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The Hill's Morning Report – Senate GOP in a bind over same-sex marriage

Senate Republicans found themselves in yet another game of “Will they or won’t they?” on Wednesday as Democrats indicated they will move ahead with an effort to codify same-sex marriage.

On Tuesday, 47 House Republicans voted alongside every Democrat to advance a bill cementing marriage rights for same-sex and interracial couples. The situation shifted a day later to the upper chamber, where Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) opened the door to a floor vote and tasked Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the first openly gay senator, with pulling together the 10 Senate Republicans to put it across the finish line.

Now, the hard work starts for Baldwin and Democrats. 

When asked on Wednesday where they stand on the bill, answers by Senate Republicans ran the gamut. Although some indicated one way or another, most did not and shied away from saying what they would do if the legislation hits the floor. 

To help, the Morning Report is here with a handy guide to where Senate Republicans stand. At the moment, most fit into one of five pods:

1) The “aye” or “likely aye” foursome representing the starting point for Democrats to find the needed 10 votes: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Rob Portman (Ohio), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.).

2) The “I support same-sex marriage (and even have gay friends!), but don’t want to reveal my stance yet” crowd. Sens. Roy Blunt (Mo.), Joni Ernst (Iowa) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) headline that group. 

3) The “This bill is unnecessary at this time, but I really don’t want to reveal where I stand” pot. Sens. John Thune (S.D.), Mitt Romney (Utah) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) are included in that one.

4) The “Eh, check back tomorrow — I haven’t read the bill yet” grouping. Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.) and Pat Toomey (Pa.), two retiring members, headline that cadre.

5) And finally, the “This is a waste. I’m a hard ‘no’” crowd. Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) lead that group. 

▪ HuffPost: Republicans squeezed over same-sex marriage protections.

▪ The Hill: The House will vote today on a measure that would codify access to contraception.

In summation, it is possible the only way Democrats will be able to find out if there are truly 10 Senate GOP members on board is by gambling with some valuable floor time. Collins, the lead GOP co-sponsor of the bill, argued that a sprint to a vote is not needed (Politico).

Notably, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) held his fire when pressed on the subject, saying that he is “going to wait to address that issue when it comes up in the Senate” (Punchbowl News).

The GOP’s reticence is also political calculus with midterm contests four months away. Republicans readily acknowledge that it would have been unthinkable for 47 GOP members to vote for a gay marriage protection measure a decade ago. 

“Republicans want to talk about inflation, gas prices, crime and immigration. Injecting a social issue like gay marriage just doesn’t help,” said Alex Conant, a GOP strategist who helped spearhead Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) 2016 presidential bid. “It’s potentially a divisive issue for some Republicans within their own base and just wildly off message from what we want to be talking about.”

▪ The New York Times: Same-sex marriage bill, considered dead on arrival, gains new life.

▪ CNN: Senators expect GOP support to grow for same-sex marriage bill in bid to overcome filibuster.

▪ Daily Beast: Senate Republicans hem, haw and even back gay marriage bill.

In the House, the Jan. 6 committee’s work will return to primetime tonight with what members describe as a “minute-by-minute” account of former President Trump’s actions (or lack thereof) while the Capitol was under attack.

As The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch and Mike Lillis write, investigators will press their case that the ex-president’s refusal to intervene more quickly is further evidence that he was on the side of the protestors.

“The story we’re going to tell tomorrow is that in that time, President Trump refused to act to defend the Capitol as a violent mob stormed the Capitol with the aim of stopping the counting of electoral votes and blocking the transfer of power,” a select committee aide said on a preview call with reporters.

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) is expected to lead the questioning for the panel (The Washington Post).

Related Articles

▪ Niall Stanage: The Memo: Jan. 6 committee hopes to go out, for now, with a bang.

▪ The Associated Press: Jan. 6 panel probes Trump’s 187 minutes as Capitol attacked. 

▪ The Hill: Secret Service turns over a single message to Jan. 6 panel. Committee member: “I smell a rat.”

▪ CBS News: Jan. 6 committee says Secret Service may have violated Federal Records Act. 

▪ The New York Times: Rudy Giuliani ordered to testify in Georgia criminal investigation. 

▪ Axios and The New York Times: Senators on Wednesday unveiled bipartisan legislation to rewrite the Electoral Count Act. 

▪ The Hill: The House on Wednesday approved by a vote of 220-207 more than $400 billion for the fiscal year that begins in October. The package encompasses six spending bills.

LEADING THE DAY

➤ ADMINISTRATION

President Biden, frustrated that the Senate will not back his legislative agenda to battle climate change, on Wednesday stopped short of issuing an executive declaration to assert federal authority over climate as a national emergency, a proposal backed by environmental activists and some members of his party but assailed as overreach by conservatives. The idea remains under review. 

In a speech at a former coal plant in Somerset, Mass., Biden pledged to act if lawmakers will not — a policy fallback also employed by many of his predecessors when new law proved outside their political grasp.

“As president, I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger. And that is what climate change is about,” Biden said. “This is an emergency.”

The president flew to New England and back on fuel-guzzling Air Force One to announce a proposal to generate offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico and to try to mitigate the impact of extreme heat on vulnerable communities. In the “coming days,” he added, the administration plans to announce other executive policies focused on climate (The Hill).

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ POLITICS

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov John Fetterman (D), who suffered a stroke in May and checked himself into a hospital on his way to a campaign event, won the Democratic Senate primary four days later and has been working to recover his health and stamina since then. Surgeons put a defibrillator in his heart and he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy at age 52.

During a remote video interview on Wednesday with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette during which the candidate used closed captioning, Fetterman said he works with a speech therapist on occasional slurred words and has some hearing deficit but has no cognitive or memory impairment and “no physical limits.” In a May statement, he wrote that he “almost died.”

Fetterman said he hopes to get back on the campaign trail “very soon.” The Post-Gazette reported that some Democratic insiders have privately described concerns that Fetterman’s absence could impact the party’s chances of flipping the open seat held by Toomey. The GOP’s Senate candidate this fall is physician Mehmet Oz.

