Ron DeSantis steps up dire warning to GOP about distraction from Joe Biden, amid Donald Trump’s latest indictment
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is increasingly urging Republicans to avoid the temptation to refight the 2020 election next year, even as former President Donald Trump remains the dominant favorite for the 2024 GOP nomination on a message of vindicating his defeat. Though DeSantis recently cast doubt on the false theories about the 2020 election at the heart of Trump’s federal indictment, DeSantis is saying in early-voting states that any focus except on defeating Democratic President Joe Biden would be dire for his party. “If that is the choice, we are going to win, and we are going to win across the country,” DeSantis told reporters Saturday after a campaign stop in northern Iowa. “If the election is a referendum on other things that are not forward-looking, then I’m afraid Republicans will lose.” DeSantis was on the second of a two-day trip across Iowa, pressing his recent record in Florida of conservative education, abortion, and gender policy, and an equally GOP crowd-pleasing agenda for the nation. He ignited applause at a Saturday morning event in Cedar Falls promoting a balanced budget amendment, term limits for Congress and promising his audience of about 100 that he would declare a national emergency and dispatch the military to the U.S.-Mexico border upon taking office. His labor to spur the party forward stood in sharp contrast to the Trump campaign’s release of an online ad attacking Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who led the investigation that culminated in an indictment charging Trump with four felony counts related to his effort to reverse his 2020 election loss. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. Likewise, he boasted at an Alabama Republican Party fundraising dinner Friday that the indictment was a political asset. “Any time they file an indictment, we go way up in the polls,” Trump told his audience in Montgomery, Alabama. “One more indictment, and this election is closed out. Nobody has even a chance.” On Saturday night in South Carolina, Trump kept up his false characterizations of the 2020 election while also maintaining the pressure on DeSantis, a distant runner-up that he said has “gotten so low in the polls we don’t watch him anymore.” Of the new federal charges against him, Trump continued to argue that his political enemies were bringing the charges in an effort to keep him from returning to power. “Only a party that cheats at elections would make it illegal to question those elections,” Trump told more than 1,000 attendees at the state Republican Party’s 56th annual Silver Elephant Gala. “They don’t go after the people that rigged the election — they go after the people that want to find out what the hell happened.” Still, DeSantis has gone marginally further in recent days in discussing Trump’s defeat, though more typically when talking to the media after campaign events than during events with voters, many of whom remain sympathetic to Trump. During Saturday morning campaign events, he blasted “weaponization” of federal agencies, a term that resonates with Republicans sympathetic to the belief that the Justice Department has persecuted Trump. But after a stop to meet voters at a small-town restaurant, DeSantis sidestepped when asked if he would have certified the 2020 Electoral College vote as former Vice President Mike Pence did the day the pro-Trump rioters attacked and breached the Capitol. DeSantis responded that Vice President Kamala Harris does not have the power to overturn the 2024 results, which Congress made explicit by passing an act after the 2020 election that says a vice president has no role in validating a presidential election results beyond acting as a figurehead who oversees the counting process. In January 2025, “the electoral votes will be submitted, and Kamala Harris will certify. She’s not going to have the opportunity to overrule what the American people say,” he said in a brief press conference. “I don’t think that Kamala Harris has that authority.” On Friday, DeSantis, who has often pivoted away from questions about whether the 2020 election was legitimate, went a little further when asked about it, suggesting Trump’s false claim that he actually beat Biden was “unsubstantiated.” But DeSantis minced no words to his audience packed into a meeting room at a Pizza Ranch restaurant in Grinnell. “The time for excuses for Republicans is over,” he said firmly. “It’s time to get the job done.” Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Tommy Tuberville defends decision to miss Senate vote to support Donald Trump after indictment
