Tag Archives : Build House

AARP, Big Pharma locked in battle over drug pricing bill

The nation’s largest seniors group is locked in a battle with the pharmaceutical industry over Democrats’ drug pricing overhaul.  

AARP is blanketing the airwaves with ads backing the measure to counter drugmakers’ efforts to pressure key Democrats to vote “no” on the measure which would lower prescription drug prices.  

It’s also mobilizing its nearly 38 million members to lobby their representatives on the drug pricing plan. 

“We’ve been hearing for decades from our members who are struggling to afford their prescription drugs,” said Bill Sweeney, AARP’s senior vice president of government affairs. “We know that pharma has a lot of lobbyists and a lot of money, but we have a lot of people.” 

The group says its members have sent more than 8 million calls and emails to lawmakers urging them to lower prescription drug costs. Through the end of this week, AARP is airing a $1 million D.C.-based ad campaign boosting senators who are “standing up to Big Pharma.” 

Democrats’ drug pricing plan — which is included in their climate and tax spending package headed for a potential Senate vote this weekend — would empower Medicare to negotiate and ultimately bring down the price of certain popular drugs, prevent huge price hikes and cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 per year.  

While the plan is weaker than some of Democrats’ previous proposals, it would dent drugmaker profits, dealing a rare blow to the influential industry.  

The pharmaceutical industry appears to be fighting back by bankrolling multiple seven-figure ad blitzes aired by advocacy groups that don’t appear to have a connection to drugmakers. 

The American Prosperity Alliance, a little-known group that doesn’t disclose its donors, is airing ads falsely claiming that the plan would “strip $300 billion from Medicare.” Another recent ad from the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease delivers a similar plea to viewers. 

Both ads target Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.). They deviate from the usual industry arguments that the plan would force pharmaceutical firms to reduce investment in research and development, and that it does nothing to crack down on price gouging by insurers or pharmacy benefit managers. 

“Now that we’re on the cusp of this passing, I think the drug companies are desperate. I think they’re extremely nervous and they’re throwing the kitchen sink at this,” Sweeney said. 

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the industry’s top lobbying group, is running a seven-figure ad campaign noting that the industry is developing numerous medicines to treat Alzheimer’s, childhood diabetes and breast cancer.   

“Which diseases could go untreated if Congress passes government price setting?” a recent PhRMA ad tells viewers. 

Some industry-backed ads have angered Senate Democrats, like Cortez Masto, who faces a tough reelection fight this November. She said that the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease ads prompted hundreds of constituents to call her office with concerns about the drug pricing bill.  

“The only one that’s going to benefit from these ads at the end of the day is Big Pharma, because they don’t want their profits cut. So they’re trying to frighten Nevadans and pressure me to vote against a bill that would help my constituents,” Cortez Masto said on the Senate floor last week. “Well, let me just say this: It won’t work.” 

The prescription drug plan contains the most popular provisions in the reconciliation package, according to a recent Morning Consult-Politico poll. Roughly three out of four respondents expressed support for the drug pricing measures. 

Senate Democrats appear poised to unite behind the drug pricing measure, assuming that the upper chamber’s parliamentarian says that it can be included under budget reconciliation rules, which allow Democrats to bypass the 60-vote legislative filibuster.  

Lawmakers say that they’ve leaned on AARP and other interest groups, such as Protect Our Care, which does not disclose its donors, to help build public support for the proposal and defend them from pharmaceutical industry attack ads ahead of a key midterm election. 

“You’ve seen the ads. They’re running right now. They’re targeted to the people in this very building who are going to vote because they want them to side with big money and the big lobbyists, and finally we are saying no,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said at a recent press conference with the seniors’ group.   

The pharmaceutical industry spends more on lobbying than any other industry, shelling out $187 million through the first half of the year to deploy nearly 1,600 lobbyists, according to research group OpenSecrets. Drugmakers are on pace to break their spending record reached last year.  

AARP has spent $6.9 million on lobbying over the same period, on track for its biggest year since 2011.  

Other top health sector spenders include insurance giants such as UnitedHealth Group and Blue Cross Blue Shield. UnitedHealth, which partners with AARP to market its Medicare Advantage plans, spent more on lobbying in the first half of 2022 than any prior year.  

A recent ad from American Commitment, a conservative advocacy group that has received significant funding from PhRMA, attacks AARP over its partnership with the insurance giant. 

“Sen. Manchin, who is AARP really watching out for these days?” read the ad.  

