Populist House Republicans picking a fight with US business over ‘woke capitalism’
WASHINGTON — Republicans and their longtime corporate allies are going through a messy breakup as companies’ equality and climate goals run headlong into a GOP movement exploiting social and cultural issues to fire up conservatives.
The ensuing drama will unfold over the next two years in the U.S. House, where the incoming GOP majority plans to pressure companies on immigration, equality and climate change stances that are now being assailed by key Republicans as “woke capitalism.”
Most directly in the GOP cross-hairs is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is under pressure from likely House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to replace its leadership after the nation’s biggest business lobby backed some Democratic candidates.
As the conflict simmers, the California Republican and his top lieutenant, Steve Scalise, have refused to meet with Chamber representatives, according to a person familiar with their thinking. And rank-and-file Republicans are largely disregarding the once influential “key vote alerts” the Chamber distributes, a former senior Republican aide said.
—Bloomberg News
Fears rise that UC strike could have long-lasting consequences on vaunted research, teaching
LOS ANGELES — As the nation's largest ever strike of higher-education academic workers enters its third week Monday, with the crunch time of final exams just days away, fears are rising over long-lasting and unintended consequences to the University of California's core missions of teaching and research.
Faculty in particular are worried that higher labor costs to meet the salary demands of the 48,000 striking workers, without more state or federal funding to pay for them, could force cutbacks in hiring graduate students — jeopardizing the research they conduct and the academic experiences of the undergraduates they help teach. UC grant applications could become less competitive if they have higher price tags, potentially affecting the university's transformative work in climate change, genetic engineering, economic inequality and galactic mysteries, to name a few areas.
The all-important relationship between faculty mentors and graduate students is being tested, with bitterness festering among some factions. The collective labor action, by four United Auto Workers bargaining units across all 10 UC campuses and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is also surfacing long-standing complaints about inadequate state funding for students and misplaced UC spending on "administrative bloat," as one faculty member put it, over support for academics.
Disruptions over grading are looming, with classes ending as early as Friday on some campuses, and finals starting in the next week or two.
—Los Angeles Times
Gov. Greg Abbott targets discussions of gender identity in Texas schools
DALLAS — Discussions about gender identity in schools are likely targets for the upcoming legislative session as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott alluded to his support for stopping such “indoctrination.”
The Republican governor on Sunday tweeted a link to a Fox News article about a Fort Worth teacher who reportedly came out to students and staff as nonbinary and discussed it with the middle schoolers.
Abbott responded that lawmakers will “put a stop to this nonsense” during the session that starts Jan. 10. “Schools must get back to fundamentals & stop pushing woke agendas,” he wrote. “We will pass laws to get it done.”
A spokeswoman for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking clarity on what types of laws Abbott was referencing.
—The Dallas Morning News
Russia, US postpone talks under nuclear weapons treaty
Russia and the U.S. put off a new round of talks under the New START treaty this week, in what would have been the first such discussions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
Russia’s foreign ministry said the commission that handles implementation of the 2011 treaty will meet at a later date, according to state-run Tass. It gave no reason for the delay. A State Department spokesperson, commenting on customary condition of anonymity, said Russia had postponed the meeting, and the U.S. was ready to reschedule at the earliest possible time.
Resuming suspended inspections was to be among the possible agenda items for the Nov. 29 meeting, but Russian officials had played down hopes of a deal.
Russia barred U.S. inspectors from its nuclear weapons sites in August, citing visa and travel restrictions for Russians imposed after the invasion. The two countries had suspended on-site inspections in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and were discussing how to restart them safely.
—Bloomberg News
