Tag: Senate

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Health

Senate Democrats demand Trump repair ‘failed’ rollout

Senate Democrats demand Trump fix 'failed' rollout

A CVS pharmacist will deliver the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to a resident at Emerald Court senior community in Anaheim, CA, Friday, January 8, 2021.

Paul Bersebach | MediaNews Group | Orange County Register via Getty Images

Senate Democrats on Monday asked the Trump administration to make changes to its strategy for introducing Covid-19 vaccines. They said they “failed” states by failing to provide detailed guidance on how to effectively distribute potentially life-saving doses to Americans across the country.

The US “cannot afford to have this vaccination campaign continue to be hampered by the lack of planning, communication and leadership we have seen so far,” Senate minority chairman Chuck Schumer and 44 other Democrats said in a letter to the minister for health and human services, Alex Azar dated Monday. “The metric that matters, and where we are clearly moving too slowly, is vaccines in weapons.”

“A vaccine that is listed on a table, or even a vaccine that is distributed and sitting on one self, is not enough to protect someone,” added the legislature.

HHS did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Trump administration officials have confirmed vaccine distribution has been slower than hoped, citing recent holidays as a possible factor. As of Monday morning, more than 25.4 million doses of vaccine had been distributed in the US, but just over 8.9 million vaccinations had been given, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number is a far cry from the federal government’s goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans by the end of 2020 and 50 million Americans by the end of this month.

State and local health officials have said they are strapped for cash. They blame inadequate funding and inconsistent communications from the federal government for slowing down the number of doses being administered.

The American Hospital Association urges Azar to give more federal support and coordination to the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. The slow rollout has raised questions about how quickly the public can be vaccinated.

Additionally, President-elect Joe Biden, due to be inaugurated in less than two weeks, criticized the introduction of the vaccine, currently saying, “It will be years, not months, for the American people to be vaccinated.”

US officials expect vaccinations to accelerate in the coming weeks. In an attempt to speed up the pace of vaccinations, the Commissioner of Azar and the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, last week urged states to start vaccinating lower priority groups against Covid-19. The CDC recommends giving priority to healthcare workers and nursing homes first, but states are free to distribute the vaccine at their discretion.

Hahn told reporters that states should give shots to groups that “make sense” such as the elderly, people with pre-existing conditions, police, fire departments and other key workers.

“We heard in the press that some people said, ‘OK, I’m waiting for all of my healthcare workers to be vaccinated. We have a vaccine intake of around 35%.’ I think it makes sense to expand this to other groups, Hahn said on Friday at an event organized by the Alliance for Health Policy. “I would strongly encourage states to be more expansive about who they can give the vaccine to.”

Democrats said the Trump administration should issue a “Comprehensive National Plan” that would include guidelines on vaccine delivery and assisting states with supplies and manpower to manage gunshots.

“In the absence of this long-overdue national plan, it is even more important that the Trump administration actively engage in state planning efforts in the coming days, identify sales and administrative challenges, and proactively address issues that arise in partnership with jurisdictions,” he wrote Legislator.

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Politics

Democrats’ historic Georgia Senate wins had been years within the making because of native grassroots

Democrats' historic Georgia Senate wins were years in the making thanks to local grassroots

Democratic Senate nominees Jon Ossoff (L), Raphael Warnock (C) and U.S. President-elect Joe Biden (R) take to the stage during a rally outside Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on Jan. 4, 2021.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia marked the first time since 1992 that a Democrat has won the state’s presidential race.

Just two months later, Georgian voters made history again in two run-off elections by sending Democrats to the Senate for the first time in two decades. Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, will be the first black Senator from Georgia. Documentary filmmaker Jon Ossoff will be the state’s first Jewish Senator and the youngest Senator in the new Congress.

The high turnout of black voters and other color voters led to Warnock and Ossoff’s historic victories in Georgia – the culmination of years of efforts to organize and mobilize local voters.

More than 4.4 million ballots have already been counted in the run-off elections, which has shaken the turnout records for such elections in Georgia. With all votes counted, turnout could reach up to 92% of that in the general election, according to NBC projections.

“It is less a story about the poor Republican turnout than the Democratic turnout, especially the black turnout, which is much higher than predicted,” said Bernard Fraga, political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta, who analyzes runoff data Has .

Black voters made up the majority of the victorious Warnock and Ossoff electoral base, Fraga said. Around 30% of registered voters in Georgia are black and 92% of black voters supported the Democratic Senate candidates.

Latino and Asian American voters also supported Ossoff and Warnock at rates of 63-64% and 60-61%, respectively. A historic spike in voter turnout in Latin America and Asia resulted in Biden breaking profit margins in the general election and a runoff in the U.S. Senate races in Georgia when no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in November.