On Wednesday, reporters spoke with U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville about his decision to miss a Senate confirmation vote on Tuesday to spend time showing support for former President Donald Trump, who has been indicted for allegations of mishandling classified documents. Tuberville defended the decision because he had counted votes, and President Joe Biden’s nominee to chair the Council of Economic Advisers – Jared Bernstein – would have been confirmed anyway. “We have dozens and dozens of votes a week, and yesterday there was a bad nomination that the Democrats and the Biden Administration put up in the financial realm, but I did my due diligence,” Tuberville told reporters in his weekly press call. “I went around, and we counted votes, and my vote wouldn’t have counted. It was going to pass anyway. It was pretty much going to be a pass.” Tuberville said it was a more beneficial use of his time to show his support for President Trump. “I thought it was much more beneficial for me, for the citizens of this country, the citizens of Alabama that like and support Donald Trump,” said Tuberville. “We need a strong person in the White House because this country is in trouble not just abroad, but within our country, especially financially, our economy. We need somebody who can stand up.” Tuberville admitted that he felt that Bernstein was a flawed nominee. “This nominee is not going to be very good,” Tuberville told reporters. “He is going to push the Biden policies that are not very good. I thought it was a lot more important to miss that vote out of very, very many and go support Donald Trump on a day in which he was indicted, a President for the first time in the history of our country, which is embarrassing.” Tuberville argued that if Trump is indicted for having classified documents at his home, then Biden should also be indicted for having classified documents from when he was a U.S. Senator at his home as well. “Joe Biden had thousands of documents that he got when he was a Senator, which if I had that in my house right now, I would be under the jail,” Tuberville said. “And they pretty much search you when you leave. I don’t know how in the world they got that many out of the Senate skiff. It’s really embarrassing to what this is, so number one, that is a huge, huge federal penalty. President Trump’s is not even close to that.” Tuberville insisted that President Trump is being treated differently from other ex-presidents. “President Trump, again, he is covered by the Presidential records act,” Tuberville continued. “As you look and see how this worked out. There are three or four Presidents that are still alive that have done much worse, much worse.” Tuberville said that other people should also be indicted under the precedent set by the DOJ’s indictment of Trump. “Whether President Trump did anything right or wrong, we will find out through this indictment, but there needs to be other people that get indictments very quickly since this one got handed out.” Tuberville voiced his view that there is a political agenda here and warned of possible payback. “We know there is a two-tier justice system,” Tuberville said. “We know what this is about. They don’t want President Trump to run. They don’t want him to win because when he runs, he wins, and when he wins, people are going to go to jail, and so they are fighting him tooth and nail, like they have done for the past six years.” Tuberville has already endorsed President Trump’s bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Current polling, despite the indictments, have Trump either dead, even with Joe Biden, or leading. One recent Harvard CAPS-Harris poll has Trump leading Biden by as much as six percentage points – and as Trump showed in the 2016 election, he can lose the popular vote and still win an electoral college victory. Only time will tell if these indictments will make a dent in President Trump’s growing popularity. Bernstein was confirmed Tuesday night while Tuberville dined with President Trump in a 50 to 49 vote. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) voted with the Republicans against the nomination. Had Tuberville attended and voted no, then it would have ended in a 50 to 50 tie, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie to confirm Bernstein. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Joe Biden gives federal employees major raise, still doesn’t keep up with inflation
President Joe Biden signed an executive order giving federal employees a significant pay bump heading into the new year, but that increase still does not keep up with inflation. The executive order gives “General Schedule” employees a 4.6% pay increase, 4.1% as a raise, and 0.5% as a cost-of-living adjustment. General Schedule employees include a wide range of civilian federal workers. “The other schedules contained herein are effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2023,” the order said. The raise is higher than the 2.7% increase from the same time last year. Biden indicated the raise was coming in August. He sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Kamala Harris in her role as vice president of the Senate about the change. “Title 5, United States Code, authorizes me to implement alternative plans for pay adjustments for civilian Federal employees covered by the General Schedule and certain other pay systems if, because of “national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare,’ I view the increases that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate,” the letter said. “Accordingly, I have determined that it is appropriate to exercise my authority to set alternative pay adjustments for 2023.” That increase, though, fails to keep up with the rising prices since Biden took office. The 4.6% increase is far less than the rise in consumer prices, and nearly a third of the increase in some items like groceries in the last year. