Page 12 - Us Republicans

Republican-led committee calls off vote to hold Zuckerberg in contempt

A House committee called off a vote Thursday on a recommendation that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg be held in contempt of Congress for failing to fully supply documents related to an investigation into supposed censorship by tech companies of conservatives. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican and chair of the Judiciary Committee, tweeted shortly before the committee was to meet that, "Based on Facebook's newfound commitment to fully cooperate with the Committee's investigation, the Committee has decided to hold contempt in abeyance. For now." Jordan added that contempt is still on the table and would be used if Facebook fails to cooperate in FULL. If the committee had moved forward, it would have been up to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to hold a full House vote on the contempt resolution as early as this fall, after the August recess. If the House were to hold Zuckerberg in contempt, the Justice Department would decide whether to prosecute him. Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta

GOP moves to push off Biden impeachment, as hard-right clamours for action

Eager to impeach President Joe Biden, hard-right House Republicans forced a vote Thursday that would send the matter to congressional committees in a clear demonstration of the challenge that Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces in controlling the majority party. The ability of single lawmaker, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., to push forward the impeachment resolution caught Republicans off guard by the unscripted move this week. Many viewed it as a political distraction from other priorities. The measure charges Biden with high crimes and misdemeanors over his handling of the U.S. border with Mexico. Boebert, backed by her allies, showed how a lone lawmaker in the 435-member House could use the chamber's rules to force a snap vote on such a grave constitutional matter. The vote would send impeachment to committees for possible consideration, like any other bill. The House is taking historic action, Boebert said during the debate. The dayslong episode underscores the hold tthat he House ...

From green-diamonds to Robert Frost poems: Gifts that Modi, Biden exchanged

The green diamond gifted to the US First Lady Jill Biden reflects earth-mined diamonds' chemical and optical properties

Democrats and Republicans share core values but still distrust each other

Americans on the right and the left have a lot more in common than they might think including their strong distrust of each other. A survey published on Wednesday finds that when asked about core values including fairness, compassion and personal responsibility, about nine in 10 Democrats and Republicans agreed they were very or extremely important. Yet only about a third of either group said they believed the same was true for the opposing party. The results of the survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago and the nonprofit group Starts With Us, reveal a stark truth at the source of the polarization that has a powerful grip on American politics: While most Americans agree on the core principles underlying American democracy, they no longer recognise that the other side also holds those values. This is a hidden opportunity for Americans to reestablish a sense of shared values, said Tom Fishman, chief executive at Starts With Us, a nonpartisan organisation that works to

Debt ceiling deal advances pipeline and tweaks rules, but more work remains

Despite weeks of negotiations, the White House and House Republicans were unable to reach a comprehensive agreement to overhaul environmental regulations and streamline federal permitting as part of their debt ceiling deal, instead settling for limited changes that could simplify and expedite some project reviews. The legislation, approved late Wednesday by the House, includes provisions to speed up infrastructure projects under the landmark National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. However, it does not clear the way to build large-scale electricity transmission lines, instead ordering a two-year study of the issue. The budget deal was being debated Thursday in the Senate, where lawmakers are working to meet a Monday deadline before the U.S. risks a devastating default. One project got special treatment: the legislation essentially ensures construction of the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, a $6.6 billion project to transport natural gas through Appalachia. The White House

US Republicans get their IRS cuts; Democrats expect little near-term impact

House Republicans are seeking to make good on their campaign promise to rein in the IRS with cutbacks built into the debt ceiling and budget cuts package moving through Congress. The bill rescinds $1.4 billion given to federal tax collector in the Democrats' health and energy package that was approved last year on party-line votes. The White House says the debt deal also includes a separate agreement to take $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years and divert those funds to other nondefense programs. Democrats expended a lot of political capital to get the IRS more money last year. They faced an onslaught of campaign ads, many of them misleading, about the expected hiring of 87,000 new agents to target low- and middle-class Americans. Now, Biden administration officials are offering assurances that the spending cuts secured by Republican negotiators will have minimal impact on the agency's operations over the next few years. The agency is on course to still get nearly ...

McCarthy predicts debt ceiling deal will pass with Republican support

After weeks of tough negotiations McCarthy and Biden reached a tentative agreement this weekend, but now face the challenge of getting a deal through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives

GOP must move off extreme positions on raising debt limit, says Joe Biden

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Republicans in the US House must move off their "extreme positions" on the now-stalled talks over raising America's debt limit and that there would be no agreement to avert a catastrophic default only on their terms. It's time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely, solely, on their partisan terms," Biden said in Hiroshima, Japan, where he attended the Group of Seven summit. Biden said he had done his part in trying to raising the debt ceiling so the US government can keep paying its bills. Now it's time for the other side to move from their extreme position, he said. Biden and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., were expected to talk later Sunday, likely as Biden flew home on Air Force One after cutting short his trip in light of the strained negotiations. My guess is he's going to want to deal directly with me in making sure we're all on the same page," Biden said of McCarthy, adding that he ...

