Harris uses UN speech to champion women’s role in democracy
By Jasmine Wright, CNN Kamala Harris declared “the status of women is the status of democracy” on Tuesday, in her first speech before the United Nations as the first female vice president of the United States. “Eleanor Roosevelt, who shaped the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, once said, ‘Without equality, there can be no democracy.’ In other words, the status of women is the status of democracy,” she said during the UN’s 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. “The status of democracy also depends fundamentally on the empowerment of women. Not only because the exclusion of
Schumer keeps pressure on Biden to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt
By Katie Lobosco and Ali Zaslav, CNN Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is keeping the pressure on President Joe Biden to forgive $50,000 in federal student loan debt. The New York Democrat said Monday that the Justice Department is currently conducting a legal review on whether Biden has the authority to issue blanket forgiveness on student debt. But Biden has repeatedly resisted calls from Schumer and other Democrats like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to cancel $50,000 per student loan borrower — making it very clear during a CNN Town Hall last month that he does not support the idea. Biden
Historic benefits in stimulus bill may answer a big question for Democrats
Analysis by Ronald Brownstein The massive stimulus plan President Joe Biden signed last week sets up a critical real-world test of an argument that has divided political professionals for decades: Can Democrats win back White working-class voters drawn to conservative Republican messages on culture and race by offering them more tangible economic benefits? Social policy experts say the $1.9 trillion bill will channel more direct government financial assistance to families on the middle and lower rungs of the income ladder than any single piece of legislation since at least President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society during the 1960s — and possibly
Biden to announce Gene Sperling will oversee rollout of $1.9 trillion in Covid relief
By Phil Mattingly and Jeremy Diamond, CNN President Joe Biden will announce Monday that Gene Sperling, a former top economic official in the last two Democratic presidential administrations, will serve as the point person in overseeing the implementation of the newly signed $1.9 trillion Covid relief law, according to two people briefed on the plan and a senior administration official. Biden will announce Sperling’s appointment at the White House Monday afternoon during remarks about implementation of the law, according to the senior administration official. Sperling’s mandate will be to get money out the door quickly and maximize its impact, the
America should listen to Stacey Abrams’ warning about ‘racist’ election laws
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN Stacey Abrams’ stark warning about Georgia’s new election bill being racist is shining a spotlight on a nationwide battle over whose voices will be heard at the ballot box, as Republicans around the country try to suppress voting rights. The Georgia Democrat’s comments on CNN Sunday come amid a building showdown over GOP efforts to make voting harder in multiple states following former President Donald Trump’s loss and his lies about ballot fraud, and Washington Democrats’ vast federal election and civil rights bill that would counter such efforts. Flurries of bills have been introduced in
‘Frustration in our future’: Democrats prepare for internal clashes that could slow Biden’s agenda
By Manu Raju, Lauren Fox and Ted Barrett, CNN House and Senate Democrats are bracing for a clash over the next phase of President Joe Biden’s agenda, preparing for a long slog and intense debate over competing priorities and legislative tactics after quickly coming together on the massive relief plan signed into law Thursday. A wide array of Democrats in both chambers, in the rank-and-file and in their party’s leadership, recognize the next chapter will be far more difficult than passing the sweeping $1.9 trillion relief legislation, even as that effort proved to be an arduous task as they pushed
Senate set to confirm Deb Haaland as Biden’s Interior secretary in historic vote
By Clare Foran and Ted Barrett, CNN The Senate is slated to vote on Monday to confirm Deb Haaland as President Joe Biden’s Interior secretary, a historic move that will make her the first Native American Cabinet secretary. She is expected to be confirmed despite the fact that some Republicans have expressed concern over her nomination and described her views on public land use and fossil fuels as extreme. It won’t be the first time Haaland has made history. In 2018, she was elected as one of the two first female Native Americans in Congress. Her nomination to lead the
DNC launches new ad campaign as Biden and Democrats seek to sell Covid bill to Americans
By Dan Merica, CNN The Democratic National Committee, in cooperation with the Biden White House, will kick off a sweeping effort to sell the newly signed Covid-19 relief package to a politically divided American people on Friday, releasing a new national ad bragging about the bill along with a detailed guide on how Democrats across the country should tout the legislation. The multi-prong effort is aimed at turning the bill into something Democrats can run on, not run away from, in the coming years, including in the politically critical 2022 midterms. The ad, which is set to run nationally, in
Del. Stacey Plaskett rebukes House Republican for attack on Black Lives Matter
By Veronica Stracqualursi, Ryan Nobles and Manu Raju, CNN Stacey Plaskett, a Black Democratic delegate, on Wednesday forcefully rebuked her White Republican colleague in the House of Representatives for accusing the Black Lives Matter movement of being a “group that doesn’t like the old-fashioned family,” a statement she derided as racist. In speaking against President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan, Wisconsin GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman argued on the House floor Wednesday that the expansion to earned income tax credit for single workers would penalize married individuals. “I bring it up, because I know the strength that Black Lives
Biden signs historic $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief law
By Kate Sullivan, CNN President Joe Biden signed his sweeping $1.9 trillion Covid-19 economic relief package into law on Thursday afternoon. “This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving people in this nation, working people, middle class folks, people who built the country, a fighting chance,” Biden said in the Oval Office before signing the legislation. “That’s what the essence of it is.” Congress on Wednesday passed the relief package, which has been Biden’s first and most pressing legislative priority since taking office in January. Biden had originally been expected to sign the bill on