Author: PolitCens

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday the Republican-led Senate will vote “as soon as this week” on COVID-19 relief legislation after negotiations with Democrats broke off last month. “It does not contain every idea our party likes. I am confident Democrats will feel the same. Yet Republicans believe the many serious differences between our two parties should not stand in the way of agreeing where we can agree and making law that helps our nation,” McConnell said in a statement.  The Senate returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a shortened pre-election session as hopes continue to diminish for passage of another relief bill to cope with the economic decline brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. After bipartisan unity led to the approval of a nearly $3 billion COVID-19 rescue package in the spring, the two sides have not been able to reach another agreement.  The House of Representatives doesn’t return to work until September 14. FILE – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 27, 2020.White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said earlier Tuesday he was optimistic another measure would be passed before the November 3 presidential election but gave no indication of progress in talks with congressional Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted Sunday that “McConnell may have declared a ‘pause’ to America’s coronavirus response, but it is clear the virus never did the same.” The U.S. leads the world in confirmed COVID-19 deaths, with nearly 190,000. The U.S. is also home to a world-leading 6.3 million coronavirus infections, nearly one-quarter of the more than 27.3 million worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. 
 
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Nine chief executives of competing drug companies working to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus jointly said Tuesday they would not seek U.S. government regulatory approval for its use until Phase 3 tests showed it was safe. The statement comes as President Donald Trump has suggested there could be an announcement on a successful vaccine before the Nov. 3 general election. “We believe this pledge will help ensure public confidence in the rigorous scientific and regulatory process by which Covid-19 vaccines are evaluated and may ultimately be approved,” the executives said in their joint statement. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One for a trip to Jupiter, Fla., Sept. 8, 2020.They vowed the companies would “only submit for approval or emergency use authorization after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study that is designed and conducted to meet requirements of expert regulatory authorities,” including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The executives said they would “always make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority.” In most instances, a statement that drug companies would adhere to safety standards would be unremarkable. But the drug chiefs’ statement comes as Trump pushes for a rapid vaccine approval. At a White House press conference Monday, Trump said vaccine authorization could come “before a very special date.” Accusations from BidenThe presidential election is in eight weeks, when the Republican Trump faces his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden has accused Trump of mishandling the government’s response to the coronavirus, which has now killed more than 189,000 Americans, more than in any other country, and infected more than 6.3 million. Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during an event in Lancaster, Pa., Sept. 7, 2020.Biden said Monday he would get vaccinated “tomorrow,” if a vaccine were available, but only if it was deemed safe by experts. “I would want to see what the scientists said,” he told CBS News. “I want full transparency on the vaccine.” Of Trump, Biden said, “One of the problems is the way he is playing with politics. He’s said so many things that aren’t true.” Biden’s vice presidential running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, told CNN on Sunday that she would “not trust” Trump’s declarations about the safety of a vaccine coming just before the election. In response, the White House said, “The American people can rest assured that any approval will maintain the FDA’s gold standard for safety and testing to ensure a vaccine or therapeutic is effective. This false narrative that the media and now the Democratic nominee for vice president are suggesting that politics is influencing approvals is not only false but is a danger to the American public.” Politics vs. scienceA recent STAT-Harris survey showed that 82% of Democrats and 72% of Republicans were concerned that approval of a vaccine would be driven more by politics than by science. Health experts have voiced fears that if the public does not trust the safety of any vaccine that is made available, many will refuse to be vaccinated, making it less effective in controlling the pandemic. Trump’s top vaccine adviser, Operation Warp Speed co-chief Moncef Slaoui, told National Public Radio last week that it is “very unlikely” a vaccine would be authorized before Election Day. FILE – A poster advertises a hunt for volunteers for a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, in Binghamton, N.Y., July 27, 2020.”There is a very, very low chance that the trials that are running as we speak could (be completed) before the end of October. And therefore, there could be — if all other conditions required for an Emergency Use Authorization are met — an approval,” Slaoui said. The drug executives’ statement left open the possibility that an emergency use application for a vaccine could be granted based on partial data from the participation of at least 30,000 test subjects. Such trials normally take years to complete. “FDA’s guidance and criteria are based on the scientific and medical principles necessary to clearly demonstrate the safety and efficacy of potential Covid-19 vaccines. More specifically, the agency requires that scientific evidence for regulatory approval must come from large, high quality clinical trials that are randomized and observer-blinded, with an expectation of appropriately designed studies with significant numbers of participants across diverse populations,” they said. Leaders of AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, and Novavax, as well as those heading two joint vaccine projects, Pfizer and BioNTech, and Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, were the signatories of the statement. Combined, the companies said they have created 70 successful vaccines. FILE – VWade Bardo of Erin, N.Y., gets an injection as a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine gets under way in Binghamton, N.Y., July 27, 2020.The headline on their statement, “Biopharma Leaders Unite To Stand With Science,” made clear their attempt to ease worries that a vaccine would be pushed to the market too soon due to political pressure. Earlier this year, the FDA approved the emergency use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus but withdrew approval after clinical trials showed it provided no benefit, while potentially increasing risks of fatal heart arrhythmia. Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine and said he took the drug earlier this year. The government also recently authorized emergency use of convalescent plasma as a coronavirus treatment. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn later apologized for overstating the benefits of plasma transfusions. 