The pharmaceutical industry successfully pushed Congress to block Medicare from negotiating drug prices in a 2003 bill to overhaul the health insurance program and has fought hard to protect the provision since.  

The chief architect of the Medicare law, former Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), announced the next year that he would retire and become CEO of PhRMA. He earned $11.6 million in his final year at the trade group, a more than 6500 percent increase from his congressional salary.  

While most Democrats have cheered their party’s drug pricing plan as a breakthrough victory, some have bemoaned that the latest version doesn’t go as far as previous iterations, suggesting that industry lobbying efforts have left their mark.  

Critics point out that price negotiation wouldn’t kick in until 2026 and initially would only cover 10 high-cost prescription drugs, while the out-of-pocket cap wouldn’t take hold until 2025. Democrats’ initial offering from last year would have applied to at least 50 brand-name drugs. 

“It’s a weak proposal. Is it better than nothing? I suppose,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told reporters last week. “We’re dealing with the power of PhRMA over the Congress. They don’t lose very often.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Kentucky expected to face enormous costs after devastating floods

Kentucky is facing enormous financial costs to rebuild after massive flooding in the eastern part of the state that has left 37 people dead and hundreds homeless.  

While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is still assessing the toll, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said the state would need “significant dollars,” describing the disaster as “the most devastating flooding event our state has ever seen.” 

“When we look at infrastructure, when we look at the massive damage here – roads, bridges just eaten away, the water system just heavily damaged, some wiped out. It’s going to take significant time and significant dollars to restore what was destroyed. [There was] real significant damage to water and wastewater systems,” Beshear said Wednesday. 

Jonathan Jett, superintendent of public schools in Perry County, Kentucky, said in an interview with The Hill that he expects it will require millions of dollars to rebuild public infrastructure in his school district. 

“This will take years,” Jett said. “I have two schools with significant, significant damage. I’m waiting to hear from structural engineers and architects who are coming next Wednesday to see if we can even go back in the building. I’m not having people in there before I know it’s structurally sound.”

FEMA press secretary Jeremy Edwards said in a statement to The Hill that the agency doesn’t estimate costs of an ongoing recovery.  

“Every disaster is unique, and we will continue to work with our state and local partners to ensure they have the resources necessary during this difficult time,” Edwards said.  

One of the most potentially expensive consequences of this year’s Kentucky flooding is the damage to the state’s water and sanitation infrastructure, Beshear said.

On Wednesday, he said there were “still just over 18,000 service connections without water, 45,600-ish service connections under boiled water advisory, [and] 21 water systems under limited operation due to power outages and storm damage.”

On Thursday, those numbers had improved to 14,000 homes without water and 41,000 connections under the boiled-water advisory, but the number of inoperational wastewater systems had tripled from one to three. Thirteen waste systems were discharging material from their collection systems into the environment, the governor said.

A lack of personal flood insurance for their homes poses one of the most significant financial threats to a full recovery from the disaster for many Kentucky families.

“One of the most devastating parts of this flood is that most people’s homes are not going to be covered by insurance. A lot of people don’t have insurance. Most people don’t have flood insurance, which is really expensive, and it’s going to be a real challenge on the rebuilding side,” the governor said.

Flood insurance is generally less common outside of high-risk areas. According to FEMA, most of Kentucky is not considered to be high risk.

“The way they set those areas hasn’t been updated and hasn’t kept up with changing conditions,” said Melissa Roberts, executive director of the American Flood Coalition. “It’s a huge problem in the center of the country too where the mapping, I think, doesn’t capture the true risk of flooding.”

Private donations of money and supplies have been pouring into the affected areas. 

The Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund had raised $3.4 million as of Thursday, counting more than 24,000 individual donations with more than $120,000 already distributed out to families and individuals.

“This is, I think, the only fully transparent fund that is audited, that will be subject to legislative oversight,” Beshear said. “We are taking zero administrative fees. Every single dime is going to go to these families.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also expressed grief at the damage and economic toll facing the parts of his home state.

“Even the families who were lucky enough to get out unscathed have lost homes, businesses, and heirlooms. In many communities, the waterlogged destruction is absolute,” he said in a statement earlier this week.

“Late last week, I joined with every member of Kentucky’s congressional delegation to support the Governor’s request to the President for a Major Disaster declaration to give our first responders federal help,” he added.

Biden last week declared a disaster in Kentucky and ordered more federal aid for the state. 

Eastern Kentucky congressman Hal Rogers (R) encouraged residents of seven counties to apply for FEMA assistance earlier this week to begin the process of rebuilding their homes. He said he asked Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to get more FEMA personnel on the ground in eastern Kentucky to help people “apply for assistance who do not have transportation.”

