Closing summary
As we wrap up this US politics blog for the day, the US Senate is debating proposed amendments to the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act that seeks to codify in legislation the right to same sex and interracial marriages. A final vote is expected soon and will be covered in a news story. The politics blog will be back tomorrow morning.
Here’s where things stand:
US Senate to vote on legislation codifying federal rights to same-sex and interracial marriage in the US. The upper chamber is debating a bill right now.
A bill to avert the looming US passenger and freight rail strike will be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives early tomorrow, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after a meeting at the White House with Joe Biden and the other congressional leaders.
Record early voting is happening in Georgia. The number of people casting their ballots during early voting in the run-off election for one of the state’s seats in the US Senate is already on its way to half a million since the process got under way at the weekend. Polls close 6 December.
Nato foreign ministers pledged to step up support to Ukraine and help repair its energy infrastructure amid a wave of Russian attacks that have repeatedly knocked out power supplies and heating for millions of Ukrainians.
Joe Biden has urged the US Congress to intervene to prevent the rail strike that is looming across America and could bring passenger and freight trains screeching to a halt as early as next week. This puts the pro-labor president at loggerheads with some of the key rail unions.
Updated
US Senate to vote on legislation codifying right to gay and interracial marriage in US
The US Senate is currently debating proposed amendments to the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act that seeks to codify in legislation the right to same-sex and interracial marriages in the US.
It’s expected to pass when it comes to a final vote a bit later this afternoon, from whence it will go back to the House, where it is also expected to pass, and speed its way to Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law in December.
Earlier this month, 12 Republican senators voted with all Senate Democrats to advance the bill.
The bill has Democratic and Republican sponsors and was spearheaded by Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, the first openly lesbian or gay senator in the US.
The expected passage of the legislation with support from both parties is an extraordinary sign of the shifting politics on the issue and a measure of relief for the hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples who have married since the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v Hodges decision that legalized gay marriage nationwide, the Associated Press writes.
The bill has gained steady momentum since the supreme court’s June decision that overturned the federal right to an abortion, and comments from Justice Clarence Thomas at the time that suggested same-sex marriage could also come under threat.
Bipartisan Senate negotiations kick-started this summer after 47 Republicans unexpectedly voted for a House bill and gave supporters new optimism.
The legislation would not codify the Obergefell decision or force any state to allow same-sex couples to marry. But it would require states to recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed, and protect current same-sex unions, if Obergefell were to be overturned.
It would also protect interracial marriages by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin”.
Updated
The US supreme court today wrestled with a partisan-tinged dispute over a Biden administration policy that would prioritize deportation of people in the country illegally who pose the greatest public safety risk, the Associated Press writes.
It was not clear after arguments that stretched past two hours and turned highly contentious at times whether the justices would allow the policy to take effect, or side with Republican-led states that have so far succeeded in blocking it.
At the center of the case is a September 2021 directive from the Department of Homeland Security that paused deportations unless individuals had committed acts of terrorism, espionage or “egregious threats to public safety”.
The guidance, issued after Joe Biden became president, updated a Trump-era policy that removed people in the country illegally regardless of criminal history or community ties.
Today, the administration’s top supreme court lawyer told the justices that federal law does “not create an unyielding mandate to apprehend and remove” every one of the more than 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said it would be “incredibly destabilizing on the ground” for the high court to require that.
Congress has not given DHS enough money to vastly increase the number of people it holds and deports, the Biden administration has said.
But Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone told the court that the administration violated federal law requiring the detention of people who are in the US illegally and who have been convicted of serious crimes.
Chief Justice John Roberts was among the conservative justices who pushed back strongly on the Biden administration’s arguments.
It’s our job to say what the law is, not whether or not it can be possibly implemented or whether there are difficulties there, and I don’t think we should change that responsibility just because Congress and the executive can’t agree on something ... I don’t think we should let them off the hook,” he said.
Yet Roberts, in questioning Stone, also called Prelogar’s argument compelling.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, made clear they believed that Texas and Louisiana, which joined Texas in suing over the directive, weren’t even entitled to bring their case.
Updated
As Joe Biden is dependent on Congress to avoid a government shutdown on December 16, the president wants a government funding bill passed to provide additional money for the Covid-19 response and to bolster US support for Ukraine’s economy and defense against Russia’s invasion, the Associated Press reports.
