Category Archives: US Congress

Ex-US security officials urge funding for science research to keep up with China

Posted on by

Appeal from officials, including two senior figures from Trump’s first term, comes amid reports National Science Foundation’s budget will be slashed

Chuck Hagel, the former US defense secretary, and other former US national security officials, including two senior figures from Donald Trump’s first term, on Tuesday warned that China was outpacing the US in critical technology fields and urged Congress to increase funding for federal scientific research.

The appeal comes a week after the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funds science research, fired 170 people in response to Donald Trump’s order to reduce the federal workforce. An NSF spokesman declined comment on reports that hundreds more layoffs were possible and that the agency’s budget could be slashed by billions.

Continue reading...

Mitch McConnell won’t seek Senate re-election in 2026

Posted on by

Republican Kentucky lawmaker formally announced his retirement in a Senate floor speech on Thursday

Senator Mitch McConnell announced he will not run for re-election next year, bringing an end to a decades-long career for a Republican leader who marshaled his party through multiple administrations with a singleminded focus on power that enraged his critics and delighted his allies.

The Associated Press broke the news of McConnell’s retirement on Thursday, which marked the Republican senator’s 83rd birthday. McConnell formally announced his retirement in a Senate floor speech on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Republican proposes making Trump’s birthday a public holiday

Posted on by

Claudia Tenney’s bill combining Flag Day with Trump’s birthday could face steep odds of success in Congress

A Republican congresswoman has proposed making Donald Trump’s birthday a public holiday, in an effort probably doomed to failure in Congress but obviously intended to curry favor with the president.

Claudia Tenney, a representative from New York’s Finger Lakes region, introduced legislation on Friday aiming to combine the US annual commemoration of Flag Day with a new observance of Trump’s birthday on 14 June, arguing that the president is “the most consequential … in modern American history”.

Continue reading...

Canada and Mexico tariffs risk inflating US housing crisis, Trump is warned

Posted on by

Exclusive: Dozens of congressional Democrats urge president to reconsider threatened import duties on US’s two largest trading partners

Pressing ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico risks exacerbating the US housing crisis and threatening the broader economy, dozens of congressional Democrats have warned Donald Trump.

The US president, after threatening to hit imports from the US’s two biggest trading partners with a 25% tax, is weighing how to proceed after approving a one-month delay.

Continue reading...

Top Republican condemns Elon Musk for ‘supplication’ to China in new book

Posted on by

Exclusive: Tom Cotton, Senate intelligence chair, risks angering key Trump ally with harsh words for ‘tech titans’

In a new book, the Arkansas senator Tom Cotton condemns Elon Musk for “chasing Chinese dollars” and having “shamefully supplicated China’s Communist rulers”, in order to advance his own interests as chief executive of companies including Tesla and SpaceX.

It’s an explosive charge from the Republican chair of the powerful Senate intelligence committee, given that Musk, the world’s richest person, is a major donor and close adviser to Donald Trump, now working at the heart of the president’s administration to slash costs and reshape the federal government.

Continue reading...

Doge’s access to secure treasury payment system puts Americans’ privacy at risk, ex-secretaries warn – live

Posted on by

Five former secretaries warn that foreign actors could benefit from data breaches as a result of Doge’s meddling

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he does not “take seriously” Donald Trump’s proposal that Palestinians be forcibly expelled from Gaza.

Speaking in Malaysia, Reuters reports Erdoğan, who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in the region, said “We do not consider the proposal to exile the Palestinians from the lands they have lived in for thousands of years as something to be taken seriously. No one has the power to force the Palestinian people to experience a second Nakba.”

Continue reading...

US Democrats call for more aggressive tactics against Trump and Musk: ‘We’re going to be the opposition’

Posted on by

As Trump aims to dismantle large swaths of US government, growing outcry from Democrats appears to be having an effect

When organizers announced a “Nobody Elected Elon” protest at the treasury department’s headquarters in Washington – in response to the revelation that Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) had accessed sensitive taxpayer data – not a single Democratic lawmaker had agreed to attend.

But as public outrage mounted over Donald Trump’s brazen assault on the federal government, the speaking list grew. In the end, more than two dozen Democratic members of Congress including Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, spoke at the event, which drew hundreds of protesters outside on a frigid Tuesday last week. In speech after speech, they pledged to do everything in their power to block Trump from carrying out his right-wing agenda.

