Longtime Congressman Bobby Rush announces retirement
CBSN
Chicagoland Congressman Bobby Rush announced his retirement on Tuesday, ending a 30-year run in the House. The longtime lawmaker is the 24th House Democrat to either retire or run for another office in the 2022 midterm election cycle.
During his remarks at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, the location of Emmett Till's funeral, Rush said spending more time with his grandchildren and in his role as a Chicago pastor were big factors in his decision.
"Many times over the last decade I have not been present with my family because of my mission. But we were always together in spirit, which made my mission possible," he said. "You can own public service but you can never own public office. And I want to be crystal clear — I am not retiring, I am returning. I will remain in public life, fighting for equity and justice for and within my community."
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.