Lawmakers are months behind on passing funding legislation for the current fiscal year, relying on stop-gap measures that largely maintain existing funding levels, that federal agencies have warned leaves them strapped for cash.
We’re going to work together, I hope, to fund the government,” Biden told lawmakers, emphasizing the importance of Ukraine and pandemic funding as well.
Meeting in the Roosevelt Room at the White House earlier, Biden sat at the head of the conference table, flanked on either side by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the two smiling brightly at the start of the meeting.
Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sat next to Schumer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was next to Pelosi and appeared more reserved.
The 2022 election, summed. https://t.co/4ZyxVUcigO
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 29, 2022
As the meeting began, Biden quipped, “I’m sure this is going to go very quickly” to reach agreement on everything.
Lawmakers spent a bit more than an hour with the president, who was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris and senior aides.
McCarthy is working to become speaker in January, though he must first overcome dissent within the GOP conference to win a floor vote on January 3.
All the leaders said their preference was to pass a comprehensive spending bill for the fiscal year, rather than a continuing resolution (CR) that largely maintains existing funding levels.
“If we don’t have an option we may have to have a yearlong” stop-gap bill, Pelosi added.
McCarthy, who has promised to look more critically at the Biden administration’s requests for Ukraine aid, told reporters that, “I’m not for a blank check for anything.”
He said he wasn’t necessarily opposed to more funding, but wanted to ensure “there’s accountability and audits.”
Schumer and Pelosi popped out of the west wing after the meeting to take questions from reporters and were followed shortly afterwards by McCarthy who did the same.
On a spending bill, Pelosi said: “We have to have a bipartisan agreement on what the top line is.”
CNN reported that McConnell eschewed such an appearance and returned directly to Capitol Hill.
SCHUMER calls the White House meeting among Hill leaders "a very productive discussion about funding the government — we all agreed that it should be done this year."
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 29, 2022
PELOSI says if they can't reach a deal, "we may have to have a year-long CR." She says they don't want that. pic.twitter.com/fEFiBOiQgY
Interim summary
It’s been a lively morning in US politics and there’s more to come. Joe Biden is en route to Michigan to tour a factory and talk about the economy and the US Senate is poised to vote on a bill codifying same-sex and interracial marriage.
Here’s where things stand:
A bill to avert the looming US passenger and freight rail strike will be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives early tomorrow, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after a meeting at the White House with Joe Biden and the other congressional leaders.
Record early voting is happening in Georgia. The number of people casting their ballots during early voting in the run-off election for one of the state’s seats in the US Senate is already on its way to half a million since the process got under way at the weekend. Polls close 6 December.
Nato foreign ministers pledged to step up support to Ukraine and help repair its energy infrastructure amid a wave of Russian attacks that have repeatedly knocked out power supplies and heating for millions of Ukrainians.
Joe Biden has urged the US Congress to intervene to prevent the rail strike that is looming across America and could bring passenger and freight trains screeching to a halt as early as next week. This puts the pro-labor president at loggerheads with some of the key rail unions.
Updated
Joe Biden is on his way to Michigan, aboard Air Force One right now, to tour the SK Siltron CSS semiconductor facility in Bay City, on the shore of Lake Huron.
It’s part of his agenda to promote progress in rebuilding the US manufacturing sector.
A local ABC channel described how SK Siltron recently completed a $300m expansion. The firm makes semiconductor wafers “used in power system components for electric vehicles and 5G cellular technology,” the outlet reported ahead of the president’s visit this afternoon.
The ABC report noted that “local, state and federal leaders hailed the project as an example of the US bringing semiconductor manufacturing back home during a crippling supply shortage of the devices.”
He’s due to speak about the US economy a bit later. He’s being accompanied on the factory tour by newly-reelected Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and others.
When Mitt Romney compared Donald Trump to a gargoyle …
Hats off to Politico for gathering this reporting. The outlet reports that senior Republicans Mike Pence, Bill Cassidy, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins and John Thune all directly or obliquely criticized Trump’s meeting with the far right’s Nick Fuentes last week, as senators returned to Capitol Hill after the Thanksgiving break.
But it noted this choice comment, that Utah Republican Senator and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney was “particularly sharp” on Trump, in general, and noted that he was not a fan of the former president running for office again, as he intends to in 2024 and said: “I certainly don’t want him hanging over our party like a gargoyle.”
