Trump ally Daines confirms resignation and withdraws bid for a third term, saying: ‘It is time for new leaders’
Republican US senator Steve Daines of Montana dropped his bid for re-election to a third term Wednesday.
Daines withdrew his name just minutes before the deadline for candidates to file for the November election with the Montana secretary of state’s office. Daines confirmed his resignation in a written statement as well as a video posted to social media.
Continue reading...Lawmakers from Sanders to Mark Kelly offer mixed feelings on Trump’s action and killing of Iranian supreme leader
As Republicans celebrated the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with praise for Donald Trump’s decisive action, Democrats faced their own divisions and a reckoning over how to present a united front.
Most were quick to condemn the US president for sidelining Congress to launch an illegal and unconstitutional war and demanded a swift vote on a war powers resolution that would restrain his military onslaught.
Continue reading...Second time in two weeks military used laser to attack what it mistakenly thought was a threat, disrupting air traffic
Democratic members of Congress have expressed astonishment and anger at what they claim is the incompetence of the Trump administration after the US military used a laser on Thursday to shoot down what it thought was a threatening drone on the US-Mexico border in Texas but later turned out to belong to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The apparent confusion between two entities in the US government led to airspace being closed around Fort Hancock, right along the border. It was the second time in two weeks that air traffic was disrupted in the region as a result of a high-energy laser being deployed against drones.
Continue reading...Lawsuit filed in West Virginia maintained that Justice and his wife received notice of the funds due since 2009 but didn’t pay
Jim Justice, the Republican US senator, and his wife have agreed to pay more than $5m that the couple owes in back taxes shortly after they were sued over the 16-year-old debt by the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in their home state of West Virginia, maintained that the Justices had received notice from the US treasury department of the funds due since 2009 but had “neglected or refused to make full payment of those assessments”.
Continue reading...Mark Kelly, a veteran and Democrat targeted by Trump over military comments, says he is ‘not going to be intimidated’
Senator Mark Kelly on Sunday urged congressional Republicans to publicly reject Trump’s threats against him and five other Democratic lawmakers who stated that military personnel are not obligated to follow illegal commands.
“We’ve heard very little, basically crickets, from Republicans in the United States Congress about what the president has said about hanging members of Congress,” Kelly, of Arizona, said on CBS’s Face the Nation.
Continue reading...After 42-day standoff, government is back open – and minority party won no concessions from party in power
More than 42 days ago, beleaguered congressional Democrats employed a tactic they were not known for using – refusing to fund the government unless their demands, in this case, an extension of tax credits that lowered costs for Affordable Care Act health plans, were met.
Fast forward to Wednesday evening, and the federal government is back open, the Democrats’ resistance breached by the combined forces of Congress’s Republican majorities and a splinter group of Democratic senators who provided just enough votes to get a funding bill past the chamber’s filibuster.
Continue reading...Democrats are demanding an extension of tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans set to expire at end of year
As House Republican leaders move to hold a vote on legislation to reopen the US government, top Democrats vowed on Tuesday to oppose the bill for not addressing their demand for more healthcare funding.
Democrats have for weeks demanded that any measure to fund the government include an extension of tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, which were created under Joe Biden and due to expire at the end of the year, sending premiums for enrollees higher.
Continue reading...Some lawmakers and progressive groups blame minority leader after eight senators defect
Democrats are seething after news emerged on Sunday that eight members of their Senate caucus had collaborated with Republicans on crafting a compromise to end the longest government shutdown in US history, without winning any healthcare concessions that they had sought.
But one name is coming in for more opprobrium than any other: Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader who had led the Democrats’ weeks-long stand against reopening the government without an extension of tax credits that lower premiums for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health plans.
Continue reading...Senators vote on advancing House-passed stopgap funding bill, suggesting end to historic 40-day shutdown in reach
The US Senate on Sunday took a key vote on a bill that would end the record-setting federal government shutdown without extending the healthcare subsidies that Democrats have demanded.
Senators began voting on Sunday night to advance House-passed stopgap funding legislation that Senate majority leader John Thune said would be amended to combine another short-term spending measure with a package of three full-year appropriations bills.
Continue reading...Resolution fails 49-51 with only two Republican senators voting in favor as president increases military buildup
The US Senate on Thursday blocked a Democratic war powers resolution that would have forced Donald Trump to seek congressional approval to launch strikes in Venezuela, allowing the president to remain unchecked in his ability to expand his military campaign against the country.
