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US Senate passes $95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

The Senate early Tuesday passed a USD 95.3 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, pushing ahead after months of difficult negotiations and amid growing political divisions in the Republican Party over the role of the United States abroad. The vote came after a small group of Republicans opposed to the USD 60 billion for Ukraine held the Senate floor through the night, using the final hours of debate to argue that the US should focus on its own problems before sending more money overseas. But more than a dozen Republicans voted with almost all Democrats to pass the package 70-29, with supporters arguing that abandoning Ukraine could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and threaten national security across the globe. It's been years, perhaps decades, since the Senate has passed a bill that so greatly impacts not just our national security, not just the security of our allies, but also the security of western democracy, said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who .

Meta CEO Zuckerberg apologises to parents at US Senate social media hearing

Under prodding from Republican Senator Josh Hawley, Zuckerberg stood up and addressed families who held up pictures of their children who they said had been harmed by social media

Senators race to finish work on deal as aid to Ukraine hangs in balance

A deal in the Senate on border policies was being finalized Monday as senators returned to Washington for what could be a pivotal week for a painstakingly negotiated compromise that could open the door for Republican support to replenish US wartime aid for Ukraine. A core group of negotiators have been laboring for nearly two months over changes to US border and immigration policy and hoped to unveil the legislation later this week. But the bipartisan group is treading on one of the most explosive issues in American politics, and the legislation faces heavy skepticism from the wings of both political parties, including Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, an arch-conservative who has shown little willingness to compromise on border policy. With the House on recess, the Senate has an opportunity this week to gain momentum for the initiative. Republican senators want a robust showing of GOP support for the bill to put pressure on ...

Biden's push for Ukraine aid stalls in Senate as negotiations drag on

President Joe Biden's push to have Congress replenish wartime aid for Ukraine as part of a deal on border and immigration policy changes will almost certainly drag into next year. The Senate, which had postponed its holiday recess, returned to Washington on Monday after negotiators worked through the weekend on the border legislation, trying to reach an agreement that could unlock the Republican votes for Biden's USD 110 billion package of aid for Ukraine, Israel and other security priorities. But senators said they still had plenty of work ahead, and it remained uncertain how many more days the Senate will remain in session this week. Barely half of the senators returned for a Monday evening vote. Obviously we need time, said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the top Democratic negotiator. The delay heaps more uncertainty on the future of the Biden administration's priority of providing support against Russia's invasion. It also puts a potential pause on politically fraught ...

US Senate passes annual defence policy bill with $886 billion package

The National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) is one of the largest bills passed annually by lawmakers and is a yearlong process for Congress

US Senators criticise India on allegations of plot to kill separatist Sikh

A bipartisan group of influential American Senators has criticised India after US prosecutors linked an Indian official to a man charged with conspiring to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York. The Senators were speaking at a Congressional hearing Transnational Repression: A Global Threat to Rights and Security' organised on Wednesday by the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Ben Cardin, chairman of the Committee, said: We've seen disturbing allegations against an Indian government official for involvement in planning to assassinate a US citizen in New York, who was critical of the Indian government. This follows allegations of India's involvement in the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader. Earlier this year, the Modi government had labelled both critics as terrorists. The hearing was organised with China in the focus, but India popped up several times, mainly because of the allegations from Canada and the US regarding the theme. US federal prosecutors o

Credit Suisse reinstates independent overseer for Nazi-account probe

The bank confirmed the decision Tuesday, taking the unusual step of amending a press release it issued in April to delete criticism of Barofsky's work.

Biden's allies in Senate demand that Israel limit civilian deaths in Gaza

As a cease-fire ticked down last week and Israel prepared to resume its round-the-clock airstrikes, Sen. Bernie Sanders and a robust group of Democratic senators had a message for their president: They were done asking nicely for Israel to do more to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza. Lawmakers warned President Joe Biden's national security team that planned U.S. aid to Israel must be met with assurances of concrete steps from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government. The truth is that if asking nicely worked, we wouldn't be in the position we are today, Sanders of Vermont said in a floor speech. It was time for the United States to use its substantial leverage with its ally, Sanders said. And we all know what that leverage is, he said, adding, the blank-check approach must end. With Biden's request for a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs hanging in the balance, the senators' tougher line on Israel has ..

