Politics

By Moira Warburton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans said on Wednesday they may have the votes to pass a bill protecting same-sex marriage rights nationwide, the day after the measure passed the House of Representatives with a bipartisan majority.

The measure, intended to head off any Supreme Court effort to roll back gay marriage rights, passed the House on Tuesday with all Democrats and 47 Republican representatives – just over a fifth of their caucus – voting in favor.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday said he was “really impressed by how much bipartisan support it got in the House.”

When the Supreme Court last month struck down its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling protecting the right to abortion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should also reconsider its past rulings that guaranteed access to contraception and the right to gay marriage because they relied on the same legal arguments as Roe.

Under Senate rules, Schumer would need at least 10 Republicans in favor to pass the bill in the 50-50 Senate.

Senator John Thune, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said he believed a bill codifying gay marriage could receive enough Republican support to pass.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. We haven’t assessed that at all, yet,” he told reporters when asked if 10 Republicans could back such legislation. “But as a general matter, I think that is something people in the country have come to accept.”

Several other Republicans said they could support the bill. Senator Susan Collins co-sponsored a Senate version of the House bill. Senator Thom Tillis told CNN on Wednesday that he would “probably” vote in favor.

Senator Rob Portman, another co-sponsor, said the bill sends “an important message.”

Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Saturday that the Supreme Court was “clearly wrong” in establishing a federal right to gay marriage. Senator Lindsey Graham said he would not support a bill codifying same-sex marriage.

Other Republicans said they would wait to read the text of the bill before deciding how they would vote.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney called the House legislation “unnecessary.”

“I haven’t given consideration to that legislation in part because the law isn’t changing and there’s no indication that it will,” he said, adding that Justice Thomas had “opened a lot of doors that no other justices walk through.”

(Reporting by Moira Warburton, additional reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)

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By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced two bills on Wednesday to reform election laws, seeking to block a repeat of then-President Donald Trump’s failed attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.

The legislation, among other things, would make clear that the vice president has only a ceremonial role in certifying election results, after a mob of Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to force then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election result.

The action came amid growing evidence from the House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6 melee that Trump sought to overturn his loss by spreading falsehoods about a rigged election.

Introduced by the group led by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican Senator Susan Collins, the two bills address a range of issues, from the handling of election results and presidential transitions to mail-in ballots, election record security and threats against election workers.

“We urge our colleagues in both parties to support these simple, commonsense reforms,” said a statement released by the group of seven Democrats and nine Republicans.

Similar legislation is also being pursued by two Democrats, Senator Richard Durbin and Senate Rules Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar, along with independent Senator Angus King. Democrats in the House are also pursuing legislation.

Lawmakers hope to enact a package of election law reforms this year, while the House and Senate are under Democratic control.

“The January 6th commission has added urgency,” King said in a statement welcoming the bipartisan group’s legislation. “This will help build consensus around approaches that will reinforce the seams in the fabric of democracy we’ve seen stretched too thin.”

One bill introduced on Wednesday would reform the 1887 Electoral Count Act by clarifying the appropriate state and federal roles in choosing the president and vice president, and provide clear guidelines on when federal resources can be allocated to eligible presidential candidates.

A second piece of legislation would double federal penalties for those who threaten or intimidate election workers, poll watchers, voters or candidates. It would also seek to improve the handling of mail-in ballots by the U.S. Postal System and states, authorize the federal agency that administers elections and safeguard election records.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Richard Chang and Jonathan Oatis)

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By Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden plans to speak with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, by the end of the month at a moment of simmering tensions between the countries over Taiwan and trade.

“I think I’ll be talking to President Xi within the next 10 days,” Biden told reporters as he returned from a climate-related trip to Massachusetts.

The long-discussed call between the two leaders, their first in four months, would come at a crucial moment given tensions over the status of Taiwan, and as the Biden administration weighs cutting import duties on goods from China to help reduce inflation pressures on American consumers.

The United States calls China its main strategic rival and says high-level engagement is important to keeping the difficult relationship stable and preventing it from veering inadvertently into conflict. Last month, Washington pushed NATO to adopt a strategic document calling China a security challenge.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Biden appeared to cast doubt on a trip reportedly planned by House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit Taiwan next month.

