with her defense of the senate filibuster. however, democratic leaders, like south carolina congressman jim clyburn, not giving up hope. he sent this message to senators this afternoon on msnbc. we re going to be steadfast here in this. this is worth doing. not just for african-american voting rights but hispanic american voting rights. i don t understand how any senators can look at what s going on in georgia and florida and texas and 16 other states, and not know that this fragile democracy of ours is teetering on collapse if we do not stop this foolishness. meantime, in a column for the washington post, former-vice president mike pence accuses democrats of attempting a, quote, federal power grab over state elections. the truth is the real power grab is coming from republicans at the state level, and it s not just ballot access. gop-led states have passed new laws to control the process of counting and certifying votes. republicans are also proving unfair district map
plus since the january 6th attack on the united states capitol, the most important so far has been the arrest of this man. meet stewart rhodes the founder of the far right militia the oath keepers, a former army paratrooper who was honorably discharged after he was injured in a night parachuting accident. he then worked for libertarian congressman ron paul and went to yale law school. so far what would seem to be a kind of main stream conservative. according to the southern policy law center it s only when rhodes moved to montana that his believed turned a hard right away from small d democratic politics the justice department announced thursday it was charging rhodes and ten of his coconspirators with something called seditious conspiracy for their roles in the january insurrection. seditious conspiracy is a rarely used civil war era statute reserved only for the most serious of political criminals. i look at the court documents for rhodes arrest reveals why the government
thank you so much for joining us this hour. i m katie phang in for alicia menendez. we begin with the surprise demise of build back better. this morning, a single united states senator, joe manchin of west virginia, went on fox news to declare he just couldn t get there in supporting his party s social spending plan, walking away from weeks of negotiations. breaking deals brokered with the president of the united states and the white house. burning bridges with many of his fellow democrats. it is news that came as a shock to all of washington. politico putting together each and every twist and turn of the day, starting with the half hour heads-up manchin gave to the white house and to congress, dispatching an aide only 30 minutes before he went on fox news. a white house in panic and disbelief. top officials are scrambling to call the senator and, quote, head him off. but as a senior white house official tells playbook, manchin refused to take a call from white house staff. a
he will not support the president s $2 trillion megabill reportedly telling democratic leadership just minutes before his announcement. i can t imagine the bind this places that leadership in. as now, in addition to their numbers in both house and senate, the center piece of the equity agenda promised by the biden administration won t be there for democrats to run in next year s midterm elections. but even that seems extraneous at this moment. because basic questions like the sanctity of the vote, a woman s reproductive rights, and the legal limits of law enforcement are still being settled politically. on that first question, what i haven t gotten as the senate now pivots to voting rights, is an explicit answer on is whether or not there is even enough time to counter the national surge in republican engineered voter suppression legislation or whether the emphasis on infrastructure was worth the federal voting protection bills that have been killed or rendered inert. one thi
as a writer, she taught me to defy genere boundaries and surrender to my obsessive passions. we remember both vicente fernandez and anne rice for their countless contributions. a brand-new hour of american voices begins right now. tonight, 48 hours since deadly tornadoes ripped across half a dozen states and the damage remains unimaginable, as the death toll continues to rise. at this hour, a total of 48 are confirmed dead. that number expected to rise, especially in kentucky, where the governor believes his state s death toll alone could exceed 100. homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas was there today assessing damage. we ve lost fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and others. but as the governor so poignantly and powerfully stated, we will get through this. we will grieve together. but we will also recover together. we take you to kentucky in a few minutes for an update there. and breaking news from capitol hill. the committee investiga