by US Democrats Pass Controversial Voting Law
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – U.S. House Democrats voted for the most extensive overhaul of the nation’s election law in at least a generation despite unanimous Republican opposition and warnings is could undermine democracy.
The House Resolution 1, which touches on virtually every aspect of the electoral process, was approved on a near party-line 220-210 vote. The bill, also known as the “For the People Act,” guarantees massive mail voting and at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections.
It also requires U.S. states to use their existing government records to register citizens to vote automatically, restore voting rights to felons who have completed their prison sentences; and mandate the use of paper ballots.
Other provisions create new disclosure requirements for what Democrats call “dark money” donations to political groups. The bill also forces states to appoint independent commissions to draw congressional districts and create new federal standards for election equipment vendors.
The legislation also deals with ethics forcing tech platforms to disclose political advertising information. It establishes a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices for the first time; restructure the Federal Election Commission to an odd number of members to break partisan deadlocks. And the bill requires presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns.
Democrats view the legislation as a powerful counterweight to voting rights restrictions that they say are introduced in Republican-controlled states across the country.
They say the measures are introduced because of former President Donald J. Trump’s “repeated false claims” of a stolen 2020 election. Trump maintains the elections were rigged citing reports of “dead people voting” and alleged stuffing of ballot boxes, charges denied by election organizers.
The bill faced an uncertain fate in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it has
little chance of passing without changes to procedural rules that currently allow Republicans to block it.
Ahead of late Wednesday’s vote ex-vice president Mike Pence spoke out against the bill, calling the legislation an “unconstitutional, reckless, and anti-democratic bill that would erode those foundational principles and could permanently damage our republic.”
“Every single proposed change in [House Resolution or] HR 1 serves one goal, and one goal only: to give leftists a permanent, unfair, and unconstitutional advantage in our political system,” he wrote in a column on the conservative The Daily Signal website.
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Number Of ‘Unaccompanied Minors’ Crossing Border On Pace To ‘Shatter’ Records
(Worthy News) – The number of unaccompanied minors jumping the United States-Mexico border seeking asylum has risen dramatically over the last several weeks and, according to the Domestic Policy Council, which briefed President Joe Biden on the situation Tuesday, that number is growing and is likely to exceed the record by a shocking 45%.
“Members of the Domestic Policy Council were set to tell President Biden Tuesday that the number of migrant children who cross the southern border this year is on pace to exceed an all-time record — by 45 percent — citing unreleased data from the Department of Homeland Security,” the New York Post reported Wednesday.
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$100 trillion in new debt over next 30 years: CBO
(Worthy News) – The government has opened the spending spigot over the last year to deal with the coronavirus crisis — but the Congressional Budget Office says unless something changes, Uncle Sam’s freewheeling ways will last long after the pandemic is over.
In a long-term budget report Thursday, the analysts at the government’s official scorekeeper said that by the middle of this century, federal spending will top 30% of gross domestic product, a rate the U.S. has never sustained before.
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Winter storms caused $155 billion in economic damages
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) –
Devastating coast-to-coast winter weather is estimated to have caused around $155 billion in economic damages, making it likely that February 2021 was the costliest in terms of weather impact in recent US history, UPI reports. The estimated economic damage costs for the entire 2020 Atlantic hurricane season were a comparatively small $60 billion to $65 billion.
This year’s winter storms caused at least 58 deaths, in addition to crop failure, water disruption, broken pipes, and sweeping power outages which left millions of people without heating in extraordinarily freezing temperatures.