Here’s NBC:
Romney on Trump: “I voted to remove him from office twice… I don't think he should be president of the United states. I don't think he should be the nominee of our party in 2024. And I certainly don't want him hanging over our party like a gargoyle.”
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 28, 2022
“It’s a character issue.”
Updated
House Republican leader and would-be next speaker Kevin McCarthy has spoken out for the first time to condemn the meeting between Donald Trump and blatant white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes last week.
McCarthy spoke about several topics as he emerged from the west wing of the White House a little earlier, following a meeting called there by Joe Biden with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders to talk about urgent legislative business before the year end.
“I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes. He has no place in this Republican Party,” McCarthy told reporters at the White House.
McCarthy is the latest GOP figure to speak out, following a series of senior Republicans and pressure group leaders condemning the fact that Trump had dinner last week with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who is in deep controversy for antisemitic remarks, and Fuentes, who accompanied Ye.
As the Guardian’s Edwin Rios noted it was just the latest in a long line of incidents involving the former US president and the far right.
McCarthy did stumble though. He said that Trump had four times condemned Fuentes and did not know who he was.
Reporters on the scene immediately pounced to note, accurately, that Trump has not condemned Fuentes and his racist views.
McCarthy responded: “Well, I condemn.”
On Sunday, Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson said the meeting between Trump, Ye and Fuentes “was not accidental.”
Moments earlier, when asked if it was appropriate for Trump to meet with Ye, McCarthy said Trump could have meetings “with who he wants.” Then went onto criticize Fuentes.
WATCH: Kevin Mccarthy Denounces Trump Meeting With Kanye Literally Two Seconds After Saying Kanye Fine, Fuentes Bad https://t.co/hnT6lpKWc1
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) November 29, 2022
But also Ye, sort of?
McCarthy: "The president can have meetings with who he wants. I don't think anybody though should have meetings with Nick Fuentes. And his views are nowhere within the R Party or within this country itself."
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) November 29, 2022
And Kanye?
"I don't think he should have associated with him as well."
Updated
Bill to avert looming rail strike to reach House floor
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just emerged from the White House to talk about their meeting just now with Joe Biden to talk about legislation in the lame duck session and, most urgently, his request that Congress intervene to stop the looming rail strike.
Schumer signaled the Senate would support the move.
Pelosi said: “Tomorrow morning we will have a bill on the floor, it will come up as early as 9am.”
Biden wants Congress to impose the agreement tentatively reached in September, but which four unions didn’t sign on to, forcing the president and the labor unions to be at loggerheads.
Pelosi said the original elements of the agreement, on pay, etc, would be included in the bill and some “additional benefits” agreed to by Biden and labor secretary Marty Walsh.
She said the agreement “is not everything I would like to see, I would like to see paid sick leave – every [leading democratic] country in the world has it. I don’t like going against the ability of a union to strike but, weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike.”
Assuming the House votes for the bill, it will then move to the Senate for a vote there.
Schumer said: “We will try to get it done … we are going to try to solve this ASAP.”
Both leaders warned of job losses and further supply chain problems affecting ordinary goods and essential things such as chlorine for safe public water supplies.
Schumer and Pelosi, speaking to reporters call it a “productive meeting,” Finding a solution to rail strike a top priority, they say. “We must avoid a strike,” Pelosi says. pic.twitter.com/cK0HwSCcXy
— Myah Ward (@MyahWard) November 29, 2022
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy emerged from the West Wing a few minutes after Schumer and Pelosi spoke to gathered reporters and indicated that he expected a resolution on the rail strike.
Schumer had earlier noted that he had minority leader Mitch McConnell’s support in the Senate.
All 100 senators must agree to hold a quick vote like this and it’s unclear yet if all are on board, especially Bernie Sanders.
Asked if he will allow a vote on legislation to avert the rail strike to happen by the Dec. 9 deadline, Bernie Sanders just told me: “We will have more to say about that later.” He criticized the deal for lack of paid sick leave. “That is outrageous.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 29, 2022
Updated
Despite the extensive efforts of progressive organizers in Georgia, the state’s early voting operation has run into some significant issues.
Many voters reported long lines at polling places over the weekend, as they tried to cast ballots in Georgia’s Senate runoff election.
One of the candidates in that race, Democrat Raphael Warnock, the incumbent, waited in line for about an hour on Sunday to cast his vote.
A coalition of progressive groups has launched a massive canvassing operation to help ensure that voters know how and when they can cast their ballots.