The high democratic turnout is due in part to the rigorous voting efforts of the Warnock and Ossoff campaigns, with a particular focus on black, Latin American, and Asian-American communities. The Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign made over 25 million voter contact attempts through door-to-door advertisements, phone calls and text messages during the runoff election, according to spokeswoman Maggie Chambers, which reached over a million Georgia voters.

But more grassroots organizations came from dozens of nonprofits and advocacy groups working at full speed, especially organizations that focused on racial and ethnic communities. Their voter mobilization efforts drove historic and pivotal turnout during the runoff elections, but their work began years – and for some more than a decade – before that.

Basic organization

Local black organizers and color organizers have been working for years to register and involve the traditionally under-represented Georgians in the political process, even when they have struggled to secure investment from donors and campaigns.

Best known among this cohort is Stacey Abrams, the former state legislature and gubernatorial candidate who founded the New Georgia Project voter registration group and later founded the electoral organization Fair Fight.

“”[L]We’re celebrating the extraordinary organizers, volunteers, recruiters and tireless groups that haven’t stopped since November, “Abrams said on Twitter on January 5th.” We yelled all over our state. “

Many organizers credit her for bringing the vision of a battlefield in Georgia into the national political spotlight and providing high-level funds to step up voter mobilization efforts.

“She has attached herself to a level of philanthropy that charitable leaders like me couldn’t match. So much recognition for her,” said Helen Kim Ho, a longtime Abrams employee and former executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, a non-partisan group Advocacy group Ho founded in 2010.

Ho said it was Abrams’ gubernatorial campaign in 2018 that first focused and “opened the political pegs” of the electoral power of the black, Latin American and Asian American communities in Georgia.

Bianca Keaton is the leader of the Democratic Party in Gwinnett County, a former conservative stronghold that is now an increasingly diverse majority and minority area, where Warnock and Ossoff have won by more than 20 points. She said she was laughed at by members of her committee when she tried to raise large sums of money for the county party two years ago.

“People didn’t have faith in what we were doing,” said Keaton. “But we stuck further away until we got what we needed. And as we all walked in faith together, we moved a mountain.”

These grassroots groups take an innovative approach to building political power, with an emphasis on relational and cultural organization while investing in digital infrastructure and technology.

“We start early. We work to build relationships in the communities that will eventually emerge,” said Nse Ufot, executive director of the New Georgia Project. “The work of the community organization, the work of the thematic organization, the work of overcoming years of oppression is not something that will only happen after Labor Day.”

The new Georgia project, which focuses on registering people of color and young people to vote, started in 2014. From October 2016 to October 2020, the number of black enrolled voters in Georgia rose by approximately 130,000, which equates to more than 25% of newly enrolled voters, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of state voter registration data. The number of registered voters in Latin America and Asia rose by more than 50% each, making up a rapidly growing proportion of Georgian voters.

Former US Representative and Suffrage activist Stacey Abrams speaks with Former US President Barack Obama at a Get Out the Vote rally when he was speaking for Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Former Vice President Joe Biden, on November 2, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. fights.

Elijah Nouvelage | AFP | Getty Images

According to Ufot, the New Georgia Project knocked on more than 2 million doors between November and January, along with more than 6.7 million phone calls and more than 4 million text messages.

Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said his group includes “music and culture, and dance and joy” in their campaigns. The Black Voters Matter Fund toured the state on what is known as the “Blackest Bus in America” ahead of the runoff elections, stopping in areas often overlooked by traditional rally political campaigns.

The Black Voters Matter Fund has local partners in 50 counties across Georgia who work with community groups such as churches, NAACP chapters, neighborhood associations, and historically black Greek letter organizations.

“Our message goes well beyond the elections,” said Albright. “We do this to build power over the long term.”

Maria Theresa Kumar, CEO of voter registration group Voto Latino, said that after the 2016 election, her organization invested in data scientists and technology to target potential voters on social media and digital space, and borrowed commercial marketing tactics to register people to vote . According to Kumar, Voto Latino has registered around 15% of all newly registered voters in Georgia since November.

“So many local organizations are doing the work that has already deprived people of their rights. That’s the model,” said Kumar.

Color community advocacy groups have also worked for years to tackle voter suppression and improve language accessibility. Groups such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, the Asian American Advocacy Fund, the Latino Community Fund Georgia, and the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials have focused efforts including multilingual outreach and hotlines to protect voters in the language.

Organizers shared a common message: For Democrats and other political campaigns hoping to replicate the Georgia game book elsewhere in the South and the US, invest in local organization and leadership.

“For those who have the resources to give, find the local people who really do the work,” said Ho. “Give the money there. That’s the best way. It really is.”

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Politics

Georgia early vote turnout surpasses three million as U.S. Senate management hangs within the stability

Asian American Christians could be key to victory

Georgia Democratic Senate candidates Raphael Warnock (R) and Jon Ossoff (L) clash their elbows during a “It’s Time to Vote” drive-in rally on December 28, 2020 in Stonecrest, Georgia.

