Politics

In a resolution, MEPs want EU countries to lift current restrictions hindering Ukraine from using Western weapons systems against legitimate military targets in Russia.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EPSource Link

Tuesday, 17 September

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EPSource Link

The U.S. has no immediate plans to withdraw a missile system in the Philippines, despite Chinese demands, and is testing its use in a regional conflict.Source Link

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by half of a percentage point was "a political move."Source Link

The congressional task force investigating the first assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump scheduled its first hearing for next Thursday, ostensibly focused on failures related to the "Secret Service's Reliance on State and Local Law Enforcement."
The panel has requested reams of documents and interviews as it ramps up its probe into the July attack on Trump, though it hasn't yet announce witnesses for next week's hearing. The task force has a mid-December deadline for issuing a report and legislative recommendations based on its findings.
The bipartisan task force was created by a vote of the full House with a limited purview on the July 13 assassination attempt, but the House is expected to soon act to expand the panel's authority to include last weekend's apparent attempt on Trump's life. Its lawmakers were briefed Wednesday by the Secret Service after the latest incident and members praised its handling of the latest incident.
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Lawmakers widely expect Speaker Mike Johnson will put a spending bill on the floor next week that has widespread Democratic support — funding the government into December without a GOP voting proposal.
Johnson himself isn’t indicating what his Plan B is after his proposed spending plan, which paired government funding through March with a Republican plan to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, failed on the House floor Wednesday night. Fourteen GOP members voted against it.
Five Republicans familiar with the internal discussions indicate that the House’s ultimate landing spot is inevitable anyway: They’ll have to vote next week on a “clean” bill to fund the government into December, forcing Johnson to lean on Democrats to avoid a shutdown that would kick in on Oct. 1. Many House Republicans — including those tasked with funding the government — increasingly expect that he’ll soon greenlight that plan. That prediction is also shared by House Democrats and multiple senators.
That means GOP leadership would be ignoring a demand from former President Donald Trump to shut down the government unless Republicans get their non-citizen voting bill, also known as the SAVE Act.
The Republicans familiar said their expectation is that the December funding bill will be on the House floor by mid-week — though they stressed that they hadn’t heard that from Johnson directly. Still, there is a growing consensus that Johnson is headed that way, with some predicting that the speaker wanted to put distance between Wednesday’s floor vote failure and announcing the new plan.
One of those Republicans, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, predicted that the House would vote on a short-term government funding measure into December by the middle of next week, adding: “I can’t see a scenario where shutting the government down makes any sense whatsoever — functionally or politically.”
Appropriators in both chambers have floated Dec. 13 as a possible end date for the bipartisan funding patch, which would set up yet another pre-holiday standoff over government funding, although no final decisions have been made.
There are already signs that bipartisan talks are underway, setting up the type of short-term funding deal that would avoid a government shutdown.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said Thursday afternoon that he expects bipartisan negotiations throughout the weekend.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that she had a call with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young on Thursday afternoon. She added that she expects bipartisan, bicameral talks to begin in earnest after Johnson’s setback on Wednesday.
“At least we’re talking now,” she said.
In case those talks go sideways and Johnson fails to move first, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to tee up procedural votes as soon as Monday on a vehicle that could become a bipartisan stopgap spending bill. That gives Schumer the option of starting a funding bill in the upper chamber, rather than waiting for the House to send over legislation.
“Both sides are going to spend the next few days trying to figure out the best path remaining for keeping the government open,” Schumer said on the floor. “By filing today, I’m giving the Senate maximum flexibility for preventing a shutdown.”
While there’s broad agreement about a December end date for a forthcoming funding patch, both sides will have to sort through any potential add-ons. Those could include billions in disaster aid requested by the White House and possible money or spending flexibility for the Secret Service following two assassination attempts against Trump.
Senate Republicans are aware of Johnson’s predicament, given dozens of his own members are likely to vote against the final stopgap spending bill. They’ve been loath to move too quickly or look like they are jamming him — a move that would vex some House Republicans.
But GOP senators have also increasingly hinted they hope he can pass a Plan B.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told reporters before the failed House vote that if Johnson’s original plan fell short, he expected they would move to another plan.
Asked what that could be, he added: “They move a shorter-term without the SAVE Act on it, I assume. … We’ll see.”
Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have repeatedly stated that a government shutdown would be a bad thing for the party just weeks before voters cast their ballots in November. But efforts to protect his more vulnerable members may put him in the crosshairs with his more conservative wing, which has raised questions about his political future.
Some conservatives are still pushing for Johnson to go instead to a six-month funding bill without the GOP voting proposal attached — but that, as other Republicans acknowledge, likely won’t earn the necessary Democratic backing to pass.
Instead, Democrats have signaled they would support a stopgap funding bill into December and would likely help provide many of the votes to pass the legislation. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Thursday he hadn’t spoken to Johnson that day or after Wednesday’s failed vote, though staffers were communicating with each other.
“The next few days will be determinative as to whether we can find the common ground necessary to fund the government, avoid a shutdown and meet the needs of the American people. This should not be complicated,” he said.
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The Senate passed a nearly $2.9 billion emergency funding bill by voice vote on Thursday to keep veterans benefits flowing over the next few weeks, as the Department of Veterans Affairs warns of a far greater funding hole.
With President Joe Biden’s likely signature, the measure is expected to head off payment delays for benefits veterans are expecting by the first of the month.
While the bill passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support, Republicans have accused the Biden administration of budget “mismanagement” and chided the VA for suddenly warning lawmakers this summer of a $15 billion shortfall through next fall.
Bill breakdown: The measure includes about $2.3 billion in extra cash for military pensions and almost $600 million for “readjustment” services meant to ease the transition from military duty to civilian life, including education and training.
The bill also orders the VA’s inspector general to investigate the cause of the shortfall and report back to Congress.
What’s next: The VA still anticipates a funding gap of about $12 billion over the next year, as the department continues to serve more veterans and provide extra benefits following a 2022 law that expanded benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances.
That extra funding could become a flash point in negotiations this month as lawmakers hatch a stopgap plan to head off a government shutdown come Oct. 1. If Congress doesn’t include the extra $12 billion the Biden administration is seeking, the VA funding debate is then expected to spill into “topline” funding negotiations when congressional leaders hash out overall totals for the fiscal year about to kick off.
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If Speaker Mike Johnson has settled on a new plan for funding the government, he still isn’t talking about it publicly.
His six-month stopgap spending plan — linked with legislation requiring proof of citizenship for voting, known as the SAVE Act — failed on the House floor Wednesday night as the Republican conference remains divided over government funding.
“And so now we go back to the playbook. We'll draw up another play, and we'll come up with a solution,” Johnson told reporters immediately following the vote. “I am already talking to colleagues about many ideas. We have time.”
Government funding is set to run out on Oct. 1. And House business is scheduled for just seven of the days remaining before that deadline. Confidence remains high on Capitol Hill that a government shutdown will be averted, but the path forward is unclear.
Top GOP appropriators have been urging Johnson behind the scenes to consider a shorter three-month stopgap spending bill without divisive policy add-ons. But so far, even House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) has not been clued in on what options Johnson is weighing.
“I'll wait to see what he thinks we ought to do next. He never talked about a Plan B,” Cole told reporters Wednesday evening. “He's got several options, but he hasn't told me what option he wants to proceed with next because he very much hoped this would work.”
Johnson finds himself in a familiar position, likely having to rely on Democrats to help pass spending legislation like he did back in March. That’s because a subset of his conference have said they won’t be supporting any short-term spending bill.
On the other side of the aisle, House Democrats still won’t entertain another stopgap bill with GOP policy priorities attached.
“We need a spending agreement consistent with the top lines of the fiscal responsibility act that allows us to complete our work by the end of this calendar year,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Wednesday night.
Senate action ahead: Cole did warn that his colleagues who voted down the spending bill and citizenship voting combo Wednesday "opened the door for the Senate" to act.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to move as soon as Thursday to set up votes on a Senate-crafted spending bill next week. The procedural votes on that could begin Monday.
And yet: There are still significant doubts that the Senate will swoop in and take the lead. Schumer may get the ball rolling, but is still expected to wait to see what the House can accomplish.
“The Senate will do what they do, but I believe it will originate in the House,” House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said Wednesday.
The Trump factor: Former President Donald Trump continues to call for Republicans to shut the government down unless the proof of citizenship for voting legislation is attached to a short-term spending bill.
Cole is sure Johnson won’t go down that path.
“I'm very confident we're not going to let the government shut down. He's never let that happen, and he's taken a lot of criticism from some people when he has had to make those decisions,” he said.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
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