Hillary Holley, executive director of the progressive group Care in Action, said that canvassers have encountered a lot of misunderstanding among voters as they knock on doors.
“Every time basically our canvassers reach a voter at their house, they’re saying, ‘Thank you so much because we are so confused about when we can go vote,’” Holley said on a Monday press call.
Part of that confusion stems from a judge’s last-minute ruling that counties could allow early voting to occur on the Saturday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Georgia election officials had initially said that early voting could not take place on that day, but the Warnock campaign won a legal challenge to expand voting hours.
Stephanie Jackson Ali, policy director of the progressive group New Georgia Project, said: “Our call is for counties to continue the fight to get more locations open, to continue the fight to keep your counties open late, and for our voters to stay in line.”
Progressives in Georgia are leaving nothing to chance with just one week to go before polls close in the state’s Senate runoff election.
A coalition of progressive groups has launched a massive canvassing effort for the Democratic party since election day, when neither Democrat Raphael Warnock nor Republican Herschel Walker were able to win enough support to avoid a runoff.
Leaders of the coalition, known as Georgia Organizers for Active Transformation, said on a Monday press call that they now have 2,500 canvassers knocking on 200,000 doors a day.
In total, the canvassers have knocked on more than 2.5 million doors since the Thursday after election day, which was three weeks ago.
Progressives’ work already appears to be paying dividends. More than 150,000 Georgians cast their ballots over the weekend, as early voting got underway, and there was record turnout on Monday, the first day of statewide early voting.
According to the progressive group Progress Georgia, African Americans and women are currently outpacing their high turnout levels in the 2020 general election.
Given that those constituencies lean toward Democrats, the early voting data could provide some reassurance to the camp of Warnock as he defends the seat he has only held since 2021.
“Georgia voters know exactly what’s going on,” said Hillary Holley, a coalition leader and the executive director of Care in Action. “They know what the stakes are, and they want Warnock to remain representing them for six additional years.”
Record early voting in Georgia Senate seat runoff
The number of people casting their ballots during early voting in the run-off election for one of Georgia’s seats in the US Senate is already on its way to half a million since the process got under way at the weekend.
Monday saw a record turnout, with reports varying from more than 250,000 voters to in excess of 300,000 people voting on the first day of state-wide early operation of the polls (some counties began earlier).
Incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker are neck-and-neck ahead of the election on 6 December.
Deputy secretary of state Gabriel Sterling said it was the largest in-person early voting day in Georgia history.
Just...WOW! GA voters, facilitated through the hard work of county election & poll workers, have shattered the old Early Vote turnout, with 300,438 Georgians casting their votes today. They blew up the old record of 233k votes in a day. Way to go voters & election workers. #gapol pic.twitter.com/rYbmpjAs43
— Gabriel Sterling (@GabrielSterling) November 29, 2022
Neither candidate got above the 50% threshold in the midterm elections earlier this month and under Georgia rules the fierce race went to a runoff.
Updated
A quick pool report from Washington: President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris have been meeting with congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, moments ago.
The president made brief remarks but did not take shouted questions from the pool, your pooler notes.
I asked for top leaders in Congress to come in and talk about what we’re going to do between now and Christmas. There’s a lot to do, including resolving the train strike,” Biden said.
He also mentioned funding the federal government, the ongoing coronavirus response and the war in Ukraine.
And we’re going to find other areas of common ground,” the president added.
Pate-spotters may or may not be able to identify all the people in the room from this pic tweeted by pooler. Chuck Schumer next to Veep, surely? At right, the inscrutable Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell.
Biden meets with congressional leaders. pic.twitter.com/6E1biP5g0U
— alexander nazaryan (@alexnazaryan) November 29, 2022
Updated
US and Nato allies pledge continued support for Ukraine
Nato foreign ministers today pledged to step up support to Ukraine and help repair its energy infrastructure amid a wave of Russian attacks that have repeatedly knocked out power supplies and heating for millions of Ukrainians, Reuters reports.
Russia’s aggression, including its persistent and unconscionable attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure, is depriving millions of Ukrainians of basic human services,” the foreign ministers said in a statement after a first day of talks in Bucharest, Romania.
They condemned what they called Russia’s cruelty against Ukraine’s civilians and promised to assist the country as it repairs its energy infrastructure.
We will continue and further step up political and practical support to Ukraine as it continues to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity...and will maintain our support for as long as necessary,” the statement noted.
