Obama Commutes Bulk of Chelsea Manning’s Sentence and More in Politics Today

It’s difficult to stay up-to-date on what’s happening in this country and to break through the clutter, so we’re here to make it easier. Here’s what we at Countable are reading today:

1. "President Obama commutes Chelsea Manning’s sentence"

"President Obama has commuted Chelsea Manning’s sentence, according to a report from the New York Times. While not technically a pardon, the order reduces Manning’s sentence from 35 years to just over seven years, the majority of which Manning has already served. As a result, Manning is due to be released from federal custody in just five months, on May 17."

"While serving as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, Manning leaked more than 700,000 documents to Wikileaks, including video of a 2007 airstrike in Baghdad that killed two Reuters employees. In 2013, Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for her role in the leak and has been held at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth for the past three years. Julian Assange, who has long been sought by US and EU authorities for extradition on Swedish rape charges, had previously pledged to surrender himself to US authorities if Manning was pardoned."

Read more at Verge.

2. "Health law repeal could cost 18 million their insurance, study finds"

"Repealing major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, while leaving other parts in place, would cost 18 million people their insurance in the first year, a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday. A repeal could increase the number of uninsured Americans by 32 million in 10 years, the report said, while causing individual insurance premiums to double over that time."

"The budget office analyzed the probable effects of a Republican bill repealing the law like the one approved in Congress, but vetoed early last year by President Obama. The C.B.O. report, released after a weekend of protests against repeal, will only add to the headaches that President-elect Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans face in their rush to gut President Obama’s signature domestic achievement as they try to replace it with a health insurance law more to their liking."

Read more at the New York Times.

3. "McCain says Putin is greater threat than ISIS"

"Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told Morning Joe that Russian president Vladimir Putin poses a greater threat to the United States than ISIS."

"Said McCain: “I think when you look at Russian increasing capabilities and, by the way, they are closing the gap as far as military capabilities is concerned rather dramatically between themselves and the United States. And that should alarm us all. But look at his behavior, look at what he has – what he has done. He has made no bones about what he wants to do. And he’s done it, but he’s played a very weak hand in the most clever fashion. He’s got the world’s 15th largest economy and yet he’s now a major player in the Middle East."

Read more at the Political Wire.

4. "Congress demands details of secret CDC lab incidents"

"Congressional watchdogs are concerned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t told them about all of the agency’s laboratory accidents, and they want a full accounting in the wake of a USA TODAY report about mishaps the agency tried to keep secret."

"Those incidents, detailed in heavily-redacted records recently obtained by USA TODAY, include an apparently lost box of deadly influenza specimens, potential exposures to viruses and bacteria, and a purified air hose suddenly disconnecting from a scientist’s full-body spacesuit-like gear while working in a lab that handles the world’s most deadly pathogens."

Read more at USA Today.

5. "U.S. must confront Russian aggression, departing U.N. envoy says"

"The U.S. must confront Russian aggression just as it took on fascism and Communism in earlier decades, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said in a farewell address."

"Power called steps taken by Russia under President Vladimir Putin a “major threat" aimed at undermining the international order created after World War II. She cited Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, military aid to besieged Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, cyberattacks to undermine the governments of Germany and Montenegro and hacking during last year’s U.S. presidential election.”

Read more at Bloomberg.

— Erin Wright

(Photo Credit: garynkight via Flickr / Creative Commons)