Mediaboss Marketing

Joe Biden and top Democrats are scrambling for a strategy to counter Republican restrictions on womens reproductive rights amid the fallout from a Texas statute that has banned abortions in the state from as early as six weeks into pregnancy but the options available to the administration are thin.

The conservative-dominated supreme court in a night-time ruling refused an emergency request to block the Texas law from taking effect, in a decision that amounted to a crushing defeat for reproductive rights and threatened major ramifications in other states nationwide.

Even as the US president on Thursday accused the court of carrying out an assault on vital constitutional rights and ordered the federal government to ensure women in Texas retained access to abortions, the future of reproductive rights remains in the balance.

The challenges facing Biden and Democrats reflect the deep polarization of Congress, and the difficulty in trying to force bipartisan consensus on perhaps the most controversial of issues in American politics.

Now, top Democrats in Congress have developed a multi-part strategy to roll back restrictions pushed by Republican-led states that rests on attempting to codify abortion rights protections into federal law and potentially to reform the supreme court.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced on Thursday that Democrats would vote within weeks to pass the Womens Health Protection Act, a bill that would ensure the right to access an abortion and for medical providers to perform abortions.

Upon our return, the House will bring up congresswoman Judy Chus Womens Health Protection Act to enshrine into law reproductive healthcare for all women across America, Pelosi said in a statement that also admonished the courts decision.

Separately, liberal Democrats led by progressives including the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are urging Biden to strike down other restrictions on access to abortions and the Hyde amendment, a measure that prohibits federal funding for most abortions.

Seizing on the Texas decision, liberal Democrats have also called anew for an expansion of the supreme court from nine to 13 seats, which would enable Biden to appoint four liberal-leaning justices to shift the politics on the bench.

The legislative response is aimed at reversing more than 500 restrictions introduced by Republican state legislatures in recent months and trigger laws that would automatically outlaw abortions if the supreme court overturned its ruling in the landmark Roe v Wade case that was supposed to cement abortion rights in the US.

But while such protections are almost certain to be straightforwardly approved by the Democratic-controlled House, all of the proposals face a steep uphill climb in the face of sustained Republican opposition and a filibuster in the 50-50 Senate.

The Senate filibuster rule a procedural tactic that requires a supermajority to pass most bills was in part why the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, focused on stacking the supreme court with conservative justices rather than pursue legislation to enact abortion restrictions at a federal level.

Forty-eight Democrats currently sponsor the Womens Health Protection Act in the Senate. Two Republicans Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have previously indicated support for abortion rights, but the numbers fall far short of the 60-vote threshold required to avoid a filibuster.

Against that backdrop, a majority of Senate Democrats have called for eliminating the filibuster entirely. But reforming the filibuster requires the support of all Democrats in the Senate, and conservative Democratic senators including West Virginias Joe Manchin and Arizonas Kyrsten Sinema are outspoken supporters of the rule.

The broad concern demonstrates how urgent the issue has become for Democrats, and with the Texas law in effect after the failure of the emergency stay, many reproductive rights advocates worry that Democrats will be unable to meet the moment with meaningful action.

Read the original post:
Democrats rush to find strategy to counter Texas abortion law - The Guardian

What benefits are being stripped?

The tens of millions who lost their jobs benefited from these new programs:

President Biden has not spoken much about the benefits during a busy weekend, but for a long time it was unknown whether they would continue past the deadline or not. Even two weeks ago, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the decision to extend them had not been made.

But for now they won't be extended. However, the President and his team have been making overtures to states about alternate paths to given out extra unemployment benefits.

Using released federal covid-19 funding, the door has been left slightly open for states to use this money to continue payments.

"There are some states where it may make sense for unemployed workers to continue receiving additional assistance for a longer period of time, allowing residents of those states more time to find a job in areas where unemployment remains high," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Martin Walsh told congressional leaders in a letter.

As of publication, this has been refused by every state in the US.

While nothing has yet been said about the benefits in regard to the jobs report, more bad news in future months could lead to a return in extra unemployment support. In the meantime, there are still some schemes people can use if they need support.

The 96-strong progressive caucus is split about whether to push for an extension of the unemployment benefits in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation. However, with the extremely narrow majorities in Congress and the House, deviation from the mainline Democrat course could imperil huge Democrat legislation.

The slim majorities mean smaller groups, like the right of the Democratic Party, hold much more power than they otherwise would. Senators Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema made sure that their wishes were acknowledged when it came to introducing a $15 minimum wage, and progressives moves against their wishes would stop any laws in their tracks.

