Senate approves bill extending funds until December two hours after House passes it, sending it to Biden’s desk
US Congress passed a three-month government funding package on Wednesday, sending the bill to Joe Biden’s desk and averting a shutdown that was set to begin next Tuesday.
The Senate approved the funding package just two hours after the House passed the bill on Wednesday afternoon, as lawmakers raced to return to their home districts six weeks before election day.
Continue reading...Mike Johnson announces compromise after decoupling government funding from Trump-backed citizenship bill
US congressional leaders have agreed to a short-term funding deal in a move that averts a damaging pre-election government shutdown and also amounts to a snub for Donald Trump.
The prospect of a shutdown at the expiration of the current government funding on 30 September had been looming after Republicans insisted on tying future funding to legislation that would require voters to show proof of US citizenship – known as the Save Act and backed by Trump but opposed by Democrats.
Continue reading...Contentious government funding package championed by Mike Johnson was voted down 202-220
A government funding package championed by Republican House speaker Mike Johnson failed to pass on Wednesday, with less than two weeks left to prevent a shutdown starting 1 October.
The final vote was 202 to 220, with 14 House Republicans and all but three House Democrats opposing the bill. Two Republican members voted “present”.
Continue reading...Notable Israelis add their voices to oppose invite extended by Mike Johnson, which Democrats plan to boycott
A group of prominent Israelis – including a former prime minister and an ex-head of Mossad, the foreign intelligence service – have added their voices to the growing domestic calls in the US for Congress to withdraw its invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu to address it next month, calling the move “a terrible mistake”.
The plea, in an op-ed article in the New York Times, argues that the invitation rewards Netanyahu, Israel’s current prime minister, for “scandalous and destructive conduct”, including intelligence failures that led to last October’s deadly Hamas attack and the ensuing bloody war in Gaza which shows no sign of ending.
Continue reading...House speaker plans far-reaching bill including tax cuts and border security to make Trump ‘the most consequential president’
Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, is planning a sweeping ideological legislative drive that aims to make Donald Trump “the most consequential president of the modern era” if the Republicans win power in November.
A far-reaching bill containing a range of policy priorities at once – including tax cuts worth trillions, border security and rolling back Obamacare – is being prepared to avoid the mistakes the GOP believed happened early in Trump’s first term, when Johnson says the party wasted time because its victory over Hillary Clinton took it by surprise.
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The Republican leaders of the US House of Representatives are reportedly weighing a legislative response to the decision by the international criminal court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, to seek arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Punchbowl News has reported that House Republican leadership, which is very supportive of the Israeli government and its war in Gaza, are considering a response, but what the measure looks like and whether they can pull it off before the upcoming Memorial Day holiday remains unclear.
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Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaigns are a study in contrasts.
While Biden spends his Friday fundraising on the west coast, making campaign stops in California and Washington, Trump sits through another day of his New York trial over Trump’s alleged falsification of business records in connection with hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Continue reading...Vice-president calls abortion access a ‘fundamental freedom’ in Florida as state’s six-week ban takes effect
Greene wrapped up the press conference by demanding, essentially, that Mike Johnson resign or be fired:
What I’m calling on is, like my colleague here said, Mike Johnson … can pray about it, think about it all weekend, do the right thing and resign, giving our conference time to elect a new leader, a new speaker of the house. He should reject the endorsement of Hakeem Jeffries and the entire Democrat leadership team. That is not an endorsement that any Republican speaker should ever want or embrace. And this vote will be called next week, and I would just want to urge all our colleagues to prepare for it. It’s the right thing to do for America. It’s time to clean house and get our conference in order and get ready to support President Trump’s agenda. God willing, he wins in November and we take back full power here in Washington in January.
I fight for his agenda every single day, and that’s why I’m fighting here against my own Republican conference, to fight harder against the Democrats.
Continue reading...Extremist’s bid to remove House speaker appears certain to fail as Democratic leaders indicate they will table or kill motion
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Wednesday that she would move to force a vote next week on removing her fellow Republican Mike Johnson as House speaker, even though the measure appears certain to fail.
“I think the American people need to see a recorded vote,” Greene said at a press conference. “And so next week, I am going to be calling this motion to vacate – absolutely calling it. I can’t wait to see Democrats go out and support a Republican speaker and have to go home to their primaries and have to run for Congress again.”
Continue reading...The top House Democrats, including minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, say they will oppose any attempt from far-right Republican to vacate Mike Johnson as speaker
Deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates has condemned protesters’ usage of the word “intifada” and their takeover of a building on Columbia University’s campus, saying the action was “not peaceful”:
President Biden has stood against repugnant, Antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days. President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful – it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.
Continue reading...Anyone who thinks far-right congresswoman will drop plan to remove Mike Johnson is ‘simply out of their mind’, aide says
Anyone who thinks Marjorie Taylor Greene will drop her threat to force the removal of the Republican US House speaker, Mike Johnson, is “high, drunk, or simply out of their mind”, a senior aide to the far-right Georgia congresswoman said.