“I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now, but I don’t know what the status of it is,” Biden said.

Beijing said on Tuesday that it would respond with “forceful measures” should Pelosi visit the Chinese-claimed island, and that such a visit would “seriously undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Pelosi’s office declined to comment on whether the visit is moving forward, citing security concerns. The State Department has called the trip “hypothetical.” Plans for the trip were reported https://on.ft.com/3B0jKgc by the Financial Times, which also said the White House had expressed concerns.

China considers the democratically-governed island its own territory, and the issue is a constant irritant in ties between Beijing and Washington.

Biden’s administration has repeatedly spoken of its “rock-solid” commitment to the island’s security.

U.S. military vessels were conducting transits through the Taiwan Strait as recently as Tuesday, angering Beijing, which sent fighters across the strait’s median line this month following a visit to Taipei by U.S. Senator Rick Scott.

On trade, the Biden administration has been at odds with China over fulfilling its commitments to existing agreements.

But rising inflation has prompted a look at possible tariff relief, including on the ‘Section 301’ tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump, covering some $370 billion in Chinese imports.

People familiar with the tariff deliberations have told Reuters that Biden also is weighing whether to pair a removal of some tariffs with a new investigation into China’s industrial subsidies and efforts to dominate key sectors, such as semiconductors. Such a probe could lead to more tariffs.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Costas Pitas and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Rosalba O’Brien)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden will announce a set of executive actions aimed at addressing climate change on Wednesday in a visit to the site of a former coal-fired plant in Massachusetts that is playing a role in supporting the state’s offshore wind industry.

Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups have been calling for the White House to take aggressive measures on climate change after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said last week he was not ready to support key climate provisions in Congress, a critical loss in the evenly divided Senate.

In a visit to Somerset, Massachusetts, Biden will stress that climate change is “an existential threat to our nation and to the world” and will make clear that “if Congress is not going to act on this emergency, then he will,” said a White House official.

The former coal-fired power plant that Biden will visit is becoming a manufacturing hub for undersea cables that will support Massachusetts’s offshore wind industry, illustrating the switch from fossil fuels to renewable fuels that Biden has been promoting as critical to reducing climate emissions.

While there, he will unveil a set of executive actions that include steps to protect communities facing extreme heat with money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Health and Human Services Department’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

The official said Biden also will announce additional actions to boost the domestic offshore wind industry.

Biden has been under pressure to declare a climate emergency, which would enable the use of the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of a wide range of renewable energy products and systems. But the president is not expected to take that step on Wednesday.

Biden promised tough action on climate change in his presidential campaign and pledged in international climate negotiations to cut climate pollution by 50% by 2030 and reach 100% clean electricity by 2035.

But his climate agenda has been derailed by several major setbacks, including clinching enough congressional support to pass crucial climate and clean energy measures in a federal budget bill, record-setting gasoline prices, and global energy market disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A Supreme Court ruling last month limiting the federal government’s authority to issue sweeping regulations to reduce carbon emissions from power plants also is undermining Biden’s climate plans.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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By Rose Horowitch and Moira Warburton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill protecting gay marriage rights, after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade imperiled similar precedents that protected rights to same-sex relations and contraception.

The bill, which passed the Democratic-controlled chamber by a vote of 267-157 with support from 47 Republicans, establishes federal protections for gay marriage and prohibits anyone from denying the validity of a marriage based on the race or sex of the couple.

It will now go to the Senate for a vote, where it faces unclear odds in the evenly divided chamber. House Republicans were told to vote with their conscience by party leadership, who did not whip against the bill.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler sponsored the bill after the federal right to an abortion was overturned when the Supreme Court struck down its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should also reconsider its past rulings that guaranteed access to contraception and the 2015 right to gay marriage, because they relied on the same legal arguments as Roe.

Some congressional Republicans have echoed Thomas’ arguments. Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Saturday that the high court was “clearly wrong” in establishing a federal right to gay marriage.

Democrats have argued that Congress must enshrine the right to gay marriage into federal law in case the court revisits its past rulings.

“The rights and freedoms that we have come to cherish will vanish into a cloud of radical ideology and dubious legal reasoning,” Nadler said in a statement on Monday.