As climate change makes extreme weather worse and more frequent, there are expected to be more flooding events, and more intense weather events, in the future. 

A February study found that as a result of climate change, financial loss from floods will rise by 26 percent in the U.S. by 2050.

Roberts of the American Food Coalition noted, however, that this isn’t just a future problem, saying the world has already seen the impacts in the last five to ten years. 

“We’re getting more devastating flood disasters, we’re getting them in more places, we’re getting them more frequently and the costs are rising,” she said. 

Source: TEST FEED1

The Memo: Trump’s TV stars pose problems for the GOP

Former President Trump loves celebrity — especially TV fame. But his enthusiasm is not working out so well for the Republican Party.

Trump has backed a host of candidates in party primaries who are famous or have a track record in television, or both. But many of his chosen stars are underperforming, complicating the GOP’s electoral chances.

Critics charge that Trump fails to recognize the downsides of elevating people for their celebrity status or media chops alone. 

Some think he remains deeply attached to the world of tabloid fame and TV stardom from which he catapulted himself into office — and fails to see how others will struggle to replicate that success.

“When you look at Trump, you have to step back and view him through the lens of ‘The Apprentice,’” said Olivia Troye, who served in the office of then-Vice President Mike Pence during the Trump administration. Politics “is almost one big game show to him — except that it’s about the governing of our country.”

While president, Trump installed figures known at least in part for TV work, such as Omarosa Manigault Newman, Larry Kudlow and Anthony Scaramucci, into senior positions — often with tumultuous results. 

He also sought outside counsel from media figures including Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs, to the frustration of some White House aides.

The clearest recent example of Trump’s seemingly misplaced ardor for celebrities is Mehmet Oz, better known as TV’s “Dr. Oz.”

Oz was propelled to victory in a closely contested primary by Trump, who endorsed him in April. In the official announcement, Trump enthused that Oz “has lived with us through the screen.” Soon afterward, the former president mused that strong TV ratings are “like a poll — that means people like you.” 

Even if there’s a grain of truth in that observation, Oz has struggled to unite GOP voters or make much headway in his campaign.

He is trailing his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, by almost 9 points in the RealClearPolitics average — despite the fact that Fetterman has not been able to hit the campaign trail since suffering a stroke in mid-May. 

Oz now faces the very real possibility of losing a seat currently in GOP hands.

Several other Trump picks seem to spell trouble for Republicans’ chances.

On Tuesday, conservative commentator Tudor Dixon, endorsed by Trump just before primary day, easily became the GOP’s nominee for governor in Michigan. 

Trump’s backing was even more crucial in propelling Kari Lake, a former TV news anchor, into the lead in the equivalent contest in Arizona.

Dixon, whose resumé also includes an appearance in a horror movie, is trailing incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by big margins — 11 points in a Detroit News/WDIV poll last month. That’s all the more galling for Republicans because Whitmer has long been a key target.

As for Lake, even if her TV chops are an asset, her election denialism is almost certainly not — at least in a general election. Lake has endorsed the former president’s claims that the 2020 election was illegitimate.

Backers of her opponent, Karrin Taylor Robson — a group that includes Pence and incumbent Gov. Doug Ducey (R) — have warned that Lake will struggle in the general election against Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D). 

The close primary race in Arizona was called for Lake late Thursday evening.

It’s in the Senate where Trump’s enthusiasm for famous figures could really haunt the GOP.  

In addition to Oz, two key Trump picks, Herschel Walker in Georgia and J.D. Vance in Ohio, are stumbling.

Walker’s main calling card is his footballing fame — he won the Heisman Trophy while at the University of Georgia — while Vance is best known for his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was turned into a movie.

Walker and to a lesser degree Vance have lagged behind their Democratic opponents in some polls, contributing to a tightening picture in the battle for the Senate that has caused Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to begin to play down expectations. 

McConnell told Bret Baier of Fox News on Wednesday that when the “smoke clears, we’re likely to have a very, very close Senate still.”

Dan Judy, a Republican strategist but Trump critic, lamented that too many in his party — including Trump and his favored candidates — were failing to appreciate the gulf between celebrity and political prowess.

“The sort of success that makes you a celebrity does not necessarily translate to political skills — particularly if your first run is for the U.S. Senate or for governor, where literally everything you say is recorded and blasted out for the world to see,” Judy said.

