WASHINGTON — President Biden’s plan to plow billions of dollars into semiconductor manufacturing represents a sharp turn in American economic policy, one aimed at countering China by building up a single, critical industry. But Mr. Biden is going even further. He is using the money to change how corporations behave. If semiconductor manufacturers want a…
Month: February 2023
‘Different From the Other Southerners’: Jimmy Carter’s Relationship With Black America
ATLANTA — Without Black voters, there would have been no President Jimmy Carter. In 1976, African Americans catapulted the underdog Democrat to the White House with 83 percent support. Four years later, they stuck by him, delivering nearly identical numbers even as many white voters abandoned him in favor of his victorious Republican challenger, Ronald Reagan. This…
Lawmakers Propose Legislation to Tighten Rail Safety Regulations
WASHINGTON — Two House Democrats plan on Tuesday to introduce a bill to tighten federal regulation of trains carrying hazardous materials, the first legislative proposal to emerge in Congress since the derailment of a freight train carrying toxic substances that has devastated a small community in Ohio. Representatives Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, whose district lies along…
Murdoch Acknowledges Fox News Hosts Endorsed Election Fraud Falsehoods
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the conservative media empire that owns Fox News, acknowledged in a deposition that several hosts for his networks promoted the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald J. Trump, and that he could have stopped them but didn’t, court documents released on Monday showed. “They endorsed,”…
What to Know About Section 702, the Post-9/11 Surveillance Law
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is expected this week to ramp up a political battle over a high-profile warrantless surveillance program that traces back to the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A 2008 statute that legalized the program, known as Section 702, will expire at the end of December unless Congress votes to…
Elissa Slotkin Announces Senate Run in Michigan
Representative Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat and former C.I.A. analyst who has notched several high-profile victories in a challenging district, said Monday that she would run for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat. Ms. Slotkin is the first Democrat running in what could be a hotly contested primary followed by…
Indian Americans Rapidly Climbing Political Ranks
In 2013, the House of Representatives had a single Indian American member. Fewer than 10 Indian Americans were serving in state legislatures. None had been elected to the Senate. None had run for president. Despite being one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, Americans of Indian descent were barely represented in politics….
James Abourezk, the First Arab American Senator, Dies at 92
James Abourezk, who was elected by South Dakotans as the first Arab American senator, and who used his prominence to support the causes of Palestinians and Native Americans while also pushing for friendlier relations with Cuba and Iran, died on Friday, his 92nd birthday, at his home in Sioux Falls, S.D. His daughter Alya James…
Lab Leak Most Likely Caused Pandemic, Energy Dept. Says
WASHINGTON — New intelligence has prompted the Energy Department to conclude that an accidental laboratory leak in China most likely caused the coronavirus pandemic, though U.S. spy agencies remain divided over the origins of the virus, American officials said on Sunday. The conclusion was a change from the department’s earlier position that it was undecided…
Student Loan Case Before Supreme Court Poses Pressing Question: Who Can Sue?
WASHINGTON — When the Supreme Court hears arguments on Tuesday in a challenge from six Republican-led states to President Biden’s plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student debt, the first question it will explore is not whether the plan is lawful. It will be whether the states are even entitled to sue….