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House Republicans rejected a pair of Democratic-backed resolutions Wednesday that would have put a check on President Donald Trump's power to use military force against drug cartels and the nation of Venezuela. Democrats forced the votes using war powers resolutions as Trump has stepped up his threats against the South American nation and Congress has questioned how the US military is conducting a campaign that has destroyed 26 vessels allegedly carrying drugs and killed at least 99 people, including an attack Wednesday. The legislation would have forced the Trump administration to seek authorization from Congress before continuing attacks against cartels that it deems to be terrorist organizations in the Western Hemisphere or launching an attack on Venezuela itself. Rep Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, argued that Trump's aggressions in the region were really because the president is coveting Venezuelan oil. They were the first votes in the ..
The Senate gave final passage to an annual military policy bill Wednesday that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela. The annual National Defense Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress, and the White House has indicated that it is in line with President Donald Trump's national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran over 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and towards Central and South America. The bill pushes back on recent moves by the Pentagon. It demands more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean, requires that the U.S. keep its troop levels in Europe at current levels and sends some military aid to Ukraine. But
Nearly two dozen House Republicans joined Democrats Thursday to pass a bill that would restore collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees, an attempt to overturn an executive order that President Donald Trump issued earlier this year. The measure passed 231-195 after reaching the floor through a bipartisan maneuver that bypassed GOP leadership a so-called "discharge" tactic that is being used with growing frequency as Republicans seethe over dysfunction in the chamber. The bill still needs Senate approval to become law, but 20 Republicans sided with Democrats in a rare break from the president. The executive order that Trump issued in March aimed to end collective bargaining for employees of agencies with national security missions across the federal government. He said he had the authority to revoke the rights under a 1978 law. "Reinstating these rights is not a concession, it is a commitment. A commitment to treat federal workers with dignity, to
The Senate on Thursday rejected legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year. Senators rejected a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies for three years and a Republican alternative that would have created new health savings accounts an unceremonious end to a monthslong effort by Democrats to prevent the COVID-19-era subsidies from expiring on January 1. Ahead of the votes, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York warned Republicans that if they did not vote to extend the tax credits, "there won't be another chance to act, before premiums rise for many people who buy insurance off the ACA marketplaces. Let's avert a disaster, Schumer said. The American people are watching. Republicans have argued that Affordable Care Act plans are too expensive and need to be overhauled. The health savings accounts in the GOP bill would give money directly to consume
The Senate is poised on Thursday to reject legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits for millions of Americans, a potentially unceremonious end to a monthslong Democratic effort to prevent the COVID-era subsidies from expiring on January 1. Despite a bipartisan desire to continue the credits, Republicans and Democrats have never engaged in meaningful or high-level negotiations on a solution. Instead, the Senate is expected to vote on two partisan bills and defeat them both essentially guaranteeing that many who buy their health insurance on the ACA marketplaces see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year. It's too complicated and too difficult to get done in the limited time that we have left, said Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who has unsuccessfully pushed his Republican colleagues to extend the tax credits for a short time so they can find agreement on the issue next year. Neither side has seemed interested in compromise. Democrats who forced a ..
US Southern Command announced that it conducted another strike against a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, following a pause of almost three weeks. Thursday's strike is the 22nd the US military has carried out against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that the Trump administration claimed were trafficking drugs. There were four casualties in Thursday's strike, according to the social media post, bringing the death toll of the campaign to at least 87 people. In a video that accompanied the announcement, a small boat can be seen moving across the water before it is suddenly consumed by a large explosion. The video then zooms out to show the boat covered in flames and billowing smoke. The strike was conducted the same day Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the US Capitol as lawmakers began an investigation into the very first strike carried out by the military on September 2. The sessions came after a repor
A Navy admiral told lawmakers Thursday that there was no kill them all order from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth as Congress scrutinises an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela. Adm Frank Mitch Bradley "was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all. He was given an order that, of course, was written down in great detail, said Sen Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing. Cotton defended the attack, but a Democrat who also was briefed said that while there was no kill them all order from Hegseth, he was still deeply concerned by video of the second strike. What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service, Connecticut Rep Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters. You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of .
Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is resigning from OpenAI's board of directors, the ChatGPT maker said Wednesday. His departure comes after the release of emails showing he maintained a friendly relationship with Jeffrey Epstein long after the financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008. Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision, the board said in a statement. We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board. The announcement arrived one day after Summers said he's stepping back from public commitments.
