Tag: Senate

Club for Growth moves to stop Jim Justice for Senate coronation

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The current incumbent, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, has not said whether or not he will seek reelection and doesn’t plan to make an announcement until the end of the year. Should he run again, he faces an uphill battle, running in a presidential year in a state that Donald Trump won by 39 points in 2020.
The Club supported Mooney, a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, in his 2022 run against GOP Rep. David McKinley for the seat he currently holds. But the group’s president, David McIntosh, had expressed support for both Mooney and Morrisey and the Club held off on an endorsement while both considered a Senate bid.
“Rep. Mooney has proven in his time in Congress that he is a conservative champion who will fight for lower taxes, safer streets, school freedom, and parental rights for the people of West Virginia,” McIntosh said in a statement. “Mooney will be a great US Senator and we’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he’s elected.”
The Club’s involvement could create a messy primary in a key state for Republicans, who are looking to reclaim the Senate majority.
Justice enjoys high approval ratings and massive personal wealth. He has met with NRSC Chair Steve Daines, who encouraged him to enter the race, according to a person familiar with the committee’s plans. The Mitch McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund also released a poll showing Justice as the only candidate who can beat Manchin.
McIntosh told reporters earlier this year that his group did not align with Justice, a former Democrat, but that it was interested in getting involved in the race.
“He would be in what we would call the moderate camp,” McIntosh said of Justice in February. “So we wouldn’t support him in the primary.”
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#Club #Growth #moves #stop #Jim #Justice #Senate #coronation
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 5, 2023
Florida Senate approves 6-week abortion ban as two Republicans vote ‘no’

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Before the vote Monday, Grall invoked comments made by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat who had said abortions should be safe, legal and rare.
“We’re so far from safe, legal and rare, we have normalized and sterilized the taking of life as health care,” Grall said. “We’ve heard women will continue to have abortions, but that’s like saying people will continue murdering people.”
The House is expected to take up the issue next week. Republicans hold a supermajority in the Legislature, and the bill is expected to have no difficulties reaching DeSantis, who also supports it.
The debate on the bill was halted for 10 minutes by protesters in the public-viewing gallery who screamed comments such as “People will die” and “Abortion is health care.” State Sen. Ileana Garcia (R-Miami) began pointing at protesters and said, “You shut up,” before Senate President Kathleen Passidomo ordered security to clear the public-viewing gallery.
After the session resumed, state Sen. Alexis Calatayud (R-Miami) said she was voting against the 6-week ban on behalf of her constituents, but she still supported several other parts of the bill.
“I’m not supporting this bill today, but I believe it will pass and it will become the law in this state,” said Calatayud, who also voted against the bill in two committee hearings. “And I believe it will go a long way to help change the hearts and minds influenced by a decade of anti-life culture.”
The second opposing Republican vote was from state Sen. Cory Simon (R-Tallahassee), who offered no comment during the debate. Simon also did not vote on the bill during its final Senate committee meeting last week. Simon’s district includes Leon County, which is a stronghold for Democrats.
Democrats argued that the bill supported Christian principles over health care for women, and that the government should not interfere in decisions that a patient makes with a doctor. State Sen. Tracie Davis (D-Jacksonville) said the measure was written to make women feel ashamed of making health-care decisions.

“I won’t let anyone make me feel ashamed and not have to acknowledge it,” Davis said. “No woman should be ashamed to have an abortion.”
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#Florida #Senate #approves #6week #abortion #ban #Republicans #vote
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 4, 2023
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution honoring the victims of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville.

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Tennessee’s senators have also introduced school security legislation in response to the mass shooting.

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#Senate #unanimously #passed #resolution #honoring #victims #Covenant #School #shooting #Nashville
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 31, 2023
Fetterman set to return to Senate

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But Fetterman’s situation has been different. The six-foot-eight, bald-headed and tattooed freshman has been open about his mental health challenges and the need to seek help.
Fetterman also suffered a stroke in May, during Pennsylvania’s Senate primary, and was sidelined off the trail for months afterward as he recovered. Doctors have said that depression is common among stroke survivors. Since being sworn in, Fetterman has used transcription technology to help him talk to colleagues and conduct Senate business.
Fetterman’s Republican opponent, Mehmet Oz, made a campaign issue out of his health and criticized him for not being more transparent about it. Fetterman went on to win in November by nearly five percentage points.
Fetterman’s chief-of-staff, Adam Jentleson, tweeted earlier this month that “John is well on his way to recovery and wanted me to say how grateful he is for all the well wishes” and that he is “laser focused on PA & will be back soon.”
Fetterman’s aides said he has been meeting regularly with his staff and family at the hospital. He also signed onto a bipartisan rail safety bill during his treatment.

