 2020 election interference.

Illustrating the problem Trump could face with the broader electorate, the Politico-Morning Consult poll found roughly half of registered voters approved of the FBI search, though only 15 percent of Republicans approved. And 58 percent of voters said they believe Trump definitely or probably broke the law as president.

“I’m hoping that somebody else runs against him in the primary because I think we can have the same policies without all the baggage,” Mick Mulvaney, a former acting chief of staff to Trump, told CBS News. “And as much as I respect my former employer … I quit my job over Jan. 6. He may well be the only Republican who can lose to Joe Biden or to any other Democrat in 2024.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Tim Kaine’s role on abortion bill sparks progressive concerns

Progressive Democrats are expressing growing concern about having Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) as the face in the Senate of restoring abortion rights, particularly after voters in Kansas struck down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have eliminated abortions in the state.  

They see Kaine, who is personally opposes abortion, as too much of a centrist on the issue, and they argue the legislation he’s backing, which he says would codify the Roe v. Wade decision, doesn’t go nearly far enough.  

Kaine introduced the legislation with centrist GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and fellow Democratic centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.). Democratic critics say the bill would actually fall short of codifying Roe v. Wade.

“After Kansas, the idea that a pro-life white male senator has emerged as the face of the Democratic response by pushing legislation that falls far short of codifying Roe and still has no chance of passing is just impossible to justify,” said one Democratic operative. “It would be one thing if he were actually able to move legislation, but everyone knows he can’t, and it’s an extreme example of how inept Democrats are at offense.” 

One Senate chief of staff was also miffed about Kaine’s leading role in the legislation.  

“Why the hell in a moment when the country is actually paying attention to this, when we’re winning ballot initiatives, do you want to take the wind out of the sails?” the chief of staff said. “Why is this guy the face of this? It’s bananas, really.”  

Murkowski and Collins are likely the only GOP senators who would support the measure, meaning it would not have the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. If Democrats can add a few senators to their ranks, some think it might be possible to go much further to protect abortion rights — if 50 Democrats can agree to change the filibuster rules to do so.  

The bill backed by Kaine, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2016, would protect the right to an abortion until the fetus can survive outside the womb. That would generally provide protection for abortion rights up to 24 weeks. The bill would also provide access to contraception. 

Critics say that doesn’t go far enough.

“The Kaine-Collins bill does not codify Roe,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told NBC News earlier this month. “The problem here is this bill is not an obvious improvement over where we stand right now.” 

After the legislation was introduced, NARAL Pro-Choice America called it “just another political stunt.” 

Kaine, who is Catholic, argues he and his allies are in a better position to pass the legislation because of the GOP support.

“As soon as you say, ‘Why do something bipartisan?’ That’s like giving up,” Kaine told Politico earlier this month. “That’s like giving up. … And we can’t give up.” 

Aides to Kaine would not comment on his role on the legislation or the opposition to it.

Democrats have sought to step up their messaging on abortion rights ahead of the midterms, believing the issue can turn out their grassroots.

The White House has been slammed by progressives for not doing enough to go on the offensive on the issue, especially after a leak in May that hinted the decision was forthcoming.

Since the decision, Vice President Harris has taken on the issue, traveling the country and speaking on it in addition to meeting with groups to discuss women’s rights. 

Some Democratic strategists say it makes sense for Kaine to become the upper chamber’s top advocate on the issue, comparing it to centrist Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) involvement in the climate legislation. 

“It’s realistic,” said one Democratic strategist. “You don’t want to be represented by the extreme base. You want to be represented by the middle, who are closer to the median voter on abortion than someone like [Rep.] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [D-N.Y.].” 

“This is the most realistic way to win the conversation,” the strategist said. “You have the conversation in the middle.” 

But the Senate chief of staff and others say it’s a messaging failure for Democrats. 

“We lost this fight … but, Jesus, don’t make it worse,” he said. “The politics of this are f—— nuts.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Monkeypox response continues to face hurdles after new federal guidance

State and local health authorities are facing new obstacles in responding to monkeypox after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized dividing Jynneos vaccine doses into fifths to expand the available supply, with many authorities unsure about how to immediately adopt the new strategy.

The FDA last week authorized a new method of administering the Jynneos smallpox vaccine, which is being used to prevent monkeypox amid the ongoing outbreak, to extend the current supply of doses in the U.S. The method involves injecting one-fifth of the normal dose intradermally, between layers of skin, instead of into the muscle as most vaccines are administered.

According to the FDA, it considered authorizing the method because it had become “clear to all of us that we would not meet current demand with the current supply.” The decision also appears to have been based on a 2015 study that found administering Jynneos intradermally at a reduced dosage produced a comparable immune response to that produced by a full dose administered into the muscle.

While this guidance would expand the supply of Jynneos doses fivefold, many state and local health authorities in the areas most affected by the monkeypox outbreak have yet to adopt the new strategy.

Several hurdles stand in the way of local authorities going ahead with the federal government’s new guidance, including workers not being trained to administer shots intradermally, a lack of specific needles used for these types of shots and an absence of funding for more supplies.

A representative for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said it was “reviewing the new guidance” without saying whether it would proceed with splitting Jynneos vaccines into fifths.

Other local health authorities indicated that they would be holding off on the new method for the time being until further information and resources were shared.

