“Everything is on the table so far as we’re concerned.”
Just five Republicans voted for the measure: co-sponsors Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith (N.J.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), along with Reps. John Katko (N.Y.) and Don Young (Alaska). One Democrat voted against it: Henry Cuellar (Texas), an aide said.
The bill’s advancement concludes several days of behind-the-scenes wrangling by Democratic leaders after a group of moderate members pushed for last-minute changes to the bill. By Monday night, top Democrats had agreed to include an amendment that would study the bill’s impact on gig workers, which the centrist bloc — led by Blue Dog Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), who voted against the bill last session — described as a win.
“There were some concerns about the flexibility aspect of the PRO Act, and if people could opt out if it didn’t suit their personal needs and circumstances,” Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), who was among those backing the amendment, told POLITICO.
That change, Wild said, would help address some of the many concerns in the Senate, adding: “There’s a way to do it if we all really focus on it and we don’t insist on being purist.”
“If people need to do things to be able to support the bill, I’m all good with that,” Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) said. “I don’t consider it much of a change.”
The legislation — which would make it easier for workers to join and form unions by empowering the National Labor Relations Board to levy fines and extending collective bargaining rights to independent contractors — is a real-time example of the thin line Biden must walk as he works to appease both the pro-union forces he has aligned himself with and the business groups who helped him win.
“People are realizing that unions are important,” House Education and Labor Chair Bobby Scott (D-Va.) told POLITICO. “They noticed this during the pandemic when there were unfair, unsafe working conditions.”
Businesses, fiercely opposed to the PRO Act, spent the days leading up to passage lobbying against it. More than 150 trade associations, including the influential Chamber of Commerce, sent a letter to lawmakers last week urging them to vote against the legislation, which they wrote “would cost millions of American jobs, threaten vital supply chains, and greatly diminish opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses.”
Employers “have deep concerns about the PRO Act’s intrusions on worker privacy and restrictions on workplace communication — among many other issues,” Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said. “It will make it harder for manufacturers to thrive and more difficult to foster positive, inclusive workplace cultures.”
Republicans echo many of the same concerns, fretting that the bill — which Rep. Virginia Foxx, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, has dubbed the Pro Union Bosses Act — will cost employers and eliminate jobs. They also take issue with the fact the bill would preempt state right-to-work laws, which guarantee no worker can be required to join a union or pay dues as a condition of employment.
It’s “a left-wing wish list of union boss priorities which undermines the rights of workers by forcing them to pay into a union system, whether or not they want to be represented by a union,” Foxx said.
The PRO Act “is yet another attack on states’ rights,” Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) said on the floor. Iowa is a right-to-work state.
Unions have thrown their weight behind the legislation, which leaders have described repeatedly as one of their top priorities for a Biden administration. Indeed, the executive board of the AFL-CIO — the nation’s largest federation of unions — plans to meet Wednesday to discuss its position on eliminating the filibuster, likely the only path forward for seeing the PRO Act enacted.
“I assume that [Senate passage] requires getting rid of the filibuster for sure, or finding some way around it,” Levin said.
Senate HELP Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told POLITICO that she plans “to fight hard to make sure we honor the essential workers that have kept us going during this pandemic by getting the PRO Act across the finish line.”
“As workers continue to bear the brunt of this pandemic, ensuring they can stand together and fight for better pay, quality health care, a safer workplace and a secure retirement has never been more important,” she said.
Prior to passage, lawmakers adopted a package of Democratic amendments containing the Murphy amendment, among others. They rejected a set of Republican amendments.
Passage coincides with Amazon workers’ ongoing push to form a union at one of the retail giant’s Alabama facilities. Biden was notably mute on the issue until February, when he released a video expressing support for organized labor. Despite declining to mention Amazon by name, it was nonetheless hailed as the most pro-union statement from a sitting U.S. president.
The House first advanced the bill in February 2020 after it languished for months amid many of the same concerns floated this session: worries from moderate Democrats that it was anti-business and relentless bashing from groups including the Chamber of Commerce, which labeled it “a litany of almost every failed idea from the past 30 years of labor policy.” But it was never taken up by then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Biden pledged on the campaign trail that he would see the legislation enacted, and reiterated his support for the legislation Monday with a full-throated Statement of Administration Policy encouraging House passage.
“We should all remember that the National Labor Relations Act didn’t just say that we shouldn’t hamstring unions or merely tolerate them. It said that we should encourage unions,” Biden said in a statement Tuesday. “The PRO Act would take critical steps to help restore this intent.”
“We have a champion who more than any of his recent predecessors understands that labor isn’t just another constituency group that exists only during campaign cycles, and his rhetoric on the campaign trail has been carried into the Oval Office,” Trumka said. “This is a president who jumps at the chance to tell a roomful of CEOs that he’s a union guy. He released the most pro-union statement of any president since FDR, and just yesterday, he chose to double down.”
“To borrow a lightly tweaked quote from Joe Biden, this is a big freaking deal.”
Unions have fought to enact labor law reform since 1947, when a Republican Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act and, in doing so, made changes to the National Labor Relations Act that labor advocates consider anti-union. But the efforts have yet to be successful.
Even under former President Barack Obama, a package containing many provisions similar to the PRO Act — the Employee Free Choice Act — stalled in Congress as his administration focused its efforts elsewhere.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has hailed the massive $1.9tn Covid relief bill as “historic” and “transformative” as the House stood poised to give the legislation final approval with a vote on Wednesday morning.
Joe Biden, who will mark a year since the pandemic brought shutdowns across the nation with a primetime speech on Thursday, has said he will sign the bill as soon as it lands on his desk.
The House vote on the bill, which includes checks for most American households, comes after the Senate passed a modestly reworked version of the package on Saturday and will clinch Biden’s most significant early legislative achievement.
“It’s a remarkable, historic, transformative piece of legislation, which goes a very long way to crushing the virus and solving our economic crisis,” Pelosi said during a press conference with senior Democrats on Tuesday afternoon, who took turns extolling what they said was the historic nature of the legislation and its impact on reducing poverty in America. “I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it,” she added.