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#Fetterman #set #return #Senate
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 30, 2023
Credit Suisse hid $700M from IRS, Senate investigators say

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Based on information requests from the committee, the bank identified 23 undeclared accounts belonging to ultra-wealthy U.S. citizens with more than $20 million at the bank. The Senate report noted that more concealed accounts could be uncovered as the bank’s review continues.
“At the center of this investigation are greedy Swiss bankers and catnapping government regulators, and the result appears to be a massive, ongoing conspiracy to help ultra-wealthy U.S. citizens to evade taxes and rip off their fellow Americans,” committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said.
The bank had paid $2.6 billion under the 2014 plea agreement with Justice.
“Credit Suisse got a discount on the penalty it faced in 2014 for enabling tax evasion because bank executives swore up and down they’d get out of the business of defrauding the United States,” he added. “This investigation shows Credit Suisse did not make good on that promise, and the bank’s pending acquisition does not wipe the slate clean.”
The revelations pose potentially significant problems for Credit Suisse, which reached an agreement on March 19 to be bought and have its legal liabilities assumed by domestic Swiss rival UBS.
The massive merger of the financial institutions was hastened by Swiss authorities and regulators, who feared that collapse of Credit Suisse, which sustained billions of dollars of losses in 2021 and faced several scandals, could send shockwaves through the global financial system.
As part of its investigation, the committee also found that Credit Suisse abetted U.S. businessman Dan Horsky, a dual citizen who admitted to concealing $220 million from the U.S. government in 2016 in one of the largest criminal tax evasion cases in American history.
Credit Suisse bankers were aware of Horsky’s American citizenship and worked with him to obscure the ownership of his accounts from the IRS, the report said.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 29, 2023
Bill to reform H-1B and L-1 visa programme introduced in US Senate

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Washington: A group of influential lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan legislation in the US Senate to comprehensively overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes and usher in more transparency in the recruitment of foreign workers.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
The L-1 is the other type of work visa the US issues to professionals looking to work in the country.
Unlike the H-1B, where an individual is looking to join an American company, the L-1 visa is issued to those who are already employed by the company in another country, and who are merely relocating to an American office.
Two influential Senators — Dick Durbin and Chuck Grassley — have introduced this legislation in the US Senate.
The co-sponsors include Senators Tommy Tuberville, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, and Richard Blumenthal.
The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act will reduce fraud and abuse in the immigration system, provide protections for American workers and visa holders, and require more transparency in the recruitment of foreign workers, a media release said on Tuesday.
The legislation proposes to place new wage, recruitment and attestation requirements on employers looking to hire L-1 and H-1B workers, and employers seeking to hire H-1B employees to post those jobs on the Department of Labour (DOL) website, it said.

It also proposes to give DOL the authority to place a fee on labour condition applications and use it to hire an additional 200 DOL employees and make reforms to the H-1B programme by prioritising the H-1B visa issuance for workers with higher levels of education in STEM and amending the definition of a “specialty occupation” to require a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the release.
The legislation seeks reforms to the L-1 nonimmigrant programme, including new time limits and evidentiary requirements for petitions from a “new office” and mandating cooperation from the Department of State in verifying foreign affiliates.
“For years, outsourcing companies have used legal loopholes to displace qualified American workers and replace them with foreign workers who are paid sub-par wages and put under exploitative working conditions,” Democratic Party Senator Durbin said.
“These actions hurt all workers and make our country less attractive to the world’s top talent. Our legislation would fix these broken programs, protect workers, and put an end to these abuses,” he explained.
The H-1B and L-1 visa programmes were established to fill in gaps in America’s high-skilled workforce, not supplant it, Grassley, a Republican, said.
“Unfortunately, some companies have exploited these programmes to replace American workers with cheaper labour, which ultimately harms American workers and foreign labour alike. Our bill puts American workers first and ensures that the programmes promote fairness for all workers,” he said.
Durbin and Grassley, long-time advocates for H-1B and L-1 visa reform, first introduced the legislation in 2007.
Authors of this legislation said the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act would stop these abuses by closing loopholes in these programmes.
The legislation will also crackdown on companies that hire large numbers of H-1B and L-1 workers to displace American workers and facilitate the outsourcing of American jobs, the media release added.
Thousands of highly skilled foreign-born workers, including Indians, in the US, have lost their jobs due to the series of recent layoffs at companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon.
According to The Washington Post, nearly 200,000 IT workers have been laid off since November last year.
Industry insiders say that between 30 to 40 per cent of them are Indian IT professionals, a significant number of whom are on H-1B and L1 visas.
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#Bill #reform #H1B #visa #programme #introduced #Senate
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 29, 2023
Biden’s nominees hit the Senate skids

