Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., called out fellow Democrats standing in the way of abolishing the Senate filibuster, implying her party must get tougher to take on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Omar, a progressive Squad member, said Democrats can’t repeat the mistakes of former President Barack Obama’s administration by failing to deliver sweeping reforms when they last had full control over Congress and the White House. 

“Democrats can’t repeat the mistake of 2009, we must abolish the filibuster & move legislation that helps us deliver progress for the American people,” Omar tweeted Wednesday. “Let’s grow a backbone.”

The Minnesota Democrat was replying to a statement made by McConnell in Kentucky on Wednesday where he said in clear terms that his priority is taking down President Biden and Democrats: “100 percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration,” McConnell said. 

ILHAN OMAR TO REINTRODUCE BILL CREATING NEW FEDERAL BOARD TO INDEPENDENTLY INVESTIGATE POLICE MISCONDUCT

Biden has come under criticism from Republicans for launching his administration with talk of building bridges but instead deciding to go it alone on his priorities – like a massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law that got no GOP support. 

But Omar and other Democrats have blamed the lack of GOP cooperation on political obstruction that McConnell’s comments encapsulate. 

“Please stop asking us about bipartisanship when this is what the leader of the other party is focused on,” Omar tweeted in response to McConnell’s statement. 

McConnell’s statement was reminiscent of his comments in 2010 to the National Journal in advance of Obama’s first mid-term elections. “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” McConnell said at the time. 

Biden seemed to brush off McConnell’s pledge Wednesday at the White House and tried to strike a conciliatory tone toward McConnell’s quest to win back power. 

MCCONNELL DODGES QUESTIONS ABOUT LIZ CHENEY

“Look, he said that in our last administration with Barack — he was going to stop everything — and I was able to get a lot done with him,” Biden said. 

Democrats have the slimmest of majorities in the House and the Senate as Republicans are well-positioned to regain some power in Congress in 2022. 

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So with the window of opportunity closing, progressives are putting pressure on moderate Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to abolish the legislative filibuster. Doing so would allow Democrats to pass ambitious priorities like voting rights legislation, D.C. statehood and police reform with a simple majority vote. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., called out fellow Democrats standing in the way of abolishing the Senate filibuster, implying her party must get tougher to take on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Omar, a progressive Squad member, said Democrats can’t repeat the mistakes of former President Barack Obama’s administration by failing to deliver sweeping reforms when they last had full control over Congress and the White House. 

“Democrats can’t repeat the mistake of 2009, we must abolish the filibuster & move legislation that helps us deliver progress for the American people,” Omar tweeted Wednesday. “Let’s grow a backbone.”

The Minnesota Democrat was replying to a statement made by McConnell in Kentucky on Wednesday where he said in clear terms that his priority is taking down President Biden and Democrats: “100 percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration,” McConnell said. 

ILHAN OMAR TO REINTRODUCE BILL CREATING NEW FEDERAL BOARD TO INDEPENDENTLY INVESTIGATE POLICE MISCONDUCT

Biden has come under criticism from Republicans for launching his administration with talk of building bridges but instead deciding to go it alone on his priorities – like a massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law that got no GOP support. 

But Omar and other Democrats have blamed the lack of GOP cooperation on political obstruction that McConnell’s comments encapsulate. 

“Please stop asking us about bipartisanship when this is what the leader of the other party is focused on,” Omar tweeted in response to McConnell’s statement. 

McConnell’s statement was reminiscent of his comments in 2010 to the National Journal in advance of Obama’s first mid-term elections. “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” McConnell said at the time. 

Biden seemed to brush off McConnell’s pledge Wednesday at the White House and tried to strike a conciliatory tone toward McConnell’s quest to win back power. 

MCCONNELL DODGES QUESTIONS ABOUT LIZ CHENEY

“Look, he said that in our last administration with Barack — he was going to stop everything — and I was able to get a lot done with him,” Biden said. 

