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Senate G.O.P. Blocks I.V.F. Access Bill as Democrats Press for Political Edge

Published

3 weeks ago

June 13, 2024

Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked legislation that would codify the right to access fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization, in the latest election-year bid by Democrats to spotlight G.O.P. opposition to protecting reproductive freedoms.

On a vote of 48-47, all but two Republicans opposed advancing the bill, which would give Americans the statutory right to receive fertility treatments and decide how their reproductive material is used, stored and disposed. That left the measure well short of the 60 votes it needed to move forward, an outcome Democrats anticipated and even welcomed as part of their strategy to remind voters where Republicans stand on issues of abortion and reproductive health.

“We’re going to keep working with Republicans,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, told reporters at a news conference before the vote. “But they seem to be totally in the throes of the MAGA hard-right minority on this issue.”

The action came a week after a test vote on a bill that would enshrine nationwide access to contraception in federal law, which Republicans also blocked.

It also came the day after Southern Baptists, the country’s largest Protestant denomination and a bellwether for the larger American evangelical movement, voted to oppose the use of I.V.F. That decision could put many conservative lawmakers in an even tougher political position on the issue.

Republicans have struggled to find a winning message on I.V.F. that appeases their far-right evangelical base without alienating more mainstream conservatives. Many of them support legislation that declares that life begins at conception, which could severely restrict aspects of I.V.F. The treatment typically involves creating several embryos, freezing them and implanting only one or two. At the same time, many conservative lawmakers quickly voiced their support for fertility treatments after a decision by Alabama’s Supreme Court in February that frozen embryos should be considered children.

When asked whether he agreed with the Southern Baptist Convention’s stance that I.V.F. is unethical because a frozen embryo is a person, Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, said he “wouldn’t go so far.” But he then suggested he was ambivalent.

“I’d have to look at the science on that,” Mr. Tuberville, who cosponsored a fetal personhood bill during the last Congress, said on Thursday. He said he supported I.V.F. treatment but “would have to think about” whether frozen embryos should be destroyed.

Since the Alabama decision, Democrats have stressed the importance of protecting access to fertility treatments and I.V.F.

The bill that Democrats sought to push forward this week, the Right to I.V.F. Act, was sponsored by Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. It would codify a right to fertility treatments and require that government insurance providers that serve federal employees, military personnel and veterans provide coverage for it.

Americans overwhelmingly support access to I.V.F. treatment. A survey in April from the Pew Research Center found seven in 10 adults said access to I.V.F. was a good thing, and only 8 percent said the opposite. Twenty-two percent said they were unsure.

As Senate Democrats sought to put Republicans on the record with a position that is at odds with a vast majority of voters, G.O.P. lawmakers in the House were seeking to attach anti-abortion amendments to the annual defense policy bill. The House on Thursday was set to vote on a proposal from Representative Beth Van Duyne, Republican of Texas, that would prohibit payments and reimbursements from the Defense Department for expenses for abortion care, including travel expenses.

Across the Capitol, just two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, crossed party lines to support moving forward on Ms. Duckworth’s bill. Other G.O.P. senators condemned the action as a “show vote” and listed several reasons they were opposed, while at the same time still claiming they unequivocally supported I.V.F.

Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, accused Democrats of playing political games with I.V.F. given that the treatment is legal in all 50 states and “not in any jeopardy” of being outlawed.

“The only reason why they’re doing this is to try to scare people,” Mr. Cornyn said.

Several Republicans, including Senators Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, said Democrats would never give them a chance to put forward their own proposals to protect I.V.F. But the measures Republicans have offered have drawn little support in their own ranks and contain no affirmative right to fertility treatments.

In the Senate, Republicans have sought to blunt their political liability on the I.V.F. issue with legislation of their own. Mr. Cruz and Senator Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama, have introduced a bill that would block Medicaid funding to any state that bans I.V.F. treatment. But that measure has only three Republican cosponsors and has drawn the ire of anti-abortion groups. Abortion rights supporters also condemn it as meaningless because it would do nothing to protect access to fertility treatments if states severely restricted them but did not impose an outright ban.

Ms. Duckworth called the Republican bill a “sham” because it would not explicitly protect I.V.F. providers from prosecution or civil liability under laws that hold that a fetus is a person.

“If fetal personhood exists, and they don’t address that issue, then you’re going to see what happened in Alabama: All the I.V.F. clinics are going to shut down,” she said.

Ms. Britt said Ms. Duckworth’s bill “treads on religious freedoms,” implying that it could force people who do not believe in I.V.F. treatments to provide them. But Democrats note that the legislation does not force anyone to furnish such treatments.

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China’s BYD posts 21% jump in quarterly EV sales, closes gap with Tesla

Published

3 hours ago

July 2, 2024

worlddailyinfo

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s BYD (BYDDY) posted a 21% rise in second-quarter electric vehicle sales, closing the gap with Tesla (TSLA) after handing back the world’s top EV vendor title to the U.S. rival in the first quarter.

BYD sold 426,039 EVs in the April-June quarter, according to Reuters’ calculations based on its monthly sales reports. That’s around 12,000 vehicles fewer than Tesla’s vehicle deliveries estimated for the second quarter.

FILE PHOTO: BYD and Autotorino store in Milan — BYD and Autotorino store in Milan. (Reuters)

Tesla is expected to report a 6% drop in April-June quarter vehicle deliveries on Tuesday, the first time the U.S. firm is set to post two straight quarters of decline, as it deals with stiff competition in China and slow demand due to a lack of affordable new models.

The company may again cede its EV championship to BYD if the actual results turn out to be softer than estimated, with Barclays predicting an 11% drop in second-quarter deliveries, Tesla’s biggest ever.