“We generally see this with successful businesspeople but I think it also applies to these more celebrity-type candidates,” he added. “They think it is going to be easy. And running for office is really hard.”

Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, noted that the trend of celebrity politicians did not start with Trump. 

It includes movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stint as governor of California and former wrestler Jesse Ventura’s time as governor of Minnesota. Former President Reagan, of course, was known for his movie career and TV appearances long before he entered politics.

Trump “believes in the power of TV,” Zelizer said. “I do think at some level Trump believes that there’s no-one as powerful in American culture as The Celebrity.”

But, he added, “the reality is that politics isn’t television and many TV people can fall apart quickly entering the political arena.”

Republicans are hoping that doesn’t happen this year. 

But the omens are not good for Trump’s stars.

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage.

Source: TEST FEED1

Black voters' dissatisfaction could spell trouble for Democrats

Organizers are warning Democrats not to take Black voters for granted ahead of the midterms, worried that the party isn’t listening to the community’s concerns in an election year where their vote could be decisive in key races.

Advocates who spoke to The Hill expressed frustration that the Democratic Party consistently overlooks Black voters until it’s too late, a sentiment common in previous election cycles. 

As the U.S. grapples with the possibility of a recession and social upheaval following controversial Supreme Court rulings, growing Black voter dissatisfaction could have an outsized impact on the party in an election year where the scales already feel tipped toward the GOP.

“When we look at the challenges that this country is facing, from health care, to housing, to safety, these things are disproportionately impacting communities of color and Black communities specifically,” said Alicia Garza, principal of the Black to the Future Action Fund, an organization dedicated to building “black political power in cities and states,” according to the website.

But instead of addressing these issues on the ground in Black communities, Garza argued, Democrats have been focused on regaining white suburban voters, particularly white women. 

This is increasingly problematic when Black families are still reeling from the disproportionate economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, she added. 

A recent poll from the Black to the Future Action Fund showed economic recovery among Black Americans’ top concerns, as Black renters and mortgage holders found themselves behind on payments and concerns of food and housing security soared.

The growing frustration within the community comes amid signs that President Biden’s support among Black voters could be eroding. While a Washington Post-Ipsos poll released in June found that Black voters’ approval of the president remains the highest among most demographics, it also found signs they were less enthusiastic about him this time around.

And a New York Times-Siena poll released in July showed that Black voters were growing increasingly pessimistic about the American political system’s ability to solve the nation’s problems.

The numbers could serve as a warning to Democrats, who were bolstered in 2020 by Black voters, a demographic that has remained overwhelmingly loyal to the party. Adding to their concerns is a renewed effort by Republicans to court Black — as well as Hispanic and Asian — voters ahead of the midterms.

Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, argued that Democrats need to speak to those issues that are of top concern to Black communities long before an election — something they haven’t been doing.

“It’s not just about supporting communities or knocking on doors two weeks right before Election Day,” Albright said. “There is no such thing as an off-year, because there’s no being off from the issues that impact our communities.”

But even as some politicians invest more time with Black voters, some in the community still feel unheard.

One of the biggest blocs of Black voters often overlooked is Black men, said Mondale Robinson, founder and principal of the Black Male Voter Project.

“The political space said Black men are apolitical or apathetic, but that’s incorrect,” Robinson said. Rather, Black men are antipathetic because of traditional campaigning that ignores the issues most concerning to them, he argued.

Robinson, a former political consultant, added that Democrats have been focused on responding to Republican talking points, like the debate around critical race theory, in the hopes it will convince independent or undecided voters to vote for them.

But he said that’s unlikely to happen. Independents who vote Republican are unlikely to switch their votes and vice versa, he argued. 

“What will happen is that Black voters will stay home,” Robinson warned. “Black voters are not a monolith, but when we vote, we vote monolithically. Democrats don’t understand that if you’re not talking to the issues that are plaguing Black people, then midterms are going to be a lot worse than they have to be.”

Additional concerns that Black men feel Democratic leaders aren’t addressing include criminal justice reform and restrictive voting laws. 

Meanwhile, the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade have led to heightened concerns among Black women, Albright said.

Albright argued Black women will be disproportionately impacted by the court’s decision on abortion rights — Black women suffer higher maternal mortality rates and infant mortality rates — but it goes past just health care concerns.

He pointed to highway patrols that could stop women from attempting to cross state lines. 

“We already know that we get stopped disproportionately, just for driving for any reason,” he said. “So imagine what it’s going to be like as a Black woman traveling around state to state trying to get abortion. Anything that involves criminalization is going to impact our community worse.”

