Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Biden confronts campus protests; Trump hedges on accepting election results

Kristi Noem just won’t stop talking about killing her dog

Noem’s dog-killing isn’t popular, though Trump supporters are divided

The New York Times, alone in its outrage over access to Biden

The ‘Access Hollywood’ video cemented Trump’s air of invincibility

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

In photos: At least 39 dead as historic flooding hits southern Brazil

Sea level rise brings new era of dangerous flooding

Michael Cohen keeps broadcasting despite being a witness

The Post endorses April McClain Delaney and Tom Royals for Maryland’s 6th District

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Young Georgians want to be part of Europe. Their government is in the way.

Ask Amy: My boyfriend just confessed he’s almost $20,000 in debt

Miss Manners: Is it inappropriate to reach out to old girlfriends?

Carolyn Hax: Longtime friend won’t forgive being last-minute canceled for a guy

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

Adaptive equipment is making national parks more inclusive

In a pinch, the Nationals finally find some offense

Is Pastis as good as our food critic thought? He sent spies to find out.

The Capitals, a team in transition, know what they want this offseason

Trump Media auditor charged by SEC with ‘massive fraud’

Google’s empire is massive. A judge will soon rule if it’s a monopoly.

Five tech products we actually like

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

Confident of victory over Ukraine, Russia exhibits Western war trophies

Two women are seeking Mexico’s presidency. But the race is about a man.

Hamas in Cairo for hostage talks as Israel briefs aid agencies on Rafah

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

Good Wednesday morning. We're halfway there. Thanks for waking up with <a href="https://subscribe.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/#/bundle/powerup?method=SURL&amp;location=ENL&amp;initiative=MR_powerup">the Power Up newsletter.</a>&nbsp;

NO SHOWS: Before Senate Republicans blocked the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the events of Jan. 6, Gladys Sicknick, the mother of late U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick — who lost his life shortly after defending the Capitol that day — requested meetings with every GOP senator to advocate for the proposal.&nbsp;

At least 20 Republican senators did not meet with Sicknick's mother, according to a list obtained by The Washington Post. Asked why they were not able to meet with Gladys Sicknick, who was accompanied by her son's former partner, Sandra Garza, several of the offices cited scheduling issues.&nbsp;

A spokesperson for Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) told us “the senator was not available due to scheduling conflicts, but a staff level meeting was offered.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said Burr “was already fully committed the day of the requested meeting and was unable to meet given the short notice.”&nbsp;

Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) was “not able to accommodate a meeting on short notice, but indicated his openness to setting up a time to meet with Mrs. Sicknick following the recess,” a spokesperson told Power Up in an email.

A spokesperson for Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) responded that the top Republican on the Senate Rules Committee had instead “extended an invitation to meet with Officer Sicknick's family to discuss the findings and recommendations included in the bipartisan report on the January 6 attack that will be issued jointly by the Senate Rules and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees next week.”&nbsp;

A spokesperson for Sen. Shelley Moore Capito Moore (R-W.Va.) said that Capito would have liked to meet with Sicknick's family but was unavailable the morning they requested due to infrastructure negotiations.

“If they responded with additional days to meet, our office would happily review his schedule to see if something could work,” a spokesperson for Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told us.

Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) also did not meet with Gladys Sicknick and did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.

Despite the last-minute request from Sicknick's family, several Republican lawmakers cleared their schedule to accommodate a request to meet. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were among the GOP lawmakers who did meet with Gladys Sicknick before last week's vote on the commission — and ultimately voted to create it. But the commission was never established after it failed to pass the Senate's 60-vote bar, with only six Senate Republicans voting to create it.

Some offices did not respond to the requests from the family for a meeting, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). Their offices did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.&nbsp;

Drew Angerer

After it became increasingly clear the commission proposal backed by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/january-6-commission-susan-collins/2021/05/26/ae6b54c4-be44-11eb-b26e-53663e6be6ff_story.html">35 House Republicans</a> faced long odds in the Senate, Gladys Sicknick requested meetings last Wednesday with every GOP senator in hopes of mustering enough votes to pass it.&nbsp;

“Mrs. Sicknick understands this is a last minute request but would appreciate any time the Senator can spare,” reads the email sent to schedulers on behalf of Gladys Sicknick. “We hope Senator NAME will make time to meet with Mrs. Sicknick&nbsp;considering&nbsp;the sacrifice her son made in defending members of the House and Senate, and our democracy itself.”&nbsp;

In an interview <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/28/politics/sicknick-interview-disappointed-gop-senators/index.html">with CNN's Jake Tapper</a> following the vote, Gladys Sicknick described the meetings she did have as “tense”: “I don't understand it. They are elected for us, the people, and they don't care about that,” she added. “They care about money, I guess, their pocketbooks. So they'll be in front of the cameras when they feel like it. They just don't care, and it's not right.”

