Mediaboss Marketing

Congressional Republicans on Wednesday said they had asked NPRs new chief executive, Katherine Maher, to address accusations of political bias in the radio networks journalism during a hearing next week.

A trio of Republican lawmakers Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Bob Latta of Ohio and Morgan Griffith of Virginia sent a six-page letter to Ms. Maher that notified her of an investigation into the network and requested her appearance on May 8.

As a taxpayer funded, public radio organization, NPR should focus on fair and objective news reporting that both considers and reflects the views of the larger U.S. population and not just a niche audience, the letter said.

The lawmakers, all members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the hearing would be held by the panels oversight subcommittee.

NPR declined to comment, but Ms. Maher may have a scheduling conflict. According to an agenda of NPRs upcoming board of directors meeting, Ms. Maher is scheduled to convene with NPRs board all day on May 8.

NPR has been scrutinized by conservatives in recent weeks after the publication of an essay by Uri Berliner, a former senior editor at the network, who said that the network had allowed progressive politics to affect its coverage of major stories. Mr. Berliner, who has since resigned, cited the networks coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Hunter Bidens laptop as examples of bias.

Mr. Berliners essay has generated vociferous pushback from many employees at NPR, who say that many of his points were factually inaccurate. Tony Cavin, NPRs managing editor for standards, has said the networks coverage of Hunter Bidens laptop, the Covid-19 pandemic and the investigation into Russian collusion by Robert S. Mueller III, a special counsel, hewed closely to responsible coverage by other mainstream news organizations.

Ms. Maher, who joined the network this year, has personally been targeted by conservative activists who have combed through her social media history and resurfaced posts that promoted progressive causes and critiqued former President Donald J. Trump. In one post, from 2018, Ms. Maher called Mr. Trump a racist; another from 2020 showed her wearing a hat with the logo of the Biden campaign.

NPR has said that Ms. Maher, the former chief executive of Wikimedia, wasnt working in news at the time she made the posts, and added that she was exercising her First Amendment right to free expression.

Over the years, Republicans have occasionally threatened to pull government money from NPR, which comes from the taxpayer-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But those threats havent resulted in any significant funding reduction for the organization, which generates much of its revenue by selling radio programming to its member stations across the United States.

View original post here:
Republicans Call on NPRs Chief, Katherine Maher, to Testify on Bias - The New York Times

House Republicans were largely dismissive of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes (R-Ga.) announcement Wednesday that she would force them to vote on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) next week, with many predicting her move would fail.

Greenes escalation has further divided the deeply fractured Republican conference, with lawmakers eager to move past their internal rancor and focus on retaining their slender House majority in November.

Greenes move has also frustrated top advisers to former president Donald Trump, and one person said Trump has repeatedly described the Republican infighting as embarrassing.

He wishes it would just go away, this person said.

His advisers believe the situation puts Trump in the difficult bind of choosing between allies he likes and is furthermore unnecessary in the middle of an election year where they want to be talking about immigration, inflation, campus protests and other issues they view as more favorable.

We are trying to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory by making the story Republican infighting, said the person who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Trumps thinking.

Trump has endorsed Johnsons handling of the speakership, but its unclear if the presumptive GOP presidential nominee will proactively intervene to halt Greene from introducing her motion to vacate because she has been a consistently loyal ally. A fired-up Greene claimed Wednesday morning she was bringing her motion to help Trump, arguing that Johnson has fully funded the Justice Department that she charges wants to put Trump in jail for life.

I fight for [Trumps agenda] every day, and thats why Im fighting my colleagues now, Greene said. We have to do this. We have to win in November. We have to keep the majority.

Trump spent multiple hours with Johnson last month at Mar-a-Lago, where they discussed candidate endorsements and party politics. Trumps new head of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley, told Republicans on Tuesday that Trump wants to see the GOP conference remain united.

