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      More than a quarter of Republicans approve of Capitol attack, poll shows

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      More than a quarter of Republicans approve of the January 6 Capitol attack, according to a new poll. More than half think the deadly riot was a form of legitimate political discourse.The Economist and YouGov survey said 27% of Republicans either strongly or somewhat approved of the riot on 6 January 2021, which Donald Trump incited in an attempt to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden.Nine deaths, including law enforcement suicides, have been linked to the attack. More than 1,000 people have been arrested and hundreds convicted.The longest sentence yet handed down is 10 years in prison, to a former New York police officer who assaulted Capitol officers. The statutory maximum sentence for seditious conspiracy, the most serious convictions yet secured, is 20 years.Trump was impeached for inciting an insurrection, but acquitted. The House January 6 committee made four criminal referrals regarding Trump to the Department of Justice. The federal investigation continues.The Republican party itself has called the riot legitimate political discourse.In February 2022, a Republican National Committee resolution said Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the two Republicans on the January 6 committee, were pursuing the “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”.A Democratic committee member, Jamie Raskin, said: “The Republican party is so off the deep end now that they are describing an attempted coup and a deadly insurrection as political expression.“It is a scandal that historians will be aghast at.”More than a year later, the Economist/YouGov poll said 54% of Republicans thought rioters “participated in legitimate political discourse”. Among all voters, that total was 34%.The poll also said 8% of Republicans strongly approved of the takeover of the Capitol and 19% somewhat approved.Among all respondents, 19% approved of the riot “to stop congressional proceedings”. The figure for those who did not approve was 65%, leaving 15% “not sure”.Asked about Trump’s responsibility for the riot, 49% of Republicans said he had some, from a little to a lot. Among all voters, that figure rose 68%.Trump is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and leading most polls, despite facing legal jeopardy over January 6 and on many other fronts.Respondents to the Economist/YouGov poll were also asked about the decision by the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, to hand more than 40,000 hours of Capitol security footage to Tucker Carlson.The Fox News host has used the footage to show a highly partial version of events on January 6, arguing most rioters were peaceful and claiming without discernible irony the attack has been taken out of context for political purposes.McCarthy has been widely criticised. He has said other networks will have access to the footage.Among Republicans in the new poll, 61% approved of McCarthy’s decision to release the footage to Carlson and Fox News. Among all voters, 42% did.Republicans under McCarthy, including the far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, plan to stage an official visit to individuals jailed over January 6.Trump has recorded a charity single, with a choir of prisoners. More

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      in US Politics

      Pat Schroeder, Democrat and feminist pioneer in Congress, dies aged 82

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      Pat Schroeder, a pioneer for women’s and family rights in Congress who confronted and angered conservatives, has died. She was 82.Schroeder’s former press secretary, Andrea Camp, said the former congresswoman suffered a stroke recently and died on Monday in Celebration, Florida.Schroeder took on the elite for 24 years, shaking up institutions by forcing them to acknowledge women had a role in government. Her unorthodox methods cost her key committee posts but Schroeder said she wasn’t willing to join “the good old boys’ club”. Unafraid of embarrassing colleagues in public, she became a feminist hero.Schroeder was elected in Colorado in 1972 and won re-election 11 times from a safe district in Denver. Despite her seniority, she was never appointed to lead a committee.She helped forge several Democratic majorities before leaving in 1997. Her parting shot was a book, 24 Years of Housework … and the Place is Still a Mess: My Life in Politics.In 1987, Schroeder tested the waters for the presidency, after her fellow Coloradan Gary Hart pulled out. Announcing she would not run, she said her heart was not in it and fundraising was demeaning.Schroeder said legislators spent too much attention on donors. When in 1994 House Republicans gathered on the Capitol steps to celebrate 100 days in power, she and several aides climbed to the dome and hung a 15-ft red banner reading: “Sold.”She was the first woman on the House armed services committee but was forced to share a seat with Ron Dellums of California, the first African American. Schroeder said the chair, F Edward Hebert of Louisiana, thought the committee was no place for a woman or an African American and they were each worth only half a seat.Republicans were livid when Schroeder and others filed an ethics complaint over a televised lecture series given by the speaker, Newt Gingrich, charging that free cable time amounted to an illegal gift. Gingrich became the first speaker reprimanded by Congress. He said he regretted not taking Schroeder and her allies more seriously.According to her House biography, Schroeder once told Pentagon officials that if they were women, they would always be pregnant because they never said no.Asked by one congressman how she could be a mother of two small children and a congresswoman, she replied: “I have a brain and a uterus, and I use both.”It was Schroeder who branded Ronald Reagan the Teflon president for his ability to avoid blame.One of her biggest victories was the signing of a family leave bill in 1993, providing job protection for care of a newborn, sick child or parent.“Pat Schroeder blazed the trail,” said Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat who took over from Schroeder as chair of the congressional caucus on women’s issues. “Every woman in this house is walking in her footsteps.”A pilot, Schroeder earned her way through Harvard law school with her own flying service. She became a professor at Princeton and led the Association of American Publishers. But she continued working in politics after moving to Florida. She campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016.Schroeder was born in Portland, Oregon, on 30 July 1940. She graduated from the University of Minnesota before earning her law degree. From 1964 to 1966 she was a field attorney for the National Labor Relations Board.She is survived by her husband, James W Schroeder, whom she married in 1962, their children, Scott and Jamie, her brother, Mike Scott, and four grandchildren. More

