LGBTQ-related earmarks stripped out by GOP during House markup
WASHINGTON — House Republicans struck three Democratic projects that would provide services to the LGBTQ community during Tuesday’s fiscal 2024 Transportation-HUD Appropriations markup, enraging Democrats on the committee.
The three earmarks total $3.62 million, with two in Massachusetts and one in Pennsylvania. The projects were eliminated as part of a Republican en bloc amendment that advanced a range of Republican cultural priorities, including a provision that would ban flying gay pride flags over government buildings. The vote was along party lines, 32-26.
Subcommittee ranking member Mike Quigley, D-Ill., then introduced an amendment to add the three projects back into the bill.
That amendment remained pending as the committee recessed around 3:45 p.m. as it awaited advice from the parliamentarian, after Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., asked that a statement Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis. made be struck from the record.
—CQ-Roll Call
Scientists studying rhesus monkeys find surprising benefits to same-sex relationships
A group of monkeys is challenging humans' views on sexuality by showing that same-sex behavior among males strengthens their social networks and may even help them father more offspring.
The findings, reported this month in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggest that same-sex behavior is not only natural in the animal kingdom, it can be socially advantageous.
The study "puts to rest the doubts of same-sex behavior occurring naturally in nature," said senior author Vincent Savolainen, a biology researcher at Imperial College London.
Scientists have observed same-sex sexual behavior among more than 1,500 animal species, including penguins, giraffes and elephants. But it was unclear whether this behavior was widespread, if it was influenced by genetics and to what degree it might affect the reproductive success of the population as a whole.
—Los Angeles Times
Alzheimer’s rates highest in Texas border counties, new study shows
Texas’ border counties have higher rates of Alzheimer’s disease among older adults than other areas in the state, according to a new study estimating county-level prevalence of the neurodegenerative disease.
An estimated 15% of people 65 and older in El Paso County have Alzheimer’s, making the county the 10th-worst in the nation when compared to counties with at least 10,000 residents older than 64. Miami-Dade County, Florida, Baltimore County, Maryland, and Bronx County, New York, tied for the highest prevalence rate, with 16.6% of older adults in each county having the disease.
A county-level database is a helpful tool for researchers looking at which populations are most affected by Alzheimer’s, although it doesn’t answer some of the biggest questions surrounding Alzheimer’s research, including why some groups are more likely to develop the disease than others.
“We know unequivocally that the environment impacts brain aging,” said Sid O’Bryant, executive director of the Institute for Translational Research at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, who is not involved in the study. “We don’t know very well why and how, and we’re teasing apart what things are most impactful.”
—The Dallas Morning News
Israeli president walks congressional tightrope as support frays
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will have his work cut out for him when he addresses Congress on Wednesday in a speech seen as an attempt at salvaging the decades-long bipartisan tradition of staunch support for Israel that in recent years has shown signs of weakening.
Dismayed by the policies of successive governments led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Democrats are increasingly venting frustrations with what they see as antidemocratic and discriminatory actions, including an effort to weaken the country’s judiciary and to dramatically expand settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Republicans, meanwhile, are on alert for moves by the Biden administration to reverse the Trump administration policies that favored normalizing the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
“A lot of us who are steadfast supporters of Israel, from the far right to the far left to everything in between, have to acknowledge that the current Israeli government is allowing things that make (peace) more and more difficult to achieve,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting last week, commenting on the recent violence in the West Bank, which includes a recent two-day Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp.
—CQ-Roll Call
