US Senators Reach Deal on Major Points of Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

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U.S. Senate negotiators to a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill have reached agreement on the major components of the measure, Republican Senator Rob Portman told reporters on Wednesday. That could clear the way for the legislation to begin moving through the Senate following months of talks. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said a procedural vote on a bipartisan bill was possible as soon as Wednesday night. FILE – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer attends a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 20, 2021.”Senators continue to make good progress,” Democrat Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor. Republicanmore

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GOP’s Jake Ellzey Wins US House Seat Over Trump-backed Rival

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Republican Jake Ellzey of Texas won a U.S. House seat on Tuesday night over rival backed by Donald Trump, dealing the former president a defeat in a test of his endorsement power since leaving office. Ellzey’s come-from-behind victory over Republican Susan Wright, the widow of the late Rep. Ron Wright, in a special congressional election runoff near Dallas is likely to be celebrated by Trump antagonists who have warned against his continued hold on the GOP. Ellzey was carrying more than 53% of the vote in Texas’ 6th Congressional District with results from almost all precincts reported. Ellzey is a Republican state legislator who finishedmore

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‘This Was a Coup’: Police Officers Describe Capitol Riot to US Lawmakers

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Warning: This TV package includes a soundbite from Tuesday’s congressional hearing that contains profane and racist language.U.S. lawmakers heard emotional testimony from four members of law enforcement Tuesday as a special panel met for the first time to investigate the events of the January 6 attempt by Trump supporters to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports the panel will probe former President Donald Trump’s role in the riot.Produced by: Katherine Gypson   …

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Biden Accuses Russia of Already Interfering in 2022 Election

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Russia is already interfering in next year’s midterm U.S. elections, President Joe Biden said Tuesday in a speech at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).  Referencing the day’s classified briefing prepared by the intelligence community for him, Biden said: “Look at what Russia’s doing already about the 2022 election and misinformation.” Such actions by Moscow are a “pure violation of our sovereignty,” the president said, without elaborating, in remarks to about 120 representatives of the U.S. intelligence community who gathered in northern Virginia at the ODNI headquarters.  Biden’s public reference to something contained in that day’s top secretmore

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Four US Police Officers Grippingly Describe January 6 Attack on US Capitol

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Four U.S. police officers told a congressional investigating committee in tearful, gripping detail on Tuesday how an angry mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump rampaged into the U.S. Capitol last January 6 in a futile attempt to block certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in last November’s presidential election.The officers – two on the U.S. Capitol Police force and two with the Washington city police department — said they feared for their lives as about 800 rioters stormed past outmanned law enforcement authorities, taunted them with racial and political epithets, fought hand-to-hand with police, sprayed chemical irritants at themmore

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Former US Senator Enzi of Wyoming Dies After Bicycle Accident

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Retired U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, a Wyoming Republican known as a consensus-builder in an increasingly polarized Washington, has died. He was 77. Enzi died Monday surrounded by family and friends, former spokesman Max D’Onofrio said. Enzi had been hospitalized with a broken neck and ribs after a bicycle accident near Gillette on Friday. He was stabilized before being flown to a hospital in Colorado but remained unconscious, D’Onofrio said. Enzi fell near his home about 8:30 p.m. Friday, family friend John Daly said, around the time Gillette police received a report of a man lying unresponsive in a road near a bike. Police havemore

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US Infrastructure Legislation Stalls

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A group of centrist U.S. senators remained deadlocked Monday on trying to reach agreement on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges and boost funding for broadband internet service.The Republican and Democratic lawmakers had hoped to finalize their plan but still had not reached agreement for specific funding totals for public transit, water projects, highways and broadband improvements for rural parts of the country.A month ago, President Joe Biden announced basic agreement with the senators on the plan, but negotiations have lingered on the details of the spending and how to pay for it.Biden,more

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Pelosi Names 2nd Republican to January 6 US Capitol Riot Probe

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, on Sunday named a second Republican, Congressman Adam Kinzinger, to the select committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by hundreds of supporters of then-President Donald Trump.   Kinzinger, an Illinois lawmaker, joins Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney, both of them vocal critics of Trump, on the panel, which is set to start hearing testimony on Tuesday. The panel is investigating the chaos that occurred as lawmakers were certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in last November’s election to become the country’s 46th president.more

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Republicans May Leave the Democrats Holding the Bag on Raising the Debt Ceiling

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As lawmakers on Capitol Hill struggle to advance a bipartisan bill to invest in the country’s critical infrastructure, the most powerful Republican in Washington signaled that his party’s cooperation with Democrats has limits.Specifically, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that he does not expect members of his party to support a measure authorizing the government to borrow the money it will need to meet its obligations later this year.Because the amount of debt the U.S. Treasury can issue is capped by statute, whenever Congress approves spending that exceeds revenues – which it has done with every budget sincemore

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Malawi Begins Classes in World’s First 3D-Printed School

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Adifu Maulana quit school in 2014 to escape punishment she often received for arriving late.She had to walk 7 kilometers to attend classes held under a tree because of Malawi’s shortage of classrooms.But thanks to what is being called the world’s first 3D-printed school, constructed by joint-venture group 14Trees, Maulana has resumed learning. The Swiss-British group says the fast construction of computer-built schools could help alleviate a shortage of classrooms in countries like Malawi.Maulana said she is happy because she can realize her dreams of becoming a teacher. The school is near now, she said, so she won’t arrive latemore

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Biden Condemns Cuba for Crackdown on Freedom Protesters 

