DOCSLIB.ORG

Census Data Delay Stalls Redistricting the U.S

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Census Data Delay Stalls Redistricting the U.S V26, N23 Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021 Census data delay stalls redistricting The U.S. HPI analysis reveals 2011 maps Census Bureau said it plans to produced non-competitive deliver popula- tion figures IGA, congressional races used for con- By BRIAN A. HOWEY gressional re- INDIANAPOLIS – By this point in time in apportionment 2001 and 2011, U.S. Census data was in the hands by the end of of Hoosier legislators and their computer-assisted April, with leg- consultants, creating new congressional and General islative district Assembly maps. information This year, because of the pandemic and the sometime after Trump administration’s late decision to demand data July. The cen- on illegal immigrants, Indiana’s new maps will be sus data was delayed until late summer after the first special ses- supposed to be sion of the Holcomb era is called. It promises to stall ready by the the informal start of the 2022 cycle. end of 2020. In 2001 and 2011, the reapportioned maps were “At the end of the day, it means we’ll be here after passed by the April 29 sine die and signed shortly thereaf- July, trying to figure out redistricting, what those districts ter by Govs. Frank O’Bannon and Mitch Daniels, setting off look like,” Senate President Pro Tem Rod Bray said last the traditional spate of candidacies during the summer and Friday. fall months heading into the next cycle. The delay this year While Indiana Democrats had spent much of the means that potential candidates won’t know what district last decade pushing for an independent redistricting com- they are in for an additional four months or so. Continued on page 4 The GOP civil war By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – Donald Trump has been retired to his Florida estate for all of 15 days now. In his void, there is a power struggle for the soul of the national Republican Party, with a vote scheduled today where “I was hospitalized for 18 days, GOP members will be forced to either defend or rebuke QAnon with 11 of those days spent in Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who received a standing the ICU. I was literally unable to ovation from the caucus yester- breathe. COVID-19 is real. If you day. Five years ago, there don’t want to go through what I wasn’t a single GOP establish- went through, take this virus se- ment figure who was actively backing Donald Trump for the riously. Wear a mask.” nomination in Indiana. Gov. Mike - State Rep. Vanessa Summers Pence was backing Sen. Ted Cruz. Republican National Com- Page 2 mitteeman John Hammond III had course people in her congressional called Trump “unfit” for office. Sen. district, it’s their prerogative if they Dan Coats was for Sen. Marco Rubio. want to debase themselves by voting Trump’s strength came from to an elect someone who indulges in the grassroots and it wasn’t realized anti-Semitic and conspiracy theories Howey Politics Indiana until he won the Indiana primary with and all manner of other nonsense. 53%. From that point on, the GOP I’ve got no tolerance for people like WWWHowey Media, LLC establishment was on board, and fully that.” c/o Business Office so by mid-July when Trump brought Young’s comments came on PO Box 6553 Gov. Pence onto his ticket. the heels of those by Senate Minority Kokomo, IN, 46904 President Trump failed to Leader Mitch McConnell, who cited www.howeypolitics.com win the popular vote twice, winning in a Senate floor speech on Monday in 2016 via the Electoral College. In Rep. Greene’s “loony lies,” calling her 2018 Republicans lost the House ma- a “cancer for the Republican Party.” Brian A. Howey, Publisher jority. Last month, a day after Trump “Somebody who’s suggested Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington aided and abetted the loss that perhaps no airplane hit Mary Lou Howey, Editor of two U.S. Senate seats the Pentagon on 9/11, that Susan E. Howey, Editor in Georgia and the Sen- horrifying school shootings ate majority, Trump was were pre-staged, and that obsessed with what has the Clintons crashed JFK Subscriptions become to be known as the Jr.’s airplane is not living HPI, HPI Daily Wire $599 “big lie” that led up to the in reality,” said McConnell. HPI Weekly, $350 Jan. 6 insurrection at the “This has nothing to do Lisa Hounchell, Account Manager U.S. Capitol: That he had with the challenges facing (765) 452-3936 telephone actually won the 2020 elec- American families or the ro- (765) 452-3973 fax tion. In a landslide. bust debates on substance [email protected] And under his that can strengthen our imprimatur, Greene won a Georgia party.” congressional seat by defeating a House Minority Leader Contact HPI more mainstream conservative in the Kevin McCarthy, who presided over [email protected] Republican primary. Greene’s addition to the House