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Sixteen Democratic lawmakers joined Republicans to pass a bill that would force the US to expedite all approved arms shipments to Israel, including those that the White House has delayed over concerns about its assault on Rafah.

The largely symbolic vote in the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 224-187, but has little chance of becoming law because it must pass the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The Biden administration also said it would vetothe bill, claiming it undermines the presidents foreign policy.

The bills passage in the House of Representatives is notable, however, because 16 pro-Israel democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans in a sign of defiance of Bidens decision to pause a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to Israel.

The lawmakers who broke ranks with their party include vocal democratic supporters of Israel such as Lois Frankel, Jared Moskowitz, Josh Gottheimer, and Ritchie Torres.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton has introduced a companion bill, but Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer has said he will not put the bill on the floor for a vote. Senior Democrats in the House also whipped heavily against the bill.

Anoticeshared by Democratic Congresswoman Katherine Clark said Biden had provided ironclad support for Israel but that the Republican legislation amounted to an unprecedented limitation of the president's executive authority and ability to implement foreign policy.

Israels war on Gaza has divided the Democratic Party, with progressives criticising Bidens support for Israel. The tensions are already playing out in Democratic primary races.

This week pro-Palestinian Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman claimed his primary challenger was in the pocket and bought and paid for by Aipac, the pro-Israel lobbying group. Bowman, like some other progressives, has called Israels war on Gaza a genocide.

Biden's threat to withhold arms to Israel masks divisions over the fate of Hamas

The focal point of Israels war has become Rafah, the southern Gaza border town where around 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Biden warned last week he would delay the transfer of offensive bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launched a full-scale assault on Rafah.

Biden's decision to follow through on that public threat is being tracked minute by minute by US voters, supporters and critics of Israel. The Biden administration has not clearly defined what they mean by a "full-scale invasion", as Israel has been heavily bombarding Rafah and has seized control of the crossing with Egypt.

The vast majority of arms transfers to Israel are continuing despite the Rafah threat and current freeze.

The Wall Street Journalreportedon Tuesday that the Biden administration plans to send over $1bn in additional arms and ammunition to Israel.

See more here:
Sixteen Democrats join Republicans to override Biden's halt on bomb transfers to Israel - Middle East Eye

Martin Gruenberg is still the leader of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an agency that supervises U.S. banks, but after a bipartisan grilling on Wednesday by members of a House committee overseeing bank regulators, he appeared to be hanging on by a thread.

Democrats expressed dismay over his responses to the crisis at his agency, after a scathing report of a culture of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination. One congresswoman appeared to call for him to resign, as Republicans have been doing for months.

Personally, I do not have confidence that you can continue to lead in this role, Representative Ayanna S. Pressley, Democrat of Massachusetts, told Mr. Gruenberg during an exchange. I am so tired of white men failing up.

In a bruising session that lasted more than three hours, committee members repeatedly asked Mr. Gruenberg what he planned to do to change his behavior in response to reports that he had berated employees and created an environment in which people were afraid to communicate with him. (Two other federal bank regulators, the acting comptroller of the currency, Michael Hsu, and the Federal Reserve vice chair, Michael Barr, also offered testimony on bank regulatory matters, but much of the committees focus was on the F.D.I.C.)

Its incumbent on me to be more sensitive to how my behavior is received by employees and to understand that the only thing that matters is not my perception but their perception, Mr. Gruenberg said. At one point, in response to a suggestion by Representative Sylvia R. Garcia, Democrat of Texas, Mr. Gruenberg said he would take anger management classes.

Mr. Gruenberg is trying to save his tenure at the agency, which he has run for 10 of the last 13 years, partly to help see through a rule that the F.D.I.C. is proposing, along with other federal bank regulators, to tighten and expand oversight of the nations largest lenders. Big banks have fiercely opposed it, and if Mr. Gruenberg steps down, the rule is unlikely to have the necessary votes from F.D.I.C. board members to become final.

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Democrats Batter Bank Regulator Over F.D.I.C.'s 'Toxic' Workplace Culture - The New York Times

Two Democrats - the former legal director of the ACLU of Virginia, and New Kent County's former treasurer - are vying for the nomination to challenge a long-serving GOP incumbent in a strongly Republican district.

