Category: US

It’s a political risk for Manchin to sign onto a bill that will impose a corporate minimum tax on large corporations, spend $369 billion on climate and energy, lower prescription drug prices and extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. The centrist’s willingness to become the bill’s top salesman — alongside Democratic leaders who are deeply unpopular in red states like Manchin’s — makes him a likely target for a GOP that has often treated him as an ally this Congress.

“His party’s very unpopular in the state of West Virginia and what he’s doing now is very unpopular as well,” said No. 3 Senate GOP leader John Barraso of Wyoming, who’s also the top Republican on the Manchin-led Energy Committee. “We’re going to be focused on that seat in 2024. We’ll see what comes to fruition of what promises might have been made to Joe Manchin in order to agree to this.”

Though Democrats’ party-line legislation is much smaller than previously envisioned last year, it’s quite a bit larger than the health care-only package that Manchin appeared to be pushing just two weeks ago. Democrats see plenty of upside for Manchin in the bill, particularly the revival of a black lung disability trust fund that helps care for West Virginia coal miners.

And another integral part of Manchin’s deal with the rest of his party is a promise to enact energy permitting legislation later this year that’s designed to make fossil fuel and green energy projects easier to build — an idea that Barrasso dubbed “a lot of pie in the sky that Democrats are not going to support in the end.”

Asked for comment about Republicans’ fury over the deal, Manchin’s office pointed out several provisions that would specifically benefit his state: money for carbon-capture energy projects; finishing the Mountain Valley gas pipeline; a $4 billion carveout for coal communities and the health care components that disproportionately help West Virginians. Manchin’s betting those will help the bill become more popular with his constituents, alongside his legendary political run in the state and knack for retail politics.

But his home-state GOP colleague, Sen. Shelley Moore Capitosaid Manchin’s got his work cut out for him pitching the deal back home: “It’s not good for the state, and I think it’s difficult to sell in the state,” she said, adding that “he’ll put that in his calculus and make his own decision” on running again in 2024.

For months, Manchin’s been Republicans’ best Democratic partner. He helped keep the legislative filibuster unscathed and blocked his own party’s sweeping Build Back Better bill. He’s been raising warnings about inflation as nearly as long as National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Rick Scott (R-Fla.).

And Manchin’s political standing in West Virginia is strong, which means that his potential opponents sense a rare opportunity in the current moment.

“After holding the line against some of the terrible bills being pushed by President Biden and the left, Joe Manchin just changed course and let the dam break wide open,” said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who lost narrowly to Manchin in 2018 and could run again in 2024. “I respectfully ask Senator Manchin to change his position and vote no.”

State Treasurer Riley Moore is also seen as a potential candidate by Republicans. He’s Capito’s nephew and the grandson of former Gov. Arch Moore, and is leading a GOP charge against banks factoring in climate change risk into their lending decisions.

Manchin himself is dismissing questions about 2024 at the moment — though by declining on Sunday to endorse a second term for Biden, he took a position that probably helps him in his state. As for the party-line deal with Schumer, Manchin said, “this is not about politics.” He’s repeatedly said the party-line energy, tax and health care bill is neither Republican nor Democratic, but instead “an American bill.”

“I think it absolutely is so needed for our country,” Manchin said on Monday. “So does it affect me politically or not? I didn’t look at it that way and I still don’t.”

Manchin agonized over running again in 2018, frustrated by the Senate’s plodding pace and the leadership style of Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He’s made no decision on what to do in 2024, according to his colleagues, and he’s declined to answer direct questions about his political future in recent weeks.

“For Republicans, we’re getting more red and the Biden administration is doubling down on some of the Obama administration things, which are tied to the Democratic party,” Capito said. “Any Democrat’s having trouble.”

Three red-state senators who face reelection in 2024 are integral to Democrats’ majority: Manchin, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana. All represent states that have only gotten more Republican over the past few election cycles, making it critical for Democrats to hold their seats and make space in the caucus for their unique ideological brands.

And Manchin comes from probably the toughest state for Democrats of anyone in the caucus, which is why he was so deliberative when it came to supporting a party-line deal with Schumer. It’s plainly clear that Democrats want him to run for the Senate rather than retire, run for governor or pursue something like an independent presidential run.

There’s almost certainly no one else who can compete in a Senate race in the state, let alone win one.

“I’d like him to” run for reelection, said Sen. Tim Kain (D-Va.). “But trying to predict what Joe Manchin will do? … He’s a vigorous, healthy guy who is playing a healthy role.”

Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.

