(CNN)California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu said he will donate more than $18,000 in campaign contributions from Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor who is being investigated following the second death at his home since the summer of 2017.
Iran immediately rejected the speech.
“Whenever/wherever U.S. interferes, chaos, repression and resentment follow,” the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, posted on Twitter hours after Mr. Pompeo spoke. “The day Iran mimics U.S. clients & @SecPompeo’s ‘human rights models’ — be it the Shah or current butchers — to become a ‘normal’ country is the day hell freezes over.”
Mr. Pompeo’s assertion of American purpose in the Middle East comes at a moment when Washington’s will to lead has been widely questioned.
The decision to withdraw from Syria has created a diplomatic tangle with Turkey and, since the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis over the Syria announcement, has led to fears among allies that Mr. Trump is not on the same page as his national security team.
While Mr. Obama spoke with the air of the professor he once was, Mr. Pompeo stressed his military background, Christian faith and fondness for plain speaking. “It is a truth that isn’t often spoken in this part of the world, but I’m a military man by training, so I’ll put it bluntly: America is a force for good in the Middle East. Period.”
Mr. Obama’s era was time of disastrous misjudgments, he said. “What did we learn from all this?” he said. “When America retreats, chaos follows. When we neglect our friends, resentment builds. When we partner with enemies, they advance.”
Former Obama officials sprang to defend their legacy.
“Listening to Secretary Pompeo’s speech is like listening to someone from a parallel universe,” said Robert Malley, Mr. Obama’s coordinator for the Middle East. He called the speech “a self-congratulatory, delusional depiction of the Trump administration’s Middle East policy.”
Jeffrey Prescott of National Security Action, a group led by former Obama officials, said it showcased the Trump administration’s obsession with Iran and with Mr. Obama. “Pompeo sees his audience as the region’s autocrats rather than its people,” he said.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/world/middleeast/mike-pompeo-speech-middle-east-obama.html
In the second-longest shutdown in US government history, Donald Trump continues to demand more than $5bn for a border wall. Congress is in deadlock, and some 800,000 federal employees have been sent home or are working without pay. The president has threatened that the shutdown could last ‘months or even years’. Here’s what that might mean
Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2019/jan/10/what-does-a-government-shutdown-mean-for-the-us-video
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Source Article from https://www.nj.com/expo/news/g66l-2019/01/a2ddbb13e13521/amid-government-shutdown-tsa-s.html
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(CNN)California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu said he will donate more than $18,000 in campaign contributions from Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor who is being investigated following the second death at his home since the summer of 2017.
Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/10/us/edward-buck-home-death-dead-man-identified/index.html
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro on Thursday called for Congress to “censure” Rep. Steve KingSteven (Steve) Arnold KingIowa state senator launches primary challenge to Steve King in Iowa Overnight Health Care: House files motion to defend ObamaCare in lawsuit | Trump Medicaid director leaving after three months Judiciary Democrats want Whitaker to testify in 2019 MORE (R-Iowa) after the lawmaker questioned why terms like “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” are offensive.
“Congress ought to vote to censure him, and then he ought to be primaried ASAP,” Shapiro, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, tweeted.
In a follow-up tweet, Shapiro asked his followers to donate to the campaign of Iowa state Sen. Randy Feenstra (R), who announced on Wednesday that he would challenge King for his northwest Iowa House seat in 2020.
Feenstra thanked Shapiro in a tweet, arguing that King’s “caustic nature has left us without a seat at the table.”
Donate to his primary challenger, Randy Feenstra, here. I plan on doing so. https://t.co/0RJIs63svi
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 10, 2019
Thanks, Ben.
Our current representative’s caustic nature has left us without a seat at the table. We don’t need any more sideshows or distractions, we need to start winning for Iowa’s families. https://t.co/Cq86ha0pYE
— Randy Feenstra (@RandyFeenstra) January 10, 2019
Shapiro’s comments follow after King told The New York Times in an interview published Thursday that he did not consider himself a racist. King, in the interview, also questioned when terms like “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” became offensive.
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King, who has represented Iowa’s 4th Congressional District since 2013, asked. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”
The statements prompted outrage from a range of journalists and conservative commentators. Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, called the comment “simply contemptible.”
Simply contemptible
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” Mr. King said. https://t.co/Q33dpfJeBn
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) January 10, 2019
Stephen Hayes, the former editor-in-chief of the conservative magazine, The Weekly Standard, asked: “What sane, thoughtful conservative would choose to remain in a party home to such an unapologetic bigot?”
Rep. Steve King (Racist – IA): “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” What sane, thoughtful conservative would choose to remain in a party home to such an unapologetic bigot? https://t.co/aykLuU1cVZ
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) January 10, 2019
King has faced scrutiny over his comments on subjects such as immigration in the past. He once tweeted that diversity is not America’s strength.
In 2018, he defended his association with a far-right Austrian group with links to the Nazi party and hard-line views on immigration, saying that “if they were in America … they would be Republicans.”
His public comments led multiple corporations to announce that they would stop making campaign contributions to the congressman. King beat his Democratic challenger by 3 percentage points during November’s midterm elections.
But his path to reelection in 2020 may face more obstacles. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said on Thursday that she would not endorse King, adding that his last election was a “wake-up call for it to be that close.”
Updated: 1:20 p.m.
Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/house/424731-ben-shapiro-urges-congress-censure-steve-king-after-he-questions-why-term
I’ll admit it: I’m a Russiagate agnostic.
I’m perfectly open to the possibility that President Trump (or his campaign) colluded with Russians to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, but I just want to see evidence that proves it.
Being agnostic about Russiagate is challenging for a political commentator. Russia has dominated the news for the past two years, and people on each side have passionate and confidently held views. It seems either they’re convinced that Trump colluded and attempted to cover it up, or they’re convinced that it’s all a nothingburger cooked up to delegitimize the Trump presidency.
On such a polarizing issue that’s played a central role in our political debate, it’s been difficult to take a wait and see approach before forming a strong opinion. But it’s also hard to feel confident about any narrative without knowing more.
