Chuck Schumer Cartoons

Global shares rise after surge in US on stimulus measures

TOKYO (AP) — Shares in Europe and Asia advanced Thursday, tracking an overnight surge on Wall Street as governments and central banks take more aggressive measures to fight the virus outbreak and its effects on the economy.

Benchmarks rose in almost every market, though U.S. futures pointed to a weak open.

France’s CAC 40 added 0.5% in early trading to 5,490.52, while Germany’s DAX was up nearly 0.6% to 12,194.33. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.2% to 6,830.92.

U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures dipping 0.9% to 26,731. S&P 500 futures were down 0.9% at 3,085.70.

The gains on Wall Street more than recouped big losses from a day earlier as wild, virus-fueled swings around the world’s markets extend into a third week. Health care stocks led gains after former Vice President Joe Biden solidified his contender status for the Democratic presidential nomination. Investors see him as more business-friendly than Senator Bernie Sanders.

The rally’s momentum accelerated around midday after House and Senate leadership reached a deal on a bipartisan $8.3 billion bill to battle the coronavirus outbreak. The measure’s funds would go toward research into a vaccine, improved tests and drugs to treat infected people.

The upward momentum carried into Asian trading, where Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.1% to finish at 21,329.12. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1% to 6,395.70. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.3% to 2,085.26. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 2.1% to 26,762.43, while the Shanghai Composite jumped 2.0% to 3,071.68. India’s Sensex climbed 0.5% to 38,593.25.

Shares were also higher in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

Shares in Chinese blue chips rose Thursday in Hong Kong, suggesting “investors’ confidence was restored by the surge in U.S. markets. We don’t have the panic selling evident last week when the market fell sharply,” said Francis Lun, a stock analyst in Hong Kong.

“Despite the specter of coronavirus lurking over the world’s economy, all appears well with the world, judging by Wall Street’s overnight performance,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a commentary. “China’s rate of new infections has plunged, even as coronavirus makes its presence felt in the far-flung corners of the globe.”

Investors expect other central banks will follow up on the Federal Reserve’s surprise move Tuesday of slashing interest rates by half a percentage point in hopes of protecting the economy from the economic fallout of the new coronavirus.

Even though many investors say they know lower interest rates will not halt the spread of the virus, they want to see central banks and other authorities do what they can to lessen the damage.

The Bank of England has a meeting on March 26 on interest rates. The European Central Bank and others have already cut rates below zero, meanwhile, which limits their monetary policy firepower. But economists say they could make other moves, such as freeing up banks to lend more.

ENERGY: Benchmark crude oil rose 19 cents to $46.97 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 40 cents to settle at $46.78 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, gained 25 cents to $51.38 a barrel.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 107.27 Japanese yen from 107.55 yen on Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.1127 from $1.1131.

ABA ‘deeply troubled’ by Schumer’s Supreme Court comments

The American Bar Association said on Wednesday that it is "deeply troubled" by a comment made by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., outside the Supreme Court that many said was a direct threat to two sitting justices.
Schumer was at a rally over a high-profile abortion case while the case played out inside. Schumer named Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh and, in an impassioned speech, said, "You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."
Justin Goodman, a Schumer spokesman, responded after Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement on what he called "threatening" comments. Goodman said that Schumer was addressing Republican lawmakers when he said a "price" would be paid.
Goodman noted that the chief justice remained quiet in recent weeks when President Trump questioned the impartiality of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.
"Personal attacks on judges by any elected officials, including the president, are simply inappropriate," the ABA’s statement read. "Such comments challenge the reputation of the third, co-equal branch of our government; the independence of the judiciary; and the personal safety of judicial officers. They are never acceptable."
Trump himself weighed in on Schumer's comments, tweeting, “If a Republican did this, he or she would be arrested, or impeached. Serious action MUST be taken NOW!”
Mark Levin, the “Life, Liberty, & Levin” host, said he wants Schumer to be “sanctioned by the Bar, admonished by the Senate, investigated by the Senate ethics committee, and even reviewed” by the Department of Justice.
"No individual, let alone the Senate Democrat leader, who is also a lawyer, should escape accountability for his loathsome conduct," Levin said.
Fox News' Gregg Re, Joseph A. Wulfshon and the Associated Press contributed to this report

