Tag: Democrats

  • Biden Vows To Protect Abortion Rights, Denounces Trump's America In High Stakes Speech world news

    New Delhi: United States President Joe Biden will deliver his last State of the Union address on Thursday before he faces former President Donald Trump in the US election. He will use this opportunity to criticize Trump's vision for America and promise to make abortion rights the law of the land again. The State of the Union, an annual event mandated by the US Constitution for the president to report to Congress “from time to time,” will take place at 9 pm ET (0200 GMT on Friday) in front of a joint session of the House. and the Senate, and a national TV audience.

    Biden will contrast himself with Trump, his Republican opponent in the Nov. 5 election, on the issue of abortion rights, which have been endangered by the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump was responsible for nominating three of the six conservative justices on the court.

    “I promise you: if Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I will restore Roe v. “Wade as the law of the land again,” Biden will say, according to excerpts from the White House.

    Biden will also address the dangers to democracy that he says Trump represents, as the former president continues to make false allegations about his 2020 election defeat and suggests locking up his political rivals.

    “I have learned to cherish freedom and democracy in my lifetime. A future built on the core values ​​that have shaped America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality,” Biden will say. “But some other people my age have a different vision: a vision of America driven by resentment, revenge, and retribution. That's not who I am.”

    Trump claims he will seek vengeance on his enemies and expel millions of immigrants if he gets another term in the White House.

  • Florida Senate passes bill to end Disney self-government

    By Associated Press

    TALLAHASSEE: The Florida Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to repeal a law allowing Walt Disney World to operate a private government over its properties in the state, escalating a feud with the entertainment giant over its opposition to what critics call the “ Don’t Say Gay ” law.

    The proposal could have huge tax implications for Disney, whose series of theme parks have over the decades transformed Orlando into one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. And Democrats have warned that the move could cause local homeowners to get hit with big tax bills if they have to absorb bond debt from Disney — although such details are far from clear.

    The measures, pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, come as the governor battles with Disney after the company’s criticism of a new GOP law barring instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade as well as instruction that is not “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”

    The bill would eliminate the Reedy Creek Improvement District, as the Disney government is known, as well as a handful of other similar districts by June 2023. The measure leaves room for the districts to be reestablished, with a Republican legislative leader signaling a likely restructuring of a 1967 deal that lawmakers struck with the company that allows it to provide services such as zoning, fire protection, utilities and infrastructure.

    “By doing it this early, we have until next June or July to this put together, so we’re actually giving ourselves more time to be thoughtful,” Republican Senate President Wilton Simpson told reporters after the vote. “I don’t know how the end will come, but I know that this is a very worthy process that we’re taking and I think whatever comes out of it will be better than what we have today.”

    Still, the move represents the latest blow in a culture war harnessed by DeSantis as he runs for reelection and bolsters himself as a potential 2024 GOP presidential candidate through staunch opposition to liberal policies on race, gender and abortion.

    “If Disney wants to pick a fight, they chose the wrong guy,” DeSantis wrote in a campaign fundraising email Wednesday. “As governor, I was elected to put the people of Florida first, and I will not allow a woke corporation based in California to run our state.”

    Democrats, the minority party in the Legislature, have railed against the proposal as clear retaliation against a company that has been a major economic driver in the state.

    “Let’s call this what it is, it’s the punitive, petulant political payback to a corporation who dared to say the emperor has no clothes, but if they behave this next election cycle, maybe we’ll put it back together,” said Sen. Gary M. Farmer, a Democrat.

    Disney did not return an email seeking comment. The company is one of Florida’s biggest private employers and last year said it had more than 60,000 workers in the state. It is not immediately clear exactly how Disney or neighboring governments would be affected if the district was dissolved.

    The push to punish Disney came after it announced it would suspend political donations in the state and said it was committed to supporting organizations working to oppose the state’s new law limiting sexual orientation or gender identify instruction in the classroom.

    DeSantis and other Republicans have lashed out at Disney and other critics of the law, arguing that the policy is reasonable and that parents, not teachers, should be addressing such topics with children.

    The creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, and the control it gave Disney over 27,000 acres (11,000 hectares) in Florida, was a crucial element in the company’s plans to build near Orlando in the 1960s. Company officials said they needed autonomy to plan a futuristic city along with the theme park. The city never materialized, however; instead, it morphed into the Epcot theme park.

    The Florida House of Representatives is expected to take up the bill Thursday.

  • Over 100 House Republicans Broke From Trump To Override His Veto On Defence Bill

    In the latest blow for outgoing US President Donald Trump, over a hundred Republicans united with Democrats in the House of Representatives on December 28 to override his veto of a $741 billion Defence bill. If the same suit is followed by Senate later this week, it will also be the first-ever such rebuke of Trump presidency with only three weeks to go before President-elect Joe Biden takes over.

    On Monday, during the ‘high-stakes day’ on Capitol Hill, the Democrat-majority House even voted to boost the coronavirus relief payments to $2,000 per individual, a Trump-endorsed change but as per reports, it is unlikely to pass through Senate. 

    The bill which saw unusual teaming-up of Democrats and Republicans, the National Defense Authorisation Act is aimed at funding the service members’ pay, overseas military operations along with other requirements. It has been passed by Congress every year since 1967 but just last week, Trump had practised his veto power and sent the bill back with his objections that included its proposal of changing the names of 10 military bases that honour Confederate leaders.

  • Trump Spends Christmas Eve Golfing After Claiming To Work ‘tirelessly’ For COVID-19 Relief

    While the country is still roled with the pandemic and the crucial COVID-19 relief bill is left in disarray, US President Donald Trump was spotted at his golf club in West Palm Beach on December 24. As per reports, just after Trump claimed to have been “working tirelessly for the American people” with a jam-packed schedule of “many meetings and calls”, the US President decided to spend his Christmas Eve golfing in Florida. 

    However, in Washington, a Democratic proposal to elevate the direct payments to US citizens under the relief bill from $600 to $2,000 was blocked on Trump’s demand that was expressed in a surprise video address on Tuesday night. But, as per reports, it was dismissed by Republicans who opposed the higher spending throughout stimulus talks amid the global health crisis. 

    If the relief bill ultimately fails, millions of Americans will be left without the much-required relief at least until the President-elect Joe Biden takes the office after inauguration day on January 20, 2021. As of now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the Democrats would try again on December 28.