House of Representatives

Democrats Defend Control Of U.S. Senate

Democrats seem to have found a bright spot for their chances in recent months over the battle for control of the U.S. Senate.

It’s Labor Day and we’re just over two months out from the general election. But despite legislative wins over the summer, Democrats across the country are fighting for reelection in the shadow of President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings. But they seem to have found a bright spot for democratic chances in recent months over the battle for control of the U.S. Senate.

Heidi Heitkamp served as a Democratic U.S. Senator in North Dakota. She was elected in 2012 but lost her seat in the 2018 midterms.

“I think that there is a critical importance not to run away from the president,” the One Country Project Founder said.

Heitkamp is no stranger to hyper-partisan politics where even the word “bipartisanship” might not sit well with swing state voters.

“Well, I think the first thing is, don’t use the word “bipartisan,” she said. “I think you say, ‘Do you want to get stuff done?’ … Don’t talk in generalities. Talk in specifics. What [does] this means to people’s lives?”

But, if history is any indication, it might be nearly impossible for Democrats to hold on to the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.

But in the Senate, the president’s party remains on the offensive, hoping to expand their majority in 2022.

Ed Pagano served as President Barack Obama’s liaison to the Democratic-led U.S. Senate from 2012 to 2014. He was charged with pushing the Obama administration’s policies on Capitol Hill.

“The control of the senate really is critical,” the Akin Gump Partner said. “It determines what bills are on the floor, what nominations move forward? Who is the chairman or the chair of the committees of jurisdiction?”

Pagano is no stranger to just how hard it can be to get Republicans on board with a Democratic president’s agenda.

“Social issues? I don’t see any agreement. And as for spending, very little,” he continued.

Right now, the Senate has 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. It’s a simple majority when Vice President Kamala Harris exercises her role as president of the Senate and casts the tie breaking vote for Democrats.

This year, Democrats are defending vulnerable Senators in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire. But on the offensive they’re looking to flip seats in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Three of those states are up for grabs, with incumbent Republicans not seeking re-election.

Despite the number of competitive races, recent polls show several Democratic candidates leading in key swing states.

“I think we’ve nominated some great candidates to deliver that message in the middle of the country. And then they’ve nominated just outrageously extreme candidates,” Heitkamp said.

But if Democrats lose just one seat in the Senate, they could end up in the same situation as President Obama’s final two years in office after he lost the Senate and the House with little Democrats to do other than hope for executive action — but leaving them virtually powerless to push through the president’s nominees.

“Losing the Senate can actually be more detrimental because you lose the nominations/ You lose the ability to put in lifetime appointments on the judiciary,” Prime Policy Group Senior Adviser Marty Paone said. “I mean, you just look at the Merrick Garland failure for one.”

And if Democrats do lose the Senate, it could mean a major roadblock to Biden’s agenda — something Republican Senate candidates are campaigning on, making the race all about President Biden in many of the 34 states with Senators up for re-election.

: newsy.com

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Democrat Mary Peltola Makes History

By Newsy Staff
September 1, 2022

Peltola, who is Yup’ik, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman elected to Alaska’s House seat.

For the first time in nearly 50 years, Alaska will have a Democrat representing the state in the House of Representatives.

Mary Peltola, a former State Representative, beat former Republican Governor and one-time Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin in a special election held for the seat of the late congressman Don Young.

Peltola will also be the first Alaska Native to be in Congress.

This election used a new system where voters ranked their top three choices of candidates, with the winner needing at least 50% of the vote. If no one received more than half the vote, the candidate in last place is out of the race and the remaining votes from that candidate are given to the other two contenders.

The Congresswoman-Elect tells Newsy she will focus on “getting the lay of the land” during her four months in Congress and attributes her victory to running “a very clean campaign.”

: newsy.com

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Do Voters Care About The Committee’s Effort To Investigate Trump?

A recent poll found 21% of registered voters said “threats to democracy” are now their top issue.

