Trump-backed spending bill fails to pass, leaving U.S. government shutdown a looming possibility
A spending bill backed by Donald Trump failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday as dozens of Republicans defied the U.S. president-elect, leaving Congress with no clear plan to avert a fast-approaching government shutdown that could disrupt Christmas travel.
The vote laid bare fault lines in Trump’s Republican Party that could surface again next year when its members gain control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
Trump had pressured lawmakers to tie up loose ends before he takes office on Jan. 20, but members of the party’s right flank refused to support a package that would increase spending and clear the way for a plan that would add trillions more to the federal government’s $36 trillion US in debt.
“I am absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible,” said Republican Rep. Chip Roy, one of 38 Republicans who voted against the bill.
Package fails hours after being assembled
The package failed by a vote of 174-235 just hours after it was hastily assembled by Republican leaders seeking to comply with Trump’s demands. A prior bipartisan deal was scuttled after Trump and the world’s richest person Elon Musk came out against it on Wednesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson provided no details when reporters asked him about next steps after the failed vote.
“We will come up with another solution,” he said.
Government funding is due to expire at midnight on Friday. If lawmakers fail to extend that deadline, the U.S. government will begin a partial shutdown that would interrupt funding for everything from border enforcement to national parks and cut off paycheques for more than two million federal workers.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration warned that travellers during the busy holiday season could face long lines at airports.
The bill that failed on Thursday largely resembled the earlier version that Musk and Trump had blasted as a wasteful giveaway to Democrats. It would have extended government funding into March and provided $100 billion US in disaster relief and suspended the debt. Republicans dropped other elements that had been included in the original package, such as a pay raise for lawmakers and new rules for pharmacy benefit managers.
At Trump’s urging, the new version also would have suspended limits on the national debt for two years — a manoeuvre that would make it easier to pass the dramatic tax cuts he has promised.
Before the vote, Johnson told reporters that the package would avoid disruption, tie up loose ends and make it easier for lawmakers to cut spending by hundreds of billions of dollars when Trump takes office next year.
“Government is too big, it does too many things, and it does few things well,” he said.
Democrats slam bill
Democrats blasted the bill as a cover for a budget-busting tax cut that would largely benefit wealthy backers such as Musk, while saddling the country with trillions of dollars in additional debt.
“How dare you lecture America about fiscal responsibility, ever?” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said during floor debate.
Even if the bill had passed the House, it would have faced long odds in the Senate, which is currently controlled by Democrats. The White House said U.S. President Joe Biden did not support it.
Previous fights over the debt ceiling have spooked financial markets, as a U.S. government default would send credit shocks around the world. The limit has been suspended under an agreement that technically expires on Jan. 1, though lawmakers likely will not have to tackle the issue before the spring.
When he returns to office, Trump aims to enact tax cuts that could reduce revenues by $8 trillion US over 10 years, which would drive the debt higher without offsetting spending cuts. He has vowed not to reduce retirement and health benefits for seniors that make up a vast chunk of the budget and are projected to grow dramatically in the years to come.
The last government shutdown took place in December 2018 and January 2019 during Trump’s first White House term.
The unrest also threatened to topple Johnson, a mild-mannered Louisianian who was thrust unexpectedly into the speaker’s office last year after the party’s right flank voted out then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy over a government funding bill. Johnson has repeatedly had to turn to Democrats for help in passing legislation when he has been unable to deliver the votes from his own party.
He tried the same manoeuvre on Thursday, but this time fell short.
Several Republicans said they would not vote for Johnson as speaker when Congress returns in January, potentially setting up another tumultuous leadership battle in the weeks before Trump takes office.
Published at Fri, 20 Dec 2024 01:28:13 +0000
Luigi Mangione extradited to New York to face federal murder, stalking charges
The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is being charged with federal murder and stalking crimes, according to a court document filed on Thursday, alongside state murder and terrorism charges previously announced by New York prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are charging Luigi Mangione, 26, with the federal crime of murder using a firearm, two charges of stalking and a charge of using an illegal gun silencer, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint accused Mangione of spending months planning an attack driven by his contempt for the health insurance industry and wealthy corporate executives.