“I said to him that he got lucky. He got lucky. It could have been very different that day,” Garza told CNN of her meeting with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) before the vote. “Those who want to run with this narrative that, 'Well it was tourists that day, and I didn't feel threatened' — they got lucky. That's the truth of it.”

“I'm disgusted that the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ron-johnson-capitol-police-letter-brian-sicknick-death/">Republican senators</a>, that decided to vote no. It's a spit in the face to Brian, it's a spit in the face to all the officers that were there that day,” Garza told <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sandra-garza-capitol-officer-brian-sicknick-january-6-commission/">CBS News's Nikole Killion.&nbsp;</a>

On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ruled out the possibility of a presidential commission to study the Jan. 6 insurrection, “telling House Democrats that having President Joe Biden appoint a panel is unworkable even after the Senate blocked an independent probe last week,” the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-government-and-politics-98ec23b90bf117aa3c30b6f576c220d3">Associated Press's Mary Clare Jalonick</a> reports. “She proposed four options for an investigation of the attack, according to a person on the private Democratic caucus call who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations.”&nbsp;

“The first option, Pelosi said, is to give the Senate another chance to vote on the commission.”

“The other options involve the House investigating the attack, meaning the probes would be inherently partisan. Pelosi suggested that she could appoint a new select committee to investigate the siege or give the responsibility to a single committee, like the House Homeland Security panel, which wrote the original bipartisan bill to create the commission. Alternately, Pelosi said committees could simply push ahead with their own investigations that are already underway.”

DEMOCRATS SECURE NEW MEXICO HOUSE SEAT:&nbsp;“Democrats continued their dozen-year winning streak in the 1st Congressional District, with state Rep. Melanie Stansbury prevailing in Tuesday’s special election,” <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/2395893/stansbury-wins-cd1-special-election.html">the Albuquerque Journal’s Ryan Boetel reports</a>. “The special election was called to fill the vacancy created when former Rep. Deb Haaland resigned to join President Biden’s Cabinet.”

“Stansbury’s victory will give Democrats 220 seats in the House to 211 for Republicans, offering a bit more breathing room to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ahead of an expected summer push on infrastructure spending,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-mexico-house-election/2021/05/31/a471fb46-c095-11eb-b26e-53663e6be6ff_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_36">our colleague David Weigel reports</a>.

The race was an indicator of the current political environment, the overall mood headed into next year’s midterms and potential messaging Republicans could deploy. Another midterm test is coming.&nbsp;“Two Republicans will face each other in the runoff for another vacant House seat, in Texas, on July 27. Two open seats in Ohio, split between the parties, will not be filled until November, and a safely Democratic seat in Florida will remain vacant until January 2022.”

And Florida Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) announced Tuesday her bid for governor of the Sunshine State.

HARRIS WILL LEAD PUSH FOR VOTING PROTECTIONS:&nbsp;“Biden promised Tuesday to ‘fight like heck’ against Republican efforts to restrict voting, using the anniversary of a racist massacre to respond to Democrats’ growing anxiety that his low-key approach was threatening fair elections and their own electoral future,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ahead-of-tulsa-trip-biden-to-unveil-new-plans-to-reduce-black-white-wealth-gap/2021/05/31/b80c9c4e-c269-11eb-8c18-fd53a628b992_story.html">our colleagues Tyler Pager and Annie Linskey report</a>.

“Biden announced he was tapping Vice President Harris&nbsp;to marshal an effort against the increasing array of Republican-led state laws that restrict voting in various ways, a campaign Biden condemned as ‘un-American.’”