“I feel like we are ready to run, and that’s the only issues I have,” Fetterman said during his first media interview since his stroke, limited by his staff to 20 minutes. “That’s the absolute truth, 100 percent.”   

NBC News: Oz counters carpetbagger attacks from sidelined but not offline Fetterman.

Term-limited Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) will not support or vote for Trump-backed state Del. Dan Cox, Tuesday’s GOP primary winner in the governor’s race, according to Hogan’s spokesman (Baltimore Banner). … Cox defeated former state Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz, a moderate backed by Hogan. Cox could face Democrat Wes Moore, a political newcomer and bestselling author backed by Oprah Winfrey, in the general election (mail-in ballots are still being counted). Hogan, who has served two terms, remains popular among voters in a blue state. A recent poll from Goucher College showed that 84 percent of Democrats would not consider supporting Cox during the general election (Politico).

The Hill: Trump’s anger with former Vice President Mike Pence has not deterred congressional Republicans from embracing Pence, a former Indiana congressman and former governor. Members of the House Republican Study Committee welcomed him on Wednesday during a private meeting at the Capitol. … Members thanked him for his actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and some encouraged him to run for president. “People said they hope he’s going to be a big voice in 2024. … He was being encouraged: ‘We need more of you in 2024,’” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). “And I would agree” (CNN).

The Hill: During a South Carolina speech on Wednesday, Pence outlined a vision for “post-Roe America.” 

The Hill: Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign in Georgia to try to oust Democrat Raphael Warnock has fellow Republicans worried.

📝 Introducing NotedDC, The Hill’s curated commentary on the beat of the Beltway. Click here to subscribe to our latest newsletter. 

OPINION

■ Attorney General Merrick Garland doesn’t have forever, by Richard Ben-Veniste, opinion contributor, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3PJuXpC

■ The Fed shouldn’t raise interest rates too quickly, by Alan S. Blinder, opinion contributor, The Wall Street Journal. https://on.wsj.com/3PJHuZW

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will meet at 9 a.m.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. to resume consideration of the CHIPS-Plus Act.

The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9:30 a.m. Biden will travel to Wilkes Barre, Pa., to speak at 3:15 p.m. about the newly enacted gun safety law. He will propose to spend roughly $37 billion for fighting and preventing crime, including $13 billion to help communities hire and train 100,000 police officers over five years (The Associated Press). The president will fly to Philadelphia to headline a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at 6:40 p.m. Biden will remain overnight at his home in New Castle, Del.

Vice President Harris will travel to Charlotte this morning and tour a community computer lab at Carole Hoefener Center at 11:50 a.m. with remarks at 1:30 p.m. highlighting the government’s support for affordable and accessible high-speed internet. An hour later, she will hold a roundtable discussion about reproductive rights with a group of North Carolina state legislators. The vice president will return to Washington this afternoon. 

Economic indicator: The Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. will report on claims for unemployment benefits filed in the week ending July 16.

First lady Jill Biden will travel to Detroit to visit a public school summer learning program held at Schulze Academy for Technology and Arts at 10 a.m. She will be accompanied by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. This afternoon, they will head to Athens, Ga., to visit a Horizons National summer learning program at the University of Georgia for an event at 1:45 p.m. 

🖥  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  

➤ INTERNATIONAL

In Italy today, a teetering 17-month government of national unity imploded as Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigned after key coalition allies boycotted a confidence vote, signaling the likelihood of an early election and a renewed period of uncertainty for Italy and Europe at a critical time. Draghi tendered his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella during a morning meeting at the Quirinale Palace in Rome (The Associated Press).

In the United Kingdom, either former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss, who has led Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as foreign secretary, will be chosen in a ballot of 180,000 Conservative members to be the party’s new leader. The winner will be announced Sept. 5 and will automatically become Britain’s new prime minister. At 42, Sunak would be the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years and the country’s first South Asian leader. Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his allies are opposed to Sunak, seeing him as a turncoat who led the stampede for Johnson’s resignation (The Associated Press). 

Ukraine wants additional weaponry from the West, including air defense systems. Officials in Kyiv say the numbers are still too small to turn the tide of the war (The Associated Press). Russian President Vladimir Putin is making an effort to absorb Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine by September. The Kremlin is pushing to hold referendums in those regions (Bloomberg News).

War crimes: Russia may face the first war crimes case in the Hague by the winter (Bloomberg News). … The Sydney Morning Herald published a four-part investigation by journalists Anthony Galloway and Kate Geraghty with video and photographs from inside Ukraine describing how prosecutors will build a war crimes case. The series begins with “The Missing,” followed by “Torture Cells” and “The Resistance,” and concludes with “The Destruction.”

Energy: The European Union on Wednesday told members to cut natural gas use by 15 percent amid a new supply warning from Russia (Reuters). The call came a day after a key gas pipeline from Russia to Europe restarted after a 10 day shutdown due to maintenance (The Associated Press).

The Hill: Biden said Wednesday that he expects to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping “within the next 10 days.”

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Biden appeared to cast doubt on a trip reportedly planned by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to visit Taiwan next month. “I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now, but I don’t know what the status of it is,” Biden said. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it noted Biden’s remarks, and that Taiwan and the United States have good mutual trust and smooth communication channels. However, the ministry added that it has not received “exact information” about a visit by Pelosi to Taiwan, and has no further comment (Reuters).

➤ PANDEMIC, POX & HEALTH

To handle future pandemic responses, the administration created a new agency within the Health and Human Services Department (The Washington Post and The New York Times). The existing Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, known as ASPR, has become its own operating division, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, according to a Wednesday change announced at HHS. The decision appeared to catch some top federal health officials by surprise, including at the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, senior officials said. Dawn O’Connell, the assistant Health and Human Services secretary for preparedness and response, would lead the new division.

The new federal agency — on par with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration — will be responsible for crucial health logistics, including oversight of the Strategic National Stockpile, the nation’s emergency medical reserve, and contracting for and distributing emergency vaccines.