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest Consumer Price Index report earlier this month, which showed prices rose 7.1% in the previous 12 months. Another federal inflation marker released this month, the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, showed a 5.5% increase in the previous twelve months, nearly one point higher than the pay raise. CPI data shows grocery prices rose 12% in the last year. “Four of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the month,” BLS said. “The index for fruits and vegetables increased 1.4% in November, after falling 0.9% in October. The index for cereals and bakery products rose 1.1% over the month while the index for dairy and related products increased by 1.0% in November. The index for nonalcoholic beverages rose 0.7% in November, after rising 0.5% last month.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Richard Shelby, Alabama policy group differ on Inflation Reduction Act
One Republican senator from Alabama and one policy group share differing opinions on the Inflation Reduction Act. The measure, which passed the U.S. Senate late Sunday night with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote, is a $740 million taxation and spending bill that is designed to combat climate change and allow the federal government to cap prices on certain prescription medications. The U.S. House is expected to take up a vote on the measure this week. U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who serves as vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the act will result in increased costs for Americans, and will negatively impact families’ budgets and savings. “Democrats are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to raise taxes and swell the cost of living while the American people are enduring record-high inflation and a declining economy,” Shelby said in a release. “This makes no sense. Right now, Congress should be focused on reducing costs and growing economic investment, not spending $80 billion to double the size and scope of the IRS and hundreds of billions of dollars to combat climate change.” Shelby said the policies that would be created under the bill “are not what Americans” want or need, expressing his disappointment that his Democratic colleagues in Washington are supporting the legislation. Under the bill, there would be no new taxes on families who earn less than $400,000 per year, and no new taxes on small businesses. In addition, the bill would give the U.S. Health and Human Services the authority to cap prices on certain prescription medications while providing $30 million in tax credits to encourage green energy. Meanwhile, Alabama Arise said the bill will be a boon to state residents. Robyn Hyden, who serves as executive director of the policy group focused on improving lives of residents in the state, said the bill would better the quality of life of state residents. “The Inflation Reduction Act will help build a healthier future for people across Alabama,” Hyden said in a statement. “This plan will make health coverage more affordable for hundreds of thousands of Alabamians and millions of Americans. It will improve air quality by investing in clean energy and reducing emissions that fuel climate change. And it will pay for these investments by closing tax loopholes that subsidize profitable corporations and wealthy households.” Alabama Arise said the bill will help save money or patients, in addition to the federal government, by permitting Medicare to “negotiate certain prescription drug prices. “It will cap the cost of insulin and other out-of-pocket drug expenses for Medicare enrollees,” Hyden said in the release. “And it will extend enhanced subsidies that make health coverage more affordable for many of the 219,000 Alabamians with marketplace plans through the Affordable Care Act.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Senate Democrats pass budget package, a victory for Joe Biden
Democrats pushed their election-year economic package to Senate passage Sunday, a hard-fought compromise less ambitious than President Joe Biden’s original domestic vision but one that still meets deep-rooted party goals of slowing global warming, moderating pharmaceutical costs, and taxing immense corporations. The estimated $740 billion package heads next to the House, where lawmakers are poised to deliver on Biden’s priorities, a stunning turnaround of what had seemed a lost and doomed effort that suddenly roared back to political life. Cheers broke out as Senate Democrats held united, 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote after an all-night session. “Today, Senate Democrats sided with American families over special interests,” President Joe Biden said in a statement from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. “I ran for President promising to make government work for working families again, and that is what this bill does — period.” Biden, who had his share of long nights during his three decades as a senator, called into the Senate cloakroom during the vote on speakerphone to personally thank the staff for their hard work. The president urged the House to pass the bill as soon as possible. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her chamber would “move swiftly to send this bill to the president’s desk.” House votes are expected Friday. “It’s been a long, tough, and winding road, but at last, at last we have arrived,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ahead of final votes. “The Senate is making history. I am confident the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative feats of the 21st century,” he said. Senators engaged in a round-the-clock marathon of voting that began Saturday and stretched late into Sunday afternoon. Democrats swatted down some three dozen Republican amendments designed to torpedo the legislation. Confronting unanimous GOP opposition, Democratic unity in the 50-50 chamber held, keeping the party on track for a morale-boosting victory three months from elections when congressional control is at stake. The bill ran into trouble midday over objections to the new 15% corporate minimum tax that private equity firms and other industries disliked, forcing last-minute changes. Despite the momentary setback, the “Inflation Reduction Act” gives Democrats a campaign-season showcase for action on coveted goals. It includes the largest-ever federal effort on climate change — close to $400 billion — caps out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors on Medicare to $2,000 a year and extends expiring subsidies that help 13 million people afford health insurance. By raising corporate taxes and reaping savings from the long-sought goal of allowing the government to negotiate drug prices for Medicare, the whole package is paid for, with some $300 billion extra revenue for deficit reduction. Barely more than one-tenth the size of Biden’s initial 10-year, $3.5 trillion Build Back Better initiative, the new package abandons earlier proposals for universal preschool, paid family leave, and expanded child care aid. That plan collapsed after conservative Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., opposed it, saying it was too costly and would fuel inflation. Nonpartisan analysts have said the 755-page “Inflation Reduction Act” would have a minor effect on surging consumer prices. Republicans said the new measure would undermine an economy that policymakers are struggling to keep from plummeting into recession. They said the bill’s business taxes would hurt job creation and force prices skyward, making it harder for people to cope with the nation’s worst inflation since the 1980s. “Democrats have already robbed American families once through inflation, and now their solution is to rob American families a second time,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., argued. In an ordeal imposed on most budget bills like this one, the Senate had to endure an overnight “vote-a-rama” of rapid-fire amendments. Each tested Democrats’ ability to hold together the compromise bill negotiated by Schumer, progressives, Manchin, and the inscrutable centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., criticized the bill’s shortcomings and offered amendments to further expand the legislation’s health benefits, but those efforts were defeated. Republicans forced their own votes designed to make Democrats look soft on U.S.-Mexico border security and gasoline and energy costs, and like bullies for wanting to strengthen IRS tax law enforcement. Before debate began, the bill’s prescription drug price curbs were diluted by the Senate’s nonpartisan parliamentarian, who said a provision should fall that would impose costly penalties on drug makers whose price increases for private insurers exceed inflation. It was the bill’s chief protection for the 180 million people with private health coverage they get through work or purchase themselves. Under special procedures that will let Democrats pass their bill by simple majority without the usual 60-vote margin, its provisions must be focused more on dollar-and-cents budget numbers than policy changes. But the thrust of Democrats’ pharmaceutical price language remained. That included letting Medicare negotiate what it pays for drugs for its 64 million elderly recipients, penalizing manufacturers for exceeding inflation for pharmaceuticals sold to Medicare, and limiting beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket drug costs to $2,000 annually. The bill also caps Medicare patients’ costs for insulin, the expensive diabetes medication, at $35 monthly. Democrats wanted to extend the $35 cap to private insurers, but it ran afoul of Senate rules. Most Republicans voted to strip it from the package, though in a sign of the political potency of health costs, seven GOP senators joined Democrats trying to preserve it. The measure’s final costs were being recalculated to reflect late changes, but overall it would raise more than $700 billion over a decade. The money would come from a 15% minimum tax on a handful of corporations with yearly profits above $1 billion, a 1% tax on companies that repurchase their own stock, bolstered IRS tax collections, and government savings from lower drug costs. Sinema forced Democrats to drop a plan to prevent wealthy hedge fund managers from paying less than individual income tax rates for their earnings. She also joined with other Western senators to win $4 billion to combat the region’s drought. Several Democratic senators joined the GOP-led effort to exclude some firms from the new corporate minimum tax. The package keeps to Biden’s pledge not to