Foreign ministers also confirmed a 2008 Nato summit decision that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization defense alliance.
Since then, however, leaders have not taken any concrete steps such as giving Kyiv a membership action plan that would lay out a timetable for bringing the country closer to Nato.
Meanwhile, much as we would hate to lose any eyeballs from the US politics blog, we must point out two other Guardian staples that readers may wish to follow or toggle between.
For updates on the war, our global Ukraine live blog is here.
And it has not escaped our attention that at 2pm ET today, the US is playing Iran in the soccer World Cup in Qatar, amid diplomatic hoo-ha. That match will be liveblogged whistle by whistle by our sports team closer to kick-off. Read about the build-up in the general competition blog here.
Updated
Talking up labor unions as a senator or a candidate or when you’re president and opening a factory is one thing but facing a national rail strike as the festive seasons looms is quite another – especially for Joe Biden.
Here’s some interesting perspective directly from Politico. The outlet writes in this morning’s, Politico Playbook dispatch from the front lines in Washington:
In 1992, two days into a crippling railroad strike, then-Senator Joe Biden came to the Senate floor and decried the lopsided nature of federal labor laws dealing with the rail industry – laws, he argued, that essentially allowed corporations, regulators and, ultimately, Congress to run roughshod over workers.
“We need to restore a measure of balance to these negotiations,” he said, before voting with just five other senators against halting the strike.
Thirty years later, as president, Biden is turning to those very same laws to prevent another strike and impose a tentative contract agreement that his administration brokered but multiple rail unions voted to reject.
“As a proud pro-labor president, I am reluctant to override the ratification procedures and the views of those who voted against the agreement,” the president said in a statement. “But in this case – where the economic impact of a shutdown would hurt millions of other working people and families – I believe Congress must use its powers to adopt this deal.”
Translation: It’s a lot easier to be “Union Joe” as one senator among 100 than it is as president of the United States – especially during holiday shopping season and a persistent bout of inflation.
People familiar with the process told us last night that Biden and his advisers determined that the risk to the economy was just too great. A strike would disrupt supply chains – including such critical goods as motor fuels and water treatment chemicals – and could ultimately cost the U.S. economy $1 billion within a week, according to analysis from the Anderson Economic Group …
… Until Monday, administration officials remained engaged in resolving the dispute. But Biden [he was advised by Cabinet folks that] there is no path to resolve the dispute at the bargaining table and recommended he ask Congress to impose the September deal …
… One former [unnamed] labor department official told Politico:
There is a sentiment among some railroad workers that they thought the president was going to absolutely battle all the way to the end to get them exactly what they wanted. He’s going to have some unhappy people. I think there’s going to be some grumbling in the labor movement.”
The former official was hopeful that Biden’s pro-union history couldn’t and wouldn’t be overshadowed by this one decision. That remains to be seen.
Updated
Workers in four unions, including the largest, have rejected the tentative rail industry deal, while workers in eight unions have approved it, Reuters’ reporting continues.
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have been involved in discussions with the rail industry, unions and agriculture industry stakeholders.
Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the commerce committee, praised Biden’s call to Congress to act and said no one side was fully happy with the compromise contract deal “but the responsible thing to do is avoid the strike.”
The Association of American Railroads said “congressional action to prevent a work stoppage in this manner is appropriate ... No one benefits from a rail work stoppage – not our customers, not rail employees and not the American economy.”
In a letter yesterday, the US Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, American Petroleum Institute, National Restaurant Association, American Trucking Associations and other groups warned that impacts of a potential strike could be felt as soon as 5 December.
Biden said Congress
Should set aside politics and partisan division and deliver for the American people. Congress should get this bill to my desk well in advance of December 9th so we can avoid disruption.”
The letter to congressional leaders, first reported by Reuters, warned that a strike could halt passenger railroad Amtrak and commuter rail services that “would disrupt up to 7 million travelers a day”.
It added:
The risks to our nation’s economy and communities simply make a national rail strike unacceptable.”
Biden’s Presidential Emergency Board in August released the framework for the tentative deal forged in September between major railroads and a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers. Those carriers include Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern. Unions and railroads have until Dec. 9 to resolve differences. If they do not, workers could strike or railroads could lock out employees - unless Congress intervenes. But railroads would halt hazardous materials shipments at least four days ahead of a strike deadline.