In the absence of any report from special counsel Robert Mueller, much of the commentary involves speculation about what he does or doesn’t know. Those convinced Trump is being railroaded assume Mueller just keeps dragging out the investigation because he’s found nothing, while those convinced of his guilt assume Mueller is slowly and carefully building a case that will corner Trump.
I’ve been reluctant to get too far ahead of my skis in either proclaiming Trump’s innocence or declaring his guilt.
What’s made me particularly wary is that there has been a steady stream of stories that have been promoted as being “bombshells,” that either end up being corrected, and/or turn out upon further analysis and with the benefit of context, to be less dispositive than initially advertised.
A perfect example is the recent revelation in the New York Times that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort “shared political polling data with a business associate tied to Russian intelligence.”
When the news first broke, cries of “Wow!”; “OMG”; and “BOOM!” erupted on Twitter. CNN’s Chris Cillizza, a useful barometer of conventional wisdom, recounted the Times story and concluded, “ That. Is. Huge.”
But was it? Not so fast, said none other than Benjamin Wittes, a close friend of former FBI Director James Comey who called for Trump’s impeachment way back in 2017. Writing on his Lawfare blog, Wittes cautioned that the sharing of polling data could have just as easily been explained as being part of Manafort’s shady business dealings that involved peddling his ties to Trump rather than clear evidence of collusion.
“This is not to splash cold water on the story, which is certainly tantalizing,” Wittes wrote. “It is to say that Manafort’s lawyers’ general characterization of Mueller’s allegations about Manafort’s conduct in the context of a dispute over whether Manafort violated his plea agreement or not offers a highly imperfect window into Mueller’s understanding of that evidence and how it fits into the larger picture of interactions between the Trump campaign and the Russian state.”
After Wittes wrote that, the Times issued an embarrassing correction, which further undermined the idea that the story demonstrated collusion. The story initially said that Manafort had wanted his Russian contact, Konstantin V. Kilimnik, to pass along the polling data to Oleg V. Deripaska, described as “a Russian oligarch close to the Kremlin.” However, the correction said that Manafort had actually asked for the data to be shared with two Ukrainian oligarchs.
To be sure, the oligarchs are known to be Russia-friendly, so the correction does not necessarily disprove the idea that this had something to do with collusion. But it strengthens the case that it more likely has to do with Mueller’s investigations into Manafort’s business dealings.
At the same time, it’s quite possible, as some have suggested, that Mueller is holding his cards close to his vest, and actually has much more than he’s letting on. But there’s no way of knowing until it’s time for him to reveal his hand. In the meantime we’re just getting glimpses of random cards in the deck and speculating on the rest.
The speculation has been repeatedly wrong — even when it comes to something as basic as whether the investigation is nearing its conclusion.
I support letting the Mueller investigation run its course. And when it does, I’ll be able to form an opinion. Until then, put me in the agnostic camp.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/confessions-of-a-russiagate-agnostic
MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) – The serene National Butterfly Center in Hidalgo County, Texas, occupies a 100-acre preserve steps away from the U.S.-Mexico line, where President Donald Trump is expected to visit on Thursday to push for a southern border wall.
But for Marianna Trevino-Wright, the center’s director, it is the barrier itself – not an influx of criminals – that poses the greatest risk to the sanctuary, given that current plans call for the wall to bisect its property.
“Why on earth would me and my husband live here, and work here, and rear six children here, if it wasn’t safe?” she said.
In McAllen, the county’s largest city, several officials and residents interviewed by Reuters expressed skepticism over Trump’s claim that a wall is required to end what he described as a “crisis” in an Oval Office address on Tuesday.
Seby Haddad, a commercial lender at a regional bank, said he watched this binational community grow for decades because of immigration, not in spite of it.
He rejected the notion that a border wall would help stem the flow of illicit drugs, noting that most narcotics are smuggled in vehicles at official checkpoints, according to government data.
“It doesn’t fix any problem,” said Haddad, 38. “It’s an archaic solution.”
Trump has partially shut down the federal government over his demand for a wall, a proposal that Democrats have rejected as immoral and ineffective. The prospects for a resolution remained dim on Wednesday, after congressional leaders met with Trump at the White House but made no progress.
In his televised remarks on Tuesday, Trump asserted that illegal immigrants and drugs were pouring across the Mexico border, putting American lives at risk. But government figures show that illegal crossings have dropped significantly since the 1990s and early 2000s.
McAllen and the surrounding area is far from Trump Country – the three congressmen from the region are Democrats, as are all of the state senators and representatives.
Alex Flores, a bartender in McAllen, said Trump’s description of the border as a dangerous landscape of smugglers does not sound like his hometown.
“I’ve lived here all my life, and I have never seen a crisis here,” Flores, 27, said. “We’ve never had issues from cartels coming into our towns and wreaking havoc or anything.”
Even Republicans in McAllen acknowledge the city itself is safe. But they still say Trump is correct to call the situation a crisis.
“When you have people by the thousands entering this country without permission and abusing present immigration policy, it is in essence an open border,” said Sergio Sanchez, a local conservative talk show host. “The wall does work.”
The local economy is inextricably intertwined with that of Reynosa, the city’s Mexican counterpart across the Rio Grande River.
“We have tens of thousands of people go back and forth every day,” Mayor Jim Darling said. “You can’t just shut this place down.”
Though Trump has yet to follow through on his threat to declare a national emergency and attempt to build the wall without congressional approval, his administration intends to start constructing several miles of wall in the Rio Grande Valley in February, after Congress appropriated $1.6 billion last year.
Efforts to build barriers in the past have prompted lawsuits from landowners along the border who stand to lose property, including the butterfly center, which sued in December.
The director, Trevino-Wright, scoffed at Trump’s characterization of the border situation as a national security emergency.
“We have over 6,000 school children … who come here to visit every year,” she said. “They are coming to frolic at the national butterfly center on the banks of the Rio Grande.”
Reporting by Mitchell Ferman; Additional reporting and writing by Joseph Ax; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shutdown-mcallen/in-texas-border-town-skepticism-ahead-of-trump-visit-to-push-wall-idUSKCN1P416F
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(CNN)The man found dead inside the West Hollywood home of prominent Democratic donor Edward Buck has been identified as 55-year-old Timothy Dean, according to CNN affiliate KTLA.
Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/10/us/edward-buck-home-death-dead-man-identified/index.html
Florida’s old GOP governor and new GOP governor appear to be on a collision course.
Scores of 11th-hour appointments by outgoing Gov. Rick Scott. Roadblocks for the new transition team. A rival inaugural ball.
The contentious handoff of the Florida governor’s office from Scott to fellow Republican Ron DeSantis has cast a shadow over their relationship, raising questions about whether the two prominent swing-state Republicans are on a collision course as a result of their future ambitions for the White House.
Story Continued Below
Tensions between the old governor and the new governor had been simmering under the surface for more than a month, but it burst into public view Tuesday after Scott abruptly left his successor’s inauguration ceremony, leading DeSantis to ad lib the parts of his speech in which he planned to personally thank Scott.
DeSantis’ team knew Scott would need to leave the ceremony at some point to attend his own Senate swearing in ceremony in Washington but were surprised when the former governor didn’t stay for the speech. DeSantis loyalists were already miffed that Scott’s political committee decided to throw a ball in Washington to celebrate his installation in the U.S. Senate that overlapped with the traditional inaugural celebration for the governor in Tallahassee.
Those slights followed two other perceived insults Friday, when the governor made more than 70 appointments without consulting DeSantis.
Earlier that day, DeSantis and his wife, Casey, were informed by Scott that the governor was going to throw a party in the governor’s mansion Monday, the day before the inauguration — even though the governor-elect, his wife and two small children had just moved into the Colonial Revival brick home.
“It shows how inconsiderate the Scott administration was,” said Congressman Matt Gaetz, a Republican who served with DeSantis in Congress and then led the governor-elect’s transition team.
Gaetz said the DeSantis family only learned at the last minute of the party plans at the mansion, when Scott told them, “Oh, by the way, I’m going to have a party with 48 people at the mansion on Monday.”
Scott’s behavior has so mystified Republican insiders that it’s led to a parlor game of guessing the root cause. One top GOP consultant in Tallahassee guessed it was a combination of Scott’s aloof personality, the stress of the Senate election recount, and a dwindling staff in Tallahassee.
“When Scott has a campaign or a goal he’s incredibly disciplined, but he’s not nimble and here he didn’t have a plan so it all fell apart,” said the consultant, who didn’t want to go on record speculating about Scott’s mindset.
Others in Tallahassee saw the outline of a coming 2024 clash. The governorship of Florida is a good springboard to the White House, and each man might believe that Florida isn’t big enough for the two of them — just as it wasn’t for former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio in the 2016 GOP primary.
“It’s pretty clear that both of these men think they’re going to be president, one by being Donald Trump’s vice governor and the other with Scrooge McDuck money,” said Kevin Cate, a Democrat and adviser to the unsuccessful 2018 Democratic nominee for governor, Andrew Gillum. “Scott has always been politically awkward and it’s no shock he’d be awkward heading out the door, even to someone from his own party.”
DeSantis has already said he will “rescind” some of the appointments from the “lame-duck” Scott.
While the tension between the two camps was a new dynamic in the relationship between Scott and DeSantis, it’s not new to other Republicans.
Scott surprisingly declined to leave office a few days early to be inaugurated with the rest of the freshman class in the U.S. Senate, costing him seniority in the chamber and robbing his own lieutenant governor, Carlos Lopez-Cantera, of the opportunity to serve as acting governor for a few days.
The snub stood out compared to the last time a Florida governor, Bob Graham, won a Senate seat — he made sure to give his No. 2, Wayne Mixson, the keys to the governor’s office for about a week and the honor of getting his portrait painted and hung in the Florida Capitol hall with that of other governors.
The decision to not leave office early, which Scott said was to “fight for Florida families every single day of his term,” also meant Scott and DeSantis would have their swearing in events on the same day, which put some Republicans in a politically dicey position. They were forced to choose between attending the inaugural ball of the Florida’s newest United States senator and outgoing two-term governor, or the event for the state’s new governor.
Scott tried to quietly nudge some Florida consultants and lobbyists to attend his event, insiders say.
“The word went out from Scott World — not explicitly but we understood what he meant — if you go to DeSantis’ inaugural, you’re dead to Rick,” said one GOP consultant. “You’re finished.”
“I was not asked. I’m a Tallahassee lobbyist, not a Washington lobbyist,” said a veteran lobbyist. “But I know for a fact others were presented with what looked like an ultimatum.”
It’s not the first time Scott has ruffled political feathers within his own party.
In 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s team groused that Scott was trampling over his message by repeatedly talking about how great the Florida economy was at the same time that Romney was arguing that things were horrible under then-President Obama. Two years ago, when Lopez-Cantera briefly ran for Rubio’s seat when Rubio decided to run for president, Scott’s consulting team opted to work for the lieutenant governor’s rival in the GOP race, developer Carlos Beruff.
After Rubio lost his bid for president and decided to run for reelection, every Republican in the race dropped out except for Beruff, whose decision to stay in was seen as an affront among the state Republican establishment and Rubio backers.
Yet Beruff’s name resurfaced Friday when Scott appointed him to the Florida Wildlife Commission, a coveted spot that’s reserved for top donors and supporters of a sitting governor. DeSantis is mulling rescinding the appointment.
One top supporter of Rubio, speaking anonymously out of respect for the senior senator, said the Beruff appointment by Scott was “a sign of his pettiness.”
“I used to think it was Scott’s team, but it’s Scott,” the source said. “They will go out of their way and spend inordinate energy to pick petty squabbles and fight battles that only exist in Scott’s head. No other senator holds an inaugural ball in D.C. But Scott did. He thinks he’s still like a governor. But what he’s going to learn in the U.S. Senate is he’s largely irrelevant as the most junior senator.”
Scott’s other last-minute appointments included putting his chief of staff Brad Piepenbrink to the Florida Greenways and Council. Piepenbrink, who couldn’t be reached, has been with Scott for years and was his top staffer until the very end. In addition, Scott appointed five judges on Monday just seven hours before he official left office.
