Democratic senator says he has withdrawn cash over 30 years and expects to be exonerated of corruption charges
We’re awaiting a press conference from Robert Menendez scheduled for 11.30am, where the Democratic senator will reportedly vow not to leave office and instead run for re-election next year, despite being indicted last week for using his position to assist the government of Egypt.
We’ll follow the press conference live, and let you know what he says.
Continue reading...US president urges action as Kamala Harris says one in five Americans have lost family member to gun violence
Faced with the House stalemate over a government stopgap funding bill, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday set up a path for the Senate to move first on a bill to fund the government beyond 30 September.
Senate aides told the Hill the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bill could serve as a legislative vehicle to pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government for a few weeks – but that it will likely not include money for the war in Ukraine or disaster relief.
This is painful. It gives me a headache. This is a very difficult series of missteps by our conference. If you can’t do [the defense bill], what can you do?
At this point, it seems like there are some people playing policy warfare, and I think we need to move our country forward.
For my colleagues, they have to come to a realization: If they are unable or unwilling to govern, others will. And in a divided government where you have Democrats controlling the Senate, a Democrat controlling the White House, there needs to be a realization that you’re not going to get everything you want.
Continue reading...House leaves for weekend without solution to shutdown threat in sight amid hard-right Republican opposition to McCarthy plans
The Republican-led US House of Representatives has all but disappeared for the long weekend after abruptly wrapping up its work on Thursday when the embattled speaker, Kevin McCarthy, failed to advance a stopgap government spending bill, as members continued to clash with just days left to avert a federal shutdown.
The White House on Friday planned to begin telling federal agencies to prepare for a shutdown, AP reported, citing a government official.
Continue reading...Conference fails to approve procedural motion to take up defense spending bill as government shutdown looms
The House Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was dealt his second humiliating defeat of the week on Thursday, when his conference again failed to approve a procedural motion as members continued to clash over government spending levels with just days left to avert a federal shutdown.
With no clear path forward in Republicans’ negotiations, the House concluded its work on Thursday without any stated plan to reconvene on Friday.
Continue reading...Attorney general is grilled by Trump-aligned lawmakers on House judiciary committee
The judiciary committee’s highest-ranking Democrat Jerry Nadler then got a turn to question Merrick Garland, and asked him what would happen if the FBI was defunded.
“Defund the FBI” has become a rallying cry for extreme rightwing Republicans such as representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz as well as the presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who claim the law enforcement agency has become politicized.
Continue reading...Kevin McCarthy fights rightwing of Republican party over spending deal; House oversight committee aims for first hearing next Thursday, report says
The House will not vote today on a measure to keep the government open past 30 September, amid a split between the chamber’s Republican leadership and a handful of far-right lawmakers that will cause a government shutdown if it is not resolved in 12 days, Punchbowl News reports:
Lawmakers had been scheduled to today vote to approve the rules of debate for the short-term funding measure, but it was unclear if it would have passed.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For the full report on Hunter Biden’s charges, click below:
House speaker Kevin McCarthy, speaking to reporters after a tense closed-door GOP meeting, insisted he would not “walk away from a battle” as he tries to hang on to his position amid rising discontent among the party’s most hardline members. He said:
If it takes a fight, I’ll have a fight.
Continue reading...FDA approval makes way for vaccines targeting XBB.1.5 sub-variant to be rolled out
Joe Biden’s national security tour of south-east Asia reached Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, where the president called for stability in the US-China relationship against an increasingly complex diplomatic picture in the region for his country.
“I don’t want to contain China,” Biden said.
I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up, squared away, everybody knows what it’s all about.
On the one hand, we’ve got to pass a continuing resolution. We also have the impeachment issue. And we also have members of the House, led by my good friend, Chip Roy, who are concerned about policy issues. They want riders in the appropriations bills, amendments in the appropriations bills that guarantee some type of security on our Southern border.
There is not a strong connection at this point between the evidence on Hunter Biden and any evidence connecting the president.
Continue reading...Program caught in a partisan fight over abortion and is under threat amid Congress’s negotiations over government shutdown
Several people were arrested after entering the office of Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House, during a protest for HIV/Aids funding on Monday.
The US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), a widely bipartisan program, has since been reauthorized three times, and Joe Biden earlier this year indicated that he would work with Congress to extend it a fourth.
Continue reading...Republican Senate leader, 81, says he will finish term as signs emerge of uncertainty over his future in GOP ranks
Mitch McConnell rejected speculation about his future as Republican leader in the US Senate, telling reporters: “I’m going to finish my term as leader and I’m going to finish my Senate term.”
The remarks on Wednesday came amid intense speculation about the 81-year-old Kentucky senator’s health, after two recent freezes in front of reporters, one on Capitol Hill in July and another in McConnell’s home state last week.
Continue reading...Republicans Mitch McConnell and Steve Scalise join others in increased scrutiny over recent health issues
Lawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill as they race to reach a short-term funding deal by the end of the month to keep federal agencies open and avert a government shutdown. But worries about the health of two top Republicans loom over the high-stakes talks as politicians’ age has become a growing concern.
Speaking to reporters last week in Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, the 81-year-old Senate Republican leader, appeared to freeze for 30 seconds after calling the possibility of a shutdown “a pretty big mess”. The incident raised questions about his health and mirrored an earlier incident where he suddenly paused for several seconds while speaking to reporters at the US Capitol.
