In Ukraine, relief on U S. aid vote, fear of angry Russia's next moves Los Angeles Times

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• ‘Rivers in the sky’ have drenched California, yet even more extreme rains are possible
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• Why Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2003 tabloid deal came up at Trump’s hush-money trial
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Medicare and Veterans Affairs benefits also continue to be distributed during a shutdown. The bill now heads to the Senate, which is expected to send it to President Joe Biden’s desk by Friday night to avert a shutdown. Information about travel-related expenses incurred by representatives who are reimbursed by non-government sources. Information about certain expenditures for all official foreign travel by representatives and staff.

United States Senate

To that end, $3 billion of the homelessness investment is dedicated to housing for people with the most acute behavioral and physical health needs and will create approximately 22,000 new beds and treatment slots. Democrats staved off most of the policy riders that House Republicans sought to include in the package. For example, they beat back an effort to block new rules that expand access to the abortion pill mifepristone. But Democrats also celebrated what was not included in the bill, beating back Republican demands for conservative policy add-ons. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement Thursday that Democrats "defeated outlandish cuts that would have been a gut punch for American families and our economy" and "fought off scores of extreme policies." Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., filed a motion to vacate Johnson, to oust him from the speakership, on Friday for working with Democrats to pass the bill.

US House passes $95 billion Ukraine, Israel aid package, sends to Senate - Reuters

US House passes $95 billion Ukraine, Israel aid package, sends to Senate.

Posted: Sun, 21 Apr 2024 03:27:00 GMT [source]

‘Rivers in the sky’ have drenched California, yet even more extreme rains are possible

As part of those negotiations, House Republicans pushed to give a few states the ability to disallow the purchase of non-nutritious food, such as sugary drinks and snacks, in the food stamp program known as SNAP. The GOP’s effort was unsuccessful for now, but supporters say they’ll try again in next year’s spending bills. But many Republican lawmakers were seeking much steeper cuts and more policy victories. The House Freedom Caucus, which contains dozens of the GOP’s most conservative members, urged Republicans to vote against the first spending package and oppose the second one being negotiated. A significant number of House Republicans have lined up in opposition to the spending packages, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to use an expedited process to bring the bill up for a vote. That process requires two-thirds of the House to vote for the measure for it to pass.

These are the California cities where $150,000 still buys you a home. Could you live here?

Bill to ban TikTok or require its sale passes House - NPR

Bill to ban TikTok or require its sale passes House.

Posted: Sat, 20 Apr 2024 17:29:00 GMT [source]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a $460 billion package of spending bills Wednesday that would keep money flowing to key federal agencies through the remainder of the budget year. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation before a midnight Friday shutdown deadline. WASHINGTON – The U.S. House passed the final six spending bills needed to avert a government shutdown and finalize funding until September, likely ending a series of shutdown scares that have rocked the country. Taken together, they include the $95 billion aid package championed by Biden, with some changes from the version the Senate passed two months ago. The legislation includes $60 billion for Kyiv; $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific region. It would direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of $10 billion in economic assistance, a concept supported by former President Donald J. Trump, who had pushed for any aid to Kyiv to be in the form of a loan.

Sexton later cleared the galleries, with troopers flooding into the Capitol rotunda to block access from much of the hallway. "We worked with the Senate and representative sponsors of this bill to make it even a little bit safer — anything, really — and I'm utterly disappointed that that was not taken into consideration," she said. She described a number of amendments that Covenant parents discussed with the bill's sponsors — none of which passed.

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Three Republicans on Wednesday joined Democrats in the Arizona House to vote to repeal the state's controversial 1864 ban on nearly all abortions, which was revived by a court ruling earlier this month and which only includes exceptions to save the life of the pregnant woman. Due to the three votes against Jones, he will not be allowed to speak in House proceedings for two days, House ethics counsel Doug Himes confirmed on Tuesday. With lawmakers looking to wrap up session as soon as possible, Jones could be effectively silenced for the rest of the 2024 session. Jones said Todd shoved into him near the well, leading Clemmons to call for a rules violation vote against Todd.

House approves sell-or-be-banned TikTok measure, attaching it to foreign aid bill

Ali Manzo, a Central Valley native and California State Parks interpreter, said the new park will help bring people together and allow them to develop a deeper respect for nature. "In light of this constructive dialogue, the University will continue conversations for the next 48 hours," the statement said. ∎ In the Boston area, encampments have been erected at multiple schools including Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Emerson College.

House Democratic leaders come out in support of CR

The school district's director of schools, the school principal and the chief of the "appropriate" law enforcement agency must sign off on a staff member's authority to carry a concealed handgun, so school administrators could theoretically block any teacher from going armed on campus. The House has pushed a $95-billion national security aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies closer to passage. The House on Saturday passed legislation that could trigger a nationwide ban of TikTok if its Chinese owner does not sell the video app. The bill sets up a submarine deal at the heart of a new security partnership with Britain and Australia known as AUKUS, and directs hundreds of millions of dollars toward sending weapons to Ukraine and Israel. Late Friday, Schumer said the Senate was working to get unanimous agreement to move quickly to vote on the foreign aid legislation.