 
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At least there won’t be a government shutdown. But as lawmakers return to Washington for an abbreviated preelection session, hopes are dimming for another coronavirus relief bill — or much else. Talks between top Democrats and the Trump administration broke off last month and remain off track, with the bipartisan unity that drove almost $3 trillion in COVID-19 rescue legislation into law this spring replaced by partisanship and a return to Washington dysfunction. Expectations in July and August that a fifth bipartisan pandemic response bill would be agreed on despite increased obstacles has been replaced by genuine pessimism. Recent conversations about COVID-19 aid among key players have led to nothing. Democrats seem secure in their political position, with President Donald Trump and several Senate GOP incumbents lagging in the polls. Trump is seeking to sideline the pandemic as a campaign issue, and Republicans aren’t interested in a deal on Democratic terms — even as needs like school aid enjoy widespread support. Trump said Monday that Democrats “don’t want to make a deal because they think that if the country does as badly as possible … that’s good for the Democrats.” FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during a news conference at the White House in Washington, Sept. 4, 2020.”I am taking the high road,” he told reporters at the White House. “I’m taking the high road by not seeing them.” All of this imperils the chances for another round of $1,200 direct payments delivered under Trump’s name, the restoration of more generous unemployment benefits to those who’ve lost their jobs because of the pandemic, updates to a popular business subsidy program, and money to help schools reopen and states and local governments avoid layoffs. “I personally would like to see one more rescue package, but I must tell you the environment in Washington right now is exceedingly partisan because of the proximity to the election,” said GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at an appearance in Kentucky last week. “We’ve been in discussion now for the last month or so with no results so far. So I can’t promise one final package.” McConnell had been a force for a deal but does not appear eager to force a vote that exposes division in his ranks. Many Senate Republicans are also wary or opposed outright to another major chunk of debt-financed virus relief, even as GOP senators imperiled in the election, such as Susan Collins of Maine and Cory Gardner of Colorado, plead for more. Republicans are struggling to coalesce around a unified party position — and that’s before they engage with Democratic leaders, who are demanding far more. FILE – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 27, 2020.The relationship between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and her preferred negotiating partner, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, is civil but isn’t generating much in the way of results, other than a promise to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month by keeping a government-wide temporary spending bill free of controversy. That measure is likely to keep the government running into December. It’s likely to contain a bunch of lower-profile steps, such as an extension of the federal flood insurance program and a temporary reauthorization of spending from the highway trust fund. The decision for a controversy-free stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution, means that both sides will forgo gamesmanship that uses the threat of a government shutdown to try to gain leverage. Trump forced a shutdown in 2018-2019 in a failed attempt to extract money for his U.S.-Mexico border wall, while Democrats lost a shutdown encounter in 2017 over legislation to help immigrants brought illegally to the country as children win permanent legal status. “Now we can focus just on another relief bill, and we’re continuing to do that in good faith,” Vice President Mike Pence said Friday on CNBC. But if talks continue to falter, there’s little to keep lawmakers in Washington long, particularly with the election fast approaching. The Senate returns Tuesday to resume its diet of judicial and administration nominations. The House doesn’t come back until Sept. 14 for a schedule laden with lower-profile measures such as clean energy legislation and a bill to decriminalize marijuana. Some Democrats are expected to continue to take advantage of remote voting and may not return to Washington at all. 
