Britt, 42, third youngest serving senator, spoke on the heels of her state’s supreme court ruling that frozen embryos are ‘children’
Republicans chose first-term Alabama senator Katie Britt, the youngest Republican woman ever to serve in the Senate, to deliver the rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
The 42-year-old presented a counterpoint to the oldest sitting president at her kitchen table in Alabama after his speech.
Continue reading...Disgraced ex-congressman chummed about with Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz, and then tweeted his candidacy for New York seat
Disgraced ex-congressman and noted fabulist George Santos announced yet another run for Congress during a surprise appearance at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.
Despite currently facing federal criminal charges, Santos wrote on X during the speech that he’s looking to face off against his former colleague Representative Nick LaLota: “Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick for the battle over #NY1. I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican. The fight for our majority is imperative for the survival of the country.”
Continue reading...Guests at Biden address to include Alabama woman whose IVF was cancelled, and Texas women who went through abortion ordeals
More than a quarter of Black female voters describe abortion has their top issue in this year’s presidential election, according to a new poll.
The findings by health policy research firm KFF reveal a significant shift from previous election years, when white, conservative evangelicals were more likely to put abortion as their biggest priority when voting, AP reported. Those voters were highly motivated in recent presidential elections to cast ballots for Donald Trump.
Abortion voters are young, Black women – and not white evangelicals.
Continue reading...The bill sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66tn for fiscal 2024 and still faces opposition from hardline House Republicans
US congressional negotiators on Sunday revealed a bill to fund key parts of the government through the rest of the fiscal year that began in October, as lawmakers faced yet another threat of a partial shutdown if they fail to act by Friday.
The legislation sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66tn for fiscal 2024, a spokesperson for Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said. It fills in the details of an agreement that Schumer and Republican House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson set in early January.
Continue reading...Majority leader Chuck Schumer had hailed bipartisan legislation to stop partial shutdown due to occur this weekend
The Senate has passed a short-term funding bill following a House vote on Thursday afternoon, narrowly averting a partial government shutdown that was due to occur this weekend.
Ahead of the Senate vote, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, addressed the chamber floor, saying that he saw “no reason this should take a very long time”.
Continue reading...Dueling border visits of 2024 contenders 300 miles apart shows that immigration has become a central issue in the White House campaign
It might be seen as the first US presidential debate of 2024. Two candidates and two lecterns but 300 miles – and a political universe – apart.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump spent Thursday at the US-Mexico border, a vivid display of how central the immigration issue has become to the election campaign. Since it is far from certain whether official presidential debates will happen this year, the duelling visits might be as close as it gets.
Continue reading...Political pressure at home, splintering international support and prospect of Trump’s re-election make for existential threats
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has an unenviable task over the coming months. As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, the Ukrainian president has a very difficult balancing act to manage.
Ukrainian society is exhausted by the war and international support is splintering, leading to a critical shortage of ammunition at the front. At the same time, most Ukrainians are not willing to countenance the idea of a peace deal, given that there would be few mechanisms to force Russia to abide by it, and would risk merely giving Moscow time to replenish its forces and strike Ukraine again.
Continue reading...British foreign secretary argues blockage of $61bn aid package in Congress strengthens China and undermines confidence in US
David Cameron has said that the continued US failure to supply arms to Ukraine would undermine its own security, strengthen China and cast doubt on America’s reliability as an ally around the world.
The UK foreign secretary, who attended the G20 meeting in Brazil earlier in the week, admitted that the effort to rally global support for the Ukrainian cause had been “damaged” by the fact that neither the US nor the UK had voted for a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. But he argued the damage had been mitigated by the UK’s clarification of its position.
Continue reading...Alexander Smirnov falsely said executives linked to energy firm Burisma paid Joe and Hunter Biden $5m each in 2015 and 2016, prosecutors say
An FBI informant has been charged with lying to his handler about ties between Joe Biden, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy company.
Alexander Smirnov falsely told FBI agents in June 2020 that executives associated with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5m each in 2015 and 2016, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Continue reading...House speaker also attacks Biden as unfit for office and plays down New York Democrat win; Democrats decry impeachment as ‘sham’
After the special counsel Robert Hur’s report, Mike Johnson says Biden is not fit to hold office.
“The DOJ is indicting one president with politically motivated charges and they are now carrying the water for another amid very similar allegations,” he said. “A man too incapable of being held accountable for handling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office.”
Continue reading...Kentucky senator who opposes the aid package has indicated he will use every tool at his disposal to delay the final vote
The House majority leader, Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana, will return to Capitol Hill tomorrow after undergoing cancer treatment in recent weeks.