Chris Hartline, a Scott spokesman, downplayed the notion of a rift between Scott and DeSantis, and said the outgoing governor had every right to make the dozens of last-minute appointments.
“Senator Scott and Governor DeSantis have a great working relationship,” he said. “Then-Governor Scott made a variety of appointments for positions that came open during his term, which is his job. If folks have an issue with that, so be it. But Senator Scott looks forward to partnering with Governor DeSantis to fight for Florida families.”
But Rep. Gaetz said Scott went further than that.
The last-minute party announcement at the governor’s mansion, Gaetz said, was emblematic of the way Scott’s team dealt with DeSantis and the transition team, which “was frustrated from the most significant issues to the most menial.”
Gaetz said the relationship began to deteriorate soon after Election Day, when both DeSantis and Scott squeaked by their respective opponents by such a small margin that it led to recounts in both races. DeSantis’s lead was bigger and he became the de facto governor-elect after an automatic recount. Scott, nursing a smaller lead, had to wait longer as a manual recount wrapped up.
While the ballots were being counted and recounted, Scott’s team was stonewalling the DeSantis team’s requests.
“After the election, we were looking for space to set up to start the transition and Rick Scott would not allow us to set up in the Capitol until there was greater certainty on his election,” Gaetz said. “He wanted to be there and in charge during this a moment of uncertainty for him. We weren’t trying to upstage him. We were just trying to go get in some offices and get some computers and paper and go forward with our agency head interviews.”
Gaetz said the administration wasn’t always eager to help out when it came to “simple stuff, like a matrix of appointments. On a lot of document requests we would make, they would give us the documents they wanted us to have. But if something was important for us to have, it was never a priority.”
Alexandra Glorioso contributed to this report.
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Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/10/rick-scott-florida-governor-ron-desantis-1093598
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of President Trump declaring a national emergency at the southern border as a way to build his promised wall.
Trump is rumored to want to use the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to push forward with the construction of a physical barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. The law would allow him to use military funding to undertake the project, despite Democratic opposition to the wall that has led to a 19-day partial government shutdown over funding.
“I think that would be a very dubious move from a constitutional perspective,” Collins told “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.” “Without congressional authorization is not what I think is intended by the National Emergency Act.”
Trump has demanded more than $5 billion to build a border impediment. The president tweeted Wednesday that he had walked out of a “total waste of time” White House meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., after the pair refused to meet his request.
“It makes me very worried about whether we’re going to be able to get to a compromise this week,” Collins told NBC News. “I’m worried about what the end game is. This cannot be allowed to go on forever.”
Collins suggested earlier this week the Senate vote on two bills passed by the House that could re-open the government. The measures would fund several affected departments and agencies through Sept. 30 and the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8. The latter piece of legislation provides only $1.3 billion for border security that cannot be used for a wall.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/republican-senator-trump-declaring-national-emergency-at-border-very-dubious-move
U.S. fertility rates are relatively low from coast to coast, according to new data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
The report looked at total fertility rates, or the number of children that a group of 1,000 women could be expected to have over their lifetimes given current age-specific birth rates. As of 2017, women in only two U.S. states — South Dakota and Utah — were having children at rates high enough to sustain existing population levels, the researchers found.
While U.S. fertility rates were fairly low across all states, the numbers varied by region and by race. Fertility rates among women were highest in South Dakota, closely followed by Utah, and lowest in Washington, D.C. Among black women, fertility rates were highest in Maine and lowest in Wyoming. For Hispanic women, rates were highest in Alabama and lowest in Vermont.
Fertility rates, however, may not tell the whole story. They’re based on a snapshot of current birth rates by age, so numbers can be driven down by high numbers of women having children at older ages. Research has shown this to be the case in the U.S., with the teen birth rate tumbling and more women getting married and starting families later in life.
But analyses based on other metrics — like total lifetime births, which gives a long-term view of childbirth trends — have suggested that women today may not be having fewer children; they may simply become older mothers than women in decades past.
Still, while the majority of U.S. women continue to have babies, conventions are changing. Stigmas about new ways to have babies and decisions not to do so at all are beginning to weaken, while global conditions are contributing to new anxieties about reproducing. Financial insecurity, fears about the future and challenges associated with childcare are also motivating some women to hold off, according to a recent New York Times survey.
Source Article from http://time.com/5497899/us-fertility-rates/
A police officer in Shreveport, La., died Wednesday night after being shot at least four times, including at least once in the head, according to reports.
The victim was Officer Chateri Payne, sources told the Shreveport Times, although police would not confirm the officer’s identity.
No motive for the shooting was immediately reported.
The officer who was on her way to work at the time of the shooting, Shreveport’s FOX 33 reported, citing “multiple sources.”
Early Thursday, the Shreveport Police Officer’s Association posted a statement on Facebook about the tragedy.
The city’s mayor and police chief arrived at the scene of the shooting and were later at the hospital where she died, the report said.
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The officer was reportedly heading to work to begin her late-night shift, Cpl. Marcus Hines told the Shreveport Times.
At least one person had been detained for questioning, but it was unclear if that person was considered a suspect in the case.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/louisiana-police-officer-dies-after-being-shot-multiple-times-reports
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has repeatedly said she will retire when she is no longer able to work “full steam” — a promise that could be put to the test this week — or soon after — with the 85-year-old justice sitting out oral arguments while recovering from cancer surgery.
Ginsburg’s absence for the past three days and recent health issues have fueled speculation about her future on the high court. If Ginsburg steps down as one of the four liberal justices currently serving, President Trump will almost certainly appoint a conservative replacement, tilting the court further to the Right.
If Ginsburg is serious about her repeated vow to step down if she is not fully robust, liberals could be facing a crisis in the judiciary sooner than they think. Widely viewed as tenaciously willing to hang on with a Republican in the presidency, Ginsburg’s own affirmations suggest she may view competency to conduct the court’s business as a matter that rivals the court’s ideological makeup in importance.
Although Ginsburg said last summer that she hopes to serve until she is 90, she has been consistent about when it will be time for her to hang up the robe: “I said I will do this job as long as I can do it full steam,” she said on Dec. 17 at the New York City premier of “On the Basis of Sex,” a movie based on her early career. Five days later, Ginsburg underwent surgery to remove early-stage cancerous nodules and was hospitalized for several days.
