Capitol attack panel recommends Mark Meadows for criminal prosecution
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack voted on Monday to recommend criminal prosecution for former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, punishing Donald Trump’s most senior aide for refusing to testify about the 6 January insurrection.
The select committee advanced the contempt of Congress report for Meadows unanimously, sending the matter to a vote before the full House of Representatives, which is expected to approve the citation as soon as Tuesday.
Bennie Thompson, the chair of the select committee, said in an opening statement before the panel recommended Meadows’ referral to the justice department that Trump’s former White House chief of staff displayed willful noncompliance in his defiance of his subpoena.
“It comes down to this,” Thompson said. “Mr Meadows started by doing the right thing: cooperating. He handed over records that he didn’t try to shield behind some excuse. But in an investigation like ours, that’s just a first step.
“When the records raise questions – as these most certainly do – you have to come in and answer those questions. And when it was time for him to follow the law, come in and testify on those questions, he changed his mind and told us to pound sand. He didn’t even show up.”
The select committee said in the contempt report they were seeking charges against Meadows after he attempted to obstruct the investigation in myriad ways, from refusing to testify to frustrating their efforts to locate and discover documents relevant to the Capitol attack.
The select committee also said Meadows should be prosecuted since he refused to testify even about information he voluntarily provided to the panel through his own document production and conceded were not covered by claims of executive privilege advanced by Trump.
And over the course of a near-hour-long business meeting, the select committee outlined in chilling detail the materials Meadows had turned over to the panel – and how Meadows then promptly refused to testify about those very records.
Meadows turned over about 9,000 documents as part of a cooperation deal, the select committee said, in his effort to engage with the inquiry to a degree in order to avoid an immediate criminal referral that befell other Trump administration aides who defied subpoenas.
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Politics recap
That’s it from us today. Check the Guardian home page for more on the congressional committee’s decision to recommend contempt charges against Mark Meadows.
Here’s what else happened today:
- Democratic governors are voicing serious concerns about the threat to American democracy, as Republican-led legislatures approve voting restrictions and Donald Trump continues to spread the “big lie” of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Governor Jay Inslee of Washington told CNN over the weekend, “I don’t think you can be overly concerned about this. The American psyche has not recognized we were one vice-president away from a coup.”
- Joe Biden and Joe Manchin are meeting today to discuss the Build Back Better Act, as Democrats race to pass the legislation before the end of the year. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer needs all 50 of his caucus members to support the bill in order to get the proposal approved via the reconciliation process.
- At least 64 people are dead in Kentucky after tornadoes swept through the state on Friday. The state’s governor, Andy Beshear, said the final death toll may exceed 80, as search and rescue efforts continue. Biden is visiting the state on Wednesday to survey damage from the storms.
- The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection voted to recommend contempt charges against Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff. The meeting started with a readout of text messages Meadows received from Trump officials, Don Trump Jr and Fox News hosts who pleaded with Meadows to ask the president to tell his supporters to go home.
- The insurrection organizers also sued to stop Verizon from sharing their cell phone records with the select committee investigating the riots.
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On the Coronavirus front, the supreme court declines to block New York state vaccine mandates. Health and hospital workers will still be required to be vaccinated against Coronavirus despite emergency requests to include religious exemptions in the statewide rules.
- States across the country are tightening their mask and vaccine mandates in the face of a surge of Coronavirus cases.
-- Joan Greve and Johana Bhuiyan
Updated
The organizers of the Capitol rally-turned-riot have filed a lawsuit against Verizon to block the company from providing their phone records to the congressional committee investigating the riots.
The committee’s subpoena to Verizon seeks call, text and location information from the cell phone records of the organizers. In their lawsuit, the organizers argue the order “lacks a lawful purpose and seeks to invade the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to privacy and to confidential political communications”.
Law enforcement has increasingly relied on the use of subpoenas and warrants to obtain cell phone and other digital records from companies like Verizon, Google, Twitter and Facebook over the last few years.