Albright said many within the Black community feel these concerns aren’t even considered by Democratic leaders. 

Other Black voters, meanwhile, have expressed concerns over the increase in racial violence, particularly after the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y. 

Garza, of the Black to the Future Action Fund, said that she believes there are “unabashed” white supremacists currently serving in Congress and running across the country, mainly spurred on by former President Trump. 

“Black voters are experiencing that our government that is supposed to protect us is instead issuing a call to arms to groups and people in this country who would want to invoke racialized violence in order to maintain a balance of power in this country,” Garza said. 

“It’s a scary time [for] Black voters to be living in,” she continued. “Many of us have family members who have experienced racial terror and racial violence just for doing things like daring to vote or daring to love someone or daring to buy a house in a particular community. So that has a visceral effect for us.”

Garza said the Democratic Party needs to take a look at itself and address the racism that is within its own ranks, something that allows these messages of racial violence to proliferate. 

Part of that could mean having the party invest in more Black candidates up and down the ballot. 

Antjuan Seawright, a political consultant based in South Carolina, said that focusing on all elections, from federal to gubernatorial to local ones, would be within the party’s best interest.

“We often say this election is critical. It’s important. It’s consequential,” Seawright said. “But make no mistake, this midterm election is literally life or death for a lot of communities that look like mine, the ones I grew up in, because the people who will have their fingers on the decisionmaking pins will determine whether communities and the people in those communities will live or die.”

Seawright said he does feel Democrats have been making a stronger, earlier investment in Black voters and communities this time around, and many Black voters are motivated to vote for change. 

But he cautions against placing the onus of Democratic wins on Black voters alone. 

“We put a lot of weight and pressure on the shoulders of Black voters, and at the end of every election cycle we’re the first to blame,” Seawright said. “However, white voters have just as much of a responsibility to show up and vote their interest as we do. I refuse to embrace this narrative that if we win it’s because of other constituencies, but if we lose it’s because Black voters didn’t do their part.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Climate change causing poorer fitness in children: study

Warming global temperatures — fueled by climate change — are making children less physically fit and more obese than ever before, a new study has found.

And it’s a two-way street: physical fitness is also key to tolerating higher temperatures.

A less active lifestyle caused by higher temperatures is putting kids at greater risk of suffering from heat-related health problems, including dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, according to the study, published in the journal Temperature on Friday.

“As the world warms, children are the least fit they have ever been,” author Shawnda Morrison, an environmental exercise physiologist at Slovenia’s University of Ljubljana, said in a statement.

“It is imperative that children are encouraged to do daily physical activity to build up, and maintain, their fitness, so that they enjoy moving their bodies and it doesn’t feel like ‘work’ or ‘a chore’ to them,” she added.

Today’s climate change policies are failing to address child health needs, Morrison argued, stressing the critical nature of encouraging kids to make exercise an everyday part of their lives.

Morrison drew her conclusions by combing more than 150 scientific studies into how children maintain physical activity and cope with heat, as well as how the situation might change as global temperatures rise.

Among her principal findings was that children’s aerobic fitness is 30 percent lower than that of their parents at the same age. Meanwhile, most children are failing to meet the World Health Organization’s guidelines of partaking in about an hour of physical activity each day.

Physical inactivity grew worse, particularly in Europe, during the coronavirus pandemic when schools and other institutions shut down, according to the study.

Morrison highlighted previous research indicating that emergency departments at children’s hospitals in the U.S. revealed higher attendance on hotter days. Younger children were especially likely to require care.

She also probed findings from a study of 457 primary schools in Thailand, which determined that overweight students were more than twice as likely to encounter difficulties regulating body temperature as those of normal weight, when exercising outdoors.

As temperatures climb around the world, Morrison warned that parents may increasingly decide that it’s “too hot to play” outside.

In turn, this could mean that unfit children could face greater difficulties meeting the minimum physical activity levels required to stay healthy, according to the study.

With changes in weather patterns expected to cause outbreaks of new diseases in the human population, movement restrictions aimed at containing such illnesses could also harm children’s fitness, the research found.

Morrison identified physical education classes to be the most cost-effective way to equip children with the tools they need to exercise throughout their lives. Families can also play a key role in encouraging such activity, according to the study.

“Do what you love to do, whether it’s a family bike ride or rollerblade, a stroll through the woods or walking the dog,” Morrison said.

“Try not to completely avoid the heat but choose times of the day that are less hot (mornings/evenings) to keep active, since we need to keep ourselves moving in this new warming world,” she added.