Last February, Ginsburg used the same phrase during an event at the Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C. “As long as I can do the job full steam, I will be here,” she said.
“I will retire when it’s time,” Ginsburg told NPR’s Nina Totenberg in 2016. “And when is it time? When I can’t do the job full steam.” She used the same “full steam” phrase on at least two other occasions.
Ginsburg has faced multiple recent health issues, including cancer surgery last month and a fall in November that resulted in three fractured ribs. She previously survived two forms of cancer in 1999 and 2009, as well as heart surgery in 2014.
Despite these health challenges, Ginsburg had never missed a high court argument in her 25 years on the bench until this week. The justice, known affectionately to admirers as the “Notorious RBG,” was absent from oral arguments, and Chief Justice John Roberts said she would be participating in the case “on the basis of the written briefs and the oral argument transcript.” A court spokesperson did not respond to an inquiry about Ginsburg’s recovery status, and has given no indication of when she will return.
Although it is not unprecedented for a justice to miss arguments, it is rare. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist missed oral arguments in a reported 44 cases in 2004 while recovering from cancer surgery. He passed away in 2005.
Ginsburg said last July that she hoped to stay on the Supreme Court until age 90, following the path of her former colleague Justice John Paul Stevens. Last year Ginsburg also hired law clerks through 2020, indicating that she had no plans to step down before then.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/leaving-soon-ailing-ginsburg-has-repeatedly-promised-to-work-only-at-full-steam
December saw the most families caught at the U.S.-Mexico border ever, with nearly 32,000 family members apprehended.
According to Department of Homeland Security data released Wednesday, 31,901 of the 60,782 migrants from Central America who were apprehended by Border Patrol agents stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border or turned away by Customs and Border Protection officers at official crossing points were families.
That is the highest number of families to ever attempt migrating, both legally and illegally, into the U.S. in one month, according to federal data.
Nearly 90 percent of all families – 27,518 – entered in rural or suburban areas between dozens of ports of entry on the southern border.
It’s the third month the number of family members exceeded the number of single adults, which was under 24,000.
50,753 people were arrested for trespassing from Mexico in December. It marks the third month in a row that more than 50,000 people have illegally crossed into to the U.S. Another 10,000 people who tried to enter through ports were told they lacked the documents to do so.
Illegal immigration apprehensions at the southern border have skyrocketed since Trump’s first few months in office, when 15,000 to 20,000 people were reported being apprehended per month.
One of the reasons for the increase is the change in demographics of those entering. Caravans of people fleeing violence, unemployment, and crime in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have allowed families to migrate north without having to pay the average $8,000 fee for smugglers to get them through Mexico.
Since early fall, Border Patrol has seen Mexican smugglers lead groups of 100 to 300 people over the border. Historically, groups of five to 10 people would be escorted over the border by a smuggler.
The dramatic increase in group size and their arrival in rural parts of Arizona and New Mexico has presented a major challenge for Border Patrol, which is responsible for arresting people who have illegally entered.
In December, two young children traveling from Guatemala died after having entered New Mexico as members of large groups. The deaths marked the first in a decade, prompting Democrats to launch investigations into the incidents.
During the last week of December, CBP began referring hundreds of migrants taken into custody in these rural parts of the southe rn border to medical professionals. More than 450 migrants were referred to medical professionals for care over a nine-day period.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/record-number-of-families-arrested-at-southern-border-in-december
President Trump has maintained that he didn’t collude with Russia during his 2016 bid for the White House. New information, inadvertently released in an improperly redacted court filing on Tuesday, makes clear that his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, probably did.
That puts Trump, who had previously defended Manafort and even considered pardoning him, in a tight spot with only one real option: distancing himself from his former ally and pleading innocence to Manafort’s shady dealings abroad.
Under the blacked-out portions of Tuesday’s filings, Manafort’s defense team acknowledges that he shared 2016 presidential polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, identified by the FBI as having ties to Russian intelligence. Another portion of the filing reveals that, while serving on the Trump campaign, Manafort also discussed a Russian-backed Ukrainian “peace plan” with the same individual on “several occasions.”
Put simply, Trump’s campaign manager indisputably shared sensitive data with an operative with links to a hostile foreign power’s intelligence agency. That information, shared personally by Manafort, seems likely to have included at least some internal data, not otherwise available, that would be potentially useful in Russian influence and misinformation campaigns or other intelligence priorities.
Needless to say, an American campaign official handing over election information — and as emails reported by the Washington Post show, offering private briefings — to Russian oligarch Oleg V. Deripaska, a billionaire with close ties to the Kremlin and Kilimnik, is a red flag of collaboration or, in other words, collusion.
As for the Ukrainian peace plan, there were few details on what exactly the proposed deal entailed, but it seems likely that it might have been some version of a Russian plan that would legally cede Crimea, a part of Ukraine illegally seized by Moscow, to Russia.
That too is concerning. Currently, the U.S. enforces sanctions on Russia for its actions in Crimea as a violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and international law. Changing that policy and advocating for an agreement that would literally hand over the territory to Russia is tantamount to selling out Ukraine and helping Moscow bully its way to territorial claims.
These revelations solidify Manafort’s reputation as a deceptive player in the dark world of Russian politics where he made his money working for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies. He was convicted on charges relating to those dealings and specifically his work for pro-Russian political parties in Ukraine, of tax fraud, bank fraud, and failing to disclose a foreign bank account in October 2017.
So far, none of that nastiness of selling out to Russia for a little cash directly touches Trump’s actions. He should keep it that way.
To prevent dragging himself down with his one-time campaign manager, Trump would do well to keep his mouth shut on the latest release and make clear that Manafort’s collaboration with Russia was unacceptable. He should also keep anything even remotely related to Manafort and his contacts as far from the Oval Office as possible.
And Trump should stick to that strategy even if it means trading his signature argument of “No Collusion” to “Not Me.”
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/no-collusion-vs-not-me-and-why-trump-should-consider-a-new-talking-point
Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Soon we will find out how Iowa feels.
