Why some Democrats are skipping Modi’s address

Thursday, June 22

© AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

A handful of House Democrats are boycotting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s address to a joint meeting of Congress today, citing concerns about human rights in the country.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) on Wednesday joined Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) — the two Muslim women in Congress — in announcing a boycott of the address.

“A joint address is among the most prestigious invitations and honors the United States Congress can extend,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We should not do so for individuals with deeply troubling human rights records – particularly for individuals whom our own State Department has concluded are engaged in systematic human rights abuses of religious minorities and caste-oppressed communities.” 

Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Summer Lee (D-Pa.) are also boycotting the address.

Earlier this week, Tlaib said Modi’s “long history of human rights abuses, anti-democratic actions, targeting Muslims and religious minorities, and censoring journalists is unacceptable.”

And from Omar: “Prime Minister Modi’s government has repressed religious minorities, emboldened violent Hindu nationalist groups, and targeted journalists/human rights advocates with impunity.”

At a press conference with President Biden this afternoon, Modi pushed back on criticisms of the state of human rights and democracy in India.

Modi responded to a Wall Street Journal reporter’s question on democratic rights: “Indeed, India is a democracy. … And as President Biden also mentioned, India and America, both countries, democracy is in our DNA. Democracy is our spirit. Democracy runs in our veins. We live democracy.”

Modi also said there’s “absolutely no space for discrimination.”

Biden said the two leaders “had a good discussion about democratic values.”

Watch Modi’s speech live here at 4 p.m. ET.

More from The Hill:

• Read more about critics’ concerns here

• Read more about India-U.S. relations here

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• OceanGate said in a statement Thursday that all five passengers of its Titan submersible are believed to have died. The U.S. Coast Guard said it found debris “consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.”
  
  

• Newly unsealed court documents show Rep. George Santos‘s (R-N.Y.) father and aunt sponsored his $500,000 bond.
  
  

• Senate appropriators set topline funding numbers in line with spending caps in the debt limit deal, and higher than House appropriators’ numbers — teeing up conflict between the chambers.

NEW TODAY

©  AP Photo/John Minchillo

Former President Obama‘s interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour airs at 10 p.m. ET. Topics covered include former President Trump‘s indictment, threats to democracy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s visit.

Obama said Trump’s indictment is “less than ideal,” but “the fact that we have a former president who is having to answer to charges brought by prosecutors does uphold the basic notion that nobody’s above the law, and the allegations will now be sorted out through a court process.”

And a preview of Obama’s remarks on Modi’s visit: “If the president meets with Prime Minister Modi, then the protection of the Muslim minority in a majority-Hindu India — that’s something worth mentioning.”

Learn more about the interview here.

CAMPAIGN

The 2024 Republican presidential primary field got a new entrant in former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) Thursday. Hurd announced his bid on “CBS Mornings.”

“Hurd spent six years in the House as a more moderate member of the Republican Conference and has often been a critic of Trump,” The Hill’s Jared Gans noted.

Also Thursday, the Faith and Freedom Coalition kicks off its annual conference, which goes through Saturday and has several 2024 GOP hopefuls on its attendance list, including former President Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Read about what to watch for from The Hill’s Caroline Vakil.

CONGRESS

The House voted to refer Rep. Lauren Boebert‘s (R-Colo.) resolution to impeach President Biden over his handling of the southern border to the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, thereby avoiding a floor vote on the resolution this week.

“The deal avoids — at least temporarily — what might have been an embarrassing internal fight on the House floor,” The Hill’s Mike Lillis and Mychael Schnell wrote. “But Boebert is already warning that if the two committees don’t move on impeachment quickly enough to satisfy her sense of urgency, she intends to reintroduce the ‘privileged’ resolution to force the issue to the House floor once again.” 

Learn more about the impeachment articles and the GOP divisions here.

©  The Hill/Greg Nash

The Supreme Court ruled the U.S. is not required to take “affirmative steps” to secure water for the Navajo Nation.

From The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld, Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk: “The tribe has argued that under that [1868 peace] treaty, the U.S. has the responsibility to secure water for the tribe — which has become more difficult as water resources along the Colorado River dwindle amid historic drought.”

Read more on the case here.

In the second story of The Hill’s series examining the impact of Roe v. Wade’s overturning one year later, Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels look at the role the Supreme Court decision played in Democrats’ midterm election performance, along with the issue’s continuing prominence into 2024.

From the report: “The issue will remain pivotal in the 2024 presidential election, with the Supreme Court’s decision giving Biden and his team a tangible way to argue that a Republican in the White House could lead to a national ban.”

• See the first article of the series here: How the Supreme Court changed America by overturning Roe v. Wade

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed a rule to require heavy trucks and buses to come with automatic emergency braking systems within the next five years.

PUNDIT CORNER

“Why ranked-choice voting is a win for Republicans” — Saul Anuzis, former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, and Stan Lockhart, former chairman of the Utah Republican Party. Both serve as consultants to FairVote. (Read here)

“Biden has maintained Trump’s failed sanctions policies” — Adam DuBard, the Senior Program Associate for the World Order and Globalization Hub at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. His opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. (Read here)

502 days until the presidential election.

9:30 a.m.: The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a closed meeting continuing its markup of the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for 2024.

UNDER THE RADAR

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