Several Democratic leaders compared it to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, saying the plan would not only “crush” the virus and the economic fallout but would look forward to tackle longstanding racial and gender inequalities in the economy.
Smiling under her mask, Pelosi expressed full confidence that Democrats had the votes to pass the bill.
Asked about possible defections from progressive members disappointed that the Senate had narrowed a version of the bill, initially proposed by Biden and passed by the House, Pelosi shook her head and said “no” repeatedly. The bill would head to Biden’s desk after the vote on Wednesday, she said.
Besides the fresh round of stimulus checks, the bill also extends emergency jobless benefits to early September, instead of 14 March. It spends huge amounts on Covid-19 vaccines, testing and treatments, while also aiding state and local governments and schools, assisting small businesses and providing major expansions of tax breaks and programs for lower- and middle-income families.
Progressives suffered setbacks, especially the Senate’s removal of a gradual minimum wage increase to $15 hourly by 2025. But the measure carries so many Democratic priorities that final passage was not in doubt, despite the party’s narrow 10-vote House majority.
Meanwhile a hefty majority of Americans – 70% – say they are in favor of the coronavirus relief package. Only a third of Americans said the legislation is too costly, according to a poll from Pew research.
Biden has said he will not be attaching his signature to the $1,400 relief checks that are expected to be mailed soon, a break with his predecessor who last year had “President Donald J Trump” printed on the economic impact payments approved by Congress.
The next round of paper checks will bear the signature of a career official at the treasury department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said at a Tuesday briefing.
Psaki said the goal was to get the payments out quickly instead of branding them as coming from Biden.
“This is not about him, this is about the American people getting relief,” Psaki said.
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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he will be extending the National Guard troops stationed at the U.S. Capitol until May 28.
The two month extension comes following a request from Capitol Police that a group of National Guard troops remain behind to assist with security concerns.
Fox News confirmed that roughly 2,300 guardsmen will continue to serve at the Capitol – a security force reduced by half from the 5,000 troops currently deployed in Washington, D.C.
“This decision was made after a thorough review of the request and after close consideration of its potential impact on readiness,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Tuesday night.
“During this extended period, [Department of Defense] officials will work with the U.S. Capitol Police to incrementally reduce the National Guard footprint as conditions allow,” he added.
Following the Jan. 6 attack by pro-Trump supporters at the Capitol that resulted in the death of five people, 25,000 National Guardsmen were deployed to Washington to provide increased security through President Biden’s inauguration.
The number of troops was gradually reduced with the intention of removing all guardsmen by mid-March.
However, one source told Fox News last month that it was “naive to think that in the middle of March [the troops] go away.”
The Pentagon could not confirm if there was any potential for National Guard troops to remain permanently at the U.S. Capitol.
“I don’t think anyone can answer that question right now,” Kirby told Fox News Tuesday.
While some lawmakers remained concerned about online threats made by QAnon supporters, who suggested Donald Trump would again rise to power on March 4 – the original Inauguration Day before being changed to Jan. 20 in 1937 – others have called for improved conditions at the Capitol and for troops to be sent home.
“They have proudly answered the call, served our country,” Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., wrote in a letter last week to the chief of the National Guard Bureau, following reports of 50 service members having gastrointestinal issues due to inadequate food during their deployment.
“Our troops don’t demand a five-star resort or expensive food, but at a minimum, they deserve meals that are safe to consume,” he continued, adding, “It’s time to get our troops home to their families.”
The request by Capitol Police for an extended guard presence was met with pushback, as some governors flatly refused to prolong their troops’ deployment in Washington, D.C.
The guardsmen expected to remain at the Capitol will come from various states across the country, Fox News confirmed Tuesday.
Pentagon officials told congressional lawmakers last month that they did not believe a threat to the Capitol persisted.
“We obviously work with our law enforcement partners to determine that threat. That’s obviously continuing to evolve,” acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security Robert Salesses testified.
“At this time, I’m not aware of a threat that is out there,” he added.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said he had also reviewed the security threats and agreed with Pentagon officials that the threat remains low.
Gov. Gavin Newsom used an evening State of the State speech to empathize with pandemic victims and tout California’s progress in defeating the coronavirus, sounding out a message that could resonate with voters in a potential recall election.
The Democratic governor gave his third version of the annual address at his most vulnerable point since taking office in 2019, with recall proponents harnessing voter frustration over year-long pandemic closures. While Newsom did not mention the recall campaign directly, he alluded to it by condemning “partisan political power grabs” — the first time he has publicly referenced the impending challenge.
In a break from tradition that highlighted how the pandemic has consumed California politics, the Democratic governor spoke from an empty Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles rather than addressing lawmakers at the state Capitol in Sacramento. Newsom also returned the statewide address to the evening, seizing an opportunity to make his case to a larger slice of an electorate largely judging the governor’s performance through the lens of the pandemic.
“Even as we grieve, let’s allow ourselves to dream of brighter days ahead,” Newsom said, heralding an approaching time when listeners could “visit your parents again, go to your daughter’s basketball game, show up for shift work without fearing infection.”
Unlike Newsom’s first two State of the State speeches, the Tuesday evening address contained few policy proposals. Instead, the governor conveyed a message of shared sacrifice tempered by hope for the months ahead. He honored frontline workers and victims while arguing California would rebound by aiding the “millions of Californians pushed out of the workforce and essential workers with no choice but to keep showing up.”
In another first, the governor accompanied his State of the State address with pictures of front-line workers and video of state efforts combating the pandemic. Legislators appeared on a virtual meeting split-screen.
“Covid was no one’s fault, but it quickly became everyone’s burden,” Newsom said, noting later that “in 2020, we simultaneously faced two once-in-a-generation crises when we combated the worst wildfire season in our state’s history in the middle of the pandemic.”