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U.S. President Joe Biden assailed the Cuban government Thursday for its crackdown on freedom protesters on the island nation and imposed sanctions on the head of the Cuban military and the internal security division that led the attacks on demonstrators.“I unequivocally condemn the mass detentions and sham trials that are unjustly sentencing to prison those who dared to speak out in an effort to intimidate and threaten the Cuban people into silence,” Biden said in announcing the sanctions.”The Cuban people have the same right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as all people,” Biden said. “The United States standsmore

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Biden Aims to Sell Economic Agenda in Ohio Trip

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President Joe Biden aimed to rev up support for his economic agenda with a visit to Cincinnati on Wednesday, where he visited a union training center ahead of a CNN town hall.The trip comes as the fate of his infrastructure proposal remains unclear after Senate Republicans rejected a $1 trillion blueprint in a key test vote Wednesday. A bipartisan group of 22 senators said in a joint statement after the vote that they were close to coming to terms on a deal and requested a delay until Monday.Biden expressed confidence in the outcome, telling reporters when asked if he wouldmore

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US Infrastructure Bill Fails First Vote; Senate to Try Again 

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Senate Republicans rejected an effort Wednesday to begin debate on the big infrastructure deal that a bipartisan group of senators brokered with President Joe Biden. But supporters in both parties remained hopeful of a better chance soon.Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York had scheduled the procedural vote that he described as a step to “get the ball rolling” as talks progress. But Republicans mounted a filibuster, saying the bipartisan group needed more time to wrap up the deal and review the details. They sought a delay until Monday.”We have made significant progress and are close to a finalmore

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Jill Biden Stops in Alaska on Way to Tokyo Olympics

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Jill Biden embarked Wednesday on her first solo international trip as first lady, leading a U.S. delegation to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where the coronavirus is surging and COVID-19 infections have climbed to a six-month high. She stopped in Alaska on the way to Japan and is expected to stop in Hawaii before she returns to Washington. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that President Joe Biden and the first lady both felt it was important that the delegation be led “at the highest level,” and that Jill Biden looked forward to the long journey to help support U.S.more

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Pelosi Rejects 2 Republican Nominees for Capitol Riot Probe

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday rejected two Republican nominees to sit on a committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, suggesting they would harm the integrity of the probe.”With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives [Jim] Banks and [Jim] Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said in a statement.”The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision,” she said.Later Wednesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded by withdrawing allmore

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Trump Confidant Accused of Illegally Advancing UAE Interests

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The Justice Department has accused Thomas Barrack, a longtime friend of former President Donald Trump and his 2017 inaugural committee chairman, of engaging in a wide-ranging scheme to favorably influence U.S. policy toward the United Arab Emirates without registering as a foreign agent as required by U.S. law. A seven-count indictment was handed down Tuesday against Barrack, 74, and two other associates, one American and the other a UAE national. Prosecutors allege that Barrack, who has known Trump since the 1980s, sought to influence him starting in April 2016, when Trump was campaigning for president, and extending through April 2018, during themore

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2020 US Political Polls Were Least Accurate in Decades, Analysis Finds

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Nearly nine months after last year’s U.S. presidential election, there’s one more loser – political polls – with a new analysis showing the 2020 surveys in advance of the November 3 vote were among the least accurate in decades.The polling industry’s professional organization, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, says that it reviewed 2,858 polls, including hundreds of national and state-level polls, and found that they consistently understated the support for then-President Donald Trump, although he lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden, now the country’s 46th president.The group found that the surveys overstated the margin between Biden andmore

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Biden: Justice Department Will Appeal Judge’s Ruling That DACA Is Illegal

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The U.S. Justice Department will appeal a judge’s ruling that determined a federal program protecting young immigrants living in the U.S. from deportation is illegal, President Joe Biden said Saturday.U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, in the south-central state of Texas, invalidated former President Barack Obama’s program Friday, ruling that Obama acted unlawfully when he created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 by executive action.In a White House statement released Saturday, Biden said Hanen’s ruling was “deeply disappointing” and renewed calls for Congress to “ensure a permanent solution.”Hanen’s ruling agreed with a group of U.S. states, led by Texas,more

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Amid Lawsuits, Trump Continues to Wield Outsized Influence

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Even as Donald Trump faces the threat of lawsuits over his company’s business dealings and continues to be banned on social media platforms, the former president wields an outsized influence over the Republican Party.Unlike most former presidents who stay out of the political limelight, Trump is still holding rallies, attacking President Joe Biden and amplifying what his critics call the “Big Lie” — the claim that Biden stole the 2020 election.“We won the election twice,” is a refrain Trump often declares at his rallies and events.While Gallup poll shows 62% of Americans disapproved of Trump in the last month hemore

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Federal Judge Orders End to DACA; Current Enrollees Safe for Now 

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Immigrants and advocates urged Democrats and President Joe Biden to quickly act on legislation to protect young immigrants after a federal judge in Texas on Friday ordered an end to the Obama-era program that prevents the deportation of thousands of immigrants brought into the U.S. as children.Plaintiffs have vowed to appeal the decision by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, who declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program illegal, barring the government from approving any new applications but leaving the program intact for existing recipients.Calling the ruling a “blaring siren” for Democrats, United We Dream Executive Director Greisa Martinez Rosasmore

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California Approves First State-funded Guaranteed Income Plan

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California lawmakers on Thursday approved the first state-funded guaranteed income plan in the U.S., $35 million for monthly cash payments to qualifying pregnant people and young adults who recently left foster care with no restrictions on how they spend it. The votes — 36-0 in the Senate and 64-0 in the Assembly — showed bipartisan support for an idea that is gaining momentum across the country. Dozens of local programs have sprung up in recent years, including some that have been privately funded, making it easier for elected officials to sell the public on the idea. California’s plan is taxpayer-fundedmore

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