FISA court blocks FBI agents linked to Carter Page probe from seeking wiretaps, other surveillance

FBI officials involved in the wiretapping of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page have been blocked, at least temporarily, from appearing before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in regard to other cases, in rebuke that exceeded the remedial recommendations made by the independent monitor recently appointed by the court.
The decision by James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the secretive court created under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), comes as Congress faces a March 15 deadline on whether to renew three FBI national-security surveillance and investigative tools that were enacted after 9/11.
"FBI personnel under disciplinary review in relation to their work on FISA applications accordingly should not participate in drafting, verifying, reviewing, or submitting such applications to the Court while the review is pending," Boasberg wrote. "The same prohibition applies to any DOJ attorney under disciplinary review, as well as any DOJ or FBI personnel who are the subject of a criminal referral related to their work on FISA applications."
In a 19-page ruling that can be read here, Boasberg also largely approved revisions that the FBI said it would make to its process for seeking wiretaps – in reaction to a damning report from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz that detailed errors and omissions in applications to conduct surveillance on Page in 2016 and 2017.
Among the problems, Boasberg noted, were that the FBI had "omitted or mischaracterized" various "information bearing on [former British spy Christopher] Steele's personal credibility and professional judgment."
It was Steele's unsubstantiated and largely debunked dossier that played a key role in the FBI's warrants to surveil Page, but the FBI did not advise the FISC of "inconsistencies" in claims made by Steele's sub-source and assertions made by Steele himself. The bureau also did not clearly disclose that the dossier was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Former British spy Christopher Steele sat for a four-hour videotaped deposition last month.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence to support a slew of Steele dossier claims, including that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague as part of a conspiracy with Russian hackers, that Page had received a large payment relating to the sale of a share of a Russian oil giant, that Russia was running a disinformation campaign through a nonexistent consulate in Miami, or that Russians possessed lurid blackmail material on the president.
"Omissions of material fact were the most prevalent and among the most serious problems with the Page applications," Boasberg wrote. The judge pointed out that the inspector general had found that the FBI did not disclose to the court that it knew Page had a prior relationship with another intelligence agency from 2008 to 2013 -- a period in which Page had voluntarily told the agency that he had contacts with Russians.
Instead, the FBI's FISA application made Page's Russian contacts seem furtive and undisclosed, even though Page had reported them.
Most egregiously, Boasberg noted, "when pressed by the FBI declarant about the possibility of a prior relationship between Page and the other agency during the preparation of the final application in June 2017, the FBI OGC [Office of General Counsel] attorney added text to an email from the other agency stating that Page was not a source."
That apparently deliberate falsification of the FISA warrant evidence is believed to be among the subjects under review by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is analyzing all stages of the Page FISA and other matters in an ongoing criminal inquiry.
Moreover, the goverment also did disclose that it had "learned that Steele had been the direct source" of information in a September 2016 Yahoo News article, Boasberg said. That information could have "shed further light on his motivations," even though the FBI did not expressly use the Yahoo News article to corroborate Steele's claims.
The Justice Department acknowledged in January that at least some of the Page warrant applications had fallen short of the legal standard required to continue surveilling him, known as the "probable cause standard."
Horowitz earlier found that without the Steele dossier's claims, there would have been insufficient evidence to pursue a FISA warrant for Page. ("We determined that the [FBI] Crossfire Hurricane team’s receipt of Steele’s election reporting on September 19, 2016 played a central and essential role in the FBI’s and Department’s decision to seek the FISA order," Horowitz wrote.)
Also in January, David Kris, who has been appointed by the FISC to oversee the FBI's proposed surveillance reforms, alerted the court that the bureau's proposals were "insufficient" and must be dramatically "expanded" -- even declaring that FBI Director Christopher Wray needs to discuss the importance of accuracy and transparency before the FISC every time he "visits a field office in 2020."
But, Kris had not expressly called for the banishment of relevant FBI agents, and the DOJ had also declined to make such a recommendation.
Last month, Attorney General William Barr told Senate Republicans he would be taking action to clean up the errors and omissions cited by Horowitz and the DOJ.
“I think he's going to take a lot of what Horowitz did and add his own stamp on it," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said after a lunch meeting with Barr at the time.
Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has been concerned with FISA warrant abuse, said Barr's executive changes were "pretty comprehensive [and] very impressive.”