New Kents Herb Jones, a retired Army colonel who tried but failed to unseat Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st in 2022, is facing Leslie Mehta, currently on leave as counsel and chief of staff of the Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in the June 18 Democratic primary.

Hes backed by former Gov. Ralph Northam.

Shes backed by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, as well as by a deep pocketed Democratic couple, Charlottesville billionaire hedge fund executive Michael Bills and his wife Sonija Smith, who together are Mehtas biggest donors, Federal Elections Commission filings show.

The 1st Congressional District, represented by Republican Rob Wittman, includes western Henrico and western Chesterfield counties as well as part of Hanover County. Those three counties form the districts largest voter blocs.

The 1st District circles around Richmond from western Chesterfield through western Henrico and Hanover County to the Middle Peninsula, Northern Neck and the Virginia Peninsula to the Newport News city line. The district - which Wittman has represented since 2007 - gave the Republican a 57% to 42% margin over Jones in 2022 and went strongly, 58% to 42% for Republican Glenn Youngkin in the 2021 contest for governor.

While most of its biggest bloc of voters, those in Henrico, lean modestly toward Democrats, with deeper blue pockets around Williamsburg and three modestly Democratic precincts on the Northern Neck, most of the district gave Republicans at least a margin of at least 20 percentage points in 2022.

"It'll certainly be an uphill struggle," Mehta said. "But the district is changing and Rob Wittman isn't."

Both Mehta and Jones have said they would act to ensure reproductive freedom access to contraceptives and abortion and support gun safety laws. Both say they are deeply concerned that American democracy is under threat as former President Donald Trump and many Republicans continue to deny that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

"There wont be much in the way of policy differences between the (Democratic) candidates," said John McGlennon, a political scientist at the College of William and Mary.

"The experienced candidate vs. fresh face will be a big part of the primary," he said.

Jones is board chair of the Williamsburg James City County Community Action Agency, which runs a variety of poverty programs, including Head Start and an emergency food and shelter assistance program. He runs a small business focused on cloud-computing, project management and logistics.

A 30-year Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq, he was responsible for overseeing New Kent Countys funds and collecting its taxes for 12 years.

While he won his last election to that office with 82% of the vote in in 2007, he's had less luck looking farther afield. He failed to unseat state Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City County, in 2019, even losing New Kent with 34% to Norment's 65%. In the 2022 congressional race, he won 31% of New Kent's vote to Wittman's 68%.

We need a fighter in Congress who will deliver for Eastern Virginia communities: ensuring our reproductive freedom, safety from gun violence, investment in public education, and protecting our right to free and fair elections, Jones website says. (He did not respond to multiple phone and email requests to outline his positions.)

I have successfully run for elected office three times, the voters of New Kent County elected and reelected me as their treasurer," he said in a social media posting. "In 2022 a number of people across the district reached out and asked me to run after a candidate dropped out I answered the call and I stepped up. We knew it would be hard for a candidate to win on the first attempt so I was always prepared to finish what we started in 2022. In nine elections the incumbent has had a new challenger in every race - let's try it differently this time."

In his endorsement statement, Northam said Herb knows what it means to serve his fellow Virginians.

"I've been doing this for a long time; I've fought for the constitutional rights of Virginians ... I've secured funding for rare diseases," Mehta said. She channeled her grief after her 5-year-old daughter Brooke died of the rare genetic disorder Rett Syndrome, to help move legislation through Congress with support from Democrats and Republicans.

Mehta grew up in tiny Woodland, N.C., just down U.S. 258 from Isle of Wight County. She says she hears from people in rural stretches of the 1st District about one-hour driving trips for health care and it resonates strongly. So does the memory of taking Brooke to Atlanta for care when that was where the nearest specialists were based.

"Accessibility to health care is a huge concern," she said. Mehta said that encompasses access to reproductive health care, tackling the high cost of prescription medications and access to in vitro fertilization.

"That really hit me, both of my daughters were from IVF," she said. "After that Alabama decision," in which the state Supreme Court found that frozen embryos can be considered children, "we need federal protection ... why should someone you've never met be able to say you can't do that?"

