Trump unloads on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), promises MAGA / America First primary challengers

Story by The Hill

Written by Jonathan Easley

Former President Trump on Tuesday unloaded on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and vowed to back challengers to lawmakers who have crossed him, foretelling a brutal primary season for divided Republicans.

Trump’s statement, which was released through his Save America super PAC, blames McConnell for the GOP’s 2020 Senate losses.

“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” Trump said. “He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country. Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership.”

The statement comes days after seven Republican senators joined all 50 Democratic senators in voting to convict Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill.

McConnell voted to acquit Trump, but in remarks after the vote, he said Trump was “practically and morally” responsible for the deadly siege. McConnell also left open the possibility that Trump could face civil or criminal charges even though he was acquitted by the Senate.

The remarks from the Senate minority leader sent a clear signal that he believes the party must separate itself from Trump to remain competitive in future elections.

United States House of Representatives passes budget resolution, paving way for President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan

 

© Greg Nash

Story by The Hill

Written by Nive Elis 

The House on Friday approved the Senate-amended budget resolution, setting in place the process to pass President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan without the need for GOP support.

The bill passed 219-209 with one Democrat voting against it.

“Our work to crush the coronavirus and deliver relief to the American people is urgent and of the highest priority,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a letter to Democrats ahead of the vote. 

“With this budget resolution, we have taken a giant step to save lives and livelihoods.”

The budget resolution’s adoption kicks off a process called reconciliation, which can pass the Senate with a simple majority, bypassing a possible GOP filibuster. 

The resolution includes instructions for Congress’s authorizing committees to write legislation that will affect federal finances. 

Those instructions followed the contours of Biden’s proposal, which includes $1,400 stimulus checks, extended emergency unemployment benefits, funds for vaccine distribution and testing, aid to state and local governments and increases to child tax credits and earned income tax credits, among other things.

Pelosi said the House is aiming to finish up the package by the end of the month.

The budget resolution arrived fresh from the Senate, which spent a marathon, overnight session considering amendments to the original proposal. The House had approved an earlier version of the measure on Wednesday.

The final version, which passed at 5:30 in the morning following 15 hours of debate and voting, included some strong signals from centrist Democrats that they expect changes to the proposal.

Democrats are relying on party unanimity and Vice President Harris’s tie-breaking vote to pass legislation in the 50-50 Senate — any one Democratic "no" vote could sink a relief bill.

The Senate approved amendments calling for stimulus checks to be more narrowly targeted and for funds to be set aside for rural hospitals. The amendments were largely non-binding, but served to signal where Congress stood on some key issues.

More controversial amendments relating to fracking, the Keystone XL pipeline and whether stimulus checks would go to undocumented immigrants were stripped out in a final amendment offered by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). 

Democrats said they supported restricting stimulus checks from undocumented immigrants, but argued that the language in the amendment would prevent children of citizens and undocumented immigrants from receiving the benefit, which would be a change from the last round of relief.

Biden has signaled that he prefers that the bill pass with bipartisan support, but is willing to move ahead with Democrats alone, or with just a handful of GOP votes that fall short of the 10 he’d need to pass legislation in regular order.

On Monday, he spent two hours meeting with 10 GOP Senators over their $618 billion counter-proposal for COVID-19 relief.

Biden has consistently made the case that overshooting with the size of the relief bill is preferable to undershooting, a lesson he says was learned the hard way with the Obama stimulus bill during the Great Recession, which many economists say was too small.

• “One thing we learned is, you know, we can't do too much here; we can do too little. We can do too little and sputter,” Biden said Friday ahead of a meeting with House Democratic leaders.

Democrats will also have to contend with strict budgetary rules in the Senate that could endanger significant aspects of their relief proposal, most notably the plan to increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2025.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) allowed a GOP amendment on the subject to pass by voice vote. The amendment, he said, only restricted the minimum wage rising to $15 during a pandemic, which was not part of the gradual increase proposed in the bill anyway.

