Congressional Negotiators Down to a Few Issues on $900B US Aid Plan

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Negotiators were down to a handful of issues as they sought to finalize an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package Saturday, still optimistic the overdue talks would soon produce an agreement. The Senate convened a Saturday session, while House members stood by for a vote that will come no earlier than Sunday.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said a provision by Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would curb emergency Federal Reserve powers was the biggest hurdle to sealing a deal.”That has to be resolved. And then everything will fall into place,” she said. “It’s a very significant difference.”Democrats said Toomey’smore

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Congress Averts Shutdown; Fight Continues Over Pandemic Aid

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Congress passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night, averting a partial government shutdown and buying yet more time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package.The virus aid talks remained on track, both sides said, but closing out final disagreements was proving difficult. Weekend sessions were on tap, and House leaders hoped for a vote on Sunday on the massive package, which wraps much of Capitol Hill’s unfinished 2020 business into a take-it-or-leave-it behemoth.The House passed the temporary funding bill by a 320-60 vote. The Senate approved it by voice vote almost immediatelymore

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Congress Passes Bill to Avert US Government Shutdown

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Congress swiftly passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night to avert a partial government shutdown, trying to buy time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said early in the day he was “even more optimistic now than I was last night,” but Democrats launched a concerted campaign to block an effort by Republicans to rein in emergency Federal Reserve lending powers. They said the GOP proposal would deprive President-elect Joe Biden of crucial tools to manage the economy.U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky,more

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Snags on US COVID-19 Relief May Force Weekend Sessions

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It’s a hurry up and wait moment on Capitol Hill as congressional negotiators on a must-pass, almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package struggled through a handful of remaining snags. The holdups mean a weekend session now appears virtually certain, and a top lawmaker warned that a government shutdown this weekend can’t be ruled out.All sides appeared hopeful that the wrangling wouldn’t derail the legislation, even as the chances for announcing a deal Thursday slipped away. After being bogged down for much of the day, negotiators reported behind-the-scenes progress Thursday night.The central elements of a hard-fought compromise appeared in place:more

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Biden Names Michael Regan as EPA Head 

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President-elect Joe Biden has picked Michael S. Regan,  head of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, to head the Environmental Protection Agency.North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat who hired Regan, called him “a consensus builder and a fierce protector of the environment. He’s been part of a strong, diverse cabinet in North Carolina. And if he is selected by the president-elect, I have no doubt that he will do the same kind of job for our country,” The Associated Press reported.Democratic U.S. Representative G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina said Regan was “well-prepared to meet the environmental challenges of ourmore

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As Pandemic Rages Across US, Congress Scrambles to Reach Relief Deal

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As the coronavirus pandemic roared to new record highs across the United States, it lit a fire in the U.S. Congress, where Republicans and Democrats were scrambling to pass a new round of aid after months of partisan finger-pointing and inaction. Even as they contemplated passing a third stopgap measure to give them a few more days to agree on final amounts, lawmakers from both parties said COVID-19’s worsening toll meant that failure to agree was no longer an option. Multiple lawmakers floated the possibility the federal government would run out of money early Saturday morning while the COVID-19 relief negotiations continuemore

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Biden Names Deb Haaland as First Native American to Head Interior

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President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate New Mexico Congresswoman Deb Haaland to be secretary of the interior. She would be the first Native American to lead the agency. Haaland, 60, is a member of the Laguna Pueblo. The Interior Department has a large influence over the country’s nearly 600 federally recognized tribes, in addition to overseeing federal lands, including wildlife, national parks and mineral wealth. Native American groups were pleased. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said he was overjoyed, according to The Associated Press. “It is truly a historic and unprecedented day for all Indigenous people,” he said. Environmental groups also praised the choice. “Representativemore

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US Lawmakers Nearing COVID-19 Aid Deal Ahead of Holiday Break 

