President Donald Trump insisted he had the answer for Republicans anxious about losing their congressional majority this year. He encouraged the party to build on an already strict national voter identification law to ban mail ballots and restrict transgender rights. But House Republican leaders have their own priorities. And the voting bill isn't high on the list. It's a sign of an emerging election year disconnect. Just a few seats shy of losing their majority, senior Republicans are eager to emphasize the party’s work to lower costs, none of which is easy to accomplish with only a few votes to spare, while Trump is often focused elsewhere.
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Majority Leader John Thune says that the Senate will consider a bill to impose strict new proof-of-citizenship requirements in elections. But the South Dakota Republican on Tuesday said “the votes aren’t there” to pass it through a marathon talking filibuster sought by President Donald Trump. Trump has said he won’t sign any other legislation until the bill is passed. But it faces unified opposition from Democrats, meaning that the Senate can’t pass it unless Republicans change the rules and eliminate the filibuster. Republican senators are discussing, instead, voting on the legislation as soon as next week under regular procedure, meaning it will likely fail.
President Donald Trump says he won’t sign any other legislation into law until Congress passes a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill that he says also must end Americans’ ability to vote by mail. It's a startling demand months before the midterm elections. Trump told House Republicans during their annual retreat at his golf club in Florida that he doesn’t think they will win elections without it. He says voting laws need to be toughened up to prevent fraud — even though mail ballots are popular in many states and federal law already requires that voters in national elections be U.S. citizens, with scant evidence that noncitizens ever try to vote.
AP Wire
Alabama marked the 61st anniversary of a key event in the Civil Rights Movement, when state troopers attacked voting rights marchers in Selma. The violence on March 7, 1965, shocked the nation and galvanized support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The annual commemoration pays homage to those who fought to secure voting rights for Black Americans. But the celebrations in Selma this weekend came as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case that could limit a provision of the landmark legislation. Democratic officeholders, civil rights leaders and tourists descended on the southern city to pay homage to the pivotal moment of the Civil Rights Movement and to issue calls to action.
This is the weekend when clocks move ahead, causing angst, lost sleep and health issues for many. Over the last decade, at least 19 states have passed laws to let them stay in daylight saving time if the federal government allows it. And some are giving serious consideration to staying in standard time — if their neighbors are willing to make the same move. There's not a clear consensus on what to do when every solution will still leave millions of Americans in the dark later in the morning or earlier in the evening than they would like for a chunk of the year.
Strict citizen voting requirements sought by President Donald Trump have stalled in the U.S. Senate. But Republicans in some states are pressing ahead with similar measures. Bills requiring people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote won final approval this week in South Dakota and Utah. A similar measure has passed the Florida House. And supporters in Michigan turned in 750,000 petition signatures this week to try to get a proof-of-citizenship measure on the November ballot. Federal law already requires people registering to vote to affirm they are U.S. citizens. But Trump contends more proof should be required.
AP Wire
A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security is stalling out again in Congress. Republicans invoked the war in Iran and the prospect of retaliatory terrorist attacks as they tried Thursday to pass a bill funding the department. But Democrats blocked the legislation as they insist on changes to immigration enforcement operations. While the House will also take up the bill later Thursday, the vote will be more about putting lawmakers on the record again about where they stand. In the end, a bipartisan compromise will have to be reached to end a DHS shutdown that began Feb. 14.
Senate Republicans vote down legislation to halt war against Iran in early show of support for Trump’s campaign.
The NCAA football oversight committee is recommending emergency legislation to protect the transfer portal window by issuing penalties for schools and coaches who circumvent the rules. The committee on Wednesday proposed the legislation to penalize schools who add players who did not make public their interest in transferring during the January transfer portal window. The proposed legislation would become effective immediately if approved at the Division I cabinet meeting in April. The head coach who accepts a transfer who did not properly enter the January portal would be prohibited from all recruiting, on-field coaching and team meetings for six games.
Gov. Tim Walz has denounced the Trump administration’s latest threat to withhold federal funds from Minnesota as another step in a “retribution” campaign. He also unveiled a package of legislation Thursday intended to fight fraud in public programs, a problem that provided an impetus for the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota. The governor made the announcement a day after Vice President JD Vance said the administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns. But Walz’s proposals were in the works well beforehand. And they followed other initiatives Walz launched earlier to try to come to grips with the problem.