Other memories from growing up, the contrast between the rural high school she attended for two years and the statewide science and math school where she finished high school, meant public school funding, especially focused on technology and modernizing facilities, would be another of her priorities in Congress.

Defending civil liberties and constitutional rights, another top priority, reflects her years at the ACLU. A suit she and the Legal Aid Justice Center filed on behalf of two Black middle school students with disabilities, alleging that Richmond Public Schools suspended Black students with disabilities at 13 times the rate of white students without disabilities, sparked a federal investigation.

Jones has a larger campaign war chest and a higher name recognition from his 2022 run.

"Hell make the argument that hes had the guts to get into tough races and deserves another shot with more time and presidential turnout," McGlennon said.

"What Mehta will need to do is demonstrate that her newness is an asset and not a liability."

Mehta is from the Richmond suburbs, where 55% of the district's voters live, while Jones' base of New Kent is home to only 3%.

But while "Hometown support can often be decisive, in this case, the impact is likely to be more limited," McGlennon said, "as the candidate from the more populous area doesnt have as high a profile."

Olusoji Akomolafe, a political scientist at Norfolk State University, said the primary might come down to dueling endorsements between a former governor, Northam's backing of Jones, and would-be governor Spanberger's backing of Mehta.

"This is Jones third shot at elected office. As we have seen in many cases before, name recognition may actually be a double-edged political sword," Akomolafe said.

"In making their decisions, while some voters may emphasize a known face as their main reason for choosing a candidate, others may welcome the newcomer, especially if their positions are not so radically apart from each other, as is the case in this situation," he said.

"Jones already has name recognition derived from his previous run for the office. In the last election, he may have lost by a 13-point margin, but he was also outspent 3-1. Given those circumstances, that performance is good enough for most Democrats to view him as a credible candidate,"Akomolafe said.

He added: "While Mehta may not have the same kind of name recognition, even as a newcomer to the game she is not altogether a pushover." He said that in addition to her endorsements by state Sens. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, Mamie Locke, D-Hampton and Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, "Spanbergers endorsement may prove to be more consequential than that of Northam in this election."

Friday-Sunday

Richmonds favorite outdoor sports and music festival returns with biking, kayaking, air dogs, stand-up paddle boarding and more. Jam out on the island to bands like Cosmic Collective, Karl Densons Tiny Universe, Palmyra and The Stews. 5-9:30 p.m. Friday, noon-9:30 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. 501 Tredegar St. Free to attend. (804) 285-9495 or http://www.riverrockrva.com.

Friday

Farmvilles Oliver Anthony will hit the stage for Atlantic Union After Hours in Doswell. Anthony made music history last year with his viral hit Rich Men North of Richmond which has been dubbed the nations blue-collar anthem. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Show starts at 7 p.m. After Hours at Meadow Event Park, 13191 Dawn Boulevard. Sold out. afterhoursconcertseries.com.

Friday-Sunday

Get ready for three days of Lebanese cuisine, including everything from hummus and kabobs to baklava and other desserts, as well as traditional Lebanese dancing and live music performances at the Lebanese Food Festival. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday. St. Anthony Maronite Church, 4611 Sadler Road, Glen Allen. Free to attend. Pay as you go. (804) 277-9566 or lebanesefoodfestival.com.

Thursday

Relax in the gardens at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on Thursday evenings for the return of Flowers After 5. Stroll through the scenic gardens, listen to live music and enjoy a selection of food and drinks. 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Through mid-September. 1800 Lakeside Ave. $10-$20. (804) 262-9887 or http://www.lewisginter.org.

Thursday and Friday

Stroll through a 12-block stretch of art, live music and refreshments at the Fan Arts Stroll. 4-8 p.m. 1900-2600 blocks of Hanover and Grove Avenues. Free. https://www.facebook.com/FanArtsStroll/.

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Virginia: Two Democrats vie for chance to take on Wittman - Richmond Times-Dispatch

The majority of respondents favor policies that promote increased transparency and accountability for institutions of higher education.

