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US onAir – 2/15/22

US onAir - 2/15/22

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WATCH LIVE: White House press secretary Jen Psaki holds news briefing
CNN, February 15, 2022 – 4:00 pm to 4:46 pm (ET)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/15/politics/joe-biden-ukraine-speech/index.html

WATCH LIVE: Biden delivers remarks at the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference
Vox, February 15, 2022 – 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm (ET)

https://www.vox.com/2022/2/15/22927345/congress-bipartisan-bills-forced-arbitration-postal-reform

PRESIDENT…Biden says US ready to give ‘diplomacy every chance to succeed’ in defusing Russia-Ukraine crisis
CNN, Maegan Vazquez and Kaitlan CollinsFebruary 15, 2022

President Joe Biden on Tuesday made an appeal for diplomacy to continue as the world watches to see if Russian President Vladimir Putin orders an invasion of neighboring Ukraine, but also warned that a Russian attack on Ukraine will “be met with overwhelming international condemnation.”

In a speech at the White House, Biden said to Russian citizens that the US and its allies are not a threat to them and that there’s “plenty” of room for diplomacy with Russia to avoid a conflict in Europe.
“The United States and NATO are not a threat to Russia. Ukraine is not a threat to Russia. Neither the US nor NATO have missiles in Ukraine. We do not — do not — have plans to put them there, as well. We’re not targeting the people of Russia. We do not seek to destabilize Russia. To the citizens of Russia: you are not our enemy,” Biden said.
The President told Russians he did not believe they wanted “a bloody destructive war against Ukraine, a country and the people with whom you share such deep ties of family history and culture.”
CONGRESS…Why there’s been a surge of bipartisan activity in Congress
Vox, Li ZhouFebruary 15, 2022

In the past few weeks, Congress has been doing something that feels surprising: weighing a number of bipartisan bills on issues including sexual harassment and stock trading.

Given Republicans’ willingness to block many of Democrats’ biggest priorities, this sudden influx of bipartisan activity seems unexpected. In reality, it follows longstanding historical patterns.

One of the reasons lawmakers have turned to bipartisan bills is that more partisan measures have been unable to pass in recent months. Previously, the Freedom to Vote Act, legislation focused on voting rights protections, failed on the floor because it was blocked by Senate Republicans. The Build Back Better Act, Democrats’ sweeping social spending and climate measure, is also currently on pause as lawmakers scramble to figure out what Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) will accept.

In the interim, lawmakers have focused their attention on legislation that could potentially get 60 votes in the Senate. (Since there are 50 Democrats in the Senate, they need at least 10 Republicans to vote with them to overcome a filibuster on most bills in the upper chamber.)

US…Democrats Helped Build The Social Safety Net. Why Are Many Now Against Expanding It?
FivethirtyEight, Alex Samuels and Neil Lewis Jr.February 15, 2022

Today’s Democrats fancy themselves as the party that trusts the evidence — wherever it might lead. This is why they invest heavily in science and technology and set up arms of government to translate that knowledge into action. But despite claiming to prioritize new ways of improving our society, Democrats don’t always act in ways that are rooted in research.

In fact, sometimes they actively resist doing what the evidence says — especially when it comes to implementing policies that give financial benefits to people low on America’s societal totem pole. It’s not always said out loud, but the reality is that some Democrats, and American voters in general, do not think very highly of poor people or people of color — there are countless examples of how society is quick to dehumanize them and how politicians struggle to address their needs in a meaningful way. These patterns of thinking and misleading portrayals of marginalized people too often mean that the policies that could help them most are opposed time and time again.

NEW JERSEY…Supreme Court dismisses Republican challenge to congressional map
Politico, MATT FRIEDMANFebruary 15, 2022

A Republican challenge to the new congressional district map has failed.

The New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday voted 5-0 to side with Democrats and dismiss a GOP lawsuit that asked the court to remand the map to the redistricting commission for further consideration and require the tie-breaker commissioner, former Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, to recuse himself.

The state’s highest court ruled that for all the Republicans’ complaints about the process, the lawsuit did not challenge the map itself as unlawful or unconstitutional.

“Historically, after meeting in private with the respective partisan delegations to discuss their proposals, the independent member serves as the tiebreaker and selects one party’s preferred map,” Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote for the court. “The outcome commonly garners praise from one party and criticism from the other. This redistricting cycle was no different … This Court has no role in the outcome of the redistricting process unless the map is ‘unlawful.’”

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