A coalition of progressive groups are upping the pressure on Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to nix the 60-vote legislative filibuster after Republicans were able to successfully block a bill using the procedure for the first time
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“Local elected officials have their fingers on the pulse of their communities, and can speak better than anyone about what kind of future everyday Americans are demanding. Their collective statement today is clear: It’s time for our leaders in Washington to tackle the climate crisis now, not later. This means halting fracking and fossil fuel projects, period,” Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, said in a statement.
“We can ban fracking in the City of Denver, but if we don’t do this at a national and international scale, we will continue to destroy our habitability on our planet,” Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds, one of the signers, said in a statement. “We’re trying to do our part here in Denver, but we need members of Congress and President Biden to do their part too.”
Schumer, who held a press conference on the bill on Tuesday, argued that the end result should be bipartisan. The way to do that is for 60 senators is to vote to proceed to the legislation. I hope it will be many more than 60. Who would oppose this very simple but necessary legislation? Schumer asked.
The bill from Hirono requires the Justice Department to designate an official to review coronavirus-related hate crimes, beef up state and local resources and examine best practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language describing the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans haven t yet signaled if they would filibuster the bill, which would be their first filibuster under the Democratic-controlled Senate.
The letter cites written responses from Kahl from late last month in which he indicated to senators that an article in The Washington Post in March 2017 was the source of his Twitter posts that day in which he discussed what the senators allege are classified details of a National Security Council committee meeting about a U.S. operation in Yemen.
But the article cited by Kahl does not account for all of the sensitive contents of his tweets, the senators wrote.
They also cited additional tweets from Kahl later in 2017 in which they allege he appeared to confirm leaked classified information related to military options in North Korea and later indicated multiple officials within the Trump administration had confirmed the information to him.
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