Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Biden

Biden seeks to keep abortion in the spotlight with political address - The Washington Post

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Post Politics Now Biden to make an abortion rights bill top priority if Democrats strengthen position in Congress

Key updates

This just in: Biden to make abortion rights bill his top priority if Democrats strengthen position in Congress

The latest: GOP would use debt limit to force spending cuts, McCarthy says

Take a look: Rep. Swalwell’s ad dramatizes woman being arrested for an abortion

President Biden speaks in the East Room at the White House in Washington on Sept. 30. (Tom Brenner/For the Washington Post )

By John Wagner

and

Mariana Alfaro

Updated October 18, 2022 at 10:35 a.m. EDT|Published October 18, 2022 at 7:05 a.m. EDT

Today, President Biden will say in remarks scheduled for midday that, if Democrats expand their ranks in the midterm elections, the first bill he will send to the next Congress would enshrine into law Roe v. Wade protections that the Supreme Court struck down in June, according to a Democratic official familiar with Biden’s planned remarks.

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Biden’s pledge will raise the stakes for the midterms, now just three weeks off, with the Democrats’ congressional majority in jeopardy. The president’s plan is contingent on Democrats maintaining control of the House and expanding the party’s presence in the evenly divided Senate. Biden is speaking at an event hosted by the Democratic National Committee designed to highlight differences between the parties ahead of next month’s elections.

Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.

Just now

On our radar: Harris heading to Minnesota to raise money for Gov. Tim Walz

Vice President Harris plans to head Saturday to Minnesota, where she is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser with Gov. Tim Walz (D).

Walz faces Republican challenger Scott Jensen next month. Walz was leading Jensen, 48 percent to 41 percent, in a MPR News-Star Tribune-KARE 11 poll released last month.

While in the Minneapolis area, Harris also plans to take part in a moderated discussion about reproductive rights, according to a White House advisory.

Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June, Harris has been traveling the country to hold discussions about the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision.

Key update

35 minutes ago

This just in: Biden to make abortion rights bill his top priority if Democrats strengthen position in Congress

President Biden will say in remarks scheduled for midday Tuesday that, if Democrats expand their ranks in the midterm elections, the first bill he will send to the next Congress would enshrine into law Roe v. Wade protections that the Supreme Court struck down in June, according to a Democratic official familiar with Biden’s planned remarks.

Biden’s pledge will raise the stakes for the midterms, now just three weeks off, with the Democrats’ congressional majority in jeopardy.

The Democratic official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview Biden’s speech, said the president’s plan is contingent on Democrats maintaining control of the House and expanding the party’s presence in the evenly divided Senate.

Key update

39 minutes ago

The latest: GOP would use debt limit to force spending cuts, McCarthy says

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that if Republicans win control of the House, the GOP will use raising the debt limit as leverage to force spending cuts — which could include cuts to Medicare and Social Security — and limit additional funding to Ukraine.

The Post’s Eugene Scott has details:

“You can’t just continue down the path to keep spending and adding to the debt," the California Republican told Punchbowl News in a recent interview. “And if people want to make a debt ceiling [for a longer period of time], just like anything else, there comes a point in time where, okay, we’ll provide you more money, but you got to change your current behavior.”
“We’re not just going to keep lifting your credit card limit, right,” he added. "And we should seriously sit together and [figure out] where can we eliminate some waste? Where can we make the economy grow stronger?”
Pressed on whether changes to the entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security were part of the debt ceiling discussions, McCarthy said he wouldn’t “predetermine” anything.

The debt limit — the country’s borrowing cap — will need to be lifted next year to protect the country’s credit score and to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debt. But McCarthy suggested that his party would be willing to hold the debt limit up for policy changes.

1 hour ago

Analysis: Kevin McCarthy weighs future of special committee on climate change

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) created a special committee to examine climate change in 2019, the panel’s days seemed numbered. If Republicans regained control of the House, many observers assumed, they would immediately scrap the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, since the GOP has historically opposed ambitious measures to tackle global warming.