"What we have right now is that the Biden administration has indicated they have almost no willingness to extend the pandemic unemployment assistance program," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Insider. "We have a Senate that doesn't want to do it, a White House that doesn't want to do it it's going to take a very committed House."

Ilhan Omar, Democrat Congresswoman from Minnesota, said it was "necessary" to extend the benefits.

Continue reading here:
What are Democrats saying about the expiration of the pandemic relief plans? - AS English

Texas Democrats say the states legislative districts cant be redrawn in 2021 and theyre asking a federal court to redraw them before the 2022 election.

The state has already begun work on redrawing its maps, but a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday argues the state can't legally do so until after the 2022 election. The suit also argues the state's maps violate federal election protections.

In light of that, state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt of Austin and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio asked a federal court Wednesday to redraw Texas' House and Senate districts.

After 2020 Census results were delayed, state lawmakers held off on redrawing maps. Gov. Greg Abbott signaled he will call a special legislative session to redraw the state's legislative boundaries, a process known as redistricting. The lawsuit argues Texas' constitution requires lawmakers meet in a regular session to redraw boundaries, not a special session. The next regular session isn't until 2023.

The governor is expected to call a special session in the next two weeks. The lawsuit wants a federal court to intervene before then and draw temporary maps for the state's 2022 elections. The suit would not affect the state's congressional redistricting process.

On top of that, now that Census numbers are out, Eckhardt and Gutierrez argue their now-overpopulated districts need to be redrawn to ensure their constituents have equal representation in the state's legislature ahead of the 2022 elections. The Tejano Democrats, a group representing Mexican-American voters and candidates, also joined the federal lawsuit in the hopes of ensuring minority voters statewide have equal representation as well.

Eckhardt says Article III of Texas' constitution and the state law that created Texas' redistricting board, which draws the new legislative maps, is "very specific" about the regular session requirement.

Because the next regular session of the Texas Legislature isn't until after the 2022 elections, Eckhardt told KUT that, in light of the state's growth, Texas' boundaries would violate the one-person-one-vote principle, which guarantees equal representation.

"That's a very basic tenet of the U.S. Constitution,that we have representative democracy," she said. "So, this is a basic issue that we must correct."

Texas' efforts to redraw its legislative boundaries have been tied up in courts every decade since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The state's last fight over redistricting maps ended at the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court ruled that state lawmakers did not intentionally discriminate against minority voters when redrawing its legislative boundaries.

This round of redistricting is going to be a fight as well. Texas' population boomed over the last 10 years, a boom that was driven by Texas' Latino population and urban expansion in left-leaning cities. Democratic groups say the state's GOP-led redistricting process will likely seek to break up some districts to maintain Texas Republicans' decades-long control of state government.

Hearings on Texas' redistricting process began earlier this year, but the process will begin in earnest over the next two weeks. As of today, lawmakers have access to 2020 Census data and both the House and Senate committees on redistricting have hearings scheduled over the next two weeks.

The Texas Legislature's second special session this summer ends on Labor Day. It's expected Abbott will call lawmakers back to tackle redistricting soon after that.

More:
Democrats Sue Texas In Attempt To Get Federal Courts To Redraw Legislative Districts Before 2022 - KUT

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has called on Democrats to pause the effort to push through a $3.5 trillion budget. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has called on Democrats to pause the effort to push through a $3.5 trillion budget.

Sen. Joe Manchin has called on Democrats to take a "strategic pause" in advancing their historic $3.5 trillion budget plan, putting in peril President Biden's most ambitious effort to stabilize the U.S. economy and boost the middle class.

In an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the West Virginia senator criticized his party as being shortsighted and hypocritical in its pursuit of passing the multitrillion-dollar budget, which Democrats see as vital to tackling climate change, child care affordability and fair housing.

"The nation faces an unprecedented array of challenges and will inevitably encounter additional crises in the future," Manchin wrote. "Yet some in Congress have a strange belief there is an infinite supply of money to deal with any current or future crisis, and that spending trillions upon trillions will have no negative consequence for the future. I disagree."

Manchin wrote that because of the challenges posed by the nation's high inflation rate as well as the unpredictable nature of the pandemic particularly as it pertains to the rapidly emerging variants of the virus Democrats should not "rush" to use spending as a fix for the nation's current woes. Rather, lawmakers should take a longer-term view about how today's fiscal policy could impact future generations.

Democrats have said the budget will be paid for with tax increases on corporations and the wealthy as well as other proposals.