Jessica McGowan | Getty Images

More than 3 million residents of Georgia have already cast their votes in the two runoff elections on January 5th. This is a historic turnout in a competition to determine whether Democrats or Republicans will control the US Senate this year.

Tuesday’s races will be between Republican Senator David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff, and Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock.

If Perdue and Loeffler won their races, Republicans would have a Senate majority of 52 seats, which would allow them to block part of President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda.

The Democratic caucus would have 50 seats if Ossoff and Warnock won. And a groundbreaking vote by Vice President-Elect Harris would give Democrats control of the Senate after six years of GOP majority.

Democrats currently control the House of Representatives and will continue to control the Chamber through 2021. Republicans have a slim majority in the Senate.

President Donald Trump, who has unfounded claims that Georgia’s two Senate races are invalid, will hold a rally for Perdue and Loeffler on Monday.

Biden is expected to travel to Atlanta on Monday while Harris is due to visit Savannah on Sunday to support Ossoff and Warnock. The Democratic candidates have broken records for fundraising during their campaigns, raising more than $ 100 million each in recent months, largely due to small donations.

Ivanka Trump and Senators Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA) wave to the crowd at a campaign rally on December 21, 2020 in Milton, Georgia.

Elijah Nouvelage | Getty Images

Strong allies of the president, Perdue and Loeffler, backed $ 600 stimulus payments as part of the broader bailout package, and attacked Democratic opponents for arguing that those payments were insufficient. However, they reversed course and broke with many Senate Republicans in support of Trump’s calls for $ 2,000 stimulus checks after Congress passed the bill.

Ossoff and Warnock have been working closely with Biden’s plan to give Americans more coronavirus relief and direct controls. They have condemned their opponents for dealing with the pandemic, insisting that GOP senators haven’t done enough to push for a vote on higher stimulus controls in the Senate.

The 3,002,100 early vote accounts for 38.8% of all registered voters in Georgia. This is based on data collected by the University of Florida US election project. The early vote surpasses the previous voter turnout record for a runoff of around 2.1 million ballots cast in the 2008 Senate runoff between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin.

Data shows Democrats have an advantage when it comes to voter turnout in Georgia. The early voting ended on Thursday. Republicans generally see a higher turnout on election day. Voter turnout has lagged in rural, Conservative Congressional districts in Georgia, particularly in the northwestern part of the state where Trump will campaign on Monday, according to local reports.

Republicans have accelerated their voting efforts. Days before the runoff election, Perdue began quarantine after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19. Perdue told Fox News on Saturday that he would not be attending the president’s rally on Monday because of his quarantine.

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Politics

Reduction Package deal Grows as Marketing campaign Situation in Georgia Senate Races

Relief Package Grows as Campaign Issue in Georgia Senate Races

The $ 900 billion pandemic relief package that President Trump was late in signing Sunday night gained momentum as an issue in the Georgia Senate runoff election on Monday.

“Aid is on the way,” tweeted Senator Kelly Loeffler Monday morning, welcoming the stimulus package with its billions of dollars in the distribution of vaccines, schools and other beneficiaries and a payment of $ 600 to millions of Americans. She and her incumbent, David Perdue, released a statement on Sunday evening thanking the president for the final approval of the stimulus funds to avoid Mr Trump upset the fate of the bill last week by calling it “disgrace” demanding that direct payments be increased to $ 2,000.

At the same time, the two Democratic candidates – Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock – on Monday criticized the Republican-led Senate for months of keeping its feet on the bill. They called the $ 600 payments too small and took up the president’s request for larger payments to strengthen their position.

“David Perdue doesn’t care about us, and $ 600 is a joke,” Mr. Ossoff told hundreds of people at an outdoor rally with Mr. Warnock in DeKalb County, one of the suburbs of Atlanta, has become increasingly diverse over the past decade.

“You are sending me and Reverend Warnock to the Senate and we will put money in your pocket,” said Mr. Ossoff. He faces Mr Perdue in the runoff election while Mr Warnock challenges Ms. Loeffler.

Mr Perdue has run ads attacking Mr Ossoff for calling the $ 600 relief checks a “joke” when the President also called them far too small. Mr Ossoff wrote on Twitter that Mr Perdue did not even endorse a first round of direct payments last spring.

With election day in Georgia a little over a week away, Mr. Trump’s initial refusal to sign the stimulus package had put Ms. Loeffler and Mr. Perdue in a delicate position. Both had supported the measure, which was passed with a direct payment of $ 600, but both are strong supporters of Mr. Trump and risked angering him if they publicly broke with him about the need to sign the bill.

“The president continues to put both incumbent Republican senators in difficult places during a highly competitive Senate runoff,” said Bill Crane, a longtime Georgia political agent and analyst who worked for candidates in both parties.

Despite the confusion, the president tweeted Sunday that he would make a final campaign appearance on behalf of the two senators in Dalton, Georgia, a carpet-making center in the north. The two races have attracted national attention and a record inflow of money because of their potentially crucial role in determining the balance of power in the Senate.