In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind case, a veteran Minnesota pharmacist went on trial Monday accused of violating the civil rights of a mother of five by refusing to fill her prescription for emergency contraception.

Andrea Anderson, according to a civil lawsuit filed under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, sought the morning-after pill Ella in January 2019 at the only pharmacy in her hometown, McGregor (population 391), after a condom broke during sex.

“She acted quickly because any delay in obtaining emergency contraception increases the risk of pregnancy,” the complaint states.

But George Badeaux, who had been dispensing drugs from the McGregor Thrifty White pharmacy for several decades, refused to fill Anderson’s prescription, claiming it would violate his “beliefs,” according to the complaint.

“Badeaux informed her that there would be another pharmacist working the next day, who might be willing to fill the medication but that he could not guarantee that they would help,” the complaint states.

Badeaux also warned Anderson against trying to get the prescription filled at a Shopko pharmacy in a nearby town and refused to tell her where else she could try, as required by state law, the complaint states.

Another pharmacist at a CVS in the city of Aitkin also blocked Anderson from getting the prescription filled. She wound up traveling 100 miles round trip, “while a massive snowstorm was headed to central Minnesota,” to get the prescription filled at Walgreens in Brainerd, according to the complaint.

Anderson is seeking unspecified damages and wants an injunction requiring Badeaux and the drugstore he works for to follow state law, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, including issues related to pregnancy and childbirth.

The Badeaux trial, which began with jury selection Monday, comes as the once-dormant debate over contraception was rekindled after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—and by prominent lawmakers like Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who openly questioned the constitutionality of birth control.

Last week, the US House passed a bill that would guarantee the right to contraception under federal law.

Anderson is being represented by lawyers from Gender Justice, which is based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Neither her lawyers nor Badeaux’s representatives are commenting on the case.

A spokeswoman for Gender Justice said the Anderson case appears to be the first in the country brought to trial by a woman who was refused contraception.

Originally, Anderson’s lawsuit included CVS as a defendant.

In court papers, Anderson said that after she was rebuffed by Badeaux, she called the CVS in Aitkin, where a female technician told her she couldn’t fill her prescription and falsely told her she wouldn’t be able to get it filled in. Brainerd, either.

Anderson and CVS reached a settlement before the case went to trial, and she received unspecified compensation, court records revealed.

NBC News asked CVS for the details of the settlement and to see whether the technician faced any discipline, but it hasn’t heard back from the pharmaceutical giant.

After Anderson got her prescription filled, she called the Thrifty White pharmacy and complained about how Badeaux treated her to owner Matt Hutera, court papers show.

Badeaux has refused to fill prescriptions for contraceptives at least three other times because he believes they cause abortions, the papers show. He said he objected to dispensing Ella, saying it could possibly prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.

“It is similar to removing all care from a newborn child by throwing it out the backdoor into the woods,” he said in a court filing.

But Ella doesn’t induce abortions. It is a prescription drug that prevents a woman from becoming pregnant in the first place when it is taken within five days of unprotected sex, according to the manufacturer.

“If an individual is already pregnant, meaning that fertilized egg has implanted in their uterus, emergency contraception ‘Will not stop or harm the pregnancy,’” Anderson’s lawyers said in their complaint.

Aitkin County District Judge David Hermerding has already ruled that Badeaux can’t raise federal constitutional issues such as freedom of religion at the trial, although he will be allowed to explain his beliefs to the jury.

“The issue for the jury is not defendant’s constitutional rights,” the judge wrote. “It is whether he deliberately misled, obfuscated and blocked Ms. Anderson’s path to obtaining Ella.”

“We’ve been getting a little bit over the Bay Area — nothing like they have over southeast California, where they’ve had a lot of flash flood warnings [and] road washouts,” said Brian Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Bay Area office.

California and the southwestern United States are in the midst of monsoon season. But the effects of monsoons can range from light drizzles to lightning-packed thunderstorms.

“A monsoon is a pattern of wind and rainfall that usually spans a very large part of a continent — or even an entire continent,” said William Boos, an atmospheric scientist at UC Berkeley.

Tropical moisture ahead of Frank (left) ⛈️ and monsoon moisture (right) ️⛈️ making rounds over the Golden State this afternoon.

Models trending towards more widespread showers for the Bay Area this week as Frank dies and its remnants drift northward. #CaWx pic.twitter.com/LJfZ4Sn0OX

— Gerry Diaz (@geravitywave) August 1, 2022

This sticky summer weather is set to persist through the week.