Newsom’s political fortunes have tracked the virus’ trajectory over the last year. Early praise for his aggressive moves to contain its spread turned into frustration as schools remained closed and many Californians chafed under fluctuating restrictions. Those dynamics have propelled an effort to recall Newsom to the brink of qualifying for the ballot. Proponents said Sunday that they have collected nearly 2 million signatures, which they believe is more than enough to clear the 1.5 million valid signature requirement.
On Tuesday, he offered some flashes off humility as he acknowledged falling short at times, saying “our progress hasn’t always felt fast enough” and “I’ve made mistakes.” He conceded that his restrictions have burdened residents.
“People are alive today because of the public health decisions we made — lives saved because of your sacrifice,” Newsom said. “Even so, I acknowledge it’s made life hard and unpredictable, and you’re exhausted with all of it.”
But the state’s picture is improving rapidly. Hospitalizations and viral transmissions have dropped sharply after nearly two months of stay-at-home orders and as more Californians get vaccinated. The Newsom administration has broadened the path for counties to reopen schools and businesses. Last week, California announced a timeline for residents to return in person to outdoor sporting events, concerts and theme parks.
Newsom has touted California’s progress in stops at vaccination sites around the state in recent weeks. While the governor studiously avoids commenting on the recall, the press conferences can have the feel of campaign events even as allies praise Newsom’s stewardship. Newsom referenced that statewide tour on Tuesday night, andhis address lent a similar opportunity to highlight declining infections and a raft of state assistance programs.
He made the case for his initial response as the virus arrived last March,arguing California had outdone other states in early actions to contain the virus. He said that success has continued, pointing to “the most robust vaccination program in America” to say “we lead on combating Covid.” And he looked forward, saying schools are on the verge of reopening andhighlighting the various financial lifelines California has extended to struggling individuals and small businesses that have been convulsed by repeated shutdowns. “We are providing certainty,” Newsom said. “Certainty that we are safely vaccinating Californians as quickly as possible. Certainty that we are safely reopening our economy. Certainty that we are safely getting our kids back in classrooms. All of which adds up to a brighter future for our state.”
The Democratic governor has the benefit this year of record California state budget revenues on top of potential tens of billions of dollars from the new federal stimulus package. All of that money will position Newsom to provide additional relief and cash to residents — some of which he and state lawmakers have already approved in the form of $600 grants for low-income workers and residents on state assistance programs.
But Newsom will continue to face criticism for an unemployment benefit system embarrassed by a string of fraudulent payments, as well as a sense from parents that he still hasn’t done enough to get schoolchildren back into classrooms.
In a reminder of the speech’s political stakes, both of the Republicans running to replace Newsom responded by lambasting the governor. Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said Newsom had cleared “the high bar for a recall,” emphasizing issues like shuttered schools, unemployment benefit lapses and homelessness.
“This crisis exceeds the current governor’s ability to deal with it,” Faulconer said. “California needs a comeback, but the only comeback Gavin Newsom is focused on is his own. He will say anything to save his political career.”
Republican businessperson John Cox, who lost overwhelmingly to Newsom in 2018, said in a statement that Newsom’s shortcomings did not begin with the pandemic. “Gavin Newsom wasn’t getting it done prior to the pandemic, his response was an epic failure as schools and businesses remain closed longer than any other state, and now he hasn’t adjusted his vision for a California comeback,” Cox said.
After Chris Ortiz posted a series of Instagram stories from inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, authorities say he got an Instagram message from a high school friend.
“CHRIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING,” the message said, according to court documents.
Ortiz responded, “Participating in government!”
“WHY,” the friend responded, “GO TO A TOWN HALL MEETING MAN.”
The friend continued to message Ortiz, 27, telling him the Capitol rioters were domestic terrorists and questioning his political beliefs. Eventually, the friend turned their conversation over to the FBI. “I love you Chris but I will never understand this,” the friend said.
Christopher Ortiz messaged with a high school friend after the friend saw him post videos from the Capitol riot.
Department of Justice
Ortiz is one of dozens of Capitol riot suspects who were reported to authorities by their own close personal contacts. According to court documents, the FBI has arrested many based on tips from family members, work colleagues, childhood friends and ex-lovers who called authorities after watching their acquaintances participate in the siege on TV or, in some cases, on the rioters’ own social media accounts.
Many tipsters described watching someone they knew or loved develop increasingly extreme beliefs in the time leading up to the riot, with some even messaging the person on January 6 to debate the beliefs that led them to the Capitol.
Richard Michetti messaged with his ex-girlfriend throughout the siege, texting her when he arrived in D.C. and sending videos of rioters yelling inside the building. Throughout the day, he tried to explain to her why he was there. “Gotta stop the vote,” he said, telling her he believed Donald Trump had won the election.
Prosecutors say this photo, submitted to the FBI through their tip line, shows Richard Michetti standing on the U.S. Capitol steps January 6.
Department of Justice
“I understand your point,” he said to her, “but what I’m saying is [ex’s name] the election was rigged and everyone knows it.” In another message, he wrote, “If you can’t see the election was stolen you’re a moron.”
Kevin Strong, who works for the Federal Aviation Administration in California, was reported to authorities by his employer’s Internal Investigations Branch after he was seen walking through the Capitol on a news broadcast. Another tipster said that someone had sent them a video of Strong in the U.S. Capitol with the message, “Kevin’s on TV!”
Another person who knew Strong told authorities his behavior had changed over the prior few months. He’d begun stockpiling items and telling others to get ready for martial law, messaging one person that World War III would occur on January 6, the tipster said. He was an adherent of QAnon conspiracy theories, the tipster said, and was known to declare he had “Q clearance” and was part of a “movement” greater than himself. Strong had recently purchased a new truck, believing QAnon would cover the debt, the tipster said.
For some, their loved ones’ increasingly divergent political views posed a danger. Guy Reffitt was not initially turned in by his family, but he threatened his son and daughter after his son participated in an interview with the FBI.