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      in US Politics

      George Santos: Republican fabulist praises ‘genuine’ actors in Oscars picks

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      George Santos: Republican fabulist praises ‘genuine’ actors in Oscars picksNew Yorker with mostly made-up CV and multiple investigations calls nominee Angela Bassett ‘Meryl Streep, the Black version’Asked for his Oscars predictions, the Republican congressman and fabulist George Santos said he liked actors who were “genuine”.“I have my favorite actors,” said the New Yorker, who has been shown to have made up most of his résumé and whose behaviour before and after entering politics is the subject of multiple investigations.Oscars 2023: final predictions, timetable and how to watchRead more“And then I have the actors I think are charismatic. JLo, The Rock. Melissa McCarthy. They’re genuine.”None of them were however nominated for the Academy Awards set to be handed out in Hollywood on Sunday night.Santos has admitted “embellishing” a résumé shown to include false claims about his family, educational and professional background, fueling questions about his very identity, given activities under another name, Anthony Devolder.He has repeatedly said he has done nothing illegal, even as his campaign finances, an allegation of sexual harassment and multiple claims of financial wrongdoing are investigated at local, state, federal, congressional and international levels.He has rebuffed calls to resign from constituents in Queens and Long Island as well as Democrats in Congress and his fellow New York Republicans.He withdrew from committee assignments but retains the support of Republican leaders, after backing Kevin McCarthy through 15 votes for House speaker, a role the Californian must play with a narrow majority, prey to rightwing rebellion.Santos discussed the Oscars and his film tastes with Matthew Foldi, a reporter who has also interviewed him for the Spectator, in an interview published on Sunday on Pirate Wires, a site “focused on the intersection of technology, politics, and culture”.The discussion started with “the Slap”, the moment last year when Will Smith left the Oscars audience to hit the host, Chris Rock, over a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, Smith’s wife.“Quite frankly, it was fucking stupid,” Santos said. “Chris Rock is a genius.”Santos said he would not watch the Oscars this year, because “they won’t really put box [office] sellers there” and he did not want to see a celebration of “fancy people” and “elitists” such as Quentin Tarantino and James Cameron.Those two directors and Steven Spielberg (who has three nominees for The Fabelmans to one for Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water) had “fallen to the woke”, Santos said.Santos said he liked comedy and horror films, adding: “Let’s be honest, Saw was a fucking great horror movie. But the Oscars don’t have a horror category. Resident Evil, great cinematics. Milla Jovovich is arguably one of my favorite actresses of all time. It’s her, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett and Gerard Butler.”Bassett is nominated this year for best supporting actress, for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Santos said she should be up for best actress, because: “I’m not trying to be racist, but she’s Meryl Streep, the Black version. She’s just as good. She’s fantastic.”The congressman lamented the academy’s relative neglect of Leonardo DiCaprio (who won best actor for The Revenant in 2016) but criticised Tom Cruise, producer and star of Top Gun: Maverick, a best picture nominee this year.“Tom Cruise has given me enough evidence of what he thinks of America to make me not like him,” Santos said, going on to criticise the actor Jane Fonda in similar terms, for “decid[ing] to make her entire life political”.The professional politician professed not to know the “political beliefs” of actors including Bassett, Freeman, Denzel Washington and Mel Gibson, “because they don’t share them. And you know why that is? Because we look to them for entertainment. I appreciate these people so much because they’re not activists.”Of Gibson, Foldi wrote: “We do know his views on Jews … and they are not favorable.”Santos’s claim to be Jewish has been debunked. Openly gay, he was once married to a woman. Accusing Hollywood of caving to Chinese censors – although “as a good old capitalist, I don’t blame them” – he told Foldi: “Woke wants everything gay, and pro-China-beholden-Hollywood can’t have that.“To me, it becomes a cannibalistic event that I would actually enjoy watching. That’s a movie I would watch. Woke Hollywood takes on Chinese-influenced Hollywood.”Santos also lamented the declining fortunes of other favourites including Steven Seagal, the pro-Putin action star who Santos said once shone in “hyper-action police movies” but was out of favour because “instead of giving the police a platform, we just want to defund them and burn them to the ground”.In comedy, Santos said, “You’re not going to see another Adam Sandler or Vince Vaughn or Chris Rock or Kevin Hart. Well, Kevin Hart survives because – I guess he gets a pass because he’s a little Black guy. People aren’t gonna want to make his life miserable.”Towards the end of the interview, Foldi said, the man whose performance as a politician has captured the national spotlight “turned reflective”.“I’m very, very close-minded about actors these days,” Santos said. “Because the more I learn about your non-performative career, the less interested I am in you.”A spokesperson for Santos did not immediately reply to a request for comment.TopicsGeorge SantosOscarsOscars 2023Awards and prizesUS politicsUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesReuse this content More

