US House Democrats Pick Congressman Hakeem Jeffries as New Leader

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Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives picked a new leader Wednesday, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who will become the first Black person to lead either major political party in Congress when the new congressional session opens in January. The 52-year-old Jeffries, a House member for 10 years, has vowed to “get things done,” even though Democrats lost their narrow majority to opposition Republicans in the chamber in the November 8 elections. His selection, in a unanimous vote by acclamation at a caucus of party lawmakers, marks a generational shift for Democrats. Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 82,more

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House Votes to Avert Rail Strike, Impose Deal on Unions

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The U.S. House moved urgently to head off the looming nationwide rail strike on Wednesday, passing a bill that would bind companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached in September but rejected by some of the 12 unions involved.  The measure passed by a vote of 290-137 and now heads to the Senate. If approved there, it will be quickly signed by President Joe Biden, who requested the action.  Biden on Monday asked Congress to intervene and avert the rail stoppage that could strike a devastating blow to the nation’s fragile economy by disrupting the transportation ofmore

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Biden Hails Semiconductor Plant as ‘Game Changer’ for American Manufacturing

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President Joe Biden on Tuesday toured a $300 million semiconductor manufacturing facility in Michigan that aims to create 150 jobs and said the U.S. was “not going to be held hostage anymore” by countries like China that dominate the industry.  “Instead of relying on chips made overseas in places like China, the supply chain for those chips will be here in America,” Biden said to a crowd of more than 400 people who gathered to see him at an SK Siltron CSS facility in Bay City. “In Michigan. It’s a game changer.”  The company is part of the South Koreanmore

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US Senate Votes to Protect Same-Sex, Interracial Marriages at Federal Level

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U.S. senators voted to protect same-sex and interracial marriages Tuesday, 61-36.  Twelve Republicans voted for the legislation, which will head to U.S. President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law after final passage in the U.S. House.     “Our community really needs a win, we have been through a lot,” said Kelley Robinson, the incoming president of Human Rights Campaign, which advocates on LGBTQ issues. “As a queer person who is married, I feel a sense of relief right now. I know my family is safe.”  The legislation repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as betweenmore

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Right-wing Oath Keepers Founder Convicted of Sedition in US Capitol Attack Plot

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Stewart Rhodes, founder of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia group, was convicted by a jury on Tuesday of seditious conspiracy for last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss — an important victory for the Justice Department. Rhodes, a Yale Law School-educated former Army paratrooper and disbarred attorney, was accused by prosecutors during an eight-week trial of fomenting a plot to use force to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump. Rhodes was the best-known of the five defendants in the most significant of themore

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Georgia Runoff: Early Voting for Warnock-Walker Round 2

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In-person early voting for the last U.S. Senate seat is underway statewide in Georgia’s runoff, with Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock working to get the jump on Republican challenger Herschel Walker who is putting less emphasis on advance balloting.  After winning a state lawsuit to allow Saturday voting after Thanksgiving, Warnock spent the weekend urging his supporters not to wait until December 6 to vote. Trying to leverage his role as pastor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s church and Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator, Warnock concentrated his efforts Sunday among Black communities in metro Atlanta.  “What we are doing right nowmore

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The Somali Diaspora and its Journey to Political Victories in the West

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From refugees to elected office, 14 Somali Americans have won legislative seats across the U.S. this year. Some also have been elected to city councils, school boards and the boards of parks and recreation in their respective cities. The U.S. midterm elections have proved to be historic for Somalis, with more women elected to public offices than ever before. VOA Somali Service’s Torch Program explains how Somalis who arrived as migrants and refugees to the West have made their way into politics. Hashi Shafi, executive director of the Somali Action Alliance, a Minneapolis-based community organization in the northern U.S. statemore

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Thwarting a Red Wave, Gen Z Emerges as Powerful Voting Force