If both Mr Ossoff and Mr Warnock win, there will be a 50-50 split, with control of the chamber shifting to the Democrats as Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris is able to break ties.

The fate of the two Senators in the unusual double runoff election could be attributed to turnout in Dalton and the rest of northwest Georgia, a conservative area where Mr Trump received 70 percent or more of the vote in most counties. His decision to visit the region where he remains popular appeared to be aimed at last-minute motivation among Republican voters.

The election appeared to be aimed at a record turnout in a runoff election. 2.1 million Georgians had already cast ballots either in places with early voting or by postal vote. The largest voter turnout so far has been in the democratic areas around Atlanta.

Mr Crane said he saw benefits for the Democrats in the early voting, electoral enthusiasm and money. “Democrats kill postal votes,” said Crane, finding, according to an analysis of the Atlanta Journal’s constitution, that 76,000 new voters had registered since the November election.

“That speaks again for enthusiasm and would play for the democratic side,” he said.

Republicans have raised concerns that Mr. Trump’s repeated complaints about “rigged elections” – a false claim he made to explain his loss to Joseph R. Biden Jr. – will deter voters in their party from voting to decide for the runoff election in the Senate. Mr Crane said the message from far-right commentators on electoral fraud had lasted in the state and some Georgians were confused about whether their votes would count. “Georgia is still at odds over whether we should vote at all,” he said.

With the early polls going through December, Mr Warnock and Mr Ossoff’s campaigns on Monday focused on encouraging voters to vote. Several rappers performed at their drive-in event in the parking lot of a Baptist church, including Shelley FKA DRAM, JID, Tokyo Jetz and BRS Kash.

Mr. Ossoff, who runs a documentary production company, and Mr. Warnock, the pastor of a historic church in Atlanta, encouraged their supporters to go to early voting venues or drop their ballots in. “The whole country is watching voters in Georgia to see what we will do at this historic moment,” Ossoff said.

Both Mr Ossoff and Mr Warnock – as well as Democrats on Capitol Hill – viewed the economic reviews as a profitable problem and had used both the lower payments and the president’s opposition to the stimulus package to increase their chances in Georgia. On Monday, hours before the House of Representatives decided to move ahead with the $ 2,000 stimulus checks requested by Mr. Trump, Ossoff tweeted, “@Perduesenate, when are you going to sign $ 2,000 aid checks for Georgians?”

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Politics

Who Will Substitute Kamala Harris? It’s About Extra Than a Senate Seat

Who Will Replace Kamala Harris? It’s About More Than a Senate Seat

LOS ANGELES – Jockeying started right next to the festivities in the summer. Leading California Democrats were thrilled that Kamala Harris was named as the Democratic nominee for Vice President and ready to help her and Joseph R. Biden get into the White House. That was not a question on which the sprawling and divided state political establishment disagreed. But what to do with this empty Senate seat? That was far more difficult.

Latinos make up around 40 percent of California and remain a growing population in the state. White residents make up about 38 percent, and black residents make up nearly 6 percent of the state’s roughly 40 million residents. By the time Ms. Harris won her Senate seat in 2016, the state had been represented by two white senators since 1983.

Some Latino officials point to these numbers, arguing that state governor Gavin Newsom must appoint a Latino to the U.S. Senate – without question – the first in California history.

Black political leaders, however, claim that Ms. Harris can only be replaced by a black woman. Without them, the Senate would have no black women in the Chamber.

Mr Newsom’s decision, which is expected to be taken before the end of the year, is not about politics. Every candidate whose name appears on different lists agrees on important issues. Instead, the choice makes it clear that even for advocates who genuinely believe in coalition building, the arguments are to a large extent a zero-sum game – if one group gets what it wants, it is impossible for the other group to get what it wants, too . And it has shared many leaders who are usually united.

“We have waited a long time for the representation to match the size of our community,” said Thomas A. Saenz, executive director of the Mexican-American Legal Protection and Education Fund, which campaigned for a Latino election. “We need representatives who reflect the population here. The fact is, the African American community in California is not growing and Latinos are an increasing part of the electorate. “

While the Democratic Party is preparing to take over the White House again, there are also arguments over representation in the presidential cabinet. Black, Latin American, and Asian members of Congress each advocate the transition from Biden to Harris. And efforts threaten to open divisions among Democrats who have long relied on a multiracial alliance.

The debates bring to the surface long-simmering tensions between groups that have historically struggled to attain power at the highest levels. In California, Mr. Newsom’s decision has the potential to turn a triumphant moment to see Ms. Harris in the White House into something more bittersweet for many black women.