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      in US Politics

      It’s OK to be Angry about Capitalism review: Bernie Sanders, by the book

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      ReviewIt’s OK to be Angry about Capitalism review: Bernie Sanders, by the bookThe Vermont senator and former presidential candidate offers a clarion call against the American oligarchsThe Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has a predictably unsparing view of the effects of “unfettered capitalism”: it “destroys anything that gets in its way in the pursuit of profits. It destroys the environment. It destroys our democracy. It discards human beings without a second thought. It will never provide workers with the fulfillment that Americans have a right to expect from their careers. [And it is] propelled by uncontrollable greed and contempt for human decency.”Has Bernie Sanders really helped Joe Biden move further left?Read moreThe two-time presidential candidate makes his case with the usual horrifying numbers about the acceleration of inequality in America: 90% of our wealth is owned by one-tenth of 1% of the population; the wealth of 725 US billionaires increased 70% during the pandemic to more than $5tn; BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street now control assets of $20tn and are major shareholders in 96% of S&P 500 companies.Sanders recites these statistics with religious fervor, and poses fundamental questions for our time: “Do we believe in the Golden Rule? [or] do we accept … that gold rules – and that lying, cheating, and stealing are OK if you’re powerful enough to get away with it?”Bernie believes (and I strongly agree) that it’s long past the time when we should be paying at least as much attention to American oligarchs as we do to those surrounding Vladimir Putin. Our homegrown plutocrats “own” our democracy.“They spend tens of billions … on campaign contributions … to buy politicians who will do their bidding. They spend billions more on lobbying firms to influence governmental decisions” at every level. And “to a significant degree”, the oligarchs “own” the media. That is why our prominent pundits “rarely raise issues that will undermine the privileged positions of their employers” and “there is little public discussion about the power of corporate America and how oligarchs wield that power to benefit their interests at the expense of working families”.We were reminded this week of how this system works. Joe Biden released a budget with perfectly modest proposals for tax increases, like a 25% minimum tax on the wealthiest Americans and a seven-percentage-point raise in the corporate tax rate to 28%, which would still leave it seven points lower than it was before Donald Trump gutted it with his gigantic tax giveaways.Instantly, experts owned and operated by the billionaires started spewing their familiar bilge, like these moving words from the Cato Institute: “Higher tax rates on the wages of a narrow segment of the United States’ most productive executives and business leaders will have strong disincentives against their continued work and other negative behavioral effects that translate into a less dynamic, slower growing economy.“Higher taxes on investment income target the financial rewards to successful entrepreneurs who undertake risks and persevere through failure to build high return businesses that provide welfare enhancing goods and services to people around the world.”Sanders quotes one of the most prescient Americans of the mid-20th century, from 1944: “As our industrial economy expanded [our] political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness. We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.”The name of that dangerous revolutionary: Franklin Delano Roosevelt.Several decades before that, Theodore Roosevelt similarly bemoaned the “absence of effective state, and, especially, national, restraint upon unfair money-getting” which “has tended to create a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power”.There is something extremely refreshing about an author who assumes it should be obvious that billionaires should not be allowed to exist – and has perfectly reasonable proposals about how they should be eliminated. At the height of the pandemic, Sanders proposed the Make Billionaires Pay Act, which would have imposed a 60% tax on all the wealth gained by 467 billionaires between 18 March 2020 and January 2021.“But why stop at one year?” he now asks. After all, the 1950s were economic boom times in America – and under a Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower, “the top tax rate for the wealthiest Americans was around 92%. America thrived. Unions were strong. Working-class Americans could afford to support themselves and buy homes on a single income.” And the richest 20% controlled a measly (by current standards) 42.8% of the wealth.Bernie Sanders: ‘Oligarchs run Russia. But guess what? They run the US as well’Read moreSanders’ 99.5 Percent Act would only touch the top 0.5% of Americans. “But the families of billionaires in America, who have a combined net worth of over $5tn, would owe up to $3tn in estate taxes.” He would accomplish this with a 45% tax rate on estates worth $3.5m and a 65% rate on those worth more than $1bn.There is much more here, including a convincing case for Medicare for All and an excoriation of a for-profit healthcare system which spends twice as much per citizen as France or Germany and still manages to leaves tens of millions of Americans un- or underinsured, all while nourishing an obscene pharmaceuticals business in which profits jumped by 90% in 2021.I first toured the castles of the Loire Valley as a teenager in the company of the family of my uncle, Jerry Kaiser, a 60s radical and a very early opponent of the war in Vietnam. As we absorbed the opulence of one chateau after another, Jerry had only one question: “What took them so long to have a revolution?”The noble purpose of Bernie Sander’s powerful new book is to get millions of Americans to ask that question of themselves – right now.
      It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism is published in the US by Crown
      TopicsBooksBernie SandersUS politicsDemocratsUS SenateUS CongressUS economyreviewsReuse this content More

