Category Archives: US Politics

US government avoids shutdown after Senate approves $460bn in spending

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Vote gets lawmakers about halfway home in wrapping up their appropriations work for the 2024 budget year

The US government has narrowly avoided a partial shutdown after senators approved a $460bn package of spending bills before a midnight deadline that would have shuttered many key federal agencies.

The Senate approved the six funding bills, which passed the House on Wednesday in a bipartisan vote of 339-85, on Friday evening, a vote that gets lawmakers about halfway home in wrapping up their appropriations work for the 2024 budget year.

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RNC elects Trump’s daughter-in-law as co-chair, marking his expanding party influence – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on Lara Trump’s RNC appointment, you can read our full story:

Rightwing commentators have lambasted the Alabama senator who Republicans chose to deliver the rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

Katie Britt delivered the Republican response from what appeared to be her kitchen.

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Joe Biden came out swinging at his State of the Union address – will it be enough?

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The president brought the fight, jousting with Republican hecklers as he attacked Trump without mentioning his name

Would it be a withered old man or a human dynamo? Would it be a rambling, gaffe-prone politician or an inspiring leader touched with fire? Would it be Geriatric Joe or Dark Brandon?

Within the first few minutes of Thursday’s State of the Union address in Washington, millions of Americans had their answer. Joe Biden, 81, had brought the fight.

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Joe Biden delivers feisty State of the Union address with vision for his second term

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The president needed to appeal to voters as he and Donald Trump are neck and neck in the presidential contest

Joe Biden confirmed a new US mission to deliver aid to Gaza and repeatedly took aim at Donald Trump in his State of the Union address on Thursday, offering a pointed preview of the general election in November.

Biden’s most significant announcement came toward the end of his roughly hour-long speech, when he confirmed that the US military would establish a “temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza” capable of receiving large shipments of water, food and medicine. Biden pledged the mission will not involve deploying American troops on the ground and would facilitate a significant infusion of supplies into Gaza.

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State of the Union address as it happened: Biden spars with Republicans and announces aid pier for Gaza

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US president makes last State of the Union address of this presidential term, with much at stake as he heads into re-election fight against Trump

For some reason, expelled former Republican congressman George Santos has returned to watch the State of the Union from the House floor:

Axios reports he wanted to hang out with the lawmakers who voted to remove him from office last year for being a big-time liar:

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Alabama senator Katie Britt delivers rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union

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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.

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George Santos attends State of the Union and announces another run for Congress

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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.”

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State of the Union guest list shows reproductive rights in spotlight after Alabama IVF bill signed into law – live

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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.

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US health secretary on Alabama’s IVF ruling: ‘Pandora’s box was opened’ after fall of Roe

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Xavier Becerra says US must provide federal protections for reproductive rights if it hopes to avoid further restrictions

The health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra, said the US must provide federal protections for reproductive rights if Americans hope to avoid further restrictions on in vitro fertilization, contraception and abortion in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.

Becerra’s comments come in the wake of an Alabama supreme court decision that gave embryos the rights of “extrauterine children” and forced three of the state’s largest fertility clinics to stop services for fear of litigation and prosecution. The fallout from the decision prompted the Alabama legislature to hastily sign new legislation that will give IVF providers with immunity from civil and criminal suits, which the governor signed into law on Wednesday night.

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Biden’s State of the Union guests include mother whose IVF was canceled and Kate Cox

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White House says Cox and Latorya Beasley’s stories show ‘how the overturning of Roe v Wade has disrupted access to healthcare’

An Alabama mother who saw a second round of IVF canceled after the state supreme court ruled that embryos were children and a Texas mother forced to travel outside her state for a doctor-recommended abortion were due to attend Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, as guests of the first lady, Jill Biden.

The White House said the cases of Latorya Beasley of Birmingham, Alabama, and Kate Cox, from Dallas, Texas, showed “how the overturning of Roe v Wade has disrupted access to reproductive healthcare for women and families across the country”.

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California election results: Adam Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey advance to November Senate race

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Congressman and ex-Dodgers player emerge as top two contenders, boxing out progressives Katie Porter and Barbara Lee

Adam Schiff, the centrist Democratic congressman, is poised to be the next US senator from California after securing enough votes to advance to the November election. He will face off with Republican Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player, who also performed well in the non-partisan primary on Tuesday.

Schiff, a pro-Israel Democrat, was quickly called a winner by the Associated Press, and Garvey secured his spot in the general election about an hour after polls closed.

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Nikki Haley suspends presidential campaign; Biden calls Trump ‘wounded, dangerous’ candidate – live

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Republican candidate pulls out of race; Biden campaign says Trump running ‘on an extreme agenda’ in fresh warning after Super Tuesday

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nikki Haley is to pull out of the 2024 presidential election race. It says the candidate is expected to make a brief appearance at 10am ET (3pm GMT).