House votes to prevent govt shutdown as Speaker Johnson relies on Democrats

The House voted overwhelmingly to prevent a government shutdown after new Republican Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to reach across the aisle to Democrats when hard-right conservatives revolted against his plan. The bipartisan tally 336-95 with 93 Republicans voting no showed Johnson's willingness to leave his right-flank Republicans behind and work with Democrats to temporarily keep the government running the same political move that cost the last House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, his job just weeks ago. This time, Johnson of Louisiana appeared on track for a temporarily better outcome. His approach, which the Senate is expected to approve by week's end, effectively pushes a final showdown over government funding to the new year. Making sure that government stays in operation is a matter of conscience for all of us. We owe that to the American people," Johnson said earlier on Tuesday at a news conference at the Capitol. The new Republican leader faced the same political problem t

House speaker's race hits impasse as defeated Jim Jordan wants to try again

Refusing to drop out, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan has brought the House speaker's race to a stalemate the hard-fighting ally of Donald Trump has been unable to win the gavel but he and his far-right allies won't step aside for a more viable GOP nominee. The House is tentatively set to convene sometime Thursday afternoon for Jordan to try again. But there's a sinking realization that the House could remain endlessly stuck, out of service and without a leader for the foreseeable future as the Republican majority spirals deeper into dysfunction. The impasse has left some Republican lawmakers settling in for a protracted stretch without a House speaker. I think clearly Nov. 17 is a real date, said Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., who leads a large conservative caucus, referring to the next deadline for Congress to approve funding or risk a federal government shutdown. Next steps were highly uncertain as angry, frustrated Republicans looked at other options. A bipartisan group of lawmakers ...

Republicans reject Jordan for speaker on ballot, but more votes likely

Republicans rejected Rep. Jim Jordan for House speaker on a first ballot on Tuesday, as an unexpectedly numerous 20 holdouts denied the hard-charging ally of Donald Trump the GOP majority needed to seize the gavel. More voting is expected as Jordan works to shore up support to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy for the job but the House immediately went into recess as the firebrand leader of the GOP's hard-right flank struggled to take a central seat of US power. After two weeks of angry Republican infighting since McCarthy was removed by hard-liners, the House vote quickly became a showdown for the gavel. Reluctant Republicans refused to give Jordan their votes, viewing the Ohio congressman as too extreme for the powerful position of House speaker, second in line to the presidency. In all, 212 Democrats voted unanimously for their House leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, while 200 Republicans voted for Jordan and 20 for someone else. Jeffries has no chance of winning, and Jordan .

US Republicans set to vote on a new House speaker. Here's what to know

Republicans are heading to the House on Tuesday for the second time this Congress to try and elect a speaker, marking what they hope will be a unifying moment for a party that has been in turmoil for weeks. GOP lawmakers are expected to rally their votes behind Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be the next speaker despite reluctance from some who are wary of his hardline approach. Conservatives have been mounting an intense pressure campaign to persuade the final holdouts to support him. Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, won the GOP's nomination for speaker in a secret ballot on Friday. But a second round of voting showed that more than 50 Republicans would oppose Jordan on the floor, leaving him well short of the 217 votes needed to win the gavel. Since then, with the help of former President Donald Trump and some in conservative media, Jordan has managed to flip a substantial number of detractors in his favour. But he'll need the backing of nearly every Republican

Nominated to be House speaker, Scalise left searching for votes to win

Republicans nominated Rep. Steve Scalise on Wednesday to be the next House speaker but struggled to quickly unite their deeply divided majority and elect the conservative in a public floor vote after the historic ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the job. In private balloting at the Capitol, House Republicans narrowly pushed aside Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the firebrand Judiciary Committee chairman, in favour of Scalise, the current majority leader. The Louisiana congressman, who is battling blood cancer, is seen as a hero to some after surviving a shooting on lawmakers at a congressional baseball game practice in 2017. We have a lot of work to do, Scalise said afterward. A floor vote of the whole House was expected, but tensions are still running high among Republicans who have brought the House to a standstill with bitter infighting after McCarthy's stunning removal last week. The House was gavelled into a brief session, then broke indefinitely, with next steps uncertain. It's an .