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Driven by concerns about climate change, public education and, to a lesser extent, access to abortion, 21-year-old Ava Alferez made sure to vote in the 2022 midterm elections. “I don’t think it’s right to complain about something if you don’t get out there and vote,” says the Virginia college student, who describes herself as a liberal democrat. “I also think that every vote matters.” Alferez is among millions of America’s youngest voters who voted in near-record numbers during the 2022 midterms, breaking heavily for Democrats, and thwarting an anticipated ‘red wave’ that many expected would hand Republicans a significant majoritymore

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As Trump Looms, South Koreans Mull Their Own Nukes

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In December 2019, then-U.S. President Donald Trump was asked whether he thought it was worth it to have “all those” U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. “It could be debated. I could go either way,” Trump answered. The comments came at the height of tense negotiations over Trump’s demand that Seoul pay much more to host approximately 28,000 U.S. troops. Trump’s answer did not come out of the blue. Throughout his time as president — and in fact, even before and after his presidency — Trump regularly questioned the value of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. According to I Alone Canmore

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Republicans Critical of Biden’s Stance During Meeting with Xi

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Congressional Republicans mostly condemned President Joe Biden for saying that there “need not be a new Cold War” between the U.S. and China, following a three-hour summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Indonesia. A few Republicans, however, joined members of Biden’s Democratic Party in cautiously welcoming signs that the meeting may have helped to head off misunderstandings that could lead to unnecessary conflict. Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas tweeted, “Joe Biden has again failed to address or even acknowledge China’s Cold War against the United States. His naive return to a policy of appeasement will hurt themore

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Republicans Win Slim Majority in US House of Representatives

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Republicans won control of the U.S. House on Wednesday, returning the party to power in Washington and giving conservatives leverage to blunt President Joe Biden’s agenda and spur a flurry of investigations. But a threadbare majority will pose immediate challenges for Republican leaders and complicate the party’s ability to govern. More than a week after Election Day, Republicans secured the 218th seat needed to flip the House from Democratic control. The full scope of the party’s majority may not be clear for several more days — or weeks — as votes in competitive races are still being counted. But theymore

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US Senate Advances Protection for Same-Sex, Interracial Marriages at Federal Level  

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U.S. senators took a key step toward protecting same-sex and interracial marriages Wednesday as they advanced the Respect for Marriage Act, 62-37, to a final vote. Twelve Republicans voted to advance the legislation, which will head to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law after final passage in the U.S. House. The legislation would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage as between a man and a woman under federal law. It would also require states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed in other states, although it would not prevent states from passing lawsmore

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McConnell Reelected Senate GOP Leader; Scott’s Bid Rejected

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Senator Mitch McConnell was reelected as Republican leader Wednesday, quashing a challenge from Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the Senate GOP campaign chief criticized over his party’s midterm election failures.  Retreating to the Capitol’s Old Senate Chamber for the private vote, Republicans had faced public infighting following a disappointing performance in last week’s elections that kept Senate control with Democrats.  McConnell, of Kentucky, easily swatted back the challenge from Scott in the first-ever attempt to oust him after many years as GOP leader. The vote was 37-10, senators said, with one other senator voting present. Senators first rejected an attemptmore

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Trump May Face Challenges in Organizing Republican Support

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In the days leading up to former President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday evening that he would seek the Republican Party’s nomination again in 2024, influential voices in conservative political circles expressed their opposition to the idea of handing the party’s reins back to him. With Trump leading the party after his election in 2016, Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives in 2018. Then in 2020, despite his false claims to the contrary, Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden and watched as his party also lost control of the Senate. Last week in elections they were expectedmore

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Elections Put New Voting Laws to the Test

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America has one Senate contest from the 2022 midterm elections that remains undecided, requiring a runoff election December 6 in the southern U.S. state of Georgia where turnout was heavy last week despite new balloting restrictions that some observers had feared would depress turnout of poorer and minority voters. “It was just a very successful election day,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told a press conference the day after the November 8 midterm contests in his state. Raffensperger, a Republican, said the state’s new voting laws did not impact turnout and that major snags on election day were avoidedmore

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Trump Announces 2024 Presidential Run