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At least there won’t be a government shutdown. But as lawmakers return to Washington for an abbreviated preelection session, hopes are dimming for another coronavirus relief bill — or much else. Talks between top Democrats and the Trump administration broke off last month and remain off track, with the bipartisan unity that drove almost $3 trillion in COVID-19 rescue legislation into law this spring replaced by partisanship and a return to Washington dysfunction. Expectations in July and August that a fifth bipartisan pandemic response bill would be agreed on despite increased obstacles has been replaced by genuine pessimism. Recent conversations about COVID-19 aid among key players have led to nothing. Democrats seem secure in their political position, with President Donald Trump and several Senate GOP incumbents lagging in the polls. Trump is seeking to sideline the pandemic as a campaign issue, and Republicans aren’t interested in a deal on Democratic terms — even as needs like school aid enjoy widespread support. Trump said Monday that Democrats “don’t want to make a deal because they think that if the country does as badly as possible … that’s good for the Democrats.” FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during a news conference at the White House in Washington, Sept. 4, 2020.”I am taking the high road,” he told reporters at the White House. “I’m taking the high road by not seeing them.” All of this imperils the chances for another round of $1,200 direct payments delivered under Trump’s name, the restoration of more generous unemployment benefits to those who’ve lost their jobs because of the pandemic, updates to a popular business subsidy program, and money to help schools reopen and states and local governments avoid layoffs. “I personally would like to see one more rescue package, but I must tell you the environment in Washington right now is exceedingly partisan because of the proximity to the election,” said GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at an appearance in Kentucky last week. “We’ve been in discussion now for the last month or so with no results so far. So I can’t promise one final package.” McConnell had been a force for a deal but does not appear eager to force a vote that exposes division in his ranks. Many Senate Republicans are also wary or opposed outright to another major chunk of debt-financed virus relief, even as GOP senators imperiled in the election, such as Susan Collins of Maine and Cory Gardner of Colorado, plead for more. Republicans are struggling to coalesce around a unified party position — and that’s before they engage with Democratic leaders, who are demanding far more. FILE – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 27, 2020.The relationship between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and her preferred negotiating partner, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, is civil but isn’t generating much in the way of results, other than a promise to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month by keeping a government-wide temporary spending bill free of controversy. That measure is likely to keep the government running into December. It’s likely to contain a bunch of lower-profile steps, such as an extension of the federal flood insurance program and a temporary reauthorization of spending from the highway trust fund. The decision for a controversy-free stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution, means that both sides will forgo gamesmanship that uses the threat of a government shutdown to try to gain leverage. Trump forced a shutdown in 2018-2019 in a failed attempt to extract money for his U.S.-Mexico border wall, while Democrats lost a shutdown encounter in 2017 over legislation to help immigrants brought illegally to the country as children win permanent legal status. “Now we can focus just on another relief bill, and we’re continuing to do that in good faith,” Vice President Mike Pence said Friday on CNBC. But if talks continue to falter, there’s little to keep lawmakers in Washington long, particularly with the election fast approaching. The Senate returns Tuesday to resume its diet of judicial and administration nominations. The House doesn’t come back until Sept. 14 for a schedule laden with lower-profile measures such as clean energy legislation and a bill to decriminalize marijuana. Some Democrats are expected to continue to take advantage of remote voting and may not return to Washington at all. 
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Hundreds of people gathered Monday afternoon in a small town south of Portland for a pro-Donald Trump vehicle rally — just more than a week after a member of a far-right group was fatally shot after a Trump caravan went through Oregon’s largest city. Vehicles waving flags for Trump, the QAnon conspiracy theory and in support of police gathered at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City about noon, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. The rally’s organizers said they would drive to the state capital, Salem, and members of the right-wing groups the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer would be in attendance. Organizers said they did not plan to enter Multnomah County, where Portland is located. Oregon City is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Portland. On Aug. 29, Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a supporter of Patriot Prayer, was killed in Portland after a pro-Trump caravan went downtown. Trump supporters fired paintballs at counterdemonstrators, who tried to block their way. Danielson’s suspected killer, Michael Forest Reinoehl, was fatally shot by police Thursday. Reinoehl was a supporter of antifa — shorthand for anti-fascists and an umbrella description for far-left-leaning militant groups. Demonstrations in Portland started in late May after George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis and have continued for more than 100 days. In this image taken from video a mattress burns in the street near the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct, Sept. 6, 2020, in Portland, Ore.A fire started outside a police precinct on Portland’s north side resulted in about 15 arrests during protests Sunday night into Monday morning, police said. Demonstrators protesting police brutality began marching about 9 p.m. Sunday and stopped at the North Precinct Community Policing Center, the site of several volatile protests in recent months. Officials warned demonstrators against entering the precinct property, saying they would be trespassing and subject to arrest. Shortly after arriving, the crowd began chanting, among other things, “burn it down,” police said in a statement. Some in the group lit a mattress on fire. Most of those arrested were from Portland. Others were from San Francisco; Sacramento, California; Mesa, Arizona; and two from Vancouver, Washington. Charges included interfering with an officer, resisting arrest, reckless burning and possession of a destructive device.  
