Mexicans allegedly guarded Trump wall

TOP STORIES

‌

Wednesday, December 9

‌

TRUMP ADMIN LOWBALLS UNEMPLOYED The latest stimulus offer from the White House comes with one-time $600 payments for most Americans and a lump of coal for the unemployed. The new proposal offered by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin swapped the $300 unemployment supplement that has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill with a single round of direct payments worth up to $600, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. [HuffPost]

‌

PORTER SHREDS MCCONNELL FOR STYMYING STIMULUS Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) lambasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over his refusal to support bipartisan stimulus legislation this week, accusing the powerful GOP lawmaker of working behind the scenes to protect corporations rather than Americans in need of financial support. Congress has renewed talks with the White House this week over a new stimulus package as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. [HuffPost]

‌

HOUSE APPROVES VETO-PROOF $731 BILLION DEFENSE BILL The Democrat-controlled House on Tuesday easily approved a wide-ranging defense policy bill, defying a veto threat from President Donald Trump and setting up a possible showdown with the Republican president in the waning days of his administration. The 335-78 vote in favor of the $731 billion defense measure came hours after Trump renewed his threat to veto the bill unless lawmakers clamp down on social media companies he claims were biased against him during the election. [AP]

Get the latest coronavirus updates on our dedicated page

BIDEN REVEALS HOUSING AND AGRICULTURE PICKS President-elect Joe Biden has reportedly selected Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge as his housing and urban development secretary and former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in his administration. Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was just elected to a seventh term representing a majority Black district that includes parts of Cleveland and Akron. Vilsack spent eight years as head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Obama administration. [AP]

‌

ARIZONA GOP ASKS IF PEOPLE WILLING TO DIE FOR TRUMP LIES The Arizona Republican Party ignited backlash on Tuesday after firing off a pair of tweets that appeared to encourage Trump supporters to give their lives as part of an effort to overturn the election results. The group retweeted Ali Alexander, a leader of the conspiracy theory movement “Stop the Steal.” “I am willing to give my life for this fight,” Alexander wrote in the tweet. “He is,” Arizona GOP added in their retweet late Monday. “Are you?” [HuffPost]

‌

TRUMP: MILLIONS GETTING COVID IS 'TERRIFIC' Trump on Tuesday spun the high number of Americans who have been infected with COVID-19 as “terrific,” claiming falsely that all those cases serve as a “powerful vaccine,” adding: "That was our goal, that was number one." It seems the president was suggesting that the country is approaching herd immunity. It isn't. Public health experts predict that herd immunity from COVID-19 will be achieved when roughly 60% to 70% of the population has been vaccinated. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

‌

BIDEN VOWS 100 MILLION VACCINE SHOTS IN 100 DAYS Biden said Tuesday that his health care team is working to ensure 50 million Americans will be vaccinated against the virus within his first 100 days in office. (The drugs closest to securing emergency approval in the U.S. require two shots.) “This team will help get at least 100 million — at least 100 million COVID vaccine shots — into the arms of the American people in the first 100 days. One hundred million shots in the first 100 days,” he said. [HuffPost]

‌

LOEFFLER'S HUSBAND IN ANOTHER STOCK SWINDLE In mid-March, with the American economy in free fall, Jeffrey Sprecher, husband of Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and chair of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, started buying. Loeffler was one of several senators who faced public outrage for initially unloading millions of dollars in stock before most Americans understood the towering threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Then shortly before the CARES Act (the $2 trillion emergency stimulus package) was introduced in the Senate, her husband reversed course and purchased up to $1 million in new shares. [HuffPost]

‌

1 IN 5 WOMAN HAVE LEFT THE WORKFORCE Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) is pointing out how the COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic crisis have disproportionately pushed women out of the workforce. About 22% — over 1 in 5 — of women in the U.S. have left the labor force since the start of the pandemic, according to a report released Tuesday by Porter’s office, which cited an October survey from the Bipartisan Policy Center. As the pandemic has led to virtual schooling and the closure of day care centers, women have borne the brunt of child care at home. [HuffPost]

‌

SCOTUS REJECTS BID TO REVERSE BIDEN'S PENNSYLVANIA WIN The Supreme Court has rejected Republicans’ last-gasp bid to reverse Pennsylvania’s certification of Biden’s victory in the electoral battleground. On Tuesday, the court without comment refused to call into question the the certification process in Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Wolf already has certified Biden’s victory and the state’s 20 electors are to meet on Dec. 14 to cast their votes for Biden. [AP]

‌

ARMED MEXICAN NATIONALS SMUGGLED TO GUARD TRUMP WALL Construction companies hired to help erect Trump’s southern border wall secretly helped armed Mexican nationals illegally cross into the U.S. and paid them to provide security at construction sites, according to a whistleblower complaint unsealed Friday. Sullivan Land Services and subcontractor Ultimate Concrete are accused of having facilitated the illegal crossings. [HuffPost]

‌

A USEFUL COVID RELEIF BENEFIT IS ABOUT TO EXPIRE A little-known paid leave program established by Congress as part of the second stimulus package passed in March is set to expire at the end of December. Under the program, employees can take two weeks of sick leave fully paid up to a maximum amount, or up to 12 weeks off (including 10 weeks paid at two-thirds of their salary) to care for kids who aren’t able to go to school. Business owners are reimbursed via a tax credit. [HuffPost]

FutureProof

BEFORE YOU GO