Trumps involvement may not be necessary as a majority of Republicans plan to vote with a sizable amount of Democrats to prevent Johnsons ouster and avoid plunging the House into uncertainty.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who chairs the largest factions of conservatives in the Republican Study Committee, said Trump wants Republicans to focus on bigger issues and not get sidetracked with feuding. Lets get focused on winning in November, keeping the House, taking the Senate and having the White House in January and really run hard to get a lot of great things done for Americans, he said.

Greene intends to act sometime next week and as of Wednesday afternoon, there were only two other Republicans Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Paul A. Gosar (Ariz.) who publicly backed her motion. The House would have two legislative days to consider the motion, but would first consider a move to reject it that Democrats are expected to support.

Forcing the House to consider ousting Johnson marks the second time Republicans have acted to remove their speaker over the past six months. Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) led the charge to get rid of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), who became the first speaker in history to be removed from the post after seven other Republicans and all Democrats supported his ouster. As a result, the House stopped functioning for almost a month as the Republican majority devolved into chaos, repeatedly failing to elect a speaker until GOP members unanimously elected the ultraconservative, and little-known, Johnson.

Mike Johnson is not capable of that job. He has proven it over and over again, Greene said Wednesday morning, adding that she wants to see lawmakers vote on the record.

Greenes chances of success, however, are in doubt because House Democratic leadership has pledged to rescue Johnson by attempting to kill the measure before it can gain any traction. Nonetheless, Republicans will hold a one-vote House majority by next week, and anything could happen in the volatile chamber where support from GOP hard-liners is always in question.

Several people familiar with House GOP leaderships thinking say its possible that Johnson would call up the vote for immediate consideration after Greene formally triggers it. A vote to table or effectively kill the measure would come first, which is the motion Democrats have pledged to support. If that isnt successful, only then would a final vote occur to oust Johnson and Democrats have said they wont intervene to save the speaker in that case.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is the star of the show. The show is called Republicans Gone Wild, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said. House Republicans are either unwilling or unable to get [Greene] and the extreme MAGA Republicans under control, and so, its going to take a bipartisan coalition and partnership to accomplish that objective.

Several Republicans said some hard-liners might oppose the move to table Greenes motion because they know Johnson wont ultimately be ousted.

I think thats a possibility, Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) said.

Its unclear, however, how Republicans would actually vote if the vacate motion came to the floor. If all lawmakers are present and participating in a final vote to oust Johnson, Greene, Massie and Gosars support would be enough to remove the speaker from the office because House Republicans razor-thin voting margin will temporarily go down to one once Democrat Tim Kennedy is sworn in to fill an open seat in New York.

After months of threats, Greene and Massie held an early-morning news conference in which they finally tipped their hands. Greene indicated that she wanted to give Republicans the weekend to reflect on how they will vote, and she suggested Johnson should pray on it and resign rather than embrace the endorsement of Jeffries and House Democrats.

Everybody needs a weekend to prepare. Im not irresponsible. I care about my conference. I have been measured. I have given this time. I have been giving warning after warning, Greene said. It was a warning to stop serving the Democrats and support our Republican conference and support our agenda. And [Johnson] didnt do it.

Johnson responded quickly: This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution and wrong for the country.

The steps to oust Johnson from the speakership

Greene has said she will formally introduce a motion to vacate next week.

This kicks off a 48-hour process in which the House can remove the speaker.

Motion to table

introduced

No motion

to table is

introduced

Democratic leadership has pledged to support a motion to table, effectively killing the measure.

The steps to oust Johnson from the speakership

Greene has said she will formally introduce a motion to vacate next week.

This kicks off a 48-hour process in which the House can remove the speaker.

Motion to table introduced

No motion to table is

introduced

Democratic leadership has pledged to support a motion to table, effectively killing the measure.

Greene devoted a majority of her 30-minute news conference to discussing Johnsons reliance on House Democrats to pass votes the far-right vehemently disagreed with, even though their quest for ideological purity on must-pass legislation helped drive Johnson into Democratic arms.