COVID coverage for all dries up even as hospital costs rise
For the first time, the U.S. came close to providing health care for all during the coronavirus pandemic — but for just one condition, COVID-19. Now, things are reverting to the way they were as federal money for COVID care of the uninsured dries up, creating a potential barrier to timely access. But the virus is not contained, even if it’s better controlled. And safety-net hospitals and clinics are seeing sharply higher costs for salaries and other basic operating expenses. They fear they won’t be prepared if there’s another surge and no backstop. “We haven’t turned anybody away yet,” said Dr. Mark Loafman, chair of family and community medicine at Cook County Health in Chicago. “But I think it’s just a matter of time … People don’t get cancer treatment or blood pressure treatment every day in America because they can’t afford it.” A $20 billion government COVID program covered testing, treatment, and vaccine costs for uninsured people. But that’s been shut down. Special Medicaid COVID coverage for the uninsured in more than a dozen states also likely faces its last months. At Parkland Health, the frontline hospital system for Dallas, Dr. Fred Cerise questions the logic of dialing back federal dollars at a time when health officials have rolled out a new “test-to-treat” strategy. People with COVID-19 can now get antiviral pills to take at home, hopefully avoiding hospitalization. Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently tested positive but is back working at the White House, is an example. “Test-to-treat will be very difficult for uninsured individuals,” predicted Cerise, president and CEO of the system. “If it’s a change in strategy on the large scale, and it’s coming without funding, people are going to be reluctant to adopt that.” Officials at the federal Department of Health and Human Services say the new antiviral drugs like Paxlovid have been paid for by taxpayers, and are supposed to be free of charge to patients, even uninsured ones. But they acknowledge that some uninsured people can’t afford the medical consultation needed to get a prescription. “We hear from state and local partners that the lack of funding for the Uninsured Program is creating challenges for individuals to access medications,” said Dr. Meg Sullivan, chief medical officer for the HHS preparedness and response division. The nation has not pinched pennies on the pandemic before. “We’re well short of universal health coverage in the U.S., but for a time, we had universal coverage for COVID,” said Larry Levitt, a health policy expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “It was extraordinary.” Recently an urgent White House request for $22.5 billion for COVID priorities failed to advance in Congress. Even a pared-back version is stuck. Part of the Biden administration’s request involves $1.5 billion to replenish the Uninsured Program, which paid for testing, treatment, and vaccine-related bills for uninsured patients. The program has now stopped accepting claims due to lack of money. That program, along with a less known Medicaid option for states, allowed thousands of uninsured people to get care without worrying about costs. Bipartisan support has given way as congressional Republicans raise questions about pandemic spending. The Uninsured Program was run by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an HHS agency. Medical providers seeing uninsured people could submit their bills for reimbursement. Over the last two years, more than 50,000 hospitals, clinics, and medical practices received payments. Officials say they can turn the program back on if Congress releases more money. The Medicaid coverage option began under the Trump administration as a way to help states pay for testing uninsured people. President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief bill expanded it to treatment and vaccine costs as well. It’s like a limited insurance policy for COVID. The coverage can’t be used for other services, like a knee replacement. The federal government pays 100% of the cost. Fifteen states, from deep blue California to bright red South Carolina, have taken advantage of the option, along with three U.S. territories. It will end once the federal coronavirus public health emergency is over, currently forecast for later this year. New Hampshire Medicaid Director Henry Lipman said the coverage option allowed his state to sign up about 9,500 people for COVID care that includes the new antiviral drugs that can be taken at home. “It’s really the safety net for people who don’t have any access to insurance,” said Lipman. “It’s a limited situation, but in the pandemic, it’s a good back-up to have. It makes