Politics

Reuters
U.S. Democrats vow 'long march' toward voting rights reforms
Democrats in the U.S. Congress suffered a bruising defeat in their drive to pass a major election reform bill but said there are more tools at their disposal to overcome Republican efforts in several states to roll back expanded voting procedures. "It will be a long march but it's one we are going to make," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer proclaimed after Democrats voted in lock-step https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democrats-voting-rights-plan-faces-long-odds-us-senate-2021-06-22 on Tuesday to launch a debate on voting rights legislation - but still fell 10 votes short of advancing such a bill, thanks to the 60-vote threshold required by filibuster rules. Given Senate Republicans' solid opposition, Schumer has a tough battle ahead.
Reuters
Biden plans new steps to combat U.S. gun violence as violent crime climbs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden plans to unveil new steps to curtail U.S. gun violence on Wednesday, including measures aimed at stemming the flow of firearms used in crimes, after pledging to push for sweeping changes to firearms laws. The actions will build on executive orders signed in April, when Biden asked the Justice Department to crack down on self-assembled "ghost guns," senior administration officials said. Biden also plans new steps to hold rogue firearms dealers https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-justice-department-launch-new-effort-crack-down-firearms-trafficking-2021-06-22 accountable for violating federal laws, help states employ more police officers using funds approved earlier this year to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and strengthen efforts by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to stop illegal gun trafficking across states.
The Guardian
Ex-police captain Eric Adams takes early lead in New York mayoral primary
Centrist Democrat claims most first-choice ballotsRanked-choice voting means primary winner due on 12 July Eric Adams in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Adams supports the controversial stop-and-frisk policing tactic. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Brooklyn’s borough president, Eric Adams, appeared to take a fragile lead in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, but it could be weeks before it becomes clear who is on top in the first citywide election to use ranked choice voting. As bal
Axios
Democrats' losing hand on voting rights
The 50-50 Senate, GOP-controlled state legislatures, gerrymandering and a conservative Supreme Court are blunting Democrats' ability to fight back against historic efforts to restrict voting in states across the U.S. Why it matters: Voting rights advocates say the moves could artificially prop up conservative, white power structures for a decade or longer by installing hurdles that disproportionally hit people of color. Democrats increasingly see this as an existential threat.Stay on top of the
Business Insider
Anticipation is mounting as a Pentagon report on UFOs could drop any day
The Pentagon is about to release its report into UFOs to Congress after confirming leaked videos of UFOs which baffled military pilots.
Axios
Louisiana governor vetoes transgender sports bill
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) on Tuesday vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have banned transgender females from participating in girl's and women's school and college sports.Details: "As I have said repeatedly when asked about this bill, discrimination is not a Louisiana value, and this bill was a solution in search of a problem that simply does not exist in Louisiana," Edwards said in a statement countering the bill's supporters who say they're trying to protect female athletes f
Business Insider
AOC slams filibuster rule after Senate Republicans block voting-rights act
Republicans used the filibuster to block the For The People Act, an attempt to counter restrictive state-level laws being rolled out by the GOP.
Reuters
U.S. Supreme Court bolsters presidential power over housing finance agency
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday made it easier for President Joe Biden to remove the head of the federal housing finance agency while also nixing separate claims brought by shareholders of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The justices upheld part of a lower court ruling that the Federal Housing Finance Agency's structure is unconstitutional under the separation of powers doctrine because the agency's lone director is insufficiently accountable to the president. But the justices faulted the lower court for allowing the shareholders to pursue separate litigation challenging a 2012 agreement between the FHFA and the Treasury Department arising from the government's rescue of the mortgage finance firms following the 2008 housing crisis.
Axios
GOP-led Michigan Senate investigation finds no evidence of election fraud
An investigation by Michigan's Republican-led Senate Oversight Committee found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in 2020, and recommended that Michigan's attorney general investigate individuals who made false claims "for their own ends."Why it matters: A 35-page report released by the committee debunks election falsehoods and conspiracy theories spread by former President Trump and his supporters in the aftermath of November's election.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic in
USA TODAY
As gun violence soars, Biden to target rogue dealers, illegal firearms in new crime strategy
Gun deaths in the U.S. this year are up more than 20% over 2020. Joe Biden is launching a strategy to take on the rising violence.
Associated Press
Poll: Many Democrats want more US support for Palestinians
A new poll on American attitudes toward a core conflict in the Middle East finds about half of Democrats want the U.S. to do more to support the Palestinians, showing that a growing rift among Democratic lawmakers is also reflected in the party’s base. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds differences within both the Democratic and the Republican parties on the U.S. approach toward Israel and the Palestinians, with liberal Democrats wanting more support for the Palestinians and conservative Republicans seeking even greater support for the Israelis.