“That’s absurd,” her deputy chief of staff Nick Dyer told Politico, adding that Greene was “not going to tell the press” her plans for activating the motion to vacate she filed more than a month ago.
Continue reading...At least 34 arrested at University of Texas in Austin and 50 more detained at University of Southern California while House speaker jeered at Columbia University
Dozens of protesters were arrested on Wednesday while participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations across US college campuses.
At least 34 protesters, including a member of the media from a local news station, were arrested during protests at University of Texas in Austin and at least 50 more were detained by police at University of Southern California (USC).
Continue reading...Ukrainian president thanks America after Speaker Mike Johnson secures bipartisan support for funding Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
After months of stalling, the US House of Representatives finally approved more than $61bn worth of military assistance to help Ukraine in its desperate defense against Russia, as well as billions for other allies including Israel and Taiwan.
In a bipartisan vote, 210 Democrats and 101 Republicans joined to support Ukraine, with 112 Republicans – a majority of the GOP members – voting against. It came after the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, forced a series of bills onto the floor in the face of fierce resistance within his own Republican party, many of whom oppose spending more on Ukraine’s defense.
Continue reading...Ukraine aid component threatens to throw the Republican party into disarray – and endangers the speakership of Mike Johnson
The US House of Representatives will finally vote on Saturday on a series of foreign aid bills, bringing an end to a months-long standoff in Congress led mostly by Republicans who refuse to support funding Ukraine’s ongoing military defense against Russia’s invasion.
House members will hold separate votes on four bills that represent $95bn in funding altogether – including roughly $26bn in aid for Israel, $61bn for Ukraine, $8bn for US allies in the Indo-Pacific region and $9bn in humanitarian assistance for civilians in war zones, such as Gaza.
Continue reading...As the speaker of the House finally allows a vote to go forward on aid, GOP infighting is tearing apart the party
Republican divisions over military support for Ukraine were long simmering. Now, before Saturday’s extraordinary vote in Congress on a foreign aid package, they have erupted into open warfare – a conflict that the vote itself is unlikely to contain.
Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, triggered an all-out split in his own party’s ranks last week by finally agreeing, after months of stalling, to a floor vote on the $95bn foreign aid programme. Passed by the Senate in February, it contained about $60bn for Ukraine, $14bn for Israel, and a smaller amount for Taiwan and other Pacific allies.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Mayorkas impeachment, read our story here.
Chuck Schumer has released a lengthy statement about the commencement (and presumably very swift termination) of the impeachment trial of homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this afternoon.
It is the “least legitimate, least substantive, and most politicized impeachment trial in the history of the United States,” the Democratic Senate majority leader said, encapsulating remarks he made in the chamber just now and posted to Facebook:
The charges brought against Secretary Mayorkas fail to meet the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors. To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future.
For the sake of the Senate’s integrity, and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, Senators should dismiss today’s charges.
It is beneath the dignity of the Senate to entertain this nakedly partisan exercise.
Impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. That would set a disastrous precedent for the Congress and could throw our system of checks and balances into endless cycles of chaos.
Continue reading...Mike Johnson has said he will aim to advance legislation to support Israel but has not clarified whether Ukraine funding will form part of package
The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has said he will aim to advance a bill for wartime aid to Israel this week following Iran’s weekend attack, but did not clarify whether Ukraine funding would be part of the package.
US assistance for both nations has languished amid political bickering in Congress, with Johnson – an ally of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump – blocking an earlier $95bn in aid sought by President Joe Biden for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan which had passed the Senate.
Continue reading...Republican presumptive nominee struggles to articulate position on divisive issue after meeting with House speaker
Facing the press alongside the House speaker, fellow Republican Mike Johnson, Donald Trump bragged: “We broke Roe v Wade.”
The former president made the stark admission about his dominant role in attacks on abortion rights at the end of a week in which the rightwing Arizona state supreme court ruled that an 1864 law imposing a near-total ban could go back into effect.
Continue reading...Planned bill to ban already illegal practice is latest Republican step to spread falsehoods about immigration and voter fraud
Donald Trump and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, plan to push for a bill to ban non-citizens from voting, the latest step by Republicans to falsely claim migrants are coming to the country and casting ballots.
Voting when a person is not eligible – for instance if they lack US citizenship – is already illegal under federal law. It is unclear what the bill Johnson and the former president will discuss in their Friday press conference at Mar-a-Lago will do to alter that. But it is one more way for the former president to focus on election security and to ding the Biden administration over the situation at the US-Mexico border, a key issue for likely Republican voters this November.
Continue reading...Far-right Republican says motion intended as ‘more of a warning than a pink slip’ and stops short of forcing vote to eject him
The far-right Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene filed a motion to remove Mike Johnson as House speaker on Friday but did not pull the trigger on a move that would probably pitch Congress into a repeat of chaos seen last October, when the right ejected Kevin McCarthy.
Speaking after Johnson relied on Democratic votes to pass a $1.2tn spending bill and avoid a government shutdown, Greene said her motion was meant as “more of a warning than a pink slip” because she did not want to “throw the House into chaos”.
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