Gonzo 247 / University of St. Thomas Houston

Even as the publics loss of faith in higher education dominates headlines amid campus protests, the rising cost of attendance, growing anti-DEI sentiment and more, it seems that most Americans still see value in a college degree. According to a survey of 1,500 U.S. voters conducted by Global Strategy Group and GS Strategy Group for Third Way, 80percent of respondents still believe higher education has value, including 88percent of Democrats and 75percent of Republicans.

The finding is a departure from recent reports about declining confidence in higher education, including a Gallup survey published in 2023 that showed that the percentage of Americans who felt highly confident in higher education had dipped significantly from previous years to a historic low. It also sharply contrasts the public attitudes of many Republican politicians, who, in recent months, have antagonized higher education leaders in Congressional hearings and in the press.

But Sophie Nguyen, a senior policy analyst at the left-leaning think tank New America, where she focuses on public opinion of higher education, noted that believing college degrees have value and having confidence in the institution of higher education are two separateif relatedideas. In fact, Third Ways report shows only 56percent of American voters have a favorable view of the higher education system in the United States as a whole; by comparison, 77percent hold a favorable view of trade schools, 75percent hold a favorable view of community colleges and 65percent hold a favorable view of four-year institutions, while 37percent hold a favorable view of for-profit colleges.

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Im not saying these numbers refute the numbers from Gallup; I think they show different sides of the story in Americans perspective in higher education, she said. Even though there are things they are not happy with in higher education, a high percentage still think the college degree is valuable or they still believe in the value a college degree can bring to them or to society. Thats a narrative we dont often hear.

The survey also sought to evaluate what people see as the primary way higher education provides value: by setting students up for successful careers or creating informed citizens? When asked to choose which outcome aligns most closely with their own beliefs, a slight majority of respondents, 57percent, chose career outcomesthough, on a different question, 49percent of respondents said they believed the true value of college was a combination of those two options. The gap between the number of Democrats (53percent) and Republicans (63percent) who chose career outcomes was 10 percentage points.

While many Americans still consider higher education valuable, Ben Cecil, a senior education policy advisor at Third Way, said that he sees the current moment as an inflection point, where universities, policymakers and advocates must make changes to retain that perceptionor risk losing it.

Respondents expressed concern about the cost of college, with four out of five voters noting that higher educations price tag is on the rise. They also said they want institutions to be held accountable for students outcomes; 70percent of respondents, for example, said they believe programs should be required to demonstrate that their graduates can pay back their student loans in order to receive federal financial aid.

Voters want to know upfront from a transparency angle what theyre investing inand accountability for when thats not happening, Cecil said.

Jodie Adams Kirshner, a research professor at New York University studying the barriers low-income and minority students face in accessing higher education, said she supports the idea of increased transparency, but stressed that such data must be presented in a way that students can easily parse to help them decide where and what they want to study.

It makes sense to want more data on outcomes. I think the tricky thing is that the American higher ed system is already so complicated and so theres a lot of information that is hard to navigate, even when it comes to what the ultimate price is, she said.

Proponents of postsecondary education may face a timeline in making their case. Though todays voters see value in higher education, the majority of survey respondents65percentpredicted that in the next decade, high schoolers are going to be less interested in pursuing higher education.

That, to me, is an alarm bell for anyone who is an institutional leader or higher education advocate, Cecil said.

Kirshner said that moving forward, she would like to learn more about how the survey respondents defined certain termssuch as value and return on investment (ROI). For example, do they believe colleges produce a good ROI five years past graduation, or over a course of a lifetime?

She said such a distinction can be a major consideration for low-income families, who often dont have the financial flexibility to invest in something that will have a major payoff in a decade, regardless of how good that payoff is.

Its so compelling for people who have immediate, urgent needs [to get] a job that for an 18-year-old looks like its paying wellsomething like 17 dollars an hour at a warehousebut over time, thats not going to be very much, she said.

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Democrats, Republicans say higher education is valuable - Inside Higher Ed

Three-fifths of the Democrats in Nevadas congressional delegation agree with the states only Republican in Congress, Rep. Mark Amodei: If theres one thing the federal government should do, that thing is whatever mining wants.

Amodei got a bill passed on the floor of your United States House of Representatives this week.