Edu- Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 Fast forward to this week. cation Committee, met with her on Washington: 202.256.5822 Rep. Greene has now become a flash- Tuesday and was faced with not only Business Office: 765.452.3936 point poster gal for this divide and a sanctioning the QAnon/Republican, stalking horse for Trump’s potential but was under pressure to demote return. There have been social media U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney from the No. © 2021, Howey Politics postings revisited in which she ex- 3 leadership position. McCarthy did Indiana. All rights reserved. pressed belief in the Democratic space not remove her from committees on Photocopying, Internet forward- alien pedophile conspiracy, that school Wednesday, saying that her inflam- ing, faxing or reproducing in any massacres in Florida and Connecticut matory statements came before she had been staged “false flag” events, was elected. form, whole or part, is a violation and that a Jewish laser conspiracy Cheney called for Trump’s of federal law without permission was the cause for California wildfires. impeachment on Jan. 12, saying, from the publisher. She backed pumping a bullet into the “The president of the United States head of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. summoned this mob, assembled the This divide reached Indiana mob, and lit the flame of this at- Jack E. Howey on Tuesday, when in a conference call tack. Everything that followed was editor emeritus with reporters, U.S. Sen. Todd Young his doing. None of this would have 1926-2019 joined a growing list of senators who happened without the president. The have expressed concern that Greene president could have immediately could become the face of the party and forcefully intervened to stop the heading into the 2022 mid-terms. violence. He did not. There has never “There should be no debate been a greater betrayal by a presi- about Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Young dent of the United States of his office said. “She’s nutty. She’s an embarrass- and his oath to the Constitution.” ment to our party. There is no place Joining Cheney, who survived for her in the Republican Party. Of a secret ballot caucus vote 145-61 Page 3 last night, and eight other Republicans was U.S. Rep. campaign “autopsy” memo, “Biden had a clear edge over Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who described what’s at stake POTUS on being seen as honest and trustworthy. POTUS for the national GOP: “The biggest danger right now is suffered his greatest erosion with White voters, particularly that we’ve become a party that dabbles – not just dabbles White men in both state groups. However, he made double – we traffic in conspiracies and we traffic in lies.” digit gains with Hispanics in both groups, while his perfor- He described Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrec- mance among Blacks was virtually the same as 2016. PO- tion as a “wake-up call” for the GOP. “Republicans must TUS lost ground with almost every age group in both state say enough is enough. It’s time to unplug the outrage ma- groupings. In 2016, Trump won Independents by double chine, reject the politics of personality, and cast aside the digits in both the flipped and held groupings. They shifted conspiracy theories and rage. It’s time to turn back from against him significantly in 2020.” the edge of darkness and return to the ideals that have Former vice president Mike Pence, who had stood long been our guiding light. It’s now or never. The choice with Trump for more than four years supporting just about is ours. I’ve made mine, and I hope every Republican, and anything he said, finally parted with the president leading every American who shares our values, will choose to join up to Jan. 6. He resisted taking part in what would have me. Let’s take back our party.” been a coup d’etat, which prompted the mob to Sen. Young acknowledged Trump’s chant “Hang Mike Pence” as he and his family legacy of 30,000 lies, half-truths and misrep- were taken to a secure location. resentations that led to the U.S. Capitol mob, In the early months of his tenure on the saying Sunday on Fox59’s INFocus, “I think national ticket, Pence often compared Trump we need to name and shame members of to President Ronald Reagan. But there was no the media who were out there perpetuating real comparison and Pence eventually stopped. mistruths and deceiving individuals. I think the Reagan was a beacon of optimism and conser- same applies to politicians who are out there vative common sense who won two landslide perpetuating things that are completely false elections, had broad coattails and reshaped the and deceiving constituents.” world through policy while preaching GOP unity On that same show, U.S.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Little Nazis KE V I N D
