21st Century Cures bill approved
The House of Representatives pass the “21st Century Cures Act” which increases research funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $9 billion over the next five years. The bill also provides $550 million over the next 5 years to expedite the discovery and approval of drugs by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bill also adds provisions to give drug companies more time to market drugs and increase the efficiency of collecting patient input. Some researchers and consumer advocates say the bill includes provisions that cuts corners in the drug approval process that undermine patient safety. Critics:
Some aspects of the bill could indeed enhance the development of and access to new drugs. Embedded in the language of the 21st Century Cures Act are some good ideas that could streamline the development and evaluation of new drugs and devices; its call for increased NIH funding may prove to be its most useful component. But political forces have also introduced other provisions that could lead to the approval of drugs and devices that are less safe or effective than existing criteria would permit
Reveals Fair Housing Act
The Obama administration plans to reduce the racial segregation of neighborhoods using federal housing funds to make desirable neighborhoods more affordable for less affluent minorities. The Fair Housing Act enforces extant civil rights law on banning residential discrimination. Areas that fail to comply with the Housing Act will lose federal housing funds. Housing and Urban Development secretary:
A ZIP code should never prevent any person from reaching their aspirations. The fact is that federal efforts have often fallen short. We’re approaching this in a very collaborative spirit. Enforcement is always a last resort — it is there, it is possible, but our preference is to work cooperatively and steadfastly with communities.
Confederate flag cemetery ban proposed
A proposal by Rep. Huffman to add language to block the Park Service, which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers, from allowing private groups to decorate the graves of Southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day, is passed by voice vote. The Andersonville and Vicksburg cemeteries in Georgia and Mississippi are affected. Huffman:
The American Civil War was fought, in Abraham Lincoln’s words, to ‘save the last best hope of Earth. We can honor that history without celebrating the Confederate flag and all of the dreadful things that it symbolizes.
Rep. Palazzo protests the move:
I strongly oppose the inclusion of this amendment, which was slipped into the bill in the dead of night with no debate. Congress cannot simply rewrite history and strip the Confederate flag from existence. Members of Congress from New York and California cannot wipe away 150 years of Southern history with sleight-of-hand tactics.
The Park Service funding bill is scheduled for a vote July 9.
Wins parliamentary election
Nkurunziza’ party – the CNDD FDD — wins 77 out of 100 seats in parliament, in an election that is boycotted by most opposition parties. The turnout for the parliamentary poll is low in the districts of Bujumbura where there are protests, but in some provinces outside the capital it is as high as 98%. The presidential election is scheduled for 15 July.
Poll: second place behind Bush
According to a CNN poll, Trump is now the second runner amongst Republican candidates. Jeb Bush leads with 19%, up from 13% in May. Trump follows at 12%, up from 3% before his announcement. Mike Huckabee (8%), Ben Carson (7%) and Rand Paul (7%) round out the top five. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads all other candidates by more than 40 points, with 57% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents behind her and 16% backing Vice President Joe Biden. Trump says the numbers are “representative of the response we are receiving from all over the country.”
I am committed to addressing the issues our country is facing and am confident my business mindset and common sense solutions are resonating with the American people. Politicians are all talk and no action and the American public is ready for a leader with a proven track record of success.
Adopts strict vaccine law
Brown signs a California bill to strike California’s personal belief exemption for immunizations, a move that requires nearly all public schoolchildren to be vaccinated. The bill takes effect next year.
The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases. While it’s true that no medical intervention is without risk, the evidence shows that immunization powerfully benefits and protects the community.
California joins Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states with such strict requirements. Medical exemptions can be granted to children with serious health issues. Children whose parents refuse vaccination can try to obtain a medical exemption or be homeschooled. The measure applies to public and private schools, as well as day care facilities.
Upset over proposed reforms
NYC police are upset over several police reform measures City Council members plan to review, including bills that would force cops to get suspects’ consent for searches, imprison police for using chokeholds, and require cops to give out the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s phone number. Police Benevolent Association:
These pieces of legislation have been proposed by individuals who have neither the expertise nor the experience to establish policy in the dangerous business of fighting crime. Policing policies must be left to the police management who understand the intricacies and difficulties of complex legal issues and the appropriate use of crime-fighting tactics.
Jail for avoiding quarantine
South Korea passes a law that imprisons people for up to two years if they defy quarantine orders when suspected of having an infectious disease. Police officers, firefighters, and other public workers will also help health investigators enforce the quarantine law. This is in response to the 181 confirmed cases and 31 deaths resulting from an infection by a 68-year-old man from the Middle East who withheld information from doctors in his itinerary. The quarantine law also publicizes information about a disease outbreak in response to criticism that South Korea delayed reporting of hospitals affected by MERS.
Reacts to ‘Obamacare’ decision
Pres. Obama reacts to the Supreme Court decision on Affordable Care Act subsidies:
After multiple challenges to this law before the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act is here to stay.
He adds that, had the decision gone otherwise:
America would have gone backwards. That’s not what we do.
Announces run for president
Trump announces his candidacy for president at Trump Tower, New York. His introduced by his daughter, Ivanka.
We are going to make our country great again. I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.