Context: “In tapping Harris to oversee the voting rights efforts, Biden has tasked her with another difficult issue, in addition to leading the administration’s work on the root causes of immigration in Latin America. The vice president said she would be meeting with voting rights groups, community organizations and the private sector in the coming days and weeks.”

Blair Guild

The clock's ticking for Congress on voting rights. By Feb. 19, Republican state legislators had introduced “253 bills proposing new voting restrictions across 43 states,” our <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/02/state-voting-restrictions/">colleague Elise Viebeck writes.</a> “That number rose to at least 389 bills in 48 states as of May 14.”

More: “As of mid-May, 14 states had enacted 22 new laws with provisions that create new hurdles to vote, and another 61 such bills were still advancing in 18 states. Arkansas and Montana lead the country in fresh voting restrictions, with four new laws enacted each.”

The pressure is on Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona): “I hear all the folks on TV saying, ‘Why doesn’t Biden get this done?’” the president said singling them both out during his speech in Tulsa, Okla. “Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.”

Manchin and Sinema "have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster — the rule requiring most legislation to win 60 votes to pass, making many of Democrats’ biggest priorities like voting rights and gun control bills dead on arrival in the 50-50 Senate. While Sinema is a sponsor of the voting rights bill that passed the House, known as the For the People Act, Manchin has refused to sign on, calling the measure ‘too broad,’” the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-calls-out-2-democratic-lawmakers-for-blocking-agenda/2021/06/01/cf19c12e-c321-11eb-89a4-b7ae22aa193e_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_54">Associated Press's Alexandra Jaffe</a> notes.&nbsp;

FEC SPARES TRUMP BUT FINES TABLOID PUBLISHER:&nbsp;“The Federal Election Commission has fined the National Enquirer’s parent company $187,500 for ‘knowingly and willfully’ violating election law by making a payment in 2016 to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with former president Donald Trump years before he was elected,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fec-karen-mcdougal-ami-trump/2021/06/01/b2f6c6e4-c322-11eb-93f5-ee9558eecf4b_story.html">our colleague Felicia Sonmez reports</a>.

‘Catch and kill’:&nbsp;“The idea behind the payment scheme — a method known as ‘catch and kill’ — had been to buy the rights to McDougal’s story and then never publish it,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/01/us/politics/trump-karen-mcdougal-playboy-american-media.html">the New York Times’s Shane Goldmacher reports</a>.

“Trump himself faces no further investigation in relation to the payment to McDougal&nbsp;… [and] Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause’s vice president of policy and litigation, said he was frustrated that Trump, whom he called ‘the mastermind of the illegal scheme,’ had not been held accountable.”

Rinse and repeat.&nbsp;“The decision comes on the heels of a similar decision by the agency to drop an inquiry into whether Trump violated campaign finance laws when Cohen paid adult-film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 in the days leading up to the 2016 election,” Sonmez writes.

BIDEN SUSPENDS OIL AND GAS LEASES IN ALASKA’S ARCTIC REFUGE: “The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, targeting one of Trump’s most significant environmental acts during his last days in office,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/06/01/arctic-national-wildlife-refuge/">our colleagues Juliet Eilperin and Joshua Partlow report</a>.&nbsp;

“The suspension follows Biden's January 20 executive order&nbsp;that identified ‘alleged legal deficiencies’ in the original leasing program and put in place a temporary moratorium on any oil- and gas-related activities in the refuge,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/01/biden-anwr-alaska-oil-491498">Politico’s Adam Federman reports</a>. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s new <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/elips/documents/so-3401-comprehensive-analysis-and-temporary-halt-on-all-activitives-in-the-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-relating-to-the-coastal-plain-oil-and-gas-leasing-program.pdf">order</a> calls for a temporary moratorium on all activities pending a new environmental review.

The last unspoiled wilderness:&nbsp;“The Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain, a 1.6 million-acre stretch of tundra on Alaska’s North Slope, was opened to oil and gas development as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act … [It] marked the culmination of a nearly four-decade-long battle by the oil industry to gain access to the refuge, which is home to federally listed polar bears whose population numbers have declined dramatically in recent decades largely due to diminishing sea ice.”

