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Post by Webster on Feb 7, 2024 16:28:21 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Border and foreign aid bill blocked in SenateThe bipartisan bill combining an overhaul of US immigration policy and security measures at the US-Mexico border with nearly $100bn in foreign aid on Wednesday has failed to garner enough votes to move forward in the US Senate, although voting continued. More details as they happen. There are already 49 No votes. Sixty Yes votes in the 100-strong chamber are needed to pass bills.
As we wait to find out if Republicans will vote to provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel without hardline border policies, Punchbowl News reports that a key GOP lawmaker is warning that approving the bill could hurt the party’s chances in the November elections. That’s the argument made in a party strategy meeting by senator Steve Daines of Montana, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is tasked with winning the party seats in Congress’s upper chamber; Republicans are tipped to retake control of the Senate in November. For Democrats to maintain their one-seat majority, Joe Biden would have to win re-election, and the party would have to win two of the three seats they are defending representing Ohio, West Virginia and Montana – all red states. That’s assuming their lawmakers in safer seats are re-elected, and the Democrats fail to defeat Republican senators representing Texas, Florida, or any other red state.
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Post by Webster on Feb 7, 2024 16:32:40 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The Senate is now voting on whether to begin debate on the $95b military assistance bill for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. That vote needs only a simple majority to succeed, but the story doesn’t end there. Fox News reports that Democrats want the measure to pass quickly, but, as with most legislation in the Senate, will need at least nine Republican votes to do that. The GOP is demanding that majority leader Chuck Schumer allow amendments be made to the bill – including some measures dealing with immigration, even after the party just a few minutes ago voted down a bill to make major changes to how the US deals with migrants and asylum seekers:
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Post by Webster on Feb 7, 2024 16:33:31 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Feb 7, 2024 16:34:07 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Feb 7, 2024 19:05:15 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Human rights groups denounce failed Senate deal on border policies and foreign aidThe failed bipartisan compromise bill that paired US “border security” provisions with billions in military aid for Ukraine and Israel had been sharply criticized by advocacy groups that support immigrant rights and human rights. “Immigrants are essential members of our communities who move the country forward. Throwing immigrants under the bus in exchange for short-term, unrelated foreign aid is an enormous political and moral miscalculation,” Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center and the NILC Immigrant Justice Fund, said in a statement in response to the bill’s failure. Matos criticized Democrats for making a bipartisan deal with Republicans on border policy, arguing “It has long been clear that Republicans in Congress were never serious about resolving the issues in our immigration system and are only interested in weaponizing fear to score political points.” Amnesty International had also denounced the now-failed bipartisan compromise, saying it included “the most extreme anti-immigrant proposals this country has seen in 100 years” and that the policies were “draconian and antithetical to human rights” and “will only lead to more suffering, more cruelty, and more death.”
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Post by Webster on Feb 8, 2024 15:09:37 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Senate advances Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan aid billThe Senate has advanced legislation that will send assistance to the militaries of Israel and Ukraine, as well as provide aid to Taiwan. The legislation cleared the 60-vote threshold necessary to get around a filibuster, with 67 votes in favor, and 32 opposed.
The Senate’s vote to advance a bill that will provide assistance to three countries Washington considers national security priorities is a sign of progress in what has been a tortuous and chaotic process. Democrats have wanted for months to approve aid to the three countries, but the GOP, which controls the House and can block passage of legislation in the Senate using the filibuster, demanded they also agree to hardline immigration policy changes. But when those changes were announced earlier this week after months of bipartisan negotiation, Republicans decided they did not like them either, and Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said a bill pairing the border security changes with foreign aid money would not get a vote in his chamber. Yesterday, the Senate voted down that version of the legislation after Republicans and some Democrats objected. The Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer immediately moved to put up for a vote the legislation that funds only Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, without addressing immigration policy at all. The Senate just a few minutes ago voted to advance that legislation. But the story is far from over. It’s unclear if the House will approve the legislation, and Schumer said Senate Republicans want to make amendments before final passage: We hope to reach an agreement with our Republican colleagues on amendments. Democrats have always been clear that we support having a fair and reasonable amendment process. During my time as majority leader, I have presided over more amendment votes than the Senate held in all four years of the previous administration. For the information of senators, we are going to keep working on this bill until the job is done.