Haley has won only two primaries – the District of Columbia and Vermont – during her campaign.

Haley won’t announce an endorsement Wednesday, the people said. She will encourage Donald Trump, who is close to having the delegates needed to win the GOP nomination, to earn the support of Republican and independent voters who backed her.

She is expected to emphasize that she will continue to advocate for the conservative domestic and foreign policies she supports and caution against some of the dangers, such as isolationism and a lack of fiscal discipline, that she sees coming from Washington.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene lashes out as UK reporter asks about conspiracy theories

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Extremist tells Emily Maitlis ‘you’re a conspiracy theorist’ and dismisses interviewer over ‘Jewish space lasers’ question

Far-right Republican congresswoman, Trump ally and potential vice-presidential pick Marjorie Taylor Greene told a British interviewer to “Fuck off”, when asked about her frequent repetition of conspiracy theories.

Emily Maitlis, formerly a senior journalist at the BBC and now a presenter of the News Agents podcast, spoke to Greene at Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday celebration at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, as the former president closed in on the Republican nomination.

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Super Tuesday 2024 live: millions of voters head to polls in the US as Haley suggests she could stay in the race

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Donald Trump looks all but certain of Republican presidential nomination as Nikki Haley rejects suggestions of third-party bid and says she may keep fighting

Over at CNN, Ronald Brownstein has an analysis piece which looks a little at the potential weakness of Donald Trump support away from his core base. Brownstein writes:

[Trump’s] performance so far reflects his success at transforming the Republican Party in his image. He’s reshaped the Republicans into a more blue-collar, populist and pugnacious party, focused more on his volatile blend of resentments against elites and cultural and racial change than the Ronald Reagan-era priorities of smaller government and active global leadership that former South Carolina Gov Nikki Haley has stressed.

But while the primaries have underscored Trump’s grip on the GOP, they have also demonstrated continued vulnerability for him in the areas where he has labored since he first announced his candidacy in 2015 – particularly among the white-collar suburban voters who mostly leaned toward the GOP before his emergence. The early 2024 nominating contests have shown that a substantial minority of Republican-leaning voters remain resistant to Trump’s vision.

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Texts reveal Trump co-defendant Chesebro’s role in ‘fake electors’ plot

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Scheme was critical part of anti-democratic effort to overturn 2020 election and is now at center of two criminal cases against Trump

Kenneth Chesebro was eager to help.

It was five days after the 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden was projected to defeat Donald Trump and win Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes. Trump’s campaign was requesting a recount. Chesebro, a little-known Harvard-educated lawyer, believed there were abnormalities in the election and emailed Jim Troupis, a friend and former Wisconsin judge, to offer to help with any of the campaign’s legal efforts.

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Independent senator Kyrsten Sinema will not seek re-election in Arizona

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Sinema won in 2018 as a Democrat and was first non-Republican to win a Senate seat for Arizona since 1994

Kyrsten Sinema, the former Democrat from Arizona who is an independent in the US Senate, said on Tuesday she would not run for re-election this year.

“I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we’ve delivered,” Sinema said in a video posted to social media. “Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.”

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Cookie Monster and Ohio senator make odd allies in shrinkflation complaint

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Democratic senator Sherrod Brown endorsed the Sesame Street star’s complaint on products getting smaller as prices remain same

The Ohio Democratic senator Sherrod Brown endorsed a key voice in the American public square – Cookie Monster – in a complaint about shrinkflation.

“Me hate shrinkflation!” the Sesame Street character posted on social media on Monday, referring to an economic phenomenon Merriam-Webster defines as “the practice of reducing a product’s amount or volume per unit while continuing to offer it at the same price”.

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Hamas negotiators under pressure to produce list of hostages to be released

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Officials at Cairo talks say list is first step in truce deal as militant group demands aid into Gaza

Egyptian and Qatari officials are putting pressure on Hamas negotiators in Cairo to produce a list of hostages to be released as the first step in a phased ceasefire agreement with Israel, according to officials familiar with the talks.

Israel has not sent a delegation to the second day of talks in Cairo, demanding that Hamas present a list of 40 elderly, sick and female hostages who would be the first to be released as part of a truce that would initially last six weeks, beginning with the month of Ramadan, the officials say.

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Biden says in rare print interview he’ll beat Trump but polls say otherwise

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US president tells New Yorker he is ‘the only one who has ever beat’ Trump but clear majorities think he is too old for second term

In a rare print interview, Joe Biden addressed fears over his chances of victory in the coming US presidential election and said he was “the only one who has ever beat” his likely Republican challenger, Donald Trump, adding: “And I’ll beat him again.”

But the president was voicing a conviction at odds with most polling, in which clear majorities think that at 81 he is too old for a second term and narrow majorities put Trump ahead in a general election match-up.

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US lawmakers present bill to fund government and avert shutdown

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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.

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