Former Trump adviser Carter Page. (Getty Images)

In his December report, Horowitz said four applications submitted to the FISA court, requesting approval to conduct surveillance on Page, presented an incomplete and inaccurate account of the evidence arguing for the surveillance – such as omissions of details that would have raised questions about FBI claims that Page was a Russian agent.
Horowitz found multiple instances in which the FBI did not follow its so-called "Woods Procedures" to independently verify facts presented by a third party. Instead, those facts were simply included in the FISA applications to monitor page.
Meanwhile, Joe Pientka -- an FBI agent who Horowitz found was deeply involved in the Page FISA application process, as well as the bureau's fateful interview with former national security adviser Michael Flynn -- has been transferred to San Francisco and his name removed from the FBI's website. Graham has recently sought to question Pientka, among others.
While many in the intelligence community call the FISA program vital for national security in the post-9/11 world, some in Washington have raised questions about potential encroachments on civil liberties and personal privacy.
President Trump met with Republicans on Tuesday night regarding changes that could be included in revised FISA legislation that Trump could sign into law if approved by Congress this month, the Times reported. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., then discussed the proposals on Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., according to the paper.
“McCarthy said that he thought he and Nancy Pelosi might come up with a package,” Sen. Graham told reporters Wednesday, according to the Times. “Well, if that happens, that’s a big breakthrough.”
Fox News' Marisa Schultz and Chad Pergram contributed to this story.

Chief Justice Roberts issues rare rebuke to Schumer's 'dangerous' and 'irresponsible' comments; Trump slams lawmaker, says 'must pay a severe price'

Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts on Wednesday issued a highly unusual and forceful rebuke to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., calling his threatening remarks directed at Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh "irresponsible" and "dangerous" -- prompting Schumer's office to slam Roberts and accuse him of bias.
The extraordinary back-and-forth began hours earlier at a pro-choice rally hosted by the Center for Reproductive Rights, when Schumer ominously singled out President Trump's two Supreme Court picks: "I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price!" Schumer warned. "You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."
Roberts replied in his remarkable written statement, obtained by Fox News: "This morning, Senator Schumer spoke at a rally in front of the Supreme Court while a case was being argued inside. Senator Schumer referred to two Members of the Court by name and said he wanted to tell them that 'You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.'"
Roberts continued: "Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter."
Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman quickly responded by accusing Roberts of bias, further escalating the confrontation. Goodman insisted that Schumer was addressing Republican lawmakers when he said a "price" would be paid -- even though Schumer had explicitly named Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.
READ ROBERTS' STATEMENT
“Women’s health care rights are at stake and Americans from every corner of the country are in anguish about what the court might do to them," Goodman said in a statement to Fox News. “Sen. Schumer’s comments were a reference to the political price Senate Republicans will pay for putting these justices on the court, and a warning that the justices will unleash a major grassroots movement on the issue of reproductive rights against the decision."
He added: “For Justice Roberts to follow the right wing’s deliberate misinterpretation of what Sen. Schumer said, while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices [Sonia] Sotomayor and [Ruth Bader] Ginsberg last week, shows Justice Roberts does not just call balls and strikes.”
That was an apparent reference to Trump's call for those liberal justices to recuse themselves from some cases due to alleged bias. ("I just don’t know how they cannot recuse themselves to anything having to do with Trump or Trump-related," Trump said. Ginsburg, who has publicly defended Kavanaugh and Gorsuch as "very decent" and "very smart," previously called Trump a "faker," and Sotomayor sharply criticized the administration in a recent dissent.)
Video of Schumer's remarks had quickly circulated on social media, with Republicans and prominent liberals casting the comments as a clear threat against two sitting Supreme Court justices. Schumer, they said, had gone far beyond merely requesting that justices recuse themselves as he stood in front of the Supreme Court Building.
Late Wednesday, Trump used Schumer's own words to condemn him.
"There can be few things worse in a civilized, law abiding nation, than a United States Senator openly, and for all to see and hear, threatening the Supreme Court or its Justices," Trump wrote on Twitter. "This is what Chuck Schumer just did. He must pay a severe price for this!"
Trump also tweeted: "This is a direct & dangerous threat to the U.S. Supreme Court by Schumer. If a Republican did this, he or she would be arrested, or impeached. Serious action MUST be taken NOW!"
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he would introduce a resolution to censure Schumer.
"I would call on Schumer to apologize, but we all know he has no shame," Hawley wrote. "So tomorrow I will introduce a motion to censure Schumer for his pathetic attempt at intimidation of #SupremeCourt."
Even left-wing Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe tweeted: "These remarks by @SenSchumer were inexcusable. Chief Justice Roberts was right to call him on his comments. I hope the Senator, whom I’ve long admired and consider a friend, apologizes and takes back his implicit threat. It’s beneath him and his office."
"The American Bar Association is deeply troubled by today’s statements from the Senate Minority Leader threatening two sitting justices of the U.S. Supreme Court over their upcoming votes in a pending case," the ABA said in a statement. "Whatever one thinks about the merits of an issue before a court, there is no place for threats -- whether real or allegorical. Personal attacks on judges by any elected officials, including the President, are simply inappropriate. Such comments challenge the reputation of the third, co-equal branch of our government; the independence of the judiciary; and the personal safety of judicial officers. They are never acceptable."
During Kavanaugh's contentious confirmation battle in late 2018, a mob of left-wing protesters banged on the doors of the Supreme Court Building, many of them complaining about his possible future abortion rulings.
Schumer noted at the rally that an upcoming Supreme Court case, June Medical Services LLC v. Russo, is the first "major" abortion case since President Trump's court picks have been on the bench.
The dispute, dealing with restrictions over who can perform abortions, involves a Louisiana law similar to one in Texas that the court ruled unconstitutional in 2016, before either Trump justice was on the Supreme Court and before conservatives held a 5-4 majority.
Schumer did not specifically explain what "price" the justices would face. During the rally, however, Schumer did go on to describe how Republican lawmakers could be impacted politically.
"We will tell President Trump and Senate Republicans who have stacked the court with right-wing ideologues that you’re gonna be gone in November, and you will never be able to do what you’re trying to do now ever, ever again!” he said. Earlier in his address, Schumer had accused Republican legislatures of "waging a war on women" and said reproductive rights are "under attack in a way we haven't seen in modern history."
The case before the court is part of a larger effort by red states to pass laws regulating abortion to test how supportive the new justices will be of precedents such as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which formed the basis for abortion being legal.
The law in question requires abortion doctors in Louisiana to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital in case a patient experiences complications during or after a procedure. Those backing the law argue that it regulates abortion providers similarly to how other medical providers are regulated by the state while also ensuring doctors are competent. Opponents say that it is targeted at abortion providers with the goal of shutting them down, citing a 2016 case out of Texas in which the Supreme Court invalidated a very similar law.
The court's opinion in the 2016 case, Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt, said the law placed an undue burden on women seeking abortions because it would significantly reduce the number of available facilities in the state.
During Wednesday's oral arguments, Kavanaugh and Roberts questioned whether Lousiana might be different from Texas in terms of the practical effect the law would have.
"Assume all the doctors who currently perform abortions can obtain admitting privileges, could you say that the law still imposes an undue burden, even if there were no effect?" Kavanaugh asked.
Roberts suggested other states may have different standards that might be constitutional.
Gorsuch did not speak during the arguments.
Wednesday's statement was not the first time Roberts has felt compelled to issue an unusual public rebuke of a sitting officeholder, and he has demonstrated his willingness to take on Republicans and Democrats alike. In 2018, Roberts defended the judiciary after Trump railed against what he called an "Obama judge."
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said at the time, in a statement also released by the court’s public information office. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
Roberts, writing on the eve of Thanksgiving, concluded: “That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”
Trump quickly shot back: "Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have ‘Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country.”
Fox News' Bill Mears, Shannon Bream, Tyler Olson, and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.

