Mediaboss Marketing

Congressional Democrats want the head of the General Services Administration to tell them why she is holding up the transition to President-elect Joe Biden. Jacquelyn Martin/AP hide caption

Congressional Democrats want the head of the General Services Administration to tell them why she is holding up the transition to President-elect Joe Biden.

Congressional Democrats, angered by the Trump administration's refusal to begin the formal transition process to President-elect Joe Biden, are demanding a briefing on the matter from the head of the General Services Administration on Tuesday.

In a letter to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, the Democrats say they can't wait another week, as the GSA has offered. The GSA said the deputy administrator would provide a briefing to lawmakers on Nov. 30.

The lawmakers, including the chairs of the House Appropriations and House Oversight and Reform committees, wrote on Monday: "We cannot wait yet another week to obtain basic information about your refusal to make the ascertainment determination. Every additional day that is wasted is a day that the safety, health, and well-being of the American people is imperiled as the incoming Biden-Harris Administration is blocked from fully preparing for the coronavirus pandemic, our nation's dire economic crisis, and our national security."

The 1963 Presidential Transition Act requires the head of the GSA to "ascertain," or determine, the winner of the presidential election, which Murphy has refused so far to do. Her denial means that Biden cannot access government office space or receive some $9.9 million to pay salaries to his transition personnel, and his team can't officially meet with members of the Trump administration.

Democrats, along with a handful of Republicans, as well as prominent health and national security experts, say the delayed start to the transition imperils national security and will harm the incoming Biden administration's ability to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 250,000 Americans.

Visit link:
Democrats Insist On Hearing From GSA Head On Delayed Transition : Biden Transition Updates - NPR

House Democrats are demanding answers and documents from a private prison company running an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Georgia thats come under fire for allegedly failing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and allowing women to undergo sterilizations without consent.

Reps. Bennie Thompson and Carolyn Maloney, chairs of the House Homeland Security and Oversight committees, respectively, subpoenaed LaSalle Corrections, which manages the Irwin County Detention Center, according to Politico.

A nurse alleged in September that several women held in the Irwin County center were sterilized without consent. She also alleged that immigrant detainees were put in danger of contracting COVID-19 because visiting guidelines were routinely ignored.

The House committees launched investigations in September, but LaSalle said its contract with ICE barred it from sharing documents without the agencys consent. The private firm refused to provide a copy of its contract, according to Thompson and Maloney.

Despite the seriousness of the allegations taking place at their facility, LaSalle has stonewalled our Committees since we began our investigation in September, Thompson and Maloney said in a joint statement. They have provided us no documents, refused to share their contract with ICE, and have consistently fed us conflicting information. Their claim that they need approval from ICE to communicate with Congress is baseless. By refusing to provide even the most basic information about the treatment and care provided at taxpayer expense to women detained at ICDC, LaSalle is actively obstructing the Committees efforts to examine the troubling allegations and get answers to the American people.

According to medical records of four women and interviews with attorneys, Dr. Mahendra Amin, a gynecologist linked to the facility, performed several unwanted surgeries including hysterectomies and other procedures jeopardizing immigrant womens ability to have children, the Associated Press reported. The APs review found Amin had conducted surgeries on at least eight women, but the AP did not find evidence of mass hysterectomies that nurse Dawn Wooten had alleged occurred at the center.

Immigration authorities later told AP that they stopped sending detained women to Amin.

In September, ICE Acting Director Tony Pham said: If there is any truth to these allegations, it is my commitment to make the corrections necessary to ensure we continue to prioritize the health, welfare and safety of ICE detainees.

LaSalle at the time said it strongly refutes these allegations and any implications of misconduct.

Related Content:

Continue reading here:
House Democrats demand answers on alleged medical abuse, lack of COVID protections at ICE detention facility - MassLive.com

House Democrats are gearing up for what could be their final high-profile investigation of the Trump administration: getting the president to admit he lost the election.