HIV: Fears about undiagnosed or untreated HIV cases in Black and Latino communities are growing in the health care community after the coronavirus pandemic led to plummeting numbers of tests for HIV and prescriptions for HIV drugs (The Hill). The medical community worries that thousands of people simply put off getting tested or getting care during the pandemic. 

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,025,549. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 353, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

➤ NEITHER RAIN, NOR SNOW, NOR PLUG-IN PROBLEMS …  

The U.S. Postal Service will order more than twice the number of electric vehicles initially projected for its new fleet, the agency announced on Wednesday. The move means the Postal Service’s fleet will be at least 40 percent composed of electric vehicles and is targeting a purchase of roughly 25,000 electric vehicles (The Hill).

THE CLOSER

Take Our Morning Report Quiz

And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Inspired by alliances in the headlines, we’re eager for some smart guesses about new friends, old friends, strained friendships and unlikely boosters.

Email your responses to asimendinger@thehill.com and/or aweaver@thehill.com, and please add “Quiz” to subject lines. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a show this week of strengthening ties with a leader who has called the United States his nation’s “No. 1 enemy.” With whom did Putin meet?

1. Chinese President Xi Jinping
2. Syrian President Bashar Assad
3. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
4. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

Elon Musk initially wooed Twitter’s executives and is now in court after walking away from an agreement to buy the company for how much?

1. $989 million
2. $13 billion
3. $24 billion
4. $44 billion

In the House, which critic of the 45th president on Tuesday said, “Run, Donald, run” when asked during an interview about the 2024 presidential contest?

1. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
2. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Democratic caucus chairman
3. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
4. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chairwoman, House Jan. 6 committee

Which former romantic partner of Jennifer Lopez said during a podcast interview that she is “the most talented human being I’ve ever been around” days before she tied the knot with Ben Affleck in Las Vegas last weekend?

1. Marc Anthony
2. Alex Rodriguez
3. Cris Judd
4. Sean “Diddy” Combs

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!

Take Our Morning Report Quiz

And finally … It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Inspired by alliances in the headlines, we’re eager for some smart guesses about new friends, old friends, strained friendships and unlikely boosters.

Email your responses to asimendinger@thehill.com and/or aweaver@thehill.com, and please add “Quiz” to subject lines. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a show this week of strengthening ties with a leader who has called the United States his nation’s “No. 1 enemy.” With whom did Putin meet?

1. Chinese President Xi Jinping
2. Syrian President Bashar Assad
3. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
4. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

Elon Musk initially wooed Twitter’s executives and is now in court after walking away from an agreement to buy the company for how much?

1. $989 million
2. $13 billion
3. $24 billion
4. $44 billion

In the House, which critic of the 45th president on Tuesday said, “Run, Donald, run” when asked during an interview about the 2024 presidential contest?

1. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
2. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Democratic caucus chairman
3. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
4. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chairwoman, House Jan. 6 committee

Which former romantic partner of Jennifer Lopez said during a podcast interview that she is “the most talented human being I’ve ever been around” days before she tied the knot with Ben Affleck in Las Vegas last weekend?

1. Marc Anthony
2. Alex Rodriguez
3. Cris Judd
4. Sean “Diddy” Combs

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!

HIV care fell in Black communities during COVID. Here's how Congress can get it back on track.

Fears about undiagnosed or untreated HIV cases in Black and Latino communities are rising after the pandemic led to plummeting numbers of tests for HIV and prescriptions for HIV drugs. 

The medical community is worried that thousands of people simply put off getting tested or getting care during the pandemic, and that many cases of HIV have gone undetected as a result. 

Because Hispanic and African-American men have accounted for a disproportionate number of infections, undetected cases could particularly be an issue in those communities. 

“We need a program that prioritizes racial and ethnic communities,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “We need community outreach and provider outreach everywhere, but specifically we need the funding to go to Black and Brown communities.”

In June, the House proposed a $225 million increase in funding for HIV testing and prevention as part of Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative, a program created under the Trump administration that aims to reduce new HIV infections by 90 percent by 2030. 

That funding was in addition to a proposed $75 million increase to the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and $200 million more for the National Institute of Health’s AIDS research. 

But some advocates argue the proposals don’t go far enough — nor do they focus on those most at risk. 

In June, 100 organizations including the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute signed a letter to Congress requesting the creation of a national PrEP program. 

PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, lowers the risk of contracting HIV by 99 percent. It received FDA approval in 2012 and can be found in a pill and injectable form. 

President Biden’s 2023 budget included a ten-year proposal for $9.8 billion in mandatory spending for a national PrEP program, which could be vital to closing racial health care disparities in HIV treatment.

The CDC estimates that out of the 1.2 million Americans who would benefit from the medication, only 25 percent are taking it. 

And the racial disparities within that 25 percent are staggering. 

PrEP use is highest among white people (66 percent of users), but lowest with Black Americans (only 9 percent of users). Hispanic users only account for 16 percent of PrEP users. 

The letter said it was “no coincidence” that Black and Latino communities are the same populations that are disproportionately uninsured.

These numbers also indicate a lack of culturally relevant messaging in high-risk communities, argued Victoria Kirby York, deputy executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. 

“A big part of the marketing strategy is focusing in on gay enclaves, where it’s mostly white gay men,” said York. “To get more Black people talking about it and knowing about it, you have to market where Black people live. You have to advertise in Black media publications.” 

That includes creating more televised ads that depict Black PrEP users, too. 

In the letter to Congress, advocates said investing $400 million into a national PrEP program would save the federal government money in the long run by preventing the spread of HIV and therefore lowering health care costs.

The program would provide grants for purchasing medications, labs, support services like counseling and adherence, and outreach and education services. It would run out of agencies including obstetrics and gynecology offices, domestic violence organizations and local health departments. 

But Grazelle Howard, chair of the Black AIDS Institute, pointed out many within the Black community don’t perceive those offices as trusted sources.

“The woman … is the key influencer in our culture,” she said. “We need that mother, that feminine person, out there understanding protection and care.”

And messaging for women is now more important than ever. 

While Black men are 8.1 times more likely to contract the disease than their white counterparts, recent studies have shown Black women are now one of the largest growing populations to be diagnosed with the disease. 