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      in US Politics

      Biden vows to protect social security and Medicare in speech outlining budget plan – as it happened

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      President Joe Biden is delivering remarks at a union hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania about his fiscal year 2024 budget proposal.It is now 4pm in Washington DC. As we wrap up the blog, here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
      Biden unveiled his budget proposal for the 2024 fiscal year at a union hall in Philadelphia that would slash the federal deficit by nearly $3tn. He also pledged to increase taxes for the rich while promising to safeguard social security and Medicare. He also called for increased funding for training programs within law enforcement.
      Hundreds of gun safety advocates gathered at the Florida capitol today to protest a Republican bill that would remove the requirement to obtain a permit before carrying a concealed firearm. The Florida senate held a committee hearing on the bill today.
      Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s spokesperson David Popp said the Kentucky senator, 81, suffered a concussion and would remain in hospital “a few days” for observation and treatment. “The leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes,” Popp said.
      Ken Cuccinelli, once a homeland security official and immigration hawk in Donald Trump’s administration, has launched a political action committee in support of his preferred candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024: Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor has not yet declared a run but is Trump’s only serious challenger in polling. Launching his Never Back Down Pac, Cuccinelli said: “I have been speaking to many grassroots conservative activists around the country who are very enthusiastic for Governor DeSantis to run for president in 2024.
      During Thursday’s hearing, South Carolina’s Republican senator Lindsey Graham asked Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw and EPA whether he would live in East Palestine which has been environmentally affected by the derailment. Shaw replied, “Yes sir, I believe that the air is safe, I believe that the water is safe, there are hundreds of tests … billions of data points …”
      Shaw appeared to avoid Oregon’s Democratic senator Jeff Merkley’s question on whether his team would lobby for safety improvements rather than lobby against them. “We will continue to follow data. There are actually a number of areas in which we’ve invested in safety systems well above government regulation,” Shaw said. In response, Merkley said: “I’m sorry you can’t tell this crowd here today that would like to hear that is the case.”
      Vermont Democratic senator Bernie Sanders grilled Shaw about more paid days off and better treatment for the company’s workers. “Will you make that commitment right now? To guarantee paid sick days to all of your workers? That’s not a radical demand. It really is not,” Sanders said. Shaw proceeded to deliver a non-answer, saying: “I will commit to continuing to discuss with them important quality of life issues.” Sanders replied, “With all due respect, you sound like a politician here.”
      Shaw said, “We are committed to the legislative intent to make rail safer,” without specifically indicating whether he would commit to supporting the bipartisan Railway Safety Act. “We can always get better and that is my intent to continue to invest and continue to improve” in industry safety standards, he added.
      The Environmental Protection Agency has “not detected any volatile organic compounds above levels of health concerns” since the derailment fire was extinguished on 8 February, the agency’s regional administrator, Debra Shore, said in her testimony on Thursday. Shore added that the EPA is currently conducting 24/7 air monitoring and a voluntary program set up by the agency has seen approximately 600 homes screened for toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride – no detections of the chemicals have been identified.
      Shaw has acknowledged the safety deficits that led to the disastrous derailment, saying, “It is clear the safety mechanisms in place were not enough.” Shaw added that the company has launched a series of initiatives to ensure industry-wide safety improvements and better training measures for its employees.
      During his testimony, Ohio Republican JD Vance called on the Environmental Protection Agency to swiftly and safely remove the “toxic dirt” that has been filled with chemicals since the derailment. He said, “We need leadership. We need the EPA to get on the ground and aggressively get this stuff out of Palestine into properly licensed facilities. It’s maybe the most important and pressing thing …”
      Ohio Democratic senator Sherrod Brown who testified at the hearing has issued harsh criticism against Norfolk Southern. “If Norfolk Southern had paid a little more attention to safety and a little less attention to its profits, if it cared a little more about the Ohioans along its tracks and a little less about its executives and shareholders, these accidents would not have been as bad or maybe not happened at all,” he said.
      That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. Thank you for joining us.Hundreds of gun safety advocates gathered at the Florida capitol today to protest a Republican bill that would remove the requirement to obtain a permit before carrying a concealed firearm. The Florida senate held a committee hearing on the bill today.In recent years, permitless carry, known as “constitutional carry” to its supporters, has been embraced by gun rights activists who view any firearm-related regulation as a violation of their second amendment right to bear arms. Twenty-five states have already enacted laws allowing residents to carry concealed guns without a permit.But gun safety advocates warn that the policy will only make gun violence more common, endangering the lives of Floridians. Research does appear to substantiate those concerns; one study released in 2019 found that states saw an increase of 13% to 15% increase in violent crime rates in the years after they loosened regulations on carrying concealed firearms..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We’re turning out in force today to make sure Florida lawmakers know that permitless carry puts communities in danger,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action.