Democrats have followed President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump says he'll leave White House if Biden declared winner of Electoral College The Memo: Biden faces tough road on pledge to heal nation US records 2,300 COVID-19 deaths as pandemic rises with holidays MOREs lead in dismissing President TrumpDonald John TrumpVenezuela judge orders prison time for 6 American oil executives Trump says he'll leave White House if Biden declared winner of Electoral College The Memo: Biden faces tough road on pledge to heal nation MOREs long-shot lawsuits contesting the election results, but their patience is wearing thin.

Nearly three weeks after the election, and two weeks after the race was called, congressional Democrats are starting to dig into their oversight toolbox and warn that Trumps post-election actions are a fundamental threat to democracy.

The chairs of the House Oversight and Appropriations committees Reps. Carolyn MaloneyCarolyn Bosher MaloneyHouse Democrats subpoena private prison operator in forced hysterectomy case Overnight Health Care: Biden team to begin getting COVID briefings | Fauci says he would 'absolutely' serve on Biden's COVID task force | Major glove factories close after thousands test positive for COVID-19 House Oversight panel asks Purdue Pharma's Sackler family to testify over opioid crisis MORE (D-N.Y.) and Nita LoweyNita Sue LoweySpending deal clears obstacle in shutdown fight GSA offers to brief Congress next week on presidential transition Biden aide: First Cabinet picks will be announced Tuesday, GSA holdup preventing background checks MORE (D-N.Y.) demanded in a letter Thursday that the head of the General Services Administration (GSA) brief lawmakers by Monday on why the agency has yet to allow the presidential transition begin through a process known as ascertainment. They also threatened to haul in the GSA administrator, along with her deputy, chief of staff and general counsel, for a public hearing.

Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiGovernors take heat for violating their own coronavirus restrictions Spending deal clears obstacle in shutdown fight Ocasio-Cortez, Cruz trade jabs over COVID-19 relief: People 'going hungry as you tweet from' vacation MORE (D-Calif.) said Democrats were trying to maintain a unifying post-election environment but that the transition delay prodded them to take action.

She emphasized that the committees were demanding only a briefing at this point rather than immediately requesting GSA officials to testify in a public hearing.

It was really trying to be unifying. Let's take our time. Let's give them a chance. And that's why we don't have a hearing. We're just having a briefing, Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol on Friday.

She also said she sees an expanded role for the House in the presidential transition if Trump digs in on his refusal to concede.

Im not one to show my hand, but, nonetheless, were ready. Were ready, Pelosi said.

Biden has been gradually upping the pressure on Trump to acknowledge defeat. A few days after the race was called by The Associated Press and all the major broadcast and cable news networks, Biden told reporters that were going to do exactly what wed be doing if he had conceded and said wed won, which we have, so theres nothing really changing.

But as more days have passed, Biden has warned that obstructing the transition process could result in more deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic and undermine democracy.

Its hard to fathom how this man thinks, Biden said this week. Im confident he knows he hasnt won and cant win, and well be sworn in on Jan. 20. Its just outrageous what hes doing.

While House Democrats are starting small for now, they arent ruling out subpoenas or even a lawsuit the same kinds of steps theyve taken with previous Trump oversight probes since winning back the chamber in the 2018 midterms.

House Democrats first oversight actions on the presidential transition come as a handful of GOP lawmakers are starting to publicly urge Trump to concede and stop alleging voter fraud unless he has evidence.

The Trump campaigns legal efforts to overturn results in closely contested states have fallen short, but in recent days, the president has also appeared to pressure state and local GOP election officials in Georgia and Michigan as he seeks to block or delay the certification process.

Sen. Mitt RomneyWillard (Mitt) Mitt RomneyBiden teams to meet with Trump administration agencies Paul Ryan calls for Trump to accept results: 'The election is over' Trump transition order follows chorus of GOP criticism MORE (R-Utah) said that it is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president, while Sen. Ben SasseBen SasseTrump transition order follows chorus of GOP criticism The Memo: Trump election loss roils right Whoopi Goldberg blasts Republicans not speaking against Trump: 'This is an attempted coup' MORE (R-Neb.) said that obviously Rudy [Giuliani] and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations under the statute.