Democrats have the slimmest of majorities in the House and the Senate as Republicans are well-positioned to regain some power in Congress in 2022. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

So with the window of opportunity closing, progressives are putting pressure on moderate Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to abolish the legislative filibuster. Doing so would allow Democrats to pass ambitious priorities like voting rights legislation, D.C. statehood and police reform with a simple majority vote. 

The media have noticeably taken Rep. Liz Cheney’s, R-Wyo., side in her current battle with Republican colleagues who are seeking to oust her from her position as House Republican Conference chair following a series of critical comments about former President Donald Trump.

“She’s standing tall,” CNN anchor Poppy Harlow said of Cheney on “CNN Newsroom” on Thursday. 

Harlow, her co-anchor Jim Sciutto, and their CNN panel lavished praise on Cheney, with POLITICO congressional reporter Melanie Zanona marveling that the congresswoman is now “on the verge of becoming a woman in exile in the GOP.” But, Zanona said, Cheney “is doing what she believes is right for the country.”

“They’re trying to silence her and tell her to shut up,” Zanona later said of the Republicans, with Harlow nodding along and saying, “that’s a great point.”

Similarly, CNN political pundit Sophia Nelson penned a blunt USA Today piece entitled, “”Rep. Liz Cheney is courageous while Republican men are profiles in cowardice.”

BIDEN, WHEN ASKED ABOUT LIZ CHENEY, SAYS ‘I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE REPUBLICANS’

And perhaps most notably, the Washington Post gave Cheney a platform to speak her mind and double down on her condemnation of Trump, accusing him of stoking the violence that occurred on Capitol Hill on January 6.

“While embracing or ignoring Trump’s statements might seem attractive to some for fundraising and political purposes, that approach will do profound long-term damage to our party and our country,” Cheney wrote in her op-ed. “Trump has never expressed remorse or regret for the attack of Jan. 6 and now suggests that our elections, and our legal and constitutional system, cannot be trusted to do the will of the people.” 

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who served in the George W. Bush administration and recalls very well how the media treated them back then, said he never thought he’d live to see the day when the press put a Cheney on a pedestal.

REPUBLICANS INCREASINGLY VOCAL ABOUT HOLDING ANOTHER CHENEY VOTE SOON

Fox News host Howard Kurtz said the media’s sudden admiration for Cheney is making his head spin as well.

Fox News contributor and The Hill’s Joe Concha said he had a theory for the media’s change of heart – one that has been proven a few times over the past few years.

“Liz Cheney is the newest ‘It Girl.’ If you’re a Republican and go against your own party on X, Y, Z, you get the same love John McCain and Mitt Romney and Adam Kinzinger received when they did same as useful ‘It Guys’ at various times.,” Concha told Fox News. “Kinda ironic when you think about the fact that the media patently loathed Dick Cheney when he was George W. Bush’s vice president. But this is just how it works.” 

Rep. Cheney was more than just critical of Trump after the Capitol riot – she was also one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach the president for “incitement of insurrection.” Amid the calls for her removal as the No. 3 Republican in the House, Cheney warned the Party that they need to be wary of listening to the “Trump cult of personality.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio recently told Fox News that the votes are there to remove Cheney from her leadership position next week.

“I can’t imagine that they will continue to support her in that leadership position,” former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows agreed.

Republicans are eyeing Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, as Cheney’s replacement. She has already received Trump’s endorsement.

Of the GOP’s favored candidate, CNN pundits suggested that the Republicans are only choosing Stefanik because they need another female lawmaker to save face for ousting Cheney.

The media have noticeably taken Rep. Liz Cheney’s, R-Wyo., side in her current battle with Republican colleagues who are seeking to oust her from her position as House Republican Conference chair following a series of critical comments about former President Donald Trump.

“She’s standing tall,” CNN anchor Poppy Harlow said of Cheney on “CNN Newsroom” on Thursday. 

Harlow, her co-anchor Jim Sciutto, and their CNN panel lavished praise on Cheney, with POLITICO congressional reporter Melanie Zanona marveling that the congresswoman is now “on the verge of becoming a woman in exile in the GOP.” But, Zanona said, Cheney “is doing what she believes is right for the country.”

