US House Republicans Oust Liz Cheney From Key Party Leadership Post

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Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives ousted Congresswoman Liz Cheney Wednesday from her party leadership post over her criticism of former president Donald Trump for his claims that voter fraud cost him re-election last November.   The caucus, in a voice vote, removed the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney from her position as chair of the House Republican Conference, the third-highest position in House Republican leadership, responsible for communicating the party’s message to the general public.   Republicans are in a slight minority in the House compared to the majority Democrats, but one key Republican, Congressman Jimmore

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House Republicans Oust Cheney from Top Party Leadership Post

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Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives removed Representative Liz Cheney from her party leadership post over her criticism of former President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in last November’s presidential election.The caucus voted Wednesday to oust the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney from her post as chair of the House Republican Conference, the third-highest position in A sign bearing the name of Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., outside of her office on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 11, 2021.In a speech on the House floor on Tuesday night, Cheney described Trump’s continuing efforts to delegitimize the election results as “ a threat America hasmore

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US House Republicans Expected to Oust Liz Cheney from Top Party Leadership Post

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Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are poised to remove Representative Liz Cheney from her party leadership post over her criticism of former President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in last November’s presidential election. The caucus is expected to vote Wednesday to oust the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney from her post as chair of the Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 17, 2019.  She first drew fire within the party when she voted for Trump’s impeachment for his role in inciting the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when hundreds of his supporters stormed the buildingmore

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Top House Republican Says He Backs Ousting Cheney From No. 3 Job

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Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy on Sunday publicly endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik for the post of No. 3 leader, cementing party support of the Donald Trump loyalist over Rep. Liz Cheney, an outspoken critic of the former president for promoting discredited claims that the 2020 election was stolen. House Republicans could vote as early as Wednesday to remove Cheney, the highest-ranking woman in the Republican leadership and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and replace her with Stefanik, whose ascension has received Trump’s backing. Asked in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” whether he supported Stefanik, R-N.Y., for the job of Republican Conference chair,more

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No, Biden is Not After Americans’ Burgers

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Some Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators continue to falsely claim that President Joe Biden’s climate plan will force Americans to eat far less red meat. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara looks at how burgers have become the latest battlefield in the country’s culture war. …

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With Ambassador Picks, Biden Faces Donor vs. Diversity Test

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President Joe Biden is facing a fresh challenge to his oft-repeated  commitment to diversity in his administration: assembling a diplomatic corps that gives a nod to key political allies and donors while staying true to a campaign pledge to appoint ambassadors who look like America. More than three months into his administration, Biden has put forward just 11 ambassador nominations and has more than 80 such slots to fill around the globe. Administration officials this week signaled that Biden is ready to ramp up ambassador nominations as the president prepares for foreign travel and turns greater attention to global effortsmore

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Twitter Suspends Accounts Skirting Trump Ban

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Twitter confirmed Thursday that it pulled the plug on several accounts trying to skirt its ban on former President Donald Trump by promoting his blog posts. The ex-president launched a page on his website earlier this week promising comment “straight from the desk of Donald J Trump.” The page was made public just before Facebook’s independent oversight board on Wednesday upheld the platform’s ban on Trump. Twitter accounts with names playing on Trump themes and seeking to amplify the Trump website posts were taken offline, according to the platform. “As stated in our ban evasion policy, we’ll take enforcement action on accounts whose apparentmore

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US Support of Vaccine Patent Waiver is Only the First Step

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World leaders welcomed the Biden administration’s announced support for waiving patent restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines, the so-called TRIPS waiver, at the World Trade Organization. While this could be a breakthrough in the global fight against the pandemic, as White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports, it’s just the first step in a long and complicated process.  …

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Biden, in Louisiana, Tries to Bridge Troubled Waters

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Politicians usually prefer to pose and smile in front of public works projects of pride. U.S. President Joe Biden did the opposite on Thursday — holding photo opportunities with a poorly maintained bridge as the backdrop and then touring a decrepit water treatment plant, with cameras in tow.“We’re standing here in the shadow of the I-10 bridge, which I’ve gone over several times myself in the past. And it’s a perfect example how we’ve neglected as a nation to invest in the future of our economy and the future of our people,” said Biden in Lake Charles, Louisiana, after hemore

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Florida Governor Signs Voting Restriction Bill into Law

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a voter restriction bill, making it the latest election battleground state in the south to adopt Republican-backed restrictions since the November presidential election.   DeSantis and his fellow Republicans in the state legislature said the law was necessary to prevent voter fraud, despite the lack of voting irregularities last November.     The new law restricts when ballot drop boxes can be used during an early voting period, who can retrieve ballots, and the number of ballots that can be collected.   Voters requesting absentee ballots now face new identification requirements, andmore

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Judge Orders Justice Dept. to Release Trump Obstruction Memo

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A federal judge has ordered the release of a legal memorandum the Trump-era Justice Department prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr before he announced his conclusion that President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice during the Russia investigation. The Justice Department had refused to give the March 24, 2019, memorandum to a government transparency group that requested it under the Freedom of Information Act, saying the document represented the private advice of lawyers and was produced before any formal decision had been made and was therefore exempt from disclosure under public records law. But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson,more