    20170828 subscribers_cover61404-postal.qxd 8/22/2017 3:17 PM Page 1 September 11, 2017 $5.99 TheThe Little Nazis KE V I N D . W I L L I A M S O N O N T H E C HI L D I S H A L T- R I G H T $5.99 37 PLUS KYLE SMITH: The Great Confederate Panic MICHAEL LIND: The Case for Cultural Nationalism 0 73361 08155 1 www.nationalreview.com base_new_milliken-mar 22.qxd 1/3/2017 5:38 PM Page 1 !!!!!!!! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! "e Reagan Ranch Center ! 217 State Street National Headquarters ! 11480 Commerce Park Drive, Santa Barbara, California 93101 ! 888-USA-1776 Sixth Floor ! Reston, Virginia 20191 ! 800-USA-1776 TOC-FINAL_QXP-1127940144.qxp 8/23/2017 2:41 PM Page 1 Contents SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 | VOLUME LXIX, NO. 17 | www.nationalreview.com ON THE COVER Page 22 Lucy Caldwell on Jeff Flake The ‘N’ Word p. 15 Everybody is ten feet tall on the BOOKS, ARTS Internet, and that is why the & MANNERS Internet is where the alt-right really lives, one big online 35 THE DEATH OF FREUD E. Fuller Torrey reviews Freud: group-therapy session The Making of an Illusion, masquerading as a political by Frederick Crews. movement. Kevin D. Williamson 37 ILLUMINATIONS Michael Brendan Dougherty reviews Why Buddhism Is True: The COVER: ROMAN GENN Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment, ARTICLES by Robert Wright. DIVIDED THEY STAND (OR FALL) by Ramesh Ponnuru 38 UNJUST PROSECUTION 12 David Bahnsen reviews The Anti-Trump Republicans are not facing their challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • Public Comments
    Timestamp Meeting Date Agenda Item First and Last Name Zip Code Representing Comments It is inappropriate to use an obviously biased company for Arizona’s redistricting mapping process. Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama should have zero say in what our maps look like, and these companies are funded by them at the national level. We want you to hire the National Demographics Corporation – Douglas Johnson in order to assure Arizonans of fair representation and elections. The “Independent” Review Council should make amends for ten years of incompetence and corruption. The commissioners met as many as five times at the home of the AZ 4/27/2021 9:12:25 April 27, 2021 Redistricting Marta 85331 Democratic Party’s Executive Director! It is inappropriate to use an obviously biased company for Arizona’s redistricting mapping process. Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama should have zero say in what our maps look like, and these companies are funded by them at the national level. We want you to hire the National Demographics Corporation – Douglas Johnson in order to assure Arizonans of fair representation and elections. The “Independent” Review Council should make amends for ten years of incompetence Redistricting and corruption. The commissioners met as many as five times at the home of the AZ 4/27/2021 9:12:47 April 27, 2021 Company Michael MacBan 85331 Democratic Party’s Executive Director! I would l ke to request that the company to be hired is the National Demographics Corporation – Douglas Johnson, in order to assure Arizonans fair representation and redistricting elections. mapping It would be inappropriate to use a biased company for the redistricting mapping process.
    [Show full text]
  • Senate/House Education Authorizing Committees and Education Appropriations Subcommittees
    Senate/House Education Authorizing Committees and Education Appropriations Subcommittees Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) Majority Members Minority Members Patty Murray (D-WA) Chair Richard M. Burr (R-NC) Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Rand Paul (R-KY) Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA) Susan M. Collins (R-ME) Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA) Chris Murphy (D-CT) Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Tim Kaine (D-VA) Mike Braun (R-IN) Maggie Hassan (D-NH) Roger Marshall (R-KS) Tina Smith (D-MN) Tim Scott (R-SC) Jacky Rosen (D-NV) Mitt Romney (R-UT) Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) John Hickenlooper (D-CO) Jerry Moran (R-KS) Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Majority Members Minority Members Patty Murray (D-WA) Chair Roy Blunt (R-MO) Ranking Member Richard J. "Dick" Durbin (D-IL) Richard C. Shelby (R-AL) Jack Reed (D-RI) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) Jerry Moran (R-KS) Jeff Merkley (D-OR) Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) Brian E. Schatz (D-HI) John Kennedy (R-LA) Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS) Chris Murphy (D-CT) Mike Braun (R-IN) Joe Manchin (D-WV) Marco Rubio (R-FL) House Committee on Education and Labor Majority Members Minority Members Robert "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) Joe Wilson (R-SC) Joe Courtney (D-CT) Glenn W. "G.T." Thompson (R-PA) Tim Walberg (R-MI) Gregorio Kilili Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands) Glenn Grothman (R-WI) Frederica S.