The rate of infections among Black girls and women between 13 and 24 years old is six times higher than that of Hispanic women and 20 times higher than white women.

Howard attributes those numbers to inaccurately targeted messages from the 1980s and 1990s. 

“We jumped to young [men who have sex with men] and transgender Black women,” said Howard. “By the time Black people realized that you didn’t have to be gay, it was too late.”

But some of that stigma persists within the Black community. 

“You have stigma around sexual orientation but also sex in general,” said York. “We have a community where sex is talked about a lot in songs and music but when it comes to actual conversations in the community, it’s a little bit more taboo of a topic in certain spaces.”

Howard said Congress could help dismantle that stigma by normalizing testing for HIV in the same way it did COVID. 

“We figured out an innovative way to get home testing and accurate PCR testing all over the community. There’s even culturally appropriate screening done,” said Howard.

That same innovation needs to be applied to HIV screening, Howard said, starting with at-home HIV tests being sent into the most high-risk ZIP codes the same way COVID tests and vaccines were.

But another part of de-stigmatization in Black communities is education, York said, and that education is not up to par.

There is no federal curriculum for sex education, and only 11 states require HIV education to be covered in schools. That, coupled with cultural norms, means there is no talk about the importance of protection and how to properly use it or even what kind of medication and therapies are available.

“I grew up knowing about sex and HIV, they were a part of education programs in our schools,” York said. “Now, there are a number of states that it’s outlawed. We have to make sure we’re finding other creative ways to make sure that we’re all in conversation about how we are addressing our sexual and reproductive health.”

One way to do this is with telehealth services, which expanded rapidly during the COVID pandemic. 

But there are some restrictions that come with telehealth, such as cross-state licensing.

York said the government could focus on easing some of those restrictions to allow patients to find culturally competent providers. 

“If you live in an area where there aren’t any doctors who are culturally competent when it comes to the LGBTQ community or who might have bias against our community, it’d be ideal to call a doctor in a neighboring state and to have a telehealth appointment,” she said. “They can send the prescription over to your neighborhood pharmacist, you can pick up the drug right across the street, and you got a chance to meet with someone who you didn’t feel was going to discriminate or stigmatize you for asking about your sexual health.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Republicans fret as Walker stumbles in Georgia: 'He needs help'

Anxiety is setting in among Republicans over Herschel Walker’s bid to oust Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) in Georgia after a series of unforced errors and negative headlines that have rocked the former football star’s general election campaign. 

Walker, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump early on and went largely unchallenged in the GOP primary, has been beset for months by damaging revelations about his business record and personal life, including an admission that he fathered three children he had not previously disclosed publicly. 

Walker’s troubles have been underscored by recent polls that show him trailing Warnock. One survey from Quinnipiac University released last month found the incumbent Democrat leading by a staggering 10-point margin, while a more recent poll conducted for the AARP put Warnock ahead by 3 points. 

“He needs help. He needs to be much better prepared because when Labor Day rolls around, he’s going to have to be able to articulate and do it consistently and do it coherently,” said Chuck Clay, a former Georgia senator and state GOP chair. “He’s got himself two or three months. He’s a smart guy. But he needs focus. He needs to get that part of the campaign down. A Heisman trophy isn’t going to bring him a victory.” 

In a tacit acknowledgement of the challenges hampering his candidacy, Walker called in a team of veteran Republican operatives earlier this month in an effort to revamp his campaign. Among the new additions to Walker’s team were Chip Lake, a longtime Georgia strategist, and Gail Gitcho, a veteran GOP operative who served as communications director for Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) 2012 presidential campaign. 

Republicans say there’s still time for Walker to turn things around. Election Day is still more than three months away and, despite Walker’s early missteps, his campaign has appeared more disciplined and focused in recent days. 

In a stump speech in Ocilla, Ga., on Tuesday, Walker kept things brief but clear, homing in on a message that Warnock “wants to vote with Joe Biden more than he wants to vote for Georgia.” 

“I think it’s way too premature to jump to conclusions about Herschel Walker’s candidacy,” Alex Conant, a veteran Republican strategist, said. “You don’t find out what candidates are made of in July or August. You find out in September and October.” 

“He’s going to have every opportunity to prove to voters that he deserves to be a senator.”  

Still, the list of stumbles for Walker is long. He was widely panned for falsely claiming that he worked in law enforcement, as well as for embellishing his business successes. He also drew ridicule earlier this month for making incoherent remarks about climate change, during which he claimed that Georgia’s “good air” moves over to China, while China’s “bad air” “moves over to our good air space.” 

And in a race that could very well determine partisan control of the Senate next year, Republicans are acutely aware of the potential costs of any missteps on the campaign trail. The GOP needs to net just one seat this year to recapture its majority in the Senate, and Georgia remains among its top targets. 

“I think given how close the state is, candidate quality is going to matter. And we’re going to find out over the next few months if Herschel Walker is a good candidate,” Conant said. “In a race that’s going to be a single-digit race no matter what, losing independents overwhelmingly because of the candidate is devastating.” 

Some Republicans also warn against underestimating Warnock, an Atlanta pastor who ousted former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) early last year in a runoff election that helped hand Democrats their current Senate majority.  

Warnock has proven to be an avid fundraiser, pulling in roughly $8 million more in the second quarter of the year than Walker. Last month’s Quinnipiac University poll also showed his favorability rating above water, with majorities of voters giving him high marks for characteristics like honesty and leadership skills. 

Warnock’s campaign, meanwhile, has sought to hammer Walker as dishonest, with one recent ad highlighting the former football player’s past claim that he graduated near the top of his class at the University of Georgia despite leaving for a professional football career before finishing school. 

“Say what you want about Raphael Warnock, but the guy has a kind of gravitas that people pick up on,” one Georgia Republican strategist said. “I still think he’s vulnerable. I think you need to do everything you can to make him answer for Biden. But you can’t pretend that he’s a bad candidate.” 

Perhaps the biggest liability for Warnock this year is his political party. Democrats are facing an uphill battle to keep their razor-thin House and Senate majorities amid skyrocketing inflation and President Biden’s dwindling approval ratings.  