It’s no secret that former President Donald Trump looms large in the 2022 midterms, punishing the Republicans who defied him and rewarding his most faithful supporters.

“Obviously we are all very grateful to President Trump,” said Harriet Hageman, who is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Wyoming.

But a key question heading into November is whether the former president’s many controversies could hurt Republicans in a year that history suggests should be good for them.

“I talk to people in Pennsylvania, where I’m from, I talk to people from Ohio, where I worked for the local congressman for a while, and people just aren’t that interested in what’s going on, you know, on these partisan run committee hearings, I think, right now, and we hear it again, and again, it’s inflation, inflation, inflation,” said Christopher Krepich, a former Republican Congressional Communications Director and Communications Strategist.

But a recent NBC News poll found 21% of registered voters said “threats to democracy” are now their top issue, overshadowing concerns about the economy, inflation and immigration.

Additionally, the poll found that 57% say they want investigations into the former president to continue. But this has come at a price for some in the GOP.

Of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, most will not be returning in the 118th Congress next year.

Of the eight not returning, four are retiring, including January 6th Committee Member Adam Kinzinger, and four have lost their primaries; including January 6th Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, who earlier this month lost to a Trump-backed challenger.

Just two were successful in their primaries against challenges to the Right earlier this year.

The one Republican Senator to vote to convict Trump and face voters in 2022, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, survived her primary but will still face off against a Trump-backed challenger in the general election.

“I think really what the November elections are going to come down to is how local each candidate is able to make their race. You know, I think of when most candidates are out there on the ground, talking to voters, they’re talking about kitchen table issues, they’re not necessarily litigating what the former president may or may not have been accused of,” said Krepich.

But just a few months out from the 2022 midterms, some Republican Senate candidates are struggling.

Trump endorsed Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Hershel Walker in Georgia and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin — but they are all lagging in recent polls behind their Democratic challengers.

But over in the House of Representatives, Republicans could still be poised to win and are likely to get rid of the January 6th Committee, should they take control of the Chamber next January.

: newsy.com

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Government Takes Steps To Improve Food Security For Military Families

In recent months, the U.S. government has taken some steps to improve food security for its service members — but there’s more to do.

Years after joining the Navy, Lisa Javenar still worries about having enough food for her family of five every month.

We first introduced you to Lisa in May. She’s the wife of Teddy Javenar, an electronics technician with the rank of petty officer third class. Some months, she doesn’t know how she’s going to feed her kids.

“We know what we signed up for,” Javenar said. “It doesn’t make it any easier. It’s still difficult. And so to have to deal with all of that and have to worry about how we’re going to feed our families. I mean, it’s just — it would be awesome to not have that extra stress.”

In tight months, Lisa, like thousands of other military families, helps feed her family by joining a line at the military equivalent of a food bank.

As Newsy reported, a bureaucratic oversight is costing thousands of military families critical benefits to keep them from going hungry, especially in high-rent cities like San Diego where the value of housing can easily put them over budget.

They get what’s called a basic allowance for housing to live off base. It covers the high rent, but also counts as income. It means they missed qualifying for SNAP benefits because on paper, they brought in too much money — by about $5 a month.

The U.S. Department of Defense issued a roadmap this summer for strengthening food security in the force.

It references a survey done in 2020 that showed 24% of active-duty service members were food insecure. That’s around 300,000 people, plus their families.

“People are shocked when they hear that military families struggle with hunger in the first place at all,” said Josh Protas, an executive at aid group MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. “And they should be shocked because there’s no reason that those who serve in our armed forces should have to struggle to put food on the table.”

The Department of Defense plan aims to increase access to healthy food, help military spouses with employment, look at pay, and more.

“It’s the first time that i know that a Secretary of Defense has spoken openly about this problem, and not tried to deflect blame onto the service members who are impacted, but to look at the systemic issues that are causing the problem,” Protas said.

There are other fixes in the works. Families may soon get what is called a basic needs allowance, a sort of pay bonus for low-income military families. It was part of last year’s bill that appropriates money for the Department of Defense.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will mean about $400 extra each month on average.

