House Republicans fail to pass spending, voting bill as shutdown approaches

US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) walks to his office at the US Capitol on September 17, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
Short Url
Updated 19 September 2024
Follow

House Republicans fail to pass spending, voting bill as shutdown approaches

  • 14 Republicans break party ranks to join all but three Democrats in defeating the bill
  • The Republican party bill sought to mandate that states require proof of citizenship when people register to vote
  • House Democrats urged Speaker Johnson to work with them on a measure that can pass both chambers

WASHINGTON: Republicans in the US House of Representatives failed on Wednesday to pass a funding bill that included a controversial voting measure backed by Donald Trump, complicating efforts to avert a possible government shutdown at the end of the month.
Despite the urging of Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 presidential election, House Republicans were unable to muster enough votes to pass the package and send it on the Democratic-controlled Senate. With Democrats mostly united in opposition, the bill failed by a vote of 202-220, with 14 Republicans voting against and three Democrats in favor.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said afterward that he would craft a new temporary spending bill that would keep the government running beyond Oct. 1, when current funding is due to expire. He did not provide details.
“Now we go back to the playbook, draw up another play and we’ll come up with another solution,” Johnson said. “I’m already talking to colleagues.”
Democrats in the House and the Senate say they are eager to pass a stopgap spending bill to avert a disruptive shutdown that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

Congress faces an even more critical deadline on Jan. 1, by which time lawmakers will have to raise the nation’s debt ceiling or risk defaulting on more than $35 trillion in federal government debt.

However, they opposed the version that Johnson brought to a vote on Wednesday, because it was paired with an unrelated voting bill that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote and require states to purge non-citizens from their registration lists.
Johnson also has to contend with a contingent of Republicans who typically vote against stopgap funding bills.
Trump has made illegal immigration a central issue in his re-election bid and has falsely claimed that Democrats are registering illegal immigrants to vote, the latest in a long line of lies about election fraud.

House Republicans say their bill is needed to ensure that only American citizens vote.
“It’s already illegal for a minor to purchase alcohol, yet we still card them. We still enforce the law,” said Republican Representative Aaron Bean.
Trump weighed in again just hours before the vote. seemingly encouraging House Republicans to let a partial government shutdown begin at the end of the month unless they get the proof of citizenship mandate, referred to in the House as the SAVE Act.
“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form,” Trump said on the social media platform Truth Social.
House Democrats said the proof of citizenship mandate should not be part of a bill to keep the government funded and urged Johnson to work with them on a measure that can pass both chambers.
“This is not going to become law,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. “This is Republican theatrics that are meant to appease the most extreme members of their conference, to show them that they are working on something and that they’re continuing to support the former president of the United States in his bid to demonize immigrants.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has predicted Johnson’s effort was doomed to fail.
“The only thing that will accomplish is make clear that he’s running into a dead end,” Schumer said. “We must have a bipartisan plan instead.”
The legislation would fund agencies generally at current levels through March 28 while lawmakers work out their differences on a full-year spending agreement.
Democrats, and some Republicans, are pushing for a shorter extension. A temporary fix would allow the current Congress to hammer out a final bill after the election and get it to Democratic President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
But Johnson and some of the more conservative members of his conference are pushing for a six-month extension in the hopes Trump will win and give them more leverage when crafting the full-year bill.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declined to weigh in on how long to extend funding. He said Schumer and Johnson, ultimately, will have to work out a final agreement that can pass both chambers.
“The one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election because certainly we would get the blame,” McConnell said.
Regardless of the vote outcome, Republican lawmakers sought to allay any concerns there would be a shutdown. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said if the bill failed, then another stopgap bill should be voted on that would allow lawmakers to come back to Washington after the election and finish the appropriations work.
“The bottom line is we’re not shutting the government down,” Lawler said.
But Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Republicans of engaging in a “shutdown effort.”
“That’s not hyperbole,” Jeffries said. “It’s history. Because in the DNA of extreme MAGA Republicans has consistently been an effort to make extreme ransom demands of the American people, and if those extreme ransom demands are not met, shut down the government.”
The House approved a bill with the proof of citizenship mandate back in July. Some Republicans who view the issue as popular with their constituents have been pushing for another chance to show their support.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, noted that his state’s secretary of state announced last month that 3,251 people who had been previously issued noncitizen identification numbers will have their voter registration status made inactive and flagged for possible removal from the voter rolls. Voting rights groups have since filed a lawsuit saying the policy illegally targeted naturalized citizens for removal from voting rolls.
“These people should never have been allowed to register in the first place and this is exactly what the SAVE Act will prevent,” Aderholt said.


Israel is in danger of becoming isolated, German foreign minister warns

Updated 58 min 27 sec ago
Follow

Israel is in danger of becoming isolated, German foreign minister warns

  • Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul made the remarks while on a trip to Israel

FRANKFURT: Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday that Israel was in danger of becoming isolated and Germany was trying to prevent that.
“Israel must always find friends, partners and supporters in the international community. And that is currently in danger in this situation. And if there is one country that has a responsibility to prevent this, then in my view it is Germany,” Wadephul told reporters on a trip to Israel.

He added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “beyond imagination,” after meeting senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem.
“The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination.”