Still, there appears to be at least some Georgians willing to cross party lines to vote for Warnock.  

While most polls show Warnock leading Walker in the Senate race, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has maintained an advantage over his Democratic challenger, Stacey Abrams, in the race for the governor’s mansion. Clay chalked those results up to the incumbency advantage that both Kemp and Walker have, but also said that Walker can’t bank on a so-called “red wave” to get him across the finish line in November. 

“There is an advantage to being an incumbent in the vast majority of elections, and Warnock is professional, he’s smooth, and comes across as sincere,” Clay said. “For Herschel Walker, the question is how does he change that?” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Jan. 6 hearing to focus on Trump’s frantic 187 minutes

The House panel probing last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol is promising a “minute-by-minute” account of Donald Trump’s actions throughout the rampage, turning its focus Thursday on those crucial hours at the White House to boost the case that the former president had supported — if not instigated — the violence of Jan. 6. 

In a prime-time hearing designed to maximize viewership, the select committee will examine the frantic 187 minutes between the start of the melee and Trump’s unhurried effort to defuse it with the release of a short video urging the rioters to “go home.” 

Investigators will press their case that Trump’s refusal to intervene more quickly is further evidence that the former president was squarely on the side of the protestors, even as their demonstration against Trump’s defeat escalated into a violent mob attack on Congress — one that threatened the lives of lawmakers and his own vice president.   

“The story we’re going to tell tomorrow is that in that time, President Trump refused to act to defend the Capitol as a violent mob stormed the Capitol with the aim of stopping the counting of electoral votes and blocking the transfer of power,” a select committee aide said on a preview call with reporters. 

“One of the main points that we’re going to make here is that President Trump had the power to call off the mob – he was the sole person who could call off the mob – and he chose not to.” 

The hearing — the eighth in a series — is expected to wind down the narrative laid out by the committee over the course of the last two months, when it examined the events leading up to Jan. 6 and the major players involved in Trump’s effort to remain in power. 

With their focus on Jan. 6 itself, investigators are aiming to dissect the chaos at the White House as anxious staff sought Trump’s intervention to end the violence, only to be dismissed by an angry president. The 187 minutes under scrutiny will feature his actions at the White House in the time when he returned from his speech at the Ellipse, at 1:10 p.m., to when he sent out a video asking his supporters to stand down, at 4:17 p.m. 

The committee is expected to hear from two members of Trump’s staff who resigned to protest how he handled Jan. 6: Matthew Pottinger, former deputy director for the National Security Council, and Sarah Matthews, then deputy press secretary. 

The panel is also expected to show ample footage of its July 8 deposition with former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, who was one of the few figures to confront Trump in the White House during the riot.  

The committee has previously described Pottinger as “in the vicinity of the Oval Office at various points throughout” Jan. 6. And snippets of testimony from both Pottinger and Matthews show they were critical of Trump’s actions that day, including his decision to fire off a tweet criticizing his vice president, Mike Pence, who quickly became a target of the mob. 

“One of my staff brought me a printout of a tweet by the President and the tweet said something to the effect that Mike Pence, the vice president, didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done. I read that tweet and made a decision at that moment to resign,” Pottinger told the committee behind closed doors. 

“That’s where I knew that I was leaving that day, once I read that tweet.” 

Matthews also described the Pence tweet as a pivotal moment in the day’s long unfolding.

“It was clear that it was escalating and escalating quickly. So then when that tweet, the Mike Pence tweet was sent out, I remember us saying that that was the last thing that needed to be tweeted at that moment. The situation was already bad. And so it felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that,” she said in an earlier deposition aired by the committee.

The other major players in the White House that day — figures likely to be featured on Thursday — include Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff; Cassidy Hutchinson, a top Meadows aide; and Ivanka Trump, Trump’s eldest daughter.  

“We’re going to demonstrate who was talking to him and what they were urging him to do in that time period. We’re going to talk about when he was made aware of what was going on in the Capitol. We’re going to hear testimony from individuals who spoke to the president. We’re going to hear testimony from individuals who were in the West Wing, what the president was doing, what his aides were doing, what his family and his allies were doing,” the aide said.

The makeup of the committee will look slightly different for Thursday’s prime-time hearing, after Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) tested positive this week for COVID-19. Thompson is isolating, but will lead the panel virtually. 

Reps. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) will play an elevated role in walking through the evidence of the hearing.

“It’s pretty simple: He was doing nothing to actually stop the riot,” Luria said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.  

Although Thursday’s hearing will cap the topics the committee had outlined at the outset, lawmakers have said it’s unlikely to be its last. The panel also plans additional hearings to introduce an interim report in the fall, and may also hold additional hearings prior to that release.

While Thursday’s hearing is expected to focus on the events of Jan. 6, the committee is also interested in Trump’s actions in the two weeks after that day, leading up to the inauguration of President Biden. It’s unclear if the panel will explore the aftermath this week, but members are making clear that it’s on their radar. 

“We have a broad investigation and that is something of concern,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).

Source: TEST FEED1

Harris becomes face for White House in abortion rights fight

Vice President Harris has quickly become the face of the White House fight for abortion rights.

Since it became clear the Supreme Court would strike down Roe v. Wade, Harris has hosted a handful of meetings on abortion at the White House and sprinkled comments about abortion throughout public speeches.  

While a trip to the Middle East and plans for domestic stops focused on climate change and gun violence have kept Biden busy in recent days, Harris has traveled to multiple states to meet with state legislators and other stakeholders on abortion rights in addition to participating in other official stops. A visit to Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday will be her fourth trip that focuses in part on abortion in the span of a week.

In her private meetings and in public, Harris has talked about abortion as an issue of freedom and privacy. Participants in her recent meetings in Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey also said the vice president stressed the need to build coalitions between diverse groups, like abortion advocacy organizations, faith groups and those pushing back against state voting restrictions.   

“I think she’s really serving as the link to connect the fight in each state to become bigger with additional stakeholders,” said Pennsylvania state Sen. Katie Muth (D), who participated in a meeting with Harris over the weekend. 