Under the reconciliation process, budget bills can pass the Senate with only a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority. Republicans used the process in 2017 to pass then-President Donald Trump's tax bill, facing criticisms from Democrats for pushing through deeply partisan legislation.

"Respectfully, it was wrong when the Republicans did it, and it is wrong now," Manchin wrote.

If Manchin defects, as he has signaled before that he would, Democrats would have to sway at least one Republican to vote for the budget a tall order in the highly partisan chamber.

"If we want to invest in America, a goal I support, then let's take the time to get it right and determine what is absolutely necessary," Manchin wrote.

The West Virginia Democrat has often been at odds with more progressive members of his party, and he has emerged as a critical swing vote. Democrats control the 50-50 Senate, with the vice president working as a tie-breaker.

House Democrats, who also hold a slim but not quite as precarious majority, quickly decried Manchin's suggestion.

In a tweet, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez referenced the deadly Hurricane Ida that washed ashore in Louisiana before striking deadly blows across the Northeast and Manchin's coal interests.

Jamaal Bowman of New York also pointed to Hurricane Ida's destruction and the evidence that climate change is fueling more and deadlier natural disasters.

Go here to see the original:
Manchin Calls On Democrats To Hit Pause On The $3.5 Trillion Budget Package - NPR

The proposed map of six Oregon congressional districts crafted by Democrats on the Legislatures redistricting committees would likely result in five Democrats and a lone Republican being elected to the U.S. House.

The draft map, released Friday, would pack all of the states most heavily Republican areas into one district and spread Democratic voters among the other five districts in a way that all of them would lean Democratic, although some narrowly so, multiple analyses including one by The Oregonian/OregonLive found.

The proposed map is significantly more partisan than the current map of five districts as evidenced by the fact it would likely yield an Oregon U.S. House delegation that is 86% Democrats, even though Oregon voters in recent years have given the Democratic candidate from 50% (Gov. Kate Brown in 2018) to 56% (President Joe Biden in 2020) of the statewide vote in competitive elections. (Republicans won 44% and 40% of the votes in those two contests, with the remainder going to candidates from minor parties.)

Not surprisingly, the map proposed by Republican lawmakers on the redistricting committees looks starkly different and would likely yield a very different Oregon line-up in the U.S. House. The Republicans would keep heavily Democratic areas of Hood River County and Bend in the same district as heavily Republican eastern Oregon, as is now the case. And it would pack heavily Democratic Multnomah and Washington counties into two overwhelmingly Democratic districts, leaving the remaining three districts fairly competitive. The most likely scenario, depending on the strength of candidates who were to run, would be a three-three Republican-Democratic split.

Among the analysts who have reached those or similar conclusions about the proposed maps, based on voter registration data and recent election outcomes, are PlanScore, a project of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal System; polling, politics and sports statistics website fivethirtyeight.com; and The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Neither of the lawmakers proposed maps, nor the maps each of the parties has proposed for state House and Senate districts, are final. Lawmakers on the House and Senate redistricting committees will hold 12 joint public hearings over four days starting Wednesday and wrapping up Sept. 13. Then the committees will decide, if they are able, on final maps.

Sen. Kathleen Taylor, a Portland Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on Redistricting, noted Friday morning when releasing her partys proposed maps that they are a work in progress.

Her committee can approve any maps that its Democratic members want, since Democrats hold the majority. So the map as proposed Friday could pass that committee.

But that map wont pass the House Committee on Redistricting, as would be required to get the proposal to the House floor for a vote. Thats because, to bring an end to Republican delay tactics during the legislative session, House Speaker Tina Kotek handed Republicans a favor. Instead of giving her party a majority of seats on her chambers powerful redistricting committee, as is customary, she gave Republicans half the seats.

Thus, any map that House and Senate Democrats favor will have to please House Republicans enough that their three redistricting committee members wont tank it.

Republicans have good reason to get new state House and Senate districts passed in the Legislature, however, even if its not a plan they love, since the job would pass to the secretary of state, Democrat Shemia Fagan, if lawmakers fail.

Even if Republicans agree to a compromise with Democrats and pass a plan through both chambers of the Legislature, Brown could veto it, which would also have the effect of passing the map drawing to Fagan.

Lawmakers tentatively plan to hold a special session the week of Sept. 20 to pass the plans. They face a Sept. 27 deadline under a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.

-- Betsy Hammond; betsyhammond@oregonian.com; @OregonianPol

Read this article:
Oregon Democrats propose a congressional district map that would likely give their party 5 of 6 seats in U.S. - OregonLive