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US Lawmaker Liz Cheney Drawing Criticism for Attacks on Trump

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U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday there is growing concern among Republican lawmakers about the ability of Congresswoman Liz Cheney to lead the party’s caucus in the chamber while she continues to assail former President Donald Trump for inciting his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6. “I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out her job as conference chair, to carry out the message” supporting Republicans trying to win control of the House from Democrats in next year’s congressional elections, McCarthy told the Fox News Channel. FILE – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy,more

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Biden to Quadruple Refugee Cap

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U.S. President Joe Biden, who initially decided to keep intact his predecessor’s historically low number of annual refugee admissions, Monday announced he is quadrupling this year’s total.  “I am revising the United States’ annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for this fiscal year,” the president said in a statement Monday afternoon. “This erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America’s values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees. The new admissions cap will also reinforce efforts that are already under way to expand the United States’ capacity to admit refugees,more

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Biden Pushes Education Spending at Stops in Virginia

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President Joe Biden traveled Monday to coastal Virginia to promote his plans to increase spending on education and children, part of his $1.8 trillion families proposal announced last week. Visiting Tidewater Community College with first lady Jill Biden, the president discussed his $109 billion proposal to provide Americans with two years of tuition-free community college. He’s also seeking more than $80 billion for Pell Grants to help college affordability and $62 billion for programs that could improve completion rates at community colleges and institutions that predominantly serve disadvantaged students. The president said that education was the key to the country’s dominance andmore

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Trump Calls 2020 Election Defeat a ‘Big Lie’ 

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump lost his reelection contest to Democrat Joe Biden six months ago Monday, but he is still claiming he was cheated out of another term in the White House, leaving some Republican officials at odds with one another and Trump over the legitimacy of Biden’s victory.”The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!” Trump said in a new statement.The former president’s commentary from his Atlantic Ocean mansion in Florida appropriated the “big lie” sentiment his political opponents have used to describe his claims that he won. Trumpmore

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US Secretary of State to Hold Talks in Ukraine About Russian Aggression

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves for Europe on Sunday, where he will hold meetings in London and Kyiv.Blinken’s first stop will be London, where he will meet with the foreign secretaries from the Group of Seven countries. Later in the week, he will travel to Kyiv to show U.S. support for Ukraine’s government as it faces threats to its sovereignty from Russia.The meetings in London with the G-7 ministers are in preparation for the meeting of the G-7 leaders in June in Cornwall.The ministers are also expected to discuss their handling of challenges they are all facing, includingmore

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Biden Celebrates Amtrak’s 50 Years on the Rails 

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President Joe Biden, once a regular Amtrak rider, helped the nation’s passenger rail system celebrate 50 years of service Friday.As a U.S. senator, Biden was a fixture on Amtrak trains between his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and Washington when the Senate was in session. He continued riding Amtrak as vice president. He has sometimes been referred to as “Amtrak Joe.”But with a presidential train trip challenging because of security concerns, Biden instead flew to Philadelphia for Amtrak’s celebration at its busy 30th Street Station. He was introduced by a conductor who worked the route when Biden was a regular passenger.more

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Florida Legislature Passes Bill Limiting Ballot Access

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Florida’s Legislature on Thursday passed a bill that makes it harder to access drop boxes and mail-in ballots, the latest Republican-led state to push for what activists say is voter suppression.Republicans cite former President Donald Trump’s claims that President Joe Biden stole the November election as reasons for the sweeping measures. Judges discredited such claims, made without evidence, in more than 60 lawsuits that failed to overturn the election result.Democrats say the Republican measures are designed to lessen the impact of Black voters, whose heavy turnout helped propel Biden to victory and delivered Democrats two U.S. Senate victories in Georgiamore

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Biden Takes Victory Lap at Drive-In Rally on 100th Day in Office

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Marking his 100th day as president of the United States, Joe Biden said Thursday that he had never been more optimistic about the future of America, because the country “is on the move again. We’re choosing hope over fear, truth over lies, light over darkness.”Biden spoke at a drive-in political rally near Atlanta, funded by the Democratic National Committee.”You’re proving democracy can deliver for the people,” the president said to the approval of the honking horns of the 315 vehicles in attendance on the grounds of the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, northeast of Atlanta.The U.S. Senate runoffs in January inmore

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Largest Aid Package in US History Caps First Weeks of Biden Presidency

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U.S. President Joe Biden took office three months ago working with a Congress narrowly controlled by Democrats. While Biden faced twin economic and public health crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Capitol Hill was consumed by the second impeachment trial of his predecessor, Donald Trump. VOA congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson looks at the new president’s dealings with lawmakers during his first 100 days.Producer: Katherine Gypson.  …

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Biden, Aides Tout Infrastructure, Family Aid Proposals

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U.S. President Joe Biden and key administration officials are embarking on an extensive campaign to promote his $4 trillion spending proposals to repair the country’s infrastructure and boost assistance for children and families.On Thursday, his 100th day in office, Biden headed to the southern state of Georgia, a key political battleground he narrowly captured in the November election to hold a campaign-style drive-in rally near the state’s biggest city, Atlanta.His effort comes the day after his first address to a joint session of Congress in which he laid out what he called a “blue-collar blueprint” to help middle-class Americans gainmore

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