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That’s in addition to the Pentagon promotions being stalled by a Republican senator and the judicial appointments delayed due to a senior Democratic senator’s extended absence.
Underlining the tension between the narrowly divided Senate and the administration was the Saturday evening withdrawal of Phil Washington, tapped to lead the Federal Aviation Administration. Democrats blamed a GOP campaign against him, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), but the reality is that Biden’s own party could have saved Washington had they kept their own side united and put up a simple majority.
In Washington’s case, Commerce Committee member Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) had communicated her concerns to the Biden administration. And Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) stayed undecided ahead of the committee vote, right up until Washington bowed out.
“That’s a better question for the president,” Tester, who faces a reelection campaign this cycle, said of the FAA imbroglio. Asked if he supported the nominee, he responded: “Never had to make that vote.”
Washington’s implosion comes at a crucial inflection point for the Biden White House’s confirmation operation. On Monday night, some Democrats were still digesting the news that he had withdrawn over the weekend.
“He had the vast majority of supportive people in our caucus, whether from the left to the moderate wings of our caucus, so I’m very sorry that the misrepresentations of his record … resulted in his having to withdraw,” said Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).
At Washington’s nomination hearing, Sinema said it was important to confirm a permanent FAA chief. But while noting Washington’s military experience as well as his job as CEO of the Denver International Airport, she said that the agency needed someone with aviation experience at the top — a strong hint that she was not convinced that Washington was right for the role, since that was the main line of attack against Biden’s pick.
Sinema said in a statement on Monday that “the administration should quickly nominate a permanent FAA administrator with the necessary, substantial aviation safety experience and expertise.”

