Post Politics Now Biden awards Medal of Honor to 4 Vietnam War soldiers

Vice President Harris, speaking before a National Educators Association summit in Chicago, called on Congress to “have the courage to act and renew the assault weapons ban” in light of the shooting.

The vice president said that while President Biden just signed the first federal gun safety bill in 30 years, which she noted strengthens background checks, closes the “boyfriend loophole,” and includes more funding for mental health services, more needs to be done.

“There is no reason that we have weapons of war on the streets of America,” Harris said. “We need reasonable gun safety laws, and we need to have Congress stop protecting those gun manufacturers with the liability shield.”

“Repeal it,” she added.

Harris lamented Monday’s attack, saying it “should have been a day to come together with family and friends to celebrate our nation’s independence.

“Instead, that community suffered a violent tragedy,” she said.

The vice president noted that the country is still mourning the 19 students and two teachers killed in a mass shooting in Uvalde, Tex. Addressing the crowd of educators, Harris said teachers “should not have to practice barricading a classroom.”

“Teachers should not have to know how to treat a gunshot wound,” she said. “Teachers should not be told that lives would have been saved if only you had a gun.”

A Minnesota law that legalized the sale of edibles and beverages containing up to 5 milligrams of hemp-derived THC per serving went into effect Friday, shocking some Republicans — including at least one who says he voted for it unknowingly.

As Michael Bronstein, president of the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp, explained to The Post’s Bryan Pietsch, hemp and marijuana come from the cannabis plant. THC derived from hemp is the same as THC derived from marijuana.

What the Minnesota law does, Bronstein explained, is invert “the concept of licensing, taxing and regulating marijuana by legalizing all types of intoxicating hemp-derived THC products, which are in some cases exactly the same as marijuana products.”

The law, which passed the Republican-controlled state Senate in May, was signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz (D) last month. But some Republicans told the Star Tribune after the law went into effect that it caught them off guard.

State Sen. Jim Abeler (R) said he didn’t realize the bill broadly legalized products containing THC, thinking that it only permitted delta-8 THC, which provides milder effects. The bill in reality also legalizes the sale of delta-9 THC, which causes a stronger effect that is more commonly associated with a high from cannabis products.

Another Republican lawmaker, state Sen. Michelle Benson, “dodged repeated questions of whether she herself understood the law would legalize THC edibles,” the paper reported. She told the Star Tribune she wished the state pharmacy board had realized the full impact of the law earlier.

The bill’s author, state Rep. Heather Edelson (D), rejected the notion that her Republican colleagues were bamboozled by the law, noting the author of the Senate version of the bill was Republican state Sen. Mark Koran, who co-chairs the medical cannabis task force with Edelson.

“There were no last-minute tactics pulled to pass this legislation,” she said.

Read more about the new law here.

A coalition of nearly 1,200 prominent Black women signed a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris urging the administration to secure Brittney Griner’s release from a Russian prison, an escalation of a pressure campaign by the WNBA star’s supporters that comes as her trial proceeds in a court outside of Moscow.

As Dave Sheinin reports, the letter was signed by Black female leaders from the realms of sports, entertainment, labor, business, politics and faith. It was delivered to the White House on Tuesday afternoon.

The leaders say Griner is “enduring inhumane conditions” during her imprisonment.

“It is imperative, President Biden, that you address this ongoing human rights crisis and make a deal to bring Brittney home quickly and safely,” they wrote.

The letter comes one day after the Phoenix Mercury center herself sent a letter to Biden, handwritten from her cell. Griner, 31, was arrested in February at an airport outside Moscow when customs officials allegedly discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.

Among the women who signed the letter delivered Tuesday were Bernice King, CEO of the King Center and the daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; actress Anika Noni Rose; television hosts Shaun Robinson and Sunny Hostin; former acting chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile; activist and former NAACP president Hazel Dukes; University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach and three-time Olympic gold medalist Dawn Staley; and numerous players, coaches and executives from the WNBA.

Read more about these efforts here.

What are the legal options to reinstate Roe v. Wade? — asks our reader Holly.

Realistically, there is one option for reinstating nationwide access to abortion rights somewhat quickly — through Congress.

There is a bill — the Women’s Health Protection Act — passed by the House this congressional term that could codify abortion access into law. The House passed the measure in May, but it failed to advance in the Senate — as expected.

