Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images The more than 24-hour wait and vote-a-rama is over in the U.S. Senate, after Republicans worked to delay the vote on President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-relief package overnight Friday. Early Saturday afternoon, the Senate passed the American Rescue Plan in a party-line vote. Below are updates on the process and aftermath. The lack of GOP support for huge Democratic initiatives has essentially become an American tradition: What’s next: More details on the final push from Roll Call : Republicans filed nearly 600 amendments to the bill, but only brought up a fraction of those for debate and votes. Democrats were mostly united throughout the process, rejecting 29 Republican amendments. Overall, six amendments were adopted, including two GOP proposals. None of the amendment votes nor the final vote required Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking powers in the Senate after Alaska GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan left Friday to attend a funeral. … President Joe Biden backs both of the [major] changes, according to White House statements, but some House Democrats are frustrated with the compromises. … Democrats have an especially slim 221-211 majority in the House, meaning even a handful of defections could lead to a stalemate. Regardless, House Democrats are expected to sign off on the package. A little context: No Republicans voted for the bill. Also: The Washington Post catches us up : Some senators appeared sleepy and tripped over their words on the floor of the Senate as the debate that had begun Friday morning stretched past 10 a.m. Saturday. Democrats pushed ahead with the sweeping economic and public health measure after resolving an approximately nine-hour standoff on Friday with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) that resulted in significant changes to enhanced unemployment insurance benefits in the bill. Having cleared that hurdle, Democrats stood within reach of passing the ...
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Philadelphia State Lawmaker Sharif Street Considering Running For US Senate
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Sharif Street, a Democratic state senator from Philadelphia and the vice chair of the state Democratic Party, said he is considering running for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat in next year’s election. Street, 46, was just elected to his second term in the state Senate last year. He will start an exploratory committee of more than 100 people next month to start the formal process, he said. Street, who has a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and spent almost two decades as a lawyer, is the son of former Philadelphia Mayor John Street. READ MORE: Flyers Fans Return To Wells Fargo Center For 1st Time Since COVID-19 Pandemic Began He has spent the past couple years campaigning around Pennsylvania for Democratic candidates as the state party’s No. 2 official. “We had a 67-county strategy and we needed that in order to elect Joe Biden and we needed that to elect (U.S. Sen.) Bob Casey and we needed that to elect (Gov.) Tom Wolf,” Street said. “And I think we’re going to bring a 67-county strategy in 2022.” READ MORE: COVID In Montgomery County: Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium Helps 200 County Residents Get Vaccinated The race is wide open for both parties in what could become the nation’s most competitive Senate contest next year after Republican Sen. Pat Toomey announced in October that he would not run for a third term. Already declared on the Democratic side are Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia. On the Republican side, Jeff Bartos, the GOP’s unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor in 2018, has filed paperwork to run, as have more than a half-dozen of unknown or first-time candidates from both parties. MORE NEWS: 'The Vaccination Dollars Are Essential': Sen. Bob Casey Says President Biden's COVID Relief Bill Will Increase Vaccinations (©Copyright 2021 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) ...
Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta Announces Run For U.S. Senate In 2022
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — The race for Pat Toomey’s seat in the U.S. Senate in 2022 is heating up. Democratic Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, of Philadelphia, announced his candidacy Thursday. It’s official: I am a Democrat running to be a voice for working families in the US Senate. Help us build this movement from the ground up: https://t.co/S4UAhtPfkU pic.twitter.com/8amZkdaKac READ MORE: Flyers Fans Return To Wells Fargo Center For 1st Time Since COVID-19 Pandemic Began — Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (@malcolmkenyatta) February 19, 2021 Kenyatta, 30, announced his candidacy on Twitter, saying he is “running to be a voice for working families.” If elected, Kenyatta would be the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to ever serve in the U.S. Senate, according to the Pennsylvania Working Families Party, which endorsed him. “Our nation faces unprecedented economic and public health challenges that demand transformative leadership,” Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party said. “Malcolm will make government work on things that will improve people’s lives, like ensuring the COVID-19 vaccine is available to everyone, raising the minimum wage, cutting the cost of prescription drugs, making sure we have affordable healthcare for everybody, police and criminal justice reform, and creating good paying clean energy jobs while protecting our environment. We are proud to endorse Malcolm, and we look forward to working together to keep and grow the Democratic Senate majority in 2022.” READ MORE: COVID In Montgomery County: Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium Helps 200 County Residents Get Vaccinated Kenyatta also delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in August. Kenyatta, who represents North Philadelphia was first elected to the Pennsylvania House back in 2018. The grandson of the late civil rights activist Muhammad I. Kenyatta, he became the first openly gay person of color to serve in ...