Commerce Committee Democrats and Biden administration “knew from the beginning she was concerned” about Washington’s level of experience and little effort was made to assuage Sinema, said a person familiar with Sinema’s interactions who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A Biden administration official, who would also only address the flap on condition of anonymity, said they “fought hard for Phil” and denied that they had dropped the ball.
“If someone at the end of the day decides not to vote a certain way, that’s the senator’s decision, but there’s no doubt in my mind that we did everything we could to fight for him,” the official said.
The Commerce Committee in particular has given Biden’s nominees a rough ride. FCC nominee Gigi Sohn withdrew earlier this month after being twice nominated by Biden for a position on the commission. That’s on top of several other tough confirmation fights consuming the early days of this Congress.
Julie Su’s nomination to head the Labor Department is expected to draw most of the GOP’s attention in the coming weeks; she had no Republican support in the vote to confirm her as deputy Labor Secretary in 2021, and moderate Democrats will face pressure to oppose her even though she won Democratic support back then.
When asked about Su’s chances of making it to the Cabinet, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said only: “I’m looking forward to the hearing and looking forward to her confirmation.”
Tester said he’d made no decision on Su, while Sinema has a policy against previewing her votes in public. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he’d supported Su in her current role because of his confidence in former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
“My vote for her last time was all predicated on Marty,” Manchin said. When asked if there was a pattern to the White House’s vetting with nominees, he replied that it was “not my job” to identify. “My job is to review who they send.”
The administration official said the White House was confident that she will get confirmed and that “organized labor is showing up in a big way for her and advocating for her confirmation.”
Manchin made waves earlier this month when he opposed Sohn, but according to two Democratic aides the FCC hopeful already had several other Democratic senators opposed to her — leaving her nowhere close to winning confirmation. In his capacity as Energy Committee chair, Manchin also will not move on Laura Daniel-Davis’ bid to serve as an assistant Interior secretary.
In addition, judicial nominee Michael Delaney, is in limbo on the Judiciary Committee due to absences, but his nomination also may not have the votes to proceed anyway on Biden’s pick for the First Circuit Court of Appeal. Broadly speaking, Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said that given Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) absence, “I can’t consider nominees … A tie vote is a losing vote on the committee.”
On top of that, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has instituted a blockade of quick confirmation and promotion of Pentagon nominees after the Defense Department moved ahead with policies that would ease access to abortion and other reproductive care for troops.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he agreed with Tuberville’s opposition to the policy but that “we’re trying to work out a mutually satisfactory solution.”
“Well, if this was about enlisted personnel, people who actually do the fighting, it might be different. But this is about three- and four-star generals. We got too many as it is,” Tuberville said.
The administration’s nominee problems pale in comparison to those that plagued former President Donald Trump, who was unsuccessful on several Federal Reserve nominees and multiple Cabinet picks. Republicans also sank or criticized some of his judicial nominees.
“Sometimes administrations don’t do a good job of vetting their nominees. And when they don’t, then things like this happen,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the whip during two years of Trump’s presidency, referring to Washington’s withdrawal.
Biden’s first two years as president also saw some intraparty opposition: Senate Democrats opposed Saule Omarova’s nomination to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and sank David Weil’s bid to head the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. Manchin also singlehandedly spiked Neera Tanden’s nomination to be Biden’s budget chief.
“We have successfully confirmed over 800 nominees, including many in a 50-50 Senate last session. An onslaught of unfounded Republican attacks on Mr. Washington’s service and experience irresponsibly delayed this process,” said a White House official.
The official added: “As of last week, we have nominated agency leaders on pace with Obama and confirmed 100 more than Trump had at this time in his administration.”
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#Bidens #nominees #hit #Senate #skids
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 28, 2023
Khanna’s pass clarifies California Senate race — and his political future

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Beyond the timing, simple math would have posed a challenge. Porter, Lee and Schiff are all vying for the same finite pool of Democratic and independent votes as they jostle to make it out of the primary. Two Democrats could advance under California’s primary system, which allows the top two vote-getters to move on to the general.
Progressives are already wary of Lee and Porter dividing the left-leaning vote in a way that locks both Congressional Progressive Caucus members out of the top two, allowing the more-centrist Schiff to advance and face a likely-doomed Republican in the general (the GOP has not yet fielded a candidate).
Khanna could have further fractured the progressive vote given his standing among California’s substantial bloc of Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters. Khanna co-chaired Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign and said on Sunday that he had heard “enthusiasm from Bernie folks.”
“If Khanna had gotten in the race, progressives risked splitting the vote three ways and giving Schiff a boost,” said Rose Kapolczynski, a Democratic consultant who worked for former Sen. Barbara Boxer. “While Schiff is a progressive by most measures, progressive activists have been backing Porter or Lee.”
Now, some of that Sanders support could flow toward Lee, whom Khanna endorsed as he bowed out. Lee’s camp is counting on an energized progressive base vaulting the East Bay fixture into the top two.
“We need a strong anti-war senator, and she will play that role,” Khanna said Sunday morning on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Khanna’s deep Silicon Valley ties could make him a conduit to powerful donors and help Lee make up a steep cash-on-hand deficit compared to Schiff and Porter, both of whom are prolific fundraisers.
“Congressman Khanna’s endorsement is a much-needed boost in these early days of the race, but Rep. Lee still has a steep climb ahead,” consultant Anna Bahr, who worked for Sanders’ 2020 California campaign, said in a text message. “It won’t be easy to get on level footing with the front-runners in the race.”