And on Friday, Sen. Lamar AlexanderAndrew (Lamar) Lamar AlexanderThe Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump holds his last turkey pardon ceremony The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC - Trump OKs transition; Biden taps Treasury, State experience The Memo: Trump election loss roils right MORE (R-Tenn.) called for Biden to start receiving resources for the transition.

States are expected to finish certifying their results in the coming weeks ahead of the Electoral College meeting on Dec. 14. A few weeks later, on Jan. 6, Congress formally counts and certifies the votes cast by the Electoral College.

In Thursdays letter, leaders of the House Oversight and Appropriations committees asked that GSA Administrator Emily Murphy provide an explanation of why she hadnt signed off on a document that would officially recognize Biden as president-elect and unlock funding for activities involved in the transition.

Your actions in blocking transition activities required under the law are having grave effects, including undermining the orderly transfer of power, impairing the incoming Administrations ability to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, hampering its ability to address our nations dire economic crisis, and endangering our national security, they wrote. We have been extremely patient, but we can wait no longer.

Rep. Gerry ConnollyGerald (Gerry) Edward ConnollyGSA offers to brief Congress next week on presidential transition Democrats gear up for last oversight showdown with Trump Biden campaign pushes GSA chief to approve transition MORE (D-Va.), who chairs an Oversight subcommittee and signed on to the letter, called the Trump administrations refusal to start the transition extraordinarily reckless and playing with fire.

Its not OK. And what if it's more than his just being peevish? We need to be focused on that. And we can't let that go. And we have to protect the will of the people. And if they're not going to do it, then we have to do it, Connolly said.

In a democracy, ultimately, at the end of the day, we respect we don't have to like the results of a certified election that is not in doubt, he added.

The Biden transition team is starting to take matters into its own hands without the customary resourcessuch as government funding or intelligence briefings.

Bidens team is soliciting funds from small-dollar donors, as well as major contributors, to offset the absence of government funding.

We want to be clear: the Biden-Harris transition team will continue to steadily move forward. But, without ascertainment, we need to fund the transition ourselves, and that's why we're reaching out to you today, the transition team wrote in a fundraising email to supporters on Friday.

See the original post here:
Democrats gear up for last oversight showdown with Trump | TheHill - The Hill

While a term like people of color might ring hollow or even confused, immigrants across generations share at the very least the experience of building a life in a foreign country. They must, in other words, disaggregate and then reorganize into an even broader movement that could build on existing, like-minded grass-roots organizations, such as those that emerged from the Bernie Sanders campaign in Nevada or immigrant labor organizations throughout New York and California, and develop a spirit of solidarity that puts less weight on questions of belonging and citizenship for these nebulously and conditionally defined groups and more on the experiences, as working-class immigrants, they share both in America and their homelands.

Too much of the messaging toward these groups is aimed at the upwardly ascendant second- and third-generation immigrants who worry about questions of representation within elite institutions. If Democrats want to combat charges of socialism, which are perhaps especially effective on immigrants who fled Communist or socialist countries, they must stop believing that an immigrant shows up in America and immediately begins worrying, say, about how many Asian or Latino actors have been cast in the latest comic book movie.

This, of course, does not mean that the Democratic Party should entirely abandon its anti-racist message. Part of the effort must include a much-needed clarification between the needs of Black Americans and Latino and Asian immigrants; that would end the confusing and harmful conflation between two groups whose interests and actions are often at odds with one another.

Nor should we succumb to the temptation to wipe away all distinctions. Some part of every immigrant will still identify with their home country, through language, food and culture. The path forward is to create coalitions that make sense, not only for the immigrants themselves but also in their relationships with both working-class Black and white Americans.

