The US Senate's Democratic majority began a crusade on Tuesday to confirm as many new federal judges nominated by President Joe Biden as possible to avoid leaving vacancies that Republican Donald Trump could fill after taking office on Jan. 20.

Legislation creates Site Readiness Fund to promote job creation, economic growth MIDDLETOWN, Del. – Governor John Carney on Tuesday signed Senate Bill 127 alongside members of the General Assembly, the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, business owners, and local elected officials. This legislation was laid out in the Governor’s 2021 State of the State Address. Senate Bill 127 […]

Legislation passed by the State Senate on Tuesday is one step away from ensuring Delawareans are protected from unfair business practices by a statute as protective as the law in nearly every other state. House Bill 91, sponsored by Rep. David Bentz, D-Newark, and Sen. Trey Paradee, D-Dover, amends Delaware’s Consumer Fraud Act to explicitly add unfair practices to the list of prohibited practices. […]

The State Senate unanimously passed legislation Wednesday that would formalize a responsible, independent, and collaborative process to allocate the significant funds the State has received, and will continue to receive, from opioid settlements. Senate Bill 166, sponsored by Sen. Stephanie Hansen and House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, and supported by Attorney General Kathy Jennings, would establish […]

Today Delaware is ready to fix one of America’s weakest use-of-force laws, period. This issue has come up again and again throughout our state’s debate on police reform. The need for reform is overwhelming: not only the Department of Justice, but police reform advocates and the police themselves all recognize the need to better align […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings released the following statement Friday in response to the House, Senate, and Governor’s commitment to pass Senate Bill 2, legislation creating a permit to purchase handguns, when the legislature reconvenes in January: “Hard things are hard; this is no exception. All of us — not only me, but the sponsors and […]

Attorney General Kathy Jennings today released the following statement regarding the Senate’s overwhelming passage of Senate Bill 2, legislation requiring training and a permit to purchase a handgun. The Senate’s vote sends the legislation to Gov. John Carney’s desk.  For five years, all of us — not only me, but the bill sponsors, the advocates, […]

DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney on Wednesday issued the following statement on the Delaware Senate’s confirmation of Cerron Cade to serve as Secretary of the Delaware Department of Labor: “Cerron has the knowledge and experience necessary to take on this important role, and I want to thank members of the Delaware Senate for their […]

Through a virtual confirmation hearing, the Delaware Senate confirmed and appointed Mark Collins to lead the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation Board of Trustees.

DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney on Wednesday issued the following statement on the Senate’s vote to confirm his nomination of Terra Taylor to serve as Commissioner of the Delaware Department of Correction (DOC).     “Thank you to the members of the Delaware Senate for confirming Terra Taylor as Commissioner of the Department of Correction,” said Governor Carney. “Terra has a background in […]

DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney on Wednesday issued the following statement on the Senate’s vote to confirm the Governor’s nominations of Josette Manning to serve as Cabinet Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services; Steven Yeatman to serve as Cabinet Secretary of the Delaware Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families; and Robert […]

DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney on Wednesday issued the following statement on the Delaware Senate’s confirmation of Kathleen Vavala as a Superior Court Judge in New Castle County. “Kathleen is well respected in the courtroom and the classroom, serving as Counsel in the Delaware Supreme Court Office of Disciplinary Counsel and Adjunct Professor at Delaware Law […]

DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney issued the following statement on Thursday after signing Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 2: “As I said in my State of the State Address, reducing gun violence in our communities is a shared priority, and we’ve made progress these past seven years. We have banned assault weapons, bump stocks, […]

“Gun violence is a public health crisis that deserves time and attention from policymakers. Today, Delaware took a strong step toward safer communities. I applaud the Governor, our Attorney General, legislators, and especially the countless advocates for sounding the alarm that we need to do more to protect our kids and families,” said Lt. Governor Hall-Long. “Permit to purchase is a proven method to make our state safer and help save lives in Delaware by increasing responsible gun ownership.” 