Now we have Hakeem Jeffries coming out over and over again, embracing Mike Johnson with a warm hug and a big wet sloppy kiss. They want to keep the band together, she said. Theyre sharing the gavel. Theyre holding it together.

Before Greenes announcement, Johnson had some choice words for her. Often referencing her as a friend, Johnson said in an interview on NewsNations The Hill program that he no longer considers her a serious lawmaker.

Bless her heart, Johnson said, deploying a subtle insult often used in the South. I dont spend a lot of time thinking about her. Ive got to do my job, and we do the right thing and we let the chips fall where they may.

In response, Massie said that Greene is the most serious representative up here.

If you listen to the speech that she just gave, she captured exactly what Republicans back home are thinking. They are tired of this swamp, he said.

Greene and Massie charge Johnson with committing three sins during his six months helming the House: relying on Democrats to fund the government in late March, pushing past far-right concerns over a government surveillance reauthorization bill, and sending $61 billion to aid Ukraine as part of a $95 billion foreign aid package.

Greene did not name anyone she thought could cobble enough votes together to win the speakership if her effort is successful. That has been a major concern among Republicans who recognize that their inability to agree on much of anything could jeopardize their ability to elect a conservative as speaker again.

Im not naming names, but I think we have people that are capable. Anybody thats willing to fight for our agenda anyone that refuses to share the power with Hakeem Jeffries, she said.

Massie addressed the alleged futility of trying to oust Johnson when the large majority of the House appears ready to save the speaker, urging Republicans to ask Johnson to resign in discussions with him before the vote occurs.

What weve seen here is the coming out of the uniparty and it will be apparent next week, Massie said, referring to Johnson and Democrats working together to save the speaker. We cannot coast this one out.

One Republican said, despite Greenes charge that voters are outraged by the way the House does business, that no one outside of Washington cares about the intraparty infighting.

Weve got an election coming up. You go anywhere in America and you talk to a person on the street, theyre not going to say who the next speaker is is the most pressing issue that they have, said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the Freedom Caucus who will not vote in support of ousting Johnson.

Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.

Link:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene launches her plan to oust Speaker Johnson - The Washington Post - The Washington Post

Editors note: This article has been updated to correct a political action committee affiliation.

More than 25 Tennesseee state House and Senate Republicans seats have more than one challenger in the primary this year, while about half-a-dozen of those have no incumbent running.

These seats, which include several pro- and anti-school voucher Republicans, are the next frontier in the debate over whether state lawmakers should adopt a universal plan to provide parents with $7,200 in cash to subsidize private school tuition.

Two years ago, pro-charter and school voucher groups spent $1.3 million on the Tennessee state elections, campaign finance records show, backing the winning candidate in several open seats anddefeating two pro-public school House Republicans.

After last cycles spending, everyones antennas are up for sure, said J.C. Bowman, the executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee. Most people believe in some version of school choice. But its whether the advertisements from these groups will be honest that the plan is a universal, no means-tested, school voucher plan, which isnt that popular.

The money to back these candidates will come in the form of independent expenditures, which allow political action committees to sidestep campaign finance limits and spend unlimited money in races.

Americans for Prosperity (through the Americans for Prosperity Action Fund), Tennesseans for Student Success (Team Kid PAC), TennesseeCan (Tennesseans for Putting Students First PAC) and Tennessee Federation for Children (PAC with the same name) were some of the largest independent spenders in the 2022 election, and are gearing up to be again.

Tennesseans for Student Success spent the most money in2022.The political advocacy organization previously saidit wasonly a pro-charter school group butbacked all the same candidates as other pro-voucher groups.

Most of these groups are formed in a way that kept their donors hidden.

The Federation for Children is the only group that has released some of its donors. A list of the largest donors to the groups Tennessee political action committee (PAC) dating back to 2012 are Arkansas-based Walmart heir Jim Walton, Nashville lawyer Lee Barfield, Nashville businesswoman Dorothy Scarlett, Nashville businessman Lee Beaman and former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, a Michigan Republican.