      “Allowing more guns in more places with no questions asked only leads to more gun violence and more senseless and preventable tragedy.”The debate over the permitless carry bill comes as Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is widely expected to launch a presidential campaign..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“While Governor DeSantis puts his political ambitions over the public safety of his constituents,” Watts said, “we won’t stop fighting for the majority of Floridians who oppose this reckless legislation.”Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has criticized Biden’s budget proposal, calling it “reckless”.In a statement released on Friday, McDaniel said:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Paychecks are worth less, the cost for everything is up, and Biden’s tax-and-spending spree will only worsen the economic burden on American families. Biden’s reckless budget proves how out of touch his administration is with reality.”“No one making less than $400,000 will see a penny in federal taxes go up. Not a single penny,” Biden promised as he called for increased taxes on the rich.“No billionaire should be paying a lower tax than somebody working as a school teacher or a firefighter,” Biden said.“My plan is to make sure the corporations begin to pay their fair share. It used to be 35%, we cut it down to 21%,” referring to the corporate tax rate. “I think we should be paying 28%. It’s going to be a real fight in that but we should be paying more than 21%” he added.Biden promised to protect social security and Medicare, to which the crowd responded with whoops and cheers.“I won’t allow it to be gutted or eliminated as Maga Republicans threaten to do … My budget will not cut benefits and it definitely won’t sunset programs like some of my Maga Republican friends want to do,” he said.Biden added that his budget will ensure that the “vital program keeps going strong for generations without cutting a single penny and benefits”.Biden said his budget includes funding for more training and “more support for law enforcement.”“They need more help… We don’t expect a cop [to be] everything from a psychologist to a counselor. These departments need more investment in this kind of help and we’re going to fund proven strategies for accountable, effective community policing.”“We’ve got to get cops back on the streets and the communities they know.”“It’s going to lower prices for seniors,” Biden said about his budget, adding that it is “not just going to save people’s lives and save people money so they don’t have to go bankrupt. It’s going to save the government.”He added that his budget will “invest in critical issues that matter to families…lower rental costs and make it easier to buy a home…all of which will generate economic growth and prosperity.”Describing his budget which would slash the federal deficit by nearly $3tn in the next 10 years, Biden said his plan will help those who “hold the country together, who have been basically invisible for a long time”.The proposal also seeks to raise taxes for corporations and the rich, as well as lower healthcare and prescription care costs, along with housing and education costs.Biden added that his budget also seeks to “restore the child tax credit,” saying, “We can reduce child poverty, increase child opportunity.”As Biden revealed his $6.8tn budget proposal, saying, “Show me your budget, I’ll tell you what’s your value,” the president called upon House speaker Kevin McCarthy to lay out his plan.“I’m ready to meet with the speaker anytime,” Biden said, adding that he would like to go “line by line” with McCarthy to see which aspects of the proposals’ the two can agree on.President Joe Biden is delivering remarks at a union hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania about his fiscal year 2024 budget proposal.We have an update on the health of the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, who was taken to hospital in Washington on Wednesday night after he fell at a hotel during a private dinner.On Thursday, the spokesperson David Popp said the Kentucky senator, 81, suffered a concussion and would remain in hospital “a few days” for observation and treatment.“The leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes,” Popp said.McConnell is a survivor of polio. In 2019, he tripped and fell at his home, suffering a shoulder fracture. In 2020, he dismissed speculation over his health prompted by pictures of his bruised and bandaged hands and bruising around his mouth.On the Senate floor on Thursday, the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, said he had called McConnell and spoken with his staff “to extend my prayers and well wishes”.“I joined every single one of my colleagues in wishing Leader McConnell a speedy and full recovery,” Schumer said.The number two Republican, John Thune of South Dakota, was at the dinner on Wednesday, in support of a conservative Super Pac, the Washington Post reported. Thune told reporters McConnell delivered remarks “as usual”.“Evidently it happened later in the evening,” he said of McConnell’s fall.McConnell was elected to the Senate in 1984. He was majority leader from 2015 to 2021. He is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history but only the fourth-oldest member of the current chamber. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, is the oldest senator, three months senior to her fellow 89-year-old Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, is 81.Amid concern about the advanced age of many US political leaders, proposals for age and term limits for public officials have featured in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.Nikki Haley, the 51-year-old former governor of South Carolina, says candidates older than 75 should be subject to mental competency tests.03:30The candidate who dominates polling, former president Donald Trump, is 76.More lunchtime reading, in this case an important survey by a Guardian US team – Alice Herman, Carlisa N Johnson, Rachel Leingang, Kira Lerner, Sam Levine and Ed Pilkington – who have worked with our graphics desk to produce a guide to all the election-denying Republicans who remain in positions of influence in federal and state government…Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election brought the US to the brink of a democratic crisis. Refusing to concede his loss to Joe Biden, he attempted to use every lever available to try and throw out the results of the election, pressuring state lawmakers, Congress and the courts to declare him the winner.Those efforts didn’t succeed. But Trump nonetheless created a new poison that seeped deep in the Republican party – a belief that the results of US elections cannot be trusted. The belief quickly became Republican orthodoxy: it was embraced by Republican officeholders across the country as well as local activists who began to bombard and harass local election officials, forcing many of them to retire. The January 6 attack on the US Capitol – in which thousands stormed the building, and five people died – was the starkest reminder of the potential violent consequences of this rhetoric.In 2022, several Republicans who embraced election denialism lost their races to be the top election official in their state. But at the same time, many Republicans who unabashedly embraced the idea and aided Trump’s efforts to overturn the election were re-elected and, in some cases, elevated to higher office.Here’s a look at how some of those who tried to overturn the 2020 election have since been promoted into positions of power:The election-denying Republicans who aided Trump’s ‘big lie’ and got promotedRead moreAhead of Joe Biden’s speech in Philadelphia this afternoon, in which the president is due to introduce his budget proposal, here’s our columnist Robert Reich, a former US labor secretary, on the cards Republicans might play in return – and why when it comes to threats to default on the national debt, they’re bluffing.Joe Biden is proposing to trim the federal budget deficit by close to $3tn over the next 10 years. He was an FDR-like spender in the first two years of his presidency. Has he now turned into a Calvin Coolidge skinflint?Neither. He’s a cunning political operator.Biden knows that he – along with his three immediate predecessors (Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W Bush) – have spent gobs of money. In addition, Bush and Trump cut taxes on the rich and on corporations.Not surprisingly, the national debt has soared. It’s not so much an economic problem as a political one. The huge debt is giving Republicans a big, fat target.House Republicans are planning to stage theater-of-the-absurd pyrotechnics – refusing to raise the debt ceiling. Which means that at some point this summer, Biden’s treasury department will say that the nation is within days (or hours) of defaulting on its bills. A default would be catastrophic.To counter this, Biden is planning his own pyrotechnics…Read on…Republicans are threatening to default on the US national debt. Don’t believe them | Robert ReichRead moreKen Cuccinelli, once a homeland security official and immigration hawk in Donald Trump’s administration, has launched a political action committee in support of his preferred candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024: Ron DeSantis.The Florida governor has not yet declared a run but is Trump’s only serious challenger in polling.Launching his Never Back Down pac, Cuccinelli said: “I have been speaking to many grassroots conservative activists around the country who are very enthusiastic for Governor DeSantis to run for president in 2024.“The energy is there, grassroots conservatives see the governor as a leader and a fighter with a winning conservative track record who will lead the Republican party to victory in 2024.“Based on those conversations, I am most confident that we will build an unmatched grassroots political army for Governor DeSantis to help carry him to the White House.”Trump did not immediately comment.Here, meanwhile, is a story about some of what Cuccinelli got up to while working for Trump – presiding over hardline immigration policies including family separations at the southern border.In particular, about what the former Maryland governor and Democratic presidential contender Martin O’Malley did when he saw Cuccinelli, a fellow graduate of Gonzaga high school, in a Washington bar one Thanksgiving evening…O’Malley slams acting DHS deputy: ‘You cage children for a fascist president’Read moreIt is slightly past 1pm on Capitol Hill. The first Senate hearing on the East Palestine train derailment has concluded. Here are some of the hearing highlights:
      During Thursday’s hearing, South Carolina’s Republican senator Lindsey Graham asked Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw and EPA whether he would live in East Palestine which has been environmentally affected by the derailment. Shaw replied, “Yes sir, I believe that the air is safe, I believe that the water is safe, there are hundreds of tests…billions of data points…”
      Shaw appeared to avoid Oregon’s Democratic senator Jeff Merkley’s question on whether his team would lobby for safety improvements rather than lobby against them. “We will continue to follow data. There are actually a number of areas in which we’ve invested in safety systems well above government regulation,” Shaw said. In response, Merkley said: “I’m sorry you can’t tell this crowd here today that would like to hear that is the case.”
      Vermont Democratic senator Bernie Sanders grilled Shaw about more paid days off and better treatment for the company’s workers. “Will you make that commitment right now? To guarantee paid sick days to all of your workers? That’s not a radical demand. It really is not,” Sanders said. Shaw proceeded to deliver a non-answer, saying: “I will commit to continuing to discuss with them important quality of life issues.” Sanders replied, “With all due respect, you sound like a politician here.”