Continue reading...

US Senate confirms Trump nominee Pam Bondi as attorney general

Posted on by

Bondi approved 54-46 as staunch political ally of president propelled to top perch of US law enforcement

The US Senate confirmed Pam Bondi on Tuesday as the next attorney general to steer the justice department through Donald Trump’s second term and his clear intent to turn it into an extension of his executive power, especially as a cudgel against his personal and political adversaries.

The 54 to 46 vote to confirm Bondi was largely across party lines. All Republicans voted to confirm and all but one Democratic senator, John Fetterman, voted against.

Continue reading...

Senior USAid officials put on leave after denying access to Musk’s Doge team

Posted on by

After standoff, Doge members gained control over access system, letting them lock out workers and read emails

Two senior security officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAid) have been put on administrative leave after they blocked efforts by members of Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency (Doge) to access sensitive data from the agency, five current and former USAid officials have told the Guardian.

The demands led to a tense standoff during which a senior deputy to Musk threatened to call the US marshals in to grant access to the building. The officials said John Voorhees, USAid’s director of security, and a deputy blocked efforts by Doge members to physically access restricted areas.

Continue reading...

Tulsi Gabbard grilled on Snowden, Assad and Putin in tense Senate hearing

Posted on by

Skeptical senators ruthlessly questioned Trump’s national intelligence director nominee ahead of confirmation vote

Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director, refused to call the whistleblower Edward Snowden a “traitor” but sought to rein in her unorthodox views on foreign dictators and opposition to electronic surveillance during a tense confirmation hearing that could sink her nomination to oversee the country’s sprawling intelligence community.

In a three-hour hearing before the Senate intelligence committee, Gabbard, a former congresswoman and member of the Hawaii army national guard, partially recanted her views that Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine, said she had “no love” for the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and denied meeting with Hezbollah representatives during a trip to Lebanon in 2017.

Continue reading...

Who banned TikTok? Politicians toss culpability like a football

Posted on by

Claiming a threat from a ‘foreign adversary’, the US has yet to prove China shared propaganda or collected US user data

The United States of America deleted TikTok early on the morning of 19 January. A government formed “by the people, for the people”, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, has made scant evidence available to those people as to why. As those in power at the 11th hour realize how unpopular such a paternalistic move might be, each is doing their best to lay blame with the others.

Why did the US ban an app used and beloved by some 170 million Americans? For fear of China’s propaganda and data collection. It’s a far-reaching, unprecedented move. The text of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed in April and signed by Joe Biden, reads: “This bill prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application (eg, TikTok).” Both a federal appeals court and the US supreme court have affirmed that rationale as sufficient.

Continue reading...

Democrats concerned after Mike Johnson fires top Republican from House committee reportedly at Trump’s request – live

Posted on by

House speaker removed intelligence committee chair Mike Turner, whose stances have run afoul with Trump

Here’s what Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, wrote on X about his decision to name the state’s attorney general, Ashley Moody, to replace Marco Rubio in the Senate:

Florida deserves a senator who stands unapologetically for conservative principles, supports law enforcement, has a strong record of combatting illegal immigration, and is ready to deliver on President Trump’s agenda. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s exemplary track record shows her commitment to these principles. A fifth-generation Floridian, she has served the people of Florida honorably as a prosecutor, judge, and Attorney General.

I look forward to seeing Senator Moody fight the good fight against the entrenched interests in Washington, and I know she will be a critical part of bringing President Trump’s America First agenda to fruition.

I’m very proud to have served on the House Intelligence Committee and as its chairman. There are great members on the Committee, and I’m honored to have served with them.

Under my leadership, we restored the integrity of the Committee and returned its mission to its core focus of national security. The threat from our adversaries is real and requires serious deliberations.

Continue reading...

‘I’m not perfect’: Pete Hegseth testifies on sexual assault and drinking claims

Posted on by

Trump Pentagon pick grilled by Democrats at Senate confirmation hearing amid concerns of his personal history

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for US secretary of defense, defended his record in a contentious Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, acknowledging he was “not a perfect person” as Democratic lawmakers grilled the military veteran and Fox News host on allegations of sexual assault, excessive alcohol use and financial mismanagement.