Brands Are Investing More In Black Radio. But Much Work Remains To Achieve Parity.

Story by Inside Radio

Written by Paul Heine

Feb 1, 2021 

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As Black History Month get underway today, so too does Project Booker, an initiative developed by ad agency network Dentsu to direct more ad dollars to minority-owned and targeted media outlets. Named after industrial and civil rights pioneer and educator Booker T. Washington, the program is emblematic of how, after years of underinvesting in the space, agencies and brands are stepping up their efforts in response to the national conversation about racial justice.

“We began to see more interest in our African American audience, and a shift in major marketers’ mindset towards that audience, with the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd,” says Andy Anderson, President of Sales at American Urban Radio Networks. “Corporate America began to understand the racial injustices and systemic racism African Americans faced in this country, not just in the streets but in all aspects of society, including education, housing, healthcare and corporate representation.”

National marketers, including Procter & Gamble, AARP and Toyota, already made significant commitments toward engaging African American-owned radio before Floyd’s murder last spring ignited mass protests and a groundswell of activism. “Each of them expanded and grew their investment” via strategic initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic and amid demands for racial justice, according to Sherman Kizart, Managing Director of Kizart Media Partners, who spearheaded advertising initiatives on behalf of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.

Kizart worked with Dentsu CEO Doug Ray and others on Project Booker, which is geared toward brands creating new content and sponsorship opportunities tied to their marketing strategies that will air on African-American owned radio stations during Black History Month. Participating brands include P&G, General Motors and Kroger’s.

Separately, at the onset of the pandemic, AARP CEO Joann Jenkins created a radio campaign in partnership with NABOB “to speak to African American consumers about the available resources from AARP to help the community and reinforce the importance of African American owned radio,” says Kizart.

“The global media agency community has pivoted in strategic parallel with its clients around increasing its investment in African American owned media,” adds Kizart.

From a data and analytics perspective, Cecilia Jato Bitz, Account Director for Nielsen's National Audio Services, says the measurement company is “absolutely seeing a huge influx of interest from advertisers in the area of minority-owned and minority-focused media. Nielsen is doing its part to connect buyers with sellers and help the marketplace understand this evolving consumer dynamic,” she adds.

A wide range of categories have shown increased interest or upped spend, including pharma, tech, consumer packaged goods, automotive, insurance, health care, grocery, OTT services, finance, real estate and government agencies, according to broadcasters.

‘Still Work To Be Done’

While there is heightened interest among brands in reaching the 28.9 million African Americans that listen to radio each week, execs say it is only a step toward bringing parity for Black stations. “There is definitely more interest overall which has been encouraging and great to see. It is long overdue,” says Josh Rahmani, Senior VP of National and Network Sales at Radio One and Reach Media. “Of course, though, there is still work to be done as there are many brands who we have yet to connect with to discuss more deeply why it is important to effectively reach and support the African-American audience and the associated benefits of doing so.”

Josh Melnick, General Sales Manager at Entercom hip-hop/R&B “V-103” WVEE Atlanta, describes the renewed interest in Black radio as tentative. “Many companies are working to create their own internal diversity officer/department and then look outward for help through different media outlets,” he says.

And not all stations are feeling the love, at least not yet. “Unfortunately we have not seen many diversity buys directed to market to the African-American consumers,” says Shawneen Thompson, Director of Sales at Howard University adult R&B WHUR-FM, Washington, DC (96.3). “While there are businesses that have opened up new marketing lanes for African-Americans, the messaging to offer these services have not been communicated. In addition, we still don’t see many companies opening up positions beyond diversity and inclusion and unfortunately, that position doesn’t hold the financial power or [decision-making] to direct organizational change.”

Thompson says that although the broadcasting commitment so far “has been minimal, WHUR remains community-focused. “We re-invest our dollars by developing programs such as the Pay It Forward initiative, where we partnered with Wells Fargo and turned 100% of their invested dollars back to our community, she says. “Programs like this have a direct impact to our community.” – Paul Heine