Axios: MoveOn Endorses Summer Lee and Andy Kim in First Congressional Endorsements

Read the Axios story here and 2024 election memo here Washington, D.C. – Today, MoveOn Political Action announced its endorsements of Representative Summer Lee (PA-12) for reelection and Representative Andy Kim for the New Jersey U.S. Senate seat. These are the group’s first primary endorsements in 2024. As The New York Times reported in January, MoveOn launched its $ 32+ million 2024 election program to mobilize millions of young surge voters to protect our freedoms and our democracy from Donald Trump and MAGA extremists. MoveOn is focusing on working to…

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Whistleblower protection legislation stalls amid congressional chaos

Whistleblower protection legislation often has bipartisan support. Yet it seems to take forever. A bill to extend federal protections to contractors was supposed to get marked up in January in the House Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. But now it is sidelined. For more, the Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Joe Spielberger, the policy counsel at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). Interview Transcript:  Tom Temin And this new bill, then is pretty significant. Let’s talk about the bill itself. What does it purport to do…

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Congressional repeal of Social Security’s ‘evil twins’ nears finish line

The possibility of repealing Social Security’s so-called ‘evil twins” is closer than ever to the finish line. There are now 303 House cosponsors on the Social Security Fairness Act. It is the second highest number of cosponsors on any pending bill in all of Congress. If enacted, the legislation would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The two provisions reduce, and in some cases eliminate, Social Security benefits for certain federal retirees. The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) is urging the…

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Does the Pentagon skip too many of its congressional reporting duties?

The Defense Department is under statutory obligation to deliver a thousand reports to Congress each year. One analysis says the department consistently fails at this task and that Congress doesn’t get the information it needs for proper oversight of military affairs. For more on all of that, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Brennen Center counsel Katherine Yon Ebright. Interview Transcript:  Tom Temin And you took a look at the situation some FOIA documents will get into. But first of all, just outline the issue. A thousand. Is…

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What do congressional minions actually do when they try to reconcile bills, anyhow?

The detailed work in Congress is done not by members, but rather by the 30,000-odd staff members. Right now, a group of overworked, and probably underpaid, minions are what they call “conferencing” over one of the most important yearly laws: the National Defense Authorization Act. Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with on of those former “minions.” Among other things, she was Senior Defense Adviser to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Michele Pearce is currently an attorney with Covington and Burling. Interview Transcript:  Tom Temin And we should say that you…

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