Senate confirms Biden 1st Cabinet pick as Democrats control

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three new senators were sworn into office after President Joe Biden's inauguration, securing the majority for Democrats in the Senate and across a unified government to tackle the new president's agenda at a time of unprecedented national challenges. In a first vote, the Senate confirmed...

Time, transparency needed as Biden inherits frazzled census

Battered by criticism that the 2020 census was dangerously politicized by the Trump administration, the U.S. Census Bureau under a new Biden administration has the tall task of restoring confidence in the numbers that will be used to determine funding and political power. Picking up the pieces of a long,...

Senate confirms Biden 1st Cabinet pick as Democrats control

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three new senators were sworn into office after President Joe Biden's inauguration, securing the majority for Democrats in the Senate and across a unified government to tackle the new president's agenda at a time of unprecedented national challenges. In a first vote, the Senate confirmed...

Biden repudiates white supremacy, calls for racial justice

Rare for an inaugural address, President Joe Biden issued a strong repudiation of white supremacy and domestic terrorism seen on the rise under Donald Trump. In his speech Wednesday, Biden denounced the “racism, nativism, fear, demonization,” that propelled the assault on Capitol Hill by an...

McConnell: Trump 'provoked' Capitol siege, mob was fed lies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday explicitly blamed President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying the mob was “fed lies” and the president and others “provoked” those intent on overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s...

Correction: Capitol Breach-Civil War story

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — In a story January 16, 2021, about Republican leaders invoking war rhetoric, The Associated Press incorrectly referred to an incoming chairwoman of the Michigan GOP. Instead, she is the incoming party co-chair. A corrected version of the story is below.

The Latest: Sunday protests quiet; officials brace for more

The Latest on demonstrating Sunday at statehouses across the country. ___ After a small, peaceful protest at the Ohio Statehouse on Sunday, Gov. Mike DeWine says security levels will remain high in Columbus for Wednesday’s presidential inauguration. DeWine praised demonstrators for exercising their free...

More backlash for GOP's Hawley as Loews Hotel cancels event

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Loews Hotels said Saturday it has canceled an upcoming fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, the latest fallout for the Republican lawmaker after the U.S. Capitol uprising. The Republican senator from Missouri helped staged an Electoral College challenge the day President Donald...

Trump trial pending, McConnell calls it 'vote of conscience'

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's impeachment trial is likely to start after Joe Biden's inauguration, and the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, is telling senators their decision on whether to convict the outgoing president over the Capitol riot will be a “vote of conscience.” The...

Donor backlash fuels GOP alarm about Senate fundraising

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are worried that a corporate backlash stirred by the deadly Capitol insurrection could crimp a vital stream of campaign cash, complicating the party’s prospects of retaking the Senate in the next election. The GOP already faces a difficult Senate map in 2022, when 14...