“The governor must acknowledge that California supported a black woman, and he must meet right now,” said Aimee Allison, the founder of She the People, who also helped vote for Ms. Harris as vice president to use. “This is about realizing that capitalized black women are essential as organizers and legislators. 2020 is not the time for him to turn his back on black women. “

After California Foreign Secretary Alex Padilla emerged as the top candidate in recent weeks, activists like Ms. Allison have become increasingly frustrated. Dozens of local and national officials raised their voices and wrote a letter to the governor asking him to appoint either Congresswoman Barbara Lee or Congresswoman Karen Bass to the seat.

“No constituency is more committed and reliable to the Democratic Party than African-American women,” the letter said. “You deserve voting rights and direct representation in the United States Senate.”

Gender dynamics is also an important consideration for Mr. Newsom, who has long sought to improve his feminist credentials. California has elected two senators for decades, and women’s groups suggest it would be unfair to hand over Ms. Harris’s seat to a man.

Another sign of the complexity of the moment for California Democrats is that black and Latin American activists are jointly pushing for Dianne Feinstein’s resignation despite battling each other for a Senate seat, citing her age and obvious consolation with a few Republicans . (A New York story published earlier this month raised specific questions about her mental acuity and short-term memory, and Mrs. Feinstein later defended herself.) Mrs. Feinstein said she believed Mr. Padilla should be appointed to Mrs. Harris’ seat, a position which has led some to propose that if it is so determined that Mr Padilla take office, she should resign. Ms. Feinstein herself easily defeated Kevin de León, a former Democratic leader in the California Senate, during her 2016 re-election campaign.

“Everyone says she thinks she’s sitting in this seat – no,” said Molly Watson. the progressive group Courage California. “Getting a man into this position is really a slap in the face, and it doesn’t represent what we voted for in that office, either.”

Repeating the call for Ms. Feinstein to resign, Ms. Allison said, “It is your time to step aside and make room for those who represent a large part of the state.”

In many ways, this outspoken endorsement in both California and Washington draws lessons from the successful campaign to have Mr. Biden choose a black woman as his runmate. This summer hundreds of women and organizations went to great lengths to coordinate their efforts in daily phone calls and strategy meetings.

The efforts of the Hispanic Caucus of Congress also reflect the growing number and power of Latinos in Congress. The caucus has met regularly with dozens of Latino organizations in an attempt to unify their message, focusing on candidates who they believe have a serious chance of being selected for the cabinet.

The drive for representation today, both nationally and in California, is more aggressive and direct than in the past. This partly reflects that Democrats have not had such power in more than a decade – and that demographics have changed significantly during that time.

“We have said that one of our goals is to see the face of America in the cabinet,” said Joaquin Castro, chairman of the Hispanic Caucus in Congress, who has aggressively pushed for five Latino cabinet members, including at least one Latina woman . “Our population and our importance have grown. People don’t want to settle for less. “

After the Hispanic Caucus met with members of the transition team last week, civil rights activists, including Rev. Al Sharpton, met with Mr Biden himself last week to call for black candidates to join the cabinet.

“We are moving in the right direction but we haven’t got there yet,” Sharpton said in an interview. Mr Sharpton also joined the call for a black woman to replace Ms. Harris, but said he was careful about pitting black leaders against Latinos. “I’m very concerned about this – we don’t want this to be ugly.”

Congresswoman Judy Chu, the chairwoman of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, has also repeatedly expressed frustrations with the Biden transition team.

“We are shocked because for the first time in 20 years there is a big possibility that there is no AAPI in the cabinet,” said Ms. Chu. “What is different this time is that we feel like our voice is not being heard.”

After extensive lobbying, Mr. Biden appointed Congresswoman Deb Haaland to head the Home Office last week. For the first time a Native American was appointed to the cabinet.

In California, political organizers and activists have for the most part avoided direct confrontation with Mr. Newsom.

But both sides have made it clear that they will not easily forgive Mr. Newsom if he ignores their pleas.

“I’m really disappointed,” said MP Shirley Weber, a leading supporter of Ms. Lee and Ms. Bass. “These numbers are so strong and it cannot be said that we no longer need black women. I would have liked to have expected more from my Latino colleagues. “And some Latino leaders have expressed support for the appointment of a black woman in the past few days, including Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers.

Last week, Alberto Retana, the executive director of Community Coalition, a south Los Angeles-based group that Ms. Bass founded after the crack epidemic in the early 1990s, organized a petition that was sent to Mr. Newsom on Friday.

“As leaders of the Latinx community, we must lead by our values, not our demographics,” the group wrote in the letter. “For a multicultural democracy, it is imperative that we focus this choice on promoting race, gender and social justice. This is achieved through the appointment of a progressive black woman. “

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Biden campaigns for Democrats in Georgia Senate runoff

Biden campaigns for Democrats in Georgia Senate runoff

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden speaks during a rally in support of Democratic Senate candidates in Atlanta, Georgia, December 15, 2020.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON – A triumphant president-elect, Joe Biden, went to Georgia on Tuesday to lead an election rally for two Democratic Senate candidates in the state that earned him his biggest disgruntled win in the 2020 presidential contest.