    [Show full text]
  • Key Committees 2021
    Key Committees 2021 Senate Committee on Appropriations Visit: appropriations.senate.gov Majority Members Minority Members Patrick J. Leahy, VT, Chairman Richard C. Shelby, AL, Ranking Member* Patty Murray, WA* Mitch McConnell, KY Dianne Feinstein, CA Susan M. Collins, ME Richard J. Durbin, IL* Lisa Murkowski, AK Jack Reed, RI* Lindsey Graham, SC* Jon Tester, MT Roy Blunt, MO* Jeanne Shaheen, NH* Jerry Moran, KS* Jeff Merkley, OR* John Hoeven, ND Christopher Coons, DE John Boozman, AR Brian Schatz, HI* Shelley Moore Capito, WV* Tammy Baldwin, WI* John Kennedy, LA* Christopher Murphy, CT* Cindy Hyde-Smith, MS* Joe Manchin, WV* Mike Braun, IN Chris Van Hollen, MD Bill Hagerty, TN Martin Heinrich, NM Marco Rubio, FL* * Indicates member of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which funds IMLS - Final committee membership rosters may still be being set “Key Committees 2021” - continued: Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Visit: help.senate.gov Majority Members Minority Members Patty Murray, WA, Chairman Richard Burr, NC, Ranking Member Bernie Sanders, VT Rand Paul, KY Robert P. Casey, Jr PA Susan Collins, ME Tammy Baldwin, WI Bill Cassidy, M.D. LA Christopher Murphy, CT Lisa Murkowski, AK Tim Kaine, VA Mike Braun, IN Margaret Wood Hassan, NH Roger Marshall, KS Tina Smith, MN Tim Scott, SC Jacky Rosen, NV Mitt Romney, UT Ben Ray Lujan, NM Tommy Tuberville, AL John Hickenlooper, CO Jerry Moran, KS “Key Committees 2021” - continued: Senate Committee on Finance Visit: finance.senate.gov Majority Members Minority Members Ron Wyden, OR, Chairman Mike Crapo, ID, Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, MI Chuck Grassley, IA Maria Cantwell, WA John Cornyn, TX Robert Menendez, NJ John Thune, SD Thomas R.
    [Show full text]
  • Half of Americans Approve of the Job President Biden Is Doing, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Most Say Conspiracy Theories in the U.S
    Tim Malloy, Polling Analyst (203) 645-8043 Doug Schwartz, Associate Vice President and Director (203) 582-5294 FOR RELEASE: FEBRUARY 17, 2021 HALF OF AMERICANS APPROVE OF THE JOB PRESIDENT BIDEN IS DOING, QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY NATIONAL POLL FINDS; MOST SAY CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN THE U.S. ARE OUT OF CONTROL Four weeks after being sworn into office, President Joe Biden receives a positive job approval rating as Americans approve 50 – 38 percent, with 13 percent not offering an opinion, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN- uh-pe-ack) University national poll of 1,056 adults released today. This is little changed from February 3rd when Americans approved 49 – 36 percent, with 16 percent not offering an opinion. There are sharp partisan divides with Democrats approving 91 – 2 percent and independents approving 50 – 34 percent, while Republicans disapprove 82 – 11 percent. When only considering registered voters, Biden’s job approval is 52 – 38 percent. It is nearly the inverse of former President Trump’s negative 38 – 55 percent job approval rating at roughly the same period during his presidency in a February 22, 2017 poll. “One month in, these are solid, but not particularly dazzling approval numbers for the new president. There may be some solace in the knowledge that his predecessor spent four years in office without getting very close to 50 percent,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy. Americans approve 58 – 32 percent of the way Biden is handling the response to the coronavirus. On his handling of the economy, they approve 48 – 39 percent. When it comes to the Biden administration’s handling of the reopening of schools, the public is mixed with 42 percent approving, 38 percent disapproving, and 20 percent not offering an opinion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Honorable Nancy Pelosi the Honorable Maxine Waters Speaker
    The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Maxine Waters Speaker of the House Chair, House Financial Services Committee H-232 The Capitol 2221 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20515 RE: SUPPORT – California CDFIs Support $1 Billion for the CDFI Fund in Phase 4 Relief Package On behalf of 38 California Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) we write to express our support for Chairwoman Waters’ recent proposal to include $1 billion for the CDFI Fund highlighted in her recent “Proposed Package 4 Related to COVID-19.” The California Coalition for Community Investment (CCCI) is a coalition of almost 40 CDFIs doing business across the state. The coalition consists of affordable housing lenders, small business lenders, microlenders, credit unions and housing trust funds dedicated to supporting California’s most vulnerable communities. The mission is to provide these CDFIs appropriate resources to do what they do best. CDFIs understand and can respond quickly to the needs of their consumers, housing developers and small business owners and are uniquely positioned to respond to relief and recovery during this crisis. CDFIs fill a vital gap in the nation's financial services delivery system through their strong expertise and deep community relationships. CDFIs have proven success addressing their communities’ needs during both natural and national disasters. During the Great Recession, when mainstream finance retracted lending, CDFIs kept capital flowing to businesses and communities. In 2017, when California was devastated by a series of wildfires in the North Bay and in Ventura County, CDFIs responded. In 2018, when the Camp Fire destroyed almost 19,000 homes, businesses and other structures, CDFIs responded.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Historical Studies Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England