But like SNAP eligibility, this too counts the basic allowance for housing as income, disqualifying many families.

It does give the Secretary of Defense power to exclude the basic allowance for housing in high-cost areas.

A few members of Congress are working hard to fix this in the next defense spending bill. One effort cleared the House of Representatives but now must make it through the Senate this fall.

The Senate’s version made it out of committee. It doesn’t tackle the housing allowance issue but it does raise the financial limit for who qualifies for the basic needs allowance.

There are also other standalone bills to stop the housing allowance from being counted as income for SNAP eligibility, including one introduced by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who we spoke to earlier this year.

“We have a real issue here,” Duckworth said. “The same people who protect and defend us should not be worried about whether or not their children are getting food.”

There’s a similar bill in the House.

Now, after Newsy’s report, some familiar faces on the veterans advocacy front are joining the fight.

John Feal fought alongside comedian and TV host Jon Stewart to get funding and benefits to 9/11 first responders, and most recently advocated for passing the PACT Act, which expanded care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The day after President Biden signed the PACT Act, Feal shifted his focus. He sent a tweet saying “24% of our military and their families are food insecure… D.C., I am coming back with a vengeance!”

“We’re going to get in their face,” Feal said. “We’re going to make them do what’s morally right. We’re going to make them put aside their politics and their ideologies and think like human beings and show some humanity. If we have to shame them and scorch the earth to do so, then we’ll do so. We come in peace until we can’t come in peace anymore.”

It’s still unclear whether other agencies, like the USDA, the Department of Defense, or even the White House, could legally fix this quickly. But Protas says there’s one group of people in D.C. that could.

“Congress shouldn’t wait for administrative action, whether or not that is forthcoming, but should do right by military families and not leave them stranded,” he said.

: newsy.com

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Sen. Becca Balint Wins Vermont’s Democratic Primary For U.S. House

By Associated Press
August 10, 2022

Balint defeated Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, a more centrist candidate who was supported by the state’s Democratic establishment.

The leader of Vermont’s state Senate, Becca Balint, won the Democratic Party primary on Tuesday for Vermont’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, meaning she could become the first woman and the first openly gay person to represent the state in Congress.

In deep-blue Vermont, it’s likely the Democratic candidate will also clinch the general election in November. A win by Balint, who is white, would help erase what some consider to be the blot on the liberal state’s reputation of only being represented by white men.

Balint garnered support from the progressive wing of the state party, including the independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, and national progressive leaders such as Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Balint had campaigned with Sanders late last month.

Balint defeated Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, a more centrist candidate who was supported by the state’s Democratic establishment, including retiring U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy and former governors Howard Dean and Madeleine Kunin.

In a statement, Balint thanked her opponents in the primary and said she was “humbled and honored by this victory.”

“Tonight is a big step forward for our state. Vermont has chosen a bold, progressive vision for the future, and I will be proud to represent us in Congress,” Balint said. “We can preserve democracy, tackle climate change, bridge inequality, and make the health care system work for all of us. I know that we will.”

In a concession speech, Gray said she’d called Balint to congratulate her on the win.

“While my disappointment is profound, so too is my gratitude for his opportunity,” Gray said. “This was a tough race with deeply qualified candidates making their case to Vermonters.”

Vermont voters also chose Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter Welch to replace Leahy, who has held the seat since 1975 and was the last of Congress’s so-called Watergate babies. Welch’s decision to run for the Senate seat opened up his seat in the House, the first time since 2006 that there have been any openings in Vermont’s three-member congressional delegation.

Welch easily defeated two little-known candidates to move on to the general election in November. During his years in Congress, Welch has been one of Vermont’s top vote-getters and would be an odds-on favorite to win the general election.