Updated
Joe Biden last night called on Congress to intervene to avert a potential rail strike that could occur as early as 9 December, warning of a catastrophic economic impact if railroad service ground to a halt, Reuters writes.
Biden asked lawmakers to adopt the tentative deal announced in September “without any modifications or delay - to avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown” and added that up to 765,000 Americans “could be put out of work in the first two weeks alone.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers would take up legislation this week “to prevent a catastrophic nationwide rail strike, which would grind our economy to a halt”.
Yesterday, more than 400 groups called on Congress to intervene in the railroad labor standoff that threatens to idle shipments of food and fuel and strand travelers while inflicting billions of dollars of economic damage.
A rail traffic stoppage could freeze almost 30% of US cargo shipments by weight, stoke inflation and cost the American economy as much as $2bn a day by unleashing a cascade of transport woes affecting US energy, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and retail sectors.
A rail shutdown would devastate our economy. Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would shut down ... Communities could lose access to chemicals necessary to ensure clean drinking water. Farms and ranches across the country could be unable to feed their livestock,” Joe Biden said in a statement last night.
The president hailed the contract deal that includes a 24% compounded wage increase over a five-year period from 2020 through 2024 and five annual $1,000 lump-sum payments.
Updated
Joe Biden is convening congressional leaders to discuss legislative priorities through the end of the year, according to the White House.
There are no further details yet from a snap report from the Reuters news agency but we’ll bring you the news as it develops.
The urgent rail industry matter notwithstanding, our Washington colleague Lauren Gambino examines what the still-Democratic controlled Congress can get done in this “lame duck” session before Republicans take charge of the House with a slim majority early next year.
Lauren writes that: As a new era of divided government looms in the US, Democrats are rushing to complete a lengthy legislative to-do list that includes landmark civil liberties legislation, a routine but critical spending package and a bill to prevent another January 6.
There are only a handful of working days left before the balance of power in Congress shifts and Democrats’ unified control of government in Washington ends. In January, Republicans will claim the gavel in the House, giving them veto power over much of Joe Biden’s agenda.
You can read the rest of her analysis report here.
Updated
Biden at loggerheads with unions over push to stop rail strike
Joe Biden has urged the US Congress to intervene to prevent the rail strike that is looming across America and could bring passenger and freight trains screeching to a halt as early as next week.
The US president warns that a rail strike will put more than three quarters of a million Americans out of work very quickly – and one expert analysis estimates it would cost the economy $1bn in the first week.
But asking Congress to force through a tentative agreement reached in September that’s supported by some – but very much not by all – the rail unions involved puts him at loggerheads with organized labor in the US.
That goes sharply against his track record as a vociferous supporter of unions through thick and thin over decades and a reputation as perhaps the most pro-labor president in US history.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will support action from Congress, to avert strikes from December 9, while House majority leader Chuck Schumer has not placed his cards down yet. Labor secretary Marty Walsh helped mediate negotiations between rail companies and unions earlier in the fall. Four key unions refused to sign up.
Will Vermont’s socialist and independent US Senator Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, support a government-imposed resolution?
At this critical moment for our economy, in the holiday season, we cannot hurl the U.S. into a devastating rail freight shutdown.
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 29, 2022
Congress should get this bill to my desk as soon as possible so we can avoid disruption.
Biden clashes with unions as he urges Congress to derail train strike
Good Morning, US politics live blog readers, the White House is a hive of activity, it’s early voting a go-go in Georgia and there’s a lively day in store on Capitol Hill, so stay with us for all the news as it happens.
Here’s what afoot:
Joe Biden has always championed labor unions in America, whether fashionable or not, but now that he’s president he’s staring at a holiday-season rail strike that he says threatens the economy – and he’s urged Congress to intervene and prevent it by imposing a deal some unions hate.
The US president is traveling to Michigan today to tour a semiconductor facility as he seeks to promote his agenda, especially in swing states, of boosting manufacturing in the US and his stewardship of the economy.
More than 400,000 voters have already cast their ballots since early voting began in the Georgia midterms run-off for the US Senate seat held since the 2020 election by Democrat Raphael Warnock. He’s neck-and-neck with Republican challenger Herschel Walker. The election’s next Tuesday.
Mike Lindell, he of foamy pillows and foaming-at-the-mouth promotion of the lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, is running to become the chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
Mitt Romney has compared Trump to a gargoyle.
