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Millions of dollars in funding from the Covid-19 relief bill passed Wednesday will be used to help the federal government improve its cybersecurity efforts in the wake of high-profile breaches that have caused alarm for officials and lawmakers. “[I]t reflects a recognition by this administration of the urgency of improving cybersecurity,” said cyber chief Eric
Continue ReadingFormer President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Republican Sen. Rick Scott this week, a source familiar with the meeting told CNN, at a time when the party is heatedly debating Trump’s role in its future. The meeting with Scott, a Floridian who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has been planned for weeks,
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In a phone call to the Georgia secretary of state’s office in December, then-President Donald Trump urged a top investigator to find fraud in the 2020 presidential election, telling her that she would be “praised” for overturning results that were in favor of Joe Biden, according to newly reported audio of the call obtained by
Continue ReadingTwo federal employees are calling for an investigation into the hiring of a senior Justice Department official who had been interviewed by a manager who resigned shortly after — and just days before President Joe Biden‘s inauguration. The anonymous whistleblowers accuse Jeffrey Bossert Clark of conducting a bogus interview process for the assistant director of
Continue ReadingHe’s undecided on the nominee to head Health and Human Services. He’s not sure if he’ll back the No. 3 for the Justice Department, or the undersecretary of policy at the Pentagon. He says maintaining the 60 vote-requirement to overcome a filibuster is a “red line” for him. And he’s made clear he’ll block advancing
Continue ReadingSpecial Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry embarked this week on what he called a “constructive trip” to Europe, meeting leaders there before Secretary of State Antony Blinken had even packed a suitcase for his international debut as the United States’ most senior diplomat. Blinken blessed and supported the trip, a State Department official told
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For the fourth time in the last two weeks, Georgia freshman Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called for a motion to adjourn the House on Thursday morning. The move has no practical effect other than to force every single House member to come to the floor to vote on, well, whether the House should adjourn.
Continue ReadingWhen President Joe Biden welcomed lawmakers into the Oval Office for his very first publicly scheduled meeting with members of Congress, he spoke exclusively with Republican senators — an apparent effort to reach across the aisle to get their support for his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal. Now, a month later, that legislation is being
Continue ReadingSecretary of State Tony Blinken for the first time Wednesday used the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe human rights abuses he said have been carried out in the Western Tigray region of Ethiopia, calling the situation “unacceptable.” “The challenge in Ethiopia is very significant. And it’s one that we’re very, very focused on, particularly the
Continue ReadingThe Senate voted to confirm Michael Regan as President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, where he’ll join an administration that has pledged aggressive action on tackling the climate crisis. With a bipartisan confirmation vote of 66 to 34, Regan will become the first Black man to lead the EPA
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The Senate voted to confirm attorney general nominee Merrick Garland on Wednesday, sending the appellate judge on his mission to uphold the integrity of the Justice Department after its actions over the past years threatened to undermine it. Garland was confirmed in a 70-30 vote. The former chief judge of the US Court of Appeals
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Aides who traveled to the southern border at the behest of President Joe Biden have described to him a troubling surge of migrant children the administration is now racing to house as the President’s more humane approach to immigration faces a critical early test. Biden entered office vowing to reverse what he cast as cruel
Continue ReadingSenate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday acknowledged security changes need to be made at the United States Capitol but the Republican of Kentucky told CNN, “I think we’ve overdone it” when it comes to the current security measures in place. More than two months after the January 6 insurrection, National Guard troops continue to
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House Majority Whip James Clyburn on Wednesday blasted Sen. Lindsey Graham over his comments that aid to Black farmers in the Covid-19 relief bill are “reparations” and called for his fellow South Carolinian to get back in touch with Christianity. “Lindsey Graham is from South Carolina. He knows South Carolina’s history. He knows what the
Continue ReadingIn the second half of 2020, Republican-led states had higher Covid-19 case rates and death rates than Democrat-led states, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine on Tuesday. States with Democratic governors had higher case and death rates in the early months of the pandemic, but trends reversed in the
Continue ReadingThe White House plans to deploy its messaging blitz to tout the newly passed $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan to “every corner” of the country in the weeks ahead, zeroing in on key components each day as it seeks to maintain — or build on — the proposal’s current popularity, according to an internal memo
Continue ReadingDemocratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington has sent letters to the House Committee on Ethics and the Office of Congressional Ethics requesting they launch investigations into three Republican lawmakers, over accusations of the trio “instigating and aiding” the deadly January 6 riot on the Capitol. Jayapal asks the two groups to “thoroughly investigate” the activity
Continue ReadingPresident Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he is directing the US Department of Health and Human Services to purchase an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. The administration and the pharmaceutical giant still need to negotiate when these 100 million doses will be available but it will likely happen later
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Unaccompanied minors from Central America are again overwhelming the US immigration system as they cross the US-Mexico border. The new administration has worked hard to distinguish President Joe Biden‘s focus on a humanitarian immigration policy from his predecessor’s hard-line approach. But right now, the fact is that there are kids detained at the border in
Continue ReadingA nonprofit watchdog group has filed a complaint with the House Committee on Ethics, requesting an investigation into 13 Republican House members who used the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to skip in-person votes to attend a conservative conference last month. The Campaign for Accountability in its complaint requested guidance “explaining that members of Congress
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