Such a strategy would require the upwardly mobile second-generation immigrants the people most likely to be tasked with broadcasting this message out toward the public to do something that might feel counterintuitive or even contradictory. But we must abandon the broad style of diversity politics that designates us as people of color. Those categories might help us navigate the academy and the workplace, but they only resonate with a small, generally wealthy portion of our population.

The late historian Noel Ignatiev argued that racism in America could be solved only when white people committed treason against the white race when they recognized that the antagonists in their lives werent Black people, but rather the wealthy class that used racism to divide workers whose interests should be aligned.

In a similar spirit, those of us who have assimilated into the professional class must commit treason against people of color and help build a coalition of working-class immigrants, from Guatemalan workers in fish processing plants and Bangladeshi cabdrivers to Chinese and Vietnamese restaurant workers and Mexican farm workers.

Link:
People of Color Do Not Belong to the Democratic Party - The New York Times

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., downplayed Houses losses in this year's elections, pointing out that Democrats made historic gains in 2018. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., downplayed Houses losses in this year's elections, pointing out that Democrats made historic gains in 2018.

Updated at 10 a.m. ET

House Democrats started this month hoping, and preparing, to gain seats in the election. Instead, their once-robust majority in the House has dwindled, and Democrats are on track to begin next year with the slimmest majority in decades.

Now members on the progressive left and Democratic Party moderates are again at odds over whose policies won in 2020 and how they should govern as a party.

Some Democrats are frustrated that the debate is happening at all. Joe Biden won the presidential election, and Democrats will hold their majority in the House. While control of the Senate is still to be decided, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., returned to Washington, D.C., after the election to celebrate the wins that have already materialized.

"We'll be able to do great things for the American people," Pelosi told reporters at a news conference. "We've lost some battles, but we won the war. We have the gavel."

But Democrats lost a lot of battles. House Republicans have gained a net seven seats and have advantages in several races that have yet to be called, despite going into the election with the expectation that Democrats could win as many at 15 seats.

Polling on both sides of the aisle showed Democrats with advantages in key districts in states like Texas and Indiana, where they hoped to gain new seats. Tight races in places like Iowa and New York broke in favor of Republicans when the votes were tallied.

Debate about messaging

Democrats' losses have been heavily concentrated in the "majority-maker" districts areas where Democrats defeated Republicans in 2018. Some progressive members, such as Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., say that isn't a surprise.

"I think people are mourning the loss of some colleagues that wasn't as expected as it should have been," Jayapal said in an interview with NPR. "I think we just have to be real about what happened here. And we should focus on our long-term organizing strategy, because I think that is what is ultimately going to help us."

For progressives such as Jayapal, that long-term organizing strategy involves bringing out young, diverse new voters who are energized by progressive policies like "Medicare for All," a $15 minimum wage and an aggressive approach to curbing climate change.

Jayapal points to enormous turnout in cities such as Atlanta as an example of what an energized coalition can do. Those voters have boosted Biden's numbers in Georgia, putting him ahead and on the verge of winning that state for Democrats after decades of Republican wins.

She and other progressives say that they helped drive the party's national platform to the left on major social issues and that this, in turn, motivated voters to the polls. She says progressives also worked as emissaries for the party in communities that voted in huge numbers this year.

"[Progressives] helped Joe Biden deliver a very progressive agenda," Jayapal said. "That led to this huge turnout of young people, Black and brown and immigrant voters that delivered us victories in these key states."

Moderates say big progressive turnout in cities and suburbs may drive up Democrats' numbers in statewide and presidential races, but in their closely divided districts, they argue, some progressive messages can turn toxic.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger was narrowly reelected in a Virginia district that went for Republicans from 1971 until she won in 2018. She says Democrats need to focus more on proactive messages and passing bills that speak to people, like funding for education and expanded rural broadband. She told NPR the party needs to be communicating to all voters, not just a progressive base, about how those policies impact them.