“They’re trying to silence her and tell her to shut up,” Zanona later said of the Republicans, with Harlow nodding along and saying, “that’s a great point.”

Similarly, CNN political pundit Sophia Nelson penned a blunt USA Today piece entitled, “”Rep. Liz Cheney is courageous while Republican men are profiles in cowardice.”

BIDEN, WHEN ASKED ABOUT LIZ CHENEY, SAYS ‘I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE REPUBLICANS’

And perhaps most notably, the Washington Post gave Cheney a platform to speak her mind and double down on her condemnation of Trump, accusing him of stoking the violence that occurred on Capitol Hill on January 6.

“While embracing or ignoring Trump’s statements might seem attractive to some for fundraising and political purposes, that approach will do profound long-term damage to our party and our country,” Cheney wrote in her op-ed. “Trump has never expressed remorse or regret for the attack of Jan. 6 and now suggests that our elections, and our legal and constitutional system, cannot be trusted to do the will of the people.” 

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who served in the George W. Bush administration and recalls very well how the media treated them back then, said he never thought he’d live to see the day when the press put a Cheney on a pedestal.

REPUBLICANS INCREASINGLY VOCAL ABOUT HOLDING ANOTHER CHENEY VOTE SOON

Fox News host Howard Kurtz said the media’s sudden admiration for Cheney is making his head spin as well.

Fox News contributor and The Hill’s Joe Concha said he had a theory for the media’s change of heart – one that has been proven a few times over the past few years.

“Liz Cheney is the newest ‘It Girl.’ If you’re a Republican and go against your own party on X, Y, Z, you get the same love John McCain and Mitt Romney and Adam Kinzinger received when they did same as useful ‘It Guys’ at various times.,” Concha told Fox News. “Kinda ironic when you think about the fact that the media patently loathed Dick Cheney when he was George W. Bush’s vice president. But this is just how it works.” 

Rep. Cheney was more than just critical of Trump after the Capitol riot – she was also one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach the president for “incitement of insurrection.” Amid the calls for her removal as the No. 3 Republican in the House, Cheney warned the Party that they need to be wary of listening to the “Trump cult of personality.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio recently told Fox News that the votes are there to remove Cheney from her leadership position next week.

“I can’t imagine that they will continue to support her in that leadership position,” former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows agreed.

Republicans are eyeing Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, as Cheney’s replacement. She has already received Trump’s endorsement.

Of the GOP’s favored candidate, CNN pundits suggested that the Republicans are only choosing Stefanik because they need another female lawmaker to save face for ousting Cheney.

GENEVA – France joined the United States on Thursday in supporting an easing of patent and other protections on COVID-19 vaccines that could help poorer countries get more doses and speed the end of the pandemic. While the backing from two countries with major drug makers is important, many obstacles remain.

The move to support waiving intellectual property protections on vaccines under World Trade Organization rules marked a dramatic shift for the United States — and drew cheers from activists, complaints from Big Pharma, and a lot of questions about what comes next. Washington had previously lined up with many other developed nations opposed to the idea floated by India and South Africa in October.

Attention is now turning to those richer nations, notably in the European Union — and France was the first to voice its support.

MODERNA’S COVID-19 BOOSTER VACCINE SHOWS PROMISE AGAINST VARIANTS, COMPANY SAYS

“I completely favor this opening up of the intellectual property,” French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday on a visit to a vaccine center.

But he also expressed doubt — as the pharmaceutical companies have — that the measure would be the panacea some hope. Even if patents are waived, he said, drug makers in places like Africa currently are not equipped to make COVID-19 vaccines — so donations of doses should be prioritized instead.

Another key hurdle remains: Any any single country could block a decision at the WTO, a Geneva-based trade body of 164 member states, to agree to a waiver.

The EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the 27-nation bloc was ready to talk about the U.S. proposal — but cagily remained noncommittal for now.