They all said, a lot of the pundits on television, well, Donald will never run, and one of the main reasons is he’s private and he’s probably not as successful as everybody thinks. So I said to myself, you know, nobody is ever going to know unless I run because I’m really proud of my success.
Sadly the American dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back, bigger, and better, and stronger than ever before
I would do various things very quickly. I would repeal and replace the big lie, Obamacare. I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall.
When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best; they’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people
Nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump, nobody…I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
Our country needs a truly great leader. And we need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote the art of the deal, we need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing, can bring back our military, and take care of our vets
Announces presidential run
Perry launches his second presidential campaign in front of a crowd of 1,000. Using a C-130 cargo plane — the type he flew while serving in the U.S. Air Force — as a backdrop and introduced by veterans, he emphasizes his military service, and says that Americans see the system rigged, are stuck with stagnated wages and stifled by regulations, mounting tuition costs, with many families on food stamps.
Now is the time for clear-sighted leadership. This is the election where voters will ask, ‘Where have you led?’ It’s not a speech on the Senate floor. It’s not what you’ve said; it’s what you have done…I know America has experienced great change, but what it means to be an American has never changed…I hear you; you are not forgotten. I’m running to be your president
Official campaign launch
Sanders formally launches his bid to unseat Hillary Clinton from the left, on the shore of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont:
Today, with your support and the support of millions of people throughout this country, we begin a political revolution to transform our country economically, politically, socially and environmentally…There is something profoundly wrong when the top one-tenth of 1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90% and when 99% of all new income goes to the top 1%…This grotesque level of inequality is immoral. It is bad economics. It is unsustainable. This type of rigged economy is not what America is supposed to be about. … The issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time and it is the great political issue of our time. And we will address it…Join me in this campaign to build a future that works for all of us, and not just the few on top.
Gay Marriage referendum passes
The people of The Republic of Ireland legalise same sex marriage in a nationwide referendum. Irish Minister for Equality, Ó Ríordáin:
Ireland is the first country in the world to introduce marriage equality by popular vote.
This change was supported by just over 62% of the population and is a significant win for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) groups on a global scale.
Speakers announced
A Sanders spokesman says that McKibben will speak at Sanders’ presidential campaign kickoff. In an email McKibben writes:
Bernie is the ultimate what-you-see-is-what-you-get politician. There’s no fancy moves and no adroit spin, just relentless day-in day-out advocacy for working people, and for a working planet. Bernie’s been in the forefront of all the crucial environmental fights of recent years, always willing to knuckle down and do the hard work of fighting the big corporations.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc., are also expected to speak — with free ice cream in tow.
Signs cybersecurity order
Christie signs an executive order he says will help protect New Jersey residents from cybersecurity attacks.
Cybersecurity is not just a national issue. Attacks consider to rise here and around our nation. As governor, it’s my job to ensure that 21st century threats … are met with 21st century solutions.
Sworn in
Black is sworn in as an MP at Westminster.
I, Mhairi Black, Paisley and Renfrewshire South, do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law.
Eychaner fundraises for Clinton
Eychaner throws a fundraiser for Clinton in his Chicago home. He states:
Everybody working together needs to make Hillary the next president.
When asked if he would become a major donor to Priorities USA Action he responds:
I assume so. Nobody has approached me about a super-PAC yet. Don’t open up the floodgates, but nobody has called about the subject.
On the subject of the at least $25 million in contributions to the Clinton Foundation:
If you want to try to go to a sports analogy, that’s a career total for support starting in 2001, for the library and for HIV and for everything else along the way, for general operating support sometimes and for their endowment. So, it’s all reported. None of it is lacking in transparency.
About himself he says:
I’m not a billionaire and I’m not a mogul. I’m a retired media executive.
Introduces bill to eliminate undergraduate tuition
Sanders introduces a bill that would eliminate undergraduate tuition. His College for All Act would eliminate the $70 billion dollar tuition costs at all 4-year public colleges and universities. Under the plan, the Federal Government would cover 67% — $47 billion dollars each year — of the costs, with states required to produce the remaining 33% ($23 billion). The bill plans to cover these costs by initiating a “Robin Hood Tax” on Wall Street. A .5% speculation fee will be charged on investment houses, hedge funds, and other stock trades. Additionally, a .1% fee will be charged on bonds, and a .005% fee will be charged on derivatives.
Purges cabinet
President Nkurunziza purges his cabinet, while protesters are warned that they will be treated as accomplices of the rebel generals who staged the coup. Defence Minister Gaciyubwenge is replaced by Ntahonvukiye, a lawyer who becomes the first civilian defence chief in 50 years. Foreign Minister Kavakure is replaced by Aime, a former ambassador to the African Union; while Trade Minister Ciza is replaced by Inantore. Spokesperson:
The president has powers under the constitution, including being able to change the government, He believes that the time has come and it is up to his discretion.
Announces Presidential run
Graham says he will unveil his plans regarding the 2016 elections in June, but then repeats several time that he is running.
[In] Central South Carolina I will make an announcement on June first, you’re all invited to come, spend money when you do, and I will tell you what I’m gonna do about running for President. . . I’m running because of what you see on television, I’m running because I think the world is falling apart.