a lot of sense with such a communicable disease.” With COVID cases now at relatively low levels, demand for testing, treatment, and vaccination is down. But the urgency felt by hospitals and other medical service providers is driven by their own bottom lines. In Missouri, Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare CEO Craig Thompson is worried to see federal funding evaporate just as operating costs are soaring. Staff have gotten raises, drug costs have risen by 20%, and supply costs by 12%. “We’ve now exited this pandemic … into probably the highest inflationary environment that I’ve seen in my career,” Thompson said. The health system serves a largely rural area between Kansas City and Springfield. In Kentucky, Family Health Centers of Louisville closed a testing service for uninsured people once federal funds dried up. The private company they were working with planned to charge $65 a test. Things are manageable now because there’s little demand, said spokeswoman Melissa Mather, “but if we get hit with another omicron, it’s going to be very difficult.” Floridian Debra McCoskey-Reisert is uninsured and lost her older brother to COVID-19 in the first wave two years ago. In one of their last conversations, he made her promise she wouldn’t catch the virus. McCoskey-Reisert, who lives north of Tampa, has managed to avoid getting sick so far. But she’s overshadowed by fear of what could happen if she or her husband get infected. “If either one of us get sick with COVID, we don’t have a way to pay for it,” she said. “It would
Joe Biden signs bill making lynching a federal hate crime
Presidents typically say a few words before they turn legislation into law. But Joe Biden flipped the script Tuesday when it came time to put his signature on the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. He signed the bill at a desk in the White House Rose Garden. Then he spoke. “All right. It’s law,” said the president, who was surrounded by Vice President Kamala Harris, members of Congress, and top Justice Department officials. He was also joined by a descendant of Ida B. Wells, a Black journalist who reported on lynchings, and Rev. Wheeler Parker, a cousin of Till. Biden said it’s “a little unusual to do the bill signing, not say anything and then speak. But that’s how we set it up.” He thanked the audience of civil rights leaders, Congressional Black Caucus members, and other guests who kept pushing for the law for “never giving up, never ever giving up.” Congress first considered anti-lynching legislation more than 120 years ago. Until March of this year, it had failed to pass such legislation nearly 200 times, beginning with a bill introduced in 1900 by North Carolina Rep. George Henry White, the only Black member of Congress at the time. Harris was a prime sponsor of the bill when she was in the Senate. The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act is named for the Black teenager whose killing in Mississippi in the summer of 1955 became a galvanizing moment in the civil rights era. His grieving mother insisted on an open casket to show everyone how her son had been brutalized. “It’s a long time coming,” said Parker, who was onstage with Biden when the president signed the bill. Parker, two years older than Till, was with his cousin at their relatives’ home in Mississippi and witnessed Till’s kidnapping. In his remarks, Biden acknowledged the struggle to get a law on the books and spoke about how lynchings were used to terrorize and intimidate Blacks in the United States. More than 4,400 Blacks died by lynching between 1877 and 1950, mostly in the South, he said. “Lynching was pure terror, to enforce the lie that not everyone, not everyone belongs in America, not everyone is created equal,” he said. Biden, who has many Black men and women in key positions throughout his administration, stressed that forms of racial terror continue in the United States, demonstrating the need for an anti-lynching statute. “Racial hate isn’t an old problem — it’s a persistent problem,” Biden said. “Hate never goes away. It only hides.” The new law makes it possible to prosecute a crime as a lynching when a conspiracy to commit a hate crime leads to death or serious bodily injury, according to the bill’s champion, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill. The law lays out a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and fines. The House approved the bill 422-3 on March 7, with eight members not voting, after it cleared the Senate by unanimous consent. Rush had introduced a bill in January 2019, but it stalled in the Senate after the House passed by a vote of 410-4. The NAACP began lobbying for anti-lynching legislation in the 1920s. A federal hate crime law was passed and signed into law in the 1990s, decades after the civil rights movement. “Today we are gathered to do unfinished business,” Harris said, “to acknowledge the horror and this part of our history, to state unequivocally that lynching is and has always been a hate crime, and to make clear that the federal government may now prosecute these crimes as such.” “Lynching is not a relic of the past,” she added. “Racial acts of terror still occur in our nation, and when