The Chicago Department of Public Health called the FDA’s decision “excellent news” but noted that this method of immunization was “much less common.”

“It will require a significant shift in operations over the next few weeks. CDPH, for example, has now ordered thousands of the smaller needles and syringes that are required,” said the department, adding that it was working with both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Illinois Department of Health to facilitate training and to readjust the reporting and information infrastructure for the vaccination campaign.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health similarly said it was “awaiting federal and state guidance” on the updated strategy. The agency also acknowledged that additional training would have to be provided for its workers.

While used less frequently than shots administered into the muscle, intradermal shots are not unheard of within health care. Vaccines for tuberculosis and hepatitis B are both administered this way, creating a “pocket” between the epidermis and the dermis.

A representative for the Texas Department of State Health Services noted that tuberculosis nurses are accustomed to intradermal injections but said “some training” would have to be given, particularly among private providers who may not be as familiar with the injection method as some public health workers.

The representative said Texas has ordered more syringes and the appropriate needles to be sent out to local health departments, though they indicated that the state agency would leave the decision on whether to use the new method up to local authorities.

One such local health department that has recently adopted the one-fifth strategy is Austin Public Health, which began administering reduced intradermal shots on Monday. According to Austin Public Health, its nurses are “very familiar” with administering intradermal shots and the department had a readily available supply of intradermal needles, with more already ordered.

Some clinics in major cities such as Los Angeles were able to quickly adapt to the new guidance. The St. John’s Community Health clinic was able to begin providing reduced intradermal shots within less than a week of the FDA’s authorization.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said it was able to “quickly update” stakeholders on the FDA’s decision as well as swiftly update its own information on alternative dosing methods.

“We communicated that Public Health would implement these changes when the next tranche of doses were received, but if providers felt ready to implement the new strategy, they could proceed,” said the department.

Adriane Casalotti of the National Association of County and City Health Officials told The Hill that while the updated guidance did partly address the limited supply of available vaccines, there were logistical issues of the type that tend to become “lost” at the federal level regarding its implementation.

“So things like getting the right syringes is a big one,” she said, noting that in addition to not already having those syringes, local health authorities face additional complications in trying to acquire them since they are “not coming with the vaccine vials.”

“But also, there hasn’t been any additional funds authorized for monkeypox. So, you know, they have to find these syringes, but they also don’t have any money to pay for them specifically,” she added.

The costs and logistics aside, there is also some uncertainty surrounding the FDA’s guidance. The CEO of Bavarian Nordic, which manufactures Jynneos, said he had “some reservations” about the approach in a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra last week.

Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin cited the “very limited safety data available” in voicing his reservations and said his company has been “inundated with calls from U.S. state government officials with questions and concerns.”

Chaplin said he was supportive of approaches to conserving the limited supply of vaccines but said it would have been “prudent” to launch the new strategy with more comprehensive guidance.

Casalotti echoed these sentiments, saying that on top of additional resources, communication and outreach were also important factors at play. She noted that news of Bavarian Nordic’s concerns with the new method could raise similar worries among affected communities.

“There needs to be additional communication, not just to the public health sector but to the affected individuals themselves to make sure that they understand what the alternative regimen means,” she said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Palin advances in race for Alaska House seat

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) was projected to advance from her primary in the race for Alaska’s at-large congressional district.

The Associated Press called the race at 1:42 a.m. ET.

Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola were also projected to advance.

Palin was among a large group of primary candidates vying for Alaska’s lone House seat, and she only needed to be among one of the top four vote-getters in the state’s new open primary system in order to advance to the general election.

Palin was a part of the 2008 Republican presidential ticket, running as the vice presidential nominee alongside the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) The Alaska Republican previously served as the governor to the state between 2006 and 2009.

Palin received former President Trump’s endorsement and he came to the state last month to rally for his endorsed candidates, which include Palin.

In the general election, which is slated for November, the state will use ranked choice voting, where the candidate to receive more than 50 percent of the vote prevails in the election.

But if no one gets more than half of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes gets knocked out and any voters who chose that eliminated candidate as their first pick has their second choice votes applied to the applicable candidates. The process continues until one candidate receives more than half of the votes.

Palin is separately vying to fill the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young’s (R-Alaska) term on Tuesday in a special election after the congressman died in March. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Murkowski advances in Alaska Senate race

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was projected to advance from the state’s Republican Senate primary, setting her up to compete in November’s midterm general election.

The Associated Press made the call at 1:41 p.m. ET.

The incumbent senator was widely expected to advance from the all-party primary in which the top four vote-getters advanced to the general election.

The primary was seen as a test for former President Trump’s endorsement. Trump backed Murkowski’s primary challenger Kelly Tschibaka in the wake of Murkowski’s vote to convict him in his second impeachment trial.

Tschibaka was also projected to advance early Wednesday morning.

However, Murkowski is expected to perform better in the general election where she will be able to glean more support from voters outside of the GOP, including Democrats and Independents.

November’s general election will be a ranked-choice election, where a candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to be declared the winner outright.

If the front-runner doesn’t have that percentage of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes that round drops off the ballot, and those who ranked that candidate first will have their votes go to their second choice. The process continues until a candidate has more than 50 percent of the vote.  

Source: TEST FEED1