Good morning Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
Two Plans to End Shutdown Fail in Senate
On Thursday, the Senate voted back-to-back on two different measures that would reopen the government: one from President Trump with $5.7 billion for his proposed border wall, and one from Democrats without it. Both failed, but Trump’s drew less suport, even when Republicans control the Senate, per The New York Times. Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, and Mitt Romney of Utah — all Republicans — were among those that voted for the Democrats’ plan. However, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and Utah Senator Mike Lee were the only Republicans to vote against Trump’s proposal.
“Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats have made clear to Leader McConnell and Republicans that they will not support funding for the wall, prorated or otherwise,” said Justin Goodman, a spokesman Schumer.
As Congress continues to search for a bipartisan solution that would reopen the government, 800,000 federal workers are now missing their second consecutive paycheck.
Florida Secretary of State Resigns After Photos of Him in Blackface Surface
Michael Ertel, Florida’s recently appointed secretary of state, resigned on Thursday after photos from 2005 emerged that showed him in blackface, mocking victims of Hurricane Katrina at a Halloween party. The Tallahassee Democrat first revealed the photos, which were then presented ot the office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Two hours later, the Governor’s office said it had accepted Ertel’s resignation.
DeSantis explained the decision at a press conference on hurricane relief in Marianna, saying, “I don’t want to get mired into kind of side controversies, and so I felt it was best to just accept the resignation and move on.” He called the situation “unfortunate,” and acknowledged that Ertel had “done a lot of good work.”
Michael Ertel, the newly appointed secretary of state of Gov. Ron DeSantis, has resigned after photos emerged of him posing as a Hurricane Katrina victim in blackface at a private Halloween party 14 years ago https://t.co/xjSXbWEVIK pic.twitter.com/Zz131mPSYN
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) January 24, 2019
At the time of the photo Ertel was 35 and eight months into his position as Seminole County’s supervisor of elections and Hurricane Katrina had just hit New Orleans two months earlier. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that Ertel confirmed it was him in the picture, but he wouldn’t comment on the record about the circumstances surrounding it. “There’s nothing I can say,” he said.
Elizabeth Warren Proposes ‘Ultra-Millionaire Tax’
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren — who’s also running for president in 2020 — is reportedly proposing a new annual “weal tax” on Americans who have assets of $50 million or more. More specifically, CNN reported that Warren’s presidential campaign provided documents that stated the plan would impose a 2 percent tax on Americans with a net work that exceeds $50 million, with an additional 1 percent levy on billionaires.
According to the Washington Post, economists from the University of California, Berkeley have been advising Warren about the “wealth tax.” If implemented, the tax would raise $2.75 trillion over a ten-year period from aproximately 75,000 families (which is less than 0.1 percent of U.S. households).
“The Warren wealth tax is pretty big. We think it could have a significant affect on wealth concentration in the long run,” one of the economists advising Warren, Emmanuel Saez, told the Post. “This is a very interesting development with deep root causes: the fact inequality has been increasing so much, particularly in wealth, and the feeling our current tax system doesn’t do a very good job taxing the very richest people.”
Warren is currently pushing a petition for the tax on her website.
What to look for…
The rise of delivery robots.