Welch will face retired U.S. Army officer Gerald Malloy, who defeated former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan in Tuesday’s Republican primary for the Senate seat. Malloy says he believes he can win in November, although no Republican has represented the state in Washington since 2001 when the late Sen. Jim Jeffords left the GOP to become an independent, switching control of the Senate from Republican to Democratic.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Scott also cruised to his party’s primary victory, defeating two candidates as he seeks a fourth term. The lone candidate for the Democratic nomination is activist Brenda Siegel, of Newfane. Last fall she spent 27 nights sleeping on the steps of the Vermont Statehouse to highlight the state’s homelessness challenge.

Liam Madden, a Marine Corps veteran who describes himself as a non-traditional candidate, won the GOP primary, defeating Ericka Redic of Burlington and Anya Tynio of Charletson.

Madden says he’s an independent, and has said he considered declining the nomination if he won — until he learned that would allow the party to choose a replacement for the November ballot.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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China Blocks Some Taiwan Imports But Avoids Chip Disruptions

China blocked imports of hundreds of food items from Taiwan but has not disrupted the flow of processor chips and other industrial components.

China blocked imports of citrus, fish and other foods from Taiwan in retaliation for a visit by a top American lawmaker, Nancy Pelosi, but has avoided disrupting one of the world’s most important technology and manufacturing relationships.

The two sides, which split in 1949 after a civil war, have no official relations but multibillion-dollar business ties, especially in the flow of Taiwanese-made processor chips needed by Chinese factories that assemble the world’s smartphones and other electronics.

They built that business while Beijing threatened for decades to enforce the ruling Communist Party’s claim to the island by attacking.

Two-way trade soared 26% last year to $328.3 billion. Taiwan, which produces half the world’s processor chips and has technology the mainland can’t match, said sales to Chinese factories rose 24.4% to $104.3 billion.

“The global economy cannot function without chips that are made in either Taiwan or China,” Carl B. Weinberg of High-Frequency Economics said in a report.

On Wednesday, Beijing blocked imports of citrus and frozen hairtail and mackerel from Taiwan after Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, arrived on the island. China has not disrupted the flow of chips and other industrial components, a step that would send shock waves through the shaky global economy.

Also this week, China blocked imports of hundreds of other food items from Taiwan including cookies and seafood, though the timing was unclear. The customs website showed their import status was switched to “suspended.”

Fruit, fish and other foods are a small part of Taiwan’s exports to China, but the ban hurts areas that are seen as supporters of President Tsai Ing-wen.

Beijing has used import bans on bananas, wine, coal and other goods as leverage in disputes with Australia, the Philippines and other governments.

Beijing also announced four days of military exercises with artillery fire in waters around Taiwan. That might delay or disrupt shipping to and from the island, one of the biggest global traders.

The potential disruption adds to concerns over weakening global economic growth, but Asian stock markets rose Wednesday after there was no immediate sign of Chinese military action.

The Communist Party says Pelosi’s visit might embolden Taiwan to make its decades-old de facto independence permanent. Beijing says that would lead to war.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has tried to mollify Beijing, saying there is no change in Washington’s “one China policy.” That says the United States takes no position on the status of the two sides but wants their dispute settled peacefully.

Washington has no formal relations with Taiwan but maintains unofficial ties and is obligated by federal law to see the island has the means to defend itself.

Meeting leaders in Taiwan, Pelosi said she and members of Congress traveling with her were showing they will not abandon their commitment to the island democracy.

“America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” Pelosi said in a short speech during a meeting with the president, Tsai. She departed later in the day for South Korea.

“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down,” Tsai said.

Taiwanese companies have invested nearly $200 billion in the mainland over the past three decades, according to the island’s government. Entrepreneurs, engineers and others have migrated to the mainland to work, some recruited by Chinese chipmakers and other companies that want to catch up with Taiwan.

A 2020 census found 158,000 Taiwanese living on the mainland, according to the police ministry.

Taiwan plays an outsized role in the chip industry for an island of 24.5 million people, accounting for more than half the global supply.

Its producers including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. make the most advanced processors for smartphones, tablet computers, medical devices and other products.

Beijing has invested billions of dollars in developing its own industry, which supplies low-end chips for autos and appliances but cannot support the latest smartphones, tablet computers, medical devices and other products.