But, writing in The Climate 202, The Post’s Maxine Joselow reports that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who hopes to become speaker if Republicans pick up enough seats in the midterms, has not yet decided whether to keep the committee, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions. Per Maxine:

Key update

1 hour ago

Take a look: Rep. Swalwell’s ad dramatizes woman being arrested for an abortion

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is out with an ad that dramatizes a family dinner being interrupted by police coming to arrest the mother for having had an abortion. The 90-second spot is titled, “Lock Her Up,” a reference to the Republican chants regarding Democrat Hillary Clinton during her 2020 presidential bid.

With a wave of GOP-led states outlawing abortion, “I thought through, ‘What is this going to look like as it plays out across America?’ ” Swalwell said during an appearance Monday night on MSNBC.

1 hour ago

Noted: Georgia blows away record for early midterm ballots cast on first day

More than 125,000 Georgia voters cast ballots on Monday, the first day of early voting, far eclipsing the total in the state’s last midterm elections, the secretary of state’s office said.

“Our elections team has reviewed the initial early vote numbers for Day 1 and we know we are north of 125,000,” Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer of the office, said in a tweet shortly after 9 p.m. Eastern time on Monday. “This dwarfs the previous record of 72k from the 2018 midterm 1st day of early voting.”

2 hours ago

Analysis: Marijuana is on the ballot in five more states this year

Voters in November will decide whether recreational marijuana can be used legally in five states: Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Writing in The Health 202, The Post’s Rachel Roubein notes that four out of the five states are home to many traditional conservatives — a testament to how the once-liberal issue has achieved increasingly bipartisan support in recent years. Per Rachel:

As it stands, 19 states, two territories and D.C. have embraced marijuana legalization over the last decade, while medical cannabis is legal in 37 states, three territories and the District, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Even still, it was only a decade ago when recreational marijuana was illegal nationwide, and efforts by cannabis advocates since haven’t been without setbacks. Most recently, voters rejected ballot measures to legalize adult use of marijuana in North Dakota in 2018 and Arizona in 2016, although the latter changed its tune and voted in favor of the initiative the following election year.
“When you look at ballot campaigns in the past, you’ll see that this is an issue that crosses traditional party lines,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “We anticipate similar outcomes this November.”

You can read the full analysis here.

3 hours ago

On our radar: Jan. 6 committee could issue Trump subpoena today

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol could issue its subpoena to former president Donald Trump as early as Tuesday, The Post’s Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell note in the latest edition of The Early 202.

The panel voted last week to authorize a subpoena for both testimony and documents from Trump.

As our colleagues note, when the subpoena is issued, it will be the next big step for a committee that appears to be in the final phases of its investigation.

Key update

3 hours ago

On our radar: Biden seeking to frame the choice voters have on abortion

With three weeks remaining until the midterm elections, President Biden will try to keep the issue of abortion in the spotlight on Tuesday as he delivers an address in Washington hosted by the Democratic National Committee.

He is expected to focus in the speech on an issue that Democrats have sought to elevate in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, but one that recent polling shows is not weighing as heavily on voters as the economy and related issues.

Biden is scheduled to make a short trip to the Howard Theatre, where he “will speak about the choice that voters face this November between Republicans who want to ban abortion nationwide, and Democrats who want to codify Roe into law to protect women’s reproductive freedom,” according to a DNC advisory.

3 hours ago

Noted: A battle for the white working-class vote in a key Indiana House race

When Democratic Rep. Frank J. Mrvan was first elected in 2020, he won easily in a working-class district that has been in Democratic hands for nearly a century. Campaigning at the Northwest Indiana Area Labor Federation’s annual awards dinner last week, though, there was an edge in Mrvan’s voice.

Reporting from Chesterton, Ind., The Post’s Theodoric Meyer writes that Republicans are targeting the district — a union-heavy Democratic stronghold outside Chicago — this year for the first time in decades in their campaign to retake the House in November. Per our colleague:

Key update

3 hours ago

The latest: Ohio Senate debate filled with recriminations

A second debate in Ohio’s Senate race was filled with heated exchanges as Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee, sought to frame his unexpectedly close race with GOP rival J.D. Vance as a choice between a moderate and an extremist, while Vance tried to tie his opponent to national Democratic leaders.