The drive-in rally in Atlanta was intended to benefit Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both of whom will run run-off against incumbent Republican senators on Jan. 5. It was Biden’s first campaign event as president-elect, held just a day after the election campaign. The electoral college confirmed its victory over President Donald Trump.

The two runoff elections are about control of the U.S. Senate, and thus the power to either give the green light to Biden’s candidates and his ambitious (and expensive) domestic agenda, or vice versa, to block them.

If either of the two Republican Senators, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, win their races, the GOP will retain its current control of the Chamber, and Biden can expect fights for every candidate and every bill.

Biden had no illusions on Tuesday about the importance of these races. “I need two senators from this state who want to get something done, not two senators who are just getting in each other’s way,” he said. “Send me these two men and we’ll control the Senate and change the lives of the Georgia people.”

After the angry November victory fueled by suburban and black voters, Democrats rely almost entirely on replicating the record turnout they saw last month. It’s a major challenge – special elections traditionally attract far fewer voters than presidential elections – but Biden urged his supporters to buck the trends.

“Will Georgia break the record for voting in these Senate elections? I think so,” he said. “But there are a lot of people who bet you won’t. There are a lot of people who think, ‘Georgia broke the record for votes cast in the presidential election, there is no way you can do it again.'”

“Are you ready to prove them wrong? I think you are. I think Georgia is going to shock the nation with the number of people voting on January 5th,” Biden said.

In a state with a long history of racial voter suppression, Biden reminded people that Loeffler and Perdue supported a recent lawsuit launched by the Texas Attorney General that sought to disqualify millions of Georgia votes in election results.

“Your two Republican senators fully embraced what Texas told the Supreme Court,” he said. “You were fully in favor of nullifying nearly 5 million votes in Georgia. You may want to remember that January 5th is coming.”

Poll averages currently show both Senate races neck to neck, although historical trends favor incumbent senators.

Biden also drew a sharp contrast between the two Democrats in the race and their Republican opponents when it comes to much-needed funding for coronavirus aid.

“We need funding for testing and vaccine distribution. We need to get money into people’s pockets right now,” he said. “We can do so much to make the lives of the people of Georgia and the country so much better, and we need senators who are ready.”

After Biden’s trip, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is also expected to visit Georgia to bolster Ossoff and Warnock, although concrete plans have not yet been released.

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Senate seems to be to go funding invoice

Senate looks to pass funding bill

Update: The Senate passed the government’s one-week funding law on Friday afternoon. An earlier version of this story is below.

The Senate had only hours to prevent the government from closing on Friday as lawmakers threatened to halt the swift passage of a spending bill.

Funding goes off if the Chamber does not approve a mediocre measure and President Donald Trump does not sign it before midnight. The House has already approved a week-long extension of government spending until December 18.

Legislators hope the bill will give them more time to finalize elusive year-round funding and coronavirus relief deals. However, it got more complicated to turn the lights on for another week on Friday.

In order to survive the shutdown, the measure requires unanimous approval. This means any senator can delay their approval, and several lawmakers have suggested doing so.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., And Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Urged a vote on a proposal to send direct payments of up to $ 1,200 per person and $ 500 per child. They criticized Congress ‘failure to put more money into Americans’ pockets for months during health and economic crises.

“In the midst of so much economic despair, Congress cannot pause without providing this $ 1,200 emergency aid to the American people in their distress,” Sanders said in a statement Thursday evening as he introduced the amendment he and Hawley proposed to the Senate hope is attached to the financing measure.

Meanwhile, NBC News reported that Florida Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Indiana Mike Braun want to tie a bill to end government closings to the week-long funding.

It is now unclear whether any of the lawmakers will actually delay the passage of the spending bill and let the funding forfeit.

The Senate cleared a potential hurdle when Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Told reporters he was not going to hold up the household bill. He delayed the passage of the annual National Defense Approval Act for a day amid concerns about the $ 740 billion cost and a provision that would restrict the president’s authority to withdraw troops from overseas.

A previous protest from Paul resulted in a brief shutdown in 2018.

The passage of the spending measure would keep the government going for just a week. The appropriators have failed to reach a final agreement on a plan to fund the government by September 30, 2021, but Congress leaders said they hope they can do so before next week.

Previously, Republicans and Democrats had agreed on a total price of 1.4 trillion US dollars for a year-round spending package.

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Senate passes $740 billion protection invoice as Trump veto menace looms

Senate passes $740 billion defense bill as Trump veto threat looms

An F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 265 (Reinforced), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), prepares for takeoff from the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) prior to a strike exercise inflatable maritime target.

Lance Cpl. Joshua Brittenham | US Marine Corps | FlickrCC

WASHINGTON – The Senate passed a colossal defense policy bill on Friday despite multiple threats from President Donald Trump to veto the measure.

