Pelosi Confirms Asia Visit, Doesn’t Mention Taiwan

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U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed Sunday she is leading a congressional delegation to Asia but did not mention whether she will defy China by making a stop in Taiwan. In a statement, Pelosi said she is leading a group of five other Democratic Party lawmakers to Asia “to reaffirm America’s strong and unshakeable commitment to our allies and friends in the region.” The trip will include stops in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, the statement said. The group already stopped in Hawaii, where it received a briefing from the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command, it added. U.S. media reportsmore

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Top US Diplomat Travels to Asia, Africa as Global Powers Fight for Influence

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to East Asia and Africa next week seeking to counter the influence of Russia and China in a fight for global influence. Blinken begins his travels Tuesday on a tour that will take him to Cambodia, the Philippines, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. During his first stop in Cambodia, he will attend a Southeast Asian regional security forum where both the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers are expected to be in attendance. When asked if Blinken would hold direct meetings with either Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ormore

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House Passes Semiautomatic Gun Ban After 18-Year Lapse

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The House passed legislation Friday to revive a ban on semiautomatic guns, the first vote of its kind in years and a direct response to the firearms often used in the crush of mass shootings ripping through communities nationwide. Once banned in the U.S., the high-powered firearms are now widely seen as the weapon of choice among young men responsible for many of the most devastating mass shootings. But Congress allowed the restrictions first put in place in 1994 on the manufacture and sales of the weapons to expire a decade later, unable to muster the political support to countermore

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US House Speaker Pelosi to Depart on Asia Trip Friday

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Media reports indicated U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will depart with a delegation of lawmakers on her trip to Asia late Friday, but whether she plans to go through with a controversial visit to Taiwan is unclear. During a briefing Friday, Pelosi, as she has repeatedly done in recent days, refused to discuss a departure date for her trip, citing security concerns. But she said the trip was significant because U.S. President Joe Biden had emphasized the Asia-Pacific region in his foreign policy and Congress had a role to play in that. Since the possible visit to Taiwan was mentionedmore

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Congress OKs Bill to Aid Computer Chip Firms, Counter China 

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The House on Thursday passed a $280 billion package to boost the semiconductor industry and scientific research in a bid to create more high-tech jobs in the United States and help it better compete with international rivals, namely China.  The House approved the bill by a solid margin of 243-187, sending the measure to President Joe Biden to be signed into law and providing the White House with a major domestic policy victory. Twenty-four Republicans voted for the legislation. The Senate passed the bill Wednesday, 64-33. “Today, the House passed a bill that will make cars cheaper, appliances cheaper and computersmore

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Washington Requests Troops to Aid With Migrant Arrivals From Texas, Arizona 

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Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has requested the deployment of military troops to assist with migrants arriving on buses sent by the Texas and Arizona state governments, according to letters sent by her office to U.S. military and White House officials.  Bowser, a Democrat, has asked in recent weeks for federal funds to provide shelter and services to migrants arriving on buses from the two Republican-led states, which sought to make a political statement by sending border crossers to Washington.  “Our ability to assist people in need at this scale is very limited,” Bowser said in a letter to White Housemore

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Key Senate Democrats Agree on $430B Tax, Drugs, Energy Bill 

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U.S. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said Wednesday that he had reached a deal with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on a bill to increase corporate taxes, reduce the national debt, invest in energy technologies and lower the cost of prescription drugs.  Manchin has often been a roadblock to President Joe Biden’s policy goals, including those specifically addressed in the bill. He previously said he wanted to address high U.S. prescription drug costs, but he was concerned more government spending could increase inflation.  The bill includes $430 billion in new spending on energy and health insurance investments, and it more thanmore

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Senate Advances Key Legislation Addressing US Competition With China

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The U.S. Senate passed the CHIPs bill by a vote of 64-33 Wednesday, advancing legislation that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say will be key in addressing U.S. economic competition with China. The $280 billion bill provides $52 billion in grants and incentives to domestic producers of semiconductors, a key element in a wide range of products that require microchips but that are often manufactured abroad. “Today is a very good day for the American people into the future of our country. I believe firmly that when signed into law, this bill will reawaken the spirit of discoverymore

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US Justice Department Probing Trump’s Efforts to Overturn Election, Says Washington Post

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The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Donald Trump’s actions in its criminal probe of the former president’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing sources.  The Justice Department has been interviewing former White House officials, including the former chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, who confirmed on Monday he had testified to a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his defeat.  Prosecutors questioning witnesses before the grand jury have asked about conversations with Trumpmore

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In Defiant Speech, Trump Digs in on Claims of Election Fraud