"I think it's important that we recognize that, you know, while importantly and wonderfully Joe Biden is our president-elect, the man he ran against, our current president, got 70 million Americans to vote for him," Spanberger said in an interview. "We are asking for people to give us the responsibility of legislating. And we have to be clear on what we intend to do with that responsibility."

"Defund the police" cited as main impediment with swing voters

Moderates say they've been hamstrung by political slogans that don't actually reflect the policies Democrats have passed like "defund the police."

House Democrats passed a sweeping police reform package this year called the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. That bill outlaws chokeholds, gives the Justice Department greater power to intervene in use-of-force cases, creates a national registry for police conduct complaints and restructures the pipeline of military equipment to local police departments. It does not defund the police.

"People know what the term 'defund' means," Spanberger said. "I have had people just across the spectrum say they don't want to see police departments defunded."

But "defund the police" was an effective attack line for Republicans in tight races where Democrats lost. One example is Rep. Max Rose, D-N.Y., who lost in a district that was blanketed with an ad of retired New York City police officers talking about how Rose betrayed them.

"He promised us that he was going to support the police, and then he marches with people looking to defund the police," recounts an officer in the ad.

This division isn't new for Democrats. Pelosi often says the diversity of her caucus extends to some parts of their ideology. That is something Democrats often publicly celebrate, but the divisions become more critical as they look ahead to legislate with President-elect Biden.

Both sides of the party are looking for someone to blame as the losses sink in. Some blame the polls. Some blame internal calculations at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The finger-pointing boiled over in a party conference call recently, and DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., announced a few days later that she would not seek reelection to that leadership job.

Pelosi and her top leadership team are expected to be easily reelected to their posts, but the race for who will succeed Bustos has intensified.

Rep. Tony Cardenas of California, who is running to lead the DCCC, says it's wrong to argue that the party must choose between either retaining disaffected Republicans and moderates or winning over progressives.

"I think the emphasis of trying to hold on to a certain type of voter is the wrong place to start," Cardenas said in an interview with NPR.

Cardenas said Democrats can win by connecting with diverse voters and winning their trust. But, he said, the party also must do the basic job of passing bills and getting legislation done.

"Unfortunately, we have a lot of good candidates who their message gets overshadowed by millions of dollars of the Republican message that just literally doesn't even use their own words," Cardenas said. "And those are the kinds of tactics that we're having to combat."

That's something most Democrats agree on. They say the next election won't be centered on Democrats running against President Trump. They'll be running on a record they plan to build with Biden.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, who is competing against Cardenas to run the campaign committee, agreed. Maloney said Democrats in the House will be working on a Biden agenda and will have all of the power and support that being of the party with a president in the White House affords.

"Joe Biden is the perfect president for the moment," Maloney said. "He will help us turn the corner on the pandemic, get our businesses going again, open the economy responsibly and heal the wounds and repair some of the damage from the Trump years."

But Maloney added that Democrats will also benefit from time.

"I also believe we'll be entering the cycle next time with the pandemic, God willing, in the rearview mirror and an economy that's in full rebound," he said.

Deciding which elements of the Biden agenda to enact first will be part of the challenge. Progressives want to see health care reforms and elements of the Green New Deal at the top of the list.

Biden himself has signaled plans to focus heavily on making the fight against COVID-19 his No. 1 priority.

Many Democrats say a tightly tailored focus on the virus, the economy and kitchen-table issues could unite them. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said Democrats need to keep that in mind as they define their agenda.

"We're going to have to do core agenda items like trade deals that level the playing field broadband, so that as we're dealing with a pandemic, that urban schools and rural schools have the same access and equal opportunity so that everybody's got an education," Dingell said. "The most important, valuable thing to have, we need to make sure that every young person can afford a college education and not graduate with staggering student debt talking about just these issues that matter every day."

Dingell says that the political environment has strayed far from that basic political work in the Trump years and that Democrats have a chance to win over a wider range of voters by renewing that focus.

"There's more agreement on that," she said. "There's more agreement than disagreement."

Read this article:
House Democrats At Odds After 2020 Election Losses - NPR