Wadephul said: “(Israel is) obliged to quickly and safely send sufficient humanitarian and medical aid to avoid mass death as part of a famine.”


Turbulence forces Delta flight to land and sends 25 people to hospitals, airline says

Updated 31 July 2025
Follow

Turbulence forces Delta flight to land and sends 25 people to hospitals, airline says

  • The 25 were taken to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, the airline said
  • One passenger said people who weren’t wearing seat belts were thrown about the cabin

MINNEAPOLIS: A Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam was hit by serious turbulence, sending 25 people on board to hospitals and forcing the flight to divert to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the airline said.

The Airbus A330-900, carrying 275 customers and 13-member crew, landed around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday. The airport fire department and paramedics met the flight. The 25 were taken to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, the airline said.

One passenger said people who weren’t wearing seat belts were thrown about the cabin.

“They hit the ceiling, and then they fell to the ground,” Leann Clement-Nash told ABC News. “And the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground and people were injured. It happened several times, so it was really scary.”

Delta said in a statement: “We are grateful for the support of all emergency responders involved.”

Serious injuries from in-flight turbulence are rare, but scientists say they may be becoming more common as climate change alters the jet stream.

The disturbance Wednesday is one of several turbulence-impacted flights reported this year. It also raises awareness about aviation safety ranging from of January’s midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people, to last weekend’s smoking jet at Denver International Airport, where passengers slid down an emergency slide.

Regarding turbulence, five people were taken to a North Carolina hospital for evaluation in June after an American Airlines flight from Miami hit turbulence on its way to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The plane landed safely.

Earlier that month, severe storms in southern Germany forced a Ryanair flight to make an emergency landing after violent turbulence injured nine people on board, German police said. The flight was traveling from Berlin to Milan with 179 passengers and six crew members. Eight passengers and one crew member were hurt.

A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Singapore experienced severe turbulence in March. At the time, the plane carrying 174 passengers and 14 crew members were flying over the Philippines. Five people were injured and the plane was able to land safely in Singapore.

Several flights were diverted to Waco, Texas, on March 3, because of turbulence. Five people were injured aboard one of them, a United Express plane flying from Springfield, Missouri, to Houston.

A man was killed when a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence in May 2024, the first person to die from turbulence on a major airline in several decades.


Trump wants deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine by Aug. 8, US tells UN

A view shows the site of an apartment building hit by Russian missile strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine.
Updated 31 July 2025
Follow

Trump wants deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine by Aug. 8, US tells UN

UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump has made clear that he wants a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine by August 8, the United States told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.
“Both Russia and Ukraine must negotiate a ceasefire and durable peace. It is time to make a deal. President Trump has made clear this must be done by August 8. The United States is prepared to implement additional measures to secure peace,” senior US diplomat John Kelley told the 15-member council.


GHF aid system in Gaza is a ‘scandal, and shameful’ says French foreign minister

A mourner reacts next to a body during the funeral of Palestinians, who were killed by Israeli fire while trying to receive aid.
Updated 31 July 2025
Follow

GHF aid system in Gaza is a ‘scandal, and shameful’ says French foreign minister

  • UN estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food since May, most near militarised distribution sites of the GHF

NICOSIA: France’s foreign minister said on Thursday a US and Israel-backed aid distribution system in Gaza had generated a “bloodbath” and had to cease activity.
“I want to call for the cessation of the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the militarised distribution of humanitarian aid that has generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza, which is a scandal, which is shameful, and has to stop,” Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters after meeting his Cyprus counterpart in Nicosia.
A global hunger monitor said on Tuesday that a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted.
The UN estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food since May, most near militarised distribution sites of the GHF, which employs a US logistics firm run by a former CIA officer and armed US veterans. The GHF denies that there have been deadly incidents at its sites, and says the deadliest have been near other aid convoys.
The Israeli military has acknowledged that civilians have been harmed by its gunfire near distribution centers, and says its forces have now received better instructions. Israel accuses Hamas fighters of stealing aid — which the militants deny — and the UN of failing to prevent it. The UN says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon.
Barrot said France would carry out four humanitarian flights carrying 10 tons each of aid from Friday into Gaza in cooperation with Jordan.
Cyprus was briefly a staging point for about 22,000 tons of pre-screened aid sent to Gaza by sea in 2024 via a short-lived US-built landing jetty. Some 1,200 tons of aid is still on the island, awaiting delivery when conditions allow, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said.


‘Poisoning’ arrest at UK childrens summer camp

A police officer stands in Leicestershire, central England. (File/AFP)
Updated 31 July 2025
Follow

‘Poisoning’ arrest at UK childrens summer camp

  • Emergency services were called to the camp in the village of Stathern in central England
  • A triage center was set up to assess all the youngsters

LONDON: UK police said on Thursday they had arrested a 76-year-old man on suspicion of administering poison after eight children at a summer camp were taken to hospital.

Emergency services were called to the camp in the village of Stathern in central England on Monday after a “report of several children feeling unwell,” Leicestershire police said in a statement.

A triage center was set up to assess all the youngsters at and “eight children were taken to hospital as a precaution and have all since been discharged,” the police added.

The man in custody is being questioned on suspicion of “administering poison/a noxious thing with intent to injure/aggrieve/annoy,” the police said.