Bigger picture:&nbsp;This is “the latest move by the Biden administration to reverse Trump-era environmental policies. On his first day in office, Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, and in February, the US officially rejoined the landmark international accord to limit global warming known as the Paris agreement, which Trump pulled the country out of in 2020,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/01/politics/oil-and-gas-arctic-leaders/index.html">CNN’s John Harwood and Liz Stark report</a>.

CENSUS WOES: PRIVACY VS. ACCURACY:&nbsp;“As the Census Bureau prepares to release data from the 2020 Census for redistricting this summer, a controversy is brewing over a new way it plans to protect details of responders’s identities,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/2020-census-differential-privacy-ipums/2021/06/01/6c94b46e-c30d-11eb-93f5-ee9558eecf4b_story.html">our colleagues Tara Bahrampour and Marissa J. Lang report</a>.&nbsp;

“The system, known as differential privacy, adds ‘noise’ to the data to scramble it and block would-be hackers from identifying people who filled out the census. The bureau has said it is necessary because recent advances in technology have made it too easy for outside actors to ‘re-identify’ respondents, to whom the government guarantees privacy.”

“But some statisticians charge that the bureau’s plans could corrupt the data so much as to make it unusable.&nbsp;A <a href="http://users.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Articles/IPUMS_response_to_Census.pdf">report</a> Friday from IPUMS,&nbsp;a survey data processing and dissemination organization at the University of Minnesota, found that ‘major discrepancies remain for minority populations,’ adding that ‘small localities can sometimes have their population doubled or halved by the disclosure avoidance noise.’”

ZIMBABWE AUTHORITIES ARREST LOCAL REPORTER WORKING FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES:&nbsp;“The authorities in Zimbabwe have arrested a freelance reporter who works for the New York Times and accused him of improperly helping two other Times journalists make a reporting trip there recently, his lawyers said Friday,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/africa/zimbabwe-jeffrey-moyo-arrest.html?smid=tw-share">the New York Times’s Rick Gladstone reports</a>. “Moyo’s arrest has come amid a crackdown on press freedom in the southern African country.”

“Jeffrey Moyo, 37, who was arrested on Wednesday, has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers have called the accusation spurious. Efforts by the lawyers to secure his release have so far been unsuccessful.”

“We are deeply concerned by Jeffrey Moyo’s arrest and are assisting his lawyers to secure his timely release,” the New York Times said in a statement. “Jeffrey is a widely respected journalist with many years of reporting experience in Zimbabwe and his detainment raises troubling questions about the state of press freedom in Zimbabwe.”

How much do you love your dog?

Harvard University, BA IN Government

Jacqueline Alemany is a Congressional Investigations reporter for The Washington Post. Previously, she was the author of The Early 202, The Post's flagship early morning newsletter featuring news critical to the nation’s many power centers. Alemany is also an on-air contributor to NBC News and MSNBC.

Jacqueline Alemany

washpost

The Washington Post

Staff

Getty Images

Getty

Mother Of Officer Brian Sicknick Meets With GOP Senators On Capitol Hill

The Early

The Technology

The Health

The 202s

iptc-media/politics/political_process

iptc-media/politics/government

iptc-media/society

iptc-media/politics/election/voting

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/politics/government/congress

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law

iptc-media/politics/election

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs - EXCLUDE ALL 

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Bed Bath & Beyond KWs - INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Diageo - Johnnie Walker KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Apple TV+ KW – INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Congressional Elections_legacyaux_r48

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Blockist: Capitol Building Mob

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Culture and Tradition_legacyaux_kfx

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Data Center Buyer_legacyaux_80A

advertising/B2_Democrats_legacyaux_izd

client-blocklists/ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Government & Policy_legacyaux_mza

advertising/B2_Health and Beauty_legacyaux_3fv

advertising/Racing and Nascar Enthusiasts

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Politically Active - DO NOT REMOVE_legacyaux_lmp

advertising/B2_Politics_legacyaux_8f3

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

advertising/B2_Republicans_legacyaux_33h

advertising/B2_Society_legacyaux_0cz

client-blocklists/Client List: GEICO KWs

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Novo Nordisk KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - INCLUDES ANY 

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/CME KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/powerpost&limit=20

The 202s - The Washington Post

PowerPost, by The Washington Post, delivers essential intelligence for D.C. decision-makers.

Power Up: At least 20 Republican senators didn't meet with the Sicknick family

On the Hill