DOVER, Del. – Governor John Carney on Thursday issued the following statement on the Delaware Senate’s confirmation of Thomas Pedersen to serve as Court of Common Pleas Judge in Sussex County and Candace Holmes to serve as Family Court Commissioner in Kent County. “We are fortunate to have such qualified nominees who have the experience and […]

Senators heard three hours of testimony from anti-wind sources and just one hour from proponents of renewable energy

The U.S. Senate's Democratic majority began a crusade on Tuesday to confirm as many new federal judges nominated by President Joe Biden as possible to avoid leaving vacancies that Republican Donald Trump could fill after taking office on Jan. 20. With Republicans set to take control of the chamber on Jan. 3, the Senate on Tuesday held a confirmation vote on one of Biden's judicial nominees - former prosecutor April Perry - for the first time since Trump won the Nov. 5 presidential election. The Senate voted 51-44 in favor of her becoming a U.S. district court judge in Illinois. All told, Biden has announced another 30 judicial nominees who are awaiting Senate confirmation votes. Sixteen have already have been reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and are awaiting a final confirmation vote by the full Senate. Another 14 nominees are awaiting committee review. The U.S. Constitution assigns to the Senate the power to confirm a president's nominees for life-tenured seats on the federal judiciary. "We are going to get as many done as we can," Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. Trump made 234 judicial appointments during his first four years in office, the second most of any president in a single term, and succeeded in moving the judiciary rightward - including building a 6-3 conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court with three appointees. Biden has appointed a host of liberal judges. Since the beginning of his presidency in 2021, the Senate has confirmed 214 Biden judicial nominees, including liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. About two-thirds were women, and the same share were racial minorities. Senate Democrats are under pressure to swiftly confirm the remaining nominees, along with any new picks Biden may name in the waning weeks of his presidency. How many nominees Senate Democrats will be able to confirm remains to be seen. Trump in a social media post on Sunday called on the Senate to halt approving Biden's nominees, saying, "Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges." Billionaire Trump backer Elon Musk on Tuesday wrote on social media that "activist" judicial nominees are "bad for the country." Mike Davis, a Trump ally at the conservative judicial advocacy group Article III Project, in another post urged Senate Republicans to vote down all judicial appointments until January. "The American people voted for monumental change," Davis wrote on social media last week. "Grind the Senate to a halt." Current Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's office declined comment. McConnell has consistently opposed Biden's nominees and, as majority leader, was instrumental in getting Trump's previous nominees confirmed. Trump's judicial appointees have been involved in major decisions welcomed by conservatives including Supreme Court rulings rolling back abortion rights, widening gun rights, rejecting race-conscious collegiate admissions and limiting the power of federal regulatory agencies. Judicial nominees require a simple majority for confirmation. Democrats currently hold a slim 51-49 majority, meaning that they can ill afford any defections or absences if Republicans show up in force to oppose Biden's nominees during the chamber's post-election "lame duck" session. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has said he would not vote for any nominee who does not garner at least one Republican vote. Must-pass legislation like a spending bill to avert a government shutdown also may consume precious time during the session. 'Every possible nominee' Biden's allies have said a concerted push to confirm his remaining nominees would allow him to build on his legacy of helping to diversify a federal bench long dominated by white men. He is not done nominating judges. On Friday, Biden announced his first post-election nominee, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, who after unsuccessfully running in the 2021 Democratic primary to be Manhattan district attorney was picked for a job as a federal district judge in New York. A spokesperson for Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat and chair of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that he "aims to confirm every possible nominee before the end of this Congress." White House spokesperson Andrew Bates on Monday noted that during Trump's first term, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed 18 judges after Biden had won the 2020 election but before he took office. Pending nominees include five to the influential federal appeals courts. Republicans said before the election that they had the votes to block two of them: Adeel Mangi, who would become the first Muslim federal appellate judge, and North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park, who unsuccessfully defended the race-conscious admissions policies before the Supreme Court. There are several others nominated to serve as trial court judges like Perry, a former prosecutor now working at Chicago-headquartered GE HealthCare who would join the bench in Illinois. Biden nominated her to a judgeship in April after her prior nomination to become Chicago's top federal prosecutor was blocked by Republican Senator JD Vance. Vance began placing a hold on Biden's nominees to the U.S. Justice Department in 2023 after Special Counsel Jack Smith secured the first of two federal indictments against Trump, who subsequently picked the senator as his vice presidential running mate.