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Post by Webster on Feb 14, 2024 0:33:46 GMT -5
(The Guardian) What's in the foreign aid bill that the Senate passedThe national security bill that passed the US Senate early this morning, by 70 votes to 29, is valued at $95bn. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, has already rejected it. Nonetheless, here’s some of what’s in it: --$60bn in aid for Ukraine, in its fight against the Russian invasion. --$14bn for Israel, as it prosecutes its war against Hamas. --$5bn (or close to) for allies in the Indo-Pacific prominently including Taiwan, which is widely held to be in danger of attack from China. According to Punchbowl News, a very decent source for reporting on machinations in the halls of Congress, “many Republicans support axing nearly $8bn in Ukrainian economic support from the bill while maintaining lethal aid”, a move that was attempted but deflected in the Senate. Other House Republicans are outright opposed to continuing support for Ukraine. Most House Republicans are cross (in a sort of performance-art way) that the national security package passed without attendant measures on border security and immigration. An agreement on that, of course, was tanked by Senate Republicans after Donald Trump (essentially) told them to do so. Here’s what Republicans could have won, as summarised by Patty Murray, the Washington state Democrat who chairs the Senate appropriations committee, when the national security package was announced earlier this month, as a $118.3bn deal including border measures.
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Post by Webster on Feb 14, 2024 0:36:09 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Andrew Bates, the White House deputy press secretary, is being predictably scathing about Mike Johnson’s opposition to the national security package passed by the Senate this morning, noting “brutal juxtapositions” for the House speaker in “every article” published on the situation in Congress. Quoting reporting by Axios, Bates highlights how “Johnson criticised the lack of border security provisions in the bill [after] Senate Republicans largely rejected a package that included border security provisions … due in no small part to Johnson”. Here, meanwhile, is Bill Kristol, the conservative Never Trumper behind the Bulwark website: Very good news from the United States Senate (not a sentence I’m used to writing these days!): The Ukraine/Israel/Taiwan national security bill passes, 70-29. Democrats 48-3. Republicans 22-26. So one and a half responsible parties in Senate.FWIW, I’m bullish on the House. TBF, not many people are. Some observers suggest Democrats in the House might be able to use a discharge petition to force the aid package through despite opposition from Speaker Johnson and the far right of his party.Here’s how Indivisible, a progressive activism group, defines a discharge petition: After a bill has been introduced and referred to a standing committee for 30 days, a member of the House can file a motion to have the bill discharged, or released, from consideration by the committee. In order to do this, a majority of the House (218 voting members, not delegates) must sign the petition. Once a discharge petition reaches 218 members, after several legislative days, the House considers the motion to discharge the legislation and takes a vote after 20 minutes of debate. If the vote passes (by all those who signed the petition in the first place), then the House will take up the measure.Republicans currently control the House 219-212 now 218-214 after Suozzi's win tonight), with four vacancies. Here’s what Indivisble says about why discharge petitions usually don’t work – but which gives a hint, bolded, as to why some people hope such a move might actually work this time, given how closely the chamber is divided and how not all Republicans are opposed to aiding Ukraine: Rarely are discharge petitions successfully used to force a vote on a contentious bill. This is due to the fact that discharge petitions are typically used by the minority party on issues that can garner bipartisan support. The most likely way for a discharge petition to be used in this Congress is for Democrats to try to force a vote on something that all Democrats and just a handful of Republicans wanted to force to the floor. But the only way for this to happen is if there’s enormous pressure on that handful of Republicans to break ranks from their party’s leadership.
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Post by Webster on Feb 14, 2024 0:37:26 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The Associated Press is out with a frankly gigantically helpful, detailed breakdown of what’s in the national security bill that the US Senate passed this morning but which Republicans who control the US House do not like one bit. Highlights follow: --UKRAINE: About $60bn would go to supporting Ukraine [with] nearly $14bn to rearm itself through the purchase of weapons and munitions and nearly $15bn for support services such as military training and intelligence sharing. About $8bn would go to help Ukraine’s government continue basic operations with a prohibition on money going toward pensions. And there’s about $1.6bn to help Ukraine’s private sector. About a third of the money allocated to supporting Ukraine actually will be spent replenishing the US military with the weapons and equipment that are going to Kyiv. There’s also about $480m to help Ukrainians displaced by the war. --ISRAEL: About $14.1bn would go to support Israel and US military operations in the region. About $4bn would go to boost Israel’s air defenses, with another $1.2bn for Iron Beam, a laser weapons system designed to intercept and destroy missiles. There’s also about $2.5bn to support US military operations in the region. The legislation contains also $9.2bn in humanitarian assistance to provide food, water, shelter and medical care to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine and others in war zones around the world. --CHINA: More than $8bn in the bill would go to support key partners in the Indo-Pacific and deter aggression by the Chinese government. The bill includes about $1.9bn to replenish US weapons provided to Taiwan and about $3.3bn to build more US-made submarines in support of a security partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom. --OTHER PROVISIONS: The bill includes about $400m for a grant program that helps nonprofits and places of worship make security enhancements and protect them from hate crimes. There’s also language that would target sanctions on criminal organizations involved in the production of fentanyl.
