Daily Digest for February 2, 2021 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Michael Olson |
Good morning,
Democrats in the Minnesota House are again proposing legislation to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, said Monday that he is introducing an adult-use cannabis bill that would also address criminal justice inequities in the current system.
Winkler sponsored a similar bill last session, but it fell by the wayside as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. He put the bill together after a statewide tour to discuss the legalization issue.
There is some bipartisan support for the proposal, and DFL Gov. Tim Walz has said he would sign a bill. But Senate Republican leaders strongly oppose it. [Read More]
Virus help on the way? President Joe Biden met late Monday with a group of Republican senators who have proposed a slimmed down $618 billion coronavirus aid package — a fraction of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking — as congressional Democrats vowed to push ahead with or without GOP support.
Biden greeted the lawmakers in the Oval Office, joking that he felt like he was “back in the Senate” as they started the private session. He and Vice President Kamala Harris were hearing the Republicans' pitch for a smaller, more targeted COVID-19 relief package that would do away with Democratic priorities but could win GOP support and appeal to his effort to unify the country.
The Republican group's proposal taps into bipartisan urgency to shore up the nation's vaccine distribution and vastly expand virus testing with $160 billion in aid, similar to what Biden has proposed. But from there, the two plans drastically diverge. Less focused on economic aid, the GOP's $1,000 direct payments would go to fewer households than the $1,400 Biden has proposed, and the Republicans offer only a fraction of what he wants to re-open schools. [Read More]
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GOP's McConnell blasts 'loony lies' by Ga. Rep. Greene Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell denounced newly elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday, calling the far-right Georgia Republican's embrace of conspiracy theories and “loony lies" a "cancer for the Republican Party.”
“Somebody who’s suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.’s airplane is not living in reality,” said McConnell, R-Ky. "This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party.”
The statement comes as House Democrats are mounting an effort to formally rebuke Greene, who has a history of making racist remarks, embracing conspiracy theories and endorsing violence directed at Democrats. It also puts pressure on House Republican leaders to discipline her.
Democrats have teed up action Wednesday to send a resolution to the House floor that would strip Greene of assignments on the House education and budget committees, if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., doesn’t do so first. [Read More]
🎧 Tune in at 9 a.m. today: The growing threat of right-wing extremism MPR News with Kerri Miller examines the latest of what we know about the threat and what can be done to combat it. |
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