To pass the measure, Democrats need either 60 votes in the Senate — which is unlikely — or for two more senators in their caucus to vote to end the filibuster that requires these 60 votes. Democrats would need just a simple majority — 51 votes — to end the rule, but so far, Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have refused to agree to end the rule.

A bill introduced by the two Republican senators who say they support abortion access — Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — is more limited than the Democrats’. That measure, the Reproductive Choice Act, would codify the protections granted by Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey into law, but it would also allow states to establish abortion-related statutes that are in line with those rulings. The measure would also provide protections to health-care providers who have religious objections to performing abortions. Democrats turned this measure down.

Collins has said she’s working with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on bipartisan abortion legislation. We still haven’t seen the product of these conversations.

For now, there’s no other relatively simple way to get abortion rights codified into federal law. There are, however, steps the administration has taken to secure some access to medical abortions.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, said states can’t ban mifepristone, the drug used with a second pill, misoprostol, to induce what is essentially a miscarriage. The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 for medication abortion in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. It is easily mailed to patients. Experts in May told The Washington Post that if the FDA has approved a medication, mailers can’t face federal legal consequences for sending it out but could run afoul of state regulations.

Still, the drug is not an answer for everyone. For those whose pregnancies have progressed beyond the guidelines for medical abortions, clinical abortions will remain in demand.

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by a pro-Trump mob will hold another hearing next Tuesday at 10 a.m. Eastern.

The hearing will be the seventh this summer as the panel tries to inform the public about its findings on the deadly events of that day. The committee did not specify who will testify during Tuesday’s hearing.

This hearing follows the blockbuster witness account delivered by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who on June 28 detailed to the committee how President Donald Trump wanted to join his armed supporters on Capitol grounds.

The Justice Department sued Arizona on Tuesday over a new state law that requires voters to show proof of citizenship, The Post’s David Nakamura reports.

The move sets up a fight over a provision similar to one the Supreme Court has called unconstitutional in another case.

The department argues that the law is a “textbook violation” of the National Voter Registration Act.

“Arizona has passed a law that turns the clock back on progress by imposing unlawful and unnecessary requirements that would block eligible voters from the registration rolls for certain federal elections,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said.

The measure was passed by Republicans in a party-line vote. While it was signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey (R) in March, it will not take effect until next year. The measure requires that Arizona voters provide proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers, on a federal voter registration form.

As David explains:

Justice officials said the law flouts a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a similar attempt from Arizona to enact a proof-of-citizenship requirement. At that time, a majority of the court said the move violated federal statutes that do not require such documentation.

Read more about the lawsuit here.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) is out of the hospital and in rehabilitation after undergoing hip replacement surgery, his office said in a statement.

Leahy, 82, fell Wednesday night in his Virginia home and broke his hip. In Tuesday’s statement, his office said he will now undergo rehabilitation treatment and “focus on his physical therapy regimen.”

“Patrick and [his wife] Marcelle deeply appreciate the outpouring of concern and support,” his office said.

Leahy, his office previously said, is expected to make a full recovery. The statement, however, did not say when the senator is expected to return to the Capitol.

President Biden has read the letter sent by basketball player Brittney Griner, who is under detention in Russia, asking for help, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.

In the letter, Griner, 31, expressed fear over not knowing how long she will be detained and urged Biden to work for the release of her and other Americans detained abroad.

Griner, who was arrested Feb. 17 and charged with carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her baggage at Sheremetyevo International Airport outside Moscow, could face 10 years in prison if convicted. Russia has ruled Griner will remain detained until December, pending the trial’s verdict, which experts believe almost certainly will come back as guilty.

Getting Griner out of Russia, Jean-Pierre said, “is a priority for this president.”

Jean-Pierre said the WNBA player and former Olympian spoke to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan but didn’t offer details on the communications.

A reporter then cited Griner’s coach — who criticized the administration’s actions on the case by saying Griner would be out of Russia already if she were NBA star LeBron James — and asked Jean-Pierre if the White House’s response to Griner’s detention was a “double standard.” Griner is a Black gay woman.

Jean-Pierre dismissed the notion, saying Biden has fought for “the LGBTQ community, women [and] people of color” throughout his career.

“Again, this is a priority for this president. He is doing everything he can,” Jean-Pierre said.