Updated
The 6 January select committee meet to decide whether to hold Mark Meadows in contempt
The committee investigating the 6 January insurrection is meeting now to discuss whether Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows should be referred to the Department of Justice on criminal contempt of congress. Congresswoman Liz Cheney started the meeting reading out texts Meadows received from Trump officials, Fox News hosts as well as Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
NEWS: The select committee is describing texts Meadows received on Jan. 6 from members of Congress
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 14, 2021
“There’s an armed standoff at the House chamber door.”
“We are all helpless.”
“Is Trump going to say anything?"
"POTUS needs to calm this shit down."
Cheney now reading pleading messages from Trump officials telling Meadows Trump needed to do something. Laura Ingraham texted Meadows saying Trump needed to get on TV and urge them to go home. Kilmeade did something similar, as did Hannity.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 14, 2021
Liz Cheney says Donald Trump Jr. texted Mark Meadows on Jan. 6: “He’s got to condemn this ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.” Don Jr. later said, “We need an oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far. And gotten out of hand.”
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 14, 2021
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Covid rules tighten across the country in response to surge
Coronavirus cases are rising again in states across the country, prompting local officials to reinstate mask and other mandates.
California will require masks indoors across the state starting on Wednesday and until at least 15 January, after statewide case rates increased 47% since Thanksgiving. Unvaccinated people attending “mega events” also have to show proof of a negative test from within the day.
Last week, New York reinstated a statewide indoor mask mandate in all indoor public places that don’t require proof of vaccination, that will also be in effect until at least 15 January.
The city of Philadelphia will also now require proof of vaccination to eat or drink indoors starting on 3 January in the face of rapidly rising Coronavirus cases.
Updated
A rioter who participated in the Capitol insurrection on 6 January said he now realizes he and other supporters of Donald Trump were lied to by the sitting president in a new letter to the judge.
In the letter, which can be read in full here, Robert Scott Palmer said Trump and those acting on his behalf “kept spitting out the false narrative about a stolen election and how it was ‘our duty’ to stand up to tyranny. Little did I realize that they were the tyrannical ones”.
Mr. Palmer was exposed to a barrage of media that convinced him that the election had been “stolen” from the former president. On the day in question, the former president himself led Mr. Palmer into that mindset.” pic.twitter.com/8jXvgCIwZF
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) December 13, 2021
Updated
Supreme Court declines to block New York State vaccine mandates
The supreme court upheld the New York state vaccine mandates for hospital and health workers after turning away two emergency requests.
One request was filed by a group called We the Patriots USA, which argued the rule currently allows for medical exemptions but not religious exemptions. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented.
Gorsuch said the religious beliefs of the objectors should be respected. Some of the nurses said they objected to the vaccine because of the “distant relation to fetal cell lines developed from abortions in the 1970s and 1980s”, according to CNN. Despite a note approved by Pope Francis and written by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last year that said receiving the shot was morally permitted, the nurses said they “object to deriving any benefit - no matter how remote - from a process involving abortion”.
Updated
After five years of legal battles, the survivors of former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar have reached a $380m settlement with USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee and their insurers.
Here’s more from the Guardian report:
“This settlement is the result of the bravery of hundreds of survivors who, despite legal obstacles, long odds and the best corporate legal talent money can buy, refused to be silent. The power of their story eventually won the day,” John Manly, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said on Monday.
The settlement will cover claims brought by hundreds of women. They include Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, all of whom are among the most high-profile survivors of Nassar’s sexual abuse. All three women testified about the abuse they suffered during a Senate hearing this year. At the hearing, they attacked USA Gymnastics and Olympic officials for failing to stop Nassar and they took the FBI to task over its botched investigation into Nassar’s actions.
Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Nassar of abuse, said she was relieved to have reached a conclusion to the battle for compensation.
“This chapter is finally closed. Now the hard work of reform and rebuilding can begin. Whether or not justice comes, and change is made, depends on what happens next,” Denhollander tweeted on Monday.