“We are ready to discuss how the U.S. proposal for waiver on intellectual property protection for COVID vaccines could help” end the crisis, she said in a video address. “In the short run, however, we call upon all vaccine producing countries to allow exports and to avoid measures that disrupt supply chains.”

That echoed the position of the global pharmaceutical industry, which insists a faster solution would be for rich countries that have vaccine stockpiles to start sharing them with poorer ones.

The industry insists that production of coronavirus vaccines is complicated and can’t be ramped up by easing intellectual property protections. Instead, it insists that reducing bottlenecks in supply chains and a scarcity of ingredients that go into vaccines are the more pressing issues for now.

“A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem,” said the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations. “Waiving patents of COVID-19 vaccines will not increase production nor provide practical solutions needed to battle this global health crisis.”

The industry also says an IP waiver will do more harm than good in the long run by reducing the incentives that push innovators to make tremendous leaps, as they did with the vaccines that have been churned out in a blistering, unprecedented speed to help fight COVID-19.

Supporters say a waiver would be important because it would allow manufacturers around the world to get access to the recipes for making the life-saving vaccines as well as the ingredients. They point to unused capacity — factories that could churn out vaccines but can’t because of the intellectual property protections.

Some critics say developing countries have been seeking to water down those protections for years — long before the pandemic — and say it’s not clear that there are any manufacturers standing by that are ready or able to produce COVID-19 vaccines. They note that the vaccines currently on the market can be incredibly difficult to make, and the know-how is a bigger obstacle to ramping up manufacturing.

Many experts and advocacy groups say any such waiver would need to be followed up by transferring the required technology to developing countries, too.

Intellectual property expert Shyam Balganesh, a professor at Columbia Law School, said a waiver would remove “a lot of the bureaucracy” around WTO rules, but it would only go so far because of other bottlenecks in the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines.

FDA REVIEWING PFIZER COVID-19 VACCINE REQUEST FOR KIDS ‘AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE’

In closed-door WTO talks last month, the EU, Britain and Switzerland said upending or undermining IP rights was a “no-go” because those rights helped contribute to expanding production of COVID-19 vaccines, according to a Geneva trade official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Norway’s Foreign Minister, Ine Eriksen Soereide, last month warned against “this type of experimental trade policy” during the pandemic when “we should rather be concerned with practical solutions that give us more vaccines.”

After the Biden announcement, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU Office, called on Europe now to “put everyone’s health and human rights before private profit” and add its support to the waiver idea.

“Today, Europe wakes up to a new political reality that its position on hoarding the rights to make COVID-19 vaccines is now untenable,” she said.

She was but one voice among civil society, progressive groups and international institutions that were euphoric about the Biden administration’s stance, which marks a nearly complete reversal in U.S. policy under the Trump administration that was critical of both the WTO and the World Health Organization.

“A waiver of patents for #COVID19 vaccines & medicines could change the game for Africa, unlocking millions more vaccine doses & saving countless lives. We commend the leadership shown by South Africa, India & the United States, & urge others to back them,” WHO Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti tweeted.

Just over 20 million vaccine doses have been administered across the African continent, which counts some 1.3 billion people.

Gavi, the vaccine alliance that is co-leading the U.N.-backed effort to get shots to countries where they are needed, also welcomed the U.S. decision and an American commitment to also boost production of the raw materials that go into vaccines and are in short supply.

Doctors Without Borders, an advocacy group also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres that sends health workers to countries in need, said many low-income countries where it operates have only received 0.3% of the global supply of coronavirus vaccines.

“MSF applauds the U.S. government’s bold decision to support the waiving of intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines during this time of unprecedented global need,” said Avril Benoît, executive director of MSF-USA.

She said any waiver should apply not just to vaccines, but other medical tools for COVID-19, including treatments for infected people and testing systems.

There is precedent. In 2003, WTO members agreed to waive patent rights and allow poorer countries to import generic treatments for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Many hope for a historic replay to fight COVID-19.

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The Africa CDC director, John Nkengasong, told reporters: “We believe that when the history of this pandemic is written, history will remember the move by the U.S. government as doing the right thing at the right time.”