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday unleashed another extended verbal attack on his opponent in the November election, claiming that the Democratic Party nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris “should immediately apologize for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric.” Biden said on Monday that he would like to see a vaccine tomorrow, even if it cost him the election. But “if we do have a really good vaccine, people are going to be reluctant to take it” because the president’s repeated misstatements and falsehoods with respect to the virus are “undermining public confidence.” “He’s said so many things that aren’t true,” Biden said. Trump, holding his first news conference on the North Portico of the White House, said that contrary to “political lies,” any vaccine approved for mass inoculation by the federal government will be “very safe and very effective.”  The Republican and Democratic party nominees made their remarks as the presidential campaign turned to the homestretch on the annual Labor Day holiday – a time when COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is still killing about 1,000 Americans every day, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.    Biden went Monday to the key political battleground state of Pennsylvania in the eastern U.S. for a virtual town hall with AFL-CIO union President Richard Trumka in the state capital of Harrisburg.  Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during an event with local union members in the backyard of a home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Sept. 7, 2020.Biden, a former vice president, has accused Trump of mismanaging the pandemic, spawning greater economic turmoil and the layoffs of millions of workers. Trump, in contrast, hailed his administration’s performance amid the pandemic, predicting a swift, “Super-V” recovery for the U.S. economy and predicting that if Biden, whom he called “a stupid person,” wins the election, “China will own this country.”  Trump has portrayed himself as standing up to China on trade issues and criticizing that country for allowing the coronavirus to spread globally, wrecking America’s economic recovery.   The U.S. jobless rate dipped to 8.4% in August, but economic experts say it could take months for a more robust recovery to take hold. Only about half the 22 million jobs that were lost in the pandemic have been recovered, with many employers paring their payrolls even as they have reopened their businesses.  President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference on the North Portico of the White House, Sept. 7, 2020, in Washington.Biden is collecting endorsements from three organized labor groups: The Laborers’ International Union of North America, the International Union of Elevator Constructors and the National Federation of Federal Employees.  Collectively, the three unions represent hundreds of thousands of workers nationwide the Biden campaign hopes to mobilize for support.  Trump has emphasized his endorsement for the unions representing police officers, stressing a “law and order” message amid peaceful urban demonstrations and some violence at protests in response to the deaths of Blacks by police in numerous cities.  Trump is also fighting to maintain support among veterans and those serving in the U.S. military after a magazine, citing four unnamed people, reported that he had referred to Marines buried in an American cemetery near Paris as “losers” and “suckers” and declined to visit their graves during a 2018 trip to France.   “Only an animal would say that,” Trump replied when asked about The Atlantic’s article during Monday’s news conference. He termed the article a “phony story” that others have refuted.  Several news organizations, including Fox News, which is generally sympathetic to Trump, have confirmed elements of the story, attributed to their own sources, which they have not named.  Biden on Monday met with three union workers who had served in the U.S. military at a home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “Do you think most of those guys and women are suckers?” Biden asked, adding a sarcastic chuckle. Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., listens during a tour of the IBEW 494 training facility in Milwaukee, Sept. 7, 2020.Biden’s vice presidential running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, and Vice President Mike Pence both visited the highly contested battleground state of Wisconsin in the Midwest on Monday.   FILE – Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a campaign event on the grounds of Kuharchik Construction, Inc., in Exeter, Pa., Sept. 1, 2020.Harris, in her first solo, in-person campaign appearance as part of Biden’s ticket, met with unionized electrical workers and Black business owners in Milwaukee. She also met with the family and legal team of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot and paralyzed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in front of three of his children last month.  Pence, Trump’s second in command, toured an energy facility in the city of La Crosse.  Both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two traditionally Democratic states that Trump won in 2016 to help him capture a four-year White House term, are again expected to be pivotal states this November. Polls show Biden narrowly ahead in both states.  Biden, who has a thin lead in some other battleground states, is maintaining his advantage over Trump in national polls by about 7 percentage points.  While the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed about 190,000 people in the country, has sharply curtailed huge political rallies that are a mainstay of typical U.S. presidential campaigns, both Trump and Biden are planning numerous trips in the coming weeks to politically important states in front of more modest crowds.  Trump plans to visit North Carolina, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania later in the week.  Biden plans to return to Pennsylvania on Friday, when both he and Trump plan to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the 2001 al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the U.S. in Shanksville, where a jetliner crashed into a field as passengers tried to commandeer the plane from the hijackers. Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.