Read more
Updated
Biden signs executive order reducing hurdles for social security, other benefits
Joe Biden signed an executive order today intending to make it easier for Americans to access government benefits including social security, student loan relief and disaster aid. The order would cut down the “time tax” or the friction and time filling out forms and waiting in lines adds to the process to access benefits.
The order targets 36 federal services across agencies and departments but will likely have the biggest effect on Americans over the age of 65. “In addition to a new online tool designed to make claiming social security benefits easier, the government will also develop a portal for Medicare recipients to identify ways to save money on drugs and health care,” a Bloomberg report read.
Biden told reporters the order will “ensure that the federal government puts you, the American people, at the front of the line and are first in anything we do”.
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Former US Senate candidate from Maine Max Linn has died at age 62. Linn, who ran for Senate in 2020 as an independent, was found dead in his hot tub from an apparent heart attack, Linn’s lawyer told the Bangor Daily News.
Linn, billed as one of the more “colorful” characters in Maine politics by the Sun Journal, became notorious for his stunts on televised debates during his campaign including cutting up a mask and responding “request denied” when asked a question.
A retired financial planner, Linn also ran for congress when he lived in Florida in 2018. He was also recently accused of pulling a gun on a former assistant in an argument over a cryptocurrency investment. The assistant, Matt McDonald sought and was granted an order of protection against Linn.
From the Associated Press: “McDonald alleged in court documents that Linn gave him money to invest in cryptocurrency earlier this year but that Linn reversed course upon return from an overseas trip and sought to buy drugs falsely touted as COVID-19 cures. Linn pointed a gun in McDonald’s direction when the two met to try to resolve the dispute, McDonald said in the court filing.”
A new Guardian report from environment reporter Oliver Milman reveals the Biden administration was not legally obligated to auction drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico when it offered up more than 80m acres of the gulf’s seabed for fossil fuel extraction last month.
More from Oliver:
The enormous sale, which took place just four days after crucial UN climate talks in Scotland, represented a spectacular about-turn from Joe Biden’s previous promise to halt offshore drilling and was denounced by outraged environmental groups as a “huge carbon bomb”.
The president’s administration insisted it was obliged to hold the lease sale due to a court ruling in favor of a dozen states that sued to lift a blanket pause placed on new drilling permits by Biden.
But a memo filed by the US Department of Justice before the lease sale acknowledges that this judgement does not force the government to auction off drilling rights to the gulf.
“While the order enjoins and restrains (the department of) interior from implementing the pause, it does not compel interior to take the actions specified by plaintiffs, let alone on the urgent timeline specified in plaintiffs’ contempt motion,” wrote government lawyers to the federal court in Louisiana in August.
The issuance of new drilling permits would require further steps under federal laws, the memo states, adding that “the court’s order does not compel the agency to act in contravention of these other authorities”.
The memo’s language was first referenced by The Daily Poster.
Just a month after arguing that it was not required to hold the sale, however, the department of interior’s bureau of ocean energy management (BOEM) announced it would auction off an area of the gulf that is two times the size of Florida to oil and gas companies.
The expanse of the gulf put up for auction contains around 1.12bn barrels of oil and 4.2tn cubic ft of gas, with the leases locking in years – and potentially decades – of planet-heating emissions. It comes at a time when the International Energy Agency has said no new fossil fuel projects can be established after this year if the world is to avoid catastrophic heatwaves, flooding and other disastrous impacts from runaway climate change.
“The administration has been misleading on this, to put it mildly. It’s very disappointing,” said Thomas Meyer, national organizing manager of Food and Water Watch. “They didn’t have to hold this sale and they didn’t have to hold it on this timeline.
Read more:
Johana Bhuiyan here taking over from Joan.
In Minneapolis, the AP is reporting Derek Chauvin – the police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd – is expected to change his plea from not guilty to guilty. The AP is basing its report on a new federal docket entry.
More from the AP: “The federal docket entry shows a hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday for Chauvin to change his current not guilty plea in the case. These types of notices indicate a defendant is planning to plead guilty. The court system also sent out instructions for media to attend the hearing.”
