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Trump won’t ‘even consider’ push to rename bases honoring Confederates
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee this week adopted an amendment to require the Defense Department to rename U.S. military facilities named in honor of Confederates. The amendment from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, was adopted during a closed-door vote on annual defense policy legislation. The language was approved by a voice […]
George Floyd’s brother: ‘Make sure that he is more than another face on a t-shirt’
WASHINGTON — George Floyd’s younger brother, Philonise Floyd, pleaded with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday to ensure that his brother didn’t die in vain. “I can’t tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that. When you watch your big brother, who you looked up to your whole entire life […]
Congressional Dems lay out police reform plans
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats outlined their vision for sweeping police reforms on Capitol Hill Monday, following weeks of nationwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. “Never again should the world be subjected to witnessing what we saw on the streets of Minneapolis: the slow murder of an individual by a uniformed […]
Rep. McEachin to U.S. House leaders: Ban military force against protesters
WASHINGTON — Virginia Rep. Don McEachin is urging U.S. House leaders to prohibit the Defense Department from using military force against peaceful protesters. The Richmond Democrat sent a letter this month asking lawmakers to include language in an annual defense spending bill that would block funding “from being used for force against American citizens peacefully […]
Trump plans another ‘Salute to America’ July 4 event, despite pandemic
WASHINGTON — The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t upended President Donald Trump’s plans to hold another contentious Fourth of July celebration in the nation’s capital this summer. The White House told the Associated Press this week that Trump intends to move ahead with a scaled-back version of last year’s massive “Salute to America” event on the National […]
U.S. EPA boss calls Chesapeake Bay lawsuit as ‘frivolous’
WASHINGTON — U.S. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Wednesday accused the top attorneys from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia of pursuing a “frivolous lawsuit” against his agency, warning that the legal action will hamstring efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Wheeler testified Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, […]
House passes $3T relief bill that’s been declared ‘dead on arrival’ in Senate
WASHINGTON — Democrats in the U.S. House on Friday cleared a massive $3 trillion relief bill that’s aimed at blunting the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic but which faces strong opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate. The sweeping legislation, which passed largely along partisan lines by a vote of 208-199, carries a price tag that’s […]
Warner says Sen. Richard Burr’s decision to relinquish gavel during investigation is appropriate
WASHINGTON — Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, thinks it’s appropriate that the Republican chairman resigned his post. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is resigning as the committee’s chairman after federal agents seized his cellphone Wednesday as part of an insider trading probe. Warner told reporters Thursday that he’d spoken […]
Kaine to Fauci: ‘The death rate … is unacceptable, isn’t it?’
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine on Tuesday warned that the U.S. response to COVID-19 is lagging as he pressed top Trump administration health officials to learn lessons from other nations when it comes to combating the pandemic. “The death rate in the United States — especially when compared with other nations — is unacceptable, […]
From hospital, Justice Ginsburg slams Trump birth control rules
WASHINGTON — Hospitalization for a gallbladder condition didn’t stop U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from assailing Trump administration’s birth control rules on Wednesday. Ginsburg, 87, was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday night, but was animated as she participated in an oral argument via teleconference surrounding a Trump administration policy that allows […]
Warner, other senators grill Trump’s intelligence nominee on ‘deep state’ conspiracy theory
WASHINGTON — Last summer, Texas Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe withdrew himself from consideration to be the national intelligence director, just days after President Donald Trump nominated him for the job. Key Senate Republicans appeared reluctant to fully embrace the nominee — who has a reputation as a conservative firebrand in the U.S. House — and Ratcliffe […]
COVID-19 cases keep climbing at Virginia poultry plants; some members of Congress seek better protections
COVID-19 cases continue to rise at Virginia’s Eastern Shore poultry plants, with Gov. Ralph Northam on Monday reporting more than 260 cases associated with two facilities run by Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms in Accomack County. “We are also still closely tracking cases in the Shenandoah Valley, which has a large number of plants — […]