In a session led by Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, the Senate approved a resolution concerning the recent Supreme Court decision on military courts. Senator Dilawar Khan, presenting the resolution, expressed concerns about the court’s interference with Parliament’s legislative authority. The resolution stressed the importance of using military courts, operational since 1967, for actions against terrorists, suggesting ... Read more

The post Senate Passes Resolution Objecting Supreme Court’s Ruling on Military Courts appeared first on Pakistan Tribune.

It's never too early for reelection vision time. The time to start organizing is now.

Colorado Democrats looked set to maintain their supermajority in the state House as of Wednesday afternoon, though they fell short of reaching the same threshold in the Senate.

Title: Michigan Senate OK's Medicaid Expansion
Category: Health News
Created: 8/30/2013 11:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/30/2013 12:00:00 AM

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HARI SREENIVASAN: In the day’s other news: Attorney General Jeff Sessions insisted he never lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his conversations with the Russian ambassador during the presidential campaign. At a hearing today, he bridled at Democratic Senator Al Franken’s accusation that he’d — quote — “moved the goalposts” on the nature of his discussions.

SEN. AL FRANKEN, D-Minn.: First it was, I didn’t have communications with Russians, which wasn’t true. Then it was, I never met with any Russians to discuss any political campaign, which may or may not be true.

Now it’s, I didn’t discuss interference in the campaign.

JEFF SESSIONS, Attorney General: Well, let me just say without hesitation, that I conducted no improper discussions with the Russians at any time regarding the campaign or any other item facing this country.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Sessions has recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling.

President Trump had new criticism today for former FBI Director James Comey over the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe. He complained again that Comey decided to clear Clinton before she was even interviewed. That’s based on newly released draft statements by Comey from May of 2016. FBI officials say it was already clear that no charges were warranted.

On another issue, the president faced fallout over the death of Army Sergeant La David Johnson in Niger this month. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson says she was with Mrs. Johnson when the president called. The Florida Democrat told The Washington Post that Mr. Trump said — quote — “He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway.”

The sergeant’s mother confirmed it, but the president denied it, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went after Wilson.

SARAH SANDERS, White House Press Secretary: This is a president who loves our country very much, who has the greatest level of respect for men and women in uniform and wanted to call and offer condolences to the family, and I think to try to create something from that, that the congresswoman is doing, is, frankly, appalling and disgusting.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The Post also reported on another incident today. It quoted the father of a soldier killed in Afghanistan as saying the president offered $25,000 from his personal account, but never followed through.

We will get more detail on all of this after the news summary.

The death toll in Northern California’s wildfires rose to 42 today. Officials in Sonoma County found the remains of the latest victim, as they searched hundreds of burned homes. Meanwhile, fire crews made new gains overnight with the help of cooler weather and low winds.

A two-time Olympic medalist says the former team doctor for U.S. women’s gymnastics sexually abused her for years. McKayla Maroney is the highest profile athlete to come forward in the scandal. In a statement today, she said Dr. Larry Nassar began molesting her when she was just 13. He’s awaiting sentencing on a child pornography charge, but has denied any sexual abuse.

More questions tonight about drug pricing. A new study finds the costs of injectable cancer drugs, approved since 1996, rose an average of 25 percent over eight years. That’s far higher than the rate of inflation. The study was based at Emory University and published in “The Journal of Clinical Oncology.”

And on Wall Street, health insurers and IBM fueled a surge in stocks today. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 160 points, more than half-a-percent, to close above 23000 for the first time. The Nasdaq rose just a fraction, and the S&P 500 was up two points.

The post News Wrap: Sessions insists he didn’t lie about Russian contacts to Senate appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday will elect a new party leader for the first time in nearly two decades.