Rep. Steve King will face a primary challenger come 2020. State Sen. Randy Feenstra announced Wednesday that he will challenge the incumbent Republican.
King came to Capitol Hill in 2003 and has been a loser ever since. This is of his own doing. The congressman has become a political pariah because of his bad habit of palling around with the European far-right and his nativist preferences. Democrats have pointed to these positions for years. Republicans have recently caught on.
In October Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, condemned King for his “white supremacy and hate.” And before the 2018 reelection, the NRCC cut off all financial aid to the congressman, a surprising development only in so far that it didn’t happen sooner.
King can best be known by the company he keeps. He has supported Marine Le Pen, the French politician who compares Muslims to Nazis, and he has backed Viktor Orban, the Hungarian autocrat who has strangled everything from the courts to the media to maintain his grasp on power. More recently, King decided it was a good idea to endorse an alt-right candidate for Toronto mayor named Faith Goldy.
The congressman doesn’t do this in secret. He does it right out in the open — like the time he used a trip to Europe financed by a Holocaust memorial group to sit down for an interview with a neo-Nazi publication. White Europeans, he lamented, were being replaced by immigrants and, he concluded, “Western civilization is on the decline.”
King doesn’t behave much better stateside. For every child of illegal immigrants “who is a valedictorian,” he once said, “there’s another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” Cutting to the chase during the midterms, King simply wrote off Mexican immigrants as “dirt.”
These aren’t just the comments of just another politically incorrect politician. They are the ugly distractions that keep King from doing anything productive in Congress. As Philip Klein argues, it isn’t just enough for conservatives to fight or to annoy the Left. They need to actually win. Hence the line of attack from Feenstra.
“The President needs effective conservative leaders in Congress who will not only support his agenda, but actually get things done,” Feenstra argues in his announcement. He adds “we don’t need any more sideshows or distractions, we need to start winning for Iowa’s families.”
Iowa has a number of corn-fed conservative brawlers in Congress. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh owe their seats on the Supreme Court in large part to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley. That senator has focused on political fights with consequences. The state would be better served if they replaced King with someone similar.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/iowas-chance-to-get-rid-of-steve-king
When it comes to North Korea’s amenability to a durable agreement with the United States, Chinese influence on Pyongyang is crucial. But while Chinese President Xi Jinping thinks that this influence gives him leverage over the U.S., the opposite is actually true. China now needs the U.S. more than the U.S. needs China. And if China fails to deliver on North Korea, the U.S. can greatly damage Chinese interests.
All of this bears note, considering North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s meetings with Xi in Beijing this week. Hoping to exchange viewpoints beyond U.S. intelligence detection, the Xi-Kim meetings precede a second summit between President Trump and Kim. That summit will likely occur by the end of March and is of instrumental importance. After all, Kim’s recent behavior indicates an intent to resume missile tests if a new summit does not lead to near-term international sanctions relief. The Trump administration is also growing impatient with Kim’s unwillingness to allow inspector access to his nuclear and ballistic missile facilities. The simple point here is that one side will have to move the diplomatic needle constructively, but neither side seems interested in doing so. The ingredients for a renewed crisis are coming together.
Xi knows all of this. The immensely powerful Chinese leader is also aware of American aggravation over Beijing’s breach of sanctions targeting Pyongyang. But Xi wrongly thinks that this gives him leverage over the U.S. The opposite is actually true.
Kim’s visit to Beijing proves as much. While Kim has been afforded heavy diplomatic prestige by Beijing, there is no question that Xi is the boss. It is only Xi who offers that which Kim most needs: steady resources and a diplomatic outlet. So, unless and until North Korea enters international trading structures, Kim must accept Xi’s direction, lest North Korea suffer an economic catastrophe that could lead to a coup or regime collapse. Moreover, seeing as Xi’s ultimate ambition is a new international order in which China grants patronage in return for absolute deference, he could ultimately cut off North Korea to send a message to other nations.
Ironically, here, it is Trump’s grand bargain that offers Kim mastery of his own destiny. At present, however, Kim must pay great heed to that which Xi directs. So, if Kim does not engage in significant confidence-building steps with the U.S. in the next few weeks, we can safely assume that Xi has given Kim his permission to keep playing games. But that invites another question: Why would Xi allow Kim’s negative action while China needs an economic deal from the U.S.?
The answer is simple: because Xi is comfortable taking risks in return for rewards. His ideal outcome to the North Korean nuclear crisis is one in which Pyongyang deploys its nuclear forces but also offers some kind of security guarantee that Trump accepts. That outcome would enable Xi to continue dangling his control over North Korea as a means of exerting concessions from the U.S., but with reduced risk of U.S. military action of the kind Trump threatened in 2017.
That outcome would also be a disaster for the U.S., keeping Kim in check only via Beijing’s expensive generosity or via military action that risks a nuclear exchange. To avoid that outcome but resolve this crisis diplomatically, Trump must challenge Xi at his own game. Trump should make clear to Xi that absent significant near-term North Korean concessions, he will hold Xi and Kim equally responsible. Trump should clarify that this will mean no U.S. trade deal with China (which Xi desperately needs in light of China’s economic weakening) and new sanctions on the Chinese financial sector.
Ultimately, though, America’s better interest here requires Trump to introduce Xi to one of the Chinese president’s favorite ideals: re-education. Xi must be helped to understand that his influence over Kim does not amount to leverage but to greater Chinese responsibility for the outcome. If Xi chooses to ignore that lesson, he must be made to face a painful economic and diplomatic detention.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/xis-meeting-with-kim-jong-un-and-trumps-opportunity-for-a-lesson-in-leverage
Three people aboard the “Deadliest Catch” boat Mary B II were pronounced dead after their vessel capsized off the coast of Newport, Oregon on Tuesday, officials said.
The boat was on the Discovery Channel show, “Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove,” according to the New York Post. The network told Fox News that the captain and crew onboard the vessel were not featured on the show.
The fatal incident occurred after the fishermen requested the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) assist them in crossing the Yaquina Bay bar shortly before 10 p.m. “due to high seas,” Oregon State Police said in a news release.
