Alvaro Bedoya is one step closer to being Commission-ed…
The U.S. Senate has narrowly advanced the nomination of the 40-year-old Peruvian attorney and director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at the Georgetown University Law Center to the Federal Trade Commission.
Democrats are seeking to end a deadlock on the commission and advance an agenda likely to take a harder line on corporation consolidation and tech giants.
The vote this week was 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie. The Senate Commerce Committee split 14-14 earlier this month on the nomination, meaning that Democrats needed to use a more complicated legislative maneuver to move it forward via what is called a discharge petition.
Bedoya now faces additional Senate votes before confirmation, but that can happen if all members of the Democratic caucus stick together.
The FTC under chair Lina Khan did not challenge Amazon’s acquisition of MGM before the two companies closed the transaction, disappointing some union and public interest groups that had urged the agency to take a harder line. But any effort to challenge the merger likely would have been complicated by the lack of a Democratic majority on the FTC given the expectation that two Republican commissioners were expected to vote against a challenge to the transaction.
Still, the Writers Guild of America, Teamsters and other groups have urged the FTC to still challenge the transaction even post-merger.
An FTC spokesperson also did not rule out such a scenario.
“The FTC does not comment on any particular matters. However, we reiterate that the Commission does not approve transactions and may challenge a deal at any time if it determines that it violates the law,” the spokesperson said.
Republicans opposed the Bedoya nomination by arguing that he would be too partisan for the agency, pointing to some of his past social media posts.
Bedoya is the founding director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law.
The FTC is expected to move to pass a comprehensive set of privacy rules for internet companies. The FTC and the Justice Department’s antitrust division are in the midst of a review of merger guidelines, with the expectation that they will lead to stricter enforcement.
The 51-year-old Guatemalan American actor will take part in a special Pride Celebration fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee next week.
Vice President Kamala Harris will headline the event, which will include a number of performances and an introduction by Barbra Streisand.
The DNC traditionally hosts a Pride month event, but the fundraiser also speaks to the desire among party activists to have a large war chest heading into next year’s midterms.
The performers on the bill for the virtual event on June 30 include Andra Day, Billy Porter, Kristin Chenoweth and Melissa Etheridge.
In addition to Domingo, other stars making appearances include Andy Cohen, George Takei, Matt Bomer and Whoopi Goldberg.
Tickets to the event start at $50, and rise to $20,000 for a co-host designation and access to a VIP “clutch.” Those who write or raise $40,000 will get a host designation and access to the clutch. The New York Times first reported on the event.
The DNC raised $12.1 million in May, according to reports to the Federal Election Commission, while the Republican National Committee raised about $11.1 million. Those are hefty sums for an off-year period and, according to Bloomberg News, a record amount.
Last year, as the pandemic prevented in-person fundraising, Democrats capitalized on the ease of holding virtual events, both in drawing talent and in bringing in greater numbers of small-dollar donors.
Mariah Carey is encouraging you to help stop voter suppression efforts…
The 52-year-old half-Venezuelan American singer has joined several stars, including John Legend and Common, to urge their fans to #calloutyoursenator in a viral campaign to save the anti-voter suppression For the People Act.
Carey and the other stars have joined the Twitter campaign urging a bipartisan group of four U.S. senators to vote in favor of the bill that has already passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and is pending, but imperiled, in the U.S. Senate.
“No matter our color, party, or zip code, our voices and our votes count. @senatorsinema@joemanchinWV@senatortimscott@senrobportman can make that happen,” tweeted Common referring to a group of, respectively, two democrat and two republican senators who could serve as the pivotal votes in favor of the bill. “If you live in AZ, WV, SC or OH #CallOutYourSenators. Tell them VOTE YES on the #ForThePeopleAct.”
Carey, Legend, Evanescence‘s Amy Lee and actors Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprioand comedians Sarah Silvermanand Billy Eichnerhave also joined the campaign to salvage a bill that enjoys support from nearly all the Democrats in the Senate, but is in danger of falling short due to democratic holdouts Machin and Sinema.
As former president Donald Trump and a number of his Republican allies continue to spread the unfounded “Big Lie” alleging massive voter suppression in the 2020 election — which election integrity experts said was actually the most secure vote in the nation’s history — the Senate is stalled on passing the bill that would, among other things, outlaw partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, overhaul campaign finance laws, make federal campaign spending more transparent and protect early voting while requiring states to adopt Automatic Voter Registration.
According to a recent survey, 67 percent of Americans are in favor of the bill, which has effectively been put on ice due to West Virginia democrat Sen. Manchin’s stated refusal to vote for it, which means it will fall short of the 50 votes necessary to break a filibuster; fellow democrat Arizona Sen. Sinema has also said she would not support the bill known as “S 1.”