At least 75 members of the Republican-led Senate voted for the massive annual defense bill of $ 740 billion, a number larger than the two-thirds majority it would take to defeat Trump’s promised veto.

With the weight of the House and Senate behind the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the bill hits Trump’s desk with overwhelming support from Congress.

The NDAA, which is usually passed with strong support from both parties and veto-proof majorities, approves spending totaling 740 billion US dollars and outlines Pentagon policies.

Earlier this month, Trump threatened to veto the must-pass defense law if lawmakers fail to remove legal protections for social media companies.

Trump is calling for the repeal of a federal law known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects tech giants like Facebook and Twitter from legal liability for what is posted on their platforms.

Last week, Trump described the provision as a “liability protection gift” for “Big Tech” and called for it to be “terminated entirely”, otherwise he would not use this year’s NDAA.

The president also said the move posed a serious threat to US national security and electoral integrity, but did not provide any further explanation. Trump has also said that Twitter, his favorite social media platform, wrongly censored him.

The President’s problem with Section 230 came to light this summer after Twitter added warnings to several of its tweets that alleged mail-in polls were fraudulent. Trump has still not allowed Democrat Joe Biden to hold the US presidential election.

US President Donald Trump speaks after the swearing-in ceremony of James Mattis as Secretary of Defense on January 27, 2017 at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

Almond Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

This year’s legislation includes a 3% pay increase for US troops, a plan to rename military facilities with the names of Confederate leaders, and a number of other provisions.

The NDAA, in its current form, does not contain any action related to Section 230.

This is not the first time the president has targeted the NDAA. Earlier this year, Trump said he would veto the measure if it included language for changing U.S. military facilities named after Confederate generals.

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Politics

Senate Sends Navy Invoice to Trump’s Desk, Spurning His Veto Menace

Senate Sends Military Bill to Trump’s Desk, Spurning His Veto Threat

WASHINGTON – The Senate overwhelmingly passed a comprehensive military policy law on Friday to remove Confederate names from American military bases to clarify the measure for enactment and to keep them on President Trump’s desk despite his veto threats send.

The vote between 84 and 13 to pass the legislation reflected widespread support from both parties for the measure authorizing the payment of American troops and was intended to signal Mr Trump that lawmakers, including many Republicans, were determined to do the critical Passing the law, even if this may mean giving up the first right of veto of his presidency.

The margin exceeded the two-thirds majority required in both houses to force passage of the law on Mr Trump’s objections. The House also hit that threshold in passing the measure on Tuesday, increasing the prospect of a possible veto showdown in Mr Trump’s final weeks of office.

The scene that played out in the Senate on Friday underscored how the Republicans, who did not want to challenge the president on any other issue during his four-year term, were extraordinarily ready to break with Mr Trump over one of the party’s key orthodoxy – military strength project.

“I encourage all of us to do what we must to bring this bill to fruition,” said Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma and Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee, to his colleagues in a speech from the ground. “There is no one in America who deserves more than our troops that are in danger, and we will make sure we are doing what is right for them.”

Thirteen senators, evenly spaced across party lines, voted against the bill, with Republicans supporting Mr Trump’s objections and Democrats chafing on the bill’s topline number. Three Senators, Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, and Kamala Harris, Democrat of California and vice president-elect, did not vote.

Congress has succeeded in passing the military law every year for 60 years. But Mr Trump has threatened to change that tradition, pledging to veto the legislation since the summer, even as his own party’s leaders privately pleaded with him to support it.

Mr Trump initially opposed a provision largely backed by lawmakers from both parties in both chambers that would strip the names of Confederate leaders from military bases. In the past few weeks his attention has shifted, demanding that the bill provide for an independent lifting of a legal shield for social media companies.

This demand, which was registered late in the legislative process, found little support from the legislators of both parties. They feel it is untenable to take an important, unrelated political move towards the defense law. They were hoping that strong voices in both chambers would convince Mr Trump to back off his threat of veto. However, so far the president has given no indication that he will do so.

The legislation includes a number of undisputed, bipartisan measures, including new benefits for tens of thousands of Vietnam-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange, a 3 percent increase in service member wages and an increase in remuneration for dangerous levies.

It would also take steps to slow or block Mr Trump’s planned withdrawal of American troops from Germany and Afghanistan, and it would make it difficult for the president to deploy military personnel on the southern border.

Legislation also directly addresses the racial justice protests sparked by the police killing black Americans, including George Floyd, this summer. All federal officials who enforce crowd control during protests and demonstrations would have to identify themselves and their authorities. And it includes the bipartisan move directing the Pentagon to begin renaming military bases named after Confederate leaders, a provision the Democrats fought to uphold.

If Mr. Trump were to enforce his threatened veto, the House would be the first to attempt an override.

Emily Cochrane contributes to the coverage.

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Politics

Biden will journey to Georgia to spice up Democrats in Senate runoffs

Biden will travel to Georgia to boost Democrats in Senate runoffs

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop in Atlanta, Georgia on October 27, 2020.