Senate Republicans met on Tuesday night to hear from the three candidates to succeed Mitch McConnell, and Rick Scott left with two new endorsements.

Senator-elect Jim Justice's office has clarified reports that his famous pooch Babydog was banned from the Senate floor, saying Justice never intended to bring the dog onto the floor.

Congress reconvenes this week with a top priority: electing the leaders of each chamber. Here's a look at the contenders. And, top priorities for Trump's Justice Department.

Republicans need a "bold Senate GOP leader," Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said on Tuesday as three Republican senators -- Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-SD), and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) -- vie for the position of Senate Majority Leader.

The post Sen. Mike Lee: ‘We Need a Bold Senate GOP Leader’ appeared first on Breitbart.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told Breitbart News exclusively on Tuesday evening that she is supporting Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) for Senate GOP leader in the upcoming vote on Wednesday morning in the Senate GOP conference.

The post Exclusive—Marsha Blackburn Backs Rick Scott for Senate GOP Leader appeared first on Breitbart.

Top Democrats on Tuesday evening filed a compromise economic development bill containing state support for the life sciences and climate technology industries, ticket sales regulations, a new live theater tax credit, educator diversity reforms and more.

Rod Culleton says he will remain a senator until he exhausts all ‘legal and constitutional avenues’.

We speak with The Nation's John Nichols in Wisconsin, where Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are spending a lot of their time in the closing days of the election in a tight battle for the state's 10 Electoral College votes. Nichols also discusses the battle for the Senate, with key races in Wisconsin and Nebraska; how New York races could tip control of the House to Democrats; and why Kamala Harris needs to expand her message beyond the threat of Trump’s authoritarianism. “At the doors, people want to talk about economics,” says Nichols.

When Donald Trump reenters the White House, he will be met with a newly Republican-controlled Senate, consolidating power in the hands of a party now dominated by supporters of Trump. We take a look at the results of down-ballot races for the Senate and House, and the possibilities for congressional opposition to Trump’s agenda with John Nichols, The Nation’s national affairs correspondent. Nichols notes that losing Democratic Senate candidates missed opportunities to highlight working-class voters and economic issues, likely to their detriment.

The Dutch Senate has approved the 2021 Tax Plan package, which introduces a lower rate of corporate tax for small- and medium-sized businesses.

President Biden on Tuesday spoke in Atlanta to support changing Senate filibuster rules as he sought passage of federal voting laws that have been repeatedly blocked by Republicans. Photo: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

President Joe Biden is asking Congress to send him a bipartisan bill designed to boost the country’s computer chips industry

The 64-32 vote means advancing legislation which will help the U.S. semiconductor industry compete with China

Trump wins both North Carolina and Georgia, while holding a more tentative advantage across Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona

California's Attorney General Kamala Harris on Wednesday scripted history as she won the U.S. Senate seat from the state, becoming the first Indian-American to reach the feat.

The following article, Professor Who Mocked Barron Trump During Senate Hearings Gets Censorship Position at Facebook, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com.

Facebook just announced a 20 person board of oversight that will assist with content moderation. One of the people selected for the board, a professor at Stanford Law School, was announced as a member of the board and is raising eyebrows because of her snarky comment about Barron Trump during Senate Impeachment Hearings. Pamela Karlan, […]

Continue reading: Professor Who Mocked Barron Trump During Senate Hearings Gets Censorship Position at Facebook ...

Testimony of Marc Rosenblum before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the December 2, 2015 hearing on priorities for immigration enforcement and the use of prosecutorial discretion. 

If the ‘Bill on Protection against Infectious Diseases 2020’ presently in the Senate is signed into law, anyone found transporting a corpse of someone who died of infectious disease would pay a fine of N2 million.

The post Senate bill proposes N2m fine for transporting corpse without permit appeared first on Vanguard News.

No Supreme Court justice nominee confirmation hearing till next year, says majority leader

Dr. Anthony Fauci will testify at the Senate Health Committee Tuesday, Fox News has learned, while two other White House coronavirus task force members will attend the hearing via video conference after placing themselves in quarantine.