they do, we must all have the courage to name them and hold the perpetrators to account.” Till, 14, had traveled from his Chicago home to visit relatives in Mississippi in 1955 when it was alleged that he whistled at a white woman. He was kidnapped, beaten, and shot in the head. A large metal fan was tied to his neck with barbed wire, and his body was thrown into a river. His mother, Mamie Till, insisted on an open casket at the funeral to show the brutality he had suffered. Two white men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam were accused but acquitted by an all-white-male jury. Bryant and Milam later told a reporter that they kidnapped and killed Till. During a video interview after the bill signing, Parker credited current events for helping the anti-lynching bill move through Congress and to Biden’s desk. Parker specifically mentioned the police killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, which sparked months of protests in the United States and other countries after videotape of the officer’s actions circulated. He drew a connection between Floyd and Till, saying, “That’s what caused Rosa Parks to not give her seat up, and that sparked the civil rights movement because she thought about Emmett Till.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
White House: Joe Biden will travel to Europe for Ukraine talks
President Joe Biden will travel to Europe next week for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Tuesday. Biden will meet with European leaders at an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels on March 24. He will also attend a scheduled European Council summit, where efforts to impose sanctions and further humanitarian efforts are underway. “While he’s there, his goal is to meet in person face-to-face with his European counterparts and talk about, assess where we are at this point in the conflict in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We’ve been incredibly aligned to date,” Psaki said. “That doesn’t happen by accident. The president is a big believer in face-to-face diplomacy. So it’s an opportunity to do exactly that.” The White House announced the president’s travel shortly before Biden on Tuesday signed a bill providing $13.6 billion in additional military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine as part of a $1.5 trillion government spending measure. Biden said at the bill signing ceremony that the U.S. was “moving urgently to further augment the support to the brave people of Ukraine, as they defend their country.” The trip follows Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to eastern flank NATO countries of Poland and Romania last week to discuss with leaders the growing refugee crisis in eastern Europe sparked by the Russian invasion and to underscore the Biden administration’s support for NATO allies. Poland’s foreign minister Zbigniew Rau said Tuesday that a visit by Biden to Poland was “very probable” when he comes to Europe. More than 1.8 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the start of the war, according to the United Nations. More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. “It would be hard to imagine a better place for the United States and for the entire alliance to stress their position than the brightest link on the eastern flank, that Poland is,” Rau told Polish state TVP INFO. Psaki said she did not have additional details about whether Biden would visit Poland during the trip. The White House’s announcement of Biden’s visit to Brussels came on the same day that leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia set out for Kyiv by train despite the security risks to show their support for Ukraine. It was a visit EU officials said was not sanctioned by other members of the 27-nation bloc. Daniel Hamilton, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said Biden’s trip to Europe comes as the White House looks to continue to maintain what’s been a largely unified western opposition to Russia since the invasion. “As the war continues, it’s important that the president show he is not sitting comfortably across the Atlantic, but that he is part of the coalition meeting with European colleagues in Europe and that the United States is a European power,” said Hamilton, non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Firm Pentagon ‘no’ to Polish plan to send jets to Ukraine
The Pentagon on Wednesday slammed the door on a Polish proposal for providing Ukraine with MiG fighter jets, saying allied efforts against the Russian invasion should be focused on more useful weaponry, and the MiG transfer with a U.S. and NATO connection would run a “high risk” of escalating the war. By rebuffing the proposal involving the Polish jets, the Pentagon appeared anxious to move beyond what had become an awkward disconnect with a NATO ally at a time when President Joe Biden has stressed the need for a unified and coordinated response to Russia’s war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded repeatedly for the U.S. to provide his military with more aircraft — presented as an apparent alternative to establishing a “no-fly zone” over Ukraine to suppress Russian air power. The “no-fly” idea was rejected earlier by Washington and NATO as an unnecessary risk of escalation. Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said Washington was looking at a proposal under which Poland would supply Kyiv with the Soviet-era fighters, which Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly, and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for the loss. But Poland wanted no part of that, concerned about involving itself too directly in conflict with Russia. Poland then said it was prepared to hand over all 28 of its MiG-29 planes — but to NATO by flying them to the U.S. airbase in Ramstein, Germany, from where they would somehow be flown to Ukraine. That was the arrangement the Pentagon turned aside. Marek Magierowski, Poland’s ambassador to the United States, indicated the Polish government had gotten the message. “Our American partners rejected this proposal because they have come to the conclusion that it was too escalatory,” Magierowski told CNN. He said Poland understands, and “this is what we need now to emphasize again — the unity and cohesion of NATO. So, let’s move on.” U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that in a phone call, Zelenskyy on Wednesday again asked urgently for the United States to provide warplanes, anti-aircraft missiles, and other weaponry. However, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed the MiG transfer proposal with his Polish counterpart and explained why Washington found it untenable. Kirby said the Biden administration is talking with other countries about “alternative options” for supporting Ukraine’s most pressing defense needs two weeks into its war, especially more ground-based weapons to counter Russian tanks and aircraft in what has been largely a ground war. Kirby said those could include surface-to-air missile batteries and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. “Secretary Austin thanked the minister for Poland’s willingness to continue to look for ways to assist Ukraine,” Kirby said. “He stressed that we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian air force at this time and therefore have no desire to see them in our custody, either.” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Warsaw Wednesday night for consultations, but the White House said she was not directly involved with the matter of the planes. Kirby cited three main reasons Austin rejected the Polish offer, starting with the U.S. view that it would be wiser to provide Ukraine with weaponry that would more directly strengthen its defenses, including anti-armor and air defense systems. Kirby said the Russian air force, while much larger than Ukraine’s, has not played a lead role in the Russian offensive and has been of limited effectiveness due to Ukraine’s use of ground-based air defenses, which include Stinger missiles. Kirby said Ukraine still has a significant number of its own aircraft, and the U.S. believes that adding aircraft from other nations “is not likely to significantly change the effectiveness of the Ukrainian air force relative to Russian capabilities.” Also, the U.S. intelligence community has assessed that transferring MiG fighters to Ukraine “may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO,” Kirby said. Ukraine is not a NATO member, but some of its neighbors are, and the alliance is trying to avoid a spillover of the war. While Kirby’s statement appeared to bring an end to the Polish proposal, the appearance of a public disagreement among allies could have a more lasting impact. Last week, the U.S. government threw Poland a hot potato with the request to send the Soviet-made fighter jets. That plan took the U.S. off guard. By late Tuesday, the Pentagon called it “untenable.” On Wednesday, Secretary of State Blinken said that ultimately each country would have to decide for itself how to help Ukraine. Poland is a crucial ally in the Ukraine crisis. It is hosting thousands of American troops and is taking in more people fleeing the war in Ukraine than any other nation in the midst of the largest European refugee crisis in decades. It has suffered invasions and occupations by Russia for centuries and still fears Russia despite being a member of NATO. It already had to contend with the Russian territory of Kaliningrad on its northeastern border and is uncomfortably aware of Russian troops across another border with Belarus. In a visit Wednesday to Vienna, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki insisted that Poland is not a party to the Ukraine war and that any decision on whether to send the fighter jets could not be one for Warsaw alone. It carries the risk of “very dramatic scenarios, even worse than those we are dealing with today,” Morawiecki argued. Michal Baranowski, director of the Warsaw office of the German Marshall Fund think tank, told The Associated Press the Warsaw government “was blindsided and surprised” by Blinken’s public statement last week. “This was seen as pressure from the U.S. on Warsaw. And therefore, the reaction was to put the ball back in the U.S. government’s court,” Baranowski said. It all “should have been dealt with behind the scenes,” he said. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