President Joe Biden has said he’ll sign the bill, but it’s unclear whether Congress has enough time to pass it before the deadline. One of the major changes detractors had proposed centered on restricting the FBI’s access to information about Americans through the program. Though the surveillance tool targets only non-Americans in other countries, it also collects communications of Americans when they are in contact with those targeted foreigners. Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, had been pushing a proposal that would require U.S. officials to get a warrant before accessing American communications.

The House passed a bill to reauthorize and reform a government surveillance tool without including broad restrictions on the FBI’s use to search for Americans’ data. For example, U.S. officials this month laid out intelligence findings that showed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry. Earlier, the White House publicized intelligence that Russia had acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and acquired attack drones from Iran. All the while, senior Biden officials frequently updated McConnell and key House Republican committee leaders, including Reps. Michael McCaul of Texas and Michael R. Turner of Ohio. On explicit orders from Biden, White House officials also avoided directly attacking Johnson over the stalled aid — a directive the president repeatedly instilled in his senior staff.

Still, the measure easily sailed through the House on a vote and is all but guaranteed to become law within weeks, as Gov. Bill Lee can either sign it into law or allow it to become law without his signature. European allies, for their part, had watched the drawn-out aid drama with mounting anxiety and exasperation. Some U.S. lawmakers said coming to Ukraine’s aid now had helped avert sending a dangerous signal of U.S. weakness to Moscow. House of Representatives approved a long-sought $61 billion in aid, breaking a legislative logjam that had deepened hardships on the war’s front lines, and made it difficult for Ukrainian forces to fend off Russian attacks on civilian neighborhoods and critical infrastructure. While there has been no evidence made public that Chinese government officials have accessed Americans' information through TikTok, the idea that China has the theoretical ability to weaponize an app used by half of America has been enough to set off an all-out crackdown. National security officials in Washington have feared that the Chinese government could use TikTok to promote propaganda aimed at interfering in U.S. elections, or surveil some of the 170 million Americans who use the app every month.

The program has come under fire because of how the F.B.I. has handled the private messages of Americans. Republicans and Democrats banded together to push through the legislation over the objections of right-wing lawmakers, who had sought abortion, transgender care and diversity restrictions. Holding the votes was an act of defiance by Johnson against an outspoken faction of conservative rebels who oppose funding for Ukraine and pushed him not to bring it to a vote. Three of them — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. Voting in favor were 101 Republicans and 210 Democrats, while Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., voted present.

And across the Capitol, Johnson’s plan got a bipartisan boost from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggesting the continuing resolution, or CR, is likely to cruise through the Senate if it can first pass out of the House. In four back-to-back votes, overwhelming bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers approved fresh rounds of funding for the three U.S. allies, as well as another bill meant to sweeten the deal for conservatives that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok. The lawmakers had demanded that Schumer allow votes on amendments to the legislation that would seek to address what they see as civil liberty loopholes in the bill. In the end, Schumer was able to cut a deal that would allow critics to receive floor votes on their amendments in exchange for speeding up the process for passage. White House officials came to view Johnson as a direct and honest actor throughout the negotiations, according to a senior administration official.

Additionally, Democrats secured new funding for Alzheimer's research and cancer research, among other initiatives. State Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) struck a late deal to ease some of the opposition with amendments that would delay implementation until April 1 and relax some of the penalties on landlords, though the bill still includes new oversight of eviction processes. Senate Bill 423 helps build on a “track record of success,” said Ray Pearl, executive director of the California Housing Consortium, one of the measure’s sponsors.

Perhaps' one of their most significant wins was halting funding for UNRWA, a United Nations relief agency that is providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza after Israel's allegations that 12 of the agency's staffers abetted Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. Progressive Democrats who voted against the bill balked at the elimination of funding for the aid organization. Despite conservative protests, Republican leaders touted several of their own victories from the bipartisan compromise. Among them, Republican negotiators championed an increase in funding for 22,000 border patrol agents and ICE detention bed capacity for migrants at the southern border. Even before negotiators reached an agreement, more than 40 House conservatives circulated a letter this week urging their fellow Republicans to vote against the final spending product if it did not include their policy demands.

"Under no circumstances can we tolerate a government shutdown," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at a news conference Thursday. "We have a responsibility to make sure that the government is funded, and the six appropriations bills do so in a way that takes care of the health, the safety, the education and the economic well-being of the American people." The bills are expected to be packaged together and sent to the Senate, which will have to vote on the whole legislation to send it to Biden's desk to sign into law. McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are outspoken proponents of the foreign aid provisions in the package. The House voted on the four bills in succession, one day after a rare and extraordinary bipartisan coalition teed up the votes, with more Democrats (165) than Republicans (151) voting for the “rule” to proceed to the measures.