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated his false claim that he won the 2020 election during a wide-ranging policy speech that marked his defiant return to Washington – and hinted at his possible return to politics.  “I always say I ran the first time and I won,” he said, speaking to about 600 well-heeled supporters in a hotel ballroom just a mile from The White House. “Then I ran a second time, and I did much better. We got millions and millions more votes. And you know what? That’s going to be a story for a long time.more

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China Raises Stakes Over Pelosi Trip to Taiwan

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U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential plan to visit Taiwan during her trip to Asia in August has prompted a belligerent response from China, with the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry warning that Beijing would “act strongly to resolutely respond” and “take countermeasures” if Pelosi traveled to the island. In a news conference on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian confirmed a report in the Financial Times over the weekend that said China’s warnings were “significantly stronger” over the House speaker’s potential visit than during the previous times it had been unhappy with U.S. policy toward Taiwan. “The Chinese sidemore

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Biden Presses Computer Chips Case in Advance of Senate Vote

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Calling semiconductors “the building blocks for the modern economy,” President Joe Biden on Monday asked Congress to move quickly and send him a bipartisan bill designed to boost the computer chips industry and high-tech research in the United States.  The Senate was originally expected to take a critical vote in the evening to advance the legislation, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that storms on the East Coast had disrupted travel plans for several senators and that he would be delaying the vote until Tuesday morning. The bill needs support from at least 60 senators to clear proceduralmore

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Liz Cheney: Trump Role in Capitol Riot ‘Most Serious Misconduct’ by Any US President

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Congresswoman Liz Cheney, one of the leaders of the investigation into the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last year, said Sunday that Donald Trump engaged in the “most serious misconduct” of any U.S. president in history by inciting the mayhem and then refusing for more than three hours to call off the rioters. Trump is broadly hinting at another run for the White House in 2024 but Cheney, the vice chairperson of the congressional investigative committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union” show on Sunday there is “no doubt in my mind he’s unfit” for elected office andmore

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Native American News Roundup July 17-23, 2022 

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Here is a summary of Native American-related news around the U.S. this week: Haaland not hindered by leg injury Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, is recovering from an injury she incurred while hiking in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park on Sunday. An Interior Department statement released Monday said she had been treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a broken tibia of her left leg. That didn’t stop her from returning to work Monday when she hosted tribal and Native Hawaiian community leaders as part of the administration’s Tribalmore

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California Enacts Gun Control Law Inspired by Texas Abortion Ban

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California’s governor signed into law Friday new gun control legislation modeled on a legal approach used in Texas to curb access to abortions. Last year, well before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to an abortion, the Republican-controlled state of Texas enacted a new law allowing individuals to sue anyone helping to terminate a pregnancy, if a fetal heartbeat could be detected. The Texas law allowed the individuals who filed the civil complaints, if they won their case, to receive “damages” of at least $10,000. Officials in the heavily Democrat-leaning state of California, where there is solid supportmore

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Calls Rise in US Congress to Designate Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism

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As the war in Ukraine approaches the end of its fifth month and Russian attacks on civilian sites are reported on a near-daily basis, pressure is mounting on the Biden administration to officially designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. This week, according to reporting by Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that if he does not exercise the power delegated to him by Congress to make the designation, lawmakers themselves will do so. Russia is already under crippling sanctions, imposed by the U.S. and a host of other countries, but official designation asmore

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Jan. 6 Probe: Trump ‘Chose Not to Act’ on Mob Violence

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U.S. lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol last year said then-President Donald Trump chose not to act for more than three hours as thousands of his supporters rampaged through the Capitol trying to block the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory. “President Trump sat at his dining table and watched the attack on television while his senior-most staff, closest advisers and family members begged him to do what is expected of any American president,” Representative Elaine Luria, a Democratic committee member, said. Representative Adam Kinzinger, another committee member, said Trump failed to act because the mobmore

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US Congress Moves Toward $52 Billion in Subsidies for Semiconductor Firms

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The Senate this week took a key step toward passing a bill meant to provide $52 billion in subsidies to the semiconductor industry in the United States, part of an effort that lawmakers have characterized as protecting the country from supply shortages such as those that struck during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill, called the CHIPS for America Act, also seeks to make the U.S. more competitive with China. Semiconductors, commonly known as chips, are essential elements of modern manufacturing. They are used in computers, cellphones and automobiles as well as in various other capacities. During the pandemic, chip shortagesmore

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Will Trump Be Prosecuted Over Role in January 6 Attack?

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As the congressional committee examining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol wraps up its first round of public hearings this week, the Justice Department faces rising pressure to prosecute former President Donald Trump in connection with the bloody assault. The Justice Department has charged more than 800 Trump supporters involved in the riot and is investigating others tied to the plot. But it remains unclear whether the department will take the unprecedented step of charging a former president based on the findings of a committee. “We don’t know whether there will be prosecutions that are going tomore

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