Experts say passage in the Senate is vital to combat the hundreds of bills introduced (and passed) in Republican-led states so far this year that aim to gut early, vote-by-mail and no-excuse voting, repealing automatic voter registration and limit the powers of local officials to oversee elections, among other actions that critics say would heavily impact, young and Black voters.
The 40-year-old Puerto Rican acclaimed singer, rapper, composer, producer and playwright and other members of the cast of the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton, which he created, and Pearl Jam will headline online fundraisers to help Democrats win U.S. Senate seats in the coming January 5 runoff elections.
If Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win their races, the Senate will be at a 50-50 breakdown between the parties, but soon-to-be Vice PresidentKamala Harris would break a tie.
Pearl Jam will join Miranda for a conversation about their artistic inspirations, with Wayne Brady as the emcee. The event will take place at 8:30 pm ET on December 16 on the virtual platform Looped. Tickets start at $10 per person, with proceeds going to the Latino Victory Project, the Latino Community Fund of Georgia and the Hispanic Federation.
Miranda and other members of the cast of Hamilton also are participating in a December 13 fundraiser for Georgia Democrats, Ossoff and Warnock in a livestream set for 8:30 pm ET. Others scheduled to participate include Leslie Odom Jr, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, Christopher Jackson, Jonathan Groff, Javier Muñoz, Sasha Hutchings, Thayne Jasperson, Ariana DeBose, Sydney James Harcourt, Carleigh Bettiol, Andrew Chappelle, Alysha Deslorieux, Morgan Marcell, Austin Smith and Betsy Struxness. There is no set ticket price, but the invite suggests $30.
The Hamilton cast also reunited in October for a fundraiser for Biden’s campaign.
The last time there was such a 50-50 split was in 2001, with Republicans having control because the Vice President was Dick Cheney.
Teresa Leger Fernandez is celebrating a historic win on election night…
The 60-year-old Latina American attorney and first-time politician defeated RepublicanAlexis Martinez Johnson in New Mexico’s Congressional District 3 to become the first woman elected to the seat that is currently held by Rep. Ben Ray Luján.
Luján chose to seek election to the U.S. Senate seat that’s being vacated by Sen. Tom Udall. Luján was declared the winner of the Senate race on November 3.
“It was so emotional to actually realize that I am going to be going to Congress,” Leger Fernandez said during a virtual Democratic Party watch party.
But the history doesn’t end there…
Leger Fernandez and fellow winners Republican Yvette Herrell and Democratic U.S. Rep. Debra Haaland all won in New Mexico, making it the first state to elect all women of color to Congress, according toThe Hill.
Jeanette Núñez is preparing to take the national stage…
The 48-year-old Cuban American Florida Lieutenant Governor politician and businesswoman, who currently serves as Florida’s Lieutenant Governor, will speak at this week’s Republican National Convention.
Núñez will speak on Tuesday night as part of the Republicans’ Land of Opportunity-themed day at the RNC.
Meanwhile, Mary Ann Mendoza, the mother of Mesa Police Department sergeant Brandon Mendoza, who was killed by an illegal immigrant in a head-on car collision in Arizona in 2014, will also speak on Tuesday.
This week, Republicans are looking to energize their base – and bid for sought-after undecided voters – as they hold their own part digital, part in-person convention to officially nominate President Donald Trump as their 2020 candidate.
The Republican National Convention, like its Democratic counterpart, is held each presidential election cycle and is where the party finalizes and presents its policy platforms going into the final stretch of the campaign. During the event, Republican delegates from across the country also pledge their votes for potential candidates based on the outcome of state primary elections.
This year, no more than 336 delegates – the 2016 convention had more than 2,400 – will gather in-person in Charlotte, North Carolina, to conduct the roll call vote and formally nominate Trump, who faced little opposition in the primary season.
The unorthodox convention is expected to be a test for the Republican party.
Initially scheduled to be a traditional in-person gathering in Charlotte, in June the party moved most of the convention to Jacksonville, Florida after clashing with North Carolina’s governor over coronavirus restrictions.
Then in late July, Trump cancelled the Jacksonville portion of the convention completely as infections in the state rose. The party then pivoted towards a more digital approach.
Democrats, in contrast, had been repurposing their convention to be fully digital since June.
The four-day convention, running from August 24 to 27, will center around an overarching theme of “Honoring the Great American Story” and will feature everyday Americans who will testify that the president has positively affected their lives, according to the campaign. Events will be live streamed during the day, with the main programming taking place between 8:30pm and 11pm (00:30 GMT and 03:00 GMT) each night.
