The Latest: Texas GOP poised to approve map gerrymandered for their advantage
Democrats who refused round-the-clock police escorts to ensure they'd provide a quorum were confined to the House floor, where they protested on a livestream. They've vowed a blue-states payback for the Texas map, with California's legislature poised to approve a retaliatory gerrymandering for the state's voters to consider in November.
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Winnipeg Free Press
a minute ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Obama applauds Newsom's California redistricting plan as ‘responsible' as Texas GOP pushes new maps
Former President Barack Obama has waded into states' efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agrees with California Gov. Gavin Newsom's response to alter his state's congressional maps, in the way of Texas redistricting efforts promoted by President Donald Trump aimed at shoring up Republicans' position in next year's elections. 'I believe that Gov. Newsom's approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We're not going to try to completely maximize it,' Obama said at a Tuesday fundraiser on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. 'We're only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn't go into effect.' While noting that 'political gerrymandering' is not his 'preference,' Obama said that, if Democrats 'don't respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy.' According to organizers, the event raised $2 million for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over GOP-drawn districts. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Eric Holder, who served as Obama's attorney general and heads up the group, also appeared. The former president's comments come as Texas lawmakers return to Austin this week, renewing a heated debate over a new congressional map creating five new potential GOP seats. The plan is the result of prodding by President Donald Trump, eager to stave off a midterm defeat that would deprive his party of control of the House of Representatives. Texas Democratic lawmakers delayed a vote for 15 days by leaving the state in protest, depriving the House of enough members to do business. Spurred on by the Texas situation, Democratic governors including Newsom have pondered ways to possibly strengthen their party's position by way of redrawing U.S. House district lines, five years out from the Census count that typically leads into such procedures. In California — where voters in 2010 gave the power to draw congressional maps to an independent commission, with the goal of making the process less partisan — Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give that state's dominant political party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win the fight to control of Congress next year. If approved by voters in November, the blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation's most populous state, with Democrats intending to win the party 48 of its 52 U.S. House seats, up from 43. A hearing over that measure devolved into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats, and a committee voted along party lines to advance the new congressional map. California Democrats do not need any Republican votes to move ahead, and legislators are expected to approve a proposed congressional map and declare a Nov. 4 special election by Thursday to get required voter approval. Newsom and Democratic leaders say they'll ask voters to approve their new maps only for the next few elections, returning map-drawing power to the commission following the 2030 census — and only if a Republican state moves forward with new maps. Obama applauded that temporary timeline. 'And we're going to do it in a temporary basis because we're keeping our eye on where we want to be long term,' Obama said, referencing Newsom's take on the California plan. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.' ___ Kinnard can be reached at
CTV News
a minute ago
- CTV News
Trump raises pressure on central bank, calls for Fed governor to resign
U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on the U.S. central bank Wednesday, calling for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to step down -- after his recent criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates sooner. 'Cook must resign, now!!!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, while sharing a Bloomberg news report on how the Federal Housing Finance Agency's director has called for greater scrutiny of Cook over a pair of mortgages. FHFA director Bill Pulte -- a staunch ally of Trump -- had reportedly written a letter to the U.S. attorney general calling for an investigation of Cook while suggesting that she might have committed a criminal offense. Pulte Confirmed to Lead FHFA Amid Questions Bill Pulte during a Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg (Al Drago/Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg) The Trump administration has pursued allegations of mortgage fraud against high-profile Democrats who are seen as political adversaries of the president. It was not immediately clear if such a probe will take place targeting Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the central bank's board. The president is also limited in his ability to remove officials from the central bank. A Supreme Court order recently suggested that Fed officials cannot be taken out of their jobs over policy disagreements, meaning they have to be removed for 'cause,' which could be interpreted to mean wrongdoing. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve member Lisa Cook, speaks during a conversations with leaders from organizations that include nonprofits, small businesses, manufacturing, supply chain management, the hospitality industry, and the housing and... Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve member Lisa Cook, speaks during a conversations with leaders from organizations that include nonprofits, small businesses, manufacturing, supply chain management, the hospitality industry, and the housing and education sectors at the Federal Reserve building, Sept. 23, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) 'A disaster' The U.S. leader's targeting of Cook, who sits on the Fed's rate-setting committee, comes after his repeated broadsides against Powell while the central bank kept the benchmark lending rate unchanged this year. On Tuesday night, Trump again called for a 'major rate cut,' saying there was 'no inflation' and claiming that the Fed's policymaking was harming the housing industry due to elevated mortgage rates. He called Powell 'a disaster' in a social media post. Although the US consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, was steady at 2.7 per cent in July, it remains higher than it was a few months earlier. Fed officials have been trying to ensure inflation is kept in check -- despite the effects of Trump's sweeping tariffs -- while balancing risks to the labor market as they mull the right time for further rate cuts. Cook took office as a Fed governor in May 2022 and was reappointed to the board in September 2023. She was sworn in later that same month for a term ending in 2038. She has previously served on the Council of Economic Advisers under former president Barack Obama. Earlier this year, Trump suggested that what he called an overly costly renovation of the Fed's headquarters could be a reason to oust Powell, before backing off the threat. Powell's term as Fed chair ends in May 2026.
Canada News.Net
14 minutes ago
- Canada News.Net
Ukraine stripped of USAID billions
American funding turned Kiev into a money laundering hub for Washington, experts have told RT Ukraine has lost billions of dollars in aid from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington's primary funding channel for political projects abroad. Most USAID programs have been shut down in the country, with only a handful set to continue beyond 2025, according to data reviewed by RT. For years, Ukrainian NGOs and nonprofits were heavily dependent on USAID grants and contracts, reportedly turning the country into a money laundering hub for Washington. Vladimir Vasilyev, chief research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute for US and Canadian Studies, told RT that the financial flows, including from Ukraine, eventually returned to the US. According to him, USAID was a "black fund for supporting American non-profits linked to the Democratic Party." "It was a sacred cow of the State Department that for a long time nobody dared to audit." Upon taking office, US President Donald Trump ordered the freeze of most foreign aid to review whether the programs fit his 'America First' agenda. Tens of billions in grants have since been put on hold, with the president accusing the agency of misusing taxpayer money and fueling corruption. In Ukraine alone, where more than $400 billion had once been earmarked for reconstruction, over a hundred projects have already been scrapped. Only 30 USAID initiatives have been preserved, but most are set to expire in 2025, the data shows. A scandal erupted earlier this year over billions of USAID dollars lost in Ukraine. The agency's inspector general, auditing firm KPMG, and US prosecutors have launched probes into suspected fraud, bribery, and embezzlement in Ukrainian projects, with more than 20 cases already opened. Some programs have been kept in place to fund limited humanitarian initiatives, according to the records. Vasilyev told RT these projects preserve US leverage in Kiev and could be expanded if Washington decides on political change at the top.