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Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his decision to run for president in 2024, in the wake of midterm elections that did not award his Republican party as well as expected. But Trump, as the aging leader of the party, is no longer the disruptor that he was in 2016 — this time around, he’s trading on his legacy and says he has big plans for a second Trump administration. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington. …

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Trump Announces 2024 Election Run

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Former President Trump on Tuesday evening formally declared he is seeking the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 election. Speaking for an hour to an invited crowd in a ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump criticized the administration of his successor, Joe Biden, telling supporters it has destroyed the U.S. economy and turned America’s cities into crime-filled “cesspools of blood.” “In order to make America great and glorious again,” Trump said, “I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.” Unlike his last unsuccessful run in 2020 as the incumbent, Trump — who was impeachedmore

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Through US Midterms, Europeans See Democracy Reaffirmed — But for How Long?

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The U.S. midterm elections have been closely followed overseas — especially in Europe, where analysts say some of America’s closest and oldest allies are relieved that U.S. democracy held the course. But many are unsure for how long — and some are calling for a stronger and more independent Europe as a result. In France and elsewhere in the European Union, the U.S. midterm elections have dominated the airwaves, including on Tuesday, as final results trickle in showing the Democrats retaining control of the Senate and the Republicans likely to narrowly win the House. French analyst and historian Nicole Bacharan,more

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Trump Set to Announce Third Presidential Campaign

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Vote counting is not yet complete in the 2022 U.S. congressional elections, and a key Senate runoff contest is three weeks away, but former President Donald Trump is looking ahead, expected Tuesday night to announce he is running again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. It would be his third White House bid, after his upset win over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and his unsuccessful reelection attempt in 2020. To this day, he contends, wrongly, that he was unfairly cheated out of another four-year term because of vote-counting irregularities in several political battleground states he lost to Democratmore

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Foreign Students Returning to US Since Pandemic Decline

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International students are returning to the United States after a significant drop during the pandemic, according to the Open Doors 2022 Report on International Educational Exchange (IEE). During a recent conversation with reporters, higher education officials said enrollment of international students increased almost 4% in the 2021-2022 academic year, from the year before, and almost 9% in the fall of 2022, from the year before. International student enrollment dropped 15% in the 2020-2021 school year. Almost 1 million students came to the U.S. in the 2021-2022 academic year from more than 200 countries. Most of the increase is attributed tomore

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Republicans on Cusp of Winning Control of House of Representatives

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U.S. Republicans were on the cusp Tuesday of winning control of the House of Representatives in the next session of Congress that takes office in January. After new Republican victories Monday night, the party has won 217 seats to the Democrats’ 204 in both parties’ quest for a 218-seat majority in the 435-member chamber. Election analysts say vote counts in the remaining 14 contests give Republicans plenty of opportunities to pick up one more seat and likely additional ones to wrest control of the chamber from the current Democratic majority. Democratic President Joe Biden acknowledged as much on Monday, tellingmore

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Republicans Edge Closer to Winning Control of House of Representatives

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Republicans appeared Monday to be edging closer to winning control of the House of Representatives in the next session of Congress that takes office in January.  Republicans already have won 212 seats to the Democrats’ 204 in both parties’ quest for a 218-seat majority in the 435-member chamber. But election analysts say vote counts in the remaining 19 unsettled contests mostly appeared to be headed in the Republicans’ favor, which eventually could allow them to wrest control of the chamber from the current Democratic majority.  Democratic President Joe Biden acknowledged as much, telling reporters at a G-20 news conference inmore

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Democrats Retain Control of US Senate

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The Democratic Party retained control of the U.S. Senate on Saturday night with the reelection of Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, giving the Democrats 50 seats to the Republicans’ 49, so far. Cortez Masto defeated Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a former Nevada attorney general, to win. With the victories of Cortez Masto, which The Associated Press called Saturday night, and that of Democratic Senator Mark Kelly in Arizona late Friday, Democrats now control 50 Senate seats. One last seat has yet to be filled, Georgia’s. That race will be decided in a Dec. 6 runoff election between Democraticmore

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