At 10:13 p.m., authorities got word that the boat “had capsized with three people onboard,” police said.
A Coast Guard crew, which was already on the scene for an escort request, witnessed the capsizing and quickly went into search and rescue mode, Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read told Fox News.
The USCG Pacific Northwest tweeted about the incident as it was occurring, saying that responders were “battling 12 to 14-foot seas.” There were reports of 16 to 20-foot waves as well, Read said.
The first person was recovered around 11:20 p.m. by a Coast Guard helicopter, Read said. The individual – identified as James Lacey, 48 – was taken to a hospital in Newport and pronounced dead, according to state police.
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A second deceased individual – Joshua Porter, 50 – was located on the beach, authorities said.
“The Mary B II ultimately ran aground, on the beach, near the north side of the Yaquina Bay North Jetty,” state police said. “The boat Skipper, Stephen Biernacki (age 50 from Barnegat Township, NJ) was found with the boat and pronounced deceased at the scene.”
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/three-people-reportedly-aboard-deadliest-catch-boat-mary-b-ii-die-after-vessel-capsizes-officials-say
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrat Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), claimed Wednesday that the Justice Department (DOJ) is denying Senate Democrats meetings with William Barr, President TrumpDonald John TrumpDem strategist says party’s leaders struggle to relate to Americans Mexican president staying out of wall debate, calling it an internal US matter China vows to buy ‘substantial amount’ of American goods and services, US trade agency says MORE‘s nominee for attorney general, due to the partial government shutdown.
Blumenthal in a statement on Wednesday called Barr’s “refusal” to meet with Democrats “unprecedented and unacceptable.”
“William Barr’s refusal to meet with Democratic Senators on the Judiciary Committee is entirely unprecedented and unacceptable,” Blumenthal said in a statement sent to The Hill. “The Department of Justice’s attempt to excuse this gross break in the norms by citing a ‘truncated schedule’ is galling when they are the ones who have rushed it.”
Sen. Amy KlobucharAmy Jean KlobucharSenate Democrats hold talkathon to protest partial shutdown Press: White House not only for white males The reality check Democrats need to win in 2020 MORE (D-Minn.) said late Wednesday that she was also unable to get a meeting with Barr due to the shutdown.
“I tried (as did Blumenthal) to get meeting w/AG nominee Barr and was told he couldn’t meet until AFTER the hearing. The reason given? The shutdown,” Klobuchar tweeted. “Yet shutdown didn’t stop him from other mtgs. This is a 1st for me w/any nominee as a member of judiciary.”
I tried (as did Blumenthal) to get meeting w/AG nominee Barr and was told he couldn’t meet until AFTER the hearing. The reason given? The shutdown. Yet shutdown didn’t stop him from other mtgs. This is a 1st for me w/any nominee as a member of judiciary. #Uncool #BadSign
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) January 10, 2019
Sen. Dianne FeinsteinDianne Emiel FeinsteinFeinstein blasts Trump’s ’empty threat’ to withhold FEMA funding from California Elected leaders who weaponize religion are playing a dangerous game ‘We Can Do It!’: Women and bipartisanship MORE (Calif.), the panel’s top Democrat, is scheduled to speak with Barr on Thursday, her spokeswoman told The Washington Post. A spokesperson for Sen. Patrick LeahyPatrick Joseph LeahyBorder lawmakers press Trump to beef up existing security Both sides play blame game on first day of shutdown Senate approves funding bill, preventing partial government shutdown MORE (D-Vt.) told The Hill that he is also expected to meet with Barr on Thursday.
The Hill has reached out to other Senate Judiciary Democrats and the DOJ for comment.
DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec told the Post that Barr is meeting with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle “despite the holidays, reduced DOJ staff and resources due to the partial government shutdown, and the compressed timeline to prepare for the upcoming hearing.”
The DOJ is one of the agencies affected by the partial government shutdown, which began on Dec. 22 and impacts roughly 25 percent of the government. Emails and phone calls to the DOJ from The Hill received responses that the department is currently unable to reply to inquiries due to the shutdown.
“My Republican colleagues should share my outrage at this appalling violation of the Senate’s independent authority,” Blumenthal said in his statement.
The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold hearings next week for Barr.
Democrats have roundly criticized the nominee over a memo he wrote last year criticizing special counsel Robert MuellerRobert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probe MORE‘s Russia investigation. Barr, in a memo to the White House, said Mueller’s probe into possible obstruction of justice by Trump was based on a “fatally misconceived” theory.
Senate Minority Leader Charles SchumerCharles (Chuck) Ellis SchumerDem strategist says party’s leaders struggle to relate to Americans Pelosi, Schumer response tops Trump speech in preliminary ratings Immigration judge warns cases are at standstill due to government shutdown MORE (D-N.Y.) has called for Trump to withdraw Barr’s nomination over the memo, as Democrats claim it is disqualifying because it displays bias against Mueller.
Barr met with Republican senators on Wednesday. The Judiciary Committee’s new chairman Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin GrahamGraham: Trump’s AG nominee Barr will let Mueller probe finish Graham says Barr will allow Mueller to complete investigation GOP seeks health care reboot after 2018 losses MORE (R-S.C.) after he left the meeting said Barr has a “very high opinion of Mr. Mueller and he is committed to letting Mr. Mueller finish his job.”
“He’s got some concerns about turning the firing of a political appointee into an obstruction-of-justice case, and I share those concerns,” Graham told reporters. “But that’s his opinion as a private citizen. As an attorney general, his job is to receive Mr. Mueller’s report.”
— Updated 11:30 p.m.
Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/424663-blumenthal-doj-denying-dems-meetings-with-ag-nominee-barr-citing-shutdown
House Democrats are using their new oversight authority to investigate the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s management of the shutdown, as questions mount about HUD’s failure to renew low-income housing contracts for more than 1,000 properties across the country.
“HUD knew for months about this impending deadline to renew the contracts, but for some reason they failed to take proper action in advance of the shutdown,” said Rep. David Price, D-N.C., the incoming chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee on transportation and housing, in a statement.