Axios
Poll: Iowans disapprove of Biden's performance
The majority of likely Iowa voters say they don't approve of President Biden's job performance over the last six months, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.By the numbers: 43% of Iowans polled said they approved of his job performance, while 52% said they disapproved.The majority of Democrats said they approved of Biden's job, at 89%. Independents were at 43%, while Republicans were only at 6%.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.
LA Times
McManus: Biden's making a deal with Iran. It's good foreign policy — at a painful political price
President Biden's negotiators are moving toward renewing former President Obama's 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, a deal renounced by former President Trump.
The Guardian
US Capitol attack: first defendant in 6 January riot expected to be sentenced
Anna Morgan-Lloyd’s sentence could indicate what kind of punishments judges will impose on those involved in breach Trump supporters breach the US Capitol as teargas fills the corridor. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Three years of probation, 40 hours of community service and $500. That is the punishment federal prosecutors have requested for the first Capitol rioter expected to be sentenced in court, Anna Morgan-Lloyd, a 49-year-old Donald Trump supporter from Indiana. “Best day ever. W
Business Insider
Apple CEO Tim Cook personally rang Nancy Pelosi to ask her to slow down 6 tech antitrust bills, according to a report
Apple CEO Tim Cook told Pelosi he believed the antitrust bills had been rushed and would stunt innovation, five sources told the New York Times.
Axios
Apple argues App Store protects consumers as Big Tech looks to sink antitrust bills
Apple warned Wednesday that new antitrust legislation would place iPhone customers' privacy and security at risk by limiting the company's control over what apps users can install.Driving the news: Apple CEO Tim Cook called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats to argue that the antitrust bills would hurt innovation and consumers, per a New York Times report.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.The big picture: Tech companies are focusing on pot
Politico
House Republicans set to join Trump's border trip
Republican Study Committee Chair Rep. Jim Banks said in a statement that his caucus "has made carrying on the Trump legacy on immigration our top priority this Congress."
Associated Press
Biden anti-crime effort takes on law-breaking gun dealers
President Joe Biden is announcing new efforts to stem a rising national tide of violent crime as administration officials brace for what could be a turbulent summer, focusing on attacking gun violence, providing money to cities that need more police and offering community support. White House aides believe that Biden, with his long legislative record on fighting crime as a senator, is not easy to paint as soft on the issue, and the president has been clear that he is opposed to the “defund the police” movement, which has been effectively used against other Democrats to cast them as anti-law enforcement.
Axios
Biden administration to launch drive tackling gun violence spike
President Biden on Wednesday will announce new strategies to prevent and respond to gun violence, according to senior administration officials.Why it matters: The pandemic has led to increased gun violence, with the U.S. witnessing mass shootings on a weekly basis this year, per the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. Homicides jumped 30% in large cities in 2020, officials said.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.Biden called gun violence in the U.S. an "epidem
NBC News
White House to announce strategy to tackle gun violence amid sharp increase in crime
Biden is scheduled to deliver a speech on his plan — which includes funds for the police and social service programs — Wednesday afternoon at the White House.
Reuters
No meeting planned between Blinken and China's Wang at G20 -U.S. official
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -There is no meeting planned between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a G20 gathering in Italy next week, a State Department official said on Wednesday, after the Financial Times reported that Beijing and Washington were discussing such a meeting. The newspaper, citing people briefed on the talks, said U.S. President Joe Biden's administration had also informed counterparts in Beijing that it would like Wendy Sherman, deputy secretary of state, to visit China over the summer. The White House had also held preliminary internal discussions about sending Blinken or Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, to China later this year, which could set the stage for Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to hold a bilateral summit on the margins of the G20 leaders meeting in Rome in October, the British newspaper reported https://on.ft.com/2SXZGHt.
The Guardian
Democrats seek way ahead after voting rights bill hits Senate roadblock
The White House warned democracy was ‘in peril’ but while key Democrats stay committed to the filibuster, progress looks difficult An activist holds a flyer questioning Senator Joe Manchin on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Photograph: Allison Bailey/Rex/Shutterstock After nearly six months of watching Republicans relentlessly make it harder to vote in the US, Democrats suffered a major blow on Tuesday after GOP senators used a legislative maneuver to halt a sweeping voting rights and ethics bill. The
Reuters
U.S. President Biden lauds athletes Nassib, Yokoyama for coming out
"To Carl Nassib and Kumi Yokoyama – two prominent, inspiring athletes who came out this week: I’m so proud of your courage," Biden tweeted https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1407506870181453824 on Tuesday. Nassib's announcement video on Monday, during Pride month, was greeted with support from the NFL and his team, and the 28-year-old took to social media to express his "gratitude and relief."