Source: TEST FEED1

Kari Lake wins Arizona governor's primary in win for Trump

Former television news anchor Kari Lake is projected to win Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nomination, handing a high-profile win to former President Trump.

The Associated Press called the race at 10:09 p.m. ET on Thursday, two days after votes were cast.

Polls in the lead up to Election Day showed Lake leading Karrin Taylor Robson.

Trump last year endorsed Lake, who touted the former president’s unfounded claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Meanwhile, Robson’s victory is a loss for the GOP establishment. Robson was endorsed by Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The campaign turned into a proxy battle between Trump and Pence, with the former president and vice president holding dueling rallies in the lead-up to the election.

Source: TEST FEED1

New Orleans seeks to end federal consent decree with police department after a decade

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) called for a quick end to the city police’s federal consent decree Thursday, put in place nearly a decade ago to ensure civil rights.

Cantrell said at a press conference that low morale in the force is driving staffing challenges, tying the problem to what she described as a negative national narrative about police and the federal oversight agreement that went into effect in 2013.

“The consent decree handcuffs our officers by making their jobs harder, pestering them with punitive punishment and burying them with paperwork that is an overburden,” Cantrell said. “It’s too much.”

The police department and the Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into the consent decree in January 2013 after a DOJ investigation of the force’s alleged pattern of civil rights violations.

Cantrell said she sent a formal notice to DOJ in 2020 in advance of the city seeking to terminate the consent decree. The decree stipulates the city can begin the termination process through the notice if it believes it has been in full and effective compliance for at least two years, and the matter would ultimately end up before a court.

“It seemed like the goal posts would move every time our officers demonstrated real results,” she said. “That it would move every time, keeping us in this consent decree, and I challenged that from day one.”

Cantrell also indicated the city attorney’s office is moving forward with the process in the next two weeks, which will include paperwork formally requesting DOJ release the department from the agreement.

To further improve staff morale, Cantrell and Shaun Ferguson, the city’s police chief, announced they were changing policies to allow facial hair and fingernail polish and recently purchased 75 new Ford Explorers as part of equipment improvements.

“We have a world-class police department, and it is imperative that we ensure every officer feels safe in their jobs and respected on their patrols,” Cantrell said in a statement. 

“Nothing is off limits, and everything is under consideration: equipment, vehicles, facilities, operations — all of it,” she said. “I have listened to our officers’ needs, and my administration intends to deliver.”  

New Orleans is one of multiple jurisdictions with consent decrees currently in place. 

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo in 2018 curtailing the use of the agreements as one of his final acts as the nation’s top law enforcement official, arguing they made police departments unjustly hamstrung by civil rights lawyers.

Attorney General Merrick Garland rescinded the memo last year, and in April DOJ announced its first consent decree with a local police department since Garland’s action.

Source: TEST FEED1

Sinema announces deal with Schumer on taxes and climate

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) announced Thursday evening that she has reached a deal with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that could pave the way for Democrats to pass their budget reconciliation package. 

The deal would remove a provision closing the so-called carried interest loophole from the package announced last week by Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

Sinema said she and Schumer have also reached agreement on protecting manufacturing from the impact of a proposed 15 percent corporate minimum tax, which business leaders in Arizona warned would dampen economic growth.  

The announcement paves the way for Sinema to vote Saturday for a motion to proceed to budget reconciliation package that would reform the tax code, tackle climate change, reduce the cost of prescription drugs and shrink the federal deficit.  

“We have agreed to remove the carried interest tax provision, protect advanced manufacturing, and boost our clean energy economy in the Senate’s budget reconciliation legislation,” Sinema said, signaling that she plans to vote to begin debate on the bill.  

“Subject to the parliamentarian’s review, I’ll move forward,” she said.  

Senate Democrats had waited anxiously for days for a positive sign from Sinema, whom they feared was angry after being left out of a final round of talks. 

With Sinema’s vote, Democrats now have support of all 50 members of their caucus to pass what would become President Biden’s biggest domestic legislative achievement. It would reduce the federal deficit by between $100 billion to $300 billion, according to various estimates, an accomplishment Democrats can pitch to voters at a time of 40-year-high inflation.  

“I am pleased to report that we have reached an agreement on the Inflation Reduction Act that I believe will receive the support of the entire Senate Democratic conference,” Schumer said in a separate statement confirming the deal.  

He said the agreement “preserves the major components” of the deal he announced with Manchin last week to lower drug costs, fight climate change, close tax loopholes and reduce the deficit.  