On tap Wednesday and Thursday, the Bay Area and Central Coast could see more light rain showers and high humidity levels. Toward the end of the weekend, residents can expect clearer skies as the muggy weather pattern fades away.

The humidity could return again, though, as monsoons can persist for months.

“Monsoons, in general, are created by intense sunlight supplying energy to land and the atmosphere during summer,” said Boos. “That creates these large continental-scale circulations.”

In North America, this atmospheric circulation can transport moist air over the Gulf of California inland to the Desert Southwest, including California.

In the Bay Area and Central Coast, the monsoon system has meant light showers and soupy feeling weather. From Sunday through Monday afternoon, rainfall totals ranged from a few hundredths to nearly a tenth of an inch from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz.

the humidity woke me up at 5am. I thought I was in Florida at first.

— William Duncan (@willduncanphoto) August 1, 2022

But in Southern California and Nevada impacts have been severe. Torrential downpours and flash floods forced the closure of roads in and out of Death Valley National Park.

On top of the monsoon system moving through California, the remnants of Tropical Storm Frank, moving off the Pacific coast of Mexico, are also providing additional moisture. A low-pressure system over the Pacific Ocean that is spinning counterclockwise is only adding moisture to the mix.

This low-pressure system is essentially funneling moisture from the tropical storm and monsoon northward, Garcia said.

One concern with the current weather system is the possibility of storms and—more worryingly—lightning. Lightning strikes could potentially ignite dry vegetation and kick off wildfires.

In far Northern California and Southern Oregon where the McKinney Fire is burning, the same monsoon system kicked off new fire starts over the weekend, with hundreds of lightning bolts touching down.

The Bay Area has fared better, unlike in August 2020, when the historic lightning complex fires broke out across the region.

“So far, we haven’t seen any significant lightning with the showers that have been going through,” Garcia said.

Jack Lee (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]

As the United States enters a recession following two quarters of negative growth, Sen. Joe Manchin is disputing data that shows his bill would raise taxes on the middle class during such the tough economy.

“We have to agree to disagree, a difference of opinion,” Manchin, DW.Va., said when asked by Fox News Digital about an analysis from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on taxation showing his bill would hike middle class taxes.

The committee’s analysis said Manchin’s bill, officially titled the “Inflation Reduction Act,” would raise 2023 taxes on six of eight income categories lower than $200,000.

SINEMA STILL UNDECIDED ON MANCHIN SOCIAL SPENDING BILL, WILL MAKE DETERMINATION AFTER PARLIAMENTARIAN REVIEW

Manchin quickly pivoted away from Fox News Digital’s question to discuss parts of the bill he says should be bipartisan.

“My Republican colleagues are my friends and I’ve worked with them tremendously. And I will continue to work with them any way, shape or form,” Manchin said. “But these are things that we’ve all talked about in bipartisan groups. How can we start paying down our debt and… take our finances seriously, our financial house in order? These are things every time we get together as a group, bipartisan support, this is what we talk about. How can we get more production?”

Nevertheless, Republicans say Manchin’s legislation, which he announced with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., last week, makes no sense during a technical recession after two quarters of the economy shrinking.

WHAT’S IN THE MANCHIN-SCHUMER TAX HIKE AND CLIMATE CHANGE BILL?

“The median household income in West Virginia is $48,037. This bill will raise taxes of Americans making well below those levels in order to help families making more than five times those levels purchase electric cars,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, tweeted this weekend.

Cornyn was citing a provision in the bill that would provide up to a $7,500 tax credit for families making up to $300,000 to buy certain electric vehicles.

Manchin also pushed back on the idea that his bill will raise taxes on the middle class in separate comments.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“There’s not one penny of change in taxes, I have no idea where they’re coming down,” Manchin said. “The only thing that was done… if you are a company of a billion dollars or more… you should pay at least a minimum of 15%.”

Manchin further said that, “I can’t believe that they would say” the bill would affect average Americans’ taxes.

“It’s not going to affect… not at all,” he said.

• Guy Refitt and his teenage daughter, Peyton, addressed the court at his sentencing Monday.
• Prosecutors fell short arguing that Reffitt’s conduct should be considered domestic terrorism.
• The Justice Department had recommended that Reffitt receive a 15-year prison term.