    Jewish Historical Studies Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England Editorial: Introduction: Setbacks and shocks to the system: adjustments and particularly painful losses Michael Berkowitz1,* How to cite: Berkowitz, M. ‘Introduction: Setbacks and shocks to the system: adjustments and particularly painful losses’. Jewish Historical Studies, 2021, 52(1), pp. xi-xix. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.jhs.2021v52.001. Published: 03 June 2021 Peer Review: This article has been peer reviewed through the journal’s standard editorial peer review. Copyright: © 2020, The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited • DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.jhs.2021v52.001 Open Access: Jewish Historical Studies is a peer-reviewed open access journal. *Correspondence: [email protected] 1UCL, UK https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.jhs.2021v52.001 introduction Setbacks and shocks to the system: adjustments and particularly painful losses The previous issue of Transactions, volume 51, largely comprised articles originating in a London conference about the Kindertransport (January 2019) – the migration to Britain of nearly ten thousand (mostly) Jewish children, in the wake of “the Night of the Broken Glass” in Nazi Germany, November 1938, to the outbreak of the Second World War. In February 2019, the colleagues who initiated that conference, Lesley Urbach and Jennifer Craig-Norton of Southampton University, along with Susan Cohen, approached me with the idea of hosting a related meeting on the history of internment.
    [Show full text]
  • Congressional Report Card
    Congressional Report Card NOTE FROM BRIAN DIXON Senior Vice President for Media POPULATION CONNECTION and Government Relations ACTION FUND 2120 L St NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20037 ou’ll notice that this year’s (202) 332–2200 Y Congressional Report Card (800) 767–1956 has a new format. We’ve grouped [email protected] legislators together based on their popconnectaction.org scores. In recent years, it became twitter.com/popconnect apparent that nearly everyone in facebook.com/popconnectaction Congress had either a 100 percent instagram.com/popconnectaction record, or a zero. That’s what you’ll popconnectaction.org/116thCongress see here, with a tiny number of U.S. Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121 exceptions in each house. Calling this number will allow you to We’ve also included information connect directly to the offices of your about some of the candidates senators and representative. that we’ve endorsed in this COVER CARTOON year’s election. It’s a small sample of the truly impressive people we’re Nick Anderson editorial cartoon used with supporting. You can find the entire list at popconnectaction.org/2020- the permission of Nick Anderson, the endorsements. Washington Post Writers Group, and the Cartoonist Group. All rights reserved. One of the candidates you’ll read about is Joe Biden, whom we endorsed prior to his naming Sen. Kamala Harris his running mate. They say that BOARD OF DIRECTORS the first important decision a president makes is choosing a vice president, Donna Crane (Secretary) and in his choice of Sen. Harris, Joe Biden struck gold. Carol Ann Kell (Treasurer) Robert K.
    [Show full text]
  • Most Corrupt: Representative Maxine Waters
    MOST CORRUPT: REPRESENTATIVE MAXINE WATERS Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) is an eleven-term member of Congress, representing California’s 35th congressional district. She is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Waters’ ethics issues stem from a meeting she arranged between officials at the Department of Treasury and OneUnited Bank, a bank with which she has financial ties. In August 2010, an investigative subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee issued a Statement of Alleged Violation charging Rep. Waters with three counts of violating House rules and ethics regulations in connection with her actions regarding OneUnited. Later that year, however, the committee indefinitely postponed a scheduled ethics trial, citing the discovery of new evidence.1 In addition, news reports raised other questions about the conduct of the committee and its investigators during the Waters investigation, prompting an internal investigation that is still ongoing.2 Rep. Waters was included in CREW’s 2005 and 2006 congressional corruption reports for unrelated matters, and in CREW’s 2009 congressional corruption report for her actions regarding OneUnited.3 Intervention Between OneUnited and Treasury Officials Rep. Waters has close financial ties to OneUnited Bank, one of the largest black-owned banks in the country.4 In March 2004, she and her husband, Sidney Williams, each separately bought OneUnited stock worth between $250,001 and $500,000.5 Additionally, Mr. Williams maintained separate holdings at OneUnited worth between $250,001 and $500,000. In September 2004, Rep. Waters sold her stock in OneUnited, and her husband sold a portion of his 1 Due to serious questions about the actions of House Ethics Committee staff members involved in the Waters investigation, CREW in July 2011 called for an investigation of the House Ethics Committee and said there can be no confidence in the committee’s August 2010 Statement of Alleged Violation.