The 2022 state election results delivered optimism for voucher advocates that the new makeup of the Republican-controlled state general assembly, which narrowly passed a plan allowing the private school subsidies in the states two Democratic-controlled counties home to Nashville and Memphis in 2019, would approve a further expansion of the plan.

This proved true in 2023 when state Republicans passed legislation with nearly 60% support to add a third county, home to Chattanooga, to the list of places allowing school vouchers. The Chattanooga GOP delegation supported the bill.

The election results and the relatively easy passage of voucher expansion then gave Gov. Bill Lee enough confidence to introduce a universal statewide school voucher program during the 2024 legislative session.

But that plan never received a final vote, failing because of differences in the House and Senate versions that couldnt be hammered out, particularly around the plans final cost.

There werent enough votes for it to pass the finance committee, said Rep. Sam Whitson, a Franklin Republican and committee member. It would have been close, but several members were concerned about the plans price tag.

The 2024 elections, in which every House member and half the Senate are up for reelection, provide pro- and anti-school voucher groups with a chance to make a statement about the future of vouchers.

Republicans Reps. Dale Carr of Sevierville, Bryan Richey of Maryville and Whitson all opposed school vouchers and are not running for reelection in their House seats.

The $27.1 million clash between education reform and public school advocates

Whitsons retirement provides an opportunity to replace him with a pro-voucher member no matter the outcome of the race to replace him. Whitson said two candidates in the crowded primary for his seat have already praised the concept of vouchers.

In the upper chamber, Sens. Ken Yager of Kingston, Becky Massey of Knoxville, and Frank Niceley of Strawberry Plains face Republican challengers. All three didnt vote in favor of the 2019 initial voucher bill or the 2023 expansion. But, Massey did sponsor the 2024 statewide voucher legislation.

For anti-voucher supporters, Republican Rep. Scott Cepicky of Culleoka faces a primary challenge from a local county commissioner. Cepicky was one ofthe loudest supporters of vouchers.

Other members who face opposition are Republican Reps.Mark White of Memphis and Johnny Garrett ofGoodletteslville,who sponsored the voucher legislation, and Mike Sparks of Murfreesboro who supported the bill. Each has a Democratic challenger.

White faces Noah Nordstrom, Garretts challenger is Alison Beale and Sparks goes up against Luis Mata.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

SUBSCRIBE

Read the original here:
Tennessee's school voucher debate turns to competitive Republican state House and Senate primaries Tennessee ... - Tennessee Lookout

Rep. Chip Roy laid out a game plan Tuesday for conservatives to go to war against the radical left if the GOP gains control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in the November elections.

The Texas Republican and House Freedom Caucus policy director said hard-liners will have to roll over fellow Republicans who want to scale back their agenda because of the 60-vote requirement for most legislation in the Senate.

Youre going to have to get over the excuse that will be dropped on day 1, which is, Chip, we dont have 60 in the Senate, Roysaid at a Heritage Foundation event Tuesday.We got to plan now driving a steamroller over the weak-kneed individuals in the Congress that will use 60 as the excuse not to fight for you.

Heritage billed the event Roy spoke at as Defunding the Left: The Strategy to Save America.

Roy said his priorities in the next Congress are to cut spending to stop funding left-wing policies such as tighter emissions requirements for cars, securing the border and restoring a peace through strength model for the military. He said he wants a strong, focused military, sparingly used.

Calling it a third way, Roysaid: Its not isolationist and its not endless wars.

Roy said funding national defense has wrongly been used as an excuse to go along with Democratic spending priorities that conservatives oppose.

We just default to fear and we use the national security and defense complex to run over everything else, he said. We just did it last week with the foreign aid bill, the $95.3 billion emergency supplemental providing aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and requiring TikToks Chinese owners to sell the app or face a U.S. ban.