Guy Refitt, the first Capitol rioter found guilty at trial, was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in prison — the longest term behind bars ordered to date in a case stemming from the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Judge Dabney Friedrich handed down the sentence five months after a jury convicted Reffitt on all five charges he faced following the Capitol siege, including obstruction of an official proceeding and threatening his own children to prevent them from reporting him to law enforcement. The sentence punctuated an unusually long hearing that stretched on for nearly six hours, with prosecutors and Friedrich highlighting Reffitt’s apparent lack of contrition and statements in which he described himself as a “martyr” and “patriot.”

“In a democracy, the answer to those frustrations is not rebellion, and it’s really disturbing that he repeatedly persists with these views that are way outside the mainstream. These are just-flat — his claims are wrong,” Friedrich said.

“What he and others who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 did is the antithesis of patriotism,” she added. “The officers at the Capitol were patriots. …Those are the patriots. Those who stormed the Capitol are not. Not only are they not patriots, they are a direct threat to our democracy and will be punished as such.”

Reffitt initially declined to address Friedrich, but he reversed course after a lunch break to express remorse for his role in the violence of January 6.

“I do think everyone deserves to hear my apology,” Reffitt said. “It’s very clear I have an issue with just rambling and saying stupid shit.”

Ahead of Monday’s sentencing hearings, prosecutors recommended that Reffitt receive a 15-year sentence, a prison term tripling the longest ones ordered to date out of the more than 800 prosecutions connected to the Capitol attack. Two other Capitol rioters — Mark Ponder and Robert Palmer — previously received sentences of more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting police on January 6.

In Reffitt’s case, prosecutors urged Friedrich to classify Reffitt’s conduct as domestic terrorism and apply more severe sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors stressed that Reffitt brought police-style flexicuffs and a firearm to the Capitol, where he “sought not just to stop Congress, but also to physically attack, remove, and replace the legislators who were serving in Congress.

“He was planning to overtake our government. He wasn’t just trying to stop the certification,” said prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler. “He wasn’t done. January 6 was just a preface.”

“Mr. Reffitt,” he added, “is in a class all by himself.”

But Friedrich declined to apply the terrorism enhancement Monday, saying it would cause an “unwarranted sentencing disparity” with other cases involving attacks on police and threats of violence on January 6.

At his trial in March, prosecutors showed video footage of Reffitt wearing tactical gear as he ascended a stairway outside the Capitol, with a pro-Trump mob trailing behind him. Prosecutors described Reffitt, a onetime member of the far-right Three Percenters group, as the “tip of this mob’s spear” and painted him as a pivotal on-the-ground leader who “lit the fire” on January 6.

“Mr. Refitt was intending to violently overthrow Congress, and physically drag members of Congress out of the Capitol,” Nestler said Monday.

Reffitt’s trial featured dramatic testimony from his teenage son, Jackson Reffitt, who recounted reporting his father to law enforcement on Christmas Eve in 2020 after growing alarmed about his incendiary rhetoric and plans to do “something big.” Jackson Reffitt also testified that he secretly recorded his father from him after January 6 as he exuberantly recounted his confrontation with police on the stairs leading up to the Capitol.

But Guy Refitt grew distressed as federal agents began to track down and arrest alleged participants in the January 6 attack, his son said in court. In a key portion of his testimony from him, Jackson Reffitt detailed a conversation in which his father told him and his younger sister that they would be traitors if they turned him into law enforcement — and that “traitors get shot.”

On Monday, prosecutor Risa Berkower read a letter aloud in court from Jackson Reffitt, in which he expressed hope that his father would be able to “use all the safety nets” available in the federal prison system, including mental health care. Prison, he wrote, should not be used to “destroy a person but to rehabilitate someone.”

Reffitt’s teenage daughter Peyton Reffitt later told Friedrich that her father’s mental health has “always been a real issue.” In emotional remarks, she appeared to place the blame for the violence of January 6 on former President Donald Trump.

“My father’s name wasn’t on the flags that everyone was carrying that day,” she said. “It was another man’s name.”

Referring to her father, Peyton Reffitt said, “He wasn’t the leader.”

As she issued her sentence Monday, Friedrich described Reffitt as a “talented, intelligent man who has a great deal to offer your family and the country.”

“And, yes, your family suffered emotionally and financially because of the bad choices you’ve made. But you still have the opportunity to make them proud and make your country proud,” Friedrich told Reffitt, who appeared in court Monday wearing eyeglasses, a white mask, and an orange prison jumpsuit.

“You can speak to those who have held the views that you have held — I hope in the past — in a way that other people can’t,” she added. “And you can actually play a role, you can be a real leader — not the kind of leadership you demonstrated or tried to demonstrate on January 6, but a real leader in trying to turn things around and become part of the solution in this county .”