Under the House bill, states could still restrict gay marriage if the Supreme Court overturns its prior ruling. But such states would be required to recognize marriages that occurred in states where they remain legal.

The House will vote Thursday on a bill to guarantee nationwide access to contraception, another right that Thomas suggested the court revisit.

Democrats are hoping the bills will draw a contrast to Republicans ahead of Nov. 8 midterm elections, in which soaring inflation challenges Democrats’ majority hold on the House and the Senate.

(Reporting by Rose Horowitch and Moira Warburton; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)

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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A federal prosecutor told jurors on Tuesday at Steve Bannon’s criminal trial that the prominent former presidential adviser to Donald Trump decided he was “above the law” in defying a subpoena from the congressional committee investigating last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The prosecution and defense delivered opening statements after jurors were selected in the trial, with the government’s first witness then testifying. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer for Bannon, said in his opening statement that Bannon did not ignore the subpoena and in fact engaged with the committee in the belief that it would negotiate with his attorney and that its deadlines “were not fixed – they were flexible.”

Bannon, 68, has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress brought after he declined last year to provide testimony or documents to the Democratic-led House of Representatives select committee.

The subpoena issued last September, prosecutor Amanda Vaughn told jurors, “wasn’t optional. It wasn’t a request. And it wasn’t an invitation. It was mandatory.”

“The defendant decided he was above the law,” Vaughn added. “That’s why we’re here today.”

Vaughn said the committee had reason to believe Bannon might have information about the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and attacked police in a failed effort to block formal congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Bannon “didn’t get stuck on a broken down Metro car,” Vaughn said of the defendant’s refusal to comply with the subpoena, referring to the Washington area’s subway system. Instead, the case is about “the defendant thumbing his nose” at the normal process of government, Vaughn added.

Corcoran said that committee staff and lawyers for proposed witnesses almost always negotiate – and witnesses often appear at a date later than the one specified in a subpoena.

“That’s the process,” Corcoran said.

‘A VIOLENT ASSAULT’

Kristin Amerling, the committee’s general counsel, was the first prosecution witness.

“When the committee issues subpoenas with deadlines, is it important to the committee for people to comply with the deadlines?” Vaughn asked Amerling.

“Absolutely,” Amerling replied. “The select committee is looking at a violent assault on the United States Capitol, on law enforcement, on our democratic institutions. We have a limited amount of time.”

Amerling said the committee’s authority expires at the end of 2022.

In explaining the panel’s interest in hearing from Bannon, Amerling noted that he had told a podcast the day before the riot that “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow” and that the committee wanted to learn whether he had advance knowledge of the attack.

Twelve jurors and two alternates – nine men and five women – were selected, with U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols presiding over the trial.

Nichols previously ruled that Bannon could not claim he failed to comply with the subpoena because he believed his documents and testimony were protected by a legal doctrine called executive privilege that can keep certain presidential communications confidential.

The judge also has barred Bannon from telling jurors that he relied upon advice from his lawyer, who told him there were valid legal reasons he could fail to respond to the subpoena.

Corcoran told jurors that Bannon after being subpoenaed sought advice from an attorney, Robert Costello, who then raised objections with the committee including whether the requested information was protected by executive privilege. Corcoran said that these objections are “not an excuse” for failing to comply, but the fact that Bannon’s lawyer directly engaged the committee showed that the defendant did not willfully ignore the subpoena.

Bannon reversed course this month and said he wanted to testify before a public committee hearing, nearly 10 months after defying the subpoena. There has been no indication of any plan to have him do so, as the committee likely would want him to first testify in closed sessions in order to cover a wide range of matters. Trump told Bannon he was waiving any executive privilege claim.

“You will also see the excuse the defendant gave for not complying. You will see he claimed something called a privilege,” Vaughn told the jury.

As a top adviser to the Republican Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign who later served as White House chief strategist, Bannon helped articulate the “America First” right-wing populism and fierce opposition to immigration that helped define Trump’s presidency.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham and Scott Malone)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Russia is laying the groundwork for the annexation of Ukrainian territory and is installing illegitimate proxy officials in areas there under its control, the White House said on Tuesday.