      Shaw said, “We are committed to the legislative intent to make rail safer,” without specifically indicating whether he would commit to supporting the bipartisan Railway Safety Act. “We can always get better and that is my intent to continue to invest and continue to improve” in industry safety standards, he added.
      The Environmental Protection Agency has “not detected any volatile organic compounds above levels of health concerns” since the derailment fire was extinguished on 8 February, the agency’s regional administrator, Debra Shore, said in her testimony on Thursday. Shore added that the EPA is currently conducting 24/7 air monitoring and a voluntary program set up by the agency has seen approximately 600 homes screened for toxic chemicals including vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride – no detections of the chemicals have been identified.
      Shaw has acknowledged the safety deficits that led to the disastrous derailment, saying, “It is clear the safety mechanisms in place were not enough.” Shaw added that the company has launched a series of initiatives to ensure industry-wide safety improvements and better training measures for its employees.
      During his testimony, Ohio Republican JD Vance called on the Environmental Protection Agency to swiftly and safely remove the “toxic dirt” that has been filled with chemicals since the derailment. He said, “We need leadership. We need the EPA to get on the ground and aggressively get this stuff out of Palestine into properly licensed facilities. It’s maybe the most important and pressing thing…”
      Ohio Democratic senator Sherrod Brown who testified at the hearing has issued harsh criticism against Norfolk Southern. “If Norfolk Southern had paid a little more attention to safety and a little less attention to its profits, if it cared a little more about the Ohioans along its tracks and a little less about its executives and shareholders, these accidents would not have been as bad or maybe not happened at all,” he said.
      Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said that he would live in East Palestine, Ohio, given what he has seen.During Thursday’s hearing, South Carolina’s Republican senator Lindsey Graham asked Shaw and EPA regional administrator Debra Shore whether they would live in East Palestine which has been environmentally affected by the derailment..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Yes sir, I believe that the air is safe, I believe that the water is safe, there are hundreds of tests…billions of data points. They all point to the same thing and I generally enjoy my conversations with the folks of East Palestine.”Shore echoed Shaw’s comments, saying:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We follow science and I drank the water there, I drink it every time I go to down because the scientific data says it’s safe, as does the air.”Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw appeared to avoid Oregon’s Democratic senator Jeff Merkley’s question on whether his team would lobby for safety improvements rather than lobby against them..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We will continue to follow data. There are actually a number of areas in which we’ve invested in safety systems well above government regulation,” Shaw said.In response, Merkley said:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“I just really thought when you said ‘turn over a new leaf’ that…you were saying you were going to now support safety regulations. I’m sorry you can’t tell this crowd here today that would like to hear that is the case.”Merkley went on to ask Shaw if his company – which announced $10bn in stock buybacks earlier this year – would pledge to do no more stock buybacks until a series of safety measures have been completed.Merkley once again avoided answering the question, saying, “I will commit to continuing to invest in safety. We invest in over a billion dollars a year.”“I am committed to having the best safety culture in the industry,” he added, to which Merkley responded:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“You’re coming here with three derailments within three months and the average in the industry is one per month for the entire industry so congratulations on maybe some good luck over a few years but at this moment, your team is the team that has the most derailments in the last three months.”Vermont Democratic senator Bernie Sanders grilled Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw about more paid days off and better treatment for the company’s workers..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Given that Norfolk Southern provided $10 billion in stock buybacks recently, can you tell the American people and your employees right now that in order to improve morale in your workforce, that you will guarantee at least seven paid sick days to the 15,000 workers you employ?” Sanders asked.
      “Will you make that commitment right now? To guarantee paid sick days to all of your workers? That’s not a radical demand. It really is not,” he added.Shaw proceeded to deliver a non-answer, saying:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“I will commit to continuing to discuss with them important quality of life issues.”In response, Sanders said:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“With all due respect, you sound like a politician here… Paid sick days is not a radical concept in the year 2023. I’m not hearing you make that commitment to guarantee that to all of your workers… Will you make that commitment, sir?”Shaw echoed his earlier response, saying:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“I’m committed to continuing to speak to our employees about quality of life issues that are important to them.”Sanders proceeded to ask Shaw if he would pay for all of the healthcare needs of East Palestine residents.“We’re going to do what’s right for the citizens,” said Shaw, adding: “Everything is on the table.” More