Archives, Room Use Only - HE7781.R36 1874

The crystal structures of caesium di­hydrogen arsenate(V) bis­[tri­hydrogen arsen­ate(V)], Cs(H2AsO4)(H3AsO4)2, ammonium di­hydrogen arsenate(V) tri­hydrogen arsenate(V), NH4(H2AsO4)(H3AsO4), and dilithium bis­(di­hydrogen phosphate), Li2(H2PO4)2, were solved from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. NH4(H2AsO4)(H3AsO4), which was hydro­thermally synthesized (T = 493 K), is homeotypic with Rb(H2AsO4)(H3AsO4), while Cs(H2AsO4)(H3AsO4)2 crystallizes in a novel structure type and Li2(H2PO4)2 represents a new polymorph of this composition. The Cs and Li compounds grew at room temperature from highly acidic aqueous solutions. Li2(H2PO4)2 forms a three-dimensional (3D) framework of PO4 tetra­hedra sharing corners with Li2O6 dimers built of edge-sharing LiO4 groups, which is reinforced by hydrogen bonds. The two arsenate compounds are characterized by a 3D network of AsO4 groups that are connected solely via multiple strong hydrogen bonds. A statistical evaluation of the As—O bond lengths in singly, doubly and triply protonated AsO4 groups gave average values of 1.70 (2) Å for 199 As—OH bonds, 1.728 (19) Å for As—OH bonds in HAsO4 groups, 1.714 (12) Å for As—OH bonds in H2AsO4 groups and 1.694 (16) Å for As—OH bonds in H3AsO4 groups, and a grand mean value of 1.667 (18) Å for As—O bonds to nonprotonated O atoms.

The National Academies stand ready to convene America’s best minds in research, government, medicine, and private industry to marshal evidence-based insights and advice for confronting today’s pandemic and future crises.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and CDC Director Robert Redfield will appear before a Senate committee on May 12.; Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will join Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and other administration representatives in testifying before a Senate committee on May 12.

The announcement comes as members of President Trump's coronavirus task force are being asked to limit their appearances on Capitol Hill despite ongoing calls from lawmakers for more oversight into the administration's coronavirus response. Last week, the Trump administration blocked Fauci from appearing before a House committee on the subject of spending on coronavirus testing.

President Trump told reporters Tuesday that he doesn't want the officials appearing before House Democrats.

"The House is a setup," Trump said. "The House is a bunch of Trump haters."

White House officials gave a less adversarial explanation when justifying the decision to limit task force testimony in a memo to top congressional aides.

"For primary response departments, including HHS, DHS, and State, in order to preserve department-wide resources, no more than one COVID-related hearing should be agreed to with the department's primary House and Senate authorizing committee and appropriations subcommittee in the month of May, for a total of no more than four COVID-related hearings department-wide," the memo stated.

Congressional Democrats are demanding greater oversight over the roughly $3 trillion that has already been approved for the coronavirus response. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has launched a new select committee to conduct the oversight, but Republicans have so far refused to name members to the panel despite the plan to make the panel bipartisan.

The Senate hearing was announced shortly after the administration sent the memo to Capitol Hill banning committee appearances from task force members during May unless approved by the White House chief of staff.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere said the decision to block Fauci from the House committee appearance was intended to allow him to focus on his primary task of overseeing the coronavirus response.

"While the Trump Administration continues its whole-of-government response to COVID-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counter-productive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at Congressional hearings," Deere said. "We are committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time."

Fauci, Redfield, HHS Assistant Secretary Brett Giroir and FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn are scheduled to discuss "safely getting back to work and back to school" when they appear before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions — or HELP — Committee next Tuesday.

Senate Democrats, including Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the HELP committee, have called for the administration to provide greater transparency and a nationwide plan for testing. So far their demands have not received a response.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

The former governor's visit will indicate how popular she really is back home and it could have major implications for the future of America's energy policy.