Continue reading...Brian Monahan suggests Republican leader in US Senate, 81, may be suffering effects of concussion sustained during fall in March
Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, is not evidently suffering from “a seizure disorder”, a stroke or a “movement disorder such as Parkinson’s disease”, the congressional physician said on Tuesday.
The doctor’s remarks came a little less than a week after the 81-year-old senator suffered a second worrying freeze in front of reporters.
Continue reading...Hardline Aipac – condemned for unquestioning support of PM – calls liberal rival J Street ‘grave threat’ to Israel’s security
A public feud has broken out between the US’s leading pro-Israel lobby groups over who represents the true interests of the Jewish state in Washington under the most rightwing government in its history.
The hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has called its smaller and more liberal rival, J Street, a “grave threat” to Israel’s security and accused it of endorsing the country’s “most virulent critics” in Congress.
Continue reading...Republican Senate minority leader, 81, had a similar but shorter incident several weeks ago
The Republican leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, experienced another public health scare on Wednesday when he appeared to freeze for more than 30 seconds while speaking to reporters in his home state, Kentucky.
McConnell, 81, was eventually escorted away by staff, footage from an NBC News affiliate showed.
Continue reading...US Democratic senator will reportedly miss anniversary of Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s landmark climate legislation
The West Virginia Democratic senator Joe Manchin is expected to skip a prominent White House celebration of one of Joe Biden’s signature legislative achievements, NBC reported, as he considers leaving his party – and perhaps running for president himself.
Next week, the Biden administration will celebrate the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a healthcare, climate and tax reform package Joe Biden hailed on signing as “the biggest step forward on climate ever”.
Continue reading...The blog is now closed, but you can read more about Donald Trump’s swirling legal peril here.
A judge in Georgia turned down an attempt by Donald Trump to stop Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis’s investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election result in the state. Over the weekend, Willis said she could announce charges in the case anytime between now and the first day of September. Meanwhile, a former business partner of Hunter Biden reported for an interview with the Republican-led House oversight committee, as the GOP toys with the idea of starting impeachment proceedings against Joe Biden when they return from their August recess.
Here’s what else has happened today:
Trump is in a historically good position to win the Republican presidential primary, CNN concludes.
At a weekend rally in Pennsylvania, Trump called for stopping aid to Ukraine until the government helps prove alleged corruption by the Biden family.
Ron DeSantis’s once-promising presidential campaign is suffering from both Republican defections and his own missteps.
Trump is not only in a historically strong position for a nonincumbent to win the Republican nomination, but he is in a better position to win the general election than at any point during the 2020 cycle and almost at any point during the 2016 cycle.
No one in Trump’s current polling position in the modern era has lost an open presidential primary that didn’t feature an incumbent. He’s pulling in more than 50% of support in the national primary polls, i.e., more than all his competitors combined.
What should arguably be more amazing is that despite most Americans agreeing that Trump’s two indictments thus far were warranted, he remains competitive in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden. A poll out last week from Marquette University Law School had Biden and Trump tied percentage-wise (with a statistically insignificant few more respondents choosing Trump).
The Marquette poll is one of a number of surveys showing Trump either tied or ahead of Biden. The ABC News/Washington Post poll has published three surveys of the matchup between the two, and Trump has come out ahead – albeit within the margin of error – every time. Other pollsters have shown Biden only narrowly ahead.
Continue reading...Bipartisan disapproval for Derrick Van Orden, who yelled and cursed at school-age Senate helpers during late-night Capitol tour
A freshman Republican congressman from Wisconsin yelled and cursed at high school-aged Senate pages during a late-night tour of the Capitol this week, eliciting a bipartisan rebuke from Senate leaders.
Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin’s third district, used a profanity to describe the young pages as lazy and another to order them off the floor of the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday night, according to PunchBowl News. The pages were lying down to take photos, according to the publication.
Continue reading...The House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, seems ready to get on board with far-right lawmakers calling for impeachment
Donald Trump is, of course, seeking the Republican presidential nomination, and on Saturday plans to hold a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania – a city he owes money to.
As the Erie Times-News reports, Trump never repaid the city more than $35,000 for costs related to an October 2018 rally he held in the city, much of which went to pay for police and other city services necessitated by the then-president’s visit. Despite that, the city will seek reimbursement from the Trump campaign for whatever expenses result from his rally this week, mayor Joe Schember told the paper.
Continue reading...Senate must now consider bill to fund US military containing amendments on abortion, transgender healthcare and diversity
The Republican-led House of Representatives on Friday approved a huge defense bill that includes amendments overturning the Pentagon’s policies on covering abortion services for the military, healthcare costs for transgender service members and diversity initiatives – setting up a historic clash with Democrats and the Biden administration that could imperil spending on the armed forces.
The amendments, pushed by the GOP’s right flank with the support of the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, represent the latest instance of conservative lawmakers using their influence in Congress’s lower chamber to attempt to change Joe Biden’s policies on a range of issues that chiefly animate the Republican base.
Continue reading...Ro Khanna of California said he will support another relief plan that Joe Biden is proposing under the Higher Education Act
The US supreme court’s decision to strike down Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan late last week “usurped the authority of Congress”, Democratic House representative Ro Khanna said on Sunday.
Khanna, of California, argued that if anyone thought Biden was unduly empowered by the legislation which the president used to issue the debt relief program, “then the solution is Congress can repeal the … act”.
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