    [Show full text]
  • 2012 Platform Was Drafted After Soliciting Testimony from a Geographically Diverse Range of Hoosiers at Hearings in South Bend, New Albany and Indianapolis
    Preamble We've come a long way in a short time. With a focus and a commitment to serve Hoosier taxpayers, and not special interests, Indiana's Party of Purpose has enacted improvements that have made government smaller and more efficient, improved our state's economy, and ensured Indiana's Comeback continues to move full steam ahead. After years of government spending and debt, Republican leadership balanced the budget without raising taxes. At the same time, services have improved across the state. A leaner state government has actually improved quality. Our Bureau of Motor Vehicles is now a model for efficiency, moving customers through in 10 minutes or less. Major Moves has improved infrastructure by providing a decade worth of funding for projects around the state that had been promised and delayed for decades. Property taxes in Indiana are among the lowest in the nation, having been cut by 30 percent and capped permanently by the voters and by our State Constitution. Along the way, we have lived by a number of simple principles, but atop that list is the fact that Hoosiers know what's best for Hoosiers. We don't ask for, or want, the federal government to interfere with or dictate how we should live our lives. The improvements we have made, together, have come from within, from Hoosiers. We owe a debt of gratitude to Governor Mitch Daniels and Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman , our dynamic Hoosier duo, who have worked and led to make Indiana a better place to live, work and invest, alongside House Speaker Brian Bosma , Senate President Pro Tempore David Long and our majorities in the House and Senate.
    [Show full text]
  • Congress of the United States Washington, DC 20515
    Congress of the United States Washington, DC 20515 June 14, 2021 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House H-232, The Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Madam Speaker: We write today to urge you to fully reopen the House of Representatives. The positive impact of increasing vaccination rates and decreasing cases of COVID-19 are clear to see. Businesses are open, sporting venues and cultural institutions have welcomed back fans and visitors, and restrictions have been lifted. On June 11, Washington D.C. fully reopened and lifted the restrictions put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately, the United States Capitol and the People’s House have failed to do the same. The Capitol remains closed to the American people and the House continues to maintain policies that run contrary to science of COVID-19. It is time for you to reopen the House and get back to serving the American people. Weekly case numbers in the United States have reached their lowest point since March of 2020 at the very start of the pandemic, and every day hundreds of thousands of Americans are being vaccinated. This also holds true for the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and the Capitol Hill community specifically. Over the last two weeks cases are down 36% in Washington D.C. and over 40% in both Virginia and Maryland. On Capitol Hill, no congressional staffer is known to have tested positive in weeks and no Member of Congress is known to have tested positive in months. This can no doubt be attributed to the institution’s steady access to vaccinations.
    [Show full text]
  • Prayer Practices
    Floor Action 5-145 Prayer Practices Legislatures operate with a certain element of pomp, ceremony and procedure that flavor the institution with a unique air of tradition and theatre. The mystique of the opening ceremonies and rituals help to bring order and dignity to the proceedings. One of these opening ceremonies is the offering of a prayer. Use of legislative prayer. The practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer is long- standing. The custom draws its roots from both houses of the British Parliament, which, according to noted parliamentarian Luther Cushing, from time ”immemorial” began each day with a “reading of the prayers.” In the United States, this custom has continued without interruption at the federal level since the first Congress under the Constitution (1789) and for more than a century in many states. Almost all state legislatures still use an opening prayer as part of their tradition and procedure (see table 02-5.50). In the Massachusetts Senate, a prayer is offered at the beginning of floor sessions for special occasions. Although the use of an opening prayer is standard practice, the timing of when the prayer occurs varies (see table 02-5.51). In the majority of legislative bodies, the prayer is offered after the floor session is called to order, but before the opening roll call is taken. Prayers sometimes are given before floor sessions are officially called to order; this is true in the Colorado House, Nebraska Senate and Ohio House. Many chambers vary on who delivers the prayer. Forty-seven chambers allow people other than the designated legislative chaplain or a visiting chaplain to offer the opening prayer (see table 02-5.52).
    [Show full text]