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U.S. lawmakers are nearing agreement on an almost $750 billion aid deal addressing the economic impact of the coronavirus.“We made major headway toward hammering out a targeted pandemic relief package that would be able to pass both chambers with bipartisan majorities,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday.The aid package is based on a $908 billion proposal unveiled by a bipartisan group of senators Monday and will likely set aside the two major points of contention between the parties: business liability protections and state and local aid.FILE – A restaurant closed for indoor dining to curbmore

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Pompeo Quarantines, but Tests Negative for Coronavirus

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is quarantining after an encounter with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, the State Department said Wednesday. Pompeo tested negative. The top U.S. diplomat “is being closely monitored by the department’s medical team,” a spokesperson said. The agency said that “for reasons of privacy,” it would not identify the infected person who came in contact with Pompeo. “The secretary has been tested and is negative,” the spokesperson said, but in accordance with the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “he will be in quarantine.” It was not known how Pompeo encountered someone infectedmore

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Barr Resignation Caps Controversial Term

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U.S. Attorney General William Barr abruptly resigned this week, capping a controversial tenure during which he was applauded by Republicans for restoring the rule of law and excoriated by critics for acting more like President Donald Trump’s personal attorney than the nation’s top law enforcement officer.   Trump announced Barr’s resignation Monday on Twitter, writing that the 70-year-old attorney general will be stepping down on December 23, a little less than two years after the president tapped him to replace his first, ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions.   Controversy over Barr’s 22 months at the helm of the Justice Department, the secondmore

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Mexico’s President Congratulates Biden on Election Win

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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador congratulated U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory, after U.S. state electors voted Monday to make Biden’s election official.  Speaking at his daily news conference in Mexico City on Tuesday, López Obrador told reporters he intentionally waited until after the Electoral College vote before writing Biden. The Mexican leader read the letter as it was displayed behind him, in which he called for good bilateral relations with the United States and the Biden administration “based on collaboration, friendship and respect for our sovereignty.” López Obrador said he was certain that with Biden as president itmore

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Biden to Pick Former Michigan Gov. Granholm as Energy Secretary

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President-elect Joe Biden is expected to pick former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to be secretary of energy in his administration, two people familiar with the decision said Tuesday. Granholm, 61, was Michigan’s first female governor, serving two terms in the battleground state from 2003 to 2011. She worked with Biden, who was vice president under former President Barack Obama, on the 2009 bailout of automobile manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler. A spokesman for Biden’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Granholm did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. While governor, Granholm supported efforts to buildmore

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No Sign of Trump Concession as Top Senate Republican Admits Biden Won

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After weeks of silence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, following Monday’s formal vote by the Electoral College that cemented Biden’s victory in the November 3 election. Yet there is still no sign President Donald Trump is willing to accept defeat. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports. …

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Lawmakers Race to Make COVID-19 Aid Deal Ahead of Holiday Break

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Republican and Democratic leaders continued negotiations Tuesday in an effort to reach an agreement on a new round of coronavirus aid that has eluded lawmakers for months.  Without a deal, several key programs are set to expire at the end of month, including unemployment aid that reaches 12 million out-of-work Americans and a rental eviction moratorium that is keeping an estimated 40 million Americans sheltered during the cold winter months.  Funding for the U.S. government also is set to run out Friday, when a short-term extension expires.   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested that to pass more funding formore

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US Senate Republican Leader Acknowledges Biden Victory

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Six weeks after the U.S. presidential election, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged Tuesday that Democrat Joe Biden is the country’s president-elect.McConnell congratulated Biden as President Donald Trump continued his unfounded claims that voter fraud cheated him out of reelection.McConnell, who had refrained from declaring Biden the winner, said in a Senate speech that Biden’s 306-232 victory Monday in the Electoral College made his claim to a four-year term in the White House a reality.“As of this morning, our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect,” McConnell said. “Many millions of us had hoped the presidential electionmore

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Biden Picks Former Rival Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Chief

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has named Pete Buttigieg, one of his former rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, as head of the Department of Transportation in his new administration, according to news accounts Tuesday.   Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was a surprise contender in the Democratic presidential race last year. He was the first openly gay major party candidate to win convention delegates in a bid for the White House.   But Buttigieg’s campaign eventually stalled, and he dropped out of the race before the Democratic Party primaries in early March, and later endorsed Biden.  Biden has comparedmore