Debt limit standoff brings little action, world leaders watch for progress

Debt limit negotiations between the White House and House Republicans hung over the weekend with tough talk but little action, as President Joe Biden and world leaders kept watch from afar hoping high-stakes discussions would make progress on avoiding a potentially catastrophic federal default. The Biden administration and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., are racing for a budget deal that would pave the way to increase the nation's debt limit. Republicans are demanding steep spending cuts that Democrats oppose as too severe. The two sides are up against a deadline as soon as June 1 to raise its borrowing limit, now at USD 31 trillion, so the government can keep paying the nation's bills. With talks frozen on Saturday as each side accused the other of being unreasonable, Biden was frequently briefed on the status of negotiations and directed his team to set up a call with McCarthy on Sunday morning, after he concludes meetings at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, ...

Republican negotiators walk out of debt talks, say White House unreasonable

"Unless they (WH) are willing to have reasonable conversations about how you can actually move forward and do the right thing, we're not going to sit here and talk to ourselves"

Republicans have used immigration reform as political tool: White House

The opposition Republican party has used comprehensive immigration reform as a political stunt and a political tool and they are not interested in resolving the issue, the White House has said. As we've seen, Republicans have continued to use this as a political stunt, a political tool, and not actually come to the table to have a conversation on how to protect Dreamers and farm workers. You know, more immigration judges and asylum officers are needed. More funding for border security is needed, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference on Monday. This is something that we have put forward in that legislation and so much more. They don't want to do that. They want to do political stunts, as we've seen from governors and mayors across the country, she alleged responding to a question on comprehensive immigration reform in particular on legal immigration. President Joe Biden on the very first day of his administration, put forth ...

Biden unveils $6.9 trn budget, raises tax on rich, boosts spending on infra

US President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a USD 6.9 trillion annual budget for the year 2024, which proposes a hefty tax on the rich, massive spending on social measures and investment on building key infrastructure. The budget was termed a "non-starter" by the Republicans who have a majority in the House of Representatives. Biden at a rally in Philadelphia asserted that his budget reflects what "we can do to" lift the burden on hard working Americans and it would reduce the deficit this year by USD 160 billion. "To support working parents, my budget expands access to affordable childcare for millions of families. And it's going to invest in paid family medical leave," Biden said, adding that his budget also invests in elder care and home care and restores the child tax credit. Biden said the budget will deliver funding to help the US lead the world again. "My budget also invests in critical issues that matter to families, increasing the supply of affordable housing, lower rental

Joe Biden shames Republicans for playing down Jan 6 Congress attack

Biden expressed support for the Capitol Hill police, whose chief has accused Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson of manipulating video footage of the unprecedented assault after Trump's election defeat

Both Democrats, Republicans responsible for US spending crisis: Nikki Haley

Ahead of the annual budgetary proposals by President Joe Biden later this week, Indian-American presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday blamed both the Democrats and Republicans for America's spending crisis and the massive debt that it has now accumulated over its head. Asserting that the US needs to stop America sliding towards bankruptcy, Haley in an op-ed in the USA Today pledged that as president, she would veto spending bills that don't put America on track to reach pre-pandemic spending levels. "It's time someone in Washington stood up for taxpayers and stopped America's slide toward bankruptcy," she wrote as she acknowledged that her move would upset the stakeholders in both the Republican and Democratic party. "These fights will inevitably pit me against Republicans as well as Democrats, but I'm used to it. As the governor of South Carolina, I took on both parties to stop wasteful spending and to put every spending vote on the record, a fundamental measure of ...

Nikki Haley pledges to cut billions in aid to Pak, other US adversaries

According to Haley, America spent USD 46 billion on foreign aid last year. That's more than any other country by far. Taxpayers deserve to know where that money is going and what it's doing

US: Election conspiracist Kristina Karamo to lead Michigan GOP through 2024

Election conspiracist Kristina Karamo, who was overwhelmingly defeated in her bid to become Michigan's secretary of state, was chosen Saturday to lead the state's Republican Party for the next two years. Karamo defeated a 10-candidate field dominated by far-right candidates to win the Michigan GOP chair position after a state convention that lasted nearly 11 hours. A former community college professor, she lost her secretary of state race in the 2022 midterms by 14 percentage points after mounting a campaign filled with election conspiracies. Karamo inherits a state party torn by infighting and millions in debt. She will be tasked with helping win back control of the Legislature and flipping one of the nation's most competitive Senate seats, while attempting to help a presidential candidate win the battleground state. Addressing delegates before the vote, Karamo said that "our party is dying" and it needs to be rebuilt into "a political machine that strikes fear in the heart of ...

Underdog syndrome: Meet Nikki Haley, Republican presidential candidate

In her biography, Haley says she is proud of being an underdog. It is not clear if the Republicans are ready to back underdogs just yet

From China to big sky: The balloon that unnerved the White House

The biggest question was how would China respond to all the furore that was unfolding at a rapid pace as Asia was asleep

House Republicans demands visitor logs in Biden classified docs case

The White House on Saturday said it had discovered five additional pages of classified documents at Biden's home on Thursday

US House Republicans launch probe into chaotic exit from Afghanistan

Michael McCaul said the US House Foreign Affairs Committee will use the authorities available to it to enforce requests for information as necessary