Trump endorses Jim Jordan to succeed Kevin McCarthy as House speaker

Former President Donald Trump is officially backing Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the pugnacious House Judiciary Committee chairman and longtime Trump defender, to succeed Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio's 4th Congressional District, Trump wrote on his Truth Social site shortly after midnight. He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement! The announcement came hours after Texas Rep. Troy Nehls said Thursday night that Trump had decided to back Jordan's bid.

McCarthy's ouster leaves House adrift as divided Republicans seek to unite

The stunning removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker has left the House adrift as Republicans struggle to bring order to their fractured majority and begin the difficult and potentially prolonged process of uniting around a new leader. The House convened briefly on Wednesday and then went into recess, with North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, the caretaker speaker pro-tempore, serving in the job with very little power for the foreseeable future. Other Republicans left Washington, awaiting the next steps. The House will try to elect a speaker as soon as next week. The timing is nowhere near certain as Republicans line up for their chance at the gavel amid the bitter divisions that sparked the chaos. The House majority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., is in line for the post, but he faced an immediate challenge from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the Judiciary Committee chairman and a favourite of conservatives, who quickly announced his own candidacy. Others are expected to emerge. Many do

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McCarthy's ouster as speaker could cost GOP its best fundraiser heading

Kevin McCarthy spent years raising mountains of Republican campaign cash, flying around the country to recruit top candidates in key districts and painstakingly building political relationships as he worked his way toward becoming speaker of the House. Now that he's been ousted from the post after less than nine months, some in the GOP are wondering if anyone can take his place as a fundraising dynamo and party builder. The House isn't scheduled to vote on who could replace McCarthy until at least next week with all legislative work suspended as the chamber navigates a situation never before seen in the nation's history. In the meantime, House Republicans have no clear leader heading into next year's election as they cling to a razor-thin majority. Nobody can raise money like him, said Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D. And no matter who is the next speaker of the House, none of them can do what Kevin McCarthy did. The National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP's House campaign

Ukraine aid left out of funding package, raises questions about US support

Congressional supporters of Ukraine say they won't give up after a bill to keep the federal government open excluded President Joe Biden's request to provide more security assistance to the war-torn nation. Still, many lawmakers acknowledge that winning approval for Ukraine assistance in Congress is growing more difficult as the war between Russia and Ukraine grinds on. Republican resistance to the aid has been gaining momentum in the halls of Congress. Voting in the House this past week pointed to the potential trouble ahead. Nearly half of House Republicans voted to strip USD 300 million from a defence spending bill to train Ukrainian soldiers and purchase weapons. The money later was approved separately, but opponents of Ukraine support celebrated their growing numbers. Then, on Saturday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy omitted additional Ukraine aid from a measure to keep the government running until Nov. 17. In doing so, he closed the door on a Senate package that would have ...

Threat of govt shutdown ends as Congress passes temporary funding plan

On the brink of a federal government shutdown, the House on Saturday swiftly approved 45-day funding bill to keep federal agencies open as Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts and relied on Democratic votes for passage to send the package to the Senate. The new approach would leave behind aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of GOP lawmakers, but the plan would increase federal disaster assistance by $16 billion, meeting President Joe Biden's full request. The House vote was 335-91. With hours to go for the midnight deadline to fund the government, the Senate was also in for a rare weekend session and prepared to act next. We're going to do our job, McCarthy said ahead of voting. We're going to be adults in the room. And we're going to keep government open. With no deal in place before Sunday, federal workers will face furloughs, more than 2 million active-duty and reserve military troops will work without pay and programmes a

On the brink of govt shutdown, US Senate tries to approve funding

The US is on the brink of a federal government shutdown after hard-right Republicans in Congress rejected a longshot effort to keep offices open as they fight for steep spending cuts and strict border security measures that Democrats and the White House say are too extreme. Come midnight Saturday with no deal in place, federal workers will face furloughs, more than 2 million active duty and reserve military troops will work without pay and programs and services that Americans rely on from coast to coast will begin to face shutdown disruptions. The Senate will be in for a rare Saturday session to advance its own bipartisan package that is supported by Democrats and Republicans and would fund the government for the short-term, through Nov. 17. But even if the Senate can rush to wrap up its work this weekend to pass the bill, which also includes money for Ukraine aid and U.S. disaster assistance, it won't prevent an almost certain shutdown amid the chaos in the House. On Friday, a ...