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Bernie Sanders confronts former Starbucks CEO over union-busting allegations
WASHINGTON — Democratic senators at a hearing on Wednesday grilled the former CEO of Starbucks over allegations that the giant coffee company intimidated, harassed and fired workers who tried to form unions. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, focused on Starbucks’ […]
State election officials at U.S. Senate hearing discuss threats to workers, call for funding
WASHINGTON — Election officials on Tuesday detailed to the U.S. Senate Rules Committee how their states countered threats to election workers and worked to combat misinformation and disinformation during the 2022 midterm election. With the 2024 presidential election closely approaching, Senate Rules Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was concerned about threats to election […]
GOP bill establishing a federal parental bill of rights passed in U.S. House
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Friday passed a bill designed to empower parents to inspect books and other teaching materials in local public schools, but Democrats sharply criticized the measure, saying it would censor teachers and ban books. The legislation, called the Parents Bill of Rights, passed on a 213-208 vote. It would codify […]
National ban on transgender athletes in girls’ sports passed by U.S. House panel
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee early Thursday passed a bill on a party-line vote that would block transgender girls from competing in school sports consistent with their gender identity, a reflection of a broader push in multiple states to curb the rights of transgender student athletes. The bill, H.R. 734, introduced […]
Biden administration proposes major new limits on asylum at the border
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is rolling out a proposed rule that for two years would bar migrants from applying for asylum at the Southern border if they have not first asked for protection in a country they traveled through. The administration is seeking to limit asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border as a pandemic-era […]
U.S. House speaker visit to Arizona border labeled publicity stunt by White House
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a handful of Republican freshman lawmakers traveled to the U.S. – Mexico border Thursday, where they continued to blame the Biden administration for the fentanyl drug crisis. Leading up to the visit, the White House called it a “publicity stunt.” McCarthy said that there needs to be […]
U.S. House GOP preps for debates on ‘parents’ rights,’ school vouchers and transgender athletes
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top legislative priorities during a Wednesday hearing that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum. The Republican chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, provided a forum for […]
U.S. Senate Democrats unveil legislation to ban high-capacity gun magazines
WASHINGTON — New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, along with 27 of his U.S. Senate colleagues, introduced legislation Tuesday to ban high-capacity magazines, which can be used on the type of semi-automatic firearm that is typically used in most mass shootings. “High-capacity magazines were designed for one purpose and one purpose only — high-capacity killing […]
Biden in State of the Union speech to call for bipartisan action on fentanyl crisis
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday night is expected in his State of the Union address to call on Congress to work with the administration to address in a bipartisan manner the fentanyl crisis, administration officials said on a call with reporters. Biden will call for expanded access to opioid-related addiction treatment and announce […]
White House targets economic development in Central America to reduce migration
WASHINGTON — The White House Monday announced nearly $1 billion in investments to address economic causes of migration in several Central American countries, an effort being spurred by Vice President Kamala Harris. Spread over several years, 10 private companies from Target to Nestlé are pledging $950 million to create economic development in Honduras, El Salvador […]
U.S. House Judiciary’s debut hearing on the border centers on blame for fentanyl crisis
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee blamed the Biden administration for fentanyl drug smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico border during a Wednesday hearing. Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio also blamed U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the number of migrants at the border, and said there are already hundreds of […]
Democrats in Congress condemn Biden administration expansion of Title 42
WASHINGTON — Nearly 80 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to the White House expressing their “great concern” that the Biden administration is walking back on its promise to restore migrants’ access to asylum. In the letter, they also condemned the administration’s expansion of a controversial policy that immediately turns away migrants at the […]