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AP Top Stories February 4 A

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Here's the latest for Thursday February 4th: Full House to vote on GOP Congresswoman; GOP Congressman defends impeachment vote; Ohio police officer charged in shooting death of Black man; SpaceX rocket carries satellites to orbit.

Video Transcript

MIKE HEMP: This is "AP News Minute." The House could vote Thursday on whether to strip Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments. Members of both parties have condemned Greene's comments about conspiracy theories and violence against Democrats, but congressional Republicans declined to take action against her.

Michigan Republican Congressman Peter Meijer took pointed questions in a virtual town Hall about his vote to impeach former President Trump. Myers said that Trump told lies about the election, leading directly to the Capitol riot.

A former white Columbus, Ohio police officer is charged with murder in the shooting death of a Black man. An attorney says former officer Adam Coy will plead not guilty.

And SpaceX deployed 60 new Starlink satellites for its internet access system. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellite into orbit early Thursday. Mike Hemp and the "Associated Press," with "AP News Minute."

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  • GOP Senators Will Force Dems to Vote on Paying Illegal Immigrants, Raising Taxes during Pandemic

    Senate Republicans will make Democrats vote on a number of controversial topics in the coming days as part of the budget reconciliation process that Democrats are using to pass President Biden’s COVID relief plan against GOP lawmakers’ wishes. Debate on the budget resolution began Wednesday and will continue in the Senate on Thursday. After that time expires, a “vote-a-rama” begins, allowing any senator to file an amendment to the resolution. As retribution for using budget reconciliation — which will allow Democrats to avoid the 60-vote threshold required to pass most legislation and instead only require just a simple majority vote to pass Biden’s plan — Republicans plan to force Democrats to vote on a number of hot button issues. “The new President talks a lot about unity, but his White House staff and congressional leadership are working from the opposite playbook,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), said of the budget reconciliation process. “We’ll be discussing the facts… Senate Republicans will be ready and waiting with a host of amendments to improve the rushed procedural step that’s being jammed through.” He continued: “We’ll be getting senators on the record about whether taxpayers should fund checks for illegal immigrants… whether Democrats should raise taxes on small businesses in the midst of this historic crisis… and whether generous federal funding should pour into school districts where the unions refuse to let schools open. And this is just a small taste.” While not all of the amendments that are introduced will receive a full floor vote and some may be dropped for violating the Byrd rule, which says anything passed during budget reconciliation must have to do with the federal budget, senators plan to bring up a wide array of issues. Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) introduced an amendment that would keep federal funding from going to schools that don’t reopen for in-person learning as battles over whether it is safe to return to the classroom rage across the country between teachers unions and school districts. Senator Steve Daines (R., Mont.,) said that he is spearheading seven amendments for the reconciliation process and co-sponsoring three others, including amendments that reverse Biden’s decision to scrap the Keystone XL oil pipeline project; resume oil and gas leasing on federal lands; stop tax increases while the pandemic is ongoing; prevent the federal government from using taxpayer money to implement the Paris Climate agreement; and more. Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.,) said that he plans to introduce amendments to support funding for the U.S. nuclear weapons program; oppose taxpayer funding from being used for abortion internationally and at domestic nonprofits; oppose illegal immigrants from using U.S.-government supported health care options; and support keeping the number of Supreme Court justices at nine. “Republicans are happy to work with Democrats to bring COVID-19 relief to the American people, but we cannot and will not support a bill that redirects funds to long-standing Democratic priorities,” Cotton said. “My amendments are designed to ensure the American people – not the Senate Democrats’ far-left policies – are protected.”

  • Indian protesters burn pictures of Greta Thunberg after she sides with striking farmers

    Outraged members of a Hindu nationalist group have burnt photographs of Greta Thunberg in New Delhi after the Swedish environmentalist tweeted in support of India’s protesting farmers. Amid rising tensions between protesting farmers and the authorities, members of the United Hindu Front also held signs saying India will "not tolerate interference in internal affairs." Hundreds of thousands of farmers are occupying the streets outside of New Delhi ahead of a planned nationwide strike on Saturday, their numbers swelling after a farmer died after violent clashes with police on January 26. Tweets by Ms Thunberg and the singer Rihanna have catapulted the farmers' protests into headline news worldwide; farmers believe proposed new agricultural laws will decimate their profits by privatising the farming industry. In addition to tweeting her support of the protests, Ms Thunberg also shared a "toolkit" advising how people could peacefully demonstrate against the laws. The “toolkit” advocated for Indians joining a farmers’ march into New Delhi, showing their solidarity on social media using specific hashtags and tweeting messages to Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister.

  • Cori Bush slams GOP colleagues failing to show leadership: ‘Find another job because this one isn't for you'

    As members of the House debate the future of freshman Rep. Marjorie Greene, who has become notorious for her bizarre conspiracy theories, racist and anti-Semitic statements, Rep. Cori Bush challenges her GOP colleagues to show leadership. “We all raised our hands and took that oath together,” Bush said. “We took that oath at the same time on January the third. So they need to think again, because [this work is about] saving lives and building communities, building families, building people. It's not a partisan issue. It's humanity.”

