Politics and views in the United States.

Biden commutes the sentences of most federal death row inmates, the House Ethics Committee says former Rep. Gaetz may have committed statutory rape, and the national archivist won't certify the ERA without congressional approval. 

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

I don't believe that state-sanctioned murder is justice.

It is not a deterrent to crime.

It has not repaired societal ills.

I don't think it's gotten anyone any closer to healing.

Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley says President Joe Biden's decision to commute the sentences of most federal death row inmates sends a powerful message about decency and humanity.

Biden commuted the sentences of 37 to life in prison, leaving just three to face execution, including the Boston Marathon bomber.

The bipartisan House Ethics Committee has released its report on former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz.

It found substantial evidence that Gaetz regularly paid for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl in 2017, while he was still in Congress.

The investigation led to Gaetz withdrawing from nomination for attorney general.

Illinois Democrat Mike Quigley questions why the release took so long.

Would they ever have released it if he had not resigned and if he was no longer under consideration?

That's very disturbing.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The National Archivist says the Equal Rights Amendment cannot be certified without further action by Congress or the courts.

But some Democrats want Biden to force its addition to the Constitution before leaving office.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says the amendment would provide a new legal basis for protecting abortion rights.

Too many lives have been already lost because the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

But this is our secret weapon, and it is high time to use it.

Congress approved the amendment in 1972, and it has since been ratified by 38 states.

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says not all those states would approve it today.

In fact, he says it could be used to overturn more recent actions by those legislatures.

This amendment would give the court the ability to strike down every pro-life measure passed by the states.

As President-elect Donald Trump weighs another round of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, advocates for low-income families say child tax credits would be a much more effective way to help folks who need and deserve it.

Jacob Vigil is with the New Mexico-based Voices for Children.

These tax credits play a really important non-stigmatizing role in providing assistance to families in most need of support.

Rural communities are pushing back against a U.S. Postal Service plan to delay mail to areas more than 50 miles from a regional processing center.

Annie Norman with the Save the Post Office coalition says that would slow deliveries of medicine and critical farming supplies.

We're talking about seniors and veterans, folks with disabilities, indigenous communities, and they all need the Postal Service to pay bills and get their social security checks.

I'm Katherine Carley for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.