FISA Court Cartoons

Trump administration facing challenge as FISA comes up for renewal

Attorney General William Barr lunched with Senate Republicans at the Capitol last week. According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., there was nary a syllable of conversation about a cloud of issues hovering over the Department of Justice.
McConnell said there was nothing about perceived duress inside the Justice Department. No questions about how prosecutors handled high-profile cases. Silence regarding alleged pressure from President Trump. Whether or not the president’s Twitter feed undercut Barr’s independence. Pardons. Reticence about if Barr would resign.
“He enjoys overwhelming support in our conference,” boasted McConnell of Barr. “We all think he’s doing an outstanding job.”
Instead, Barr and Senate Republicans discussed FISA – the Foreign Intelligence Intelligence Surveillance Act. The program dates back to the mid-1970s. The measure allows the government to wiretap and electronically skim information between foreign entities and those inside the U.S. in order to combat terrorism. Congress approved the Patriot Act after 9/11, substantially amending the FISA program.
But now, FISA is up for renewal on March 15. Republicans and the Trump administration have a challenge in front of them. They routinely express concern about FISA and domestic intelligence after the process ran amuck during the 2016 presidential campaign. Yet many lawmakers from both parties are worried about renewing the program to protect the nation. Civil libertarians and privacy advocates contend FISA awards too much power to the government. A report late last year by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz bore that out. Horowitz explored how a broad FISA warrant focused on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray argue the FISA program wasn’t designed to target someone like Page – but did.
That’s why Barr faces the unenviable task of selling the merits of the program when he met with some skeptical Senate GOPers.
“His reason for coming up today was that we have these expiring intelligence provisions. Some of them have generated some degree of bipartisan controversy in the past. The attorney general just wanted to underscore, again, the importance of these provisions that were enacted in the wake of the 9/11 attack,” said McConnell.
Many in the intelligence community argue the nation is vulnerable to a 9/11-style terrorist attack if the program ends. Yet there are reservations about FISA. A coalition of libertarian-minded Democrats and Republicans nearly killed the USA Freedom Act in 2015. There were concerns about bulk collection of data, phone records and “mass surveillance” authorized under both FISA and the Patriot Act. That made it tough to assemble the right cocktail of Democrats and Republicans to re-up those programs five years ago.
The Trump administration could have a tough task selling the merits of FISA to skeptical lawmakers, especially with the lack of a permanent, Senate-confirmed Director of National Intelligence to make the case. Trump just announced he was again tapping Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, to become DNI. But the Senate certainly won’t confirm Ratcliffe that quickly. And, administration officials may find the hardest sell of all isn’t to members of Congress. It’s to President Trump himself.
This comes as Congress is preparing a $7.5-8 billion supplemental spending bill to combat the coronavirus. The plan is to advance the package through the House and Senate this week. But there was chatter last week about the urgency to approve the FISA renewal – and perhaps latch it to the emergency spending package. After all, that’s the train leaving the station. In fact, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., notes that the true deadline for FISA is March 12 – a Thursday. March 15 is a Sunday. Congress would disappear for the weekend on the 12th.
A senior Republican leadership source suggested that mixing the two was not tenable.
When asked about hooking an interim FISA extension to the coronavirus measure, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations panel, exclaimed “Oh, God, no!” Leahy noted he wanted a “clean” coronavirus bill.
“The people who want to do FISA could have finished it last year,” added Leahy.
But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., on Monday didn’t close the door on the idea of attaching a FISA renewal to the coronavirus spending bill, saying it wouldn’t be a poison pill.
“It’s not a poison pill if it moves,” he said.
As Leahy spoke just outside the doors leading to the Senate chamber, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the most libertarian-minded lawmakers on either side of the Capitol, passed by a clutch of reporters and briefly chanted “Kill FISA! Kill FISA!”
A Republican source with ties to the White House dismissed the concept of linking a must-pass piece of legislation, the coronavirus supplemental bill, with FISA.
“If they do that, we’ll blow it up,” said the source.
When asked if he was in favor of attaching a FISA extension to the coronavirus measure, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., replied, “We shouldn’t.”
Nadler’s panel canceled a markup session to prepare a new FISA bill last week over disagreements about amendments. Nadler wouldn’t commit to when he would reschedule the markup, but added, “It’s got to be soon.”
Nadler was still confident that Congress could tackle an overall FISA reauthorization plan – and not just a stopgap – before the mid-March deadline.
“I do not want to do an extension,” said Nadler. “We need major reforms”
Nadler says they shouldn’t be “trying to tie anything to the coronavirus” supplemental spending bill, such as an interim extension of FISA.
When asked if he was concerned that the House could be jammed by the Senate with a FISA reform bill, Nadler replied “yep.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he would speak to Trump about FISA this weekend.
“I don’t see us being able to do it before March 15,” said Graham.
Republicans and some Democrats on both sides of the Capitol advocate major reforms to FISA after alleged abuses of the program in the 2016 campaign for warrants and, generally, other surveillance concerns.
“Metadata will be out,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., referring to the practice which sweeps up the records of virtually every phone call ever made.
Hoyer is working with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to forge a FISA reform package palatable to both sides. But some Republicans believe Democrats simply want to renew FISA the way it is.
“They want a cover-up,” said one senior House Republican who asked they not be identified. “They don’t want any changes.”
Republicans, disturbed by how the government used FISA in the 2016 campaign, are seeking three main reforms:
1)     A mandate that the government generate a transcript of all super-secret FISA court hearings.
2)     Criminal penalties for those who are convicted of abusing the FISA process for political reasons.
3)     The authorization of an “advocate” who would work alongside those facing surveillance in a FISA court.
In short, this is why Senate Republicans didn’t discuss anything except FISA with Barr last week.
“That's what dominated the discussion of the lengthy discussion,” said McConnell, “Because there are some of our members who have a different point of view about this.”
And there may be so many different points of view that could stymie Congress from meeting the mid-month deadline.