It’s unclear if the other three former officers involved will plead guilty as well. Chauvin has already been sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison after being convicted of state murder and manslaughter. However, in this case he would be pleading guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights.
“All four officers were charged broadly in federal court with depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority, but the federal indictment broke down the counts even further,” the AP reported. “A count against Chauvin alleged he violated Floyd’s right to be free from unreasonable seizure and from unreasonable force by a police officer.”
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Johana Bhuiyan, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Democratic governors are voicing serious concerns about the threat to American democracy, as Republican-led legislatures approve voting restrictions and Donald Trump continues to spread the “big lie” of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Governor Jay Inslee of Washington told CNN over the weekend, “I don’t think you can be overly concerned about this. The American psyche has not recognized we were one vice-president away from a coup.”
- Joe Biden and Joe Manchin are meeting today to discuss the Build Back Better Act, as Democrats race to pass the legislation before the end of the year. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer needs all 50 of his caucus members to support the bill in order to get the proposal approved via the reconciliation process.
- At least 64 people are dead in Kentucky after tornadoes swept through the state on Friday. The state’s governor, Andy Beshear, said the final death toll may exceed 80, as search and rescue efforts continue. Biden is visiting the state on Wednesday to survey damage from the storms.
- The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection will meet this evening to discuss recommending contempt charges against Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff. The meeting comes a week after Meadows ended his cooperation with the committee, citing the former president’s claims of executive privilege over certain records.
Johana will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Joe Biden spoke with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö today, as the US and its allies continue to express concern about the Russian troop build-up along the country’s border with Ukraine.
“They discussed their shared concerns about Russia’s destabilizing military buildup along Ukraine’s border and the importance of transatlantic efforts to de-escalate the situation,” the White House said in its readout of the call.
The White House added, “President Biden welcomed Finland’s selection of the F-35 for its next fighter jet, noting this procurement would provide a strong foundation for even closer bilateral defense ties for years to come.”
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell reflected on the losses sustained in Kentucky after tornadoes swept through his home state on Friday.
“Kentucky has been devastated, but we have not been defeated,” the Republican leader said in a floor speech moments ago.
"Kentucky has been devastated, but we have not been defeated.": Sen. McConnell praised the federal effort to support Kentucky in recovery efforts after the state was devastated by tornadoes on Friday. He says he will travel to the affected areas at the end of the week. pic.twitter.com/l74C5H2oLH
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 13, 2021
McConnell added, “Kentuckians are resilient people. We will stay strong and united through the crisis.”
Earlier today, McConnell thanked Joe Biden for quickly approving Kentucky’s major disaster declaration, giving the state access to federal funds to help residents find temporary housing and start home repairs.
Joe Manchin is expected to participate in a meeting tomorrow to discuss how Senate Democrats may be able to alter the filibuster to advance national voting rights legislation.
Punchbowl News reports:
Manchin will also meet Tuesday with a group of moderate Democrats on voting rights. Voting-rights advocates want to see if Manchin would be open to a ‘carve-out’ to the Senate’s filibuster rule for voting rights legislation. The idea gained more urgency for voting rights advocates after the chamber approved a ‘one-time exception’ to its rules to approve a debt-limit increase by a simple majority vote.
As Democratic governors sound the alarm over the threat to American democracy, civil rights leaders are once again urging the Senate to pass national voting rights legislation.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson argued the Senate needs to approve the Build Back Better Act as quickly as possible to shift lawmakers’ attention to voting rights.
“Pass Build Back Better so we can move on to other legislative priorities, most urgently voting rights,” Johnson said in a statement. “Our democracy isn’t waiting around on a couple senators, and neither are the states slashing our constitutional rights.”
However, it’s still unclear whether centrist Democrat Joe Manchin will support the Build Back Better Act, and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer needs all 50 of his caucus members to back the bill in order to get it passed.
