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Minnesota House approves compromise Environment and Natural Resources budget

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Environment and Natural Resources budget with a vote of 99-34. The compromise legislation, which funds the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), and more, will help preserve Minnesota’s air, water, land, and wildlife for future generations.

“Minnesotans are proud of our state’s abundant natural resources, and we want our families and our neighbors to be able to enjoy the outdoors for many years to come,” said Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL – South St. Paul), chair of the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee. “This is a problem-solving budget that will help protect people from pollution and harmful chemicals, address growing threats to our environment, conserve wildlife, and create more opportunities for Minnesotans to get outdoors.”

While it’s not part of the legislation, the bipartisan agreement House DFLers reached with Senate Republicans allows Minnesota to continue moving forward on clean car standards. Senate Republicans threatened to shut down state parks and cut funding for the environment and natural resources unless plans to enact clean car standards were halted, but House DFLers fought to maintain our progress, recognizing that the standards will reduce pollution and protect the environment.

Trump’s bizarre reason for passing over a top candidate for the Joint Chiefs of Staff revealed in new report

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is one of a handful of senior officials to transition from Donald Trump’s presidency to Joe Biden’s.

“He is one of the people who bear the scars of the Trump years,” John Gans, a former Obama administration official told The Washington Post. “That may not be his fault, but that is the fate of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which was being chairman under Donald Trump.”

The Post’s Missy Ryan published a sprawling profile of Milley this Tuesday, spanning from his climb through the military’s ranks to his current role in the Biden administration. Within the piece, there’s a brief window into Trump’s questionable decision-making process as president. Continue reading.

House spending bill boosts Capitol Police, office budgets

Bill would also increase intern pay, allow DACA participants to work on Capitol Hill

House Democratic appropriators on Wednesday released the text of a $4.8 billion fiscal 2022 Legislative Branch appropriations bill, which includes key boosts for offices and agencies stretched thin in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic and Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The measure, which does not include Senate-only spending, would provide 13.8 percent more than the $4.2 billion in discretionary funds appropriated in fiscal 2021.

The Capitol Police would get $603.9 million, an $88.4 million boost over the previous year. Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman in April requested $619.2 million, over $100 million above the previous year’s budget of $515.5 million. The House draft bill comes in $15.3 million short of what Pittman asked for.

The Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a markup of the measure at noon Thursday. The committee said its report includes measures to help bring more transparency to the force, which is notoriously nebulous. Continue reading.

Unvaccinated in Missouri could be lesson for the rest of the U.S.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the U.S. emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, Missouri is becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the country: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases because of a combination of the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated.

Intensive care beds are filling up with surprisingly young, unvaccinated patients, and staff members are getting burned out fighting a battle that was supposed to be in its final throes.

The hope among some health leaders is that the rest of the U.S. might at least learn something from Missouri’s plight. Continue reading.

GOP-led probe finds no evidence of Michigan election fraud — and busts Trump allies for ‘purposefully defrauding people’ with ‘ludicrous’ claims

A Donald Trump-loving attorney was singled out in a scathing Republican-led investigation that turned up no evidence of widespread fraud in Michigan’s presidential election.

A 35-page report issued by Senate Oversight Committee spends much time debunking conspiracy theories pushed by pro-Trump attorneys Matt DePerno and Patrick Colbeck and recommends the state’s attorney general investigate individuals who made false or misleading claims about Michigan’s election to raise money for themselves, reported Bridge Michigan.

“There is no evidence presented at this time to prove either significant acts of fraud or that an organized, wide-scale effort to commit fraudulent activity was perpetrated in order to subvert the will of Michigan voters,” wrote state Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), who led the probe. Continue reading.

Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3) Update: June 23, 2021

Hi Neighbors,

I hope all the dads of MN-03 had joyful Father’s Days surrounded by superb food and even better company (what more can you ask for?).

As a proud father myself who was blessed with two remarkable dads – Artie, who was killed in the Vietnam War in 1969 and Eddie, who we lost to cancer in 2011 – I celebrated them and all the dads, stepdads, adopted dads, and granddads who have enriched our lives… And told terrible jokes.

Shameful Obstruction – and A Common-Sense Solution

Earlier this week, the Senate used the filibuster to prevent debate on the For the People Act, a landmark government reform and voting rights bill that would strengthen ethics laws, end partisan gerrymandering, fight money in politics, and make it easier to vote in America, not harder. Yet, despite repeated good-faith attempts to forge a bipartisan voting rights package, Senate Republicans refused to even consider Senator Joe Manchin’s compromise proposal, which would require voter ID and make it easier for states to clean their voter rolls.

States across the country are dropping barriers to voting, widening a stark geographic divide in ballot access

More than half of U.S. states have lowered some barriers to voting since the 2020 election, making permanent practices that helped produce record voter turnout during the coronavirus pandemic — a striking countertrend to the passage this year of restrictions in key Republican-controlled states.

New laws in states from Vermont to California expand access to the voting process on a number of fronts, such as offering more options for early and mail voting, protecting mail ballots from being improperly rejected and making registering to vote easier.

Some states restored voting rights to people with past felony convictions or expanded options for voters with disabilities, two long-standing priorities among voting advocates. And in Virginia, a new law requires localities to receive preapproval or feedback on voting changes as a shield against racial discrimination, a first for states after the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the federal Voting Rights Act in 2013. Continue reading.

Whistleblowers accuse Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of distorting testimony to get their lawsuit dismissed

“Whistleblowers say Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is distorting testimony to get their lawsuit dismissed” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

A group of former top aides to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reiterated in a court filing this week that they believe Paxton committed crimes while in office, and suggested that Paxton is intentionally mischaracterizing witness testimony in their whistleblower case against him for political reasons.

The aides are taking issue with a brief and a press release issued on June 2 where Paxton’s lawyers asked the 3rd Court of Appeals to throw out the case four aides filed against the state’s top lawyer in which they allege he fired them for reporting his alleged illegal behavior to federal and state authorities. Paxton, who has denied the charges, said he fired aides last year because they had gone “rogue” and made “unsubstantiated claims” against him. Continue reading.

Boebert Suggests Her Election Was Divinely Ordained

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Thursday described her 2020 House election victory in terms often used by Christian conservatives that place U.S. politics in a context of biblical miracles.

During an interview with Tony Perkins, president of the far-right anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council, Boebert said, “My victory in this race is certainly a sign and a wonder, just like God promised.”

Telling Perkins about “the journey that Jesus took me on as I was called to Congress,” Boebert said that she voted for Donald Trump, “who defended the right to life and honored the Bible.” Continue reading.

Trump issues unhinged new statement about ‘winning’ Georgia — and gets quickly shot down by fact checker

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued yet another statement falsely claiming to have won the 2020 presidential election in Georgia — but a fact checker for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution quickly shot down his false claims.

In his statement, Trump praised Georgia officials for removing over 100,000 names from their voter rolls — but then demanded to know why those names weren’t removed before the last election, which he narrowly lost to President Joe Biden.

“WHAT ABOUT THE LAST ELECTION?” Trump demanded. “WHY WASN’T THIS DONE PRIOR TO THE NOVEMBER 3RD PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, where they had us losing by a very small number of votes, many times less than the 101,789 figure?” Continue reading.

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Shameful Obstruction – and A Common-Sense Solution

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