Senator Joe Manchin, A Key Senate Swing Vote, Boosts West Virginians’ Hopes
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia has long proclaimed itself “Almost Heaven,” a nod to a song and soaring mountaintop vistas. Now some joke the state name-checked in “Take Me Home, Country Roads” could take things up a notch as Democratic U.S. Sen Joe Manchin bargains his way through Congress. “Maybe we’ll get to heaven status,” said longtime Democratic Party official Nick Casey. READ MORE: Ohio And West Virginia Governors Easing COVID-19 Restrictions, Keeping Mask Mandates In Place Reviving West Virginia’s economically battered coal towns and reversing a persistent population decline is a tall order. But Manchin, who grew up in the mountain town of Farmington, has emerged as a key swing vote in a divided Senate. Now he has his best shot in years to steer federal dollars back home. Manchin put himself in the middle of things again this week over the COVID relief bill making its way through Congress, singlehandedly halting work on the measure Friday as Democrats sought to placate his concerns about the size and duration of an expanded unemployment benefit. As for his own agenda, Manchin has dropped hints publicly about “common sense” infrastructure investments sorely needed back home: expanding rural broadband and fixing roads among them. He declared that West Virginia could supply the manufacturing firepower to “innovate our way to a cleaner climate.” And more than once, he’s said coal miners can build the best solar panels if given a chance. Some wonder if his newfound clout might help him do something former President Donald Trump promised but couldn’t deliver — reignite a state economy long overly dependent on a coal industry in freefall. Manchin’s Senate colleagues have good reason to study the needs of small towns beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. Manchin, 73, was already a recognized dealmaker on Capitol Hill, but deference to the most conservative Democrat in a 50-50 Senate has ratcheted up since November. A senator from Hawaii recently ...
Trump Tears Into Wall Street Journal, Georgia Republicans And Mitch McConnell In Lengthy Statement
Former President Donald Trump blasted a Monday column from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board in a lengthy statement distributed by his Save America PAC on Thursday. “The Wall Street Journal editorial page continues, knowingly, to fight for globalist policies such as bad trade deals, open borders, and endless wars that favor other countries and sell out our great American workers, and they fight for RINOS that have so badly hurt the Republican Party,” Trump opens. “That’s where they are and that’s where they will always be. Fortunately, nobody cares much about The Wall Street Journal editorial anymore. They have lost great credibility.” The op-ed itself was a response to Trump’s keynote address at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, where the former president touted his policy accomplishments in 2020 and accused President Joe Biden of having the worst first-month in the White House in modern history. (RELATED: McConnell Takes Shot At Trump For Claiming He Boosted The Senator To Victory In 2020) ORLANDO, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 28: Former U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) “The CPAC crowd cheered his speech, which was largely a collection of greatest political hits,” the board wrote. “But if CPAC represented America, Mr. Trump would still reside in the White House, not Mar-a-Lago. He lost to Joe Biden, the old Democratic war horse, by seven million votes. He also lost five states he carried in 2016, even Georgia.” The piece further notes that “Trump never reached a job approval rating above 50% despite his policy achievements,” and the reason he and Republicans were voted out of office wasn’t political but “personal.” Trump’s Thursday ...