According to Reffitt’s son, Reffitt told his kids that if they turned him in, they would be traitors, “and you know what happens to traitors… traitors get shot,” he allegedly said. Reffitt’s son told authorities that his father had threatened to “put a bullet through” his sister’s phone if she was recording him or putting comments on social media. Reffitt’s spouse told authorities their kids were “disturbed” by Reffitt’s “extreme” statements.
Other alleged rioters confided in family members who would later report them to the FBI. Zachary Alam was seen in a video using a helmet to break through glass in the doorway to the Speaker’s Lobby — the same doorway where Ashli Babbitt was later fatally shot by police. After a video went viral that showed Alam smashing the glass, his relatives watched it “approximately 20 times” and confirmed that it was him, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say Zachary Alam, seen here in an image published in court documents, was filmed breaking through the glass panels of doors near the Speaker’s Lobby in the Capitol.
Department of Justice
According to the government, after the riot, Alam called a family member from a phone number he’d never used before, saying that he was sorry for what he’d done at the Capitol but that he would not turn himself in. Alam’s family member told prosecutors that after the riot, Alam had said the FBI was looking for him and asked relatives if he could stay with them. The relative gave the FBI the new phone number Alam used to call him, and he was arrested weeks later.
The FBI identified another rioter, Thomas Fee, after he was reported by his girlfriend’s sibling — who happened to be a special agent with the United States Diplomatic Security Service. The agent first learned Fee was at the rally through Fee’s girlfriend’s social media posts. The agent texted to ask Fee if he was in D.C. and Fee responded affirmatively, texting him a selfie from inside the Capitol Rotunda and a video of a crowd yelling “tyranny” and “Pelosi.” The agent initially deleted the photo and video Fee sent, but later recovered the media and reported him to his employer, the Diplomatic Security Service.
Some who turned in rioters expressed shock that they knew someone who participated in the attack. After Adam Johnson was photographed carrying a lectern through the U.S. Capitol, an acquaintance from his hometown reported him to the FBI. The tipster, Allan Mestel, told WFLA, “I felt a little disassociated for a minute,” he said. “Couldn’t believe it. The fact that I recognize somebody from our hometown, was— I was floored.”
After Adam Johnson was photographed carrying a lectern through the U.S. Capitol, an acquaintance from his hometown reported him to the FBI.
Getty Images
At least seven rioters were identified by current or former coworkers — including Danielle Doyle, a former account manager for the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team. Prosecutors say two former colleagues turned her in after employees circulated a CNN clip which appeared to show her inside the Capitol.
Another rioter, Brian McCreary was near the Speaker’s Lobby when Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot, prosecutors say. He was turned in by his coworkers at Domino’s Pizza, who said he expressed his political beliefs multiple times at work, including his belief that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. After the riot, McCreary sent his co-worker videos of the mob at the Capitol attempting to breach a door, confronting police officers. Toward the end of the video, authorities said, a gunshot can be heard.
Similarly, prosecutors say Dennis Sidorski — who was seen at the Capitol wearing a sweatshirt that said “American Supremacist” — was turned in by his former coworker and his former employee at the vehicle auction where he worked. And William Pepe — a Proud Boy indicted on conspiracy charges — was identified by his coworkers at the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority after he used sick leave to travel to D.C. and participate in the riot.
At least three rioters were reported by former romantic partners, including Larry Brock, a retired Air Force officer who was seen in photos carrying zip-tie handcuffs in the Senate chamber.
A man, later identified as retired Air Force officer Larry Brock, is seen wearing a helmet and tactical vest and holding plastic zip-tie handcuffs in the Senate Chamber during the riot on January 6, 2021.
Win McNamee / Getty Images
“I just know that when I saw this was happening I was afraid he would be there,” said Brock’s ex-wife when she called the FBI to identify him. “I think you already know he was there,” she added. His ex-wife told the FBI she was married to him for 18 years and that she recognized his military-style clothing and a patch from his prior military service.
Riley June Williams‘ ex-boyfriend called the FBI multiple times in the days after the riot, after he saw videos that appeared to show her directing crowds. The ex-boyfriend also alerted the FBI to videos that appeared to show Williams stealing a computer from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Williams’ attorney said that some accusations against her client were “overstated” and that the ex-boyfriend who turned her in had been abusive. The online investigative collective Bellingcat released an investigation last week that suggested Williams has a history of posting extremist anti-Semitic content.
Douglas Sweet, a Florida man indicted for his conduct at the riot, was arrested at the Capitol before his daughter, Robyn Sweet, could get in touch with him. His daughter didn’t report her father to authorities, but told CBS News last month that her father had found a new home in far-right politics, much of it online. She said she still loves her dad, and is hopeful they can mend their relationship.
“At the end of the day,” she said, “they’re your family. I feel like he really has been almost kind of brainwashed in a way.”
Los Angeles studentsare a critical step closer to a return to campus beginning in mid-April under a tentative agreement reached Tuesday between the teachers union and the L.A. Unified School District, signaling a new chapter in an unprecedented year of coronavirus-forced school closures.
The agreement, which must be ratified by members, establishes safety parameters for a return to campus and lays out a markedly different schedule that still relies heavily on online learning. The school day would unfold under a so-called hybrid format — meaning that students would conduct their studies on campus during part of the week and continue with their schooling online at other times.
Families would retain the option of keeping students in distance learning full time.
In a statement, UTLA President Cecily-Myart Cruz said the agreement provided safeguards and reassurance.
“With all of our key safety protocols met, this agreement reflects a uniform health and safety plan that we can be proud of as educators and that puts us on the path for a safe return, across LAUSD and in all of our schools,” Myart-Cruz said.
District officials provided a joint statement from Myart-Cruz and L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner.