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  • Greene was reportedly applauded by GOP lawmakers after apologizing for past inflammatory remarks

    During a GOP caucus meeting on Wednesday night, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) received a round of applause after she apologized for putting her fellow Republicans in a difficult spot due to her past racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim remarks, The Washington Post reports. Prior to her election in 2020, Greene, a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy, questioned the 9/11 attacks, claimed school shootings were staged, said Jewish space lasers sparked a California wildfire, endorsed the execution of Democratic leaders, and made a variety of racist remarks during podcasts and livestreams. Several Republicans who attended Wednesday night's meeting said Greene offered an apology for some of those earlier comments. Before the meeting, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he spoke with Greene on Tuesday night, and made it clear that her remarks "do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference." More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problemPro-worker Republicans go missingMarjorie Taylor Greene tells lawmakers she regrets being 'allowed to believe things that weren't true'

  • Iran receives its first batch of foreign coronavirus vaccine

    Iran on Thursday received its first batch of foreign-made coronavirus vaccines as the country struggles to stem the worst outbreak of the pandemic in the Middle East. The shipment consists of 500,000 doses of Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines which arrived at Tehran’s Imam Khomeieni International Airport from Moscow, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Also Iranian state TV quoted Tehran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, as saying that Iran has ordered 5 million doses from Russia.

  • Driver stuck in snow burns to death after repeatedly revving SUV's engine

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  • U.S. charges Seattle-based Proud Boys member for role in Capitol riots

    The U.S. Justice Department arrested and charged a top member of the Seattle chapter of the far-right Proud Boys group on Wednesday over allegations he had a role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by pro-Trump followers. Separately, two other Proud Boy members including the leader of the group's Hawaii Chapter were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to obstruct Congress, the Justice Department said. Prosecutors said that 30-year-old Ethan Nordean, also known as Rufio Panman, could face up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted on a charge of impeding an official government proceeding.

  • Lauren Boebert: QAnon-supporting Republican claims 38,000 miles worth of gas money on Congress expenses

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  • Biden's team is reportedly surprised Republicans don't see the political upsides of backing a big COVID-19 bill

    The politics of COVID-19 spending legislation is complicated. President Biden and former President Donald Trump, who don't agree on much, both pushed to get $2,000 direct payments to most Americans this winter, and the Republican governor of West Virginia is backing Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package while his state's Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, favors a smaller package. The White House is privately meeting with a group of Senate Republicans who proposed a $618 billion alternative package, The Associated Press reports, even as Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reject that amount as insufficient and urge Democrats to go big and go quickly. Biden and his advisers "publicly tout the virtues of bipartisan collaboration," but "they aren't pollyannaish about it," Sam Stein reports at Politico. "They know there is no recent history to suggest any such collaboration is coming.," but "inside the White House there is still some surprise that Republicans currently aren't more interested in working with them on COVID relief. Not because they believe Republicans philosophically support the bill, but because there are clear political incentives for them to do so." Biden and his aides have noted repeatedly that just because the budget reconciliation process would allow Democrats to pass much of the $1.9 trillion package without Republican support, Republicans can still vote for the package. If Democrats go the budget reconciliation route, the 10 Senate Republicans can either "oppose the measure without being able to stop it or work to shape it, pledge to vote for it, and get credit for the goodies inside it," Stein reports. "Put another way: Republicans could vote for a bill that includes billions of dollars of help for states, massive amounts of cash for vaccine distribution, and $1,400 stimulus check for most Americans. Or they could oppose it on grounds that the price tag is too steep, or the minimum wage hike is too high, or the process too rushed." And if they do that, a senior administration official told Stein, "they'll get no credit" for those $1,400 checks. Democrats only have the party-line option because they unexpectedly won both Senate seats in a Georgia runoff election, Stein notes, and one political "lesson from that episode is, quite bluntly: It's better to be on the side of giving people money." Trump understood that. Time will tell what Senate Republicans will decide. More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problemProsecutors don't know where Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse is, want him arrested againMarjorie Taylor Greene is getting exactly what she wants

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  • West concerned by closer Russia-China ties, top NATO general says

    The United States and its Western allies are increasingly concerned about growing cooperation between Russia and China in areas of common interest, NATO's top general said on Wednesday. The Pentagon has put countering China and Russia at the centre of its strategy since 2018, even though U.S. defence spending outstrips that of Moscow and Beijing. In 2018, China and Russia held their largest-ever joint military exercises, featuring 300,000 Russian troops.

  • Voting company sues Fox News, Giuliani and Powell for $2.7 billion alleging ‘disinformation campaign’

    Lawsuit argues network and its guests conspired to promote falsities amid growing pressure from conservative networks to go along with the former president’s conspiracy theories

  • About 29 million people would lose out on stimulus checks under GOP plan, experts say

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