First, congratulations, Congressman. A representative getting the House to pass a bill was no small thing even back in what might be thought of as saner times. The good ship Saner Times having sailed, the current Republican-controlled House, despite recent life signs, remains on pace to be the least productive in decades.

And it looked like that stunning record of mayhem-enriched underachievement would likewise doom Amodeis bill, which went belly up on the House floor last week when someone evidently forgot to tell a few Republican members of a narrowly divided House that there was work that day.

But there was a mining industry to protect, dadgummit, and Amodei, a former president of the Nevada Mining Association (while he was still in the state Senate ha ha is that the Nevada Way or what?), would not be denied.

If passed by the Senate and signed by the president, the bill would erase a 2022 federal court ruling that tried to impose a small measure of long-overdue sense on another law that was sponsored by a Nevadan on behalf of the mining industry 150 years earlier, the General Mining Law of 1872.

Background: A couple years ago in what is known as the Rosemont decision, a federal appeals court said when mining companies stake claims on federal land, and they find minerals on that land, mine away, as per usual, under ye olde 1872 law. But! The court also ruled and this was new that companies cant use adjacent federal land on which no valuable minerals have been proven to exist as part of the mining operation. So no filthy slag heaps on the other side of the road, that sort of thing.

Amodeis bill aims to overturn the Rosemont decision, and thus make filthy slag heaps on the other side of the road great again.

The vast majority of House Democrats, including Nevadas Dina Titus and Susie Lee, voted against Amodeis bill. But there were eight Democratic exceptions, one of whom was Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford, who is reliably eager to demonstrate fealty to Nevadas mining industry.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto was predictably giddy over the House passing Amodeis bill, her being a lead co-sponsor of companion legislation in the Senate.

Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen is one of that measures co-sponsors, which wont win her many votes in the rurals this year, but at least should help dissuade the mining industry from spending any money against her in her reelection campaign.

A similar and successful safeguarding of the mining industrys bottom line earned Cortez Masto a small assist from the industry in the rurals during her 2022 reelection campaign.

Arizona independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is also a co-sponsor, so between her, both Nevada senators, and all Republicans, its conceivable the bill could pass the narrowly divided Senate. If Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lets it come up.

Mining corporations and the politicians who love them have been urgently stressing how vital their industry is to national security. That emphasis, almost always accompanied by saying China a few times, helps put the critical in critical minerals.

After House passage of his bill this week, Amodei didnt disappoint. Securing our domestic mineral supply chain is not only critical to our nations economic success, but to our national security, he said.

When touting the Senate version of the legislation last year, Cortez Masto said we must produce minerals in the United States and not solely rely on foreign sources, some of whom threaten our national securityAll of this means we must address the complications created by the Rosemont decision.

And on multiple occasions, Cortez Masto has warned that the Rosemont decision will upend the mining industry.

Evidence suggests otherwise: The same mineral deposits at the heart of the terrible horrible no good very bad Rosemont decision the example Cortez Masto refers to when she says the decision will upend mining are included in an Arizona mining complex currently being developed by the same Canadian corporation that was developing the Rosemont mine. Except now the project is bigger. And instead of Rosemont, its called Copper World.

If enacted, the Amodei-Cortez Masto legislative effort to reverse the Rosemont decision, like a call from Cortez Masto and Rosen to allow lithium mining corporations to get tax credits against extraction costs, may help Nevadas nascent lithium industry and other newly developing critical mineral mines save a buck or two and pass those savings on to shareholders the world over.

But whether the Rosemont decision is left intact will have no impact whatsoever on the certainty or scale of future mineral production. That will be determined by the price of the mineral. Period.

That doesnt mean the legislation is meaningless.

It could potentially enhance returns for mining corporation shareholders.

It could provide Rosen yet another opportunity to make a campaign ad celebrating how much she loves to stand up to Democrats and vote with Republicans.

It confirms yet again that there is a contingent of Nevada Democratic politicians who believe Nevada should remain a mining colony.

And, most consequentially, it would assure massive hills of mining waste where they dont belong, on public lands that arent even being mined, doing what massive hills of mining waste always do: contaminating soil, water, and air, far into the foreseeable future.

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3 out of 5 NV congressional Democrats want to let the mining industry party like it's 1872 Nevada Current - Nevada Current