And Schumer will also need Manchin’s support to alter the filibuster and allow voting rights legislation to advance. As of now, Republicans have the votes to block any voting rights bills from moving forward, and they have repeatedly done so.
Jay Inslee: 'We were one vice-president away from a coup'
Democratic governors are seriously concerned about the future of American democracy, but they fear they cannot get voters to care enough about the issue to prevent widespread Republican gains in next year’s midterm elections.
As of now, with the midterms a little less than a year away, Republicans are heavily favored to flip control of the US House. Joe Biden’s sinking approval rating could also give Republicans a significant advantage in state legislative and gubernatorial races.
Republican victories could help the party implement more voting restrictions, as Donald Trump continues to spread the “Big Lie” of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Already this year, at least 19 states have enacted 33 laws that restrict access to the ballot box, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
A dozen governors gathered for the Democratic Governors Association’s annual conference over the weekend, and they voiced concern that Americans will not wake up to the threat to their democracy until it is too late.
“We have to be Paul Revere every chance we get to let people know what is at risk and why it is at risk. We live it. Every time we eat breakfast we think about these things,” Governor Jay Inslee of Washington told CNN.
“I don’t think you can be overly concerned about this. The American psyche has not recognized we were one vice-president away from a coup.”
Read CNN’s full report on the Democratic governors’ conference here.
Updated
The tornadoes that whirled through eight states on Friday night hit Kentucky hardest but also ripped up an Amazon.com warehouse in Illinois, killing six people.
Now the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is launching an investigation into the company in relation to the building’s fatal collapse, an official at the Department of Labor said a little earlier.
Reuters further reports:
OSHA has six months to complete its investigation, issue citations and propose monetary penalties if violations of workplace safety and or health regulations are found, Scott Allen, a US Department of Labor regional director for public affairs, said via email.
He added that compliance officers have been on site since Saturday.
Six workers were killed when the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, buckled under the force of the devastating storm, police said.
A barrage of tornadoes ripped through six U.S. states, leaving a trail of death and destruction at homes and businesses stretching more than 200 miles (322 km).
An Amazon spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The National Weather Service said a tornado hit the area between 8:28 p.m. and 8:32 p.m. local time on Friday, intensifying rapidly as it struck the Amazon warehouse.
With estimated peak winds of 150 miles per hour (241 kph), the force was so severe that the roof was ripped off and 11-inch (28-cm) thick concrete walls longer than football fields fell in on themselves.
At least 45 Amazon employees made it out safely. Authorities had given up hope of finding more survivors as they shifted from rescue to recovery efforts that were expected to last days.
The company has three facilities in Edwardsville: the delivery station hit by the storm as well as a fulfillment center and a sorting station. The delivery station opened in July 2020 to prepare orders for last-mile delivery to customers.
Biden worried about tornado victims' pain
Joe Biden will visit Kentucky on Wednesday to see for himself the devastation wrought by unseasonal, powerful tornadoes and said a little earlier that he was concerned about the state of mind of victims there.
The US president noted at the weekend that he wasn’t rushing immediately to the disaster-hit area because he didn’t want to be in the way as every resource there was needed to help survivors, search for the dead and missing and work to get people shelter, warmth and water - vital resources missing for many, amid temperatures below freezing.
Today he said he’s concerned about the mental health of the hundreds of thousands of people affected.
“That’s what worries me most, the uncertainty. You can see it in people’s faces,” he said.
Biden says he's concerned about the "mental health" of tornado victims in the Midwest: "That's what worries me most, the uncertainty. You can see it in people's faces" https://t.co/IdZPGyV1gY pic.twitter.com/Zep4qR7voZ
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) December 13, 2021
The official death toll is currently 64 in Kentucky alone, but is projected to rise. Recovery efforts are being hampered by the sheer scale of the wreckage. Several people have been killed in other states.
Read all our coverage here.
Today so far
The White House press briefing has now concluded. Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden and Joe Manchin are meeting today to discuss the Build Back Better Act, as Democrats race to pass the legislation before the end of the year. Senate Democrats need all 50 of their caucus members to support the bill in order to get the proposal approved via the reconciliation process.