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Biden Inauguration Stresses Public Health Safety During Ceremonies

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President-elect Joe Biden’s Presidential Inaugural Committee announced measures Tuesday to protect public health during an inauguration that will take place in the midst of a coronavirus crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States. The committee said in a statement it is collaborating with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies “to ensure that the inauguration … honors and resembles sacred American traditions while keeping Americans safe and preventing the spread of COVID-19.” On January 20, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take oaths of office at the U.S. Capitol with “vigorous health and safety protocols,”more

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Biden to Campaign for Georgia Democratic Senate Candidates

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will campaign Tuesday in the southern state of Georgia for two Democratic Senate candidates involved in crucial runoff elections next month that will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate during the first two years of Biden’s presidency. Biden is due to appear with the candidates — investigative documentary filmmaker Jon Ossoff and clergyman Raphael Warnock — in Atlanta, the state capital and Georgia’s largest city. The two Democrats face incumbent Republican lawmakers in the January 5 elections — Ossoff against Sen. David Perdue and Warnock facing Sen. Kelly Loeffler. In-Person Voting Begins in Crucial Georgia Senate Runoffsmore

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‘Democracy Prevailed,’ Biden Declares After Electoral College Vote

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“In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” President-elect Joe Biden said Monday night, shortly after the Electoral College vote that confirmed his presidency.While urging Americans that now is the time “to unite, to heal,” Biden for the first time bluntly condemned attempts by President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results, calling it an “unprecedented assault on our democracy.”Not even an abuse of power can stop a peaceful transition, Biden said, just hours after members of the Electoral College voted in every state and the District of Columbia.“We the people voted, faith in our institutions held,more

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‘Democracy Prevailed’: Biden Aims to Unify Divided Nation

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President-elect Joe Biden told Americans on Monday that “democracy prevailed” as electors nationwide cast votes affirming his victory in last month’s election, saying the country’s governing principles were “pushed, tested, threatened” but did not crumble.  In a speech from his longtime home of Wilmington, Delaware, Biden aimed to guide Americans past the tumult of the campaign and President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept defeat.  “If anyone didn’t know it before, we know it now. What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this: Democracy,” Biden said. “The right to be heard. To have your vote counted. Tomore

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Crunch Time for COVID-19 Relief as Bipartisan Bills Unveiled

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled a detailed COVID-19 aid proposal on Monday in hopes it would serve as a model for its battling leaders to follow as they try to negotiate a final agreement on a new round of virus relief.  The dozen or so lawmakers unveiled two bills. One is a $748 billion aid package containing money for struggling businesses, the unemployed, schools and vaccine distribution. The other bill proposes a $160 billion aid package for state and local governments that is favored by Democrats and GOP-sought provisions shielding businesses from COVID-19-related lawsuits. But agreement proved impossible, and mostmore

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Trump Says Barr Resigning, Will Leave Before Christmas

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Attorney General William Barr, one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, is resigning amid lingering tension with the president over the president’s baseless claims of election fraud and the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son. Barr went Monday to the White House, where Trump said the attorney general submitted his letter of resignation.  “As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted. Trump has publicly expressed his anger about Barr’s statement to The Associated Press earlier this month that the Justice Department had found no widespread election fraud that would change themore

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In-Person Voting Begins in Crucial Georgia Senate Runoffs

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In-person early voting begins Monday in the U.S. state of Georgia where two runoff elections will decide which political party holds a majority in the U.S. Senate when a new term begins in January.Democrats are challenging two Republican incumbents after no candidate earned an absolute majority in either race in the November general election.Republicans currently stand to hold a 50 to 48 advantage in the 100-seat Senate. But with a Democrat winning the presidential election, and the vice president wielding a tie-breaker vote in a 50-50 Senate, Democrats could claim a majority by winning both Georgia seats.With Democrats already holdingmore

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