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Post by Webster on Feb 14, 2024 1:16:18 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Schumer: ‘Robust majority’ of Senate passed bill, now House must ‘meet this moment’Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader in the US Senate, saluted the passage of the national security bill in remarks to reporters on Capitol Hill. “Today, the Senate made sure that the United States is closer to meeting the monumental and consequential moment that we are in,” the New Yorker said. “Now, it’s up to the House to meet this moment, to do the right thing and save democracy as we know it. Questions?” There were questions, of course, about the House speaker, Mike Johnson, who has come out against the national security bill because it doesn’t include border security elements, which of course it would have if Senate Republicans had not last week tanked such an agreement because Donald Trump told them to do so. “This bill passed with a robust majority,” Schumer said. “We need to get to Ukraine quickly … and the quickest and best way to do that is with passing the Senate bill. We Democrats were willing, as you know, to vote many steps in the direction of a strong, tough border.” Schumer went on to emphasise conservative support for the abandoned border deal, saying: “Democrats were willing to support a bill supported by the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Democrats were willing to support a bill supported by the [US] border patrol, which is very much a Republican organisation, that was supported by the [US] Chamber of Commerce. “And unfortunately, too many Republicans succumbed to the ministrations of Donald Trump. Trump who said at one point, ‘We have to do a border bill.’ Trump who said the border is at an emergency. And then, in his own words, for crass political purposes said, ‘Let’s delay this for a whole year, because it might bring me help in my election.’ “That’s not going to wash with the American people.” Asked if he thought House Democrats could use a discharge petition to bypass Johnson and get the bill through, Schumer said he would leave that to Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House, adding: “I have great faith in his ability to help engineer getting this bill done.” Asked about Trump’s suggestion that foreign aid should be turned into loans (a suggestion notably seized upon by Senate foreign policy hawk and Trump-supporting “reverse ferret” Lindsey Graham) Schumer said: “Look, the House should pass our bill. It’s been through the crucible of four months of negotiations and ups and downs. It passed the crucible on the Republican side, of almost a majority of Republicans (22 voted yes, 26 no) rejecting … their putative presidential candidate. “We got to stick with this bill. I mean, no one even knows how this loan program would work. Because Donald Trump says something doesn’t mean Republicans should march in lockstep to do it.”
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Post by Webster on Feb 14, 2024 1:28:21 GMT -5
(The Guardian) In his session with reporters earlier, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, was inevitably asked about Joe Biden’s age, mental acuity and fitness for office. Such is the Washington water-cooler conversation-starter de nos jours, or at least de nos past few jours, since last week the special counsel Robert Hur decided to use his report on Biden’s retention of classified information to decline to indict but also to allege that Biden’s memory is shot, thereby fueling Republican claims (and claims by the not exactly sprightly 77-year-old Donald Trump) that the president, 81, is too old to be re-elected. “I talk to President Biden regularly,” Schumer said, “sometimes several times in a week, usually several times in a week. His mental acuity is great. It’s fine. It’s as good as it’s been over the years.” It’s possible Schumer’s next remark wasn’t the most helpful he could have made, given that the 73-year-old senator was referring to an episode of Washington lawmaking drama that happened in 1993, when Biden was merely 50 or so, and even then had been a senator from Delaware for a whole 20 years. “I’ve been speaking to him for 30 years since we worked on the Brady bill and the assault weapons ban when I was a young congressman,” Schumer said. “And he’s fine. All this rightwing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong. He’s going to win the election because he has a great record. Because more and more Americans are seeing that record, because the economy’s improving, because a large number of Americans including Republicans fear a Donald Trump presidency for the future of our democracy.” Switching back to passage of the national security bill, Schumer said Trump “inserts himself almost always for his own political purposes. And it’s no way to govern. And I think the American people are getting wise to them. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you for staying here [overnight]. And… next year. Next year. Go Bills.”