“The final version of the reconciliation bill, to be introduced on Saturday, will reflect this work and put us one step closer to enacting this historic legislation into law,” Schumer said.  

Democrats expect to vote to begin debate on the more-than-700-page bill sometime Saturday afternoon. 

That will begin up to 20 hours of floor debate followed by an open-ended series of amendment votes, known as a vote-a-rama, and then a vote on final passage of the legislation.  

Sinema in her statement promised to work with colleagues to address the carried interest preferential tax rate, which allows asset managers to pay a 20-percent capital gains rate on income they earn from advising clients on profitable investments.  

“Following this effort, I look forward to working with Sen. [Mark] Warner [D-Va.] to enact carried interest reforms, protecting investments in America’s economy and encouraging continued growth while closing the most egregious loopholes that some abuse to avoid paying taxes,” she pledged.  

The announcement capped off several days of intense discussions between Sinema, Schumer and Manchin.  

Democratic senators said Sinema wasn’t happy about being left out of the secret negotiations Schumer and Manchin held last month to add sweeping tax reform and climate provisions to the budget package.  

The Arizona senator had previously made clear that she opposed eliminating the carried interest tax rate as well as reforms that would effectively raise corporate taxes and threaten economic growth. Those priorities appeared to be somewhat overlooked in the Schumer-Manchin deal. 

Sinema held back her support for the legislation and insisted on changes to soften the tax hit on manufacturers from a 15 percent corporate minimum tax, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.  

Manchin held at least two long conversations with Sinema on the Senate floor in recent days to win her over. 

Multiple people familiar with the issue said Sinema wanted to exempt U.S. manufacturing companies from the 15 percent corporate minimum tax that Schumer and Manchin inserted in the Inflation Reduction Act. That bill caught almost every senator — including Sinema — by surprise when it became public last week

Exempting manufacturing companies from the book minimum tax would cost about $45 billion over ten years, according to one Senate estimate floated this week.  

Book is a tax accounting term that in effect would make it harder for companies to avoid declaring profit and therefore increase what they would pay in taxes. 

Sinema also told colleagues that she opposed closing carried interest loophole, which critics say allows wealthy money managers to pay a lower effective tax rate than many middle-income Americans.   

And the Arizona senator wanted $5 billion in drought resiliency funding for her home state, according to two Democratic senators.    

The statements released by Sinema and Schumer Thursday evening made no mention of drought relief.  

Sinema declined to answer reporters’ questions when she emerged from her Capitol basement hideaway Thursday afternoon.   

She came under heavy pressure from business leaders in Arizona to oppose the corporate minimum tax.   

“In the face of record-high inflation, supply chain backlogs and a major labor crunch, now is not the time to hammer manufacturers with new taxes,” Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Danny Seiden said in a statement earlier Thursday.   

“Arizona job creators will continue to urge lawmakers to reject this manufacturers tax and instead focus on policies that encourage job growth and strengthen our state and economic competitiveness,” he said.   

The Schumer-Manchin deal would have established a 15 percent minimum tax for corporations with more than $1 billion in annual profits, though it exempted green-energy and microchip manufacturing tax credits from getting wiped out by that minimum tax threshold.   

Republicans said the Democrats’ proposal would hit manufacturing companies especially hard by superseding a key reform of former President Trump’s 2017 Tax Credits and Jobs Act allowing companies to fully expense capital expenditures for a given year.    

Full expensing under the Tax Credits and Jobs Act is due to phase out over the next four years.   

Sinema told the Arizona Chamber of Commerce in April that she would be “unwilling to support any tax policies that would put a break on … economic growth, or stall business and personal growth for America’s industries.”   

She made clear to senior White House officials and Senate Democratic colleagues early during the negotiations over the budget reconciliation bill that she would not support increasing the 21 percent corporate tax rate, a key achievement of the 2017 tax reform law.   

“The entire country knows that I am opposed to raising the corporate income tax. That was true yesterday and it is true today,” Sinema told the Arizona Chamber of Commerce earlier this year.   

Republican critics of the Schumer-Manchin deal said that preventing full and immediate expensing of capital expenditures would effectively increase taxes on many corporations.  

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who worked closely with Sinema in drafting last year’s $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, warned in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that it would “essentially” place a “tax on manufacturing.”   

He pointed out that the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that nearly 50 percent of the new tax would hit manufacturers.   

“Imposing this new tax on U.S. companies, and restricting certain U.S. manufacturers from writing off investment costs immediately, would make America less competitive and drive investments and jobs overseas,” he warned.   

