8 votes

Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of December 5

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Tags: usa, politics, recurring.weekly

This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.

This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.

5 comments

  3. kfwyre
    Link
    Bill to protect same-sex marriage rights clears Congress (New York Times)

    Bill to protect same-sex marriage rights clears Congress (New York Times)

    The House on Thursday gave final approval to legislation to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voting in favor of the measure in the waning days of the Democratic-led Congress.

    With a vote of 258-169, with one member voting “present,” the landmark legislation cleared Congress, sending it to President Biden to be signed into law and capping an improbable path for a measure that only months ago appeared to have little chance at enactment.

    4 votes
  5. skybrian
    Link
    A desperate road trip to remind America about its Afghan allies (Washington Post)

    A desperate road trip to remind America about its Afghan allies (Washington Post)

    The Afghan Adjustment Act would eliminate the looming possibility of deportation or joblessness for the nearly 73,000 evacuees who entered the United States under “humanitarian parole,” a two-year refuge that expires in 2023. The legislation would offer them the opportunity to receive green cards after undergoing additional vetting and broaden the government’s options for extricating hundreds of thousands of others who were left behind. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced the bill along with five co-sponsors: Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

    But some of the same Republican lawmakers who once championed America’s responsibility to its allies have begun to question whether those guided onto U.S. evacuation flights last year had sufficiently demonstrated their allegiance. Others have come to view the idea of citizenship for thousands of Afghans as part of a larger liberal immigration agenda that they oppose. Republicans in recent days stripped a provision from the annual defense policy bill to extend a special visa program for Afghan allies.

    3 votes