November 30 political news briefs
Here are today’s political news briefs.
The U.S. Congress is now back in session and a big project for them is to pass a bill for a new round of coronavirus stimulus. There were several efforts before the election to get a bill passed, but they failed because Democrats and Republicans couldn’t come to an agreement. Democrats wanted a comprehensive package worth $2 trillion that included unemployment relief and support for state and local governments, while Republicans wanted a tighter package worth $500 billion to help businesses. Both sides seem to agree on another round of $1,200 direct stimulus checks. News reports say this Congress session will be short, only lasting until Christmas, so lawmakers have to move fast.
This session is called a “lame-duck session” because President Donald Trump will be out of office by January 2021, so the power dynamics are different.
Lawmakers also have to approve a new spending bill to avoid a government shutdown on December 11.
Ajit Pai will be stepping down from his position as the FCC Chairman on January 20, which is on inauguration day. He is a Republican and his departure will allow President-elect Joe Biden to appoint a Democratic leader. He is best known for repealing net neutrality rules. Pai said in a statement that he is grateful to President Obama for appointing him as a commissioner in 2012 and to President Trump for tapping him to lead the agency in 2017. He said it is a privilege to be the first Asian-American chair.
President Donald Trump tweeted this morning calling on Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to use his emergency powers to intervene in the 2020 elections in the state by doing a signature match and ballot count review. Gov. Kemp’s office responded by pointing out that state law prohibits the governor from interfering in the election. The AJC explained that signatures on absentee ballot envelopes were verified by county election officials before the ballots were taken out to be counted.
Georgia has already certified its 2020 election results that gave Biden a victory.
In separate but related news, a judge in Georgia ordered three counties in the Atlanta area to not erase data from Dominion voting machines so they can be inspected. This was in a response to a lawsuit expressing concerns that voting machines were manipulated. Dominion objected to the inspection and will have until Wednesday to write a brief to explain why the machines don't need inspection. A spokesperson for Dominion explained to Fox News that it is impossible to alter votes because when a voter votes on a Dominion machine, they fill out a ballot on a touch screen and then receive a printed copy to give to an election official. The spokesperson said the printed ballots have matched the electronic tallies in every case they’ve looked at.
Arizona has certified the results from the 2020 election, which has Biden winning by over 10,000 votes.
President-elect Joe Biden will start receiving his Presidential Daily Brief, which is a collection of top-secret information derived from intelligence agencies. He has continued to make new hires for his upcoming administration.
He has named Jennifer Psaki as her upcoming White House Press Secretary and an all-female communications team.
Biden fractured his right ankle on Sunday while playing with his dog. He will have to wear a walking boot for several weeks.
That’s all the political news for today.
https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-pressure-pass-covid-19-stimulus-brief-window-2020-11
https://www.axios.com/fcc-chairman-pai-to-depart-in-january-b9254ecc-8866-4051-926b-cbc9f42437a5.html
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1333410418119864320
https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/kemp-to-trump-georgia-law-blocks-him-from-interfering-with-elections/V6FQECEXMNGBNJJVOELKPN7BVE/
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judge-timothy-batten-georgia-voting-machines-election-results
https://www.axios.com/arizona-certifies-bidens-win-46cdd914-a510-48fc-856d-6030d74a2406.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/30/joe-biden-trump-transition-live-updates/