ATTORNEY GENERAL // West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin was the only Senator to cross party lines in voting to confirm Senator Jeff Sessions as the next Attorney General of the United States. The vote was 52-47 because Sessions voted present rather than cast a ballot for himself. http://cvote.it/2kohWU8
CABINET // The Senate advances the nomination of pro-life Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. http://cvote.it/2knZLOs
2018 // The House Republican campaign arm sets its sights on 36 Districts held by Democrats — including many blue-collar districts where Hillary Clinton lagged far behind the Democratic congressional candidate. For example, Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn, won his district by 1 point, but Trump carried the district by 15. http://cvote.it/2ko9F2x
ASSISTED SUICIDE // Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, pledges to seek a vote to overturn the District of Columbia’s physician-assisted suicide law. http://cvote.it/2kocQHb
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY // The Conscience Protection Act was recently re-introduced by Senator James Lankford, R-Okla, and Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn. The Conscience Protection Act would protect health care providers from federal, state, and local abortion mandates if they conscientiously object to assisting with abortions. The legislation, supported by CatholicVote, was passed by the House last year but did not receive a vote in the Senate. http://cvote.it/2kokvFz
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SUPREME COURT // Nine Senate Democrats say Gorsuch deserves a vote. http://cvote.it/2koIi8z
IMMIGRATION // Trump’s border wall is already being designed. The President said: “I watch this and they say I was kidding. I don’t kid about things like that, I’ll tell you. We will have a wall.” http://cvote.it/2koGjB5
CV BLOG // “Does Catholic Social Teaching require ever more government regulation?” by Professor Jay Richards at the CV Blog. http://cvote.it/2k4nve4
CATHOLIC // What happens when a friar preaches about St. Agnes to the Women’s March. http://cvote.it/2koxFlV
WORD OF THE DAY // Wave election – A year in which one political party wins a large and lopsided number of House and Senate seats while sustaining minimal losses. The Democrats had a wave election in 2006 and 2008. Republicans had a wave election in 2010 and 2014. The 2016 election is generally not considered a wave election, even though Republicans ended up with the White House, Senate, and House.
SAINT // Saint Jerome Emiliani – http://cvote.it/dailysaint
DAILY MASS // “Blessed are those who fear the Lord.” (Ps 128:1) – http://cvote.it/Daily-Readings
INTERESTING // Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, just confirmed by the Senate to become Attorney General, has been labeled as bigoted and racist. But those attacks don’t seem to make sense when you see this 2009 award from the Alabama chapter of the NAACP. (Photo courtesy Heritage Foundation).