Vice President Mike Pence, who will also accept the party’s nomination, said on Friday the convention would focus on the economy and law and order, while its speakers will present the Democratic party as being taken over by “the radical left.”
Trump is also expected to feature prominently during each day of the event before making his acceptance speech, likely from the South Lawn of the White House, on the final day.
Here’s the schedule for the upcoming convention:
Monday, August 24
Theme: “Land of Promise”
Speakers: A maximum of 336 delegates will meet in the morning from 9am to 1pm (13:00 – 17:00 GMT) before conducting a nighttime roll call in which Trump and Pence will officially be nominated. Senator Tim Scott House Republican Whip Steve Scalise Representative Matt Gaetz Representative Jim Jordan Former Ambassador to United Nations Nikki Haley Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel Georgia State Representative Vernon Jones Amy Johnson Ford Kimberly Guilfoyle Natalie Harp Charlie Kirk Kim Klacik Mark and Patricia McCloskey, St Louis couple who brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters Congressional candidate Sean Parnell Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting Donald Trump Jr. Tanya Weinreis, Montana coffee shop owner whose business and employee’s livelihoods were saved by the federal virus relief Paycheck Protection Program
Tuesday, August 25
Theme: “Land of Opportunity”
Speakers: First Lady Melania Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Senator Rand Paul Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood employee who is now an anti-abortion activist. Jason Joyce Myron Lizer Mary Ann Mendoza Megan Pauley Cris Peterson John Peterson Nicholas Sandmann, Kentucky Catholic high school student who successfully sued a media organisation for not providing context to a confrontation with a Native American activist at Right to Life march that went viral Eric Trump Tiffany Trump
Wednesday, August 26
Theme: “Land of Heroes”
Speakers: Vice President Mike Pence Second Lady Karen Pence Senator Marsha Blackburn Senator Joni Ernst South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Representative Dan Crenshaw Representative Elise Stefanik Representative Lee Zeldin Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell White counselor Kellyanne Conway Vice Presidential National Security Advisor Keith Kellogg Jack Brewer Sister Dede Byrne Madison Cawthorn Scott Dane Clarence Henderson Ryan Holets Michael McHale Congressional candidate Burgess Owens Lara Trump
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Theme: “Land of Greatness”
Speakers: President Donald Trump Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Senator Tom Cotton House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy Representative Jeff Van Drew Ivanka Trump White House Deputy Assistant Ja’Ron Smith Police Sergeant Ann Dorn, widow of retired police captain David Dorn who was killed during violent protests in St Louis in June Debbie Flood Former mayor of NYC Rudy Giuliani Franklin Graham Alice Johnson, a woman whose prison sentence was commuted by Trump Wade Mayfield Carl and Marsha Mueller, parents of Kayla Mueller, a humanitarian worker killed by ISIL (also known as ISIS) Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is set to make a major splash…
The 30-year-old Puerto Rican politician and current the U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district will have a speaking slot at next week’s virtual Democratic National Convention, which, because of the coronavirus pandemic, will be almost entirely virtual from locations across the country.
Ocasio-Cortez, the star of the progressive left, had yet to enter elective politics in the last cycle.
The first-time congresswoman will speak on Tuesday, August 18, on the same nice a virtual roll call of delegates will take place to formally nominate Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Catherine Cortez Masto will also take the national stage.
The 56-year-old half-Mexican American lawyer and politician, who has served as a United States senator from Nevada since 2017, will appear on Monday, August 17.
And, Michelle Lujan Grisham will speak at the convention.
The 60-year-old Mexican American politician, the current governor of New Mexico, will speak on Wednesday, August 19.
In 2018, Lujan Grisham became the first Democratic woman elected governor of New Mexico, as well as the first Democratic Hispanic elected state governor in U.S. history.
Other speakers include Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders.
Some of the speakers are pre-recording their speeches. The New York Times reported that Michelle Obama was pre-taping her appearance, while a source said the Bill Clinton was doing the same.
The proceedings will take place from 9:00 -11:00 pm ET each evening, starting on Monday.
The lineup:
Monday
Bernie Sanders, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), John Kasich, Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and former first lady Michelle Obama.
Tuesday
Former acting attorney general Sally Yates, Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, former Secretary of State John Kerry, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DL), Bill Clinton, and Jill Biden. Also planned that evening are keynote address, with the speaker yet to be identified, and a virtual roll call of delegates to formally nominate Joe Biden.
Wednesday
Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Barack Obama.
Thursday
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Newsom, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former South Bend, IN mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DL), Harris, the Biden family and Biden.
Democrats also announced nine speakers “from all walks of life,” designed to showcase everyday Americans at the convention.