Other White House officials from the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Gender Policy Council have been talking to state officials behind the scenes, but the most public-facing work has come from Harris. 

Abortion rights isn’t a formal part of the vice president’s portfolio — Biden has charged Harris with handling tough issues like the root causes of migration and voting rights — but the developments with respect to Roe have offered Harris a fresh opportunity to talk about an issue that has been a priority for her since before she entered the White House.

Harris has won plaudits for her handling of the abortion issue, even while the White House has withstood some criticism for not acting aggressively enough on the issue.

“She, I think, is taking this as an issue that she can be very strong on and really very supportive,” said Pennsylvania state Rep. Mary Jo Daley (D), who sat in on Saturday’s meeting in Philadelphia. “Reaching out to the states and state legislatures is tremendously helpful to us.” 

Harris’ focus on the issue is a somewhat natural place for the vice president, who was an advocate for abortion rights as a senator and whose prior prosecutorial experience as attorney general of California helps her understand the legal implications of the Supreme Court’s decision and any executive branch responses to it.  

Democrats see her as an effective messenger, too, because of her identity as a Black woman and the way in which she can speak to the disproportionate impact abortion restrictions will have on communities of color.  

“She brought up the fact that different marginalized communities are going to feel this in different ways,” said Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D), who took part in a meeting with Harris and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra last Thursday. 

The Biden administration has limited tools to push back against GOP-led state efforts to curtail abortion access and has faced blowback from the advocacy community for not being aggressive enough in its executive actions thus far.  

Progressives have also argued that the White House was flat-footed and messaging was too slow or ineffective. Biden earlier this month announced executive actions to protect access to abortion medication, which were, in part, overshadowed by the fact that the announcement came two weeks after the ruling from the high court. 

In a meeting last week in Florida, Harris heard renewed calls for the Biden administration to declare a national health emergency over the conservative Supreme Court justices’ decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, participants said.  

“Abortion is healthcare and to see now at least 12 states that have bans in place and many that are imminent, it is an emergency,” Eskamani said. 

Robyn Schickler, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, said when Harris was asked to reconsider a national health emergency, she “seemed to be more focused on a long-term strategy and legislation.” 

“She indicated that if two more pro-choice elected officials join the Senate, they would make moves to temporarily put a hold on the filibuster in order to codify Roe,” Schickler said. “Overall, she was very receptive to our perspectives and suggestions, but I sensed a less urgent plan from the administration.” 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made clear this week that the emergency declaration was still an option the administration is considering.  

Advocates had demanded an immediate strategy for defending abortion rights before the Supreme Court officially struck down Roe v. Wade, like an emergency declaration. They have since argued that the calls from the White House to elect more pro-choice candidates in the upcoming midterm elections fail to grasp the urgency of the moment.  

Harris on Monday at the NAACP National Convention in New Jersey gave a preview of her midterm message on abortion, lambasting efforts underway by “extremist so-called leaders” in some states to restrict a woman’s ability to have an abortion.  

“We must recognize there are those who are fighting to drag us backward,” Harris said in the address in Atlantic City. “Extremist so-called leaders who are attempting to undermine our democracy and assault our most fundamental freedoms.”   

Like in her meeting in Florida, she looked ahead to the November elections and urged her audience at the convention to vote for Democratic candidates “up and down the ballot” and to elect two more senators in order to change the legislative filibuster.   

New Jersey earlier this year passed a bill to codify abortion rights in the state. While Harris said on Monday that New Jersey is doing model work, Alejandra Sorto, campaign strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said codification doesn’t mean the work for advocates is done. 

“The work continues and it’s something that as advocates we know and we’re pushing for much more because this is not a moment to wait and see, this is a moment to do everything we can,” Sorto said about a meeting Harris convened on Monday.  

Also in the meeting, Sorto said they talked about countering misinformation about medical abortion through a national campaign. 

“I know it’s an ask from several providers and people who work at health centers and clinics—more information on this is needed. Advocates are doing heroes’ work and providers are doing heroes’ work to share this information, but a national campaign would be incredibly helpful on that,” she said. 

Harris’ other meetings have been in states where Republicans have moved to restrict abortion access since Roe v. Wade was overturned. 

In Pennsylvania on Saturday, Harris convened state legislators and Democratic Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon, Dwight Evans, and Madeleine Dean for a discussion on GOP-controlled state legislatures, including Pennsylvania, that have enacted bills to limit access to reproductive care.  

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed Republican efforts to restrict abortions in the state, but the state legislature recently approved a constitutional amendment in an effort to sidestep the governor’s veto. The amendment could ultimately be put to a vote on the ballot. 

That has Democrats in the state stressing the importance of the Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state this fall.  

“Participants in our meeting with VP Harris were clear that those amendments will negatively impact our constituents’ freedoms and will particularly harm the health, welfare, and financial stability of low-income families and communities of color,” Scanlon told The Hill. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) earlier this year signed into law a 15-week abortion ban in the state that has no exceptions for rape or incest, but the state is surrounded by other red states that have enacted stricter bans, leading to an influx of women seeking abortions. That has created questions and concerns for providers in the state.  

Eskamani, like others, said she is looking for more guidance from the Biden administration on access to abortion medication given that Florida bans telehealth abortion.  

“The situation on the ground is really, really dire,” she said. 

Source: TEST FEED1

The Memo: Jan. 6 committee hopes to go out, for now, with a bang

The Jan. 6 Committee is returning to primetime on Thursday for what is likely to be the final public hearing of an initial series. 

Thursday’s hearing promises to delve into the three-plus hours that elapsed between the end of then-President Trump’s fiery rally at the Ellipse and his first, belated efforts to disperse the rioters. 

One of the panel’s two GOP members, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the hearing would “open’s people’s eyes in a big way.” 

On Wednesday, a committee aide told reporters on a conference call: “One of the main points that we’re going to make here is that President Trump had the power to call off the mob — he was the sole person who could call off the mob — and he chose not to.” 

Claims like that, in addition to the primetime billing, have raised expectations for Thursday’s hearing.  

The panel, which has for the most part told its story in a compelling way, will be wanting to go out with some explosive revelations. 