Tesla has hit a speed bump after years of rapid growth that helped make it the world’s most valuable automaker. It warned in January that deliveries growth in 2024 would be “notably lower” as a boost from months-long price cuts wanes.

The EV maker has cut output of its best-selling Model Y electric car by a double-digit percentage number at its Shanghai plant since March to address weakening demand for its aged models in China, its second-largest market after the United States, Reuters reported in May.

By comparison, its top Chinese competitor BYD maintained steady growth in EV sales, while EV upstarts such as Nio reported stellar growth last quarter. NIO’s vehicle deliveries in the second quarter more than doubled to 57,300 units.

Price cuts and a growing shift in consumer demand to EVs and hybrids from gasoline-powered vehicles are the main reasons behind Chinese EV makers’ strong sales in recent months, said Cui Dongshu, secretary general, China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

Sales of new energy vehicles including EVs and plug-in hybrids in China made up 46.7% of total car sales in May, a fresh monthly high, as per CPCA data.

(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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Biden slams SCOTUS presidential immunity ruling, ignores questions about dropping out

Published

7 hours ago

July 2, 2024

Stepheny Price

President Biden slammed the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity in Trump v. United States, saying it means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do, in a speedy address Monday evening.

The president spoke for less than five minutes – four minutes and 40 seconds to be exact – before turning his back to the press and walking away.

“This is a fundamentally new principle, and it’s a dangerous precedent, because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the Supreme Court of the United States,” Biden said.

The Supreme Court ruled that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, but not for unofficial acts.

TRUMP IMMUNITY CASE: SUPREME COURT RULES EX-PRESIDENTS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL PROTECTION FROM PROSECUTION

Trump and Biden squared off in their high-stakes 2024 election debate rematch last week. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, left, )

In a 6-3 decision, the Court sent the matter back down to a lower court, as the justices did not apply the ruling to whether or not former President Trump is immune from prosecution regarding actions related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Biden continued his address, saying that the American people must decide whether Donald Trump’s assault on democracy on January 6th makes him “unfit” for public office and the highest office in the land.

“The American people must decide if Trump’s embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable. Perhaps most importantly, the American people must decide if they want to entrust the presidency to Donald Trump once again. Now knowing, he’ll be even more emboldened to do whatever he pleases, whenever he wants to do it,” Biden said.

Biden also spoke about the character of the nation’s first president, George Washington, and how he believed power was limited, not absolute.

Biden wrapped his speech and dodged questions from reporters as he left abruptly.

Reporters shouted questions at Biden, asking him if he plans to drop out of the presidential race following his debate with Trump.

TRUMP TOUTS SUPREME COURT’S PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY RULING AS ‘BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND FOR DEMOCRACY’

US President Joe Biden speaks during a Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Monday, May 27, 2024. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Biden has not taken questions from the press and has used teleprompters at his events, including a fundraiser in the Hamptons, following his disastrous debate performance against Trump last week.

“Today’s Historic Decision by the Supreme Court should end all of Crooked Joe Biden’s Witch Hunts against me, including the New York Hoaxes – The Manhattan SCAM cooked up by Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, Racist New York Attorney General Tish James’ shameless ATTACK on the amazing business that I have built, and the FAKE Bergdorf’s “case.” PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social.

BIDEN CAMP DISMISSES TRUMP IMMUNITY RULING: ‘DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACTS’

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and argued he should be immune from prosecution from official acts done as president of the U.S. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

The former president was charged in August 2023 by Special Counsel Jack Smith with conspiring to overturn the results of his election loss to President Biden in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump has denied doing anything wrong and has said this prosecution and three others are politically motivated to try to keep him from returning to the White House.

Trump shared his reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on his presidential immunity case, saying it’s a “big win for our constitution and democracy,” according to his Truth Social page.

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“THE SUPREME COURT DECISION IS A MUCH MORE POWERFUL ONE THAN SOME HAD EXPECTED IT TO BE. IT IS BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN AND WISE, AND CLEARS THE STENCH FROM THE BIDEN TRIALS AND HOAXES, ALL OF THEM, THAT HAVE BEEN USED AS AN UNFAIR ATTACK ON CROOKED JOE BIDEN’S POLITICAL OPPONENT, ME. MANY OF THESE FAKE CASES WILL NOW DISAPPEAR, OR WITHER INTO OBSCURITY. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” Trump posted.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.

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Hurricane Beryl Flattens Grenada’s Carriacou Island

Published

11 hours ago

July 1, 2024

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

Officials in Barbados said on Monday that the island had been spared the worst of Beryl.

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, told a nationwide broadcast from the island’s emergency operations center that as many as 20 fishing boats, including two popular cruisers, had possibly sunk. Still, she added, “This could have been far worse for us.”

Roughly 40 homes were known to have sustained roof or structural damage so far, she said, though that number was expected to rise as more than 400 residents returned home from shelters.

On St. Lucia, storm surge caused significant damage to fishing vessels, sinking at least 20 boats, according to initial reports. Dozens of homes were also damaged.

People across the eastern Caribbean had started preparing for the storm over the weekend, including those doing some last-minute shopping for supplies.

“Hurricanes are not something that we take lightly at home as a family,” said Fleur Mathurin, who lives on St. Lucia, where some parts of the island were experiencing power outages. “Having my family, my grandmothers, great-grands, gone through Hurricane Allen and Gilbert, this is something that they always preach to us.”

As of Monday afternoon, the storm was expected to continue tearing its way through the Caribbean, reaching Jamaica with potential hurricane conditions by Wednesday according to the National Hurricane Center.

Julius Gittens contributed reporting from Christ Church, Barbados; Linda Straker from Gouyave, Grenada; Kenton X. Chance from Kingstown, St. Vincent; Sharefil Gaillard from Gros Islet, St. Lucia; and Maria Abi-Habib from Mexico City.

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