 
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Now that the U.S. presidential nominating conventions have ended, the next key date on the campaign calendar is Tuesday, September 29 — the race’s first presidential debate. Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic Party rival, former vice president Joe Biden, spent the week after the conventions making their opening arguments in some of the U.S. States critical to winning the election, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina.  “I think that we can expect to see a rowdy debate between the two presidential candidates,” said Jennifer Mercieca, assistant professor of Communications at Texas A&M University. “Both of these candidates are fighters.” Mercieca says indications of Trump’s debating style can be found in how he described his 2016 campaign as a “counterpunch.”  FILE – In this Oct. 9, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton walks past Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis.“He regularly uses ad hominem attacks, which is attacking the person instead of their argument. And he isn’t shy to do that, to mock people and bully them during a debate. He did that in 2016,” she said, adding that Biden’s debating history shows he will stand his ground. “We saw in 2012 that his vice-presidential debate was similar, I think, to Trump in style and that he [Biden] sort of mocked his opposition a little bit. He laughed at him [Paul Ryan], you know, sort of right in his face,” Mercieca said. “I don’t think that he [Biden] goes to the extremes that Donald Trump does in terms of mocking his opposition or threatening them. But, you know, he’s definitely capable of standing his ground and not allowing himself to be intimidated.” FILE – Vice President Joe Biden (R) and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan depart at the conclusion of the vice presidential debate in Danville, Kentucky, Oct. 11, 2012. Debates format Since the first presidential debate in 1960 and since their resumption in 1976, the format has generally been the same: candidates answering questions from a moderator.  “What they basically are, are joint press conferences where they share, you know, press conference soundbites back and forth and they stay on their own message,” says John Koch, director of Debate at Vanderbilt University.  Koch proposes different formats, including taking questions from experts instead of a moderator and watching the candidates tackle the issues. “The debate would start with: Here’s the issue or the situation. You have 30 minutes or whatever it is to meet with your consultants and advisers and then we want you to come back with a position, explain your position. The other candidates will explain their position. And then we’ll have a debate about how you arrived at that decision and then the quality of those decisions, because what we really want out of a president is somebody who can, in a crisis or when an issue presents itself to meet with their  consultants or advisers, make a decision and then be able to defend it,” Koch explained. “It is actually informative to see both candidates in contrast to one another. So, to hear how they speak, the tone they use, but also to hear about their policies,” Mercieca said. “It allows them to directly accuse one another of doing things. And it also allows them to make rebuttals so that they can defend themselves.” Do debates change minds? In 2016, an estimated 84 million Americans watched the first debate between then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The high interest in the 2020 election may set a new record, but whether it sways voters is questionable.  FILE – Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speak simultaneously during their first presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, Sept. 26, 2016.“A lot of the research on presidential debates have shown that it kind of lets people identify with the candidate that they kind of already identify with and it just kind of lets them see who shares their positions,” said Koch. “There’s not a lot of evidence per se that changes presidential debates changed minds.” According to Pew Research, 10% of 2016 voters said they decided their vote during or just after the debates. Mercieca says it is “a shame” that America’s political polarization has gotten this bad. “I really think that, you know for these debates to have any kind of effect like they should, that the audience itself has a responsibility to listen with an open mind.” 
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