Both the House and Senate acted decisively Tuesday to pass a bill to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a remarkable display of approval for an effort that had struggled for months to overcome opposition from President Donald Trump and Republican leadership. When a small, bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a petition in July to maneuver around House Speaker Mike Johnson's control of which bills reach the House floor, it appeared a longshot effort especially as Trump urged his supporters to dismiss the matter as a hoax. But both Trump and Johnson failed in their efforts to prevent the vote. Now the president has bowed to the growing momentum behind the bill and even said he will sign it. Just hours after the House passed the bill, the Senate agreed to pass the bill with unanimous consent once it is sent to the Senate. The bill passed the House 427-1, with the only no vote coming from Rep. Clay Higgins
The House is heading toward a vote on a bill to force the Justice Department to release the case files it has collected on the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, pushing past a monthslong effort by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders to stymie the effort. The push for more disclosure in the years-old sex trafficking investigation into Epstein has come roaring back since the House returned to Washington after a nearly two-month absence during the government shutdown. As lawmakers returned last week, they were greeted by new details from a tranche of Epstein's emails, including claims that Trump had spent hours at Epstein's house with a sex trafficking victim and that he knew about the girls." The new revelations and the coming vote showed one of the rare instances where Trump has not been able to exhibit almost total control over his party. Yet the sex trafficking case into Epstein has only grown in political influence since Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while ...
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended an order blocking full SNAP payments, amid signals that the government shutdown could soon end and food aid payments resume. The order keeps in place at least for a few more days a chaotic situation. People who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to feed their families in some states have received their full monthly allocations, while others have received nothing. The Senate has approved a bill to end the shutdown and the House of Representatives could vote on it as early as Wednesday. Reopening the government would restart the program that helps 42 million Americans buy groceries, but it's not clear how quickly full payments would resume. The justices chose what is effectively the path of least resistance, anticipating the shutdown will end soon while avoiding any substantive legal ruling about whether lower court orders to keep full payments flowing during the shutdown are correct.
People in some US states will be able to buy groceries with federally funded SNAP benefits Saturday while those in other states were still waiting for November food benefits that had been delayed by a protracted legal battle over the federal government shutdown. The Trump administration initially said last month that it would not fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for November because of the US government shutdown. The twists and turns since have exacerbated uncertainty for the nearly one in eight Americans who receive monthly SNAP benefits to spend at grocery stores and farmer's markets. On Friday, some states began issuing full monthly SNAP benefits to people, a day after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide the funds. But Friday night, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused that judicial order to allow time for an appeals court to decide whether to issue a more lasting halt. Jackson acted because she handles ...
The Congress on Tuesday said a bill introduced in the US Senate proposing a 25 per cent tax on any American person making an outsourcing payment will "light a fire in the Indian economy" if it becomes a reality. The opposition party said the bill reflects a growing mindset in the US that while blue-collar jobs were "lost" to China, white-collar jobs should not be "lost to India." Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh made the remarks, referring to the Halting International Relocation of Employment Act, or HIRE Act Bill, introduced on October 6 by Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance, he said on X. The bill proposes a 25 per cent tax on any US person making an outsourcing payment, defined as "any money paid by a US company or taxpayer to a foreign person whose work benefits consumers in the United States," he said. The bill has a direct and deep impact on India's IT services, BPO, consulting and GCC
A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred President Donald Trump's administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon until at least Friday, saying she found no credible evidence that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalised the troops earlier this fall. The city and state sued in September to block the deployment. It's the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other US cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalise and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests. The ruling from US District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city's US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law. In a 16-page filing late Sunday, Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence ...
Republicans and Democrats remained at a stalemate on the government shutdown over the weekend as it headed into its sixth week, with food aid potentially delayed or suspended for millions of Americans and President Donald Trump pushing GOP leaders to change Senate rules to end it. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that Trump has spoken to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson as he has publicly and repeatedly pushed for an end to the Senate filibuster. But Republicans have strongly rejected Trump's calls since his first term, arguing that the rule requiring 60 votes to overcome any objections in the Senate is vital to the institution and has allowed them to stop Democratic policies when they are in the minority. Leavitt said Sunday that the Democrats are crazed people who haven't shown any signs of budging. That's why President Trump has said Republicans need to get tough, they need to get smart, and they need to use this option to