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      ‘Shut your mouth’: Republican senator and Teamsters leader in fiery clash

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      01:22‘Shut your mouth’: Republican senator and Teamsters leader in fiery clashMarkwayne Mullin, a former MMA fighter, argues with union’s Sean O’Brien as Bernie Sanders seeks order in Senate hearingA Republican senator who once had to reassure voters he didn’t think he was “Rambo” and was a mixed martial arts fighter before entering politics got into a vocal brawl with a union boss during a public congressional hearing, saying: “You need to shut your mouth.”Mitch McConnell in hospital after fall in Washington DCRead moreMarkwayne Mullin of Oklahoma exchanged verbal fire with Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, during a hearing staged on Wednesday by the Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee.The chair, the Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, was seeking support for his Protecting the Right to Organise Act. But Mullin made headlines of his own.The 45-year-old, who owns a plumbing business, said he was “not against unions …some of my very good friends work for unions. They work hard, and they do a good job.”But he said he did not like “intimidation” by union leaders trying to unionise businesses including his own.“I’m not afraid of a physical confrontation,” Mullin continued. “In fact, sometimes I look forward to it. That’s not my problem.”In late 2021, Mullin memorably said “I’m not Rambo”, in reference to a character played by Sylvester Stallone in a violent film series, amid controversy over an attempt to enter Afghanistan with a private security team. He also said he had not tried to be “a cowboy or anything like that”.Mullin is a state wrestling hall of fame member whose website says he is “a former Mixed Martial Arts fighter with a professional record of 5-0”.Addressing O’Brien, he said: “But when you’re [confronting] my employees? For what? Because we were paying higher wages? Because we had better benefits and we wasn’t requiring them to pay your guys’ exorbitant salaries?”The website of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters describes O’Brien, 51, as a fourth-generation teamster who started out in “the rigging industry as a heavy-equipment driver in the Greater Boston area”.Mullin asked O’Brien about his salary and accused him of forcing members to pay union dues.“You’re out of line,” O’Brien said.“Don’t tell me I’m out of line,” Mullin said. “You need to shut your mouth.”O’Brien mocked Mullin’s “tough guy” act.Sanders tried to gavel the two men to order, saying: “Senator, hold it, hold it.”O’Brien told Mullin: “I bet you I work more hours than you do. Twice as many hours.”Mullin said: “Sir, you don’t know what hard work is.”O’Brien said unions “create opportunity because we hold … greedy CEOs like yourself accountable”.Mullin said: “You calling me a greedy CEO?”O’Brien said: “Oh yeah, you are. You want to attack my salary, I’ll attack yours … What did you make when you owned your company?”Mullin said he made “about $50,000 a year because I invested every penny”.“OK, all right,” O’Brien said. “You mean you hid money?”Pointing at O’Brien, Mullin said: “Hold on a second.”“All right, we’re even,” said O’Brien, smiling. “We’re even.”Mullin said: “We’re not even. We’re not even close to being even. You think you’re smart? You think you’re funny?”“You think you’re funny,” O’Brien said. “You framed your opening statement saying you’re a tough guy.”Sanders said: “Senator, please continue your statement.”Mullin said: “I think it’s great you’re doing this because this shows their behavior and how they try to come in and organise a shop.”Sanders said: “They see your behavior here. Stay on the issue.”After the hearing, the spat continued on social media.TopicsUS unionsUS politicsUS SenateUS CongressBernie SandersRepublicansDemocratsnewsReuse this content More