The 49-51 vote against passing the resolution, mostly along party lines, came a month after a previous effort to stop strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in international waters similarly failed, 48-51.
Continue reading...President’s tariffs are being scrutinized in crucial legal test of plan to impose duties on nearly every US trading partner
Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on the world are being scrutinized by the US supreme court today, a crucial legal test of the president’s controversial economic strategy – and his power.
Justices started to hear oral arguments this morning on the legality of using emergency powers to impose tariffs on almost every US trading partner.
Continue reading...Democratic leaders decry ‘unbelievably cruel’ move, saying ‘Trump is using food as a weapon’ during shutdown
Senate Republicans shot down a Democratic-led attempt to fully fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits on Monday during the government shutdown – a move that heightens uncertainty for the 42 million Americans participating in the country’s biggest anti-hunger program.
Jeff Merkley, a Democratic senator, and Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, attempted to pass a resolution via unanimous consent that would have forced the Department of Agriculture to fund Snap benefits for the month of November.
Continue reading...Federal agency also estimates country’s GDP will reduce by one to two percentage points over shrinking demand
The US is set to lose between $7bn and $14bn as a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown, according to the congressional budget office.
On Wednesday, the nonpartisan federal agency released its estimates in a new report to the House budget committee as the government shutdown reaches four weeks.
Continue reading...As funding for food aid program is about to be exhausted, Congress fails for 13th time to advance Republican bill
The US government shutdown stretched into its 28th day with no resolution in sight on Tuesday, as the Senate remained deadlocked over spending legislation even as a crucial food aid program teeters on the brink of exhausting its funding.
For the 13th time, Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-backed bill that would have funded federal agencies through 21 November. The minority party has refused to provide the necessary support for the bill to clear the 60-vote threshold for advancement in the Senate because it does not include funding for healthcare programs, or curbs on Donald Trump’s cuts to congressionally approved funding.
Continue reading...Rand Paul’s comments come days after president claimed US lawmakers wouldn’t take issue with Venezuelan strikes
The Trump administration’s military airtrikes against boats off Venezuela’s coast that the White House claims were being used for drug trafficking are “extrajudicial killings”, said Rand Paul, the president’s fellow Republican and US senator from Kentucky.
Paul’s strong comments on the topic came on Sunday during an interview on Republican-friendly Fox News, three days after Donald Trump publicly claimed he “can’t imagine” federal lawmakers would have “any problem” with the strikes when asked about seeking congressional approval for them.
Continue reading...Cory Booker, Ed Markey and others urge Linda McMahon to step in amid violent crackdowns near Chicago schools
A group of Democratic senators have demanded that the Department of Education to stop immigration enforcement activities from taking place close to schools, following several violent crackdowns near school grounds in Chicago.
Although the raids are conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the senators are making an appeal directly to the education secretary, Linda McMahon.
Continue reading...Lindsey Graham says closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands on Obama-era healthcare subsidies
Republican and Democratic senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Kelly have dug their heels in over the government shutdown – which is now approaching two weeks, with the former saying that the closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands for a restoration of Obama-era healthcare subsidies.
Graham said on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday that he was in favor of the Senate voting to reopen the government and prepared to “have a rational discussion” with Democrats – but not with the government shut down.
Continue reading...Troops can stay under federal control, as US senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth decry being barred access to Ice facility
The national guard troops Donald Trump sent to Illinois can remain in the state and under federal control but can’t be deployed, an appeals court ruled on Saturday.
The appeals court granted a pause in the case until it can hear further arguments.
Continue reading...First vote in Congress on military campaign that White House says has hit four vessels and killed at least 21 people
Senate Republicans voted down legislation Wednesday that would have put a check on Donald Trump’s ability to use deadly military force against drug cartels after Democrats tried to counter the administration’s extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers to destroy vessels in the Caribbean.
The vote fell mostly along party lines, 48-51, with two Republicans, Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, voting in favor and the Democrat John Fetterman voting against.
Continue reading...US attorney general blames shutdown on Democrats as judiciary panel questions her on Epstein and deployments
Democratic senators sparred with attorney general Pam Bondi over her handling of the Epstein files and Donald Trump’s nationwide deployments of national guard at a bitterly partisan Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Bondi’s appearance before the Senate judiciary committee was her first since being confirmed in February, and comes as the president steps up his crackdown on political opponents and Democratic-run cities nationwide.
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