Chips are China’s biggest import at more than $400 billion a year, ahead of crude oil.

That concentration has fueled concern in the United States and Europe about relying too heavily on supplies from East Asia. The U.S. government is trying to expand America’s production capacity.

Overall, China is Taiwan’s biggest trading partner, taking more than twice as much of its exports as the United States, the island’s No. 2 foreign market.

Beijing has tried to use access to its markets to undermine Tsai and other Taiwanese leaders it accuses of pursuing independence.

The Communist Party also has used military action in the past to try to hurt Taiwanese leaders by disrupting the island’s economy.

The mainland tried to drive voters away from then-President Lee Teng-hui ahead of the island’s first direct presidential elections in 1996 by firing missiles into shipping lanes.

That forced shippers to cancel voyages and raised insurance costs but backfired by allowing Lee to brag about standing up to Beijing in front of cheering supporters. Lee won the four-way election with 54% of the vote.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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Pelosi Says U.S. Will Not Abandon Taiwan As China Protests

“America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” said U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meeting leaders in Taiwan despite warnings from China, said Wednesday that she and other members of Congress in a visiting delegation are showing they will not abandon their commitment to the self-governing island.

“Today the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy,” she said in a short speech during a meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. “America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad.”

China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and opposes any engagement by Taiwanese officials with foreign governments, announced multiple military exercises around the island, parts of which will enter Taiwanese waters, and issued a series of harsh statements after the delegation touched down Tuesday night in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.

Taiwan decried the planned actions.

“Such an act equals to sealing off Taiwan by air and sea, such an act covers our country’s territory and territorial waters, and severely violates our country’s territorial sovereignty,” Capt. Jian-chang Yu said at a briefing by the National Defense Ministry.

The Chinese military exercises, including live fire, are to start Thursday and be the largest aimed at Taiwan since 1995, when China fired missiles in a large-scale exercise to show its displeasure at a visit by then-Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to the U.S.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency announced the military actions Tuesday night, along with a map outlining six different areas around Taiwan. Arthur Zhin-Sheng Wang, a defense studies expert at Taiwan’s Central Police University, said three of the areas infringe on Taiwanese waters, meaning they are within 12 nautical miles of shore.

Using live fire in a country’s territorial airspace or waters is risky, said Wang, adding that “according to international rules of engagement, this can possibly be seen as an act of war.”

Pelosi’s trip has heightened U.S.-China tensions more than visits by other members of Congress because of her high-level position as leader of the House of Representatives. She is the first speaker of the House to visit Taiwan in 25 years, since Newt Gingrich in 1997.

Taiwanese President Tsai responded Wednesday to Beijing’s military intimidation.

“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down,” Tsai said at her meeting with Pelosi. “We will firmly uphold our nation’s sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defense for democracy.”

Tsai, thanking Pelosi for her decades of support for Taiwan, presented the speaker with a civilian honor, the Order of the Propitious Clouds.

China’s response has been loud and varied.

Shortly after Pelosi landed Tuesday night, China announced live-fire drills that reportedly started that night, as well as the four-day exercises starting Thursday.

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force also flew a contingent of 21 war planes Tuesday night, including fighter jets, toward Taiwan. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng also summoned the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, Nicholas Burns, to convey the country’s protests the same night.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV published images of PLA drills and video Wednesday, although it was unclear where they were being conducted.

Pelosi addressed Beijing’s threats Wednesday morning, saying she hopes it’s clear that while China has prevented Taiwan from attending certain international meetings, “that they understand they will not stand in the way of people coming to Taiwan as a show of friendship and of support.”

Pelosi noted that support for Taiwan is bipartisan in Congress and praised the island’s democracy. She stopped short of saying that the U.S would defend Taiwan militarily, emphasizing that Congress is “committed to the security of Taiwan, in order to have Taiwan be able to most effectively defend themselves.”