- At least 64 people are dead in Kentucky after tornadoes swept through the state on Friday. The state’s governor, Andy Beshear, said the final death toll may exceed 80, as search and rescue efforts continue. Biden is visiting the state on Wednesday to survey damage from the storms.
- The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection will meet this evening to discuss recommending contempt charges against Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff to Donald Trump. The meeting comes a week after Meadows ended his cooperation with the committee, citing the former president’s claims of executive privilege over certain records.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
One reporter asked Jen Psaki to respond to multiple reports raising speculation about the potential Democratic presidential field in 2024 if Joe Biden does not run for reelection.
“The president has every intention of running for reelection,” the White House press secretary said in response.
Biden’s sinking approval ratings have intensified questions over whether he will seek a second term, although the president and his team insist he intends to do so.
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now holding her daily press briefing, and she provided a couple more details on Joe Biden’s meeting today with centrist Senator Joe Manchin.
Psaki said the president looked forward to “communicating directly” with Manchin about the Build Back Better Act, adding that the senator has been acting “in good faith” throughout the negotiations.
The press secretary said the meeting represented a “continuation of that conversation,” but she would not outline what sticking points remain for Manchin before he will support the bill.
Biden to travel to Kentucky to survey storm damage
Joe Biden will travel to Kentucky on Wednesday to survey the damage from the deadly tornadoes that swept through the state on Friday.
“On Wednesday, December 15, the President will travel to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky for a storm briefing, and to Mayfield and Dawson Springs, Kentucky to survey storm damage following the devastating tornadoes and extreme weather,” the White House said in a new advisory.
The president confirmed his travel plans after meeting with several senior advisers to discuss the federal government’s response to the storms, which killed at least 64 people in Kentucky.
“We’re going to get this done. We’re going to be there as long as it takes to help,” Biden said in the Oval Office moments ago.
The president also promised to provide states with “whatever they need when they need it” to help residents affected by the storms.
Biden has already approved a major disaster declaration in Kentucky, making federal funds available to help residents find temporary housing and start home repairs.
If the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection recommends contempt charges against Mark Meadows, the full chamber will need to vote on the matter.
Assuming the House also approves the contempt resolution, which seems highly likely, the justice department will need to determine whether to prosecute Meadows.
The justice department is already prosecuting Steve Bannon for refusing to cooperate with the select committee. A federal grand jury indicted the former Trump adviser last month on two counts of contempt of Congress.
Capitol attack committee to consider contempt charges against Meadows
The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection will convene this evening to consider whether Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff to Donald Trump, should be held in criminal contempt.
The meeting comes after Meadows ended his cooperation with the committee, claiming investigators were not respecting the former president’s claims of executive privilege over certain records.
However, the Democratic chair of the committee, Bennie Thompson, said in a letter to Meadows’ attorney last week that his client is also refusing to discuss his own personal records, which are not subject to executive privilege claims.
“There is no legitimate legal basis for Mr. Meadows to refuse to cooperate with the Select Committee and answer questions about the documents he produced, the personal devices and accounts he used, the events he wrote about in his newly released book, and, among other things, his other public statements,” Thompson said in his letter.
“The Select Committee is left with no choice but to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution.”
Updated
Centrist Senator Joe Manchin confirmed he will be meeting with Joe Biden today to discuss the Build Back Better Act, per NBC News.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Manchin said he is concerned about some of the bill’s programs expiring after a year or a few years while the costs of the legislation extend over 10 years.
Outside his office, @Sen_JoeManchin tells reporters he's talking with @POTUS later today about BBB. He's still very concerned about inflation, concerned about programs in the bill that expire ahead of its 10 year length. Sounds like he's in absolutely no hurry to move forward
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) December 13, 2021
However, if Democrats attempt to alter the bill to better reflect Manchin’s concerns, that time-consuming process will likely stretch well into 2022.