“As we have both stated for some time, the right way to reopen schools must include the highest standard of COVID safety in schools, continued reduction of the virus in the communities we serve and access to vaccinations for school staff,” they said in the statement. “This agreement achieves that shared set of goals. It’s our shared commitment to the highest safety standards and spirit of trust and collaboration we will take with us back to schools.”
Under the agreement, members of United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians, would not have to return to work until they have had access to COVID-19 vaccinations and have achieved maximum immunity — a period of up to six weeks. That duration period — plus the amount of time needed to get vaccination appointments — is the main driver of a district timetable aiming to restart elementary schools on April 19.
The union has not signed off on a specific return date.
Middle and high schools would open later in April or early in May, according to a district source who was not authorized to speak on the record.
Another condition for a return is that Los Angeles County enter the state’s “red tier,” which would mean that the county is one step improved from the “purple tier,” the worst level of widespread coronavirus infection in the community. That parameter appears to be within reach, as the county is expected to leave the purple tier and enter the red tier within days.
If approved, the agreement would bring a measure of certainty to the remainder of the academic year for the families of 465,000 in kindergarten through 12th grade in the nation’s second-largest school system.
But it won’t restart on-campus instruction as soon as many families would like, and the school day will look markedly different. Campuses have been shut down in Los Angeles since March 13, 2020.
The Times learned details of the deal based on conversations with sources on both sides of the negotiations. Here is what appears to be in the agreement:
At the elementary level, students would attend five days a week in either a morning or early-afternoon session. The staggered schedule would allow for smaller classes, in keeping with state recommendations to keep students at least six feet apart.
Middle and high schools would resume with even starker changes. Students would attend two days a week on a staggered schedule. But instead of moving from class to class, students would remain in their advisory classroom — similar to a homeroom base — for the full day.
From their advisory class, students would carry out distance learning essentially as they are doing now; they would be trading online-from-home for online-from-a-classroom under the supervision of a teacher. Students would then “move” from class to class online — as they are doing now at home.
Advisory teachers would have their own schedule of classes — which they would conduct from school, but not necessarily to the students in front of them. To avoid mutual distraction, students would be provided with noise-cancelling headsets.
During one period a day the headsets would come off, and the teacher and students would work together on assignments and activities that are not part of the core academic work. These activities would include a focus on students’ social and emotional well-being.
For the most part, however, secondary students will not have in-person instruction even when they are on campus.
The approach to the secondary school day evolved from trying to combine strong safety protocols with the more complex scheduling of middle and high schools. Keeping students in their advisory class divides the school into small, stable groups. If a student becomes infected in one group, only that group would have to quarantine at home.
It also would have been challenging to reconfigure the master schedule of a secondary campus — and have students adjust to new teachers — so close to the end of the school year.
Educators will not be required to teach students in the classroom and on Zoom at the same time.
Under the deal, the district will commit to making “reasonable accommodations” for teachers when a doctor verifies that they are in a high-risk category related to COVID-19. Teachers who continue to work remotely for health reasons will be supported with an in-person substitute.
Other safety protocols also would be followed, including the mandatory wearing of masks.
A COVID-19 Compliance Task Force will be formed at every school. It would address health and safety compliance issues as they arise.
A return in late April would result in L.A. Unified forfeiting a substantial portion of state funding available to districts that reopen for kindergarten through second grade by April 1. But the district has qualified for other funding, providing a multibillion-dollar boost for efforts to address learning loss caused by the pandemic.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Stimulus payments could hit millions of Americans’ bank accounts by next week.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the 1.9 trillion relief package Wednesday. While no House Republicans have supported the bill, it is still expected to pass.
On Monday, President Joe Biden said he will sign the bill when it reaches his desk.
Included in the relief package are $1,400 stimulus checks for anyone who makes $75,000 or less, or couples earning up to $150,000. That’s your adjusted gross income on your tax return, not your annual salary.
A child tax credit will also be included for the first time: $3,000 for people with children ages 6 to 17, and $3,600 for children under 6. The money, however, will be paid out in installments of $300 per month starting in July until the end of the year.
Example 1: A couple with an income of $96,000 or less with two children age 6 to 17.
The family would qualify for four stimulus checks for a total of $5,600 paid out at once. In addition, the family would receive $3,000 per child, in this case it would be two. That means, the total payout by the end of the year would be $11,600 dollars.
Example 2: A single parent who makes $110,000 or less with one child age 6 to 17.
In that case, the parent would receive two $1,400 stimulus checks ($2,800) and one child tax credit of $3000. At the end of the year, you would have received a total of 5,800.
WASHINGTON – Press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House is facing “really difficult choices” on how to address the surge of undocumented migrant children coming to the United States.
“It’s incredibly difficult and quite an emotional issue for many of us in the White House, whether you’re a parent or not, or just watching these stories and hearing these reports,” Psaki said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
More than 3,250 migrant children are in custody along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report by The New York Times. Many of the children are staying in holding cells longer than the three days allowed by law, The Times reported.
Psaki said thousands of children are crossing the U.S. southern border because “this administration did not feel that it was humane or moral to send kids back … on the treacherous journey back to countries where they were fleeing persecution, where they were fleeing really difficult circumstances.”
She noted that because of the influx, it has been difficult to find facilities to transfer children where they could have access to lawyers, education and health care. She also said the Biden administration is taking more time to vet sponsors, or the adults to whom children would be turned over from the migrant facilities.
“During the Trump administration, sometimes there was a jump to connect kids to individuals, to adults, who claimed they were family members or claimed they knew them,” Psaki said. “There are issues of child trafficking, we need to prevent that, too.”
Under U.S. law, migrant children are separated from the adults with whom they arrive – often a grandparent, older sibling or other relatives – until federal officials can confirm the accompanying adult is their relative. The procedure is designed to protect minors from human traffickers and grant them legal protections, and it is different from the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy that separated children from their parents.
Children are often transferred to federal shelters until their sponsor is fully vetted, which could take weeks or months.
Psaki said the problem is “something that is front and center” for President Joe Biden.
