Let’s go for GOOD NEWS. Biden and Xi Jinping met; the meeting went well. They patched things up, recommitted agreements on Climate Change, and “for the first time in years, a Chinese leader desperately needed a few things from the United States.” The one disagreement: What President Biden sees as necessary for national security (chips), Xi believes is economic strangulation. But for now, business is returning to a more normal situation, and with crossed fingers, there seems to be some agreement about Taiwan (no war) and Ukraine (must win).
More GOOD NEWS: The federal government shutdown has been put off again. The Senate passed the House’s stopgap funding bill 87 to 11. Biden is expected to sign the bill. The House went home yesterday, and the Senate leaves on Friday.
More GOOD NEWS: Senate Majority Leader Schumer has started down the path of artful “workarounds.” A Senate committee voted Tuesday to temporarily change the Senate’s rules so that it could start confirming large groups of military promotions, even if Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville continues blocking them.
“If every one of us had the temerity, the recklessness to do what Sen. Tuberville has done, we’d have no military,” Schumer stated at the hearing. “We need to get these military nominees confirmed ASAP for national security. … The idea of blocking the confirmations of military officers to make a political statement has long been considered unthinkable.
Still, there is a category of “We can’t believe this happened, but it did!” Here is the list of Members who prefer shutting down the government instead of governing: ten Republicans: Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jim Risch of Idaho, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Rick Scott of Florida, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, and JD Vance of Ohio, and one Democrat — Michael Bennet of Colorado.
To be fair, Bennet is not on this “want children to go hungry list.” He voted no to passage because “the funding package left out Ukraine.” The others voted no because they wanted big funding cuts — hurtful cuts that would mean children would go hungry, strategies to build back farmland would be stopped, and both Medicare and Social Security would be endangered if not eliminated.
Hmm. Should we call this GOOD NEWS? Maybe not “good,” but definitely progress. The House Ethics Committee on Thursday found “substantial evidence” that Representative George Santos violated federal law, setting the stage for another push to expel the embattled first-term Republican from New York and prompting him to declare that he would not seek re-election.
- See the House Ethics Committee Report here. It’s long — damning, and filled with many, MANY! Immoral and illegal actions, so skip to pages 54 – 56 for the summary. We can’t believe House Ethics waited so long to investigate, and sadly, Santos is still voting even though New York Republican Members of Congress have called for his dismissal.
We can’t believe this happened BUT Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin tried to pick a fight with Sean O’Brien, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, when O’Brien testified. Mullin, in a formal Committee Hearing, used his time to respond to an earlier O’Brien tweet, and things got ugly when Mullin threatened to fight O’Brien. Chairman Bernie Sanders shouted, “This is a Hearing, and God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress,” as he pushed Mullin to sit down (and shut up!)
Mullin has taken to the news to defend himself, doubling down on his challenge to O’Brien while promising to bite him. Bite? Yes, bite. No ordinary, physical fight with fists is enough. Mullin promises to use his teeth to fight and bite O’Brien.
But wait, there is more, i.e., more proof that Republicans can’t govern. This happened, too! “Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, one of the eight Republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership last month, claimed to ABC News that former Speaker McCarthy elbowed him in the back after a House GOP meeting on Tuesday morning. …” Did this really happen? MY RURAL AMERICA doesn’t know. Nor does anyone else, but Burchett’s story definitely made the news, even though no teeth were involved.
David Sanger, NYTimes: For Biden, a Subtle Shift in the Power Balance With China’s Xi Jinping
Rachel Scott, Lauren Peller, Allison Pecorin, and Sarah Beth Hensley, ABC News: Democrats help Johnson pass GOP bill to avoid government shutdown
Doug G. Ware, Stars and Stripes: Senate panel advances rule change to get around Tuberville’s blockade on military promotions
Newsweek reports … see the video: Republican Senator Threatens to Bite Man: ‘I’m Not Above It’
Jay O’Brien, Benjamin Siegel, Rachel Scott, Lauren Peller, and John Parkinson, ABC News: GOP lawmaker claims Kevin McCarthy elbowed him after a meeting, sparking an altercation.