Two former Trump White House officials are expected to testify: Matthew Pottinger, who served on Trump’s national security council, and Sarah Matthews, who was deputy press secretary. Both resigned on the day of the insurrection. 

Thursday’s hearing will also have a fresh dash of controversy in the shape of missing text messages from Secret Service agents.  

The Secret Service has said messages were lost as part of a scheduled device migration and has vehemently denied covering anything up. But that hasn’t satisfied committee members, including Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) who told reporters Wednesday that the fate of the missing messages “remains a big mystery to me.” 

Specifics aside, the nature of Thursday’s hearing — which brings at least an intermission curtain down on the series of public hearings that began on June 9 — sparks evaluations of what the committee has accomplished so far. 

On that question, there is a dichotomy between the significance of the information the panel has laid out, which has been considerable; and its likely electoral impact, which looks fairly negligible. 

Trump has suffered some damage around the edges.  

That shows up in a variety ways, including the number of Americans who tell opinion pollsters the former president should face criminal charges. That figure reached 58 percent in an ABC News/Ipsos survey last month.  

More amorphously, there is a sense that even some Republicans broadly sympathetic to Trump would like a different nominee in 2024. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), in particular, is showing strength in the polls. 

Democratic strategist Mark Longabaugh insisted that Trump was now in “a more weakened political position than he has been in since he left the White House.” He added, “The damage is starting to accrue. You’re teflon until you’re not.”

But those changes might ultimately amount to slight shifts, of uncertain permanence, in the political landscape.  

The bigger picture is that Trump remains the clear favorite to win the GOP nomination if he enters the race — and that he is broadly popular with Republicans as a whole. 

The hearings are taking place in a shockingly polarized political environment — a significant difference from the Watergate hearings of the 1970s to which they have frequently been compared. 

An Economist/YouGov poll released Wednesday made that plain.  

Asked how much responsibility Trump bore for the events of Jan. 6, 85 percent of Democratic voters said the answer was “a lot” or “some.” Only 17 percent of Republican voters agreed. Fifty-four percent of GOP voters said Trump bore no responsibility at all and 21 percent said he bore only “a little.” 

The same poll showed that almost three-in-four Republicans believe the fiction that underpinned the insurrection— that President Biden had not won the 2020 election legitimately. Eighty-three percent of GOP voters said they had a favorable impression of Trump — an opinion shared by just 42 percent of the general population. 

Rick Tyler, a Republican strategist but a Trump critic, told this column regretfully that he was “not convinced” the hearings have had any major political impact. 

“The people who believe that it was an insurrection have seen all the evidence that it was an insurrection. They watched the testimony, they saw the videos,” Tyler said. “People who don’t think it was an insurrection have not watched the hearings, and they think they are a farce. The two sides are the two sides.” 

Such claims are not just anecdotal.  

TV ratings show that on occasions when the three major cable networks have televised the hearings live, CNN and MSNBC have seen significant audience boosts, while Fox News has often lost viewers. 

The hearings have sought to at least blur the partisan lines by leaning heavily on Republican sources in the public testimony.  

They have made political stars of previously obscure figures.  

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, is the most obvious example. But the same could be said to a lesser degree of Rusty Bowers, the Republican Speaker of the Arizona House, and several White House lawyers, such as Eric Herschmann, who resisted the most outlandish claims by Trump’s loyalists. 

It has also shown high profile figures like former Attorney General Bill Barr, former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and even the president’s elder daughter Ivanka, pushing back on some of his claims, albeit with varying degrees of ferocity. 

Grant Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, said that, despite the deep partisan divisions, the hearing might have had some impact on “this preciously small sliver of genuinely ‘middle’ folks who are persuadable.” 

But Reeher also noted that this was unlikely to have a decisive effect on future elections, especially when the nation is grappling with major problems in the here and now, notably the highest inflation in four decades. 

It is, of course, possible that the committee could have some surprises left on Thursday evening. 

But for now, it seems likely that its major contribution will be to the record of history, rather than changing the electoral landscape. 

The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage. Additional reporting: Rebecca Beitsch and Michael Lillis.

Source: TEST FEED1

What would declaring a national climate emergency do?

Facing mounting pressure to act on climate change and little hope of passing major legislation, President Biden may soon declare a national climate emergency.

The White House has said that such a move won’t come this week, but is still on the table. 

Experts told The Hill that declaring a national emergency could open up additional avenues to fight climate change, but also comes with political risks. 

Mark Nevitt, a professor at Emory University’s law school, described the declaration as a “skeleton key” that “unlocks the door” to other powers. 

“It’s not a silver bullet. It could create a backlash,” he added.  “The question is, does it outweigh the political risk?” 

The declaration would empower Biden to use the Defense Production Act, which could provide loans that could bolster clean energy deployment, and the International Economic Emergency Protection Act, which Nevitt said could prohibit the imports of “harmful climate products,” such as chemical compounds that warm the planet and illegally harvested timber from the Amazon. 

Nevitt also said that Biden could deploy military construction powers to build renewable energy projects near military bases or other energy security projects.

Elizabeth Goitein, senior co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program, said a climate emergency could enable the Biden administration to take actions like halting crude oil exports and suspending offshore oil leases. However, she noted, the government would have to compensate companies that are leaseholders. 

She also said that statutes that give the president emergency power over transportation and some financial transactions from overseas could be interpreted creatively.

“I’ve heard people advocate that the president use this power to essentially lock any buying or selling of fossil fuels,” she said.

Whatever steps Biden potentially decides to take, declaring climate change an emergency could also be symbolically important, publicly conveying the magnitude of the problem. 

Nevitt said it could give the president some political leverage with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who recently backed away from congressional climate talks over concerns about the inflationary impact of additional government spending. 

However, Goitein said she was concerned about the precedent of using an emergency declaration in lieu of tackling the climate crisis through Congress. 

“My concern is that declaring a national emergency to address climate change would do little to address the actual problem, but would essentially validate the use of emergency powers to address long-standing policy problems,” she said. 