And Democratic leaders are still hoping they can pass the bill before the end of the year, in order to allow checks from the expanded child tax credit program to be mailed out next month.
Updated
The Guardian’s Edward Helmore, Nikhita Chulani, Harvey Symons and Arnel Hecimovic report:
Powerful tornadoes barrelled through five US states on Friday, levelling houses and factories and bringing down power lines. In Kentucky, the worst-hit state, one tornado alone followed an extraordinarily long and destructive path of more than 200 miles.
Authorities are still tallying the devastation, and the death toll has not been confirmed, but Kentucky’s governor, Andy Beshear, estimated on Monday that at least 64 people had died there with dozens more unaccounted for. At least six people have been killed in Illinois, four in Tennessee, two in Arkansas and two in Missouri.
One of the hardest hit towns was Mayfield in west Kentucky, where a candle factory was levelled, killing at least eight people.
Police and fire stations in Mayfield were destroyed, homes were flattened or lost roofs, giant trees were uprooted and street signs mangled.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky thanked Joe Biden for quickly approving his governor’s request to declare a major disaster in the state following the deadly tornadoes on Friday.
“Thank you @POTUS for your rapid approval of Kentucky’s Major Disaster Declaration,” the Republican leader said on Twitter. “Our entire congressional delegation came together to support @GovAndyBeshear’s request. I appreciate the Administration’s quick work to speed resources to help deal with this crisis.”
Biden approved the request last night, allowing Kentucky to access federal resources to help provide residents affected by the tornadoes with temporary housing and money for home repairs, among other services.
Thank you @POTUS for your rapid approval of Kentucky’s Major Disaster Declaration. Our entire congressional delegation came together to support @GovAndyBeshear’s request. I appreciate the Administration’s quick work to speed resources to help deal with this crisis. pic.twitter.com/3rBPGcDMmK
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) December 13, 2021
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said officials now expect the state’s final death toll from the tornadoes to exceed 70 and potentially 80.
“With this amount of damage and rubble, it may be a week or even more before we have a final count on the number of lost lives,” Beshear said.
Officials believe there are currently at least 105 state residents who are unaccounted for, and search teams are working to find them.
The Democratic governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, acknowledged he is struggling to reckon with the staggering losses from the tornadoes that swept through his state on Friday.
“I know, like the folks in western Kentucky, I’m not doing so well today, and I’m not sure how many of us are,” Beshear said.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear gave an emotional address to Kentuckians, saying "the country is standing with you."
— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 13, 2021
"Like the folks in western Kentucky, I'm not doing so well today, and I'm not sure how many of us are." pic.twitter.com/uaAP42LAQu
The governor said he was taking notes on the confirmed deaths this morning, and he realized that he was writing on the back of one of his children’s school assignments. The assignment was about inertia, the scientific principle that objects in motion will stay in motion.
“So we’re going to keep putting one foot in front of the other and push through this,” Beshear said.
“To the people of western Kentucky, we’re not going anywhere. We’re going to be with you today. We’re going to be with you tomorrow. And we’re going to be there with you to rebuild.”
At least 64 dead in Kentucky after tornadoes, governor says
At least 64 people are now confirmed to have been killed in the tornadoes that swept through Kentucky on Friday, governor Andy Beshear said.
Speaking at a press conference this morning, the Democratic governor noted that 18 of the known victims are still unidentified.
Andy Beshear, Governor of Kentucky, says the ages of those killed in a tornado which ripped across the state range from five months to 86 years. Six are under 18.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 13, 2021
A total of 64 people are now confirmed to have died.
Read more here: https://t.co/r3NibYEmZs pic.twitter.com/ByEUiuQWfZ
“Of the ones that we know, the age – the age range is five months to 86 years, and six are younger than 18,” Beshear said, his voice breaking with emotion as he updated the death toll.
The governor had previously said that officials feared the death toll would exceed 100, but those estimations have decreased as more potential victims have been found alive.
Updated
Joe Biden will soon receive a briefing from senior advisers on the federal government’s response to the deadly tornadoes that swept through Kentucky on Friday.