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Post by Webster on Feb 14, 2024 1:37:15 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Andrew Bates, the deputy White House press secretary, sends the press a memo … “Months ago, President Biden submitted a request for critical national security funding to Congress – every aspect of which has strong bipartisan support. President Biden has called for action ever since, working in good faith with Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate, in order to keep the American people safe.
“But a subset of congressional Republicans delayed that urgently-needed action, choosing politics over national security.
“Today, the Senate just voted to move forward on many of the most pressing needs of the American people. The onus is now on the House to do the same. This is a high stakes moment for American families. It’s also a high stakes moment for House Republicans, because the choice is stark.
“Will House Republicans side with President Biden and senators on both sides of the aisle in supporting American national security? Or will House Republicans, in the name of politics, side with Vladimir Putin and the regime in Tehran?
“The House GOP cannot lose sight of this binary choice. It would be devastating to undercut American national security by voting against our interests and values.”
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Post by Webster on Feb 14, 2024 1:38:36 GMT -5
(The Guardian) White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates continues his memo on the national security bill by breaking down areas of US interest boosted by passage through the Senate but, he says, at risk in a House controlled by Republicans loyal to Donald Trump. Such areas include “Ukraine and Nato”, the latter a subject of special concern in Washington (and in European capitals) this week, after Trump told supporters he would encourage Russia to attack Nato members he did not think paid enough for the privilege of US support. Bates says: “Unhinged, irresponsible voices on the right are even encouraging Russia to attack our closest allies and agitating to unravel Nato – an alliance which is bigger and stronger than ever, thanks in no small part to President Biden’s leadership. Those irresponsible voices are erratic and dangerous.” He also points to a consideration common across the national security package – what it means for Americans who make things like planes and weapons. “Our support for Ukraine is revitalising the American defense industrial base across the country,” Bates says. He also seeks to highlight Iranian support for Vladimir Putin’s Russia in its war in Ukraine and, on the Israel part of the bill, says “a House vote against American national security is a vote against crucial military support for Israel as they defend themselves from the Hamas murderers who committed the worst terrorist massacre in that country’s history and whose leaders have pledged to repeat the attacks of October 7 over and over again until Israel is annihilated”. Bates highlights humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, too. Turning to Taiwan, the Bates memo says Biden is “committed” to the island’s “self-defense capabilities” in the face of “a more assertive Peoples Republic of China”. Bates concludes: “A House vote against American national security would undermine these goals.”
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Post by Webster on Mar 18, 2024 17:26:18 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Meanwhile, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was “critically important” for the US to provide additional military aid to Ukraine, during a meeting with US senator Lindsey Graham. “It is critically important for us that the Congress soon completes all the necessary procedures and makes a final decision … which will strengthen the Ukrainian economy and our armed forces,” Zelenskiy said in a statement, AFP reported. A $60bn aid package to Ukraine is currently being stalled by Republicans in the House of Representatives, who want additional aid to be connected to tougher policies on immigration.
EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said that EU foreign ministers strongly support taking revenue from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, but no consensus has been reached, Reuters reported. “I am not saying there was unanimity but (there was) a strong consensus to take this decision,” Borrell said on Monday to reporters following a meeting with the ministers held in Brussels.
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Post by Webster on Mar 19, 2024 16:28:01 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump, Republicans float turning Ukraine aid into loan to break congressional logjamFor months, Congress has been deadlocked over whether to approve more aid to Ukraine, largely due to objections from Republicans over paying for Kyiv’s defense against Russia’s invasion. Now, an idea is gaining traction among some influential lawmakers to break the logjam: turn the aid into a loan. Lindsey Graham, the Republican South Carolina senator and foreign policy hawk, said that during a recent meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, “I informed him that given the crisis at the United States’ southern border and our overwhelming debt, President Trump’s idea of turning aid from the United States into a no-interest, waivable loan is the most likely path forward. “Once Ukraine gets back on its feet, they will be an economic powerhouse because of their access to mass deposits of critical minerals, oil and gas,” Graham added. Donald Trump, who recently won the delegates necessary to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, has lately proposed that the United States stop giving countries – Ukraine included – aid, and give them loans instead.
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