“I am seeking detailed explanations from HUD officials about this failure and how they will mitigate the consequences, and I will call a hearing if necessary.”
HUD told NBC News on Monday that about 1,150 contracts under a Section 8 program known as Project-Based Rental Assistance had lapsed. The program subsidizes rent and utilities for 1.2 million households, including families with young children, the elderly and the disabled.
The Trump administration estimates that about 500 more contracts are scheduled to expire this month and 550 in February unless the government reopens. The expiring contracts, which cover about 52 families apiece on average, have raised fears that landlords will not have money to repair and maintain the properties where tens of thousands of families live, and that low-income tenants could face eviction.
Administration officials said they were working assiduously to protect the program.
“HUD is leaving no stone unturned and using every resource Congress has provided the agency to make certain its rental assistance programs continue to operate with minimal disruption,” Jereon Brown, spokesman for HUD Secretary Ben Carson, said in a statement.
“Secretary Carson urges Democrats to act swiftly and present an acceptable bill to the president so that HUD can continue its mission to provide safe and affordable housing to those in need,” he added.
While some effects of the shutdown are inescapable, there has been growing criticism inside and outside of HUD that the department should have been better prepared to contain the fallout.
“Were the impacts fully anticipated, and was there the right level of concern given to these issues?” asked a HUD employee who works in a California field office, who asked not to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to the press. “It was more of a shrug of the shoulders kind of approach.”
“Who was in charge?” asked one House Democratic staffer, who asked not to be identified as he was not authorized to speak on the record to the press. “If you thought you were going to have a problem, it should have gone up the chain.”
The potential problem with the expiring contracts became clear in early December, when Congress passed a two-week stop-gap budget, said Jenny Hatcher, a 30-year HUD veteran who works in the department’s Chicago multifamily office, which helps run the rental assistance program.
Hatcher, a union member, was not aware of any plan for handling the expiring contracts before the shutdown. With 95 percent of HUD’s staff now furloughed, “no one is home” at the department to manage the program, she said.
“During my tenure, I’ve been through several shutdowns, but nothing as chaotic and ill-prepared as this,” said Hatcher, referring to the government as a whole.
The lack of funding and lapsed contracts are imperiling the basic health, safety, and well-being of vulnerable tenants, said Michael Gerber, president of the Housing Authority of the City of Austin, Texas, and a former HUD employee. His organization helps run these rental-assistance programs in Texas and Arkansas, including eight properties with contracts that have expired under the shutdown.
“Police and security patrols become one of the first things that go,” said Gerber, who worries that plumbing problems, electrical hazards, and other dangerous living conditions could also go unaddressed.
Another affected property is Quail Park Village Apartments in Austin, which houses 142 low-income families. The property’s contract with HUD was supposed to be renewed on Dec. 31, but because of the shutdown, Quail Park’s management doesn’t know when the contract will be renewed and if payments will cease.
Without HUD funds, “we’ll see deferred maintenance, we’ll see things not being able to be repaired,” said Sheila Melton, asset manager for Heartland Realty Investors, which manages the property. Tenants won’t be evicted, she said, but residents “may find their quality of housing to be compromised a little.”
Melton and Gerber don’t blame HUD for the situation. “They made a good-faith attempt to try and anticipate immediate needs. Now this has dragged on, and we are getting to a deeper level of impact that’s hard to plan for,” Gerber said.
But others believe the administration could have better mitigated the impact of the shutdown. HUD’s rental assistance program had received $400 million in funding on Oct. 1, a sum known as “advance appropriations” designed to ease the transition between budgets and fiscal years.
There’s no immediately apparent reason for HUD to have used that stop-gap funding earlier, so it could have been used — at least in theory — to fund the expiring contracts, according to Democratic Hill staffers, housing advocates and budget experts.
Shortly before the shutdown began, HUD assured Ellen Lurie Hoffman, an affordable housing advocate, that a skeleton crew of employees would continue to process contracts due to expire — a step that would require having adequate funding in place.
“They said January renewals should be in process,” said Hoffman, federal policy director for the National Housing Trust, an advocacy group that owns HUD-funded properties, referring to notes from her Dec. 21 conversations with HUD. “Everyone was very confident that funding should be available.”
But when HUD revealed this week that 1,150 contracts had already expired — with more to come if the government remains closed — it said the lapses happened “because funds were not obligated” prior to the shutdown and that the agency was “determining whether we have any available funds” to renew the agreements, Brown said on Monday in a statement to NBC News.
The news came as a shock to the House Democratic staffer, who called HUD last week to check on how the shutdown was affecting the rental assistance program.
“If there isn’t money there, then where has the advance appropriations been spent?” said the staffer. “The reason we do the advance [appropriations bill] is to make sure there is a buffer for at least the first quarter…what happened?”
While contracts have lapsed during previous shutdowns, the scale of the problem is significantly bigger this time around, housing advocates and Hill staff members say, and it will continue to grow if the standoff persists and more contracts expire.
“The scope and potential duration of this are different,” said Hoffman, who believes “something went wrong, and we don’t know exactly what that was, but the repercussions are really severe.”
HUD did not answer NBC News’ questions about why it had not renewed the expiring contracts or whether it had spent the advance appropriations funds.
Housing industry groups, advocates and other affordable housing professionals were hoping to get more answers from HUD on Tuesday afternoon, when they had a call scheduled with a veteran staffer.
But at the last minute, HUD pulled out of the conference call — which had about 100 people on the line, according to Hoffman, who helped organize the call — after higher-ups at HUD decided not to authorize its staff member’s participation, said Hoffman and other participants. HUD did not answer NBC News’ questions about the call.
“People really don’t know what is going on,” said Michael Kane, executive director of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants, an advocacy group. “No one really knows what happened in December, and who, if anyone, was responsible for this fiasco.”
Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/house-democrats-investigate-hud-s-failure-act-shutdown-threatens-affordable-n956521
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(CNN)Staring at a prolonged government shutdown, Republican senators are privately planning to court Democratic senators on an immigration deal that would give President Donald Trump money for his border wall and include several measures long-sought by Democrats, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/09/politics/immigration-deal-wall-fight-republican-senators/index.html