Her focus has always been the same, she said, going back to her 1991 visit to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, when she and other lawmakers unfurled a small banner supporting democracy two years after a bloody military crackdown on protesters at the square. That visit was also about human rights and what she called dangerous technology transfers to “rogue countries.”

Pelosi is visiting a human rights museum in Taipei that details the history of the island’s martial law era later Wednesday before she departs for South Korea, the next stop on an Asia tour that also includes Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.

Pelosi, who is leading the trip with five other members of Congress, also met with representatives from Taiwan’s legislature.

“Madam Speaker’s visit to Taiwan with the delegation, without fear, is the strongest defense of upholding human rights and consolidation of the values of democracy and freedom,” Tsai Chi-chang, vice president of Taiwan’s legislature, said in welcome.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to tone down the volume on the visit, insisting there’s no change in America’s longstanding “one-China policy,” which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei.

Pelosi said her delegation has “heft,” including Gregory Meeks, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Raja Krishnamoorthi from the House Intelligence Committee.

She also mentioned Rep. Suzan DelBene, whom Pelosi said was instrumental in the passage of a $280 billion bill aimed at boosting American manufacturing and research in semiconductor chips — an industry that Taiwan dominates and is vital for modern electronics.

Reps. Andy Kim and Mark Takano are also in the delegation.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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A Richer, Stronger China Warns Pelosi Not To Visit Taiwan

By Associated Press
July 28, 2022

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has yet to confirm whether she might visit the island, but Beijing is threatening retaliation if she does.

Beijing grumbled but swallowed its irritation in 1997 when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich of the U.S. House of Representatives visited Taiwan, the island democracy claimed by the mainland’s ruling Communist Party as its own territory.

China had other priorities. President Jiang Zemin’s government was preparing to celebrate Hong Kong’s return and wanted to lock in Beijing’s emergence from diplomatic isolation after its 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Gingrich, a booster of closer U.S.-Chinese ties, had just helped that campaign by meeting Jiang in Beijing. China avoided a disruptive clash with Washington.

A quarter-century later, conditions have changed drastically. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government is richer, more heavily armed and less willing to compromise over Taiwan following news reports the current speaker, Nancy Pelosi, might become the most senior U.S. official since Gingrich to visit the island.

Beijing sees any official contact with Taiwan as recognition of its democratically elected government, which the mainland says has no right to conduct foreign relations.

The timing adds to political pressure. Xi is widely expected to try to award himself a third five-year term as party leader at a meeting in the autumn. That could be undercut if rivals can accuse Xi of failing to be tough enough in the face of what they consider American provocation.

Pelosi has yet to confirm whether she might visit, but Beijing is warning of “forceful measures” including military action if she does.

The United States “must not arrange for Pelosi to visit Taiwan,” a Chinese Ministry of Defense spokesman, Tan Kefei, said Tuesday.

“If the United States goes ahead with this, the Chinese military will never watch and do nothing,” Tan said. “It will take strong measures to thwart any external interference and separatist plans for ‘Taiwan independence’ and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Tan referred to Pelosi as “No. 3 in the U.S. government,” after her place in the line of succession to become president. That suggests Beijing sees her as President Joe Biden’s subordinate, instead of his equal as head of one of three independent branches of the government.

President Biden told reporters the American military thinks a visit is “not a good idea right now.” But, possibly in deference to her position, the president hasn’t said Pelosi shouldn’t go. U.S. officials told The Associated Press that if Pelosi goes, the American military would likely use fighter jets, ships and other forces to provide protection for her flight.

U.S. officials have said the administration doubts China would take direct action against Pelosi herself or try to sabotage the visit. But they don’t rule out the possibility that China could escalate provocative flights of military aircraft in or near Taiwanese airspace and naval patrols in the Taiwan Strait should the trip take place. And they don’t preclude Chinese actions elsewhere in the region as a show of strength.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war that ended with a communist victory on the mainland. Both governments say they are one country but disagree about which is the national leader. The two sides have no official relations but are connected by billions of dollars of trade and investment.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but has extensive commercial and unofficial ties with the island. U.S. law obligates Washington to make sure Taiwan has the means to defend itself.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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Why Do We Have The Electoral College?