In 2019, then-President Trump used an emergency declaration to divert funding for his border wall after he was unable to get the funds through congress. 

“One of the main critiques that people including myself levied against that emergency declaration is that Trump did it for the express purpose of getting around Congress,” Goitein said. 

“In this case, President Biden, if he were to declare a climate emergency, would be using it to get around Congress, and specifically to get around Joe Manchin, that’s not what these powers are for.”

Still, Goitein said she would back the declaration if she thought it was substantial enough to meet the challenge at hand, “because I’m a mother and I’m more worried about my children having a…habitable planet.” 

But, she added, “Nobody thinks that the powers available…are sufficient to address the problem of climate change.”

Calls for an emergency declaration have been growing from lawmakers and activists alike, who have fumed at Manchin for halting the climate talks. On Wednesday, Biden called climate change an emergency, but stopped short of an official declaration. 

Earlier that day, nine senators wrote a letter to President Biden calling for both the declaration of a climate emergency, and additional actions at the regulatory level. 

“Declaring the climate crisis a national emergency under the [National Emergencies Act] NEA would unlock powers to rebuild a better economy with significant, concrete actions,” they wrote. 

“Under the NEA, you could redirect spending to build out renewable energy systems on military bases, implement large-scale clean transportation solutions and finance distributed energy projects to boost climate resiliency.” 

The idea has already met some backlash from conservatives and industry groups. Several oil industry organizations raised concerns about some of the policies that could be done in tandem with a national emergency, and how they would impact energy supplies. 

“We are troubled by reports that certain groups have urged your administration to declare a climate emergency for the purpose of advancing false climate solutions, such as banning crude exports or halting new domestic oil and gas development on federal lands and waters,” wrote the industry groups in a letter to Biden on Wednesday.

“This action stands in stark contrast to your administration’s clear recognition of the need for greater global supply of oil and natural gas.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden to request $37B in annual budget to support police and prevent crime

President Biden will request $37 billion in the annual budget to go towards supporting law enforcement and for crime prevention, the White House announced on Thursday. 

The request will be part of Fiscal 2023 budget process and Biden is set to announce it in remarks on Thursday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The trip will be focused on building on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was the bipartisan gun bill he signed into law last month. 

Senior administration officials said the timing of the announcement is a way for the president to stress that the work is not done on gun violence. 

“He wanted to seize the momentum. Seize the moment in order to drive further,” officials said. 

Biden’s $37 billion request, which the White House has deemed as the Safer America Plan, would invest nearly $13 billion over five years to hire and train 100,000 additional police officers, invest $3 billion to clear court backlogs and solve murders and establish a $15 billion grant program aimed at justice system reform. 

Officials said that Biden chose to travel to Wilkes-Barre, which is near his hometown of Scranton, Pa., because his remarks will be geared towards community safety.

“You shouldn’t have to be in your hometown and be living in fear of gun violence. So, the president wanted to go and be able to talk about how home should mean safety, and in order to get that done, we really need Congress to do more to reduce gun violence,” officials said. 

Biden is also expected to tout that $10 billion in funding from the coronavirus relief bill that has been committed to public safety and violence prevention, which the White House announced in May. 

At the time, Biden had called on mayors and local leaders to use funds from the American Rescue Plan, which he signed into law early last year, to bulk up police forces and safety programs ahead of the summer months. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Where the scorching July heatwave is hitting the US hardest

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued heat-related advisories for millions of Americans this week as a heat wave creates warmer than usual temperatures in large areas of the United States.

At least 28 states issued heat warnings on Wednesday, as states like Oklahoma and Texas recorded temperatures as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Beyond the two states, areas in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri all experienced temperatures more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit above historical averages for this time of year, according to maps posted by Tropical Tidbits based on NWS data.

The data shows higher than average temperatures will continue hitting areas like the Midwest into the weekend, when large temperature anomalies will move eastward and cause heat waves in the northeast and in states like Virginia, Maryland and Ohio.

NWS has issued a heat advisory for areas where more than 75 million Americans live as of Wednesday evening, and more than 14 million Americans are under the more significant excessive heat warnings.

The excessive heat warnings include parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

The heat advisories include areas like the southeast and much of east coast, including cities like Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.

The advisories include parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

The United States isn’t the only country facing extreme heat. Parts of Europe are also facing a major heatwave, with countries like the United Kingdom forecasted to potentially record record temperatures this week.

President Biden on Wednesday traveled to a former coal plant in Somerset, Mass., where he described climate change as an “emergency” but did not formally issue a national emergency on climate change after weighing the move.

“As president, I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger. And that is what climate change is about,” Biden said. 

Source: TEST FEED1

New study shows Trump, election claims were main motivator for Jan. 6 rioters

A new Harvard University study found that people charged for their participation on Jan. 6, 2021 most often cited former President Trump and his unfounded claims of voter fraud as their primary motivator, NBC News reported.

The study, which was conducted by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, analyzed 469 court documents detailing the participation of 417 Jan. 6 participants who have faced criminal charges.

“Far and away, we find that the two most commonly-cited reasons for breaching the U.S. Capitol were a desire to support Trump on January 6th in D.C. and concerns about election integrity,” the report reads.

NBC reported those two reasons comprised the primary motivator for roughly four in ten rioters studied. The study found that 20.6 percent of rioters cited their support for Trump and an equal proportion cited his unfounded belief that the election had been stolen.

The Hill has reached out to the Shorenstein Center for a full copy of the study.

The study’s release comes as the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot prepares to hold its eighth hearing on Thursday evening in prime time. The panel’s members have said it will go through the riot minute-by-minute, up until Trump eventually released a video telling the rioters to “go home.”

The study, according to NBC, concludes that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was “mostly correct” in her assessment that Trump summoned the mob on Jan 6.

Other rioters listed different reasons. The third most common motivator was a belief they were participating in “revolution, civil war or secession,” 7 percent said they attended to “peacefully protest” and 6.2 percent cited a “general interest in violence.”

As the House panel continues its work, a district attorney in Fulton County, Ga. is pursuing a criminal investigation into potential unlawful attempts to overturn the election.

Source: TEST FEED1