Brian Snyder | Reuters

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden will travel to Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday to blunt for Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, his first campaign trip since he was elected president in November.

The stakes could hardly be higher: Ossoff and Warnock challenge incumbent Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in runoff elections on January 5th, the results of which determine which party controls the US Senate.

After the November elections, the Senate will initially consist of 50 Republicans, 46 Democrats and two independents who will meet with the Democrats. If Warnock and Ossoff both win their races, the Democrats will have 50 reliable votes, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris casting a groundbreaking 51st vote.

With 51 votes in the Senate, Biden could realistically hope to pass some of his most comprehensive (and expensive) domestic policy proposals, including a massive green jobs program. He would also receive carte blanche endorsement for his candidates, which would greatly accelerate the pace at which a Biden government could take over the reins of federal bureaucracy.

Despite decades of Republican dominance in Georgian politics, Democrats have reason to be optimistic this year: Biden narrowly won Georgia’s referendum, a surprising victory that made him the first Democrat in more than 20 years to win the state in a presidential race .

However, there is no guarantee that Biden’s luck will repeat itself in the Senate races.

The poll averages currently show both races neck to neck. But Loeffler and Perdue benefit from the tenure and a historic advantage: Georgia has not sent a Democratic senator to Washington in a generation.

Democrats repeat the 2020 game book

With just under a month to go, the Democrats are repeating many of the tactics that worked to their advantage in November, emphasizing early voting, public health, and grassroots outreach.

Biden’s trip coincides with the start of the early voting, which begins Monday in Georgia. Democrats invest heavily in getting their voters down early instead of expecting people to queue at crowded polling stations on January 5th. These efforts are particularly urgent given the current surge in coronavirus, which is expected to peak early next year.

The Biden campaign hasn’t released the details of the event on Tuesday, but in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Biden held drive-in rallies that attracted large crowds and kept people a safe distance from one another.

U.S. Senate Democratic nominees Jon Ossoff (R) and Raphael Warnock (L) wave at supporters during a rally in Marietta, Georgia on November 15, 2020.

Jessica McGowan | Getty Images

So far, the Democrats have not personally sent their party’s stars to Georgia in the runoff game, but have preferred to hold virtual events.

Former President Barack Obama, arguably the party’s biggest star, led a virtual rally with Ossoff and Warnock on Dec. 4, where he spoke openly to supporters that Biden’s national agenda was at stake.

The January results, Obama said, will “determine the course of the Biden presidency and whether Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can legally honor all of their commitments.”

“If you don’t have a majority when the Senate is controlled by Republicans who are more interested in disability and stagnation than progress and helping people, they can block almost anything,” Obama said.

Republicans flood the zone

While Democrats give priority to public health and early voting in the runoff elections, Republicans are taking a radically different approach: they flood the state with high-profile surrogate motherships while also cheering their grassroots voters by promoting false conspiracies, which President Donald Trump and not Biden was the rightful winner of the state’s referendum.

In the past few weeks, several popular Republican Senators have visited Georgia to promote Loeffler and Perdue: Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott from Florida, Tom Cotton from Arkansas, Joni Ernst from Iowa and Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, and Senator-elect Bill Hagerty from Tennessee.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Senator Steve Daines of Montana, and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, all Republicans, are also reportedly planning to swing across the state in the coming days.

But no one embodies the Republican Party’s two-part strategy in Georgia more than Trump, who made the state a core part of his conspiracy theories about the presidential election – and his efforts to reverse the legitimate results.

Last weekend, Trump led a massive rally in Valdosta, Georgia that was allegedly a campaign event to empower Loeffler and Perdue. But the president spent much more time on the stage making his own grievances than he did about the two Republican senators. The participants were close together, hardly a mask in sight.

US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and US Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler arrive for a rally on December 5, 2020 in Valdosta, Georgia, USA.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

For nearly two hours, Trump vacillated insisting that fraud and corruption constituted a “stolen” victory in Georgia in the presidential election, begging his supporters to fight for him by voting in the state’s runoff on January 5 .

“You know, you’re angry because so many votes were stolen. It was taken away. And you say, ‘Well, we won’t [vote]”Said Trump.” We can’t do that. We have to do just the opposite. If you don’t vote, the socialists win and the communists win. The Georgia patriots must show up and vote for these two incredible people. “

Trump also fueled his ongoing battle with his former ally, Brian Kemp, Republican governor of Georgia, who has so far refused to take steps Trump is asking him to take to overthrow the referendum.

US President Donald Trump hosts a campaign event with US Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler at Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Georgia, United States on December 5, 2020.

Dustin Chambers | Reuters

“Your governor could very easily stop it if he knew what the hell he was doing,” Trump told the crowd in Valdosta. “Quit very easily.”

Since election day, Kemp has approved several handcounts in the state, all of which have confirmed Biden’s victory.