Hegseth can only afford to lose the votes of three Senate Republicans, assuming every Democratic senator opposes his nomination, but none appeared ready to break ranks despite some having previously voiced concerns about Hegseth’s personal history and his views on women in the military.

Continue reading...

‘He is peddling stories’: Bob Woodward denies Republican’s claim he said Biden was corrupt

Posted on by

Washington Post reporter says he never made comments to James Comer published in the congressman’s new book

The Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward forcefully denied making statements attributed to him by James Comer, the Republican chair of the powerful House oversight committee, in which Woodward supposedly said Joe Biden was financially corrupt.

“The statements attributed to me in what is apparently his book are false,” Woodward said. “I made none of those statements he attributes to me. I repeat none, and not even in a paraphrased form.”

Continue reading...

Biden signs bill to boost social security payments for millions of public workers

Posted on by

President says Social Security Fairness Act will benefit ‘Americans who have worked hard all their lives’

Joe Biden has signed into law a measure that boosts social security payments for current and former public employees – such as teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public-service workers – in what the White House has described as the first expansion of such benefits in 20 years.

“The bill I’m signing today is about a simple proposition: Americans who have worked hard all their lives … should be able to retire with economic security and dignity,” Biden said. “That’s the entire purpose of the social security system crafted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt nearly 90 years ago.”

Continue reading...

Republicans try to exploit New Orleans attack to push through Trump agenda

Posted on by

Trump loyalists make baseless link between attack and US border and say cabinet nominees must be urgently ratified

Republicans in the US Senate are attempting to exploit the New Year’s Day attack that killed 14 victims in New Orleans, injuring dozens more, to push through Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet nominations and rocket-charge the incoming president’s anti-immigration agenda – despite the fact that the attacker was a US citizen born and raised in east Texas.

Several Senate Republicans appeared on Sunday’s political shows to call for an urgent approval of the most contentious of Trump’s cabinet selections, who are facing a tough confirmation process. They include Kash Patel, chosen by Trump for FBI director; Pete Hegseth for defense secretary; and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.

Continue reading...

Biden honors Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson with presidential medal

Posted on by

President bestows medals upon congressman and ex-congresswoman who led investigation into Capitol attack

Joe Biden has bestowed the second highest civilian medal on the Democratic congressman Bennie Thompson and the Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney, who led the bipartisan congressional investigation into the deadly 6 January 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters intent on overturning his election defeat by Biden.

Trump, who takes office again on 20 January after winning November’s election, has said the leaders of that committee, which published its conclusions in December 2022 after a series of high-profile public hearings, should be jailed, not rewarded.

Continue reading...

Republican congressman says party should drop ‘food fight’ over leadership

Posted on by

Mike Lawler says Mike Johnson should remain speaker as cracks appear between Trump’s team and far right

The US House member Mike Lawler attempted on Sunday to tease out two pressing issues facing the new Congress beginning in 2025, telling an American political talkshow that this was not the moment for his fellow Republicans to have a “food fight” over leadership in Capitol Hill and that the country “needs an immigration system that works”.

Both issues have dominated political headlines in recent days, as potential policy splits become apparent between far-right congressional Republicans and the executive team being assembled for their party leader Donald Trump’s second presidency beginning in January.

Continue reading...

Biden library reportedly under threat by Democrats enraged by Hunter pardon

Posted on by

Senior party figures consider withholding contributions to presidential library to express anger at pardon for son

Senior Democrats are reportedly considering withholding contributions to Joe Biden’s future presidential library amid a mounting backlash over his decision grant a blanket pardon to his son Hunter.

The threat has emerged as simmering anger among congressional Democrats – already building over the president’s insistence on seeking a second term before belatedly stepping aside as the party nominee in favour of Kamala Harris – has burst into the open over Sunday’s pardon, which Biden had previously vowed not to give.

Continue reading...

Trump team signs agreement on background checks for nominees; lawyers push for hush-money case dismissal – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog has now closed. You can read our Trump hush-money story here

Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen in Paris on Saturday with incoming US president Donald Trump set to attend the ceremony marking the resurrection of the Gothic masterpiece five years after a devastating fire.

The Republican confirmed Monday he had accepted an invitation from French president Emmanuel Macron to attend the grand re-opening of the 850-year-old edifice which was nearly lost to flames in April 2019.

Continue reading...