Kery Murakami

‘Almost a religious experience’: House Democrats pass voting bill, likely DOA in Senate

House Democrats in a party-line vote Tuesday approved restoring the Justice Department's lapsed authority under the Voting Rights Act to block new state election laws deemed too restrictive.

August 24, 2021

Biden’s new ‘death tax’ threatens family farms, small businesses

President Biden's proposal for a new death tax to help pay for his $3.5 trillion social welfare expansion is hitting resistance from members of Congress, including a top farm state Democrat who warns that the tax will hurt family farms.

August 23, 2021

Vulnerable Dem DeFazio beckons ‘Mod Squad’ to back $3.5 trillion liberal wish list

One of the House's most vulnerable Democrats, Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, threw his support Monday behind the $3.5 trillion liberal budget bill that the party's moderates threaten to sink.

August 23, 2021

Biden push for more broadband regulation rekindles Obama-era fears of price controls

President Biden has ordered the Federal Communications Commission to regulate broadband as strongly as they do phone service, sparking industry fears that the government will set rates for internet access.

August 21, 2021

Democratic centrists split over $3.5 trillion spending bill

Centrist House Democrats are split over how to move forward with their party's $3.5 trillion liberal spending package.

August 20, 2021

Biden administration cancels another $6 billion in student debt

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday forgave another $5.8 billion in student debt, announcing the department is forgiving the loans of more than 323 borrowers who have total and permanent disabilities.

August 19, 2021

Vulnerable House Dems in peril over vote on Biden’s $3.5T liberal wish list

Dozens of House Democrats facing tough reelection races next year are in the crosshairs over a vote next week on President Biden's $3.5 trillion infrastructure package.

August 18, 2021

Liberal groups turn up heat on Biden to press for ending filibuster on voting bill

Liberal activist groups and the brother of the late Rep. John Lewis on Thursday ramped up the heat on President Biden to push Senate Democrats to end the filibuster to pass a bill that would block voting changes enacted by Republican state legislatures.

August 12, 2021

Senate Dems vow to hold another vote on a massive rewrite of election laws

Senate Democrats launched a new bid on Wednesday to rewrite America's voting laws, highlighting Republican opposition to the effort and adding fuel to the left's calls to end the filibuster rules that allow the GOP to block liberal priorities.

August 11, 2021

Manchin threatens to be a headache for Dems trying to rewrite America’s voting laws

Sen. Joe Manchin III on Wednesday threw cold water on the Democrats' hopes of making sweeping changes to the country's election rules.

August 11, 2021

Democrats trying to reach deal on voting bill

Senate Democrats on Tuesday were trying to reach a deal on a voting rights bill with the hopes of bringing it to the Senate floor early Wednesday morning. "We're very close," Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia told The Washington Times.

August 10, 2021

House divided over bipartisan infrastructure bill

The fate of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package passed by the Senate on Tuesday is far from certain in the House, where far-left and centrist Democrats are battling over what comes next.

August 10, 2021

Senators to leave Washington without an agreement on policing overhaul

Sen. Tim Scott, congressional Republicans' top negotiator on changing policing in the U.S. said he and Democrats will not reach a deal before the Senate leaves Washington for its August recess.

August 10, 2021

Warren calls for eliminating corporate tax breaks to help pay for Dems’ massive spending package

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday proposed paying for part of liberal senators' $3.5 trillion spending package by closing corporate tax loopholes that she says allow profitable companies to pay nothing to Uncle Sam.

August 9, 2021

Dems push for a new health care program as they ready to ram $3.5 trillion package through Congress

Liberal Senate Democrats are pushing to include a new federal health care program in the $3.5 trillion spending package they outlined on Monday. It would provide free medical insurance to 4.4 million more people, mostly low-income minorities, in Republican states that have not expanded Medicaid.

August 9, 2021

Senate Dems eye dramatic expansion of paid leave in ‘human’ infrastructure bill

The chairwoman of a Senate committee on labor and a coalition of left-of-center businesses pushed Thursday for providing all workers with 12 weeks of paid government-funded family leave, as part of the Democrats' $3.5 trillion "human infrastructure" plan.

August 5, 2021

Senate Democrats pledge they are ‘very close’ to new solution for voting-rights impasse

Sen. Amy Klobuchar told a crowd of voting-rights activists in Washington on Tuesday that Senate Democrats are close to taking another shot at changing elections laws around the country.

August 3, 2021

CDC balks at Biden’s request to extend eviction moratorium for 30 days in high-risk areas

The White House scrambled Monday to address rising evictions nationwide, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rebuffed President Biden's request to extend a moratorium and the administration faced a growing political problem.

August 2, 2021

Democratic state legislators to converge on U.S. Capitol to demand passage of voting bill

About 150 Democratic state legislators from 27 states are to converge Tuesday on the U.S. Capitol to demand the Senate approve a voting-rights bill that would invalidate many new Republican-backed state election laws.

August 2, 2021

Washington ready to tax cryptocurrency trades, eyes $28 billion to help pay for infrastructure

The Senate's bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal goes after cryptocurrencies transactions as a new tax revenue source to help pay for it, setting off alarms in the as of yet unregulated financial technology industry.

August 1, 2021