LA County judge rejects Bernie Sanders emergency motion to keep polls open in California

A Los Angeles County judge Tuesday evening denied an emergency motion filed by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign to keep polling locations open an extra two hours in the county, in a state he is projected to easily win.
LA County Registrar Dean Logan said any voters in line when polls close at 8 p.m. would get to vote, FOX LA reported.
"My commitment is we will serve you tonight and make sure you have the opportunity to cast your ballot and that ballot will be included in the final returns for this election," he said.
Sanders’ motion stated they wanted to ensure Los Angeles County voters “can exercise their constitutional right to vote,” citing the county is using a new voting system this year and some of the technology used in the primary has resulted in “problems because of check-in stations not working and machine failures, with insufficient or overwhelmed tech support.”
The motion added that a denial of the extra two hours would “immediately and irreparably” harm “County voters' right to participate in our democracy.”
It was filed after several complaints came in over hours-long wait times at several polling locations in the county, reports of errors in the new electronic voting system, voting machines not working and paper shortages, FOX LA reported.
Any voter in Califonria may vote by mail instead of going to a polling location.
By Tuesday night, Sanders' had a roughly 10 point lead over former Vice Presient Joe Biden in the state as votes continue to be counted.

Tight Alabama GOP Senate race set for overtime as Sessions, Tuberville head to runoff

No one won the GOP nomination outright for the Alabama Senate, which means voters will head back to the polls for a runoff election later this month to determine whether former Sen. Jeff Sessions can mount a political comeback.
With 80 percent of the votes counted, Sessions had 32 percent of the vote to reclaim his old senate seat, just behind Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach, who had 33 percent of the Republican primary votes on Super Tuesday.
“Tonight, it looks like a great night for us and a bad night for the swamp," Tuberville told cheering supporters. "We’re going to overtime and I know somebody that knows how to win in overtime."

Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville, right, watches election returns and works on his speech in the main house at Auburn Oaks Farm, the site of his election party, Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Tuberville is in a tight race with seven competitors for the Senate seat. (Joe Songer/The Birmingham News via AP)