The president will be briefed by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Fema administrator Deanne Criswell and Homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall in about 45 minutes.
Biden has already declared a federal emergency in Kentucky, as rescue efforts continue across the state.
The Democratic governor of Kentucky, Andy Beshear, had initially said officials feared the death toll would exceed 100, but that number is now expected to be closer to 50.
“We are praying that maybe original estimates of those we have lost were wrong. If so, it’s going to be pretty wonderful,” the governor said yesterday.
Read more of the Guardian’s coverage on the tornadoes:
America nears 800,000 lives lost to coronavirus
The US government’s leading infectious diseases official, Anthony Fauci, has stepped up calls for Americans to get a Covid-19 booster shot, as the US is approaching 800,000 lives lost to coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
Fauci warned that the Omicron variant appeared to be able to “evade” the protection of two initial doses of the mRNA-type Covid vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s – as well as post-infection therapies such as monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma.
Omicron is spurring new fears as US infections begin to surge again, with infections currently still led by the highly-transmissable Delta variant that has dominated since the summer.
Fauci said an extra vaccine shot provides “optimal” protection against Omicron, even though the government’s official designation of “fully vaccinated” remained at two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which was developed by another method.
Although Joe Manchin currently seems to be Democrats’ largest obstacle in passing the Build Back Better Act, he is far from the only hurdle in the way.
Democrats are trying to pass the legislation using a process known as reconciliation, meaning they only need 51 votes to get it approved rather than the 60 votes that are usually necessary when Republicans filibuster a bill.
The Washington Post reports:
As they prepare to release more legislative text this week, Democrats also must work out the finer points of their proposal with the Senate parliamentarian. The reconciliation process carries strict rules in the Senate, requiring lawmakers to ensure every element of their plan has direct effects on the federal budget. If it does not, Republicans then can try to strike entire sections from the bill once it reaches the Senate floor.
For now, the two parties are set to battle it out in another round of private meetings in front of the Senate’s chief rule-keeper. The process already has imperiled some of Democrats’ initial policy ambitions, including their hopes to proffer reforms to the country’s immigration laws as part of the social spending bill.
One potential concern for Joe Manchin when it comes to the Build Back Better Act may be how the legislation will impact inflation in the US.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that US prices rose by 6.8% over the past 12 months, marking the largest year-over-year increase since 1982.
Over the summer, Manchin called for a “strategic pause” in the negotiations over the $1.75tn spending package until lawmakers had a clearer picture of how inflation was faring.
However, since Manchin published that September op-ed, a number of economists and market analysts have said they do not believe the bill will significantly worsen inflation, which may have somewhat alleviated the West Virginia senator’s concerns.
For more information on the latest inflation news, read the Guardian’s report from Friday:
Manchin to reportedly meet with Biden as Democrats race to pass Build Back Better Act
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
Centrist Senator Joe Manchin will reportedly meet with Joe Biden in the next couple of days, as Democrats race to pass the president’s Build Back Better Act before the end of the year.
Punchbowl News reports:
Biden and Manchin will speak about the BBB as early as today, a discussion that will go a long way toward deciding whether the $1.7 trillion package -- the president’s top legislative priority -- can be finished before Christmas or will slide into 2022. ...
With so much at stake, the lobbying of Manchin from both sides is getting frantic. [Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer] met with Manchin last Thursday on BBB, and other Democrats have been seeking private one-on-ones with him as well. In the past, Manchin and Schumer had a close relationship, although it has clearly frayed during the last year under the enormous strain of the 50-50 Senate.
If Democrats cannot pass their bill before the end of the year, it will jeopardize the extension of the expanded child tax credits, which have become a life-saving benefit for many American families over the past year.
If the bill does not pass, the party will likely have a much harder time convincing voters to reelect them next year, and Biden could face the same dilemma in 2024.
So the stakes could not be higher, and once again, all eyes are on Manchin to see whether he will allow Democrats to move forward. Stay tuned.