Mangione was transferred into the custody of New York City police earlier on Thursday after he waived his right to extradition proceedings at a court hearing in Pennsylvania, the state where he was arrested following a five-day manhunt.
Luigi Mangione now also faces a terrorism charge in New York, for what prosecutors say is the ‘brazen, targeted and premeditated shooting’ of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
According to the federal complaint, a notebook Altoona police found in Mangione’s possession contained several handwritten pages that “express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.” A notebook entry dated Oct. 22 described an intent to “wack” the chief executive of an insurance company at its investor conference.
“This investor conference is a true windfall,” one entry found in the notebook said, according to the complaint. “Most importantly — the message becomes self evident.”
Police also found a letter in the suspect’s possession addressed “To the Feds” that stated: “I wasn’t working with anyone,” according to the complaint.
“This was fairly trivial: Some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience,” the letter said, using an abbreviation for computer-aided design.
Mangione has been ‘overcharged,’ lawyer says
Earlier this week, a grand jury in New York indicted Mangione on 11 counts of breaking state law, including first-degree murder and murder as an act of terrorism. Mangione has been in custody since his arrest and has not yet entered a plea. His New York defence lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has said Mangione has been “overcharged” and that he would fight the charges in court.
Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pa., on Dec. 9, five days after Thompson was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel before a company conference in what law-enforcement officials have called a premeditated assassination.
While the killing of Thompson has been broadly condemned, Mangione has been feted as a folk hero by some Americans who decry the steep costs of healthcare and the power that insurance companies have to deny paying for some medical treatments.
Federal charges potentially allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty, which has been abolished in New York for decades.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called any attempt to rationalize Luigi Mangione’s alleged actions ‘vile’ and ‘reckless.’ Her comments came at a press conference on Tuesday announcing Mangione’s indictment for murder in the killing of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson.
Prosecutors say that Mangione “travelled in interstate commerce” by taking a bus from Atlanta to New York before Thompson’s killing and also used his cellphone and the internet to plan and carry out his attack, and so have jurisdiction.
Mangione is due to make an initial court appearance on the federal charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon.
“The federal government’s reported decision to pile on top of an already overcharged first-degree murder and state terror case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns,” Mangione’s lawyer Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement. “We are ready to fight these charges in whatever court they are brought.”
Supporters crowd courthouse
In Pennsylvania, police said Mangione had a self-assembled 9-mm handgun in his backpack and a homemade silencer when he was arrested after being spotted at a McDonald’s restaurant. The handgun resembled the weapon used to kill Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer.
Mangione, a Maryland native who had lived in Hawaii, also had multiple fake identification documents, including a fake New Jersey ID that was used to check into a Manhattan hostel days before Thompson’s shooting, police said.
In Pennsylvania, Mangione has been charged with forgery and illegally possessing an unlicensed gun.
At the Blair County courthouse on Thursday morning, Mangione, appearing in an orange jail jumpsuit, had a preliminary hearing for the Pennsylvania charges, immediately followed by a second on New York’s extradition request. A small crowd of supporters stood outside the courthouse, some waving signs that condemned the health insurance industry.
The Pennsylvania prosecutors told the court they had agreed to pause the Pennsylvania proceedings until after the conclusion of the New York prosecutions.
Former Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Gulluzzo says Luigi Mangione’s federal charges are ‘somewhat unusual’ as the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is already facing state charges. Gulluzzo explains the federal case could lead to the death penalty, but it could be a year-long process.
Mangione spoke only briefly at the extradition hearing, saying he understood his rights and telling Judge David Consiglio he consented to surrender to New York police.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is accusing Mangione of an act of terrorism under New York law because Thompson’s killing was intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or “influence the policies of a unit of government.”
Published at Sun, 15 Dec 2024 09:00:00 +0000
