Source: The Hill

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) doubled down Tuesday on his support for the filibuster as President Biden heads to Georgia to publicly push for changes to the Senate rule in order to pass voting rights legislation.

“We need some good rules changes to make the place work better. But getting rid of the filibuster doesn’t make it work better,” Manchin told reporters.

Given support from Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) for the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most bills to advance in the Senate, Democrats acknowledge that getting rid of it altogether isn’t on the table.

Instead, they are discussing smaller changes including moving to a talking filibuster, where opponents could delay the bill for as long as they could hold the floor but legislation would ultimately be able to pass with a simple majority. They are also mulling a carveout that would exempt voting rights legislation from needing 60 votes.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/589169-manchin-doubles-down-on-filibuster-ahead-of-bidens-speech

Long story short, I can't find the .txt (or .doc) file on my computer of an essay I wrote about 25 years ago. However, I have the actual physical paper in mint condition.

I need it in text form. Now, I know I could do it the hard way and manually type it out, but that would take several hours. Is there any way that I could scan it and turn it into text? If yes what free programs can do this for me?

Source: CNN

Biden has lowest first-year Senate confirmation rate among last three presidents, according to new report

Washington (CNN)President Joe Biden has the lowest Senate confirmation rate of first-year nominations among the last three presidents, according to a new report from a group that studies presidential transitions.

"In Biden's first year, the Senate confirmed only 41% of his nominations. While a small number were withdrawn by the president, 118 were 'returned' at the end of the Senate's session -- meaning the president would either have to nominate that person again in the next session or nominate someone else," according to the report from the Center for Presidential Transition, a nonpartisan group based in Washington, DC.

The group, which said its data represents "nominations for all civilian positions including ambassadors, judges, marshals and US attorneys," reported that as of last week, 171 of the nominations Biden made in 2021 are still awaiting a vote.

Biden's 41% continues a downward confirmation rate trend among recent presidents, the group said, noting that 75% of George Bush's first-year nominees were confirmed, while 69% of Barack Obama's were approved and 57% of Donald Trump's were OK'd by the Senate during his first year in office.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/09/politics/biden-senate-confirmation-numbers/index.html

Source: CNBC

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s $1.8 trillion spending offer he proposed to the White House in late 2021 appears to be no longer on the table following a breakdown between the Democratic lawmaker from West Virginia and the White House, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Manchin told reporters this week that he is no longer involved in discussions with the White House and has signaled privately that he is not interested in approving any legislation like President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Package, the newspaper said, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.

Manchin’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The legislation is one of Biden’s signature domestic priorities. Manchin’s vote is critical in the evenly divided Senate. His opposition torpedoed Build Back Better in December, drawing ire from Democratic progressives and sending the political party scrambling to find a way to resurrect the package.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/08/manchins-1point8-trillion-spending-offer-is-reportedly-no-longer-on-the-table.html

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Should we have just taken his offer a couple of weeks ago? Or was it right to pass?

Source: NBC News

WASHINGTON — Opponents of the Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to get the case back in the hands of a federal judge so they can resume their legal fight.

The Supreme Court last month rejected a claim by Texas that the law known as S.B. 8 was immune to challenges in federal court, but the ruling limited opponents of the law to suing state medical licensing officials. That meant abortion providers in Texas could only seek to block those officials from taking away their medical licenses.

The ruling also meant opponents were unable to block the most novel feature of the Texas law, which allows anyone to sue an abortion provider and seek a minimum of $10,000.

The Supreme Court last month sent the case back to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, abortion providers say the case is stuck there and should be returned to a federal trial judge in Texas so they can proceed with their legal challenge.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/opponents-texas-abortion-law-ask-supreme-court-expedite-their-challenge-n1286897

Source: NY Times

Eric Adams (D) was sworn in early Saturday as the 110th mayor of New York City just after the New Year's Eve crystal ball dropped in Times Square.

Adams, a former city police captain, proclaimed that "New York is back" during the ceremony, according to the New York Times.

During the ceremony in Times Square, Adams held a picture of his late mother, Dorthy, who passed away last spring and was sworn-in using a family Bible, the Times noted.

Adams won the Democratic primary last summer against Kathryn Garcia by about only one percentage point. Before entering politics, Adams called himself “the future of the Democratic Party," the Times noted.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/01/nyregion/eric-adams-inaguration-nyc-mayor.html