Unveiling what he said was U.S. intelligence, John Kirby, the chief National Security Council spokesman, told a White House news briefing that the Russians are preparing to install proxy officials, establish the rouble as the default currency and force residents to apply for citizenship.

Russia is also attempting to take control of broadcasting towers, he said.

At the same time, Kirby said the United States in the next few days will announce a new weapons package for Ukraine as it engages Russia in fierce battles in eastern Ukraine.

It will be the 16th such drawdown of money approved by Congress and allocated under presidential authority, he said.

The package is expected to include U.S. mobile rocket launchers, known as HIMARS and rounds for Multiple Launch Rocket Systems as well as artillery munitions, sources said.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Steve Holland; additional reporting by Mike Stone; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alistair Bell)

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By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden, with flowers in hand, and first lady Jill Biden welcomed Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, to the White House on Tuesday for a visit ahead of her address to Congress on Wednesday.

Zelenska, the wife of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, embraced Jill Biden and received the flowers from the president, who met her vehicle outside.

Afterwards, the two women and delegations from both countries sat down for a meeting in the White House Blue Room.

Jill Biden had made a surprise visit to Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24, in May, visiting her counterpart and a school that was sheltering displaced Ukrainians.

Zelenskiy later said he expected “significant results” from his wife’s meetings in Washington.

Her tasks include increasing U.S. support for Ukraine, obtaining additional support to “protect people from Russian terror” and boosting humanitarian assistance, he said in a late-night video address.

He said the address to Congress would be important, adding “I strongly believe it will be heard by those people responsible for making decisions in the United States”.

Russia calls its action in Ukraine a “special military operation” to ensure its own security. Zelenskiy has led his country in standing up to Moscow.

“When I came back, one of the things that I said was, you cannot go into a war zone and come back and not feel the sorrow and the pain of the people,” Jill Biden said at the beginning of their meeting.

She said she had spoken to her team about helping address mental health issues for mothers and children who have suffered atrocities.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and David Ljunggren; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Jonathan Oatis)

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By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Advisers to the U.S. Homeland Security Department said there was no need for the Disinformation Governance Board created by President Joe Biden’s administration earlier this year.

The recommendation from a Homeland Security Advisory Council subcommittee comes two months after Nina Jankowicz, the head of Biden’s disinformation-fighting advisory group, resigned.

The board’s creation provoked criticism from right-wing critics of Biden and skepticism from some experts, who felt a government agency should not be responsible for tackling disinformation since the government itself is often accused of wrongdoing.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said at the time that the board was being “grossly and intentionally mischaracterized” and that it was not about censorship or policing speech.

DHS said the board was intended to advise the government on how to fight lies spread by, for example, foreign countries such as Russia or China, or human traffickers.

DHS said in May it was pausing the board’s activity pending a “thorough review.”

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. Senate Democrats urged President Joe Biden on Monday to declare a climate emergency and use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of a wide range of renewable energy products and systems including solar panels.

Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jeff Merkley, speaking days after an effort to advance climate legislation failed in the Senate, also called on Biden to use the White House “bully pulpit” to draw attention to climate-related crises in the United States.

“It is time for the Biden administration to pivot to a very aggressive climate strategy,” Merkley said.

Biden said last week that he would take unspecified steps to reduce climate emissions after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin withdrew support for climate legislation that Democrats had hoped to pass before Congress leaves Washington for its August recess. In the evenly divided Senate, Manchin’s support was critical for passage of the legislation, which lacked any Republican backing.

Manchin and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had been in talks about $300 billion in tax credits for industries including solar and wind power, carbon capture from power plants, and nuclear power, which generates virtually emissions-free electricity.

Whitehouse said he spoke to the White House about the need to move forward with aggressive executive action, but shared no details. “I’ve talked to the White House about going on offense and being aggressive and doing all the things that it is within the executive powers to do that have not so far been done,” he said.

Whitehouse said the conversation tracked his public call for initiatives ranging from tighter carbon regulations for vehicles and power plants to carbon border tariffs and potential federal litigation against the fossil fuel industry.

It was not clear, however, how far the White House could go, after the Supreme Court last month effectively restricted the Environmental Protection Agency from issuing emissions rules involving matters of major “economic and political significance.”

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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