The US House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would revive the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) by repealing the 1982 deadline that states had been given to ratify it, the Washington Examiner reports. The ERA was designed principally to ban federal and state laws that discriminate against women; its central principle is that sex should not determine the legal rights of men or women.
The leader of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command says America is losing its military edge as China becomes more emboldened and aggressive in the Pacific.
The US House of Representatives has begun to debate two bills that would, respectively, expand firearm background checks, and extend the time-frame for conducting background checks on gun purchases, the Washington Examiner reports. Both bills were passed by Democrats in 2019 but the Republican-led Senate discarded them at the time.
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland as US Attorney General in a 70-30 bi-partisan vote, USA Today reports. Garland, who was denied a Supreme Court confirmation hearing by the GOP-led Senate in 2016, received 20 votes from Republicans approving his appointment as Attorney General.
Mexico’s lower house of Congress on Wednesday approved a bill that would decriminalize cannabis for recreational, medical and scientific uses, bringing it a step closer to creating one of the world’s largest markets for the plant.
The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval Wednesday to the nearly two trillion dollar COVID relief bill that includes a boost in unemployment payments and stimulus checks for American families. The measure is controversial on many levels because it includes deficit spending and non-COVID pet projects. Now there’s an even bigger concern that’s come up for pro-life Americans because the Hyde Amendment is notably absent from the massive spending bill.
The US House of Representatives passed a sweeping labor bill Wednesday, in an effort to increase workers’ rights in workplace disputes and help employees to unionize, Axios reports. While the bill passed 225-206 with five Republicans in favor, it still has to get through the Senate where it requires 60 GOP lawmakers to approve it.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is set to sign Senate Bill 6, which would ban abortion in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother.
The Oklahoma House of Representatives has passed a bill that would block state and local government officials from forcing houses of worship to close, even under circumstances like a pandemic, the Christian Post reports. House Bill 2648, the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act, passed by 80-18 votes in the House and now goes to the state Senate for consideration.
The United States Senate has approved one of the most extensive stimulus packages in modern U.S. history.
U.S. House Democrats voted for the most extensive overhaul of the nation’s election law in at least a generation despite unanimous Republican opposition and warnings is could undermine democracy.
Negotiations over President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill go into overdrive this week as the U.S. Senate begins debate over the sweeping legislation and lawmakers jockey to include pet projects, while tossing others overboard.
House Republicans are rallying around a compromise bill that would add protections for religious organizations in addition to granting discrimination protections to LGBT citizens. The bill comes one day after House Democrats passed the Equality Act, which critics say infringes on religious liberty rights and is likely to fail in the Senate.
The House approved a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill early Saturday in a win for President Joe Biden, even as top Democrats tried assuring agitated progressives that they’d revive their derailed drive to boost the minimum wage.
More than 500 US evangelical pastors and leaders have condemned ‘Radical Christian Nationalism’ in an open letter responding to the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, Religious News reports. Entitled “Evangelical Leaders Statement Condemning Christian Nationalism’s role in the January 6th Insurrection,” the letter explains the signatories come from diverse backgrounds and political persuasions, but stand together against ‘the perversion of the Christian faith” displayed at the insurrection, and against “the theology and the conditions” that led to the attack itself.
The Arkansas Senate on Monday approved a measure banning nearly all abortions in the state, despite objections to the ban not including exceptions for rape or incest.
In a surprise retaliatory move, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news stories after the country’s House of Representatives passed legislation that would require the social media giant to pay for Australian news content, the Washington Times reports. The proposed legislation has yet to be passed in the Australian Senate.
Nearly all of South Carolina’s Democrat lawmakers walked out of the state House chamber in protest Wednesday before a vote on a bill that would ban most abortions in the state once the baby’s heartbeat is detected. Republicans voted to pass the measure and it will head soon to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster for his signature.
Arkansas has passed a new law that permits the governor to impose healthy and safety restrictions on churches, but only if those restrictions are applicable to all organizations and businesses, Christian Headlines reports.
Four pro-life bills have passed in Montana’s state House and its Senate Judiciary Committee, and are now on their way to the state’s full Senate for consideration, Life News reports. The bills had passed 67-33 in the House last month, before passing in the Judiciary Committee on February 9.