Few doubt Khanna’s ambition. He primaried another Democrat to win his spot in Congress. He has become a television fixture who touts a progressive agenda while seeking to export Silicon Valley’s economic might to other parts of the country, making a case for forging inroads beyond coastal blue bastions. He is a stalwart Sanders supporter who is comfortable hobnobbing with deep-pocketed tech libertarians.
This marks the second time Khanna flirted with a Senate run but decided against it; he also chose not to challenge Sen. Alex Padilla when the recently appointed senator was running for a full term. Khanna said on Sunday he was bowing out of contention in part because “the most exciting place to advance bold and progressive policy right now is in the House.”
He will remain there rather than forfeiting a spot in Congress for a long-shot Senate bid. But that doesn’t mean Khanna intends to stay in the House forever. Some Sanders backers sought to draft Khanna to run in 2024 should President Joe Biden not seek a second term.
While Khanna has steadfastly supported Biden, he is widely seen as a future presidential contender. That prospect would diminish if he were to give up his House seat for a Senate run and fall short, depriving himself of a platform for policymaking, public visibility, and fundraising.
“If Ro Khanna goes all-out for Barbara Lee and she makes it into the runoff, that could be a big proof point for him as he pursues other things,” Kapolczynski said. “That he helped elected the only Black woman in the Senate is a pretty good talking point if you have national ambitions.”
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#Khannas #pass #clarifies #California #Senate #race #political #future
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 27, 2023
Elizabeth Warren kicks off her Senate reelection bid

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“I first ran for Senate because I saw how the system is rigged for the rich and the powerful and against everyone else,” Warren says in the clip.
“Now, I’m running for Senate again because there’s a lot more we’ve got to do: Pass a wealth tax. Make child care affordable. Protect our coastal communities. And build a 21st-century transportation system across all of Massachusetts,” she said. “Oh — and like I’ve been saying for years — put stricter rules on banks so they don’t crash and hurt working people.”
Warren has said she’s running for reelection for the better part of two years now. But her official announcement should go a long way in helping quell the persistent rumors that she might forgo such a bid to run for president again, take another shot at a Cabinet position, or, at 73, just step aside.
Warren hasn’t waged a campaign in Massachusetts since finishing third in the state’s 2020 presidential primary. And recent polls show mixed messages about her standing here.
A MassINC Polling Group survey from early February showed fewer than half of Massachusetts residents want Warren to seek another term. But support for her reelection bid is at 69 percent among Democrats. And a late-February Change Research poll conducted for Northwind Strategies shows Warren’s favorability at a whopping 83 percent among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Both surveys were done before bank failures put Warren and her push for stronger oversight squarely back in the spotlight.
There’s no shortage of ambitious Democrats in this deep-blue state who dream of landing in Warren’s seat. But her launch video includes a cast of supporting characters that would be intimidating to potential challengers. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who’s widely expected to be a contender the next time a Senate seat opens up here, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Warren protégé, both appear. So does Sen. Ed Markey, who says he’s running again in 2026.
Warren faces only nominal opposition at this point, from an Athol Republican-turned-Libertarian. Republicans are hunting for someone to challenge her. But that’s also likely to be a long shot with two of the GOP’s strongest potential contenders, former Gov. Charlie Baker and former Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, cashing in in the private sector after declining to seek third terms.
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#Elizabeth #Warren #kicks #Senate #reelection #bid
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 27, 2023
Ro Khanna endorses Barbara Lee for Senate in California

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“We need a strong anti-war senator, and she will play that role,” he said.
Lee is facing off against fellow Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, who have each already picked up key endorsements, from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), respectively. As a leader in the House Progressive Caucus, Khanna’s endorsement could help Lee shore up progressive support in what’s expected to be a competitive — and expensive — race.
“I have respect for them,” Khanna said of Porter and Schiff, “but Barbara Lee is a unique voice. She was the lone vote against the endless war in Afghanistan. She stood up so strongly against the war in Iraq. She worked with me and stopping — trying to stop the war in Yemen and the war powers resolution.”
Khanna also noted that there are currently no African American women in the Senate, and Lee would fill that void. “Frankly, Jake, representation matters,” Khanna told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“The other two are formidable candidates, but I think Barbara Lee is going to be very, very strong.”
Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in Senate history, announced her plans to forgo a 2024 bid last month. The 89-year-old’s retirement was widely expected, so much so that Porter and Schiff both launched their campaigns before she officially bowed out (though Schiff said his run was predicated on Feinstein’s retirement.)
California’s primary system allows the top two vote-getters to advance to the general election regardless of party, a system that’s likely to pit two Democrats against each other in November 2024 in a solidly blue state.
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#Khanna #endorses #Barbara #Lee #Senate #California
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 26, 2023