Main Events
Please enable JavaScript to use this feature
‘No government shutdown,’ says Senate Democratic leader Schumer
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he expects Joe Biden to be able to sign a bill today that will keep the government from shutting down until the November presidential election.
“Because of the bipartisan choice made by both parties, Congress is getting the job done and the American people can rest assured. We will keep our government going. We will prevent essential government services from being shut down unnecessarily,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.
He noted that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this afternoon on a government budget that will cover the government through December 20. “Once the Senate receives the House bill, they will move immediately into action. We hope to vote early this evening and pass it with 60 votes for final passage. If all goes well in the House, the Senate should send the bill to President Biden later today,” the New York Democrat said.
Last week, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson tried unsuccessfully to pass a bill that would have tied government funding to a measure demanded by President Donald Trump that would have required proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The failure of the measure raised the possibility of a showdown over government funding ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, but Johnson ultimately decided to withdraw the non-citizen voting bill, paving the way for Congress to formally avoid a shutdown today.
Share
Donald Trump delivered a speech in Georgia yesterday outlining his economic policies, centered around tax cuts for companies that manufacture goods in the US and higher tariffs on manufacturers that move jobs overseas. However, as The Guardian’s Justin Grau reports, the former president rambled and spent much of his speech attacking immigrants.
At an event aimed at touting economic policies that would usher in what his campaign called a “new era of American industrialism,” Donald Trump spent as much time airing personal grievances and blaming immigrants for everything from fentanyl overdoses to crime to stealing American jobs as he did talking about the economy.
“This is a speech about economic development, but this is a big part of economic development,” the former president said of immigration during a speech in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday.
After sticking to prepared remarks about the economy for about 30 minutes, Trump’s speech moved on to other topics, including immigration, much to the delight of his audience.
As Trump said illegal immigration is the cause of countless evils, a man in the crowd yelled, “Close the border!”
The loudest cheers from the crowd of about 2,500 came when the Republican presidential nominee argued that the United States already has much of what he called an “economic superpower” – natural resources, skilled workers and big businesses.
“The only thing our country lacks is smart people to lead it,” Trump said.
Share
Kamala Harris is in the battleground state of Pennsylvania today, where she is scheduled to outline her economic plan in a speech to the Economic Club of Pittsburgh.
Politico reported, citing a campaign official:
She plans to describe her economic philosophy as “pragmatic” and present herself as a “capitalist” who “understands the limitations of government and has always sought to embrace good ideas wherever they come from and harness the power of innovation.”
Politico also reports that Harris has been using the phrase since she launched her presidential campaign in late July, so we can expect to hear more about her vision for the “opportunity economy.”
Share
Harris gives interview to MSNBC
Moving on to election news, MSNBC announced that Kamala Harris will speak with host Stephanie Ruhle from Pittsburgh tonight, marking the vice president’s first solo television interview since launching her presidential campaign.
CNN interviewed Harris along with running mate Tim Walz earlier this month, and since then, she has given a handful of interviews, mostly to local media or outlets targeted to specific demographics, such as Hispanic radio host Stephanie “Chikibaby” Himonidis and tech magazine Wired.
Share
The Secret Service’s failure to adequately protect President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee, which released its report today.
Democratic Party Chairman Gary Peters said:
From failed planning to siloed and flawed communication, a lack of effective coordination between law enforcement agencies, and technology failures, the Secret Service failures that allowed the assassination attempt on former President Trump at the July 13 rally were shocking, unacceptable and preventable, yet tragic.
And Republican leader Rand Paul said:
Our initial findings clearly demonstrate a series of multiple failures and an inexcusable dereliction of duty by the United States Secret Service (USSS).
Not only did the USSS fail to ensure the AGR roof was properly covered, but they also failed to delay the proceedings or remove former President Trump from the stage after being informed a suspicious individual was on the roof of the AGR building, despite being aware of the presence of a suspicious individual with a rangefinder for at least 27 minutes. Someone must be held accountable for these egregious failures by the USSS. I will continue to demand accountability and accountability, even as the USSS, DHS, FBI, ATF, and other federal agencies continue to obstruct a bipartisan investigation.
Share
Report says Secret Service suffered communications outage at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally
In its interim report on the assassination attempt, the Senate Homeland Security Committee concluded that the Secret Service’s ability to protect Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was hampered by a variety of communications failures, including radio failures and an inability to quickly contact state and local police on the scene.
The radios used by agents were known to be defective — the report found that at least one agent handed one to a colleague whose equipment had malfunctioned — there was no system for the Secret Service to quickly contact local police in the field, and the Secret Service did not “sufficiently consider” local police plans for the rally.
The committee also found that Secret Service officials in charge of planning security for the rally “shifted the blame,” claiming that all decisions were made in collaboration with local law enforcement and that no one was held responsible.
Share
Senate finds ‘preventable’ Secret Service mistakes in preparation for Pennsylvania Trump rally where assassin shot
Good morning to readers of the US Politics Blog. During the assassination attempt at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July, the Secret Service made mistakes that “could have been prevented,” according to an interim report on the incident released this morning by the Senate Homeland Security Committee. According to the report, local police’s warning that there was a shooter on the roof of a building overlooking the rally was not relayed to the Secret Service, a Secret Service counter-sniper who saw a police officer running toward the building with his gun drawn did not think to tell his colleague to pull Trump off the stage, and law enforcement agencies on the scene used different radio channels to communicate.
It’s the latest damning finding about the Secret Service’s failure to protect Trump at his trademark outdoor campaign rallies. An internal report from the agency detailed similar communications glitches last week, and the Senate report was released the day after prosecutors indicted a man on attempted assassination charges after he was arrested last week in Florida for allegedly plotting a shooting at Trump’s golf course. We’ll have more on the Senate’s findings and reaction to them later.
Here’s what else is happening today:
Kamala Harris is set to lay out her vision for the economy in a speech scheduled for 3:15pm ET in Pittsburgh. Trump gave a similar speech yesterday in the battleground state of Georgia, proposing high tariffs and low taxes and claiming he could bring jobs back from overseas. Economists are skeptical of Harris’ plan.
Congress is expected to approve a spending bill later this afternoon to keep the government running through Dec. 20, averting a government shutdown in the weeks before the November election.
The UN General Assembly continues in New York with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy due to address world leaders. Follow our live blog with the latest news from Ukraine here.
Share