Biden taking 'hard look' at student loan forgiveness
President Joe Biden said he is considering forgiving some federal student debt, a step that would help him fulfill a campaign promise and provide relief to borrowers who took out thousands of dollars in loans to finance their higher education.
!['Mercenary' donor gets 12 years in campaign finance scheme](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/ZXLAmc7MsCWLnWb1r9xvf9BPvH8=/1600x1180/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/WFX67XACY5GMHK4CARREKZIH3Q.jpg)
'Mercenary' donor gets 12 years in campaign finance scheme
Federal prosecutors described Zuberi, who reports to prison May 25, as a โmercenaryโ political donor who gave to anyone he thought could help him. Pay to play, he explained to clients, was just โhow America work(s).โProsecutors asked U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips for a stiff sentence, calling the scope of Zuberi's scheme unprecedented. AdPhillips noted the sophistication of Zuberi's straw donor scheme and also spoke of the role such campaign finance investigations play in preserving the integrity of American elections. AdThe trove of court documents offered new details about how prosecutors unraveled Zuberiโs scheme and also include photographs of him rubbing shoulders with then-Vice President Biden and other prominent officeholders. Zuberi secretly lobbied the Trump White House and Congress on behalf of the small gas-rich monarchy, which has paid him $9.8 million, prosecutors have alleged in court papers.
![House Dems' campaign chief a moderate who wins in Trump land](https://www.wsls.com/resizer/zP8nY9Hncu-DY3pDXFP4c-y9Vr4=/1600x1066/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/54MOG6NSQJHDNFAEK7P5XION34.jpg)
House Dems' campaign chief a moderate who wins in Trump land
The party's House majority will be as meager as 222-213 next year, the tightest partisan gap in two decades. Maloney worked on Bill Clintonโs successful 1992 presidential campaign and joined the White House after Clinton's 1996 reelection. โThose of us in the LGBT community have seen the system work, and it has worked because we worked,โ Maloney said. In 2018 he sought the House campaign committee chairmanship but withdrew when he was hospitalized for an infection. Farrell runs a consulting firm that he says was blacklisted by the campaign committee under Bustos after it helped candidates challenging Democratic incumbents.
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House Dems pick moderate New Yorker to lead campaign arm
Maloney will lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which helps recruit House candidates, raises money and provides campaign guidance. The 2022 election looms as a difficult one for House Democrats. Also Thursday, Democrats elected Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., to chair the House Appropriations Committee. At the Agriculture panel, Scott replaces Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., who lost his House reelection after 15 House terms. Democrats went into Novemberโs elections with a 232-197 House majority, along with an independent and five vacancies.