As the top two finishers, Sessions and Tuberville will face off again in the March 31 runoff election. The winner will become Republicans' best bet to pick off an accidental blue seat held by Democrat Sen. Doug Jones.
Coming up short was Bradley Byrne, a Republican congressman, who had 25 percent of the vote and failed to advance to the runoff. Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, was a distant fourth place with 7 percent of the vote.
Sessions is seeking to reclaim the Senate seat he had for 20 years and gave up to become President Trump's attorney general. He's been running on his record of being close to Trump, despite the president repeatedly knocking him.
The state's Democrat senator, Doug Jones, squeaked out a victory in the red state in the 2017 special election over Moore, who was widely disavowed for allegations of past sexual misconduct with minors but had retained Trump’s endorsement.
In his election night speech, Sessions accused Tuberville of being a  "tourist" from Florida unfamiliar with the people of Alabama and unequipped to execute Trump's agenda in Washington.
"Where was he when President Trump needed him," Sessions said. "What did he do for Trump? Never said a kind word about him that I can find. Never gave a single penny of his millions to the Trump campaign. So one thing is clear. There is no doubt where I stand on the issues [and] no doubt of my support for Donald Trump and his agenda."
Sessions was the first senator to endorse Trump for his 2016 presidential bid and was rewarded with the attorney general position, a job he called the most meaningful of his life.
But Trump soured on Sessions when he recused himself from the FBI Russia probe that gave way to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller; Trump called Sessions the “biggest mistake” of his presidency.

Jeff Sessions talks with the media after voting in Alabama's primary election, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Mobile, Ala. The former Attorney General is part of a seven person field in the state's Republican Senate primary, along with former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, jockeying for the GOP nomination and the right to challenge Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in November. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Sessions resigned at Trump’s request in November 2018. He launched his political comeback a year later in a campaign ad that was mocked as a hostage video as Sessions stressed he didn’t write a “tell-all book” or say a “cross word” about Trump since he was ousted.
Meanwhile, Tuberville put Trump's name on the back of his campaign bus and said “God sent us Donald Trump” in his television ad. He's campaigned as an outsider who will stand with Trump on building a border wall, cracking down on illegal immigration and draining the Washington swamp.
Tuberville accused Sessions of abandoning Trump when times got tough in the Russia probe. In his Super Tuesday speech, he ripped Sessions for his untimely exit from Trump's cabinet.
“We’re going to finish what President Trump started when he looked at Jeff Sessions from across the table and said, ‘You’re fired," Tuberville said.
Byrne came out with a tough ad in the final days of the campaign mocking both Sessions and Tuberville for getting "fired" from their past jobs.
Tuberville was asked to resign as coach of Auburn after a rough 2008 season.
"And Hillary [Clinton] still ain't in jail," the ad says of Sessions.
Tuberville also coached at the University of Mississippi, Texas Tech and the University of Cincinnati. He won SEC coach of the year twice -- at Auburn and Ole Miss.
The big wildcard will be whether Trump endorses in the head-to-head matchup between Sessions and Tuberville. The winner will face Jones in November.
Fox News' Jayla Whitfield contributed to this report.

Marianne Williamson deletes tweet calling Biden’s surge the result of a ‘coup’

Marianne Williamson, the spiritual guru and bestselling author who ended her campaign for president earlier this year, deleted a tweet late Tuesday calling Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday success the result of a "coup."
FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS: BIDEN, SANDERS EMERGE FROM PACK
Williamson, a Sanders supporter, called out Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar a day earlier for consolidating their support behind Biden. She suggested that there must have been something in it for them and tweeted that they probably read President Trump’s book, "The Art of the Deal."
But on Tuesday, her criticism was more pointed. Screengrabs circulated online that showed a deleted tweet that downplayed Biden's post-South Carolina surge and Super Tuesday success.
"This was not a resurrection; it was a coup. Russiagate was not a coup. Mueller was not a coup. Impeachment was not a coup. What happened yesterday was a coup. And we will push back," she tweeted.  The tweet was later deleted.
Biden carried contests across the South and beyond, while Sanders, I-Vt., won in delegate-prize California. The second-biggest contest, in Texas with 228 pledged delegates, is currently too close to call as election officials continue to report results.
Williamson is not the only Sanders supporter who’s framed 2020 as Sanders against the Democrat Machine. These supporters also say that Sanders is also taking on the Mainstream Media.
Juan Gonzalez, a Democracy Now! co-host, said any mention of Sanders has been "about the movement to stop" him and not "what he stands for."
[It's] far different in terms of Sanders' surge than from the way the media dealt with Donald Trump, which was just to turn on the cameras and let him speak at his rallies and let him talk directly to the American people in 2016," Gonzalez said.
Fox News' Gregg Re and Joseph A. Wulfshon contributed to this report