January 6 committee has ‘made decisions on criminal referrals’, says Bennie Thompson – live | US politics

More on McCarthy’s remarks at the Congressional gold medal ceremony.

From the Associated Press’ Farnoush Amiri:

More on the Jan 6 committee’s announcement about upcoming criminal referrals.

Committee chairman Bennie G Thompson told reporters today that the committee has decided to make at least one criminal referral.

Thompson did not elaborate on who the referral is for or how many more could be coming.

From NBC News’ Garrett Haake:

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is also presenting Congressional gold medals to officers, with some calling out McCarthy’s participation in the ceremony given his vote to overturn the 2020 election results.

From the Huffington Post’s Igor Bobic:

Officers who defended the US Capitol during the 6 January attack are receiving a Congressional gold medal.

The ceremony, which is set to start shortly, is being led by top members of the House and Senate.

A Congressional gold medal is the highest honor that Congress can bestow, reports the Associated Press.

January 6 panel: ‘We have made decisions on criminal referrals’

Congress truly is going all out on lawmaking as the year draws to a close, with a pair of senators reportedly trying to reach a compromise on immigration reform.

Republican senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are said to be working on the deal, which Politico reports could address a host of immigration-related issues:

It would be a major accomplishment is Sinema and Tillis can pull of an immigration reform deal, since Congress has tried and failed to do so under multiple presidents for years.

Georgia’s Senate run-off election is one of several massively expensive races that have taken place this year, but despite all the dollars spent, many Republicans have come out behind, as Tom Perkins reports:

With the power balance in Congress at stake in this year’s midterm elections, the GOP money machine kicked into high gear. Spending on advertisements and drumming up votes was fueled by hundreds of millions of dollars from the party’s mega-donors and Super Pacs. Many donors’ spending figures marked new records.

Their return on investment, however, is probably not what they had hoped: some donors who spent eight figures notched zero wins in the Senate, while others spent far more money on losing candidates than winners. In the midterms, some of the biggest losers were Republican donors.

Among the clearest of those losers is Mehmet Oz, who self-funded much of his own failed run for office – loaning his Pennsylvania US Senate campaign about $22m, or about 55% of the roughly $40m he raised.

The Georgia Senate race is the last major outstanding election left from last month’s midterms, in which Democratic candidates made a surprisingly strong showing nationwide, but nonetheless narrowly lost control of the House. While they are assured control of the Senate for the next two years, both parties are fighting hard for a win in Georgia. Here’s more from the Guardian as to why:

The winner of Tuesday’s midterm election runoff for one of Georgia’s two seats in the US Senate will make history.

Raphael Warnock became the first Black senator from Georgia when he won the 2020 presidential election runoff that helped tip the upper chamber into Democratic control, boosting the party in its capture of the House, the Senate and the White House.

Now, as Georgia heads for the last day of voting in the latest runoff, Warnock hopes to add another distinction – winning a full six-year term in the Senate.

Standing in the way is another Black man, Republican challenger Herschel Walker. And whoever wins will be the first Black person elected from Georgia to a full Senate term.

The Hill reports that the House will delay its vote on a bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage rights to Thursday:

The Respect for Marriage Act is one of several pieces of legislation Congress is trying to get through in the final weeks of the year with Democrats still in charge of both the House and Senate.

Yesterday, Punchbowl News reported the House’s vote on the bill – on of the last steps necessary before it heads to Joe Biden’s desk – would probably be delayed due to a dispute over a defense funding bill, which both parties consider to be an end-of-the-year priority.

It’s election day in Georgia, and both Democratic senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker have brought out some of the biggest names in the state to campaign for them.

Atlanta hip-hop institution Jermaine Dupri is in Warnock’s corner, as he makes clear in this video:

Walker, meanwhile, has the support of the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, who just won re-election himself.

A note about Kemp: he’s famous for defying Donald Trump’s attempts to meddle in the 2020 election results in the state, while Walker was endorsed by the former president, but whatever tension might exist there hasn’t prevented the governor from endorsing his Republican counterpart.

Trump is all in for Walker, writing on his Truth social account, “VOTE TODAY FOR HERSCHEL, he will never let you down!”

Meanwhile, Barack Obama returned to the state last week to make a closing argument in favor of Warnock:

Polls open in Georgia as Senate showdown between Warnock and Walker goes to voters