The Post’s Hannah Knowles, Annie Linskey and Mariana Alfaro report that Ryan zeroed in on Vance’s praise for the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, his about-face on former president Donald Trump and his support for far-right lawmakers such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Vance has been “running around backing these extremists, the most extreme people in the country,” Ryan said. Vance said Ryan has voted in lockstep with President Biden and his party as the Republican nominee sought to undermine the centrist persona that has helped Ryan remain competitive in a solidly red state.

Key update

3 hours ago

The latest: Utah Senate debate features heated exchange over 2020 election

By Hannah Knowles

Utah’s Senate debate grew heated on Monday night as independent candidate Evan McMullin assailed Sen. Mike Lee (R) over his efforts to help Donald Trump find alternate electors to overturn his 2020 loss, drawing applause but also loud boos from the audience.

Lee, at one point, demanded an apology from McMullin, who accused the two-term incumbent of “the most egregious betrayal of our nation’s Constitution” and said, “It will be your legacy.” McMullin took aim at Lee’s habit of carrying around a pocket Constitution, saying the document “is not a prop for you to wave about and then, when it’s convenient for your pursuit of power, to abandon without a thought.”

Key update

3 hours ago

The latest: Abrams, Kemp agree on one thing — the other is terrible on crime

By Sabrina Rodriguez

Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and Stacey Abrams (D) spent a significant portion of the Georgia governor’s debate on Monday night criticizing each other over their views on crime and guns.

Early in the debate, hosted by the Atlanta Press Club, Kemp asked Abrams how many sheriffs statewide had endorsed her, prompting her to defend her support for law enforcement.

“Unlike you, I don’t have the luxury of relying on slogans to describe my position on public safety,” said Abrams, who is trailing in the polls. “I believe that we need safety and justice.”

Relevant Science

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Biden

Post Politics Now Biden to make an abortion rights bill top priority if Democrats strengthen position in Congress

On our radar: Harris heading to Minnesota to raise money for Gov. Tim Walz

This just in: Biden to make abortion rights bill his top priority if Democrats strengthen position in Congress

The latest: GOP would use debt limit to force spending cuts, McCarthy says

Analysis: Kevin McCarthy weighs future of special committee on climate change

Take a look: Rep. Swalwell’s ad dramatizes woman being arrested for an abortion

Noted: Georgia blows away record for early midterm ballots cast on first day

Analysis: Marijuana is on the ballot in five more states this year

On our radar: Jan. 6 committee could issue Trump subpoena today

On our radar: Biden seeking to frame the choice voters have on abortion

Noted: A battle for the white working-class vote in a key Indiana House race

The latest: Ohio Senate debate filled with recriminations

The latest: Utah Senate debate features heated exchange over 2020 election

The latest: Abrams, Kemp agree on one thing — the other is terrible on crime

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Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Biden

On our radar: Harris heading to Minnesota to raise money for Gov. Tim Walz

This just in: Biden to make abortion rights bill his top priority if Democrats strengthen position in Congress

The latest: GOP would use debt limit to force spending cuts, McCarthy says

Analysis: Kevin McCarthy weighs future of special committee on climate change

Take a look: Rep. Swalwell’s ad dramatizes woman being arrested for an abortion

Noted: Georgia blows away record for early midterm ballots cast on first day

Analysis: Marijuana is on the ballot in five more states this year

On our radar: Jan. 6 committee could issue Trump subpoena today

On our radar: Biden seeking to frame the choice voters have on abortion

Noted: A battle for the white working-class vote in a key Indiana House race

The latest: Ohio Senate debate filled with recriminations

The latest: Utah Senate debate features heated exchange over 2020 election

The latest: Abrams, Kemp agree on one thing — the other is terrible on crime

No comments:

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Search This Blog

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