Getting the defense increase was the leverage and excuse for funding the entire omnibus in the first place without getting the reforms we wanted on any of these other issues, he said. According to Roy, Republicans tell him when appropriations are being negotiated, We just cant risk defense.

Well if thats what you do, youre never going to change the town, he said.

Roy, among a handful of Republicans appointed to the House Rules Committee who have blocked leadership efforts to pass legislation, made no apologies for breaking the place.

He said it was an enormous accomplishment that a majority of the House GOP conference opposed the $60.8 billion Ukraine aid portion of the supplemental, though by a narrow margin with 112 Republicans opposed and 101 in favor. He applauded the fact that 55 Republicansvoted against the rulefor floor debate on the package.

And people say, well, Chip, thats breaking the place. Yes, yes, Roy said. We need to change the way this place is not working.

Reviewing the current Congress, Roy said Republicans have in my opinion kept the ball on our side of the field. Specifically, he said, the GOP has heldnondefense discretionary spending flatand kept amnesty for undocumented immigrants off the table.

All we talked about this last year and a half was border security, he said. We didnt achieve it. But we didnt allow the Democrats to start moving the ball down the field and have a debate about amnesty. He added, It matters where you set the goal post and how you set your mission.

But Roy complained about some areas where he thinks Republicans have fallen short. That includes appropriating billions of dollars for the Department of Homeland Security, spending money to provide food, shelter and health care to illegal aliens, and funding the Pentagon without peeling back the diversity, equity, inclusion requirements, which he said are tearing down the morale of the Department of Defense.

Roy said the biggest challenge for conservatives is to reverse the policy trajectory espoused by a small little enclave of elites that are using an outsized amount of money to go disrupt this great country.

He said those policies are driving up the cost of everybodys way of life and making it impossible for the hard-working American to figure out how to achieve the American dream.

Roy said the answer is to use the power of the purse.

Literally just stop writing the check and then you can wrest away that growing and obscene government thats killing the American dream for the average American, he said.

Read more:
Roy eyes steamroller agenda if Republicans sweep in November - Roll Call

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said Kansas Republicans are trying to subvert the will of state voterswho upheld an abortion rights referendum in August 2022via two new bills that critics say stigmatize abortion.Emily Curiel/Kansas City Star/ZUMA

On Monday, Kansas Republicans voted to override Democratic Governor Laura Kellys vetoes of four anti-abortion measures. Three billswhich will requiredoctors to gather and report information from patients about why they are getting an abortion; make it a crime to force someone to obtain an abortion; and allow people to receive tax credits for donations to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centerswill now become law. And a measure in the state budget reallocating $2 million tocrisis pregnancy centers will also move forward, despite the governors opposition.

Gov. Kelly and other criticssay that the measures will contribute to an erosion of abortion rightseven though, in August 2022, Kansans rejected a referendum to remove the right to abortion from the state constitution. In other words: These bills are an attempt by Kansas Republicans to further stigmatize abortionand, in doing so, subvert the will of the 59 percent of state voters who already upheld abortion rights. And its not the first time: Earlier this year, eight Kansas House Republicans introduced a bill toban all abortions except those necessary to save the patients life, forbid the distribution of drugs that end pregnancies, and allow individuals to file suits against doctors or anyone who helps someone get an abortion (it ultimately died in committee).

By continuously finding ways to raise the issue and attempting to subvert the will of Kansans, Gov. Kelly said in a statement provided to Mother Jones, these legislators are not representing the vast majority of those who elected them to office.

Anti-abortion group Kansas for Life, though, called the four veto overrides big wins.