Sinema’s request for $5 billion in drought resiliency funding also loomed as a potential problem, sources warned.  

Guaranteeing access to more water to lower-basin states such as Arizona, Nevada and California may come at the expense of upper-basin states such as Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.   

“We are facing historic drought in Colorado. The state has had the worst wildfires in our state’s history. There is very little water in the Colorado River. And I think it would be great if we could do something on drought but it has to be something that meaningfully improves the situation in Colorado and in the upper basin of the Colorado River,” said Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who is up for reelection in November.  

Bennet warned that any drought resiliency language must be provide an “enduring solution to the problem, otherwise it’s not worth doing.”  

Source: TEST FEED1

HBO Max, Discovery+ to merge into one service for summer 2023

The head of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming services announced on Thursday the company is merging HBO Max and Discovery+ into one streaming app next summer.

During an earnings call, JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming and interactive for Warner Bros. Discovery, said launching HBO Max and Discovery+ as one packaged streaming service “was the only way we saw to make this a viable business,” according to Variety.

“HBO will always be the beacon and the ultimate brand that stands for television quality,” Perrette said, but merging it with Discovery+ would ensure “there’s something for everyone in the household.”

It’s unclear what the name for the new steaming service would be. Perrette did not mention those details, according to Variety.

The new service will launch in summer 2023 for the U.S. and Europe in 2024, with all markets expected to have the new streaming app by end of 2024, according to Variety.

HBO is the flagship entertainment television service for Warner Bros., with popular shows like “Game of Thrones,” the lauded “Succession” and the new hit “Euphoria.”

Subscriptions for HBO Max are priced at $14.99 for an ad-free experience and $9.99 with limited ads.

Discovery+, meanwhile, focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, hosting popular channels such as Food Network, TLC and Animal Planet. Subscriptions are priced at $6.99 per month ad free and $4.99 per month with ads.

For the second quarter, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+ global subscribers increased by 1.7 million in Q2 compared to Q1, while revenues were also up year-over-year.

Warner Bros. Discovery also made headlines Wednesday when they scrapped the upcoming “Batgirl” film, a $90 million production that had already finished filming.

The company is reportedly trying to revamp its DC Comics universe, in part to better compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, owned by rival Disney.

Source: TEST FEED1

Meta took down Russian troll farm that supported country’s invasion of Ukraine

Meta on Thursday announced it took down two cyber espionage operations in South Asia and a Russian troll farm that sought to prop up support for the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meta, which owns platforms like Facebook and Instagram, announced the findings in its “Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report,” also detailing its efforts to combat coordinated schemes in places like Greece, India and South Africa.

The company in particular highlighted its mitigation of a troll farm operated from St. Petersburg, dubbed “Cyber Front Z,” that it said was linked to individuals associated with past activity by Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA), a troll farm that led the effort to spread disinformation around the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Meta said it began taking action against Cyber Front Z in March, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, and it took down the network in early April.

The tech giant said the troll farm hired people in shifts seven days a week to comment with pro-Russia content on posts supporting Ukraine published by celebrities like Angelina Jolie and politicians like the Finnish prime minister.

“This appeared to be a poorly executed attempt, publicly coordinated via a Telegram channel, to create a perception of grassroots online support for Russia’s invasion by using fake accounts to post pro-Russia comments on content by influencers and media,” the company said in its report.

Meta said the troll farm attempted to come back on multiple occasions, but the company continued to detect and disable its work, which it said included the use of 45 Facebook accounts, 1,037 Instagram accounts and about $1,400 in advertising spending on both platforms paid for in rubles.

“This deceptive operation was clumsy and largely ineffective — definitely not ‘A team’ work,” the company wrote. “On Instagram, for example, more than half of these fake accounts were detected and disabled by our automated systems soon after creation. Their efforts didn’t see much authentic engagement, with some comments called out as coming from trolls.” 

Separately, Meta said it took action against a group of hackers, known as Bitter APT, that operated in South Asia and distributed malware to targets in New Zealand, India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

The tech giant said it also took action against activity connected with state-linked actors in Pakistan that infected devices with malware in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Meta has long faced scrutiny for disinformation campaigns that operate on its platforms, but the company in its report touted its efforts to mitigate threats and behaviors that violate its policies.

Meta says it has publicly reported its threat analysis since 2017 and has since expanded its reporting to include cyber espionage, mass reporting, inauthentic amplification, brigading and other malicious behaviors.

Source: TEST FEED1