“I’ve been in many meetings with the president where he asked: ‘How can this be faster? How many teachers do they have access to? Do we have enough health and medical experts?'” Psaki said. “Those are the kinds of conversations that are happening internally.
“The challenge is there are a lot of really difficult choices. We are trying to chart the best path forward. But there’s no question, this is a heartbreaking circumstance at the border.”
(AP)-As the latest federal pandemic relief package makes its way to President Joe Biden’s desk, Americans may be wondering when the benefits will reach them.
The $1.9 trillion known as the “American Rescue Plan” is massive, both in size and scope. It includes direct payments to most Americans, aid to small businesses, financial help for schools and much more to help the country recover from the financial ravages of the pandemic.
The house is expected to give its final approval early this week and then it heads to Biden for his signature. The timing of its passage is crucial — most notably because some pandemic unemployment benefits will be coming to an end on Sunday.
Millions of taxpayers could begin to see direct benefits almost immediately, some later this month and others taking several months to accomplish.
Here’s what you need to know about the main planks of the spending plan:
RELIEF CHECKS
The legislation provides a direct payment of $1,400 for a single taxpayer, or $2,800 for a married couple that files jointly, plus $1,400 per dependent. Individuals earning up to $75,000 would get the full amount, as would married couples with incomes up to $150,000.
The size of the check would shrink for those making slightly more, with a hard cut-off at $80,000 for individuals and $160,000 for married couples.
Biden estimates that 85% of Americans will be eligible for the payment. Some groups that were not eligible for prior payments — such as dependent college students and disabled adults — are now eligible.
Biden said the goal is to send out the payments starting this month.
“That means the mortgage can get paid. That means the child can stay in community college. That means maintaining the health insurance you have,” Biden said. “It’s going to make a big difference in so many of lives in this country.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the administration is doing everything in its power to expedite payments. As such, the Treasury is working to get more payments to taxpayers by direct deposit. The agency will be able to send direct deposit payments to those who have their information on file from 2019 or 2020 tax filings or who provided it through other programs.
Biden’s signature will not appear on the checks, a move his predecessor made that was criticized as a delay in getting payments out.
A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 30% of Americans say their current household income remains lower than it was when the pandemic began.
The IRS and the Treasury Department began to issue the last round of payments by both direct deposit and check in only a matter of days after the outlays became law in late December.
UNEMPLOYMENT
Expanded unemployment benefits from the federal government would be extended through Sept. 6 at $300 a week. That’s on top of payments from state unemployment insurance program.
Despite a modest recovery, millions of Americans remain unemployed. The plan would also extend two key pandemic programs, which benefit about 11.8 million Americans.
These pandemic unemployment benefits were set to expire Sunday, so if there is a delay in the bill’s passage there could be a gap in benefits. But the National Employment Law Project anticipates if things are finalized this week, states and existing beneficiaries likely won’t see any interruption in payments.
The first $10,200 of jobless benefits would be non-taxable for households with incomes under $150,000 but only for benefits from 2020. The IRS will have to issue guidelines on how to put this into practice.
Additionally, the measures provides a 100% subsidy of COBRA health insurance premiums to ensure that the laid-off workers can remain on their employer health plans at no cost from April 1 through the end of September.
TAX BREAKS
The package contains a number of valuable tax breaks. One of the most notable is an increase in the tax credit that taxpayers can claim for dependent children.
Under current law, most taxpayers can reduce their federal income tax bill by up to $2,000 per child. The bill would increase the tax break to $3,000 for every child age 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under the age of 6.
Families would get the full credit regardless of how little they make in a year.
The aim is to deliver the money, which is an advance payment on the tax credit, in smaller monthly payments instead of one larger lump sum.
The exact timing of when this money would arrive is still unclear. If the Treasury determines that a monthly payment isn’t feasible, then the payments are to be made as frequently as possible.
Elaine Maag, principal research associate in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said monthly payments could begin as soon as July but if the government opts for a quarterly payments it take until could fall.
Add in the $1,400 checks and other items in the proposal, and the legislation would reduce the number of children living in poverty by more than half, according to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
The bill also significantly expands the Earned Income Tax Credit for 2021 by making it available to people without children. The credit for low and moderate-income adults would be worth $543 to $1,502, depending on income and filing status.
The benefit of the EITC would not be felt until taxpayers file their returns for the 2021 tax year, which would typically be in the beginning of 2022.
The plan does not include student loan forgiveness, but it does allow for any income from the forgiveness of student loans be to be tax-free from 2021 through 2025.
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AP congressional reporter Kevin Freking and staff reporter Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.
House Democrats aim to pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Wednesday so President Joe Biden can sign it by the weekend.
The chamber received the Senate-passed package on Tuesday, and will take procedural steps to set up final approval Wednesday morning, according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s office. Biden aims to sign the legislation in time to beat a Sunday deadline to renew unemployment aid programs. It can take days for Congress to formally send huge bills to the White House.
The president previously said he expects direct payments of up to $1,400 to start hitting Americans’ bank accounts this month.
Democrats will likely pass the package without Republican votes, as the GOP questions the need for nearly $2 trillion more in federal spending. The bill was approved in the Senate without Republican support through the budget reconciliation process.
On Tuesday, House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters he is “110% confident that the votes exist to pass” the plan.
The legislation extends a $300 per week jobless benefit boost and programs expanding unemployment aid to millions more Americans through Sept. 6. It includes the stimulus payments, an expansion of the child tax credit, rental and utility assistance, and state, local and tribal government relief.
The bill also puts more money into Covid-19 vaccine distribution and testing, along with K-12 schools and higher education institutions.
House progressives had criticized changes the Senate made to a version of the plan representatives previously approved. However, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., signaled the group would still back the proposal as passed by the Senate.
Senators reduced the unemployment supplement to $300 from $400 and limited the number of people receiving direct payments in concessions to conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Democrats have said the legislation will cut child poverty and help households afford food and rent while the economy recovers from the pandemic. While the U.S. continues to regain jobs lost during the crisis, more than 18 million people were still receiving some form of unemployment benefits in mid-February.
