Despite the signing of the Doha agreement last February that called for a full drawdown of US troops and personnel from Afghanistan by May 1, the Department of Defense issued nearly a billion dollars in contracts to 17 different companies related to work in Afghanistan past the withdrawal date. There are currently some 18,000 contractors
Continue Reading The Biden administration is currently working to develop a system for people to prove they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to a senior administration official. Multiple government agencies are engaged in conversations and planning, coordinated by the White House, as this kind of system will play a role in multiple aspects of life, including
Continue ReadingLouisiana Rep.-elect Julia Letlow on Sunday urged Republicans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, citing her own tragic experience losing her husband to complications of Covid-19. “Look at my family. Use my story,” the Louisiana Republican said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” when asked her message to Republicans, a group that recent polling shows is
Continue ReadingRepublican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska committed on Sunday to supporting Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the state’s other GOP senator, should she decide to mount a reelection bid next year, giving the moderate lawmaker another ally as top party leaders pledge to oust her. “If Sen. Murkowski runs again, I’m going to support her,” Sullivan told
Continue ReadingDr. Deborah Birx revealed in a CNN documentary clip released Sunday that she received a “very uncomfortable” and “very difficult” phone call from Donald Trump after speaking publicly about the spread of Covid-19 while serving in the former President’s administration. Birx, who had served as the Trump White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, said the phone
Continue ReadingIt’s not often that a freshman member of Congress — in office barely two months — gets a shout out from the House Speaker during a congressional signing ceremony for a major piece of legislation. But that’s what happened to Rep. Nikema Williams. Speaker Nancy Pelosi even said that in some ways Williams made passing
Continue ReadingTalia Kaganovsky has struggled with her mental health for years. But when Covid-19 hit, “it was almost like a giant slap in the face,” the 18-year-old freshman at University of Pittsburgh said. Kaganovsky, like all Americans, had to readjust her habits and expectations when the pandemic began a year ago. For many high school seniors,
Continue ReadingPresident Joe Biden and other Democrats could tackle both voting rights and infrastructure legislation at the same time, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock insisted Sunday, while White House shifts its focus to the country’s infrastructure as his home state of Georgia has enacted a strict new voting law. “We can walk and chew gum at the
Continue Reading The Maine Republican Party’s state committee on Saturday rejected a censure measure against Sen. Susan Collins, following her vote earlier this year to convict former President Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial. Collins, who won a competitive reelection last fall in a state that President Joe Biden carried, escapes censure as some of her
Continue ReadingGeorgia’s voter restrictions were dashed into law Thursday by Republicans shaken over recent election losses and lies about fraud from former President Donald Trump, yet the measures also developed against a backdrop of US Supreme Court decisions hollowing out federal voting rights protection. In another world, before the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision written
Continue Reading The Biden administration could need at least 34,100 additional beds to keep up with the projected number of unaccompanied kids arriving at the US-Mexico border through September, according to internal government estimates obtained by CNN. The uptick in minors crossing the US southern border alone has posed a steep challenge for the administration, as officials
Continue ReadingIt was Thursday afternoon before a Senate recess was about to begin, and senators were in a hurry — especially Marsha Blackburn. As senators bolted from the chamber after the week’s final vote to catch their afternoon flights, the Tennessee Republican hopped in a waiting car along with an aide and made her way down
Continue Reading As Congress debates new legislation on firearm restrictions in the wake of two high-profile mass shootings, the National Rifle Association is playing a diminished role. But thanks to years of shedding its claim to bipartisanship and aligning almost entirely with the Republican Party, the country’s premier pro-gun lobby’s agenda has firmly planted its agenda within
Continue Reading The “enemies” will have fictional names, but when hundreds of US military personnel around the globe log on to their computers later this summer for a highly classified war game, it will be clear what a major focus of the scenarios will be — how the US should respond to aggressive action and unexpected moves
Continue Reading The number of unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody continued to climb this week, according to the latest government-released data. On Thursday, there were more than 18,000 children in US government custody, up from more than 17,000 on Wednesday. The Department of Homeland Security releases data for the day prior, a practice that began this
Continue ReadingDepartment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday dissolved the Homeland Security Advisory Council, according to a letter obtained by CNN, ousting a board of independent advisers that included Trump-era officials and setting up a plan to reconfigure the council. “In the service of an orderly transition to a new model for the HSAC,
Continue ReadingPresident Joe Biden on Friday called a sweeping elections bill signed into law in Georgia “Jim Crow in the 21st Century” and “an atrocity,” saying the Justice Department is “taking a look” at the measure. Asked if there was anything the White House could do to protect voting rights in Georgia, Biden told reporters on
Continue ReadingTwo separate groups of lawmakers traveled to Texas on Friday to spotlight the surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the US-Mexico border in recent weeks — with the lawmakers blaming different administrations for why the crisis is happening in the first place. Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro, who led a group of House Democratic lawmakers to
Continue Reading Georgia Republicans’ successful effort to enact sweeping voting restrictions has ratcheted up pressure on Democrats to take unprecedented steps and change the rules of the US Senate in order to overhaul election law and expand voting access across the country. But Democratic hopes are running into a major problem: The party lacks the votes to
Continue Reading Georgia Republicans’ successful effort to enact sweeping voting restrictions has ratcheted up pressure on Democrats to take unprecedented steps and change the rules of the US Senate in order to overhaul election law and expand voting access across the country. But Democratic hopes are running into a major problem: The party lacks the votes to
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