News

Biden promises tight US-Greek ties
Ekathimerini

On the occasion of the bicentennial of the Greek War of Independence, the White House organized an online get-together with President Joe Biden and prominent members of the Greek-American Community Thursday.

The event was coordinated by Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki. Biden regretted not being able to host the event in the White House, adding that he could see a lot of good friends on the screen.

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Officials break ground on latest phase of Port Covington development
Bryna Zumer, WBFF Online (FOX)

Officials and community leaders broke ground today on the latest phase of South Baltimore's Port Covington project, which promises to bring 1.1 million square feet of new development, including 89 affordable-housing units.

This latest phase is called 1B and will feature vertical construction, according to a press release.

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Bipartisan, bicameral legislation seeks to support federal firefighters
Douglas Clark, Homeland Preparedness News

Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jon Tester (D-MT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) reintroduced legislation last week designed to support federal firefighters by correcting disparity between federal firefighters and state, local and municipal firefighters.

The Federal Firefighter Flexibility and Fairness Act would allow federal firefighters to engage in trade time, enabling two firefighters to trade shifts without affecting pay or using annual leave.

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Biden Has One Shot To Stop Republicans’ Voter Suppression Crusade
Eric Lutz, Vanity Fair ('Hive')

Earlier this month, Joe Biden signed an executive order to ensure that Americans’ right to vote is “protected and defended”—a move that came as Republicans across the country intensify their attacks on the voting rights of Black Americans and other marginalized groups, who already face systemic barriers. “We’ve seen an unprecedented insurrection in our Capitol and a brutal attack on our democracy on January 6—a never-before-seen effort to ignore, undermine, and undo the will of the people,” Biden said in a video statement. “It’s been followed by an all-out assault on the right to vote in state legislatures all across the country,” he continued, citing the hundreds of bills that have been introduced in 43 states to dramatically roll back voting rights. “We cannot let them succeed.”

But Biden could find himself helping Republicans do just that if he doesn’t change his position on the Senate filibuster. Led by progressives, a growing chorus of Democrats have been calling to abolish or at least modify the filibuster to make it harder for Mitch McConnell and the GOP minority to obstruct their agenda. Those demands have taken on a greater sense of urgency amid Republican disenfranchisement efforts. With state lawmakers across the country using Donald Trump’s bogus election fraud claims to push wildly restrictive voting laws, and the Supreme Court, to which he appointed three justices, potentially on the cusp of dealing another blow to the Voting Rights Act, Democrats and activists have rallied behind HR1, a sweeping bill to secure elections, expand voting access, and restore the pro-democracy law named for the late John Lewis. It passed the House March 3. “At a time when Americans across the political spectrum are demanding real change and accountability from their elected officials, it’s more important than ever to deliver on the promise of HR1 and restore faith in our democracy,” Representative John Sarbanes, who introduced the bill, said upon its passage. “We have no time to waste.”

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How Many GOP House Members Are Mired in Conflicts of Interest? No One Knows
Jon Skolnik, Newsweek

After Congress passed the Paycheck Protection Program last year, pumping billions of dollars into small businesses struggling under the weight of the pandemic, reports surfaced that sizable chunks of that money went right back into the pockets of Congress. A slew of members, many of them already wealthy, received millions in federal aid for their personal businesses ventures under the auspices of job-saving. That reanimated debate about a longstanding, conflict of interest entrenched within the legislative branch: Members of Congress can hold positions in for-profit corporations while officially serving their constituents in Washington. 

Senate ethics rules address this conflict —but the House does not. Senators are prohibited from "from serving as officers or members of the board of any publicly held or publicly regulated corporation, financial institution, or business entity." No such stricture applies to members of the House. Rules restrict all members of both chambers from making 15% in excess of their salaries in "outside earned income," but passive income derived from investments and holdings doesn't necessarily count.

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As states crack down on voting, advocates look to Congress
Benjamin Barber, Facing South

This past weekend marked the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, when voting rights marchers were brutally assaulted by law enforcement officers while crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Broadcast on national television, images of state troopers attacking peaceful demonstrators, including John Lewis, a civil rights icon who went on to become a long-serving Democratic congressman from Georgia, shifted public opinion and galvanized Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA).

This year's commemoration — the first since Lewis's death last year from cancer — took place as many state legislatures are ramping up an assault on voting rights.

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Election reform: Judge Sarbanes’ proposal on merit, not partisan advantage
The Editorial Board, The Baltimore Sun

There has always something essentially quixotic in Rep. John Sarbanes’ “For The People Act,” its title as idealistic as anything found on its nearly 800 pages of content. In sum, what H.R.1 attempts to do is fix much of what is broken in this nation’s election system, chiefly by making voting more accessible, ending partisan redistricting, raising ethical standards, and exposing and reducing the influence of big money in politics.

Americans should be celebrating its passage in the U.S. House of Representatives late Wednesday and giving thanks to the 58-year-old Maryland Democrat, the eldest son of the late Sen. Paul Sarbanes, who has made this worthy cause a personal crusade. Don Quixote may have tilted at windmills, but John Sarbanes went after something real and far more daunting: a political system that runs on money and disenfranchises far too many Americans.

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House Democrats Renew Calls for Bill Giving Election Agency More Funding and Responsibility
Courtney Bublé, The Government Executive

Following news from intelligence officials on Wednesday evening of foreign election interference attempts, several House lawmakers are renewing their calls for the Senate to take up their massive reform bill that would bolster the funding and responsibilities of the nation’s elections clearinghouse.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Wray gave an unexpected press briefing on Wednesday—13 days out from the election—in which they said that Iran and Russia obtained voter registration information in attempts to meddle in U.S. elections. They said that voting remains secure, but House lawmakers renewed the call for the Senate to take up their “2019 For the People Act,” which the chamber passed in March 2019 and has specific provisions to beef up the Election Assistance Commission.

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The Wealthy Getting Less Scrutiny On Taxes
Scott Horsley, NPR ('All Things Considered')

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: A teacher, a small-business owner and a retiree who complained they paid more in federal income taxes than President Trump are now gracing campaign billboards in swing states around the country. The ads follow reporting by The New York Times that Trump paid little or no federal income tax in most of the last 20 years. Trump has denied that report, but as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, the wealthy are getting less scrutiny from the tax collector with each passing year.

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