The House speaker, Republican Mike Johnson of Louisiana, welcomed Scalise back with a tweet noting that the majority leader was now in remission.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For more on Biden’s address, you can read our full story:
This right here is what Joe Biden, most Democrats and the apparently dwindling number of Republicans who support the immigration bill are up against.
The House speaker, Mike Johnson, is leading the campaign against the compromise legislation, which would enact hardline policies Democrats generally oppose while also sending military assistance to Ukraine and Israel. In remarks today, he expressed approval at reports that the deal is on “life support” in the Senate:
Continue reading...Senate bill includes aid to Ukraine and Israel, as House tries to advance bill with Israel aid only, which Biden says he would veto
Joe Biden urged Congress to pass the bipartisan border bill in a pointed speech on Tuesday, accusing Republicans of “caving” in to Donald Trump’s demands to block the legislation from advancing.
“All indications are this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically,” Biden said at the White House. “He’d rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it.”
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the Senate immigration bill, read our most recent report:
In a just-released statement, the top Republicans in the House called on the Senate to vote down the bipartisan immigration policy legislation.
“Any consideration of this Senate bill in its current form is a waste of time. It is DEAD on arrival in the House. We encourage the U.S. Senate to reject it,” speaker Mike Johnson, majority leader Steve Scalise, whip Tom Emmer and conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik said.
Continue reading...Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for the package without addressing aid to Ukraine or security for the US-Mexico border
The US House of Representatives plans to vote next week to advance $17.6bn in military aid to Israel without any accompanying spending cuts or assistance for Ukraine, according to Mike Johnson, the chamber’s speaker.
Johnson announced to his fellow House Republicans on Saturday that the vote would take place, while also criticizing a parallel move in the US Senate to pair funding for Israel in its military strikes in Gaza with aid for Ukraine as it fends off Russia’s invasion. The Senate measure also aims to attach a raft of tough border and asylum measures favored by rightwingers to aid for Israel.
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Joe Biden has welcomed another month of strong job creation, pointing out that the US has added almost 15m jobs since he was sworn in.
Responding to today’s strong non-farm payroll report, showing 353,000 new jobs were created in January, he says:
America’s economy is the strongest in the world.
Today, we saw more proof, with another month of strong wage gains and employment gains of over 350,000 in January, continuing the strong growth from last year. Our economy has created 14.8m jobs since I took office, unemployment has been under 4% for two full years now, and inflation has been at the pre-pandemic level of 2% over the last half year. It’s great news for working families that wages, wealth, and jobs are higher now than before the pandemic, and I won’t stop fighting to lower costs and build an economy from the middle out and bottom up. I’ll continue to stand in the way of efforts by congressional Republicans to enact massive tax giveaways for the wealthy and big corporations; cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; and raise costs for American families.
It’s looking like early to mid-February, as a rough estimate, and subject to modifications. But that’s the working plan now.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For more on the US involvement in the Middle East crisis, you can read:
During the news conference, Austin said the US would have a “multi-tiered response” to the Jordan attacks that killed three US service personnel. He added that the US had the ability to respond a “number of times depending on what the situation is”.
Austin said the deadly attack was carried out by groups funded and trained by Iran, but said it remains unclear how much Tehran knew in advance.
Continue reading...Top Senate Democrat gives timetable for vote on border security bill tied to Ukraine aid as Trump urges lawmakers to reject deal
The US Senate will vote next week on a bipartisan bill that would strengthen security at the US-Mexico border and also provide more aid to Ukraine and Israel, the chamber’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said on Thursday.
“We cannot simply shirk from our responsibilities just because the task is difficult,” Schumer said on the Senate floor, adding that the text of the package will be released by Sunday, with the initial vote taking place no later than Wednesday.
Continue reading...House speaker warns that the deal being considered in the Senate may not be feasible while also vowing to impeach homeland security secretary Mayorkas
In her closing arguments, Donald Trump’s lead attorney Alina Habba said the former president was the real victim, because of the backlash caused by E Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit.
Carroll, she said, wasn’t “accepting any responsibility for the media and the press frenzy and the public profile that she wanted and still enjoys.”
Continue reading...Outlook had appeared grim following reports McConnell was walking away, but now lawmakers say text could be released in coming days
Congressional negotiators said a border deal was within reach on Thursday, despite efforts by Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill to derail the talks.
With the fate of US aid for Ukraine hanging in the balance, the outlook for border compromise had appeared grim following reports on Wednesday night that the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, was walking away from a compromise that he suggested could “undermine” Trump’s chances in a November general election against Joe Biden. But by Thursday afternoon, senators involved in the discussions were insisting that the opposite was true: an agreement was in sight and legislative text could be released in the coming days.
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