Republicans have questioned the need for more economic stimulus spending as the U.S. ramps up its vaccination pace and moves toward a level of normalcy. They have also contended Democrats have focused on policies unrelated to the pandemic.
Jury selection in the trial of ex-Minneapoliscop Derek Chauvin charged in connection to the death of George Floyd began Tuesday, a day later than scheduled — even though a looming appellate ruling threatened to push the case back weeks or even months as the state tries to reinstate a third-degree murder count.
There were no updates Tuesday morning regarding a response from the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill began addressing the entire pool of potential jurors brought into the courtroom at 9 a.m. CT. The potential jurors will not be seen on-camera in the courtroom and names will not be used to protect their privacy.
State prosecutors filed a motion Monday with the state Court of Appeals asking to stop the case until the Minnesota Supreme Court makes a decision on whether or not to reinstate a charge of third-degree murder.
The second-degree murder charge requires prosecutors to prove that Chauvin’s conduct was a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death, and that Chauvin was committing felony assault at the time. The third-degree murder charge would require them to prove that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death through a dangerous act without regard for human life.
Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, technically has at least 30 days to file a petition to review the issue, but he told Cahill he does not intend to delay the matter. It could take another 30 days for the Supreme Court to review the matter and respond, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
The latest allegation is likely to escalate calls from some Democratic lawmakers for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo
ALBANY, N.Y. — Another aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has reported harassment by the governor, this time during an encounter at New York’s Executive Mansion, the Times Union reported Tuesday.
The unnamed aide told a supervisor that the governor inappropriately touched her at the mansion, the governor’s home, where she’d been summoned for work late last year, according to the newspaper.
This is the fourth allegation of harassment or inappropriate behavior by an employee of the governor during his time in office.
Another woman, Anna Ruch, has said Cuomo made an unwanted advance when she met him at a wedding. She was not a state employee. Karen Hinton, a former aide to the governor and Mayor Bill de Blasio, has also accused him of an inappropriate encounter when she was working as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development when Cuomo was the department’s secretary.
The new report has been referred to state Attorney General Tish James’ office, according to the Times Union. James is overseeing the investigation of harassment claims against the governor.
The latest allegation is likely to escalate calls from some Democratic lawmakers for Cuomo to resign. The majority leader of New York’s state Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, called on the governor to quit on Sunday. Cuomo has said he has no plans to resign.
Demonstrators stand outside the Georgia Capitol building to oppose voting restrictions.Credit…Megan Varner/Getty Images
After hours of intense and occasionally emotional debate, the Republican-controlled State Senate in Georgia voted 29-20 on Monday to approve a bill that would impose new voting restrictions in the state, including a repeal of no-excuse absentee voting.
Multiple Republican senators abstained from voting, signaling some unease with the strident nature of the voting restrictions and indicating that they could face an uphill battle in the weeks ahead. The Senate bill passed just one vote above the required 28-vote majority threshold.
The bill will now go to the State House of Representatives, which is also led by Republicans. Last week, the House passed its own omnibus bill of voting restrictions that included similar barriers to the ballot box, including limiting early voting times.
Though each chamber passed its own bill, some legislators in Georgia view the House legislation as the likely central vehicle for voting overhauls in the state. Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, has indicated that he generally supports “securing the vote,” repeating the Republican euphemism for imposing new voting laws in response to false claims of voter fraud following the 2020 election. Mr. Kemp, however, has not weighed in on many of the specific provisions in either bill.
Georgia has become one of the focal points of a national movement among Republicans to erect new barriers to voting in the wake of former President Donald J. Trump’s loss to President Biden in November. Mr. Biden narrowly won Georgia, as did the two Democratic Senate candidates in January.
At almost the same time that the Georgia Senate was passing its legislation on Monday, the governor of Iowa was signing new voting restrictions into law. The Iowa bill — passed on a party-line vote, with only Republicans voting in favor and only Democrats voting against — shortens both the early-voting period and Election Day voting hours.
During the hourslong debate in Georgia on Monday, Democrats rose repeatedly to denounce the Senate legislation, known as S.B. 241, as seeking to deny the right to vote to numerous groups, especially Black voters and other Georgians of color, and to erect new barriers to the ballot box simply in response to an election that Republicans in the state lost.
“We don’t have to continue this legacy of blocking access to the ballot,” said Nan Orrock, a state senator from Atlanta. “This is such a cloud over Georgia that these bills abound in our midst.”
Harold Jones II, the Democratic whip in the State Senate, noted the state’s history of laws aimed at suppressing Black voters, imploring his colleagues to listen to the protests and pleas from communities of color about the impact the new voting restrictions would have.
“As many of my colleagues come up, you would hear many of them, I’m sure, become emotional, and possibly their voice will crack, because that most basic right was denied to us,” Mr. Jones, who is Black, said. “It’s not 1800, it’s not 1850s. It is right here in this room. Many of the senators that sit here lived through that process. I see that every day with my parents. We live that. We understand how that most basic right was denied.”
Matt Brass, a Republican state senator who was removed as chairman of the redistricting committee by the Republican lieutenant governor after he backed efforts to overturn the election, rose in support of the bill, saying he was representing the Georgia voters who had lost confidence in elections.
“We still need the people of Georgia to believe in the process, and right now they are unconvinced,” Mr. Brass said.
But Senate Democrats pointed to the timing of the bill — following Republican losses in 2020 — as evidence that Republicans were not simply trying to address confidence in elections.
“The motivations are really suspect because it’s introduced immediately after voters of color dramatically increased their use of absentee voting this past year,” said Jen Jordan, a Democratic state senator from outside Atlanta.
“There is this feeling where you don’t know where you stand, and the only way to secure your place is by refreshing a browser,” said John Brownstein, a Boston Children’s Hospital researcher who runs VaccineFinder.org, an online portal that helps people book vaccine appointments.