Every four years, when you watch election coverage you hear a lot of reference to the electoral college. What is that, and why do we have it?

In 1787 in Philadelphia at the constitutional convention, the bigwigs were trying to iron out what our democracy would look like and how they’d elect leaders.

One choice was a straight-up popular vote. That was scraped because back then, getting enough information about the candidates to voters throughout the country would have likely never happened.

Another plan recommended that Congress vote for the president. That idea got scratched too because some felt it would create corruption and chip away at the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches.

A third option was letting the state legislatures pick the president, but there was worry a president would feel indebted to those state lawmakers and not the citizens.

The last option is something similar to what we have now with one major difference. Back then, the electors cast two votes for president. The winner became president and the runner up became vice president.

But that only worked for the first few presidential elections.

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr — both members of the Democratic Republican party — split the vote and tied in the electoral college.

It took the House of Representatives 36 tries to break the tie.

That led to the creation of the 12th Amendment, and now electors vote for president and vice president on a combined ticket.

Today the number of electoral votes per state is equal to the state’s representation in Congress.

So the weight of your vote depends on where you live. And in almost every state it’s winner take all.

That’s why candidates tend to focus on purple swing states and ignore those red and blue safe states where their party’s support is already strong.

Recently, a campaign to move away from the electoral college has been gaining steam.

In a 2021 Pew Research poll, 55 percent of Americans said they favored a system in which the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide wins. 43 percent said the current electoral college system should stay.

Attitudes are deeply divided among party lines. 61 percent of republicans or those who lean right said they favor the electoral college. But 71 percent of democrats and those who leaned left said the system should change.

That’s because there have been five times where the candidate who won the election did not win the popular vote.

15 states plus the District of Columbia have signed onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

These states would give all of their electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the nationwide popular vote.

The law would go into effect once states representing at least 270 electoral votes — the number needed to win — have signed on to the interstate deal.

Critics of the current system — including some republicans — think this would help increase turnout.

But even if more states signed on, some legal experts say the change would still need Congressional approval.

And Congress has no real plans to move away from the electoral college right now. The last effort that went anywhere was in 1970 when an amendment to get rid of the electoral college failed to reach a vote in the Senate.

: newsy.com

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Man Opens Fire On Philippine Campus, Killing 3 People

By Associated Press
July 24, 2022

The shooting occurred at Ateneo de Manila University ahead of a graduation ceremony.

A gunman opened fire on university campus in the Philippine capital region on Sunday, killing a former town mayor and two others in a brazen attack ahead of a graduation ceremony, police said.

The suspect was armed with two pistols and was captured in a car he commandeered trying to escape the Ateneo de Manila University in suburban Quezon City, police said. He was blocked by witnesses and authorities outside the university gates.

The sprawling university was put under lockdown and the graduation rite at the law school on campus was canceled, police said.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, who was supposed to be a speaker at the ceremony, was advised to turn back en route to the event, officials said.

Newly elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. promised to have the attack swiftly investigated and those behind the killings brought to justice. He is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress at the House of Representatives on Monday also in Quezon city, where police and other law enforcers had imposed a gun ban and heightened security before the shooting.

“We are shocked and saddened by the events at the Ateneo graduation today,” Marcos Jr. said. “We mourn with the bereaved, the wounded and those whose scars from this experience will run deep.”

Those killed in the attack included Rosita Furigay, a former mayor of Lamitan town in southern Basilan province, her aide and a university guard. Furigay’s daughter, who was supposed to attend the graduation, was wounded and taken to a hospital, a police report said.

A picture from scene showed one of the victims sprawled on the ground near a bouquet of flowers.

Investigators were trying to determine a motive for the attack, but Quezon City police chief Brig. Gen. Remus Medina said the suspect, apparently a medical doctor, had a long-running feud with Furigay.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.

: newsy.com

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