Bipartisan COVID bill framework from the Talking Stick Gang (Manchin, Collins, Romney, Warner, Murkowski, Cassidy) being unveiled this morning:
This is roughly the same price tag as the $1T bill McConnell rolled out in July that his members tore apart. Unlike that bill, however, it doesn’t include another round of stimulus checks. But it does offer slightly higher weekly unemployment benefit — $300.
Romney says half the money in the new bipartisan COVID bill is repurposed from unspent funds from CARES Act. Only $380B in new spending
Qs: Would McConnell put it on the floor? Will Pelosi/Schumer support it? Where is the dang Talking Stick?
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Wow. Ted Cruz issues statement calling on the Supreme Court to hear GOP appeal seeking to throw out Pennsylvania election results — the first senator, I believe, to do so. (Toomey has said it’s not a strong case) cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_relea…
“Ordinarily, the U.S. Supreme Court would stay out of election disputes, especially concerning state law. But these are not ordinary times,” Cruz, a member of Bush’s legal team in 2000, says in the statement
The PA Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the GOP lawsuit, saying it would disenfranchise nearly *7 million* voters.
did something new happen on the student loan forgiveness front? why is it dominating my feed right now
NYPost writes up a Schumer plan on loan forgiveness from an interview he did on... Nov. 3 nypost.com/2020/11/16/sch…
His support for this has been out there for at least a month now. Why is any of this new?
Even progressives are treating this as new. Can someone actually tell me what is the news here? Biden just reiterated his plan during his presser today.
New: Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), a progressive rising star, says she "strongly" disagrees with Sen. Dianne Feinstein about the Amy Coney Barrett hearings huffpost.com/entry/coney-ba…
“I thought it was a very poor set of hearings,” Porter said
I also spoke to Rep. Porter about the Trump admin rejecting CA's request for aid following unprecedented wildfires this year.
She said it's "outrageous" that Trump is coming to the OC this weekend for a $150K/person fundraiser while denying wildfire relief.
"You're just trying to ram through this justice against your own words," Klobuchar tells Graham after he schedules committee vote on Barrett’s nomination on Oct. 22
"It's going to create a lot of bad will that doesn't need to be created," Feinstein warns
Graham cites Reid's 2013 rule change on lower court nominees.
"That set in motion a lot of things that have taken the Senate in the wrong direction," he says
"I would be afraid to ask her about the presence of gravity on Earth because she would decline to answer," Durbin says of Barrett
"Obamacare is on the ballot,” Graham says as he opens ACB hearing
Dems would agree
Graham asks Barrett about severability and the anti-Obamacare lawsuit Supreme Court will hear shortly after the election.
"If you can preserve a statute, you try to, to the extent possible?" he says
"That is true," she responds
Barrett compares severability to a Jenga game, where you pull pieces out and see if it still stands. "Would Congress still want this statue to stand with this provision gone?"
Jamie Harrison, in what is now a SC candidate forum, and not debate, lauds GOP Sens. Collins, Cornyn, and VP Pence for "being responsible” and getting tested for COVID, while Lindsey Graham "thinks he’s special enough that he can’t"
Harrison says he supports a national mask mandate, adding that Mitch McConnell may feel the same way because "he won't go over to the White House" over their lax coronavirus protocols
Harrison: "Lindsey Graham said, 'Use my words against me, we should not be considering a justice in the fourth year of an election year' and that he would not vote for such justice...what is the word of Lindsey Graham worth?"