One of the bills pushed through by Republicans this week, nicknamed the reasons bill, will force patients to pick the most important factor in their decision to seek an abortion from a set of 11 pre-written options. Patients can decline to answer, and their responses will remain anonymous. Medical facilities will now be required to report the responses twice a year to the state secretary of health and environment. Proponents of that billwhich include anti-abortion groups such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, Kansas Family Voice, and Kansas for Lifesay it will facilitate useful insights into what leads people to obtain abortions. But opponents, likePlanned Parenthood, say the questions are unnecessary and invasive, and only serve to further stigmatize abortion. They also say the questions are redundant, because data already exists showing why people get abortions: Research from the University of California, San Francisco says the most common reasons for seeking an abortion are not being able to afford to have a child, the pregnancy coming at the wrong time in life and the man involved not being a suitable partner/parent.

Gov. Kelly agreed, saying in a statement that she vetoed that bill because there is also no valid reason to force a woman to disclose to the legislature why she is seeking an abortion. Rep. Ron Bryce, the original sponsor of the bill, did not immediately respond to questions from Mother Jones Thursday afternoon.

Another bill makes coercion to obtain an abortion a crime punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to a $10,000. It defines coercion as physical or financial threats of harm or abuse or threat of the legal system. But experts who work in domestic and sexual violence treatment and prevention in Kansas say the bill is too narrow in scope and ignores more common forms of reproductive coercion, including forcing someone to become or stay pregnant and prohibiting their access to birth control.Ignoring these forms of coercion undermines the effectiveness of the legislation and leaves individuals vulnerable to manipulation and control, according to testimony against the bill by Sapphire Garcia-Lies, executive director ofthe Kansas Birth Justice Society.

Additionally, data shows coerced abortions are quite rare in Kansas (and elsewhere): A June 2023 report from the state Department of Health and Environment shows that less than 1 percent of the more than 12,300 abortions in Kansas in 2022 involved reports of physical, mental, or emotional abuse or neglect. Kansas Republicans, though, just dont seem to carebecause when Democratic lawmakers introduced two different amendments to broaden the bills focus to outlawing reproductive coercion, Republicans in both the House and Senate struck them down.

This isnt the first time Republicans have tried to co-opt the concept of reproductive coercion in their attempts to restrict abortion access: As I reported back in Marchbefore the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the caseseeking to restrict the availability of mifepristoneanti-abortion activistsspread myth and misinformation about why people get abortions in multiple briefsto the high court.

Gov. Kelly said she opposed the coercion bill because it is already a crime to threaten violence against another individual, adding she also has concerns that the vague language could be marshaled for wrongful criminalization of Kansans. Rep. Rebecca Schmoe, the lawmaker who originally introduced the bill, did not respond to questions.

The other measures Republicans rammed through after the governors vetoes include a bill providing a 70 percent state income tax credit for donations to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers plus sales tax exemptions to the centers themselves.Republicans also passeda line item in the state budget reallocating $2 million toCPCs. Anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers are dedicated to discouraging abortion, often with the help of volunteersnot medical professionalswho peddle misinformation. Gov. Kelly said in statements explaining those vetoes that it is not appropriate for the state to divert taxpayer dollars to largely unregulated crisis pregnancy centers. Rep. Henry Helgerson, a Democrat who introduced the tax credit bill, and Sen. Jeff Longbine, a Republican who chairs the Financial Institutions and Insurance committee, did not immediately respond to questions about those measures.

Abortion is currently legal in Kansas through 22 weeks gestation. But some barriers remain: The state restricts public funding of abortions, and minors need consent from parents or guardians to obtain abortions. The biggest barrier of all, though, may be Republicans in the legislature who seem hell bent on ignoring the rights voters have made clear they want to protect.

This is a deliberate move to ignore the expressly stated will of the people despite the damaging consequences of these bills, Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, told me this week. In their defiance of the clearly established right to reproductive healthcare in the our state constitution, these extremist lawmakers remain out of step with the everyday Kansans they serve.

Read the original post:
The Governor of Kansas Vetoed Four Anti-Abortion Measures. Republicans Rammed Them Through Anyway. Mother ... - Mother Jones