For Brittany Marsh, who owns a pharmacy in Little Rock, Ark., figuring out what to do with leftover doses was a daily headache.
She said the number of no-shows had increased as vaccines have become more available, and others have had to cancel at the last minute because they developed Covid-19 or were exposed to someone who did. Although sometimes people do call, she said, “more times than not, we just have a no-show.”
Ms. Marsh has been testing Dr. B’s service for a few weeks and said it saved her workers the hassle of calling a waiting list of other customers to quickly fill the open slots. With Dr. B, she said, “I know that they’re calling at least what we think is the right group of people to come get those shots, so that we don’t have to ever waste any.”
Dr. B has revealed few details about which providers have expressed interest in using its platform, other than to say the providers are based in 30 states and include doctors’ offices, pharmacies and the medical departments at large academic institutions.
The company collects sensitive personal information that it vows to closely safeguard, even though, because the company is not itself a medical provider, the data is not protected by the federal health care privacy law known as HIPAA.
When asked about his long-term plans for the company, Mr. Massoumi demurred, noting that the race to vaccinate was not going to end anytime soon.
The Republican National Committee has responded to a cease-and-desist letter from former President Trump that demanded that the RNC and other GOP campaign committees stop using his name and likeness in their fundraising materials.
The RNC told the ex-president’s lawyer that it “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech.” The RNC’s response was first reported by Politico.
RNC lawyer Justin Riemer, asserted that the party would continue to refer to public figures, and he stated that Mr. Trump had in fact “reaffirmed” with RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel just this past weekend that he approves of the RNC’s use of his name to raise money. The RNC continued to use Mr. Trump’s name in its correspondence, including one email on Sunday that urged supporters to “DEFEND President Trump’s America First policies.”
Last week, Politico reported that attorneys for Mr. Trump sent cease-and-desist letters to the RNC, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and National Republican Senatorial Committee for — according to them — using his name in fundraising merchandise and emails. Other “faux PACs” that were also using Mr. Trump’s name also received letters.
The cease-and-desist letter to the RNC asked the committee to “immediately cease and desist the unauthorized use of President Donald J. Trump’s name, image and/or likeness in all fundraising, persuasion and/or issue speech.”
The Trump campaign and RNC joint fundraising committee, Trump Victory, raised $366 million dollars in 2019 and 2020. In his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Mr. Trump encouraged donors to give to his new PAC, Save America, which will have him competing with other GOP groups for money.
“There’s only one way to contribute to our efforts to elect America first Republican conservatives and in turn, make America great again and that’s through Save America PAC and DonaldJTrump.com,” Mr. Trump said. He repeated the fundraising pitch in a statement Monday night and said, “No more money for RINOS (Republican in name only). They do nothing but hurt the Republican Party and our great voting base – they will never lead us to Greatness.”
His move to control the use of his image sets up a competition with the GOP for donations that could result in giving Mr. Trump more power to recast the Republican Party in his image. While in many cases their interests will be aligned, the former president and Republicans could clash during the primaries. The RNC does not take a position in primaries, and the campaign arms of the Senate and House GOP are likely to stand by any GOP incumbents, though their levels of support may vary.
But Mr. Trump has already signaled he’s out for vengeance and looking for people to challenge the Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach him earlier this year. He has already endorsed Max Miller, a former aide who is running to unseat Ohio Congressman Anthony Gonzalez, one of the ten House Republicans who voted for Mr. Trump’s impeachment.
“Get rid of them all,” Mr. Trump said during his CPAC speech, referring to the Republicans who backed impeachment.
No, they keep pushing back the date we’ll reopen. But I think President Biden’s announcement that there should be enough vaccine by the end of May as opposed to the end of July may spur businesses to open a little earlier than they were planning.
I mean, it’s amazing what adults in the room can do. Trump had 400 million vaccine doses. But he kind of dumped them on states, and said, “That’s your problem now.”
So it’s been good that Biden has been working with Gavin on setting up vaccination sites in Oakland and Cal State L.A. Their interests are aligned.
What about everything before that? Do you think that criticisms of Governor Newsom — for abruptly changing directions and confusing messaging around restrictions, for example, or his French Laundry dinner — have been unfair?
The simple answer is I really believe he’s done a very good job under very trying circumstances. I can’t remember a governor since World War II who’s had so many things to deal with at the same time.
The pandemic, keeping people alive, shutting down the economy to do that, wildfires, social unrest — there was no precedent to point to. There have been some midcourse corrections but at the end of the day, people understand we are essentially in a war.
The governor is seeing a credible recall effort. I have to ask how you think this moment compares with 2003 and your experience being recalled. Do you think political division is more intense now?
Jayapal said she personally called Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday morning when it looked like Democrats might relent to a GOP proposal on unemployment aid and told him: “We cannot weaken this thing any more, or I don’t know what’s going to happen in the House.”
Jayapal said the Senate changes proved “relatively minor in the grand scheme of things,” with the exception of the minimum wage hike — a loss the left had already been bracing for. To get the wage raised, she said, “this makes it clear that we’ll have to reform the filibuster.”
House passage, whether Tuesday or Wednesday, would deliver on Biden’s top policy ambition from the 2020 campaign: a rapid investment in vaccines, school reopenings and other public health measures intended to revive an ailing economy.
Two moderate House Democrats voted against Biden’s package in February: Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon.
Schrader announced Monday that he plans to support it after the Senate’s changes, noting that he still has concerns about “the size and scope” of the bill but says “the Senate changes provide meaningful relief for Oregonians in need.”
Still, whether or not the party is fully united on the final vote, most Democrats argue that they’re making an informed leap toward spending that’s designed to combat virus-era job losses on par with the depths of last decade’s Great Recession.
“When people get the money, they’re not going to admire it in their bank vault. They’re going to spend it,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said. “That’s going to multiply the economic impact, and it’s going to be hugely beneficial.”
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