Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Senate blocks election security bills pushed with Trump in mind

Sen. Marsha Blackburn

"You would think after spending weeks in this chamber litigating the finer points of their disagreements with the president's foreign policy, our friends in the minority would be wary of picking another partisan fight but here we go again," Sen. Marsha Blackburn said on the Senate floor.

C-SPAN2

Senate Republicans are continuing their total blockade of proposals for combatting foreign interference in American campaigns, signaling they won't be moved by a new Democratic effort to use President Trump's impeachment to shame them into action.

Democrats on Tuesday afternoon called up three of their top-priority election security bills they view as the least controversial, asking the Senate to pass them immediately on voice votes. Each time they were blocked by a single Republican, who under the rules could prevent further action.

The choreographed standoff underscores how the politically divided Congress is on course to do nothing more before Election Day to address perhaps the single the most pressing challenge to democracy: foreign adversaries armed with disinformation campaigns and hacking skills wresting control of a presidential contest away from the voters.


The Senate minority has moved three times in this Congress to call up collections of election security measures and force the GOP leadership to stand before the TV cameras and put a stop to consideration of each bill, many of which have already been endorsed in some form by the Democratic-majority House.

But those previous instances were all last fall, before impeachment. So this time the strategy was somewhat different: to publicly embarrass the GOP majority by declaring the bills had been made only more necessary by Trumps' acquittal last week — on charges he should be removed from office for abusing his power by withholding military aid and otherwise pressuring Ukraine to investigate one of his main Democratic re-election rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden.

"Because Senate Republicans chose to look the other way, the need for election security legislation is greater now than ever before," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "We cannot trust this president to stand up for the integrity of our elections so Congress must stand up in his stead."

Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's designated agent for repelling efforts like this, revisited the GOP's policy rationale for opposing all election security policy bills: They start the federal government down a slippery slope toward federalizing elections that are conducted almost entirely by local and state governments.

The only exception McConnell has made was his agreement last year to support another wave of federal grants to the states for spending on election security ahead of the 2020 vote.

On Tuesday, Blackburn asserted the Democrats were renewing their campaign for additional legislation only to boost their campaign fundraising, and she said if her partisan opponents as truly interested in assuring the sanctity of elections they would be focused instead on opening a congressional inquiry into last week's chaotic Iowa caucuses.

"You would think after spending weeks in this chamber litigating the finer points of their disagreements with the president's foreign policy, our friends in the minority would be wary of picking another partisan fight but here we go again," Blackburn said in response to Schumer's discussion of the Senate trial.

These are the three Democratic measures that got blocked:

  • Legislation by Mark Warner of Virginia — the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, which has conducted an exhaustive and bipartisan investigation of Russia's 2016 interference — that would require all future presidential campaigns to call the FBI if they are approached by a foreign power offering assistance.
  • A companion measure by Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut that would compel presidential or congressional candidates to tell the FBI and the Federal Election Commission about any efforts by a foreigner to make any sort of campaign contribution.
  • A bill by Ron Wyden of Oregon, dubbed the Safe Act, authorizing more federal money for modernizing voting systems and improving election security, while banning voting machines from being connected to the internet or being manufactured in foreign countries.

Read More

classroom, learning, teaching, class, students

Although the DOE has expressed concerns about declining academic outcomes among marginalized students, it continues to pursue policies that have proven to be detrimental.

Getty Images, Rafa Fernandez Torres

The Trump Administration and Failing Schools

What is Trump’s administration doing to eliminate achievement gaps between minorities, English learners, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, and children with learning disabilities? Arguably, the administration is promoting policies that worsen these issues. The Department of Education (DOE) has expressed concerns about data representing the declining academic outcomes of these subgroups, but it continues to pursue policies that have proven ineffective and detrimental.

The curricula and subjects taught are being adapted to prepare students for the workforce and provide them with skills to succeed. For example, schools are promoting AI literacy and preparing students for an AI workforce, but the administration is not addressing the needs of students with learning disabilities and varying limitations. Large Language Models (i.e., ChatGPT) generate responses based on datasets of neurotypical users, which do not accommodate individuals with dyslexia and challenges with reading comprehension. Additionally, voice models are not optimized for users with non-standard speech patterns. Students with non-verbal learning disabilities also struggle to interpret AI language, which uses abstract phrasing and indirect expressions, and people with ASD excel with more concrete language and visual supports.

Keep ReadingShow less
States Escalate Redistricting Arms Race As Texas Push Spurs National Gerrymander Surge
blue white and red flag

States Escalate Redistricting Arms Race As Texas Push Spurs National Gerrymander Surge

“[The Texas legislature] could well provoke other states to do the same. I’m sure there will be proposals for Maryland to do it, though we can only switch one district,” emailed Steve Shapiro, the original complainant in the well-known Maryland redistricting case, Shapiro v. McManus, to me on July 20.

As the first to challenge Maryland’s congressional district apportionment for the 2010 decade, I was heartened two days later (July 22) when House of Delegates Majority Leader, Del. David H. Moon (D-Montgomery Co.), announced his plan to draft legislation that would automatically redistrict Maryland if other states engage in out-of-cycle redrawing of congressional districts.

Keep ReadingShow less
Seattle’s Democracy Vouchers Show What a Healthier Democracy Can Look Like

Democracy Voucher

Credit: Tom Latkowski

Seattle’s Democracy Vouchers Show What a Healthier Democracy Can Look Like

In a political era dominated by billionaire-funded Super PACs, voter suppression efforts, and widening gaps in political participation, it’s easy to feel like our democracy is slipping further out of reach. But in Seattle, we’ve spent the last decade quietly building something remarkable: a program that gives everyday people real power in our elections.

Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program is the first of its kind in the nation. And it works. Since its launch in 2017, the program has transformed how campaigns are funded, who runs for office, and who gets heard in our local elections. It’s become a powerful counterweight to the influence of big money in politics and proof that a different kind of democracy is possible.

Keep ReadingShow less
Executive Order on NIL Is a Symptom, Not a Cure, for College Sports Chaos
running field during daytime

Executive Order on NIL Is a Symptom, Not a Cure, for College Sports Chaos

President Trump’s executive order of July 24th targeting college athletes’ NIL rights, depending on the yet to be determined specifics, will play heavily into the future of higher education, amateurism, and the civic role of sports in America.

The White House described the order as a response to an “out-of-control, rudderless system” and emphasized the need to “restore order” and preserve the educational and developmental benefits of college athletics

Keep ReadingShow less