The 58-year-old Dominican American politician, attorney and current chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), will appear on Politico’s new streaming series, which is tied to its popular Playbook newsletter and franchise.
Politico’sPlug In with Playbook will be streamed at 9:00 AM ET each morning from the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention.
The Democrats’ convention will begin on August 17, and Republicans’ convention will launch a week later, on August 24.
Plans for the show will move forward even though both conventions will be virtual.
On Wednesday, Democrats announced that Joe Biden would no longer travel to Milwaukee to deliver his acceptance speech and instead would do so from his home state of Delaware.
Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman, co-authors of Playbook, will anchor the 45-minute show, with plans to interview politicians and party insiders.
In addition to Perez, guests for the DNC include convention CEO Joe Solmonese, Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders, and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who was the vice presidential nominee in 2016.
Kevin McLaughlin, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is one of the guests so far during the week of the GOP convention.
Plug In with Playbook also will feature “deep-dive political segments and conversations with Politico journalists, as well as analysis of down-ballot races and a look at this cycle’s swing states. The show may continue at key moments during the campaign.
The show will be live-streamed on Politico’s conventions hub, with a link on Politico’s homepage.
The 30-year-old Puerto Rican politician, currently serving her first term as the U.S. Representative or New York’s 14th congressional district, handidly won her district’s Democratic primary, a victory that effectively ensures a second term in the heavily Democratic distrct.
Ocasio-Cortez warded off three Democratic primary challengers, including Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former CNBC anchor and self-described fiscal conservative who criticized the first-term progressive’s expensive agenda.
AOC was leading with 74-percent of the vote, compared to Caruso-Cabrera’s 19-percent, with less 2 percent of precincts reporting, accoridng to The Associated Press.
Ocasio-Cortez noted on social media Tuesday evening that her surprise upset in 2018 was not a “fluke.”
The Democratic socialist shocked political pundits after defeating 10-term incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley during the 2018 midterms.
“Our win was treated as an aberration, or (because) my opponent ‘didn’t try,’” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet. “So from the start, tonight’s race was important to me. Tonight we are proving that the people’s movement in NY isn’t an accident. It‘s a mandate.”
Ocasio-Cortez has raised more than $10 million since 2019, and she spent more than $2.4 million on Facebook ads alone since January—far more than any other member of Congress has, The New York Timesreported last week—as the COVID-19 pandemic effectively halted traditional campaigning in her district.
The 48-year-old half-Cuban Texas GOP Senator is set to meet with actress and activist Alyssa Milano on Tuesday to talk about gun reform, after they had a set of exchanges on Twitter over what’s needed to be done in the aftermath of mass shootings in Odessa and El Paso.
The details of the meeting haven’t been announced, but Milano will be in Washington next week.
“We don’t agree on this issue. But if we can talk with mutual respect & humility, maybe all of us come together to effect positive change,” she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
Cruz wrote that he was “looking forward” to the meeting, and added that “if all of us can together have more positive, civil discussion & debate on the substantive issues of the day, that would go a long way to helping unite and heal our divided Nation.”
Milano had originally proposed the meeting be live-streamed “so the American people can hear your bullshit 1st hand.” On Tuesday, Cruz responded by saying he would agree to a meeting “about uniting to stop gun violence & about theConstitution.”
Over the weekend, following a mass shooting in Odessa that killed seven people and injured 22, Milano criticized a Texas Republican lawmaker, Matt Schaefer, who said that gun control solutions would not stop a person “with evil intent.”
Milano wrote, “Can someone cite which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun? This guy is unbelievable and is clearly owned by the gun lobby.”
Cruz then responded that “it is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-given but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right is the right to DEFEND your life & your family.”
When the U.S. Senatereturns to session next week, Democrats are expected to press Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring legislation to the floor to expand background checks. In the aftermath of the El Paso and Dayton, Ohio mass shootings, President Donald Trumpinitially indicated that he favored such a proposal, but he has appeared to back away from that stance, following a reported conversation with a top National Rifle Association official.
Mathew Littman, the president of the group 97% Gun Reform, said that the meeting between Cruz and Milano “are the kinds of things that should be happening more often. We shouldn’t be talking past each other. We should be talking to each other.”
He credited Milano and Cruz for agreeing to the meeting, adding “that they are willing to talk to someone who completely disagrees with them is what we should be doing.”
Littman said he has met with Milano to talk about gun reform, and said that she “is about the smartest person I have talked to on the gun issue.” “I really appreciate that Alyssa is willing to do this, but that is what Alyssa does.”
Spokespersons for Cruz and Milano didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on further details of the meeting.
